Chapter 125: Safe City Locator
Because of the Blue Sea residents’ advantage in night vision, the situation quickly became completely one-sided.
They were agile enough and constantly changed positions. Although the Sanluo people, gripped by panic, began firing indiscriminately in every direction, the chances of actually hitting a Blue Sea resident were extremely low.
Only a small number of Blue Sea residents were hit—those who weren’t quick enough to dodge, or who happened to have the bad luck of running straight into a bullet.
What frightened the Sanluo people even more was that they clearly heard the dull thuds of bullets hitting their targets, yet the shadows around them not only didn’t retreat—they instead became even more ferocious, pouncing toward them.
“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
Through the believers’ perspectives, Cheng Qisheng watched the Blue Sea resident who had been shot but refused to leave the battlefield, instead becoming even more exhilarated.
She couldn’t help pinching the bridge of her nose.
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t interfere with residents who refused to withdraw even after being injured.
Mainly because the Old Eighths had their own logic when it came to fighting:
“Being injured” = “The longer the injury lasts, the worse it gets” = “Gradually losing combat ability” = “Before that happens, become even more ferocious and take out the enemy.”
Once the enemy was dealt with, wouldn’t it be perfectly fine to calmly treat the wound afterward?
The Old Eighths had been using this logic ever since the primitive era, and Cheng Qisheng generally didn’t interfere.
But she could tell that this particular injured resident didn’t have much combat experience. Combined with his adrenaline rush, he had failed to accurately judge how serious his injury actually was.
If he continued fighting this recklessly, he would probably be flat on his back within twenty minutes.
Cheng Qisheng immediately guided the divine officials toward his location, instructing them to take him away and treat his wounds.
Three minutes later.
The Blue Sea resident, who had completely ignored his injury, was crouching on the roof with his wings raised in front of him, staring intently at a squad of Sanluo people below.
He was just about to spread his wings and dive down like a giant roc.
But the moment his feet touched the ground, the tip of one wing was grabbed by a divine official.
The Blue Sea resident, who was dangling awkwardly in midair because someone had grabbed him by the tip of his wing, said:
“……”
He turned his head and looked up at the divine official hovering above with a pleading expression that clearly said, ‘Please, please.’
The divine official shook his head.
The injured Blue Sea resident held up three fingers, meaning that he only needed three more minutes of fighting.
Just three more minutes. Once those three minutes were up, he would go with the divine official.
The divine official continued shaking his head. With one hand still gripping the tip of the resident’s wing, he placed his other hand against his chest and slightly lowered his head toward the sky.
The meaning was clear: The divine official had come to take him away because it was the will of the Great God.
When it was an oracle from Our God, there was indeed no room for negotiation.
The injured Blue Sea resident obediently continued hanging in midair, allowing the divine official to carry him away from the battlefield by the tip of his wing and return him to the city for treatment.
Throughout the entire process, neither of them made a sound.
This could also be considered a racial talent of the Blue Sea residents.
The Old Eighths always managed to find the fighting method best suited to the situation at hand.
Once nightfall had robbed the enemy of their vision, the Blue Sea residents didn’t need to discuss it, nor did they need orders from their superiors. In an instant, everyone tacitly began suppressing every movement that might make a sound.
They didn’t even speak.
Even when flying through the air, the Blue Sea residents now tried their best to glide in a way that produced almost no noise.
They restrained their presence and moved as quietly and carefully as possible.
From Cheng Qisheng’s perspective, watching a group of tall, sturdy Old Eighths tiptoeing around in the darkness like thieves was actually rather amusing.
For the Sanluo people, however, it probably wasn’t nearly as amusing.
At first, when the Blue Sea residents were still getting the hang of “reducing their noise,” they would occasionally make a sound by accident.
To the Sanluo people, it meant that a black shadow could drift past from any direction at any moment.
Then, without warning, a sudden sound would come from somewhere close by, startling them so badly that they couldn’t help screaming.
The fact that there was any sound at all had already turned the Sanluo people into a bunch of startled rabbits.
But when the surroundings fell completely silent, that was when things became truly terrifying.
One second, everything would still be fine.
The next, someone beside them would suddenly be dragged into the darkness.
The Sanluo people could only fire their weapons wildly in all directions while listening to the screams of their abducted companions growing farther and farther away, until they disappeared completely.
It was as if some monster lurking in the darkness had swallowed not only the person, but their voice as well.
Then came the next one.
And the next.
No matter how carefully they guarded themselves or where they tried to hide, the enormous shadows in the darkness could always successfully drag away one person after another.
But in Cheng Qisheng’s eyes, it looked like the Sanluo people were being picked off one by one like chicks by an eagle.
—No, not one bite at a time.
One grab at a time, and never missing.
It wasn’t just Coriander Safe City, either. Sanluo Safe City was in much the same state.
There were even some ability users inside Sanluo Safe City whose night vision wasn’t bad. But compared to the Blue Sea residents pouring in like a tidal wave, they were nothing more than tiny drops of water.
Before they could even make a difference, they had already been taken out of the fight.
The Sanluo City Lord had also changed from his previous negotiating stance of, “I’ll give you ten thousand square kilometers, and we’ll call a truce. If we don’t, once the night-beast tide arrives, neither of us will have an easy time,” to becoming increasingly frantic.
