Occupy Xizhou!

The roar of gunfire and cannon fire in the east continued without pause. Rock Fang stood beside a wooden raft, gazing up at the flickering sparks in the night sky, muttering under his breath. "...Still not over?" Could something have gone wrong? Just as his anxiety was mounting, a raft drifted out from the mouth of the alley to the east. Recognizing the figure standing on the raft as one of his own centurions, Rock Fang's heart leaped into his throat. The raft pulled up to the bank. Without waiting for his trusted subordinate to find his footing, Rock Fang seized him by the shoulders and demanded frantically, "What's the situation? Who won?" "The New Alliance won... They've already taken the command post," the centurion answered at once. "What about Golden Fang?" Rock Fang pressed. "Where is he? Was he captured?" The centurion swallowed hard. "Dead!" Rock Fang stared. "Are you certain?!" The centurion nodded forcefully, his voice trembling with tension. "Certain! I saw it with my own eyes! A shell from the New Alliance bored straight through a hole in the wall, and an explosion tore through the place right after... Not just Golden Fang—those apostles sent by the Church of the Torch were blown to pieces as well!" Hearing this, the boulder crushing Rock Fang's chest finally lifted. He couldn't help clenching his fists. "Excellent." Seeing the joy spread across Rock Fang's face, the centurion who had witnessed Golden Fang's corpse wore a conflicted expression. The tyrant was dead. The war was finally over. Yet it had ended in their defeat. Although the New Alliance had promised they would receive better treatment than ordinary prisoners, it didn't change the fact that they were captives. As for what the future held... Only the heavens knew. Noticing the complicated look on his subordinate's face, Rock Fang realized it was in poor taste to look overly ecstatic right now. He cleared his throat dryly and patted the centurion on the shoulder. "Don't take it too hard. Things turning out like this is all because that idiot listened to Dillon's rotten ideas and threw away all our tanks in a reckless gamble. He dragged our tribe into the abyss; the blame for this defeat doesn't lie with us. "Besides, the Alliance Administrator told me in his letter: surrender, and you only lose half. So we've only lost half. "This is already a decent outcome. Square your shoulders. Now we're going to take charge of those prisoners... There's no shame in it." ... Upon learning of Golden Fang's death, Rock Fang immediately led his more than one thousand troops charging out from the western defensive sector toward the command post, coordinating with the Burning Corps to take control of the checkpoints and sentry posts in the surrounding streets. Though this meant turning their guns on former allies, things had reached a point where he had no other path. To prove his loyalty to the New Alliance, Rock Fang issued orders without hesitation to open fire on his fellow tribesmen, even rushing to the front lines to oversee the fighting himself. At first, his men were somewhat hesitant, but as casualties mounted, their eyes turned blood-red with fighting frenzy, casting aside every shred of inner conflict. They were marauders. Moral constraints and guilty consciences had never burdened them in the first place. Submitting to the strong was simply part of the law of the jungle. "Rock Fang, have you gone completely fucking insane?!" Cloud Fang was urging his unit forward into the attack when he caught sight of Rock Fang standing behind a barricade across the street amidst the flames. A look of deranged disbelief washed over his face. Confronting his former comrade, Rock Fang felt a brief twinge of embarrassment, but it lasted less than half a second. "Words are useless now. That fool brought all of this upon himself... Surrender! Golden Fang is already dead!" "Already... dead?!" A tremor of shock and dread flitted through Cloud Fang's eyes, only to be instantly supplanted by deep hatred and fury. He roared at the top of his lungs, "Never!" Rock Fang dropped all pretense. Abandoning every reservation, he mounted a machine gun, sprayed the barricade on the opposite side of the street, and shouted fiercely, "Then go die, you bastard!" A soldier of the New Alliance pulled the pin on a smoke grenade, took a running leap, and hurled it with all his might. The red smoke traversed nearly a hundred meters and landed dead center on Cloud Fang's position. Before the marauders could react, a rain of fire descended from the sky, blowing them and their fortifications sky-high. Gazing at the billowing smoke rising ahead, Rock Fang offered half a second of silent mourning for his former brother-in-arms, then pumped his fist fiercely. "Good hit!" Don't blame me, brother. Rest in peace. I didn't have a choice either... With Cloud Fang's death, the morale of his thousand-man unit plummeted to rock bottom. Faced with the ferocious firepower of the New Alliance and Rock Fang's troops, the remaining marauders were swiftly routed. Just then, broadcasts echoed through the urban districts surrounding Sixin District. "This is the Alliance Administrator. "Marauders of the Fang Clan, your