The front lines pressed in day by day.
The half of Mian Yang that still existed was as if burned away by hellfire—barely one in ten buildings remained, leaving only the monsters wandering about.
In the minds of Mian Yang’s citizens, the roar of magic was no longer an ideal, but the sound of their homeland being torn apart.
Despair shrouded Mian Yang.
“This is bad! A dire report from the front! Xin Yongzhe has fallen in battle!”
“What… Xin Yongzhe…”
With the death of a brave, the assembled ministers collapsed into their seats, helpless as kites with cut strings.
Silence spoke louder than words.
“Good news! There’s good news!”
The desperate ministers quickly raised their heads in hope.
“A neighboring kingdom is willing to send a brave to help our defenses!”
This great news instantly ignited their hopes.
“They’re actually sending a brave!”
In their eyes, how powerful was a brave?
Though the brave could not use magic, the 乄 they possessed were all rule-based abilities rivaling those of the Demon King’s Seven Generals.
“Now Mian Yang has lost two braves, leaving only one… If we have a brave’s aid, then Mian Yang can be saved!”
Suddenly, an old minister put a stop to the excitement.
“Hold on. Don’t celebrate yet. Which kingdom is helping Mian Yang?”
At this question, the other ministers also curiously leaned forward to look at the scout.
The scout recalled and said, “The kingdoms offering aid are… Luyuan’s third brave, Lin Qi’s brave…”
“And… oh, please look at this!”
A scribe minister took the scroll.
After five minutes…
Boom—
He dropped dead.
All the ministers trembled, staring at the grinning scout.
“That’s right. The last supporter is…”
“One of the Demon King’s Seven Generals—the great Zi Luan!”
As soon as the words fell.
The ministers’ faces suddenly twisted in panic.
“One of the Demon King’s Seven Generals! Inside the kingdom!”
“Hahaha—”
The air froze.
Not a single sound remained.
Only the beating of hearts.
“Lord Zi Luan, how was this bit of spying?”
Scritch—scritch—scritch—
The scout scraped away the disguise on her face, nail by nail, in a ghastly manner.
She revealed the face of a demon.
Boom—!
A tall figure stepped out from behind her.
“Well done.”
….
Outside Mian Yang’s city wall.
“Ahead is Mian Yang’s territory. But be careful—the area is swarming with monsters. If you see a demon, flee as fast as you can!”
The coachman looked worriedly at Yao Xing, Lin Qi’s sole brave.
Yao Xing nodded and thanked him.
“Thank you for bringing us this far. Be safe on the road.”
The coachman left.
“Next, we head into Mian Yang.”
Xu surveyed the surroundings with his dark red eyes and frowned.
“Demons are stationed outside the city wall.”
“For safety, stick with me!”
With that, Anuo used magic to open a hidden hole in a tree.
….
Inside Mian Yang.
It was different from the war-torn borderlands, and different from the closed-off Lin Qi.
The market there was still bustling as usual.
Beast ears were everywhere.
‘I thought there were no beastmen in this other world.’
Anuo also crawled out of the hole.
“Why do they all look so at ease?”
Xu explained plainly, “Because they’ve already been surrounded. There’s no way to escape, so they can only live as usual.”
Was this the feeling of utter despair?
Faced with death’s impending arrival at any moment, the citizens had long known, but they had no other choice.
They could only smile as usual, live recklessly.
Surviving without a fight.
“Are you the brave from Lin Qi?”
A man who looked like a receptionist asked.
Anuo verified the man’s attire and aura, then pointed at Yao Xing.
“She’s the brave.”
The man nodded happily, over and over.
“Thank you so much for coming to help! Please follow me to the council hall for a detailed discussion!”
And so, the three followed the man’s quick steps, weaving through the market crowd.
Soon, they arrived at the center of Mian Yang—where the council hall was located.
The man respectfully pushed open the door.
“The ministers have been waiting for you. Please, come in.”
‘How spacious.’
Yao Xing stepped in first, but Xu quickly called out.
“Wait! There’s a strong smell of blood!”
Hearing this, Anuo cautiously entered.
When he opened the door wide, what met his eyes were corpses scattered across the table, the bodies torn apart.
The receptionist man, seeing this, fell to the ground in terror.
“The council hall has been slaughtered!”
“Demons have infiltrated Mian Yang!”
In an instant.
The atmosphere grew tense.
Xu suddenly fixed his gaze on a certain spot.
“There’s something alive hidden inside.”
At this terrifying revelation, the man completely broke down and fled in panic.
Anuo pulled out his war pick, and Yao Xing drew her brave’s sword.
The three faced off against the living thing in the darkness.
“Don’t be nervous. I’m not a demon.”
“My name is Jia Sha. I’m Mian Yang’s remaining brave.”
A man calling himself Jia Sha stepped out of the shadows.
But Xu refused to let down his guard.
Seeing this, Yao Xing tested the waters.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at the front? Why are you here?”
“Because these old geezers from the council hall… sorry, I should respect the dead, right?”
“They wanted me to meet with the braves from Lin Qi and Luyuan and quickly form an alliance, so they called me back from the front.”
“But they didn’t expect they wouldn’t live long enough for me to return.”
As he spoke, Jia Sha showed them what he’d been doing—bag after bag of corpse parcels.
“Since they were torn apart and scattered everywhere, I had to work hard to piece together their parts.”
‘This guy… such a hard personality to read…’
After saying that, Jia Sha picked up the scribe’s head from the table.
“Look. The bodies of the other ministers all show normal traces of being eaten by demons.”
“But this scribe is different.”
‘Different?’
Under his guidance, the three were given time to think.
Yao Xing looked curiously at the assembled bags of corpses.
They were almost perfectly matched—it seemed Jia Sha actually cared about every detail of the ministers.
‘All these bodies here have heads. In that case, where is this scribe’s body?’
“That’s right. You really are a brave.”
Jia Sha smiled and put the head back on the table.
“The truth is simple. All that bloody mess on the floor, on the table, on the walls, even on the ceiling—it’s all the scribe’s body.”
‘What?!’
Yao Xing was momentarily stunned by this thunderous statement.
Xu calmly summarized, “So you mean the scribe died from an internal explosion?”
“Exactly! Wow, Lin Qi really impresses me—everyone’s so smart!”
“Therefore—”
Jia Sha dropped his playful grin.
“I’m certain this enemy is not an ordinary member of the Demon King’s Army. At the very least, it’s a subordinate of one of the Seven Generals.”
“And right now, they’re inside Mian Yang.”
With these words, the atmosphere fell back into grim silence.
Jia Sha placed the scribe’s head separately into a body bag, carefully wrapping it.
“You three should go take a look around town. I want to bury these ministers. Later, I’ll also have to notify their families.”
‘Their families will surely be devastated when they hear…’
As Yao Xing and the others were about to leave, Jia Sha called her back.
“Brave of Lin Qi, what’s your name?”
“Yao Xing.”
“Alright, Yao Xing. Listen…”
“If you run into Luyuan’s third brave, please pass this on—”
“Meet at Mian Yang’s royal palace tonight. But only the brave should attend—the attendants must stay in the city to prevent the demons from causing casualties.”
Yao Xing nodded.
Then Jia Sha walked back into the council hall without looking back.
‘It’s clear that Jia Sha really values human life, especially those ministers…’
‘Right now, a subordinate of the Demon King’s Seven Generals might be hiding among the crowd in Mian Yang. I need to keep watch.’
With that thought, Yao Xing nodded to Xu, and they went their separate ways, with Anuo ready to provide support.