You're Strong But Now You're Mine-Chapter 145 - 144: The Wind Rises in Chenfeng

"Just like cockroaches, you think you’ve killed them all, but the moment you see one, it means there’s already a whole nest in your house."

Chenfeng District, Sun Coast.

Sun Coast was one of the three main garrisons of the Linhai Army, facing the Sea Barbarians at the very front line. The bunkers and watchtowers stood along the cliffs, like an unbroken chain of fortress clusters. The massive, imposing Luminous Stone focusing cannons, twenty-five sets of Skyfire Type Three cannons, and countless mortars, made the coastal defenses nearly impregnable.

Exactly because of the Linhai Army’s overwhelming might, the Sea Barbarians hadn’t invaded inland for over a century. To residents of Chenfeng District, the Sea Barbarians were almost mythical creatures—they’d only been scared with tales of Sea Barbarians as children, and most people would never actually see one, unless they joined the Linhai Army.

The Sea Barbarian raids had been an ongoing war for over two thousand years in Chenfeng District. Even a hundred years after the founding of Huiyao, Chenfeng District remained the Sea Barbarians’ hunting ground. The natives barely survived, and it had taken Huiyao centuries to win the coastline back, step by bloody step—Huiyao’s eight districts, spanning the north and south, with four seasons in one nation, weren’t just something you could get as a phone service bonus.

The Sea Barbarians launched three major raids every year, what the Linhai Army called the "Three Great Sacrifices." Each Sacrifice meant hundreds of thousands, even a million Sea Barbarians surging against the gates. Even with fortress cannons, the Linhai Army wouldn’t dare take them lightly—a Sea Barbarian breach was always possible, and officers’ promotions, rumor had it, depended in part on "how many Sea Barbarians you’d personally killed."

Today was the last day of the midyear Sacrifice.

Outside the fortress, Sea Barbarian corpses littered the ground, blood and flesh piled high, the stench choking the air, a living Purgatory. The bodies shimmered with a black sheen, their scale-covered bodies, bulging monstrous eyes, and rows of serrated fangs—all signs of their lethal power, on par with any land beast.

Inside the fortress, blood splattered everywhere, and the rafters and stairwells were piled with Sea Barbarian corpses as well. But the most eye-catching was the four-meter-tall green-skinned Sea Barbarian lying on the clear space behind the fortress gate—like a beached whale.

This Sea Barbarian was known as a "Tide Chaser," a general among their kind, able to stir up towering waves and sweep into the fortress at high noon. The rest of the Sea Barbarians rode the tides behind the Tide Chaser, storming inside—even as the walls were reinforced year after year, nothing could keep these sea beasts out forever.

Every Sacrifice came with a Sea Barbarian commander, and the Tide Chaser was among the most troublesome. Ordinary firearms couldn’t hurt it, let alone swords and spears. Every time the army faced a Tide Chaser, at least several battalions would be lost before it and the other Sea Barbarians fell—and only if a "Peak of Perfection" Martial Artist could tie it down, while an "Integration and Mastery" expert dealt the killing blows.

And now, atop the Tide Chaser’s corpse, stood a Linhai Army officer in deep blue uniform.

He took a pair of glasses from his pocket, wiped the lenses with a handkerchief, put them on, and stepped off the Tide Chaser’s body, gazing at Gao Jin, who was kneeling on the ground.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to call you White Night roaches, I meant these Sea Barbarians," he said with a gentle smile, "Every year we send millions of Sea Barbarians up here to die. I’m honestly afraid their breeding is even faster than cockroaches."

"But you know, on land, there just might be things that rival these Sea Barbarians."

He pushed up his glasses, looking past Gao Jin at the nearly a hundred Linhai soldiers who’d been subdued or already killed, giving a smile with an unreadable meaning, "It’s only been two months, and already you White Night people have managed to recruit so many inside the Linhai Army—truly... astonishing."

"Blue Flame, if you want to kill me then do it," Gao Jin said coldly, "When I first set foot on Sun Coast, I never planned to walk back out again."

Blue Flame just smiled indifferently, glancing at the White Night members behind Gao Jin. Raising his voice, he said, "All of you, you’ve been tricked by Gao Jin. No matter how many grand speeches he gave about the nation, it was all to hide his real purpose—he came here for revenge."

"Blue Flame—"

Gao Jin had barely started to roar with rage before Yingu Yue next to him stomped on his neck, smashing him to the floor.

The White Night members stirred restlessly, but most faces remained unbothered.

"Gao Jin’s mentor Lin Jinyao, and his kinswoman Lin Xue, were both killed on my orders by Qian Yuliu. Now that Qian Yuliu died during the Star Engraving mutiny, he’s still not satisfied—so he lied and incited you to attack me. He claims it’s for the nation, but really, it’s just for his own family grudge!"

