"Goddammit! We fought so hard, and it’s all for nothing!?"

A Cyan Beast corps commander threw his broken blade against the ground and spat in uncontrolled anger. "We didn’t get Sky City, and Wind City isn’t ours either! What the fuck are the Americans doing anyway? How is their security so lax that Seven Star City was stolen right beneath their nose?"

The guild leader of a different guild lamented, "Is there even a point in killing Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand anymore? Everyone’s tired. Time to return to our city, log out, and take a rest."

Countless other players heeded the advice, took out their return scrolls and did just that.

……

While God of War’s shoulders were shaking with frustration and anger, another system announcement entered our ears—

Ding~!

System Notice: All players, player "Wind Fantasy" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Breeze and Rain" (China), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 401823 points!

……

I smiled when I saw this. As expected of my precious little babe, she actually pulled off the near impossible and killed off Breeze and Rain in the forest!

Right after that, I heard a commotion breaking out from beneath the highland. The Ice Flame Slash exploding amid a group of Cyan Beast players came from none other than Lin Yixin herself. To my surprise, she was followed by a ton of Frostsword City players. After she reached me on her Moonchaser Tiger, she shot me a smile and said, "Our reinforcements have arrived, Little Cheat!"

I blurted, "How did you show up this quickly? I thought you just killed Breeze and Rain a moment ago?"

Lin Yixin giggled. "Nah, most of the work was done by our allies from Frostsword City. All I did was steal the last hit…"

It was at this moment a heavily armored female player rode up to us. She rode a muscular, ice-type warhorse, and the text above her head stated—

Below 30 Degrees Snow Night LV-211

City: Frostsword City

Guild: White Bird

Position: Leader

……

White Bird was the strongest or the second strongest guild in the Russia server. No wonder they were able to take out Breeze and Rain this quickly.

Russian cavalry immediately charged toward God of War’s group when Snow Night pointed her sword at him. Normally, this would be an even battle at best. In fact, Cyan Beast was slightly stronger than White Bird. However, Cyan Beast had fought long and hard up until this point, and almost everyone was low on durability, potions and consumables. Naturally, they were incapable of threatening the fresh cavalry at all.

God of War was pissed when he saw that his troops were defeated with barely any resistance, but he made the right call by ordering, "Withdraw and teleport back to the city!"

White flashes occurred everywhere as the players of Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Ice River Canton teleported away. Finally, the battle of White Horse Highland had come to an end, and most importantly, I didn’t have to die any more. God, I’m so happy!

He Yi ran up the rocks and to the pile of corpses where I was lying on top. When she saw my horrible appearance, she pulled me to my feet and consoled me with a giggle, "It’s okay. Even if Sky City is lost, we still have Seven Star City…"

I smiled back. "Who said Sky City is lost?"

"Huh?"

He Yi blinked once and Lin Yixin stood beside her. After looking around for a bit, their mouths grew steadily wider. "Where is Princess Karinshan? I don’t see her body anywhere."

I laughed. "Didn’t you see that I’m riding the Armored Ice Qilin Horse? Turns out, the Ancient Divine Dragon is a true godlike mount. I tried making it carry Karinshan, Ziyan, Stark and the five Dragon Knights to a safe place to hide, and it actually worked! Without Karinshan, the Northern Alliance can murder everyone in Sky City twice over and still not get the royal scepter. This means that the King of Cities still belongs to the China server!"

Lin Yixin exclaimed with joy and disbelief, "Then… we actually did it? We protected Sky City?"

"Yes, we did!" I nodded seriously.

The girls were so happy that they pounced on top of me and squealed into my chest. While holding the girls in my arms, I leaned against the bloody rocks behind me again and felt a wave of exhaustion washing over me. Sky City was safe. We, or at least the players of the China server, didn’t need to wander like I did.

……

Another system announcement entered our ears at this moment—

Ding~!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Red Ovenbird" (Argentina) has used the royal scepter. The city under the royal scepter’s control, Seven Star City, now belongs to the Argentina server. A main city cannot enter another Nation War until 15 days after the transfer of ownership!

……

I slapped my thigh and barked out another laugh. "Good! Thank goodness Candlelight Shadow didn’t greed over Seven Star City! Now that the Argentina server—and by extension, the Chaotic 27—has taken over Seven Star City, the Northern Alliance must watch them like one would watch a poisonous thorn in their hitherland! What a relief! I cannot wait to see Vienna’s Sorrow deal with this mess. You’re finally living up to your name, fucker!"

Still clinging to me tightly, He Yi looked up with a bright smile on her face. "I just received news that Vienna’s Sorrow and the remnants of Hero Alliance have teleported away to deal with the flaming inferno that is their backyard. It’s too late though. There is only half an hour left until the Nation War ends. Not even Vienna’s Sorrow and Hero Alliance can retake Seven Star City during this time."

I clenched my fist and exhaled a bit. "It’s such a shame that our numbers are too few, and the Dragonlight Cavalrymen are all dead. Otherwise, this would be the perfect opportunity to return to Wind City and reclaim the royal scepter…"

Lin Yixin nodded. "Yeah. The Northern Alliance had made sure to station a sizable force in Wind City after taking it, and there’s no chance they’ll loosen their guard and let us sneak it at the final moment. Retaking Wind City will have to wait until another time."