command post has fallen. Skullcrusher Golden Fang was eliminated on the spot by our soldiers while attempting to flee. "Your defeat is sealed. Surrender is your only way out! "We do not kill prisoners, but those who put up stubborn resistance will be eradicated without mercy!" Golden Fang... Was dead? The marauders still rushing toward the command post froze, their faces drained of color and filled with bewilderment and dread. The moment they heard the news of Golden Fang's death, it felt as though the entire sky had caved in. From thousand-man commanders down to the rifle-toting grunts, everyone sank into utter confusion, at a loss for what to do. On the front line in the southern district, standing beside Ape Fang, a staff officer from the Legion let out a low sigh. "...Surrender. We've already lost." Ape Fang's face twisted with rage. He grabbed the officer by the collar. "Shut your fucking mouth! Who do you think brought us to this point in the first place?!" "You want to say it was Dillon, don't you?" the staff officer said with a mocking sneer. "It really is his fault... Placing his hopes on you lot was the stupidest decision of his life. If you want to kill me, go ahead and do it. You don't have much time left anyway." Ape Fang glared at him with murder in his eyes, but after a long silence, he finally released his grip on the collar. "...What should I do?" "Take your men out and surrender. The New Alliance's bombardment of the southern district was clearly just a feint; their main force is in the west. Offering your surrender before they enter the city shows far more sincerity than waiting until they breach our lines." Ape Fang swallowed hard, his voice trembling. "B-but we don't have leaflets. I burned every single one we found." Lord Golden Fang had ordered capital punishment for anyone caught hoarding leaflets. Ape Fang had never dared disobey; every day he searched his subordinates' pockets two or three times to ensure there were no traitors in his ranks. Hearing this naive remark, the staff officer merely scoffed. "What nonsense are you spewing? Do you really think your men are that obedient? I'd bet that the moment you shout the war is over, they can pull out more than a thousand surrender passes right on the spot." Ape Fang's face flushed green and pale by turns. His fists clenched tight and loosened repeatedly. After a fierce internal struggle, his survival instinct finally prevailed. Under his command, more than a thousand marauders in the southern district emerged from their fortifications with hands clasped behind their heads, marching toward the New Alliance positions in wave after wave... At that very moment, guarding the trenches at the front of the New Alliance position was the Skeleton Corps. "Holy crap, they're giving up just like that?!" Talk about spineless! Holding a pair of binoculars, Brother Mole couldn't help cursing as he watched the crowd of marauders walking over with hands on their heads. "Well, NPCs only have one life, after all. Nothing shameful about it, nothing shameful," Elaina remarked casually, chewing away as he cradled a wooden lunchbox. Seeing how heartily he was eating, Elven King Fugui beside him couldn't help swallowing, peering into the lunchbox. "What is that?" A pitch-black shell, topped with a few leaves that looked like herbs. At preliminary glance, it was at least cooked. "Cartridge shrimp. Caught them by the lake. Want one?" Elaina generously offered him a toothpick. Though hesitant, hearing that it was shrimp eased Fugui's wariness a bit. He used the toothpick to spear a thumb-thick ball of meat. Come to think of it, the shape of this cartridge shrimp was rather peculiar. He studied it for a good while without spotting a head or claws, but after some hesitation, he tossed it into his mouth. Emmm... Surprisingly, the taste wasn't terrible? Just a bit gamey, with a muddy river flavor. Watching his buddy crunching away, Elaina chimed in with a reminder. "Remember to spit out the shell. You can't chew that stuff, and it pokes your gums like crazy." "Pokes my gums? Why did it crush the second I bit down?" Fugui froze mid-chew. Elaina froze too, his expression turning slightly awkward. "Uh... are you sure you ate a shrimp?" Fugui was dumbfounded, his jaw suspended mid-bite. "Holy shit, is there something else in your bowl?!" Elaina looked away evasively. "...It's fine. A few snails probably got mixed in. No big deal." "Blergh!" Before Elaina could even finish, Fugui was already clutching the vehicle door and gagging violently. Lowering his binoculars, Brother Mole shot Fugui a glance. "...Daring to snatch food from Old Na's bowl—you've got balls of steel, man." Hearing that, Elaina gripped his lunchbox indignantly. "Fuck off! You make it sound like I'm not eating human food!" Brother Mole: "...What normal human being roasts horsehair worms?!" "What horsehair worms? Those are mantis legs! Besides, not every mantis has horsehair worms!" While the two bickered, the marauders with hands on their heads had already arrived before the New Alliance lines. Clad in an exoskeleton, Liu Ding led a fully armed hundred-man company forward, taking custody of the thousand-plus captives in