Gao Jin got flustered, trying to push himself up, "Qian Yuliu—"

BOOM!

Yingu Yue stomped down hard, pinning Gao Jin by the throat. Gao Jin could barely suck in air, not a word came out.

Blue Flame sighed, "Believe it or not, but that’s the truth. But as soldiers of the Linhai Army, you shouldn’t die under the snake’s spell of traitors. You should die on the battlefield, fighting to protect those who can’t fight back... Someone, take them away. Assign them to Purgatory Battalion. At the end-of-year Sacrifice, throw them straight onto the front line—if they live, their debts are wiped clean; if they die, nothing but dust remains."

"Yes!"

Nearby Linhai soldiers shouted their response, their faces fanatical, dragging the rebels off. The White Night members didn’t resist, leaving for the dungeon with mixed expressions—after all, anyone in White Night wasn’t afraid of death. Still, dying on a Sea Barbarian battlefield weeks from now seemed preferable to dying here and now.

Once all the White Night members had been taken away, Yingu Yue finally lifted his foot, letting Gao Jin catch his breath.

"Blue Flame, you, you actually—"

"What about it?" Blue Flame smiled, "Did I lie?"

Gao Jin was momentarily at a loss for words—Blue Flame really hadn’t lied, Qian Yuliu had indeed done all that on his orders, but...

"Or," Blue Flame said, sitting atop the Tide Chaser’s head, "would you rather watch them die here, than see them die fighting for their country a few months down the road? ’People,’" he said, "are stubborn yet weak. Only if you’ve wronged them first can they convince themselves it’s okay to wrong you, and keep scraping by..."

"Your slander means nothing," Gao Jin said icily, "White Night will clear Qian Yuliu’s name..."

"It’s not slander. On the contrary, I admired Qian Yuliu a lot," Blue Flame shook his head, "If he hadn’t died that night, I was planning to recruit him—even if he was with White Night, it wouldn’t matter. Talent like that, wasted in your group."

"Pah."

"I’m not saying all of White Night is trash, just that you guys and I don’t mesh," Blue Flame pointed behind him at the Tide Chaser, "For example, the perfect time to make your move was when I was fighting that Tide Chaser alone. Then, you really might have killed me. But instead, you waited until after I finished it off—you were practically begging to die."

"You may use whatever means you like, but White Night has principles," Gao Jin said proudly, "All the other top Martial Artists were posted elsewhere at the time. If you’d died, no one could deal with the Tide Chaser, and the Linhai Army would’ve been leaderless. The Sacrifice could have ended in defeat, even catastrophic collapse! If Sun Coast fell, who knows how many villages and towns would have suffered at the hands of the Sea Barbarians. Our fight with you is an internal struggle, but mankind and the Sea Barbarians are blood enemies. Priorities matter, and I understand them well."

"See, that’s what separates me from you," Blue Flame replied flatly, "If it were me, I’d take the shot, confident I could rally army units nearby to help take down the Tide Chaser. The worst outcome is the fortress falls, but even then I’d pull the troops together—who knows how it’d turn out."

"White Night always wants the perfect outcome, and ends up failing at everything."

"Knowing your place makes you wise, that’s just how people are."

"But, even though I lost Qian Yuliu, I’ve found myself a new subordinate to match him."

Blue Flame waved at someone behind him, "Come say hello to an old friend."

Gao Jin froze, then saw a masked Linhai soldier among Blue Flame’s personal guard removing their hat and face mask, revealing an utterly unremarkable face—

"Xia Lingguo?!"

The personal guard standing next to Blue Flame was none other than his fellow disciple who’d been missing for more than a month—Xia Lingguo!

Anger spread over Gao Jin’s face, "You—you used the old channels to eavesdrop on our plans? You betrayed us?"

Xia Lingguo said calmly, "I couldn’t exactly drown chasing impossible dreams alongside you all, could I?"

"Xia Lingguo, you son of a—bitch—!"

Anyone who’d known Gao Jin back at school would’ve been shocked to hear the student council president hurling so much filth. He cursed every female relative Xia Lingguo had, and after a while, began on the men too—Yingu Yue poked a finger in his ear, unfazed.

"That’s enough, drag him away. In a few days, we’ll send him as a present for my father-in-law. I’m certain he’ll enjoy executing a White Night Walker publicly at the lecture square."

Blue Flame waved a hand, signing for the guards to haul Gao Jin away. Even as they dragged him off, Gao Jin kept cursing, looking ready to hate Xia Lingguo forever.

"Sigh."

Blue Flame sighed, stood up, and said, "Honestly, Gao Jin isn’t dumb, just too naive."

Yingu Yue crossed his arms and grinned, "He must think Mr. Xia sold them out just to get close to you, Master, so he could lie in wait for revenge. That’s why he’s putting on the whole ’deep pain and animosity’ show—to help win your trust."

