On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

This is one of the few pieces of good news for Liao Ji.

"Let's go, let's set off now for the Michel Wall."

"Huh? Shouldn't we hurry to the Holy City to integrate the army?" The Holy City is the capital of the Holy Kingdom, which was originally Irene's plan.

Liao Ji's answer was simple: "Have you ever heard the phrase 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao'?"

“No,” Irene shook her head.

"Then what about capturing the king first?"

"No," Irene said, confused.

"You know you're uncultured, so why don't you shut up! Just follow me obediently!"

"oh oh"

Chapter 71 Shout, keep shouting until your throat is hoarse.

The Wall of Michel is five hundred years old. When the Holy Kingdom was first established, there were still many natural disasters and monsters left over from the wasteland era on the continent, so this wall was built to protect the people within its borders.

But today, this old wall, which was originally just a piece of history, has unexpectedly been burdened with heavy responsibilities again.

The news of the Dragon Kingdom's declaration of war could be concealed in other places, but here on the border, a general mobilization had already begun. When Liao Ji arrived, he could see that even though it was already night, a large number of lights on the walls still illuminated the darkness.

Groups of "Crusaders" patrolled the wall with great tension, and a large amount of strategic materials were constantly being moved onto the wall.

"Lord God?"

As soon as Liao Jicai stepped inside the wall, a young man who had been eagerly waiting ran out from the Crusader ranks at the gate to greet him.

"Who are you? Just call me Liao Ji."

"Commander of the Third Crusade, Claudie Perry, pays you my sincerest respects! Upon hearing from Lady Mary that you had personally gone to the front lines, our entire army was filled with immense excitement and is ready to obey the command of God at any time, ready to sacrifice ourselves for the Holy Kingdom!"

The young man in front of me looked excited; he was clearly another "Tamik" type.

The Holy Kingdom may not be as good as the Dragon Kingdom in many other aspects, but at least in terms of cohesion, the "priest" of the Black Hole is probably a very rare exception. The vast majority of the knights and crusaders are true believers.

Especially after yesterday's "miracle".

Therefore, even if they didn't know Liao Ji at all and had never met him, they were willing to give him all their power, and even their lives, and trusted him blindly.

Every state structure has its advantages and disadvantages. Liao Ji cannot say that this is good, but at least in the current situation, it has greatly saved him a lot of effort.

"Lord Liao Ji, just over an hour before your arrival, we detected a Dragon Kingdom army fifty kilometers away!"

"The army? So fast?"

"You'll see when you look at the wall!"

Led by Klaus, Liao Ji and the other two quickly climbed the Michel Wall. Without Klaus pointing it out, Liao Ji looked out and saw clusters of firelight standing out against the night sky.

That is it.

"That's right, it's the vanguard of the Dragon Kingdom, about five thousand men."

"Even if it was the Empress's personal decree, only a few hours have passed since the troops were assembled and set off on their journey. How could they have arrived from hundreds of miles away? That's highly unlikely."

Liao Ji frowned slightly and asked in confusion, while Klaus nodded and quickly gave Liao Ji his deduction.

"Indeed, we were shocked as well, so I deduce that it's highly likely this vanguard force utilized the power of the Emperor's 'relics'! There's definitely a 'Relic Envoy' within this force who possesses the ability to 'teleport'!"

Are the relics used?

This word appears frequently whenever places related to the Dragon Kingdom are mentioned. Liao Ji recalled his former equipment and props. Indeed, there are not many that can achieve such cross-border and ultra-long-distance teleportation, but they are not non-existent.

"Lord Liao Ji, I believe there's a high probability they're just the first wave. They're coming to establish coordinates using that teleportation 'relic,' so the Dragon Kingdom can use it as a base and continuously send troops over without needing to launch expeditions. Then... Damn it! Is that Empress really that impatient? So eager to destroy our Holy Kingdom?!"

