Sky Patrol Department is stationed to the north, where a large separate courtyard lies.
Outside the courtyard, several encampments have been set up, with Armored Soldiers patrolling and the sound of horses clattering.
Then, the sound of horse hooves became dense, accompanied by shouts.
"The General is back!"
At the gate of the courtyard, a silver saddle reflects on a white horse, from which a figure in silver armor dismounts.
Chen Yuan takes off his helmet, tosses it to an Armored Soldier who followed him, and turns his head to instruct, "Have someone take Military Officer Xie for treatment."
Then, he strides towards the courtyard.
The Armored Soldier at the gate hurriedly pushes open the main door, and just as Chen Yuan is about to step up and enter the courtyard, a clashing noise of iron armor comes from the side, followed by a figure darting behind him.
"Sir, your humble servant has something to report." Behind him, under the flickering firelight at the door, a face with a goatee appears – it is the storyteller Gongsun Yang, whose expression looks somewhat grave and cautious as he glances around.
"Come in!" Chen Yuan, seeing his expression, finds it strange. Could it be about the storybooks? But it seemed unnecessary for such an expression, so he spoke.
After saying this, he steps into the courtyard, with Gongsun Yang following behind.
Entering the courtyard and straight into the main hall across the door, Chen Yuan doesn’t sit but turns around to look at Gongsun Yang, asking with a strange expression, "Mr. Gongsun seems to be waiting for me. Is it about the storybooks?"
Gongsun Yang shakes his head, glancing left and right within the main hall as if uneasy.
Chen Yuan frowns, "It’s just the two of us here, speak up, what is it?"
Gongsun Yang steps forward, slightly bows, and with a rise of his brow whispers, "Sir, your humble servant has a habit of inquiring about things whenever I arrive at a place, to include in my storybooks. After you left, I thought of getting closer to the local colleagues. Accidentally, I heard some news."
He paused, his face tensed.
"Stop beating around the bush, this isn’t a storytelling session." Chen Yuan’s brows furrow further.
"I heard one of the Colonels instructing his subordinates... have everyone packed up? He said our people are coming, and ordered the lower ranks to keep silent, something along those lines."
At this point, Gongsun Yang’s eyes flickered.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan’s eyes narrowed angrily, his body leaning slightly forward, staring at Gongsun Yang, word by word, "Are you suggesting these people are planning to flee?"
Gongsun Yang, feeling the intense scrutiny from Chen Yuan, steps back slightly, "Your servant wouldn’t dare make careless judgments, so I am reporting it for your wise decision."
As he speaks, he lowers his head, slowly bracing himself on his arm.
Chen Yuan’s face changes, uncertain.
At that moment, a message comes from outside.
"General, Colonel Gou from Guang’an Prefecture is here, asking to see you."
"Let him in!" Chen Yuan grimaces, then lowering his gaze, says to Gongsun Yang, "Wait for me in the back."
"Yes!" Gongsun Yang agrees and heads to the rear courtyard.
As his figure vanishes, a voice outside, a mix of urgency and warmth, calls out, "Colonel Chen, you have returned."
Following that, a small figure briskly strides in.
"Colonel Gou!" Upon seeing this person, Chen Yuan’s originally stern face instantly turns welcoming, with a smile, he gestures with an open hand, "It is late at night, I didn’t mean to disturb by not alerting you upon my return."
Speaking, he gestures beside him invitingly, then sits down.
Gou Zhi from Guang’an Prefecture smoothly jumps onto a Taishi chair beside him, then tilting his head, asks with strong concern:
"Colonel Chen, you know how worried I was while you were away. You also know the current situation outside, where even several colonels have fallen. As soon as you arrived, you rushed to check the situations outside the border. Ah, I hardly know what to say, it would be better not to personally risk it in the future. Our lives and properties are tied to many others."
"Oh?" Chen Yuan looks at the youthful face and the grizzly beard, less smiling, more mocking, "I truly appreciate Brother Gou’s concern."
"Ah, working together in the same boat, what is there to mention," Gou Zhi waves off the comment, not noticing much, shifts his rear backward, and leans towards Chen Yuan, raising his brow, "Colonel Chen, with you directly taking charge and going out to investigate, did you find out anything?"
