There Couldn't Possibly Be Such a Lunatic in This World

The sabers had already been drawn—over twenty thousand of them—and among them was one named the Red-Slaying Saber. The apparatuses had been engaged as well, source energy surging and clashing through the air. Between two towering ten-thousand-man battle formations poised for war, only a lone, junior interpreter stood near the center, stomping his feet and hurling curses without the slightest restraint. "You're done for, I'm telling you, Mosolygin! You'd better pray right now that Miss Milla isn't hurt and that she's in a good mood..." *Did she really need to be in a good mood on top of that? But how could someone taken prisoner possibly be in a good mood?* the Splinter Faction soldiers on the opposite side who understood him thought to themselves. "Ranked tenth on the Dome Leaderboard! The Dome Leaderboard!" Tu Zi shouted at the top of his lungs. "There's no way you haven't heard news from the City of Iniquity! Three supers, eight top-tiers, plus over ten thousand thugs straight out of the City of Iniquity..." "Do the math! Think it through carefully! Are you courting death, Mosolygin?! Aren't you going to figure out what to do already?!" Tu Zi was so worked up that his rapid-fire Xiongzhanli occasionally broke pitch. For the first time in his life, he was standing on a battlefield—right between two ten-thousand-man formations with drawn swords, right in front of Chen Buer... And from the looks of it, he seemed to have genuinely scolded the ten-thousand-man army opposite him into hesitation. *I'm legendary,* Tu Zi thought. His mouth never stopped. Across from him, Mosolygin didn't move either. In reality, the Splinter Faction didn't have just over ten thousand soldiers here; they had more than twenty thousand, close to thirty thousand, with over ten thousand lying in ambush on the flank. The trouble was that Mosolygin had naturally heard the reports about the City of Iniquity and seen the latest combat rankings. If it were true, as the junior interpreter claimed, that three super combatants and eight top-tier fighters led by Han Qingyu would show up here... Then what about the balance of their high-end combat power? His side would be utterly crushed. In that case, the threat they had previously posed to Chen Buer would naturally cease to exist. All that would remain was human-wave tactics to desperately hold the line. *"But hasn't he already broken ties with Azure completely?"* *"Would he really come just for one girl? Bringing a lineup like that just to pick someone up?"* *"And how could they possibly appear here out of nowhere?!"* While Mosolygin hesitated, lost in thought, Milla's feelings as the person at the center of it all were rather complicated. Tu Zi didn't recognize her, and naturally she wasn't so foolish as to step out from among the thousand-odd captives on her own... Out of concern for her, the captives nearby who knew Milla created a minor stir, using the commotion to deliberately squeeze her into a concealed spot. Even if doing so felt somewhat futile and like self-deception. "So, will he come?" Yelena whispered from the middle of the crowd. Her bright eyes blinked, shining with anticipation. *"That's The King, after all, and in a situation like this... Wait, aren't we supposed to be love rivals?"* the young girl thought to herself. Milla hesitated. In her heart, she felt certain Han Qingyu and the others would come, but perhaps not right now. Perhaps they didn't even know what was happening here yet. "I... don't know," Milla said woodenly. "If he doesn't come soon, it'll be too late. *Cough, cough*... You've waited three years... You said they'd definitely come," Aleksei muttered, lying on the ground. He was severely injured, yet he hadn't forgotten to be jealous. "If he can't even make it in time for this, what's the point of showing up later?!" Milla glanced at him without speaking. "Still, from what that interpreter is saying, it sounds like he really might come!" Yelena remarked, tilting her head to scan in every direction. Far off across the wilderness, the weeds stirred, desolate and empty. At the same time, Legion Commander Chen frowned slightly. *"What on earth is going on with this interpreter Xu Xiaohong found me?!"* The old man couldn't understand Xiongzhanli, and the junior interpreter seemed to have forgotten he even existed. If not for the fact that the kid was cursing with real ferocity and imposing momentum—and quite satisfying to watch—Chen Buer would have barked at him to stop long ago. From the look of things, there was still plenty of cursing left to do. He couldn't very well keep holding his saber up the whole time, could he? The legion commander sheathed his saber for the moment. Seeing this, the Huaxia soldiers behind him hesitated for a couple of seconds before sheathing theirs as well, utterly bewildered. *So did negotiations work out? Doesn't look like it!* the soldiers thought. "Wait, The King... It sounded like he mentioned that just now." "He also seemed to bring up 1777, and that vice-captain's name." The soldiers did their best to keep their murmurs low, but because there were so many of them, Chen Buer still caught wind of it. "The King?" Chen Buer paused, startled. "Isn't that that rascal? Sounds like him." He had previously anticipated that Han Qingyu would come to Xiongzhanli to pick up the girl, but in the heat of this standoff, he hadn't imagined they might suddenly burst onto the scene. *So that junior interpreter is using that brat to pressure the other side?* *Then what the hell am I standing here for?!