When he finally spoke of Klaus, he angrily slammed his fist against the wall.

"Then what are we waiting for! We have to break out of here and stop them!"

Klaus had naturally thought of something that even Irene could realize.

But he quickly shook his head, saying with frustration, "We dare not take such a big risk by voluntarily going outside the wall. Besides, even if we did manage to seize that relic, none of us are 'Relic Users' and wouldn't know how to use it, so we wouldn't be able to stop the teleportation from continuing."

"Consolation. Mr. Clausie, there's no need to be so pessimistic. The master can control all the relics."

"What? Really?! Mr. Liao Ji is really capable."

"Hmph, alright, Little K, leave the rest to us. After all, if we're really going to count, that old relic is probably the father of all the 'Relic Envoys'!"

Fifty miles from the Michel Wall.

Five thousand vanguard troops were stationed in the desolate wilderness under the cover of night. Logically speaking, such a lone army, deep in enemy territory and on the doorstep of the enemy country, should have been under strict guard and constantly patrolling and defending.

But when Liao Ji and his group finally came out of the wall and arrived here in the dark, they were almost inside the camp when they found guards and sentries at the entrance.

And still

Liao Ji looked at the very conspicuous shackles on the neck of the sentry.

You can see deep marks on the other person's hands and feet where they were handcuffed, but they were removed now because they were on guard duty.

His tattered linen clothes were practically useless in the cold wilderness. He couldn't even see his shoes. A slight gust of cold wind made him shiver, and he could barely hold his gun steady.

That's not a firearm.

It was a gun, a cold weapon.

The reason is quite simple: the other party was a slave.

On his way to Michelle, Liao Ji learned about the structure of the Dragon Kingdom from 86. If "relic envoy" was one of the most frequently used terms, then another equally important one was...

Yes, slaves.

Liao Ji originally thought that feudalism was about right, but he didn't expect that the Dragon Kingdom was built on the foundation of slavery, and that the vast majority of slaves were...

"What, aren't you orcs supposed to be all hairy? You can't even stand this little bit of cold? You'd better stand guard properly, you hear me? If you dare to slack off, I'll... I'll beat you to death!"

From a nearby tent emerged a genuine Chinese soldier. He was dressed in thick, fleece-lined clothing, with a finely crafted firearm at his waist. Even in the cold, desolate night, he had unbuttoned his collar, leaving it wide open. His unsteady gait, the bottle of liquor in his hand, and his slurred speech revealed that he had drunk quite a bit.

Soon, another soldier, equally drunk, emerged from the tent. It seemed drinking wasn't an isolated incident; he put his arm around his companion's neck and loudly urged him on:

"Alright, alright, ignore this guy. Just now, someone reportedly found a cat in the slave caravan. A cat-person infiltrated and tried to escape using Lord Gu Qing's 'relics,' but he's been caught by the Lord! He's a cat-person, after all! Let's hurry, let's go see what's going on and how Lord Gu Qing punishes that cat-person slave, haha!"

Two drunken soldiers made their way to the commander's tent, lifted the curtain and entered. Inside, there was a "party" atmosphere, with many soldiers drinking and eating meat, clapping and cheering, and looking at the center of the tent with mocking eyes.

A large circular area had been cleared out there, with a wooden stake standing in the center, and something tied to the stake...

Is she a young girl?

No, you can still see two protrusions behind her messy brown hair, no matter how hard she tries to hide them—those are fluffy cat ears.

The lower half of the tail, which was originally intended to be hidden in the pants, has now been roughly pulled out and, like the cat ears on its head, droops limply.

Several whip marks could be seen on her body, leaving deep bloodstains on her grayish-white skin.

As for what caused all of this

Snapped!

The man in front of the wooden stake was also the commander of this vanguard force. Gu Qing kicked the catwoman slave on the stake in the stomach again. The catwoman immediately felt pain and pleaded, but this seemed to only provoke Gu Qing's cruelty.