He kept raising his offer, desperately trying to convince Blue Sea to stop the war.
Cheng Qisheng ignored him.
Twenty-three minutes after the Eternal Night descended.
Both Cheng Qisheng and Wen Huahua received a notification from their AIs.
[AI Announcement: The number of combat personnel in Sanluo Safe City has fallen to 20%.]
[This Safe City War has been won by Blue Sea Safe City.]
—Whew!!!
Wen Huahua, who had been tense ever since Sanluo Safe City set its sights on them and hadn’t dared rest for even a moment, finally let out a huge sigh of relief.
If he hadn’t been holding onto the table, his legs might have given out beneath him and sent him collapsing to the floor.
They had come so close. Just a tiny bit closer.
Before the Blue Sea boss descended upon Moon Silk Star, Coriander Safe City had genuinely come dangerously close to dropping below 20% combat personnel and being declared defeated.
Wen Huahua wiped the sweat from his forehead. Although all he wanted right now was to do absolutely nothing, sit on the floor, and zone out for a while, common sense told him that this was impossible.
There was still a mountain of things waiting to be done.
For starters, Coriander Safe City had suffered considerable losses this time. Many buildings had been brought down by artillery fire, and there were probably quite a lot of civilian casualties as well.
It was only after reaching Tier 4 that Wen Huahua learned that, generally speaking, Safe City Wars at this level only targeted the combat personnel of both sides.
Ordinary civilians did not participate in the war, and if they surrendered directly, they were generally not killed.
Some city lords would take in the ordinary residents of a defeated Safe City and incorporate them into their own city. Others would treat them as slaves and use them as a source of labor.
There were also city lords who wanted to increase their population but didn’t want to take in civilians from civilizations that were hostile toward them. In such cases, they would exchange prisoners of war with other Safe Cities and use them to replenish their populations.
But Sanluo Safe City belonged to the Purge Civilization. Simply put, they believed that only their own civilization deserved to survive and that all other civilizations should be wiped out.
Naturally, although the Sanluo civilization held such beliefs, they weren’t stupid enough to start a war with every other civilization they encountered.
You pick on the weakest persimmon.
And Coriander Safe City had been the soft persimmon Sanluo Safe City chose to squeeze.
[Coriander Safe City: I swear I never provoked them! I don’t even know them! I’ve never revealed my coordinates to anyone, either. Who the heck knows how Sanluo Safe City found me!]
[Coriander Safe City: Waaaaah, boss, you have no idea how confused I was! At the time, I was eating hotpot and drinking a beverage, organizing all the information I’d collected, and chatting in the group at the same time. And then—BAM! Sanluo Safe City descended from the sky!]
[Coriander Safe City: If you hadn’t come, boss, I’d definitely be completely screwed! Waaaaah! Thank you, boss! Boss, things are kind of a mess in my city right now. Once I dig my warehouse out of the rubble, I’ll give you the resources!]
[By the way, boss, speaking of hotpot, does your civilization have hotpot? I found some super delicious hotpot soup bases in the previous world, along with some pretty good drinks. They were absolutely delicious! I stored all of them in the City Lord’s Mansion, so they weren’t damaged in the war. Hehe.]
—Coriander Safe City has sent 150 boxes of hotpot soup base to Blue Sea Safe City.
—Coriander Safe City has sent 1,000 bottles of Bobo Tian beverages to Blue Sea Safe City.
Cheng Qisheng looked at Coriander’s familiar, long-winded style of chatting, accepted the hotpot soup bases and drinks, and sent back a [pat on the head] sticker.
She was currently watching the scene inside Sanluo Safe City as it slowly merged into Blue Sea following the shattering of its Safe City Core.
Since the City Lord had died, the “locks” protecting the Sanluo City Lord’s Mansion had naturally stopped functioning as well. Blue Sea residents had already entered and begun searching through the various items inside.
The first places they searched were the ones that were locked or hidden inside secret rooms.
Because everyone knew that anything someone took such great care to hide had to be something good.
One Blue Sea resident relied on the tried-and-true method of “when in doubt, hit it really hard” and successfully smashed open a safe.
Inside, they found something that looked like a sheet of white paper.
Cheng Qisheng narrowed her eyes as she stared at the sheet of paper.
[Blue Sea Safe City: I know how he located you.]
Wen Huahua hadn’t seen the Blue Sea boss in quite some time, and his brain didn’t even have time to process what was happening before he launched straight into flattery:
[As expected of the boss! I could rack my brain until it exploded and still never figure it out! You knew immediately! Boss, the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to me is meeting you. You just saved my life again today, and I honestly don’t even know what to say to express my admiration for you. The only thing I can do is offer you some resources…]
Of course, Wen Huahua knew that he had just been through a war and suffered heavy losses.
But he also knew that attitude was important.
The Blue Sea boss had prevented his city from being destroyed!
Wasn’t it only natural for him to offer even more resources in return?
In reality, Cheng Qisheng barely paid any attention to Wen Huahua’s messages at all.
Her entire attention was focused on this sheet of “white paper.”
Beside the “white paper,” a line of information had appeared:
[Safe City Locator: 3 (2 used)]
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It felt so short