Chapter 49: The King's Decision

"Then, please make a good decision, Your Majesty the King!" said the Red-clothed Devil with a smile, then slowly stepped back, then closed the door, leaving only the king alone in the palace.

The king had long received the soldiers' report, and also knew that the adventurers had come for the most precious thing in each country, but to them, the most valuable of all nations' treasures is weapons; however, if they chose money, then isn't that? The king sighed and muttered to himself: "We must do this; we must ask them to leave."

The sky grew darker and darker, the stars across the sky twinkled, as if blinking eyes. Lin Xiyan sat on the ground, together with the dwarf beside her, watching the stars. Jin Meng kept watch over the surroundings, relieved that she had spoken Feng Yan's name, which made him relax a bit of his vigilance toward Lin Xiyan, but he still glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, because it was one-sided, perhaps because Feng Yan didn't know she had also entered the game; he thought, perhaps Feng Yan didn't want this girl to get involved in this matter.

Lin Xiyan gazed at the stars, then suddenly stood up, raised her head, and placed both hands behind her back, saying: "How beautiful, this starry sky—I haven't looked up at it for so long!"

"'Do adventurers also look up at the stars?' a dwarf asked."

"'Of course!' Lin Xiyan blinked her eyes and continued, 'In another world we are merely ordinary people; as adventurers coming to this world, to you we may be saviors, but we are also ordinary people, we can also feel fear, lose courage, and are not the possessors of all the fine qualities you speak of as belonging to humanity—we are also ordinary people.'"

After saying that, Lin Xiyan stretched, yawned, and slowly walked back to the wooden hut she had built, saying as she went: "Well, I'm going to sleep now; see you tomorrow!"

This finally let Jin Meng breathe a sigh of relief; he no longer needed to monitor Lin Xiyan. He came down from a high place, and together with the dwarves they lit a bonfire. Red sparks slowly emerged, then small flames rose from the firewood, as if a gust of wind would extinguish them. The dwarves all blocked the wind, then gazed at the flame, as if seeing their own race—just like that weak flame, any breeze could blow it out, but under protection the flame gradually grew stronger, the firelight shot up into the sky, thus becoming renowned throughout the Dream Continent. But then? The chief god's disappearance, the loss of divine protection, they were again used by the Red-clothed Devil as experimental material; the companions' wails still echoed in the chieftain's ears, yet before him, that bonfire made him recall the wizard's prophecy: everything is about to begin! The adventurers will lead them toward independence!

He gathered the dwarves together and said: "Fellow clansmen, I announce one thing: we have decided to rebel! We will rebel against the Benefit State to avenge our companions!"

The people below began to mutter, seemingly speaking of the Benefit State's strength; they feared being captured again by the Red-clothed Devil, locked in that dark, cold iron cage, where the tools inside would dismember their bodies to please the Red-clothed Devil. That despairing laughter would follow the companions' deaths; in that icy iron cage, pairs of terror-filled eyes watched their companions slowly being killed in this way, while the devil remained there preparing the next round.

They recalled the Red-clothed Devil's expression upon seeing a qualified test subject—the companion's wide-open eyes, if you looked closely still streaked with blood; he was slowly tortured by that red potion, revealing extremely strong combat power; as time passed, he slowly returned to his original form. Seeing the experiment's failure or success, the Red-clothed Devil smiled. Whether failure or success, there were always piles of companions' bodies, then he revealed a ferocious face, laughed wildly, reached his hand into the iron cage, and softly said: "Who will be next?"

The chieftain knew that seeing them like this, the plan to rebel had been made, but they also dared not rebel against the Benefit State; so he sighed and said: "Everyone, disperse; let's just pretend I never said anything."

Lin Xiyan returned to the wooden hut and kept watching the dwarves gather and then disperse. She knew that Feng Yan had once brought the dwarves here solely to protect their well-being, but these dwarves devoid of fighting spirit—are they still the dwarves she knew from fairy tales? Lin Xiyan sighed, closed the window, and muttered to herself: "It seems the dwarves are mostly unwilling; they are limited by the present situation, their fear of the Red-clothed Devil has completely robbed them of their dwarven courage."

