Familiar faces came into view.
Staring at the captives, who lay on the ground like piles of rotten flesh, their souls seemingly sucked away, the leaders standing in the street, Ya Bo, Alwen, and Hu Tou, felt an inexplicable chill in their hearts.
These captives were none other than the leaders of other factions within the city.
Having carved out their own territories in the city, they now lay before them without a breath of life, their vacant pupils staring at them, further piercing their heartstrings.
"This..."
Hu Tou, who had been ranting at Chen Yu just a moment ago, was so shocked that his lips trembled, unable to utter a word for a long time.
His throat kept constricting, his pupils in his cloudy eyes contracting incessantly, the scene of them raising glasses and talking grandly not long ago still lingering in his mind.
They had planned to loot the City Lord's grain transport team one last time before directly withdrawing from the city.
Leaving the empty shell to the City Lord's Mansion.
Who would have thought that these people would now be rolling at his feet, devoid of any life.
"You... you killed them?" Hu Tou yelled upwards. Chen Yu, standing on the eaves, heard Hu Tou's cries, his eyes still filled with amusement. "Looks like you know them?"
Seeing the smile on Chen Yu's face again, Hu Tou lost all his previous disdain.
At this moment, Chen Yu's smile looked like the grin of a demon to him. Despite looking like a mere youth, he turned out to be a smiling tiger, even more so than them.
Hu Tou had the nickname "Smiling Tiger" in private, but he felt Chen Yu was more suited for it.
How did he do it?
He saw no injuries on these people at all.
"These people should be your trump card, right?" Seeing that Hu Tou remained silent for a long time, he squatted on the eaves and let out a soft laugh. "You guys are quite capable, turning a city into more than a dozen factions, yet you all got along quite harmoniously and even managed to cooperate. I'm quite curious how you reached an agreement. Did a common goal make you abandon competition with each other? Did you join forces to feast on this city and plunder its resources?"
"Do you know that this city changed hands more than a month ago?"
"Feasting on my city, plundering my city's resources. You want to suck my blood, be parasites on my body. I really hate that."
Hu Tou, who was being questioned, still remained silent.
It was this silence that seemed to enrage Chen Yu.
"I'm asking you!"
The not-so-loud whisper made Hu Tou's shoulders tremble inexplicably, and an icy wind surged up from his feet standing in the city.
He instinctively glanced at the familiar faces on the ground, his throat working.
"Are you going to kill me too?"
At this point, Hu Tou could no longer be arrogant.
The existence of the fragmented factions within the city was not due to their contractual spirit or mutual non-aggression as they developed; rather, it was because their strengths were all roughly equal.
At dawn, these leaders had still been sitting together, drinking.
Chen Yu's ability to deal with the leaders of over a dozen other factions and throw them at Hu Tou's feet in less than half a day was enough to prove that there was no possibility of competition between them.
He had no chance of winning!
Resistance was like hitting a rock with an egg.
The fear of death continuously eroded his heart; being able to survive was what he valued most.
"That's putting it a bit too strongly, don't you think? How could I possibly kill you?" Chen Yu said with a smile, grinning at the almost petrified Hu Tou. "Actually, those people lying at your feet aren't dead. They're still alive and well, just living in a different way."
"What way?"
As soon as Hu Tou spoke, Chen Yu raised his chin, and Xiao Nuo Yi, who was eating canned food, walked over. Her fair little hand opened, and a ball of white souls surged into her palm, a dozen souls tangled together, each desperately trying to break free.
"All of you, behave yourselves."
Xiao Nuo Yi glared and bit her spoon. A wisp of flame instantly surged from her left palm, and the souls seemed to be burning in the flames, letting out mournful wails.
The painful screams that reached their ears also tugged at the nerves of everyone below.
"See, they're all alive and well right here," Chen Yu said with a full smile, approaching Xiao Nuo Yi's palm and looking at the screaming souls. "Their souls have just been extracted. How can you say I killed them? How can you say I'm going to kill you too?"
"Can I... do I still have a chance to live?" Hu Tou muttered.
Such a strong visual impact completely shattered Hu Tou's psychological defense. The arrogance he once had was gone from his eyes, replaced by a desperate desire to survive.
"That depends on you. Do you think I should let you live?"
Chen Yu smiled and kicked the ball back to Hu Tou.
"I'm willing to give you everything I have."
Saying that, Hu Tou ignored Chen Yu's response and went to pull at the bracelet on his wrist and the ring on his finger. He even took off his outer clothes, leaving only his undergarments.
"All of it for you, all of it for you!"
Unexpectedly, Chen Yu's indifferent words sent Hu Tou's heart plummeting.
"Do I need you to give it to me?"
"Do you really think you can take these resources? Everything in this city belongs to me. You're using my resources to show me filial piety. You've mastered the art of presenting borrowed flowers, haven't you?"
"Returning the resources to me, do you think your life will be spared?"
Chen Yu, with a smile on his face, watched Hu Tou shake his head repeatedly. He had thought that Hu Tou, in order to survive, would come up with some clever trick, but he never expected him to do something like this.
"Then what do you want..."
Before Hu Tou could finish speaking, Alwen, who had been largely ignored, had somehow moved to A Li's side, his blade at A Li's throat. "Let me go. I'll leave all my resources to you. Just let me leave, or else... I'll kill him!"
This sudden turn of events shocked everyone.
All their attention had been on Chen Yu and Hu Tou, and they hadn't paid any attention to Alwen, who was almost overlooked. No one had expected him to take A Li hostage at this moment.
A Li, who had been captured, was also a bit stunned. He hadn't even had time to react.
*Swish!*
A steel saber pierced through Alwen's chest without warning. The owner of the saber was none other than Ya Bo.
"Seeking your own death."
He yanked the saber back forcefully, blood gushing from Alwen's chest. Ya Bo then spat at A Li and, throwing the saber he held to the ground, raised his hands, his eyes fixed on Chen Yu on the eaves, speaking calmly.
"City Lord, I surrender."