Dominion’s End - Book 6: Chapter 1: On the Eve of War

Book 6: Chapter 1: On the Eve of War

“Stop.”

I was the first to stop my motorcycle, indicating for the other two to stop as well. Yunqian was driving a cool, black motorcycle, while Xiao Sha’s was a cream-colored scooter. We hadn’t been able to find a lot of motorcycles with fuel left. The two had held a game of rock-paper-scissors, resulting in a crushing defeat for Xiao Sha.

Shujun sat behind me and craned her neck to ask curiously, “Èrgē, what’s wrong?”

“There might be some of those Shangguan troops ahead.”

I faintly sensed danger. It wasn’t piercing, the kind that was alarming enough to make you want to run and escape. It couldn’t be some dangerous aberrant. This path had been used for many of the Zhanjiang Garrison’s comings and goings, so it had been swept clean. Nothing left should register as a threat to me, which made it very likely to be the Shangguans’ army.

“We’re not far from the base.”

I could see from Yunqian’s expression that she was also concentrating.

I looked at Xiao Sha and asked, “You’re an expert at investigating. It shouldn’t be a problem to get close to those troops and have a look at the enemy’s situation, right?”

“No problem, I’ll go.”

Without hesitation, Xiao Sha abandoned the delicate, cream-colored scooter.

I blocked him and demanded, “Take me with you.”

Xiao Sha frowned. “You don’t have the relevant training. Our opponents are professional soldiers. There’s a very high chance they’ll discover us.”

“That’s why I’ll rely on you!” I confidently said, “I need to see if there are any people with powerful abilities, so I have to go.”

In any case, I’ve been able to stay hidden for ten years during the apocalypse. I might not be a master of stealth, but my hiding skills should count for something!

Xiao Sha still shook his head and said, “If we’re discovered, we won’t be able to escape. Their numbers are too high, and they’re armed.”

I laughed and said with even more confidence, “It might be difficult to defeat them, but escaping is definitely not a problem.”

Hearing this, Xiao Sha gave in.

“Èrgē, be careful.”

Shujun pulled on my sleeve and warned, “You’re not allowed to get injured again.”

I petted her head and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on doing anything. We’ll leave after we’ve had a look.”

I did my best to ignore the suspicious look in Mèimei’s eyes, and said to Yunqian, “Hide somewhere with Shujun to wait for Xiao Sha and me to return. No matter what you notice approaching you while you wait, run immediately! If you’re really not able to escape, shoot some lightning into the sky and think of a way to stall for time. I’ll be coming as fast as I can.”

Pouting, Xiaomèi muttered, “I can also fight. I helped Dàgē a lot before.”

If she only needed to stand there and release lightning, while many powerful protectors stood in front of her, Shujun’s powers were definitely formidable, but if she had to confront armed and specialized combat professionals with only Yunqian beside her, that was a completely different matter!

“Listen to Èrgē.”

I briefly explained, “They have a lot of weapons. You have no way of dealing with them for now.”

Shujun nodded, looking scared as soon as I mentioned weapons.

Yunqian patted her own chest and pledged, “Don’t worry. I’ll hide well with Shujun. No one will notice us.”

Xiao Sha added, “Yunqian is a sniper. There’s no one better at finding a hideout than she is.”

Hearing these words, I could finally feel assured. It was great to have professional teammates. Even during the apocalypse, I could go outside with my treasured mèimei without the need to worry there’d be no one to protect her.

Time was running out, and I didn’t want to delay us any longer. After shouting “Let’s go!”, I led Xiao Sha in the direction of the place I had sensed something.

On the way, Xiao Sha couldn’t help but ask in a low voice, “I didn’t expect it to be this far. How do you know where the army is?”

“I only have a rough idea. It’s like intuition, but I can be sure that my intuition is right.”

“Is that your ability as well?” Xiao Sha looked quite envious. For a scout, that ability would be extremely useful.

I shook my head and said, “After improving your ability, everyone will more or less have the capability to sense danger. A strong person can even detect danger from far away, or clearly detect the number of enemies. People weaker than that person cannot hope to cover up their whereabouts, or even how strong or weak they are.”