But what if there was still a chance? Lin Xiyan thought again, turned and opened the window once more, and saw Jin Meng.

The dwarves slowly turned and walked away, their thought being to stay in this golden phoenix tree forest, but they heard a voice, stopped their feet, and began to turn back.

"'I see you as cowards, even more despicable than our bounty hunters!' Jin Meng roared, 'How could the great adventurer save such a lowly race? I truly feel ashamed for the two adventurers!'"

"'What right does a bounty hunter have to say that!'"

"'I think he's a spy sent by the Benefit State!'"

"'Drive him away!'"

"'Yes, drive him away!' the dwarves shouted together, waving their arms. Seeing this scene, Jin Meng smiled, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly; he thought, 'This is exactly what I wanted to see—although the words were harsh, the effect was great.'"

"'Then, prove it to me—see if you can do it.' After saying that, Jin Meng climbed up the tree again and then observed the surroundings."

"'We want to rebel!'"

"'We want to avenge our fallen clansmen!'"

The voices kept repeating; the chieftain looked at Jin Meng, knowing he bore a great black pot, and taking advantage of the situation he said: "We have endured endless humiliation from foreign tribes, and we should not be like this; our Dwarf Tribe, created by Aoding, is the embodiment of bravery, and should not serve a mere Benefit State; we will reclaim our honor, reclaim the honor of our god Aoding, retrieve all that we have lost, for the honor of our god Aoding!"

"'Then, how should we assign our leaders?' a young dwarf asked."

"'Um, this......' The chieftain felt embarrassed, broke out in a cold sweat, thinking, 'Whose child is this?' Then he said: 'How about? Tomorrow we go ask the great adventurer......'"

Jin Meng smiled, thinking, 'Everything has already succeeded completely,' then looking at the night sky he said: 'I've done all that needed to be done; then, great adventurer, I wish you both success!'"

Although it was night, Feng Yan couldn't sleep at all; he opened the door, went out to look at the sky's myriad stars, leaned against a pillar and sat down, and began to recite a poem: 'The stars twinkle—, the deep blue sky, have they ever heard their words? In silence, in the faint light, they deeply praised each other.'

The wind brushed his cheeks, accompanying Feng Yan's worries; his voice spread throughout the temporary palace, and the night‑watch soldiers who heard the poem added some interest to their long, boring watch, and as they listened to Feng Yan's recited verses they began to daydream.

Pap—pap—pap—the sound of clapping slowly rose; Feng Yan looked and saw it was Chen Hao, quickly stood up, and asked: 'Why aren't you sleeping? Could it be that you also can't sleep?'

Chen Hao sighed and said: 'I'm also very nervous; this situation has lasted a long time, our consciousness is trapped here, we can't contact the outside world, but we probably still breathe—otherwise what kind of game is this?'

Feng Yan listened more and more felt something was off, asked: 'This isn't you, you would have this thought? You used to be a fervent follower of Yang Shu, would you be afraid of this?'

Upon hearing that, Chen Hao realized Feng Yan was teasing him, he chuckled and said: 'Want to try a hundred thousand volts?'

Feng Yan hastily made a pleading gesture, using a beseeching tone: 'Brother Hao, I was wrong.'

'Knowing your mistake is good; that still makes you a good son.'

'Get lost!'

After the interaction, Feng Yan suddenly asked seriously: 'Will the dwarves rebel?'

'I don't know, but it should happen; that would be normal behavior for the dwarves,' Chen Hao said, looking very serious.

Feng Yan nodded and said: 'That is to say, if the dwarves have a backup plan, we can safely spar with Yang Xin. Very good, excellent!'

On the other side, Yang Xin stroked his crossbow, white in his hand, then stared at the skull at the tip of the prod—that crossbow made from human bone; Yang Xin smiled and said: 'Feng Yan, tomorrow is the time to meet the king; what should we do? If it's close combat, I can't handle it.'