batches. Apart from the commanders ranked centurion and above, who were detained separately inside the position, the rest were gathered before the trenches, squatting with hands clasped behind their heads, waiting for transport to the newly built prisoner-of-war camp in Qingshi County. Meanwhile, in the New Alliance's forward command post. Looking at the VM screen, the tense expression on Chu Guang's face finally relaxed into a smile. "It's over." Vannus looked at him, astonished. "The command post has fallen?" Chu Guang nodded. "Yes. Although there was a slight hitch in the plan and we couldn't take Golden Fang alive, recovering his corpse serves the same purpose." The reason the Fang Clan could maintain an army of tens of thousands under a tribal model was largely due to the chieftain's personal prestige and bloody reign of terror. Once Golden Fang was dead—whether in battle, of old age, or from illness—the entire tribe would quickly unravel. Unless a new strongman emerged to take charge. Under the current circumstances, however, that possibility was virtually zero. And with the destruction of the Fang Clan, the Bone Chewer tribe that had swept through the entire River Valley Province would reach its absolute end... "In less than two months, an army of nearly thirty thousand marauders was wiped out... You've worked a miracle," Vannus remarked, full of admiration. Chu Guang smiled, answering modestly, "The one who worked the miracle wasn't me, but the people of the New Alliance." Vannus looked at him in surprise, then nodded thoughtfully after a long silence. "I see." If that was the case... Victory was only natural. ... Sporadic skirmishes continued throughout the night. As the news of Golden Fang's death spread, marauders who heard the broadcast gradually emerged from their shelters, raising their hands and surrendering by entire units. The horizon turned the pale gray of dawn. Firefights in the main districts wound down, and Xizhou City finally greeted the dawn of peace. Gazing toward the distant morning light, Chu Guang squinted through his power armor's visor, then turned to Liu Ding beside him. "How about calling the new settlement Daybreak City? Or do you have a better idea?" Liu Ding pondered for a long time, but lacking much education, he could only squeeze out three words: "Great name!" Chu Guang chuckled and swept his right hand forward. "Advance!" The First Corps stood by in place. The Second Corps, along with player corps such as the Death Corps and Jungle Corps, began pushing forward. Resistance inside the city was largely finished, but not everyone surrendered easily. Even though consecutive defeats and ruthless oppression had pushed most of the Fang Clan's members to their breaking points, there were still diehard loyalists prepared to fight for the tribe to their dying breath. "Contemptible cowards! They've betrayed their banner and their oaths!" "Surrender? Hahaha, keep dreaming!" Hurling furious curses at Rock Fang's troops, Fox Fang fought a retreating action with his remnants, falling back into an abandoned shopping center. Because the southern garrison had defected, Fox Fang, who had been dispatched to reinforce the southern line, had been thrown onto the back foot immediately. Cut off and isolated, his men deserted and fled along the way. By now, he couldn't even muster three hundred men. Fortunately, an ammunition depot was hidden in the underground garage of this derelict commercial center. It stored munitions and supplies intended for the southern front, enough to sustain them for a considerable time. Moreover, the sturdy foundation and surface structure provided excellent protection against bombing and artillery fire. To take this depot, troops would have to be sent inside. Just as Chu Guang was considering which corps to assign the mission to, the captive he had kept along as a guide stepped forward, cupping his fists. "Exalted Administrator, if you are willing to trust me, leave this obstinate troublemaker to me! I am willing to lead my men into the underground garage, capture that ammo depot, and present it to you!" As he spoke, Ape Fang's eyes were filled with flattery and fawning. Given the choice, he had no desire to become a forced laborer in the mines. On the wasteland, even serving as cannon fodder was better than hard labor. The former at least offered a chance at spoils and a shot at turning one's fortunes around; the latter was pure drudgery, where the only end was working oneself to death in a mine shaft. Chu Guang had initially planned to tell him to scram, but a thought struck him: this might be a fine opportunity. The war was over. He didn't need cannon fodder, but he did need hands to manage the prisoners. Currently, the only handy tools at his disposal were Rock Fang and his men. Those men had pledged their loyalty with blood, turning their guns on their own allies; they could never see eye to eye with the other captives. However, they still belonged to a single faction. Leaving the supervision entirely to them was certainly ill-advised. To prevent the intermediate management of the POW camp from becoming overly unified into an unbreakable bloc, it was necessary to groom a "second-in-command" to