Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

Wang Han's face was more solemn than ever before.

That bottomless trench was no longer an insignificant background element on the game map, but a gaping maw ready to devour anyone who dared to cross it. The once bustling city walls were now deathly silent, so quiet you could hear everyone's heavy breathing.

Everyone saw it: "Wind Chaser's" corpse, in a corner of their vision, had turned into a dull gray mass. A cold system notification appeared in their minds: [Teammate "Wind Chaser" has been defeated and will respawn at the respawn point.]

Rebirth...

This word, which could have brought boundless security, seemed utterly pale after witnessing the mangled corpse.

In the shadows of the trench, the Later Jin scout slowly straightened up. He sheathed his bow, wiped the still-warm unidentified liquid from his face, and gave a contemptuous and cruel smile towards the city wall before disappearing from everyone's sight in a flash.

This silent provocation is more insulting than any shouting.

"Hold!"

"Kill him! Avenge Zhui Feng!"

After a brief silence, the players were instantly ignited. Anger overwhelmed their fear; they roared and brandished their tattered weapons, but could only rage helplessly.

Just then, a series of heavy footsteps came from behind.

"Shut up, all of you!"

Wang Erniu's signature roar, carrying a heavy killing intent, slammed into the backs of each player. He strode over, his face, surrounded by a thick beard, showing no sympathy, only a suppressed rage and... disgust.

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash who can't even see where the enemy is!" He kicked the loudest player in the butt. "Stop yelling and making a racket, are you trying to attract the Tartars' catapults here?!"

The players were stunned by his fierce aura and fell silent, but their faces were full of resentment.

Wang Erniu ignored their emotions and pointed down the city wall, his thick fingers almost poking their noses.

"The general has ordered! All Chosen Ones, ascend the city walls! Let me see what you're about to face!"

This order doesn't sound like a mobilization; it sounds more like a punishment.

Under the unceremonious shoving and driving of several veterans, the players grumbled and cursed, yet were helplessly forced onto the city wall. Once they stood atop the wall and truly looked outwards, the complaints that had been simmering vanished one by one.

Beneath the city walls, a cavalry unit of about a hundred men from the Later Jin dynasty was slowly approaching. They carried no siege equipment, but were simply displaying their "spoils of war" in a show of arrogance.

A dozen or so sharpened wooden stakes were erected in front of the battle lines. Hanging from each stake was a mutilated corpse, tortured beyond recognition. These were Ming scouts who had been sent out to request reinforcements a few days earlier. Their blood had long since dried up, their bodies covered with knife wounds and whip marks, some even disemboweled, their entrails dragging on the ground, being gnawed and eaten by wild dogs.

A Later Jin general rode out, laughing wildly, pointing his whip at the corpses, and shouted in broken Chinese to the city walls: "Southern dogs! Look carefully! This is your end! Guangning City is the graveyard of all of you!"

The cold wind, carrying the stench of blood and decay, rushed up the city wall.

"vomit……"

Qian Lele could no longer hold back and, leaning against the wall, began to retch violently. Many other players were deathly pale and trembling. They had played countless bloody war games, but all of that seemed like a laughable child's picture in the face of this hellish reality.

This is real war. There are no mosaics, only the most naked bloodshed, brutality, and humiliation.

Wang Han's fists clenched unconsciously, his nails digging deep into his flesh. Zhou Keke, the girl who had been so animated when discussing septic tanks, now had her lips tightly pressed together, not uttering a word, just staring intently at the city below, as if trying to etch the faces of those Later Jin soldiers into her mind.

The NPCs around them, the veterans of Guangning, present a completely different picture.

Their eyes were equally bloodshot, and their teeth were clenched so tightly they were grinding. But they didn't shout or vomit; instead, they felt a deep-seated numbness and hatred.

This stark contrast between new recruits and veterans allowed players to deeply understand the weight of the words "isolated city" and "desperate situation" for the first time.

"Fuck your mother!!!"

A deafening roar shattered the oppressive standoff.

Shi Dali, that two-meter-tall muscular giant, had his reason completely consumed by his rage.

"Don't you fucking stop me! I'm going to kill one of them today!"

He roared and shoved away Wang Han, who was trying to stop him. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on the Later Jin soldiers below the city who were throwing grappling hooks onto the city wall in an attempt to climb up.

"Meat Bro! Calm down!" Wang Han shouted, but countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant: 'Damn it, you reckless fool! This kind of pointless suicide will disrupt... no! Wait! This might be... a perfect opportunity to test the death mechanism and intimidate the enemy!'

But it was all too late.

Shi Dali ignored all warnings. Like a raging bull, he charged towards the edge of the city wall. To everyone's astonishment, he actually leaped!

His target was clear. His massive body drew a desperate arc in the air and crashed squarely into the Jin soldier who had just climbed a few meters up!

"Hurrah—!!!"

This was Shi Dali's last roar in this world.

"Bang!"

A heavy, heart-stopping thud came from below the city.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

The unfortunate Jin soldier was smashed to pieces by Shi Dali's enormous weight and impact, instantly turning into a shapeless mass of flesh and blood.

Shi Dali's body lay beside the pool of blood and flesh. His "health bar" instantly emptied in everyone's sight, and a huge "Death" mark was placed over his portrait.

Everyone was stunned. The players were stunned by the brutal, suicidal attack, the Jin soldiers were stunned by the Southern dogs' reckless fighting style, and Wang Erniu and the Ming veterans were so shocked that their mouths were agape, unable to close them for a long time.

In the midst of this eerie silence, something even more incomprehensible happened.

Unlike the Jin soldier, Shi Dali's body did not remain in place. Under everyone's gaze, his body began to become transparent, then transformed into countless soft white specks of light, drifting upwards and finally disappearing completely into the air.

Wherever it stood, only that shocking pool of red and white belonging to the Later Jin soldiers remained.

"Sorcery...sorcery!" A horrified cry erupted from the Jin army below the city walls, and many soldiers instinctively retreated. The leading general's pupils also contracted sharply, but the fear in his eyes was quickly replaced by a complex light that blended greed and vigilance.

On the city wall, a player who had just been complaining was now staring intently at the spot where Shi Dali had disappeared. His lips trembled, and a tidal wave of emotions surged within him: "We...we really won't die? Then, what exactly are we?"

Wang Erniu, a veteran who had spent half his life battling through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, staggered back two steps, leaning against the cold brick wall to barely steady himself. For the first time, a childlike confusion and fear appeared on his face, which had endured countless hardships and battles.

He raised his hand with trembling hands, pointing to the empty ground below, his lips quivering, each word seeming to be squeezed out from the depths of his soul.

"His soul...his soul has been scattered?"