Uncle here isn't your average office worker!

Alde frowned. Just as she was about to speak up and try to plead with Sarkaz to the best of her ability, she saw Andrei suddenly stand up, stand by the window, and look out at the sun that was obscured by dark clouds.

“This morning, I saw her on my way to the city council. She had been stripped naked, gagged, her tendons severed, and hung from the city council tower. Overnight, a pool of blood had accumulated at the foot of the tower. She bled to death! She was only fourteen years old!”

"My son, upon hearing the news, was furious and went to confront the Sarkaz, where he was killed on Minister Street. All I could do was silently collect their bodies, not daring to utter a single angry word, for I feared that if I were to die, my infant granddaughter would also meet with misfortune."

“York was once a glorious name. My family has dominated the political arena in Londinium for ten generations, from the conquerors to the last emperor. Our glory has been intertwined with that of Victoria. Why... why must we now suffer such humiliation?”

Andrei raised his head, his eyes red and brimming with tears.

"The thing I regret most now is that I stood by and watched the dukes hang our emperor! Look at what they did! The Duke of Stafford wanted to seize Londinium, the Duke of Cavendish brought in the damned Sarkaz, the Duke of Castle was a bastard who murdered his brother to seize power, and the Duke of Wellington was an outright traitor!"

"Now they stand by and watch everything that's happening in Londinium, watching their own people suffer misfortune! How are they any different from the demons?"

"Andrei, watch your words!" Alede warned him in a somewhat panicked manner.

It was an open secret that the Duke of Cumberland had informants in his household. To say such things in front of these people would mean that Andrei would be "punished," no matter the outcome!

But Andrei seemed to have broken through his mental defenses; he sneered and said nonchalantly:

"Alleide, you're at their mercy, like a fish on a chopping board. Think it over carefully. I hope you won't make the same decision I did and regret it for the rest of your life!"

After saying that, he turned to leave, but through the window, he happened to see the red-haired Sarkaz entering the Duke's mansion.

The veins on his forehead trembled. The elderly senator, having somehow found the courage he had lacked his entire life, grabbed a fruit knife from the table and stormed angrily toward the door.

Allardy's eyes widened suddenly, as if she realized what he was about to do. She stood up and chased after him, but as soon as she reached the entrance, she saw the seated senator slowly sliding down the wall.

Hadley looked at Allardy, who had rushed out, with a somewhat surprised expression, and asked:

Why did he attack me?

Aleide opened her mouth, countless insults swirling within her, almost spilling out, but when her gaze fell upon Andrei York on the ground, upon his still-heaving chest, she forced herself to swallow all the words back, took a deep breath, and replied:

"His daughter and son both died at the hands of the Sarkaz."

Hedley's eyelids drooped for a moment, but quickly returned to normal. He skipped over the topic and began:

“Something has happened outside the city of Lentinium, and I need your help now. Gather all the nobles in the city council and place them under the protection of the Sarkaz.”

Upon hearing this, Allard immediately retorted, "Protect? Do you know that will only bring panic!"

But Hadley showed no sign of wavering, simply informing them: "This is an order, not a request. Do as I say. I don't want to kill anyone."

Volume 1: Chapter 309 The Gathering of Heroes in the Core City

A supply depot for the citizens' self-defense forces in the underground of Lentinium.

A black-haired girl in a white dress, with a striking single horn on her head, was earnestly conveying a message to a group of workers-looking subordinates:

"I'm sure everyone has heard the commotion outside the city. What I want to say is that no matter what happens outside, we must not panic inside."

“We don’t know what the Sarkaz are doing, but we can at least be sure that it’s definitely not the sound of a Grand Duke’s fleet engaging the Sarkaz in battle. At this point, although it’s hard to accept, the most likely scenario is that the Dukes will remain inactive and watch from the sidelines.”

