The night has grown deep.
In the outskirts of Changzhou Town near Taihu Lake, it has almost become a flesh-strewn purgatory.
Endless demons, more precisely the lowest level of puppets(Creatures), are pouring in from the direction of the ruins of Songjiang.
Their appearance... all of them are young women with beautiful faces and slender figures. If they stand still without moving, they still appear quite pleasing to the eye.
If one were to ignore the ferocity and grim expressions on their faces, as well as their incredibly terrifying aggressiveness in attack.
The Shenwu Army's front line has retreated for the third consecutive time, with a large amount of artillery fire continuously bombarding the frontline positions, turning the surging tide of puppets into a carpet of flesh and blood.
The term "artillery fire" breaks down into "artillery" and "fire."
"Artillery" refers to shells, which are kinetic weapons launched from the rear to the battlefield, exploding rapidly upon hitting the target, splattering rotating metal fragments in all directions, tearing all flesh within range into shreds.
"Fire" refers to high temperature, namely energy weapons, most commonly seen in spider-like robots crawling on the ground, such as the Huodou-L type, standing at one meter high and two meters six in diameter, with eight legs and six external nozzles on top continuously spraying ultra-high-temperature plasma in 360 degrees, incinerating all approaching puppets.
Since 11 a.m., according to the estimation of the battlefield intelligence, over three million puppets have been killed on this battlefield, averaging around 70 per second. As a cost, the military resources and energy consumed by the Divine Martial(Shenwu) Army are immense.
However, more monsters and demons continue to pour out from the depths of the Songjiang Ruins, seemingly endless without limit—just like their attack methods over the years.
"They are competing with us in attrition," the officers briefed the situation to Princess Nankang who had arrived, "and this uprising of puppet groups had no warning signs at all. We suspect there are senior demons driving them from behind."
"Can we use strategic nuclear weapons?" General Sima Cheng pointed at the map, "One to strike the battlefield, two to attack Jiangyin and Huishan respectively, ensuring the direct route from Songjiang to Changzhou is blocked, reducing the pressure on the Divine Martial Army's defense line."
[T/N: Yeah, his name is Sima Cheng.]
"No," Princess Nankang vetoed decisively.
"Your Highness, what do you mean?"
"The use of energy weapons must be restricted to tactical levels," Princess Nankang replied.
"In that case, our supplies won't last long," the officers chimed in, "Even if the Jiangning Military Factory is producing at full capacity and transporting supplies at any cost, it's estimated to sustain us for only about a week of fighting."
Princess Nankang fell silent, her expression dark as she gazed at the battlefield ahead.
"Do you suspect there's a high-level demon manipulating commands from the rear?"
"Yes," Sima Cheng spoke up, "Judging by the intensity of the Puppet Corps' combat, they must be nearby."
"I'll go check," Princess Nankang stood up.
"Then I'll immediately arrange for guards to escort you..."
"No need," Princess Nankang walked out of the tent, brandishing two firearms.
"I'm enough on my own."
........
Jiankang City, the territory of the Cheng family.
"So, are you really planning to sleep here tonight?" Cheng Jinyang looked at the two girls lying on the bed with suspicion.
If they were at home, it wouldn't matter how they played. But here, in the territory of the Cheng family, can't we just rest for a day to avoid unnecessary suspicion?
"Of course," Xing Yuanzhi said, "Consistency is key. You know, 'a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,' right?"
Cheng Jinyang: ???
Can't we just not insist on these strange things? Does the blood concentration really plummet just for missing one night?
Of course, since the two insisted on staying here to sleep with him, Cheng Jinyang didn't lose out... because he couldn't escape the dream anyway, especially in the situation where Xiao Li might not even be there.
With Ah Zhi and Miss Wang accompanying him, it's better than fighting demons alone.
So everyone went to sleep as usual. Miss Ah Zhi, who is particular about cleanliness, slept alone on one bed, while Miss Wang and Cheng Jinyang squeezed onto another.
The single beds in the guest room were a bit narrow, making it a bit cramped for two people.
Cheng Jinyang leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, feeling the fragrance of Miss Wang lingering around him, which unexpectedly stirred some unrest in his heart.