……

Meanwhile, I had regained enough energy to guide Lin Yixin and He Yi down the corpse-ridden hill and toward the Frostsword City players. I shot Snow Night a smile and said, "Thank you for the timely rescue. We would’ve died if you came even a minute later."

Snow Night smiled courteously. "You’re welcome. We are allies after all…"

However, I couldn’t help but complain after hearing her comment, "Pooh! Are you serious? Since the start of the Nation War, you’ve focused most of your attention on attacking Elephant City and seizing as many territories as possible. Not only that, you waited until the last possible moment to rescue Sky City. If this is what qualifies as good allies, then I gotta say that Frostsword City and Iron Horse City fulfilled your responsibilities to a T. Seriously, don’t you understand that China is the only reason the Northern Alliance, Purple Grape City and the Chaotic 27 don’t have a direct path to your cities? You have heard of the idiom ‘without the lips, the teeth will feel cold’, haven’t you?"

Snow Night replied apologetically, "Please don’t be mad, Lu Chen. The Russia server is a conglomerate of thousands and thousands of guilds, and all of our strategic decisions are done through voting. If my people don't wish to reinforce Sky City, there is nothing I can do to change it…"

I said sharply, "Frostsword City and Iron Horse City are just afraid that the China server will grow too strong, aren’t they?"

"If you must put it this way, then I guess I have no choice but to admit that you’re right…"

Snow Night shrugged nonchalantly before explaining, "The China server possesses the three richest main cities in the entire continent, and the highest number of Famous Generals and Divine Generals in the entire world. They also have the best player and strategic mind in the world, the Heavenly King, namely you.. Is there anyone who plays this game and hasn’t heard of your fame after the War of Dawn City and the War of Purple Grape City? So yes, of course our cities are afraid of you. Your achievements are so supernatural that it cows both your enemies and your allies.

Still, why are you ridiculing me for my server’s mistakes? No matter what you think of me, I have come to your rescue after all. Me and my 900k+ players came all the way to the China server and killed at least 2 million Purple Grape City players for you, even though our strategy was to leave you alone. I’ve already gone above and beyond to help the China server, okay?"

I smiled. "Well, yeah. You’re right. If nothing else, Snow Night is definitely a good ally to us. By the way, how is your conquest of Elephant City going?"

"We were able to occupy three tier 2 cities at first, but Flowing Cloud managed to retake two of them. Still, after seeing what happened in this war, I dare say that one tier 2 city is an acceptable outcome. What about the China server?"

I shrugged and put on a bitter expression. "Do I even need to say it? Wind City was taken by the Northern Alliance, Vanished God City was stolen by Coldblade, a fucking Purgatory Sovereign of all things, all 9 of our tier 2 cities have been gobbled up by the invaders, and my Dark Moon City is the only player territory that hasn’t fallen to the enemy..."

"Er…"

Snow Night chose her words carefully. "You have my deepest condolences. Still, I am certain that the Little Heavenly King of China will be able to retake them with little trouble…"

I shot her a self-deprecating smile. "Sure, if my server decides to hand me back my nationality that is. Otherwise, there is nothing I can do to help…"

Snow Night smiled subtly. "Again, my deepest condolences for the state of your country. I remember a Chinese quote that goes something like this: ‘Just as heaven keeps moving forward vigorously, a man of virtue should strive continuously to strengthen himself. Just like the earth, which is generous and peaceful, a man of virtue should have ample virtue and accommodate all things’ [1]. Right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. it’s what keeps me alert and going despite everything."

"Yep. Anyway, it looks like you don’t need me anymore, so I’m going to ciao before you accuse me of raiding your cities under the pretense of reinforcement…"

I smiled. "Don’t worry, we are not the corrupt and useless Qing Dynasty. If you dare take advantage of our crisis, I promise you we will punch back just as bravely…"

"Yes, yes, I know you’re stupid OP. Goodbye…"

"Bye!"

……

And so, Snow Night and Frostsword City’s players left and withdrew from our borders, leaving Lin Yixin, He Yi and I to stare blankly at the sea of bodies and loot. There must be at least one million pieces of equipment here...

"A shame we don’t have anyone left to pick up all this loot. Shame…" I commented regretfully.

However, He Yi blinked once before saying, "What do you mean we don’t have anyone left?"

"Huh? I thought there were no more Chinese players left in Sky City? Even Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance and more are completely conked out…"

"Did you forget that our garrison troops are still alive and well in Dark Moon City? You know, the 70k Bloody Mercenaries we left behind?" He Yi giggled. "Half an hour ago, I gave them the order to join us on our final hurrah. Since that is no longer necessary, they can help us loot the battlefield instead. Long story short, Dark Moon City is gonna be rich…"

I erupted with joy. "Really? Hell yes, haha!"

Lin Yixin pouted beside me. "Aiyo, Snowy Cathaya is going to lose out so much. Not only are there less than one thousand of us left, I don’t even know where they are right now…"

I pointed to the floor. "I get it. Pick any equipment you want, Yiyi. You can have the first dibs on everything…"

"Okay…"

1. (T/N: quote from the Book of Changes)