I Just Wanted To Live but I Somehow Became Better Than the Protagonist

In the evening, the setting sun bled red, and the united army pressed forward, halting just a few miles from Lion Forest City. The vast city was completely surrounded, not even a bird could fly out. Standing on the city wall, the soldiers watched the approaching army with a sense of dread, their bodies trembling involuntarily.

Although they knew that a significant portion of the enemy was merely for show, with low cultivation levels, the situation on Lion Forest City’s side was not much better; elite commanders and soldiers were always in the minority. To resist the remaining forces of the Northern Cold Continent with the strength of a single city was nearly an impossible task.

The only hope lay in the city’s protective formation holding out for a while, waiting for the city lord and deputy city lord to return with opportunities from the secret realm.

The united army did not launch an immediate attack. Instead, they sent a few bird demons skilled in amplification magic to soar high into the sky, calling out from different directions towards Lion Forest City: “Do not resist in vain. The calamity brought by the city lord and deputy city lord is unnecessary for you commanders and soldiers to bear. Lay down your weapons, open the city gates, and surrender; no one will be harmed.”

The first step in siege warfare is to attack the heart. If the morale of the people wavers, the city defenses become as fragile as paper, easily pierced.

But it was evident that Lion Forest City had prepared well in this regard; no one would easily believe the enemy’s words.

After all, throughout history, the defeated have never met a good end. They would either be executed or become slaves, losing their freedom.

In some sense, execution might be the easier fate; becoming a slave meant living a life devoid of light.

————Inside Lion Forest City

All the high-ranking officials gathered here. After Dan Yu assigned tasks to them, the city defenses were being organized in an orderly manner. However, she knew there were traitors among the ranks, and this order would soon be disrupted, with various problems arising that would ultimately lead to the failure of the protective formation.

Uncertain of who the traitors were, and unaware of who among them stood steadfast with Lion Forest City, Dan Yu was not in a hurry. She had enough confidence to resolve the issues; she just needed a little time to see who was fit to remain in Lion Forest City.

“Lord Dan Yu, please take a good rest. You are our highest combat power within the city now. Until the very last moment, do not take action.”

“Old body understands, how are the residents settling in?” Danba sat in the military camp, inquiring of the speaking adjutant.

“Everything is going smoothly.”

“Have there been any disturbances?”

“None have been discovered for now.”

“Even if there are disturbances, it doesn’t necessarily mean there are undercover agents planted from the outside. Investigate thoroughly, enforce the law reasonably, and don’t mistakenly harm innocent citizens.”

“Yes.” The adjutant spoke, but in his heart, he was dismissive.

At such a critical moment, regardless of the reason, as long as there are disturbances stirring the public sentiment, immediate execution on the spot is necessary, to kill the chicken to scare the monkey. Otherwise, before the enemy has even breached the city, chaos will erupt within.

The adjutant felt that those in the upper echelons, like Danba, had no consideration for the hardships faced by those in the middle ranks. If the lower ranks caused trouble, it would be the middle management that would take the blame; he had no intention of bearing that.

Before long, the adjutant returned to the area he was responsible for, the inner circle of Shilin City, the center of the city, where the lord’s mansion and the residences of the nobles were located, but there were no commoners to be found. Therefore, the streets were now crowded with the populace.

On the faces of the people, besides tension and fear, there was more confusion; they did not know how things would end, or what their own fates would be. Like lambs in a pen, they waited in the darkness for dawn, with terrifying sounds coming from outside the pen, anxiously staring at the entrance, praying that the one who comes is a companion, not a vicious wolf.

“Have you heard? It seems that the young master of the deputy city lord’s family has made an escape from prison.” A patrolling soldier maintaining order spoke as he walked through the crowd.

“What’s the situation?”

“It seems like a scout was tortured terribly, and then disguised to look like that scout, living a life that was…”

“Dead?”

“Rumor has it there’s no saving him.”

“Will the deputy city lord go mad when he returns?”

“Who’s to say he won’t? And that scout managed to escape; they haven’t caught him yet. At such a critical moment, this kind of trouble is just too much. By the way, this is a portrait; keep an eye out for it later. He’s a human.” The patrolling soldier shared the information: “Young Master Kuang Quan said that whoever catches him will be rewarded with a fifth-grade herb and a hundred top-grade demon stones.”

In a corner beside the lord’s mansion.

“You brat! How dare you do something like that!” Guandongzi, following the message, arrived at the designated location and saw several cloaked figures hiding their faces, two large and two small: “That’s the young master of the deputy city lord’s family! What on earth happened?”

“It’s a long story.” Long Tian sighed, having found Qiu Li Gao and the younger siblings of Chi Shi in the prison. They had already missed their chance to leave the city, and with no other options, he could only lead them through the crowd to the inner circle, fortunately managing to contact Guandongzi.

“Forget it; anyway, the young master of the Kuang family isn’t exactly a good person.” Guandongzi didn’t ask further but analyzed the current situation for Long Tian: “The area outside the city is already surrounded by a united army, and you can’t get out. Inside the city, the law enforcement team is looking for you. I think you should go hide at Lord Xiang’s residence for a while.”

“Will he agree?”

“He will.”

“Can you bring them back to their family? Tell Chi Shi I’m very sorry.” Long Tian pointed at Chi Shi’s younger brother and sister.

“Right now, the entire city’s residents are gathered here; it’s hard to find them, so let’s take them with us first.”

“I’m sorry, big brother, we’ve burdened you.” The younger siblings of Chishi understood the situation.

“It’s I who have burdened you.” Long Tian patted his younger brother’s head, and under the guidance of the Kanto child, they successfully arrived at the mansion of the barbarian chief.

———— A stronghold in the southern district

“Useless!!! I’ve searched for so long! I can’t even find a shadow of a person!!!” Kuang Quanbing yelled at a group of soldiers, unable to fathom that his lively younger brother, who had been jumping around in the morning, had met such a tragic end by noon, with the murderer still at large.

“I’m very sorry! We’ve already distributed the portraits to the city’s security forces; having their help will speed things up significantly.”

“Speed? It’s already evening! You call this fast!?” Kuang Quanbing gasped, his expression ferocious: “I want to search personally!”

“Absolutely not, Young Master Quanbing! You are the commander here; you must stay put!”

“Stay put? Rely on you useless bunch? Impossible! I can’t let him live any longer; I need to find him in the shortest time possible, to torture him in the most brutal way, letting him bleed out slowly before my brother’s corpse, to appease my brother’s spirit!”

The surrounding soldiers could not dissuade him and could only watch helplessly as Kuang Quanbing abandoned his post.

Once he left his position, Kuang Quanbing seemed to go mad, searching everywhere for people, even barging into key strongholds, looking for any place where Long Tian might be hiding. Due to his status, no one dared to confront him, but his actions provided some cunning demons with an opportunity to take advantage.

Each squad of soldiers had their own responsibilities, not interfering with one another, and could not leave their designated areas at will. But following Kuang Quanbing was different; they could access areas they previously could not.

Not long after, a few soldiers accompanied Kuang Quanbing, joining him in ‘capturing people,’ storming into various key locations, causing quite a commotion.