Of course, this was all “hearsay.” In my previous life, I had only just touched the threshold of tier three before I died, even though I had little training and study of my ability. It seemed that one’s ability leveled up the longer you lived, but I hadn’t come across many people able to survive the apocalypse for ten years without eating a lot of crystals, so I had no way to verify my theory.

If the previous life’s Guan Weijun were to fight the current me, she couldn’t possibly hope to win. How could she possibly understand just how strong an elite was? All she could know was that every elite was scarily strong, and you really shouldn’t mess with any of them—except she had no choice but to face Xia Zhengu.

The fact I hadn’t been strangled by Xia Zhengu in my previous life was really because of the protection of a few old comrades, especially Wei Xiaogē. Even though it started with me pulling him out of a pile of corpses and patching him up, thus pulling him back from the brink of death, he paid back this kindness afterwards at least twentyfold!

He did so much to repay me that Xiao Qi thought he was secretly in love with me, but that was impossible. Wei Xiaogē was a smart, handsome lad, and he was several years younger than me. He kept calling me Jiě, and our other comrades jokingly called him “Shuài Xiaogē” at the beginning, which meant “handsome little big bro.” Only when he became stronger and stronger, everyone switched up his nickname to include his last name and called him “Wei Xiaogē.”

I’m so used to that name that I actually can’t remember his full name. If we have the chance, we should really recruit this kind and grateful guy again.

Hold on… I froze for a while. Comparing the geography of the previous world and this one, the city I was trapped in during my previous life was more or less in the same spot as Lan City. Moreover, this world’s Guan Weijun had actually been somewhere around here as well. Looking at it like that, maybe Wei Xiaogē and some other old comrades are also here!

Could it be… that even Xia Zhengu is here, too?

“Shuyu, are there any enemies?” Xiao Sha asked.

I suppressed my blood-thirsty expression, shook my head, and said, “No, I was thinking of something else.”

Xiao Sha said a little helplessly, “Don’t get distracted again. We need to focus to hide our tracks. You might be strong, but you can’t win against an entire army.”

I nodded. Right now, winning was impossible. Even at the height of tier two, I was still too weak. If only I could get a bit stronger—

Don’t think about such unrealistic things right now. Our goal is to find out the number of enemies, and whether there are any powerful ability users.

Although we had been able to ask Shuangguan Chenyang about it before, I didn’t trust him at all. It was better to see it with my own eyes.

“Don’t talk from now on.”

I warned, “I can sense we’re very close. Don’t worry about me. Whatever you do, I’ll follow your lead.”

Xiao Sha wanted to say something, but stopped himself.

Seeing he still felt uneasy, I added, “Don’t worry, I’ll be able to keep up. I can sense your general position. Just keeping pace with you won’t be a problem. You’ll also want to be more careful yourself. This world is ruled by abilities now. We can’t completely rely on our past experiences. If the Shuangguans have an ability user on the same level as me, no matter how strong you are at hiding your tracks, you’ll still be noticed.”

Xiao Sha looked a bit apprehensive and gave a careful nod.

I indicated the direction. “Let’s go, we’re out of time. You go ahead for five hundred meters in that direction.”

Hearing this, Xiao Sha immediately set out. His movements made only a very faint sound. It’s important to know that we were in a forested area next to the road. Before, this had probably just been a row of trees lining the road, but it had become a forest overflowing with trees and bushes. The ground was covered with weeds and dead leaves as well. It was impossible not to make any noise, but the trees themselves made sound as well. Just a gust of wind blowing by made a constant rustling sound. The noise Xiao Sha made wouldn’t attract attention at all.

That hiding ability is amazing. If I didn’t have the capability of sensing his power, maybe I really wouldn’t have been able to keep up.

It didn’t take him long to cover the distance of five hundred meters, but Xiao Sha didn’t look back to ask which direction he should take next. If he got that far and still wasn’t able to discover the tracks of the enemy troops, he might as well go back to the base to wash up and go to sleep. The outside world would be far too dangerous!

We slowed down our movement. Whenever we saw the occasional silhouette of a person, Xiao Sha stopped moving for at least five minutes, refusing to budge even when there was no one to be seen.

Moving so slowly, it took some time before we saw the place where most of the army was stationed.

Softly and quietly, I moved to Xiao Sha’s side, and saw that he was staring at the army almost without blinking. I wondered for a moment. He must be counting the number of enemies, right?