* The old man felt a surge of annoyance at the thought, yet deep down, a faint spark of anticipation began to stir... Over two years had passed; the boy probably hadn't changed much, right? If he really showed up here, he'd better not think of running off again, ha. Unlike the legion commander, Marshal Hua was fluent in Xiongzhanli, so he understood every single word. Yet he didn't believe the person would actually come. He suspected that the current situation was merely the junior interpreter stalling for time... *What, does he think stalling a bit will give Azure's Europa forces time to arrive?* Just from standing up and watching for a while, blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Hua Bixuan tried hard to adjust his breathing as he thought. The old man's health was far too frail; if fighting really broke out, he would have to help out and take on at least one super combatant. Across the way, Mosolygin hesitated for about three minutes, his eventual conclusion aligning with Marshal Hua's. He did not believe The King could appear here. In terms of timing, unless that Major Qing had already planned to bring ten thousand men to pick up the girl and happened to have reached the nearest waters, there was no way he could have heard about the coup and arrived in time. Besides, how could there possibly be such a lunatic in this world who would mobilize ten thousand men for no reason just to pick up a girl? It was utterly absurd. Mosolygin decided Tu Zi was merely stalling for time, waiting for reinforcements. "Shut up!" With that thought, Mosolygin barked a harsh curse, cutting off Tu Zi's impassioned tirade. One thing was quite bad: his soldiers had understood everything Tu Zi had just said. The mood in his own battle formation had shifted, giving way to hesitation and unease. If he hesitated any longer, he feared their morale would collapse entirely. "Stop trying to bewilder the ranks! It only reveals your guilt and terror all the more!" he shouted deliberately. "As far as I know, this 'The King' you speak of severed ties with Azure long ago!" When Mosolygin said this, another wave of murmurs rippled through the ranks behind him. Many of them had indeed heard the rumors that The King had broken with Azure. Morale seemed to slowly recover. Feeling reassured, Mosolygin looked back at Tu Zi, his gaze once again brimming with confidence. "So, he will not appear here. Your delay ends now." Strangely enough, Tu Zi said nothing more. He simply stood there, watching him calmly. That look made Mosolygin inexplicably uneasy. *It couldn't be that The King really brought a force like that just to pick up a girl, could it?* "No matter what, find that Milla first and secure her," Mosolygin whispered to an officer behind him. The next instant, the officer led a squad rushing toward the group of captives. Tu Zi saw them. Not knowing their intention, he panicked at once and shouted in alarm, "You dare?!" The Huaxia battle formation began preparing for combat once more. Even Chen Buer grew genuinely anxious. Unable to understand the words, he could only judge from what he saw and assume the worst. *If that Milla girl dies in front of me today... how am I going to explain it to that brat when we meet again?!* The old man's hand closed around the hilt of his saber. At the same time, the captives heard Milla's name. Many of them, including the injured Aleksei and Yelena, began resisting, surging forward together in an attempt to shield Milla in their midst. The Splinter Faction soldiers drew their blades. Screams, shoving, shouts, and threats erupted across the scene in a chaotic din... *Whoosh!* *Thud!* The whistling rush of a projectile came first... Then followed a weapon. A large blue starlight column sword traced a high arc through the air, plunging straight down between the two formations, landing not far in front of the captives. It was not an attack. Falling straight down, the column sword simply planted itself into the earth. Hard dirt was pried up, the sword's shaft tilting slightly to one side. Everyone could clearly see the blade, as well as the cracks running through the overturned clods of earth. In that single instant, the field fell dead silent. Because the connection between this blue starlight column sword and a certain person had been an open secret for over a year. The next second, every gaze turned toward the distance, in the direction from which the column sword had flown. There lay a grassy slope, covered in patches of tall and short grass, fresh green mingling with withered stalks. The wind swayed the blades of grass. One second, two seconds... Without fail, a figure carrying twin sabers on his back walked up from beneath the slope, stepping into everyone's sight and standing on high ground. Then three. A black spear, iron armor. Six. Among them, one carried a sniper rifle on his back. Thirteen. The King had arrived! The rumored three supers, eight top-tiers, iron armor, and the endless gun were, in all likelihood, all standing right there. Emotions across the field—whether excited or panicked—hung on the verge of erupting... Yet that was not all. *Whoosh!* A sudden, fierce gale swept in from that direction, churning up dead leaves that swirled across the entire battlefield. It was the wind stirred up by the charge of a source energy battle formation. *Whir, whir, whir, whir...* The dense roar of source energy apparatuses—a thousand, ten thousand—echoed through the air, surging closer from afar. Rumor had it that The King had led ten thousand men out of the City of Iniquity. It was no rumor. Because now, those ten thousand men were already deployed in formation atop the grassy slope, standing right behind him. *"So, there really is a lunatic in this world who would use a lineup of three supers and eight top-tiers to lead ten thousand men just to pick up a girl?!"* *"Yes, there is."* Mosolygin felt utterly despondent.