"What, now you feel the pain? Weren't you pretty bold when you stole my 'relics'? To be honest, I admire you quite a bit, daring to infiltrate my army all by yourself. You really want to escape the Dragon Kingdom that badly? Huh!?"

The cat-people are an endangered race in the Dragon Kingdom, and the women among them are even rarer among slaves. How could they bear to let cat-women serve as cannon fodder like slave soldiers?

So this catwoman sneaked in. She must have gotten wind of it from somewhere, knowing that this army could teleport into the Holy Kingdom, so she risked her life to sneak in, hoping to take the opportunity to cross over into the Holy Kingdom.

Unfortunately, she clearly failed. The reason for her failure was that after successfully following the army to the Holy Kingdom, the catwoman did not immediately run away. Instead, she tried to steal the "relics" as well, which is why she was discovered.

"Hmph, I really don't understand. You don't actually think that just because you stole the relics, you can use them yourself? You want to use the relics' teleportation power to smuggle your companions over here too? Hahahaha!"

Gu Qing laughed loudly, then grabbed the catwoman's face.

"Do you know why you orcs have become slaves? It's because you filthy mud-bloods simply don't possess the ability to use 'Relics.' It's because even a single 'Relic Master' can't emerge from your vast orc race! What? You think you're so great, wanting to become the first orc in five hundred years to use 'Relics'?"

"Hahahaha! You're really cute, so cute that I can't wait to taste what you're like. Cat people, huh? Rare creatures like you are usually only enjoyed by important figures in the capital. Well, you've delivered yourself to our doorstep, so don't blame us!"

Amid Gu Qing's laughter, which was filled with lust, the catwoman on the wooden stake kept shaking her head. She struggled frantically, her eyes filled with nothing but fear, and tears kept flowing out.

"Help! Help... help me! I don't need anyone else!"

"Yes, keep calling, keep calling. I love to savor prey that resists."

"Too bad, no matter how much you scream your lungs out, no one will come to save you! Hahahaha!"

Chapter 72 Uncle, my favorite thing is catgirls.

Gu Qing's mocking words had barely faded when, before his lustful hand could even touch the catwoman's body, a blood-red greatsword shot out from behind the main curtain of the tent and slashed straight at him.

Everyone inside the tent was already drunk, and their attention, including that of the commander-in-chief Gu Qing, was entirely focused on the catwoman, so they didn't react at all.

When the hairs on his neck stood on end and he felt the raw killing intent, it was too late for Gu Qing to turn around in a panic. The greatsword was already inches away, and he could only watch helplessly as the scarlet tip of the sword grew larger and larger in his eyes.

brush!

Just as Gu Qing was about to be within a mile of him, it seemed as if some kind of defensive alert was triggered. A burst of blue light suddenly erupted from his chest, and the next instant, Gu Qing vanished from the spot, leaving Irene's crimson greatsword to strike nothing but air.

brush!

With another flash of blue light, Gu Qing reappeared, standing three meters away from where he had been before.

The general, who had narrowly escaped death, gasped for breath. His tent, however, was not so lucky. It was pierced through by the crimson greatsword, leaving a large hole. The howling cold wind from the wilderness blew in, and combined with the shocking turn of events, it instantly brought all the Dragon Kingdom soldiers to their senses.

"Enemy attack!"

The dozens of soldiers inside the tent were in a panic, shouting for help. However, perhaps due to the alcohol, they felt dizzy and lightheaded, unable to even hold their guns properly. Only then did they begin to regret their actions and even start to wonder.

Their daily military discipline is indeed very lax and undisciplined.

but

This is war now. Even if the enemy is weak, they shouldn't be acting like this. They're even more arrogant than when they were in China. Is it because they've changed environments that they've become more complacent?

No matter how much you think about it or how much you regret it, it's too late.

"Activate cleaning mode (noise reduction version)" a cold, mechanical voice announced.