Without disturbing him, I carefully observed the enemy troops.

There was a small lake in the dense forest, with a clearing next to it. Though it wasn’t large, with the army all crammed together, it was large enough for them to be stationed there. The tents were practically on top of each other, with hardly any open space left, and only a few passages were left open to pass through.

All around the camp were people standing guard. If Xiao Sha hadn’t found this excellent spot, it would have been impossible for us to observe the enemy troops so casually.

The soldiers on patrol were fully armed, either carrying one large and one small gun or two small ones. The larger guns were AK-47 assault rifles, and I even thought I saw a few additional grenade launchers, like the M4 carbine rifle.

Hehe, I’d seen Wei Xiaogē carry that type of carbine rifle before, and he’d told me about it in full detail. If he hadn’t, I never would have been able to recognize it!

According to Wei Xiaogē, usually only specialized forces were equipped with that type of weapon.

There was also an explosive-proof shield just lying outside a tent…

The more I saw, the more anxious I became. With these numbers, weapons, and provisions, if we really have to face them directly, how are we supposed to defeat them?

Xiao Sha briefly touched my shoulder, then used his hand to indicate, “Four.” It couldn’t be forty, of course. It was definitely four hundred.

I sucked in a deep breath. An army of four hundred, practically all of them armed to the teeth—how were we supposed to fight that?

Xiao Sha’s expression didn’t bode well either. As he looked at me, there was an obvious question in his eyes. What should we do now?

I glanced at the people on patrol not far off. Though it wasn’t entirely impossible to cause some trouble, the enemy had so many people on patrol that we couldn’t do any major damage. If we acted too rashly and alerted them, they’d realize we already knew of their attack.

Let’s go!

I gestured in the direction from which we’d come, indicating we should leave.

Xiao Sha nodded right away. He seemed relieved, itching to leave.

I rolled my eyes. What kind of maniac do you think I am, insisting to confront four hundred heavily armed soldiers?

We’d already be dead by now!

Xiao Sha still had a suspicious look in his eyes. He put his hands together and waved them like two fans, then with his fingers together, he moved his whole hand like a worm.

Miraculously, I understood this “sign language.”

It had to mean, “Don’t tell me there weren’t four hundred of those caterpillar aberrants with the butterfly aberrant?”

“…” I don’t think there were?

I think…

With a doubtful expression, Xiao Sha turned and left. I had no choice but to follow obediently, to show him I wasn’t the least bit reckless and was definitely a well-behaved little kid. But before I could even take two steps, I suddenly heard shouting, and automatically turned to look. In the small space between two tents, two groups of people were arguing.

One person was wearing a heavy cashmere coat. He seemed different from the rest of the troops, but several soldiers were standing behind him, dressed exactly like the rest of the army. They were obviously people of the Shangguan family.

Another person was wearing a long white coat, and had just a few people standing behind him. Even though they were similarly equipped for battle, they seemed different from the other soldiers. Could it be they didn’t belong to the Shangguan family, or were they just a different faction of the Shuangguans?

Neither of the two were dressed for battle, and they were shouting loudly. All of the surrounding soldiers kept a straight face.

The guy in the white coat seemed especially familiar to me, but he stood facing away from me, so I could only see a tiny part of his profile. While I puzzled over who this person was, he seemed unsatisfied with something the man in the cashmere coat had said. He shook his head and for a moment, I could clearly see his face—

It’s actually Wu Yaojin!

That guy from the Molecular Organic Research Center!

I stopped walking. I’d never expected to see Wu Yaojin here. Are the MORC and the Shuangguan family actually connected?!

Could it be that the attack on Zhanjiang Garrison is in fact planned by the MORC?

Does this have anything to do with what happened last time?

Could they have discovered me—

Suddenly, someone touched my shoulder. I grabbed him and reached out with my other hand to seize his throat. Only just in time did I notice my opponent’s face…

Xiao Sha’s eyes were wide with surprise. I’d caught him completely unaware, and with my hand around his throat, I’d released cold air to freeze his lips and keep him from making any sound even in his final moments.

I quickly let go.

With force, Xiao Sha pressed his hands over his mouth, and suppressed the pain in his throat, stubbornly not making the slightest sound. Then his expression suddenly changed, and he immediately pushed me into the underbrush beneath a tree. He held me down with a death-like grip, making it almost impossible to breathe. If I hadn’t known Xiao Sha’s personality, I would have thought this was revenge!