At this point, the dark-skinned, shirtless worker in front of the girl wiped the sweat from his brow and interrupted indignantly:

"Hold your positions, hold your positions! I don't understand what profound plans these dukes have. All I know is that they're all cowards, watching their own people being tortured by the Sarkaz and just standing by and watching them die!"

The unicorn girl's expression stiffened awkwardly for a moment, whether from the abrupt interruption or from something that had touched a nerve. She coughed lightly before continuing:

"Regardless, please remember that the purpose of the Londinium Citizens' Self-Defense Army is to protect the lives of more citizens, not to confront the Sarkaz head-on. Now is a particularly critical time, so please keep a close watch on your squads, try to stay in the shadows, observe the situation, and wait for an opportunity."

"Go into hiding?" Another tall, foreman-like man took off his hard hat, fanning himself as he pressed on, "But, Clovisia, we've worked so hard to build this network. If we go into hiding, wouldn't that be giving up all the results we've achieved over the years?"

"Nothing is more important than the lives of my fellow soldiers in the Self-Salvation Army!" Clovisia emphasized again, indicating that her decision was irreversible.

The tall foreman could only purse his lips in a resentful manner, muttering like a child as he sat down again.

At this point, Clovisia spoke again:

"However, shrinking our intelligence network and reducing our activities does not mean that the Self-Salvation Army will completely disappear from Londinium. We will still carry out some of the things we can do, such as providing food for people trapped in their homes, collecting information on the Sarkaz's deployment locations and rotation patterns within the city, and investigating what is happening outside the city."

“Especially in the factory area, we still need to do our best to win the support of the industrial workers in this area, because the equipment gap between the Self-Salvation Army and the Sarkaz is too great.”

“Let’s call this project to me and Fester,” the non-temporary girl, whose attire stood out among the workers, raised her hand and promised. “Fester also wants to go back and see his grandmother.”

"Lolo!" The brown-haired girl next to the girl named Lolo called out in a flustered manner.

Clovisia couldn't help but smile, but quickly suppressed it and nodded very politely: "Okay, thank you."

After discussing a few more issues, half an hour later, Clovisia clapped her hands and adjourned the meeting.

The team captains, having received their orders, gradually dispersed and returned home, while Clovisia walked with Lolo and Fester.

This was just an ordinary, temporary meeting of the Londinium Self-Salvation Army, but the young unicorn girl performed it meticulously and flawlessly. This particularly captivated Fester, who was also attending the meeting.

It wasn't a clash of hormones, but simply the respect and admiration a subordinate feels for their leader.

"Clovesia is really amazing. That's probably what Fester is thinking right now."

With just a glance at her friend beside her, Lolo guessed what he was thinking.

Fester scratched his head awkwardly, but didn't deny it: "Isn't that right? Klovesia looks about our age, and she's already managing a self-rescue army of several hundred people very well, and everyone respects her. Before I ran away from home, I was being scolded by my grandmother."

Clovisia covered her mouth shyly: "No need to say that. Fester has his own strengths too. If it weren't for you, the Self-Rescue Army might still be living with kitchen knives and wrenches as weapons for a long time."

After saying that, before Fester could respond, Clovisia changed the subject and continued,

"Moreover, the self-rescue army is actually facing some troubles now."

"What's wrong? Can we help?" Lolo asked immediately. Fester nodded with concern.

Clovisia hesitated for a moment before reluctantly speaking:

"It's in the core city. We haven't been able to contact Duchess Cumberland, who was originally cooperating with the Self-Rescue Army, and the supplies haven't been delivered on time. I'm worried something might have happened to her..."

When nobles were mentioned, both Lolo and Fester subconsciously frowned.

This is not surprising, as the self-rescue army and even most citizens of Lentinium do not have a good impression of the nobles living in the core city.

The remnants of the empire loathed the indifference of the nobles when they hanged the Lion King, the capitalists who now control the economic lifeline are fed up with the nobles’ rules and regulations and red tape, and the ordinary citizens of Londinium are deeply disappointed with the nobles’ performance in this Sarkaz war.

