Chapter 99.1: Three Men, One City
Zhang Sheng and Chen Jiao hauled themselves up the crumbling city wall, panting for breath by the time they reached the top.
"You've been guarding this place alone?" Zhang Sheng asked, trembling with awe.
This was the heart of the Central Plains war zone, a land of death. Out of the 108,000 human cities, one third had already fallen to the demons. The City of No Return was one such half-doomed fortress. For over a decade, Great Xia had been too drained to reclaim it.
Qi Yuan sat on the wall, absently tracing the edge of his broken sword.
"It's been a while," he murmured. "A shame I haven't seen any demons lately."
"You're not one of Great Xia's soldiers," Zhang Sheng said after glancing at the bare city walls. His expression softened. "A wandering soldier, then?"
It made sense. There were always lone heroes who roamed the frontlines, joining the human wars of their own will. Most of them were cultivators. Zhang Sheng and Chen Jiao weren’t. Of the troops who had come here, half had been. Yet none remained.
"Something like that," Qi Yuan said lightly.
"Then..." Zhang Sheng hesitated. "May I raise the flag of Great Xia here? If it flies above these walls, it means this city still belongs to us."
"Sure." Qi Yuan regarded them both.
These two NPCs’ auras are so faint that death already clung to their skin, yet their eyes were filled not with fear but elation, he thought wryly.
Chen Jiao pulled a blood-stained, wrinkled flag from his chest and began smoothing it carefully. Zhang Sheng helped him, his hands trembling. To plant that flag was like performing a sacred rite. It was a simple act, but both men treated it with reverence, their breath coming hard and fast.