But then he thought, if Ah Zhi isn't jealous about this, there's a subtle sense of loss.
"Thank you both for today," he finally spoke after a while.
"Yuanzhi, Wanrou... If it weren't for you today, my relationship with the family might have completely ruptured."
"If someone hadn't slipped you those little notes, would you still have uttered those arrogant words and ended up estranged from the family?" Xing Yuanzhi retorted.
"If it weren't for my notes, your fiancé would either be stamped with the family seal or kicked out by now," Wang Wanrou said calmly.
"What does that have to do with the notes?" Xing Yuanzhi sneered.
"You could have directly approached Cheng Benhe, the old patriarch. Would Cheng Qingxin dare to say a word against bringing Jinyang into the family if you asked him to recite that script? You're just satisfying your morbid curiosity by making him recite those lines! Don't think I don't know you copied it from Sima Yi's 'Records of the Three Kingdoms,' the Zhuge Liang section in the Shu Han volumes!"
"So, with your intelligence, you can only see the surface." Wang Wanrou said disdainfully.
"Without that passage, Cheng Benhe's attitude would be completely different from what it is now... Well, it's pointless to explain so much to you."
Xing Yuanzhi chuckled and turned away, ignoring her.
"Yuanzhi, when you mention Zhuge Liang, I think of that scene!" Cheng Jinyang intervened, "Isn't this the line Zhuge Liang used to scold Wang Lang back then? Wanrou, Wang Lang is an ancestor of your Wang family, right?"
"Wang Lang is a relative of the Langya Wang clan," Wang Wanrou explained, somewhat reluctantly. "We are from the Taiyuan Wang clan."
"The ancestor of the Taiyuan Wang clan, back then, was just a distant branch of the Langya Wang clan. It was only after developing the 'Mind Steel Seal' that they rose to prominence, giving rise to the branch of Taiyuan," Xing Yuanzhi added.
"On the contrary, the Langya Wang clan has now dispersed among common people."
"Not a distant branch, just a collateral branch," Wang Wanrou murmured softly.
"Most of the prominent families today, with their ancestors possessing abilities in that era, mostly started from humble origins. Even the ancestor of the Cheng family, Cheng Zhijie, before developing his abilities, was just a bandit on Wagang Mountain, wasn't he?"
"Ah, let's not talk about that anymore, let's sleep," Cheng Jinyang quickly stopped them.
After all, this was within the ancestral land of the Shendu Cheng family. If their disrespectful words about their ancestors were overheard, it would be very troublesome.
However, sleeping in the same room as Xing Yuanzhi and Wang Wanrou would be even more troublesome if discovered...
Thinking this way, he slowly began to feel tired.
........
Opening his eyes in the dream, Cheng Jinyang instinctively rolled to the side.
Then he heard the sound of an attack coming from behind.
Getting up, he saw two young women with vacant expressions lunging towards him. If it weren't for his quick roll just now, he might have been caught off guard.
Xing Yuanzhi had already intercepted them, delivering a whip kick that knocked both women to the ground.
Wang Wanrou stood behind her, with a serious expression and a slight furrow in her brow.
The two women were knocked down but quickly got up as if they felt no pain, swinging their arms and charging at them again, their eyes flashing with hunger.
Like zombies.
"We need to go!" Cheng Jinyang hastily led the two girls, choosing the nearest street to escape.
"Where are we?" Xing Yuanzhi quickly scanned the surroundings and asked.
"I don't know, I've never been here before!" Cheng Jinyang exclaimed.
The monsters, obviously weaker than the "weird" ones without claws and bone hammers, had never appeared in his dreams before. But it wasn't a wise idea to recklessly engage with these unknown creatures.
The towering buildings, wide roads, lush greenery, and exquisite shop windows around them were vastly different from the environment of Wujiang Town, and even more bustling than the most prosperous Qinhuai District in Jiankang City (if there were people around).
Cheng Jinyang suddenly lifted his head in disbelief, his gaze fixated on a towering iron tower in the distance amidst the steel forest.
At the top of the tower, a pointed spire aimed towards the sky, with two large spheres at both the center and the bottom, each adorned with a red stripe, resembling a spear thrusting into the heavens.