"There indeed has been a discovery. I am aware now that Jiang’an County, which is closest to us, is also covertly controlled by demons. The local people are completely unaware; furthermore, from an Armored Soldier who was rescued and miraculously survived the great battle in Weiyuan Prefecture, it was known that the entire Weiyuan Prefecture has now been turned into Demon Country." Chen Yuan’s voice was heavy as he spoke, observing Colonel Gou’s facial expression.
Seeing this, Gou Zhi, though mentally prepared, still was startled.
He had sent several subordinates to investigate outside the border, but none returned, and he had already suspected, but continuous bad news somewhat broke his nerve, avoiding personally investigating which was somewhat like burying his head in the sand.
Thus, he looked at Chen Yuan, quickly saying, "Colonel Chen, the situation is so dire, fortunately you have arrived, presumably The Overseers already have a response, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully!"
Talking and smilingly getting close, he said:
However, at this moment, Chen Yuan tapped on the table beside the chair, looking at Colonel Gou who spoke smoothly and overly enthusiastically, his expression gradually became emotionless, his tone indifferent:
"But how come I heard that Brother Gou wants to flee?"
As soon as these words came out, Colonel Gou’s smile stiffened on his face, his eyes bulged, and his complexion turned pale.
Next second, the whiskers on his chin suddenly fell off!
At this time, outside the annex, two sets of Soldier Armor stood guarding the gate, inside suddenly burst out a dazzling golden light.
Outside the gate, the Mountain Patrol Military Officer who came from the local area was waiting outside, seeing the flickering golden light inside, his expression doubted, then he couldn’t help but step forward a few steps, immediately stopped by two crossed blade bodies.
The two gatekeeping soldiers, expressionless,
"The General is discussing matters inside, please wait outside."
"There seems to be some movement inside, didn’t you brothers see it?" This Mountain Patrol Military Officer frowned at the soldiers guarding the gate and glanced inside.
"Without the General’s command, no entry is allowed!"
Only to see, the guard soldier flicked his thumb on the handle of the knife, exposing a foot-length blade, the cold light flashing.
Seeing this, the Mountain Patrol Military Officer’s face turned sour, these soldiers of the Ninth Mountain, truly overbearing, a few of them with Qi Refining Great Success daring to flash their knives at him, but in the end, he didn’t explode, flicking his sleeves, turned around,
Just after a dozen breaths, suddenly, a loud bang was heard from inside, startling everyone.
’What was that sound?’
The troops outside the gate immediately became alarmed.
"Swoosh swoosh swoosh"
Outside the annex, the sound of drawing swords was continuous.
But at this time, only to hear a familiar voice coming from inside, "Colonel Gou, have a safe trip!"
After a while, the courtyard door was opened.
A small figure emerged, looking flustered.
With torn sleeves and missing beard, even the small braid behind his head got burnt.
The Mountain Patrol Military Officer waiting outside, seeing this person, his face startled. "Sir, what happened to you..."
But seeing Gou Zhi’s face tensed, "No matter, it’s been a long time since I sparred with someone, just had a little hand with Colonel Chen. It was exhilarating."
Speaking, he stomped his foot and disappeared from where he was.
Not long after, Gou Zhi showed up in his study, then flicked a Spirit Light from his hand, activating the Evil Restriction in the study, then immediately his expression turned fascinating, cursing, "I @#￥￥￥. Chen Yuan you #￥￥%%..."
Damn it, Chen Yuan actually grabbed his braid just now.
But as much as he cursed, recalling the overwhelming strength displayed by Ninth Mountain’s Colonel, it left him both alarmed and pleased.
Alarmed because this fellow somehow got the news that he planned to flee, luckily he explained it away by saying he didn’t want to watch the city people suffer the Demon disaster and was planning to evacuate them together. He felt somewhat frightened now, if it weren’t for his quick talking, he probably wouldn’t have walked out of that room just now.
Pleased because the strength shown by the Ninth Mountain’s Colonel was far superior to his, clearly a great asset.
For a moment, the local Colonel, feeling complicated!
On the other side, in the main hall where Chen Yuan was,
Gongsun Yang came out from the back yard, carefully speaking: "Sir, do you believe what the Colonel said?"
At this moment, Chen Yuan with a grim look, "So what if I believe, and what if I don’t?"
"I will judge for myself!"