On the top floor of Ah Fu’s Gun Shop.
Bai Chen placed the Orange rifle on the edge of the rooftop and fired down in a rather awkward posture.
Bang!
Among the wilderness nomads attempting to break through the barricades at the courtyard’s entrance, one person fell face down, blood flowing.
Bai Chen wasn’t greedy; she immediately retracted her body and dodged the group’s subconscious counterattack.
After a round of random firing, the group of wilderness nomads—who had lost their leader and commander—could only retreat in a rather messy manner due to the relatively abundant firepower in the courtyard.
They fled in different directions.
Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this. He quickly checked his firearms and reloaded them. This was a rifle that he had borrowed from Ah Fu’s Gun Shop’s boss, Auntie Nan’s brother; it could be used as a sniper rifle.
He and Bai Chen used this opportunity to occupy the high ground and cooperated with the neighbors behind the barricade to deal with the scattered wilderness nomads and a small number of city guards, who had lost their discipline.
Long Yuehong had also grasped sniping techniques during training. However, he usually didn’t have the chance to familiarize himself with them. After wasting more than ten bullets, he gradually got into the groove. He could now take an enemy out with two to three bullets.
Compared to him, not only did Bai Chen hit every target with one bullet, but she was also good at observation. She could always find the enemy leader and target them.
This way, the enemies would become disorganized and disperse after a few shots.
“I wonder when it will end...” Long Yuehong looked down from the rooftop and sighed.
Although their defensive efforts had been very successful and easy, nobody knew what awaited them as long as the city continued to be in chaos.
“Soon.” Bai Chen looked back at North Street. “As long as Weed City’s upper echelons aren’t wiped out, these wilderness nomads won’t be a match for them when they catch their breath and regroup.”
The simplest fact was that the city guards had yet to counterattack. No matter how bad they were, they were regular troops that had undergone training and often fought in the wilderness. It was impossible for them to collapse so easily.
Furthermore, in the residences of the nobles at North Street, every family could produce multiple cannons at any time, take out a few machine guns, and organize a very capable private army.
In addition, Bai Chen had also heard that the Castellan used the Hunter’s Guild to cooperate with Mechanical Paradise closely. It was possible that they were hiding some secret weapon.
Just as she said that, Bai Chen heard a slightly deep rumble.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Salvo continuously boomed from North Street, and the ground gently shook.
Long Yuehong felt the building tremble. For a moment, he didn’t know if the city defense forces had finally counterattacked or if the wilderness nomads had seized enough cannons and begun bombarding the barricade.
After this round of firing, intense gunshots sounded.
Before long, a commotion surged south from North Street as if a large number of people were running toward the city gate.
Right on the heels of that, a loud voice sounded through the clouds. “Put down your weapons and squat down with your hands on your head. As long as you surrender, you will receive aid. You can also enter a manor and become a slave.”
The repeated warnings echoed in the city as the commotion and gunshots slowly subsided. As long as there was a way out, very few people would stubbornly resist to the end.
Long Yuehong and Bai Chen looked at each other and exhaled. “It’s finally over...”
...
Castellan Manor, Aristocratic Council Chamber.
Sitting at the end of the long table, Shang Jianyao stroked the small speaker with a blue bottom and a black surface as he spoke to everyone in satisfaction. “Isn’t it nice how everyone is so harmonious, working together to fight against an external enemy? If there really is any conflict, just have a dance battle or an arm wrestle. Or perhaps see who can stare without blinking for the longest time.”
Xu Liyan took a deep breath and agreed. “That’s right! We’re all brothers and sisters, so how can there be any obstacles that we can’t surmount?”
“No, no,” retorted the slow talker, Merrick. “We need to have a hierarchy. You still have to call us uncles.”
Xu Liyan was just about to respond when a guard came over from the door and reported happily, “Castellan, the first counterattack has scattered those wilderness nomads! Due to the promise of aid, many of them have given up resisting. Order in the city is slowly being restored. The city guards that we previously lost contact with have been found and organized.”
Xu Liyan heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. “As expected, things need to work in concert. We can’t be stingy at a time like this. Mercy might not necessarily be worse than selfishness. Different situations require different methods.”
After this battle, Xu Liyan felt that his authority had been established to a certain extent. However, everyone was a brother, so there was no need to force the issue.
After Xu Liyan gave the orders to deal with the aftermath, he saw another guard rush to the door.
“Castellan, the wilderness sentry in First City’s direction reports: A regular army from First City has appeared and have met up with a few slave hunter teams.”
Xu Liyan narrowed his eyes. “As expected...”
Jiang Baimian wasn’t surprised at all. After confirming Father’s true goal, she suspected that there was a faction in First City behind the matter or that it was the direct will of First City’s Senate.
They had long wanted to swallow Weed City—a fat piece of meat with great autonomy—completely.
Xu Liyan then looked around and smiled. “If we can’t resolve the chaos quickly, they will have sufficient reason to station themselves here and stabilize the situation for their subordinate faction.”
With that said, he turned to look at Uncle Liu. “Send out a drone team and bomb the wilderness plains in front of that army. Tell them that we’ve quelled the unrest and ask them not to approach to prevent any collateral damage. Heh heh, these large-scale fireworks should be able to entertain both the guests and the host.”
“Yes, Castellan!” Uncle Liu replied before reminding him, “Bear in mind that harmony is still the most precious thing.”
“I understand.” Although Xu Liyan was angry, he didn’t lose his reason.
For them, be it the resources they could obtain, the trade they could participate in, the protection they could obtain, or the degree of autonomy, staying under First City’s protection was the best choice.
Upon seeing that the situation had been reversed and all matters were on track, Jiang Baimian signaled Shang Jianyao with her eyes.
Shang Jianyao quickly stood up. As he placed the small speaker back into his tactical backpack, he said, “We still have something on; we have to go.”
“You have to come to the ball after things calm down!” Zhao Zhengqi’s eldest son extended an invitation, reluctant to see Shang Jianyao go.
“If I’m free,” Shang Jianyao replied with glistening eyes.
Xu Liyan looked around. “Don’t you still have three people with you? It’s inconvenient without a car. Men! Drive my custom bulletproof SUV to the door.”