Xia Lingguo said coolly, "Honestly, I just think he’s wanted to curse at me for a long time."

"So," Blue Flame asked, "Mr. Xia, what’s our next step?"

"Find a chance to let Gao Jin escape. Now that he’s seen me at your side, for one reason or another, White Night won’t target you for a while. They’ll be focusing on your father-in-law’s ’head’ instead."

"What you need to do is give them that chance," Xia Lingguo glanced at the Sea Barbarian corpses on the ground, "With the midyear Sacrifice over, all the front lines can spare a few troops. Chenfeng District has plenty of soldiers and food, but is short on iron and arms, and money’s even scarcer..."

Yingu Yue said excitedly, "So it’s time to go rob someone?"

"Joint military exercises, friendly exchange, just to show our ’strength,’" Xia Lingguo said, "And right next door there’s a fat rich neighbor, cowardly and faint-hearted—why shouldn’t we squeeze some oil out of the pig?"

"Dongyang District. Silver Blood Association."

Blue Flame smiled, "One, unify our three armies; two, earn funds for military expenses; three, let my father-in-law and White Night get a little ’quality time’ together—a perfect open scheme, three birds, one stone. Mr. Xia, as long as I stand, you’ll be my top advisor."

Xia Lingguo gave a calm bow, "I’ll go tally battle losses."

"Thank you for your trouble."

Watching Xia Lingguo’s departing back, Yingu Yue said, "Master, I still think Mr. Xia might not be so loyal."

"And you?"

"Me? I’m absolutely loyal." Yingu Yue thumped his chest, "Loyal to the bone, genuine goods, not a single fake."

Blue Flame shook his head, smiling, "There are rarely talented people who are both smart and loyal in this world. Loyalty’s a minor concern. Expect perfection from everyone, and you’ll end up like White Night—failing at everything..."

"Besides, I don’t need your loyalty."

"I just need you all... to keep up with me."

Watching Blue Flame head off to put on his benevolent act for the wounded, Yingu Yue sighed and trailed after him to play his part.

...

...

A storm brewing in Chenfeng District was about to sweep through Dongyang, but Xuanzhu’s people didn’t have a clue.

By the time the fourth and fifth issues of Youth Daily went on sale, every person in Xuanzhu County had a copy, passing them hand to hand. If you hadn’t read the latest "Knowledge Discussion Forum" or "Bizarre Curiosities," you weren’t even worthy of joining the tea crowd; every cover got collected and bound, and the fourth issue’s "Wronged Maid Leaving the Master’s Bedroom" and "Childhood Sweetheart Stepping Out of a Luxury Car" had people drooling with anticipation... No, wait! Grinding their teeth in fury!

Although Le Yu had beefed up the newspaper’s content on Le Yin’s advice, the so-called bottom-class dissatisfaction index was a slippery concept. Without a certain degree of pressure, you couldn’t see results—Le Yin thought there was still a long way to go before reaching that threshold.

Still, Le Yu was somewhat depressed: Although newspaper sales kept climbing, his challenge progress for "Waste 10,000 Hours of Others’ Time" had slowed down. The first issue had spiked by two thousand, but the last four combined only moved up by six thousand—he still needed nearly two thousand more hours to hit ten thousand.

Le Yu wracked his brain, finally reaching two conclusions,

① Because he hadn’t personally handled the "Knowledge Forum," "Inspiring Tales," "Bizarre Curiosities," or "Flame Wars" sections in the later issues, he didn’t get credit for the readers’ wasted time.

② Fewer and fewer people were reading the "Future Echoes" serials he wrote himself, and there was even less discussion—so he was wasting less and less of people’s time.

"So... this is what declining subscriptions feel like... And every other piece on the platform is a hit, but my own novels are dying out?!" frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

Realizing this in his editor’s office, Le Yu suddenly felt completely empty, limp, unwilling to do anything, even considering ending it all—having his alt, Tree-man, tossed into lockup for good.

"’Sigh, all I write is garbage, and nobody reads it. Why am I wringing my brain every day, slaving over this trash, even losing sleep over plotlines—Qing Lan isn’t even comforting anymore. I’m just a useless hack, might as well quit writing for good...’"

Just as Le Yu wallowed in self-loathing, self-pity, and bottomless self-doubt, someone knocked on the editor’s office door.

Mi Die stepped in and said, "Young master, tonight’s Jing Garden family banquet—Master requires you to attend, all publishing business can be set aside."

Le Yu nodded, "Alright, after work we’ll head straight over."

He had no interest in eating dinner with those bloated, brain-dead relatives, so he’d used "pressing publishing work" as an excuse for days.

Jing Qingfu had actually agreed—until today, when he suddenly changed his mind and insisted he show up.

"Looks like something’s happened..."

With that thought, Le Yu rubbed his chin.

"Could it be that the Huiyao Four Guards have really dragged my brothers down?"