check and balance Rock Fang. With that in mind, Chu Guang looked at Liu Ding. "Is that thousand-man unit that defected last night still at our position?" Liu Ding nodded. "Yes, currently under the watch of the First Corps." Chu Guang then turned his gaze back to Ape Fang. "I will assign a corps to support you. I want to see results before nightfall." Ape Fang was overjoyed. "Thank you for your trust! I swear I'll bring Fox Fang's head to you!" "Take him alive if possible," Chu Guang instructed, then waved him off. Ape Fang's troops were already assembling at the entrance of the underground garage. The vanguard hundred-man company was equipped with captured PU-9 submachine guns, each man issued two magazines by logistics. Eager to prove himself, Ape Fang volunteered his own subordinates to spearhead the assault. Chu Guang nodded in approval and instructed his quartermaster to supply an additional offensive grenade to each member of the assault squad. At the same time, three hundred players from the Death Corps received the mission to clear out the remaining enemy. The expansion pack would enter the points settlement phase within twenty-four hours; this was their last chance to grind points. The players assigned the task rubbed their hands in excitement, while those left out looked on with burning envy. "Damn it! We're infantry too, why can't we go?" "Exactly! Total favoritism!" "There's gotta be some shady backroom deal!" "Piss off, what backroom deal? It's called leaving it to the professionals! What do you guys know?" Debt-ridden Big Eyes grinned cheekily, already strapping on a flamethrower borrowed from the Jungle Corps. Stepping to the front of the formation, Brother Edge bellowed, "Brothers, switch to submachine guns and shotguns! Fix bayonets if you have them, grab your entrenching shovels if you don't! Prepare to clear the bunker!" The players of the Death Corps erupted in exhilarated roars. "Awoooo!" Watching their sky-high battle fervor, the surrendering marauders waiting to lead the charge swallowed nervously. Getting this excited over near-suicidal close-quarters combat... Were these people completely insane? "We'll leave this to them. Let's keep moving." Leaving several NPCs from the Second Corps to supervise the battle, Chu Guang waved his hand and led the main force deeper into the city. The temporary holding area for prisoners was established at the former site of the Civic Plaza in the southern part of Sixin District. It provided an expansive open ground without cover. The theater sitting on the north side of the plaza enjoyed an excellent field of view; a single machine gun there could suppress the entire square. Throughout the night, prisoners were escorted in continually. Their casualties weren't particularly severe. Apart from a minority who resisted stubbornly, many had been captured by guerrillas while fleeing north or had surrendered in organized units alongside their officers. Initially, Rock Fang tied them up with rope. Later, as the sheer volume of prisoners overwhelmed their rope supplies, they stripped the beast-skin tunics off the captives' backs, tearing them into leather strips to serve as makeshift bindings and bandages. May was already turning warm; had it been a few months earlier, many would have frozen to death. By dawn, the entire plaza was packed with a dark, dense mass of squatting men, filling almost every inch of open ground. Rock Fang stood around the perimeter with his fully armed men, formed into ten-man squads, glaring vigilantly at the captives squatting with hands clasped behind their heads. Glancing sideways at the traitors with white armbands, the goblin-like captives burned with hatred in their eyes. Yet the moment their eyes shifted to the soldiers of the New Alliance, all that hatred dissolved into dread and terror. They had truly been beaten into submission! "...Honored and exalted Administrator, your most loyal servant, Rock Fang, welcomes your arrival!" Spotting the power armor at the head of the column, Rock Fang instantly recognized Chu Guang and hurried forward with a flattering smile. Chu Guang glanced over the sea of heads covering the plaza. "How many prisoners are here?" "21,708!" Rock Fang answered instantly. "Are you sure of that number?" "Er, roughly... might be off by a hundred or two," Rock Fang stammered, cold sweat beading on his forehead. Chu Guang smiled faintly, not making things difficult for him. In truth, he had already deployed a Hummingbird drone over the plaza and had Xiao Qi tally them up. A total of 21,573 men. There was a discrepancy, but not a large one. Some of these captives belonged to the Fang Clan's core units, while others had been pressed from the eastern provinces or the Free State of Bugra. Before they worked off their sins, Chu Guang had no intention of releasing them home. "...Gathering so many people here poses a hazard. I suggest transporting them in batches back to Qingshi County for detention," Liu Ding advised in a low voice, stepping up beside Chu Guang. Chu Guang considered it for a moment before replying, "The POW camp in Qingshi County probably can't hold this many. We initially projected eight to ten thousand prisoners; we