It didn’t take long before a small team appeared nearby. Through the gaps in the underbrush, I could see the military boots they were wearing. The sound of their footsteps resonated in my ears, and the two of us even held our breath for a moment. Fortunately, the squad just walked past and didn’t notice us.

As soon as the danger had passed, Xiao Sha pulled me along, but I refused to move, looking straight in the direction of Wu Yaojin.

If this guy hadn’t brought his people over during my duel with Thirteen and started shooting at me without warning, the Ice Emperor wouldn’t have died for my sake. If he hadn’t used the last of his power to strike back at the enemy, then he would have been able to hold on and meet Shujun, right?

No, maybe the Ice Emperor would still be alive now!

It’s all because of that guy, Wu Yaojin!

Xiao Sha grabbed my shoulders. Ignoring the need to stay quiet, he whispered close to my ear, “Shuyu, we have to go.”

I said coldly, “You go first, I’ll catch up later.”

His expression changed, but instead of gripping my shoulders more tightly, he quickly said, “Shujun is still waiting for you.”

I stiffened.

Shujun was nearby. If we caused a commotion, these people would probably comb the whole surrounding area. In that case, Shujun and Yunqian might not be able to stay hidden. No matter how formidable Yunqian was, she still had a regular girl in tow, who wasn’t even good at playing hide-and-seek. It was difficult to say whether they’d be able to stay hidden and avoid a thorough search from the army.

Taking a deep breath, I glanced at Wu Yaojin. That guy wasn’t much stronger than before. He was a scientist through and through. It wasn’t likely he’d become strong enough to make it impossible for me to defeat him in the future.

“Let’s go!”

The day I’ll make Wu Yaojin pay for the Ice Emperor with his life will come, and it will come soon!

When we returned to our original location, Xiao Sha cupped his mouth with his hands and made a strange animal cry. It didn’t take long for Yunqian to return with Junjun.

Seeing this, I felt really ashamed. Just now, I hadn’t even thought about how to contact them. Luckily, Xiao Sha and Yunqian were professional mercenaries, and clearly on another level than the kind of amateur I was. It was better that I remained a secret weapon on the side and left everything else to the professionals.

The two professionals led us with a detour around the army. Despite this, we didn’t lose much time and quickly reached Zhanjiang Garrison. They had probably memorized the terrain surrounding the base.

Just when we reached the gates, a bullet struck in front of my feet.

Xiao Sha and Yunqian both startled. They instantly drew their guns and aimed at the balcony on the third floor. Unexpectedly, there was a flash of blond hair. Doubt flashed across their faces, but they didn’t relax one bit, no matter the fact that the person on the balcony was someone familiar.

I scratched my head. I’d already figured out what was going on, and quickly pushed down Xiao Sha’s and Yunqian’s guns.

At that moment, Cain jumped down directly from the balcony. I was sure that before the apocalypse, he wouldn’t have dared to jump down so carelessly from that height.

He walked over, glaring at me with gritted teeth, like I was his archnemesis who had killed his father.

“So you’re finally back. I thought this time Leader would really baptize me with fire!”

I actually didn’t know whether he was using that idiom correctly or not. If I’d gone missing while he was in charge, perhaps Dàgē really would make Cain reincarnate. That was also a kind of baptism.

I immediately apologized, “I’m sorry, I was too impulsive. I won’t be next time.”

Cain dramatically rolled his eyes and angrily said, “I don’t believe you! Next time, you’ll still run off!”

That… I thought back to the reason I’d run off this time. It was because I thought something had happened to Junjun. I truly couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t act rashly next time something similar happened. Junjun is too important. There’s no way I can hold myself back!

“Why is it only you guys?” Cain’s gaze swept over us. Puzzled, he asked, “What about Leader? Did you split up?”

He didn’t look too worried, which had to be because we looked quite calm, but was even more likely because Dàgē was just too powerful. His people just didn’t think anything could happen to him.

“Let’s talk inside.”

As Yunqian shot him a glance, Cain took the hint, feigned a laugh, and said, “You came back just in time, breakfast will be ready soon! Let’s go and eat together. We can talk about the aberrants you killed out there while we eat.”