When there are benefits, nobles always rush in, shouting about bloodlines and privileges. But now that there is trouble, they throw all the honor, responsibility, and morality they preach to the back of their minds. To this day, no citizen has seen a single noble stand up and say "no" to the Sarkaz.

Despite their discontent, Lolo and Fester were able to prioritize. They could settle their scores with the nobles later, but the Sarkaz's blade and hunger would show no mercy. The current Duke of Cumberland, Lady Allardy, was a staunch supporter of the Self-Rescue Army, and it was because of her that the Self-Rescue Army was able to obtain intelligence in advance on multiple occasions, avoid the Sarkaz's main forces, or secure hard-won funds and supplies.

Her disappearance was indeed a huge blow to the Self-Salvation Army.

"I understand. I'll go find her."

Lolo replied,

“Fester will be in charge of negotiating with the factory district, while I will be responsible for infiltrating the core city through the underground pipes to find Lady Alde’s whereabouts.”

Clovisia frowned: "No, it's too dangerous for you to go alone."

But Lolo just shook her head: "It's okay, I actually have some connections in the core city."

Her words were not untrue. His father, Old Rockwell, had been a railroad worker at the Londinium light industrial depot. The railroad was the lifeblood of the empire, connecting every factory and every district of the city, symbolizing the life of the nation. This naturally included the noble district of the core city.

Therefore, his father knew many secrets, and it was precisely because of this that he was beaten to death by the Sarkaz mercenaries for refusing to betray the city's defense forces' intelligence. This was a lingering scar in Lolo's heart, but also her greatest weapon.

She also knew a hidden route to the core city.

"Leave it to me," she said earnestly, her eyes filled with determination.

Fester tried to persuade her further, but Clovisia had already nodded.

"I will arrange for a few soldiers to accompany you. Remember, safety comes first!"

P.S.: It's worth mentioning that Lolo's real name is actually Rochelle Rockwell. However, considering she's always referred to as Lolo in the story, we'll use that name here as well.

PS: There are now three parties that have joined the core city: the Sarkaz Royal Court, the King of Carrion, Aldean Cumberland and the nobles of Londinium, and the Self-Salvation Army.

This scale will continue to expand.

Volume 1: A car accident, and some wrangling.

The incident happened last night when I went out for dinner. As I was turning, a driver made an incredible lane change to overtake me and rear-ended me.

Normally, determining liability for an accident should be straightforward, but the driver was stubbornly refusing to admit to rear-ending me or overtaking on the right. There was nothing I could do but accompany him to the traffic police station. We spent the whole night there, and when I went to inquire this morning, they said the liability report hadn't been issued yet.

The efficiency is really low.

I'm fine personally, but updates might be unstable for the next couple of days. I'll update again once I've dealt with this.

Volume 1: Chapter 310 Gathering of Power in Lentinium (2)

Duchy of Caesar, high-speed warships.

A woman in a white, modernized evening gown, adorned with dazzling jewelry and striking makeup, exuding an air of elegance and sophistication, savored a long-awaited private dinner while casually asking the question beside her:

"Has anything been happening in the city of Londinium lately?"

A man standing to the side, who appeared to be nothing more than a waiter, bowed respectfully and whispered a report in the Duke of Caesar's ear:

"Nothing's wrong, Duke. The Sarkaz haven't made any noise, and there's no new news from Aldey's side."

Kester nodded, pausing his knife as he cut the meat, and asked, "Oh? Is that so? Then why do even the guys in Windermere know that Lentinium is about to cause trouble?"

“That’s a matter outside the city,” the waiter replied with a smile. “Inside the city and outside the city are two different intelligence points and need to be handled separately. As you emphasized, pay attention to the details.”

Christy's expression faltered slightly, as if she had forgotten she had said something like that before. She instinctively looked away, a little embarrassed, but then casually turned back to the waiter and praised him:

"well done."

"Thank you for the compliment," the waiter said, bowing again.

"What happened outside the city?" Kaster pressed.