didn't build nearly enough quarters." The number of prisoners far exceeded expectations. He truly hadn't anticipated they would surrender so quickly, barely offering any decent resistance. "Then should we..." A sharp, ruthless glint flashed in Liu Ding's eyes. Rock Fang stood beside them, terrified into silence, trembling where he stood. Chu Guang shook his head gently. "No need. The mines in Qingshi County need hands, and Daybreak City needs hands too. Send a portion to Qingshi County, and keep the rest here to build their own camp." Such numbers were indeed a hazard, but they also represented opportunity. If they wanted to overtake the wasteland factions that had developed for over a century, playing it overly safe was out of the question. Looking at Rock Fang, Chu Guang asked, "Besides these prisoners, what about the slaves you captured? And the craftsmen who made weapons for you—where are they now?" Rock Fang answered nervously, "The slaves and craftsmen are scattered across the cells in Sixin District... I've posted men to guard them." "How many?" Rock Fang hesitated, clearly not having had time to count. "Roughly... a little over ten thousand." "Ten thousand?" Liu Ding paused, frowning. "How are there so many?" Rock Fang kept his mouth shut, not daring to speak. In reality, at their peak, they held over fifty thousand captives and thirty-five thousand tribesmen. Later, however, famine, rat plagues, and disease struck, compounded by military stalemates and failed land reclamation efforts, causing many slaves to perish. That was why only ten-odd thousand remained. "Hope Town counted over five thousand people... Adding the ten-odd thousand slaves here, if we grant them all resident status, our grain reserves will bear a heavy burden," the accompanying quartermaster murmured prudently. Chu Guang fell silent for a moment. "It's already late May. We can sustain them until the wheat and early rice harvest in July. Once trade routes to the south open up, we can use copper ore and sulfur to purchase grain from the ranchers and farmers in Jinchuan Province..." If things became dire, falling back on nutrient paste was also an option. Pausing, Chu Guang continued, "...We promised to grant resident status to every survivor in Hope Town; we stick to our word. As for the liberated slaves, grant them provisional resident status under the standards used for vagrants." Provisional residents occupied a transitional zone between vagrants and full residents, enjoying limited civil rights. Ordinarily, incoming vagrants were classified as provisional residents. Only after a period of study and labor, upon acquiring a basic trade, would their registration be updated and resident IDs issued. Doing so minimized the social shock and economic burden imposed by external populations. The quartermaster promptly noted down the Administrator's instructions. "What about the craftsmen?" Chu Guang said, "Keep them confined for now, but segregate them from the other prisoners." The quartermaster nodded. "Understood!" Chu Guang then turned his gaze back to Rock Fang. "Lead me to Golden Fang's palace. Let's see what treasures that fellow hoarded." Seeing that the Administrator had finished interrogating him, Rock Fang finally let out a sigh of relief and bowed subserviently. "Right away! I'll take you there right now!" The procession advanced grandly deeper into Sixin District. At that same moment, a flurry of victory dispatches flew back to Dawn City as if on wings, broadcast through the town square speakers into the ears of every soul. The New Alliance had captured Xizhou City! Skullcrusher Golden Fang's head had rolled! The Fang Clan was utterly eradicated, over twenty thousand marauders taken captive, and nearly ten thousand slaves liberated! Any single one of those headlines was enough to stun onlookers for an entire day. At the entrance of the trading post. Caravan merchants leading two-headed oxen, mercenaries bearing heavy packs, and travelers on foot all halted in their tracks, exchanging glances of disbelief. "Golden Fang is dead...?" "Are they serious?!" "If the Fang Clan is truly finished... the Bone Chewer tribe is practically done for," a rifle-toting mercenary murmured, staring in shock at the loudspeaker. "Finally over! I haven't been able to visit Bugra's taverns to see my old flame in nearly two years... I hope she still remembers me," his companion chimed in. "Hahaha, those man-eating hyenas have finally been sent straight to hell! Praise the great Alliance, praise the Administrator! The Tianshui River will remember his glorious deeds!" a dust-covered merchant hollered with delight, drawing sideways glances from all around. Evidently, those marauders had cost him a fortune in the past. "Praise the almighty Great Horned Deer God, this land has finally welcomed its true master..." An elderly traveler knelt devoutly on the ground, offering prayers. Far away in Red River Town, at the headquarters of the Horseshoe Trading Firm, Sim sat behind his desk, frozen in place upon reading the telegram from Xizhou City. Only after a long silence did he snap out of his stupor, muttering with a stiff mouth in sheer existential disbelief: "...That's gotta be fake."