He yelled at the balcony, “You guys up there, make sure to keep a close eye on the situation. When I come back, it’ll be your turn to eat.”

A few heads stuck out from the balcony and shouted, “Yessir!”

These were all soldiers that Wen Jianuo and Chen Yanqing had brought with them. They were super useful and could already take up their post without any training required. I had once wanted to chase them away. What in the world was I thinking? Even I don’t get it!

Cain led us on a meandering detour before we entered the base. The road was completely filled with cars and was even messier than before. There were even two or three cars piled on top of each other, which wasn’t normal at all. However, Cain wasn’t showing an odd expression. Clearly, our own people were responsible for this.

I gave it some thought. We’re probably using this as a temporary wall?

“Do we have power type ability users now?”

I wasn’t too surprised. Power types were as common as water and fire types. They could be considered one of the most useful ability types in the beginning of the apocalypse.

It wasn’t until the middle stages of the apocalypse that power types began to lag behind the others due to aberrants learning to group up. Power types were powerless against large groups of aberrants and could not live up to other, more formidable abilities. For example, the rare lightning ability could electrocute a wide expanse of land.

But power types only lagged behind by a little. Strong power types had still been very useful. Even if they couldn’t become leader of a base, they were still capable subordinates.

Cain nodded and said, “Quite a lot. Xiao Guan has five just in her party alone. The soldiers have four. We found four among the ordinary citizens too. They were pretty helpful. But this is all thanks to you for bringing back all those crystals last time. Otherwise, their strength would only be a bit higher than most people’s and wouldn’t be this useful.”

Right after he finished speaking, Xiao Sha looked over furtively, as if asking: You sure there really weren’t four hundred caterpillars?

I was sweating and changed the topic. “How many can use guns?”

Cain stared at me strangely. “Guns? Don’t you always say that only powers are useful and that we shouldn’t use guns?”

I helplessly replied, “If you can release a sea of fire right now, then I won’t have you use guns either.”

Cain was confused at first, but after Yunqian told him that the enemy was only five kilometers away from our base, his expression completely changed.

“A horde of aberrants?”

“People.” Xiao Sha coldly said, “An army of four hundred, here to fight over territory.”

Cain’s face also lost all warmth at that. He was so angry that he smiled and said, “They have an army of four hundred, yet they’re here to steal other people’s territory? They’re shit against aberrants, but they’re sure full of it when it comes to fighting people.”

He wasn’t wrong about that. In my previous life, there had been tons of people who were afraid to fight against aberrants and stole solely from other people. They all looked tough on the outside, but if they were truly as tough as their appearance suggested, then why the fuck did they rob others? There were entire cities full of supplies waiting for them!

Xiao Sha continued to say, “That army is from the Shangguan family.”

Cain was stunned momentarily and said, “Your family? That’s such a coincidence.”

Xiao Sha immediately refuted, “They’re not my family!”

“Fine, fine, fine, your bro’s people?”

Xiao Sha was silent for a moment before he said, “Not his. It’s Shangguan Chenhong.”

Cain’s face looked foolish as he said, “Isn’t that your bro’s name?”

“My brother’s name is Shangguan Chenhao!”

Cain gazed into the distance, with an expression that said “I give up on your Shangguan family.”

“Can’t you easterners come up with names that are more distinct from each other? Are you trying to trip up all the foreigners out there?”

I firmly agreed with him. We were also Shutian, Shuyu, and Shujun in our family, so I wasn’t qualified to complain about other people, but it was just us three siblings, and only Uncle and Auntie called my brother by his actual name. As for my little sister and me, we were usually called “Junjun” and “Xiao Yu.” There were generally no problems telling our names apart. As for the Shangguan family’s big shots, it wasn’t like we could call them Xiao Hao or Honghong!

“Anyways, it’s not your brother, so it’s fine if we cripple or kill them, right?”

Cain flashed a smile while saying this, but his smiling face didn’t make him appear like an invincible airhead like usual. Instead, his smile was a shiver-inducing one. Those white teeth of his looked like they could directly bite someone’s flesh off.

I saw him in a new light. A normal person who heard there were four hundred troops would at least blanch, even if they didn’t plan on fleeing. Cain, however, didn’t show the least bit of fear.

Xiao Sha coldly said, “Even if it were Shangguan Chenhao, anyone who dares to attack Zhanjiang Garrison deserves to be killed or crippled!”

Cain wasn’t surprised by Xiao Sha’s attitude toward his own brother. He must have already known that Xiao Sha had a poor relationship with the Shangguan family. He merely rubbed his chin and said, “Zhanjiang Garrison? A temporary Jiang Dominion base? I can tell just from hearing it that the boss must’ve come up with this name! It’s direct and easy to remember. As expected of the boss!”

“…” I was speechless. I reminded him, “If we can’t win against the army of four hundred, this place will probably become Shangguan Garrison.”

Hearing that, Cain stopped smiling and said in all seriousness, “The soldiers plus Xiao Guan’s people and a small bunch of citizens will give us about a hundred people who know how to use guns. But if we’re talking about who can actually fight, that comes out to be around seventy. This is factoring in the people in Xiao Guan’s party. They’re not professionals, but they were capable of escaping from the city, so they can be considered amateurs at least.

“It’s not looking good.” He honestly admitted, “If the people attacking us were ordinary citizens, then five hundred doesn’t mean a thing. If it were less than two hundred soldiers, then we have nothing to fear either. But once we hit a certain number of soldiers, things become troublesome.”

I nodded to indicate my understanding.

In the first place, armies specialized in cooperative tactics. They had equipment and numbers, making them way scarier than even hordes of aberrants. In my previous life, armies were able to go wherever they wanted in the beginning stages of the apocalypse.

So, how are we to fight this battle?

We got closer to the mansion. Mounds of stuff encircled the mansion, messy without order, as if a bunch of garbage had been strewn around the place.

I was a bit puzzled. As I got closer, my eyes nearly fell out. That pile of stuff was actually obstacles made out of spikes, traps that had been handmade. That was why it looked like such a mess, but the appearance had no effect on its destructive power. Instead, the disorder made it even scarier. I felt like passing by could easily result in numerous accidental holes gouged into one’s body, spurting with blood.

The walls around the mansion had been made a lot taller. It seemed that Zheng Xing had prioritized strengthening the defense of the mansion. The walls were as tall as city walls, and spikes had been spread across the top of the wall. What had originally been an antiquated bronze door with bars had been reinforced with steel plates. Iron caltrops had been spread across it too, which looked painful.

Cain brought us to the gates. He lifted his head and simply whistled at the people on the wall. As he shouted “open the door,” a head stuck out and glanced at us. Then, the door was pushed open. Of course, behind the door were another two soldiers, and these two soldiers even had people readied with guns behind them.

Haha, when I originally said I didn’t want these people, my head must’ve been stuffed full of shit. Aberrant shit to boot!

After walking into the mansion, I came across Zheng Xing in the great hall. He was looking down at a blueprint laid across the long table. He drew on it from time to time. When he heard voices, he lifted his head and saw us. After a slight pause, he immediately made his way over.

Zheng Xing looked around and asked, “Is the boss outside?”

Yunqian shook her head and succinctly explained the matter of the Shangguan family attacking us. She even briefly explained what Xiao Sha and I had found out about the army’s status.

Xiao Sha added, “Leader stayed back in Lan City to negotiate with Jin Zhan and Shangguan Chenhao about cooperating to beat back the Shangguan family. We have to hold on until Leader comes back.”

Zheng Xing frowned and said, “We’re not even thirty percent done with constructing the base. We don’t have enough defensive power. Come look at this.”

He walked beside the table and gestured at the blueprint. Then, he slapped his hand down in the center of it, which was our current location.

“Only the mansion’s defenses are acceptable. The walls have been built higher and thicker, with spikes spread across the surface and wire netting on top of the walls. Unless the opponents can fly or have cannons, there is no way for them to easily break through our defenses. We are already done laying traps in the streets nearby. However, if the foe consists of professional soldiers, the advantage these traps provide will be limited.”

Taking in the structures drawn in blue and red ink on the blueprint, I felt myself relaxing a little. This is already much better than I thought. I had originally thought that I’d have no other choice but to use an ice wall to strengthen our defenses. If I had to do that, I wouldn’t be able to do anything else and would only be able to stay in the house as a wall constructing little helper.

“The defensive constructs everywhere else are still temporary. We used whatever was on hand there such as cars and piled them up. We wrapped wire on the fences and such to slow down the enemy’s approach.

“If you gave me one more month—no, two more weeks—the garrison definitely wouldn’t be in such a state!” After saying that, Zheng Xing looked at the blueprint and sighed. “How long do you think we need to stall for?”

“Hard to say.” Yunqian frowned and said, “The four of us came back very quickly, but Boss is there to negotiate, and he’s going to bring sufficient reinforcements back. I’d say we need to stall for three days to be safe.”

Cain lifted and eyebrow and said, “If you said three hours, I’d be confident about that, but three days? Maggots would be crawling out of my corpse by then!”

Hearing such ominous words, Yunqian shot back, “The boss even dared to let Shuyu and Junjun come back. If maggots swarm you, you can only blame yourself for not showering for too long!”

Cain immediately swiveled to look at me with shining eyes as he said, “You’re right. If the boss is willing to let Xiao Yu come back, does that mean you’ve already developed some sort of ultimate move that can annihilate the enemy?”

“…Then why would my dàgē even need to negotiate? Just shut the door and let Dìdi out!”

Cain came to a sudden realization and said, “Then we’re in deep shit! They have no less than four hundred people. Even if we put our lives on the line, we don’t even have enough ammunition to kill all of them.”

Although he was saying “shit,” there was no fear on his face at all. He sure was an invincible airhead Dàgē had found. Even while caught up in a predicament, he was just as much of a ruffian as always.

Hearing that we didn’t have enough ammunition, I frowned and asked, “If we have enough ammunition, and also use a large-scale electrified water tornado to help, what’s our chance of success in defending for three days?”

“What the hell is an electrified water tornado?” Cain asked in confusion.

I gestured at Junjun, Yunqian, and Xiao Sha and said, “An ultimate combo move from these three.”

The three people who had been tossed into the “combo” were all stupefied. They hadn’t known at all that they had an ultimate move like this.

I calmly looked at them and said, “You three will only have one day to develop this ultimate move. As long as you master it, don’t even mention defending for three days. Winning might even be possible.”

Their stupefaction immediately vanished, ferocity taking its place. They were all eager to give it a try… Xiaomeì, even your glare is so cute. You look just like a wide-eyed hamster that has spotted a hazelnut. You’re not intimidating at all.

Thunder Goddess seems hopeless, but Lightning Princess may still be possible.

“Shuyu! Shujun!”

I looked up. Uncle and Auntie rushed down from upstairs. Auntie even grabbed me frantically and said, “You’re finally back. When Cain said you ran out, I didn’t know what to do!”

“W-where’s Shutian?” Uncle’s face paled. “Don’t tell me—”

I quickly explained, “Dàgē stayed out to find partnerships. It’ll take him two extra days to return.”

Uncle and Auntie finally relaxed. Auntie’s eyes were red-rimmed as she said, “Can’t you three kids take pity on my heart? You keep running outside so much. The world nowadays is one that can eat you. I-If anything happened to any of you, how can I face your parents in the future…”

In order to stop Auntie’s tears, I immediately changed the topic. “Uncle, I need your help with something, right now!”

Uncle was taken aback. He quickly nodded and said, “Tell me.”

“I need your help to design a set of armor!”

At first, I had only wanted to make my ice armor more practical, strengthening it so it could block some attacks without affecting my movement, but who knew that Uncle really was a great help! I had partially just wanted to change the topic to stop Auntie from crying further.

After listening to my requests about the armor, Uncle lowered his head in thought. “Let me think about it. When do you need it by?”

“Before dark.”

Uncle froze, but he still nodded in agreement. “I’ll make it happen!”

After he promised that, he pulled Auntie to the side and began drawing the design. He hurriedly spread the paper out and told Auntie who was standing beside him, “I’ll draw up a sketch for now. Jingting, help me add in the details in an understandable way for Shuyu.”

Auntie agreed, wiped away the moisture from her eyes, and immediately delved into her work.

Auntie’s maiden name was Lin Jingting, while Uncle’s name was Jiang Lingqing. If I hadn’t regained my memories, I really wouldn’t have remembered their names, and would probably have just kept referring to them as “Uncle and Auntie.”

“Gather everyone together! We need everyone’s power!”