Chapter 2042

Or rather, they have a dual nature.

Zhao Chi couldn't help but sit up straight, listening carefully to Guan Zhiyong's information.

Guan Zhiyong looked around.

His expression was somewhat desolate.

He waited until everyone was quiet before speaking:

"Reinforcements... there are none.

"The 'Xuanwu Regiment' at Shubei Town in the far north has suddenly been hit by a massive beast tide. We can confirm that a large portion of the beast quota has been shifted over there.

"The werewolves used the power of the central formation to tilt the invading beasts toward Shubei Town. They're willing to ease the pressure on the nobles just to kill us off first...

"The Xuanwu Regiment has been pinned down.

"The Glory Regiment at Youfeng Town and the Jue Di Regiment at Black Water Town have been directly blockaded by the werewolves. If they want to come support us, they have to detour east of Manhua Town from even further east.

"But detouring right under the werewolves' noses? That's just delivering meat to them on a platter.

"And even if they could come support us, it wouldn't be of much use. After all, they can't bring their entire regiment, and even if a single brigade came, it wouldn't resolve our situation here.

"We're not just at a disadvantage in one Horn Cliff Town.

"The surrounding River Valley Town, Copper Rock Town, Cold Needle Town, even Binghe County — all of them are at a disadvantage. Even with reinforcements, it wouldn't help much, unless an entire regiment could come to support us.

"But that's not realistic.

"Lastly, the Dawn Regiment. They've also been pinned down in West Abyss County and can't move. After all, West Abyss County has a county-level formation. If West Abyss County falls, we'll have no county-level formation left on our northern side.

"Then our entire northern side will fall into passivity.

"So...

"Everyone understand, right?

"We can only rely on ourselves."

Guan Zhiyong was a very burly, towering giant of a man.

But the moment he said these words, his tone was noticeably subdued.

No one spoke.

The group of captains all silently stared at the table, silent.

Vice-Regiment Commander Jiang Chen spoke up:

"... Everyone knows the situation now, right?

"Although it's regrettable, for us it's also somewhat helpful.

"At least we can completely rule out all reinforcement-related plans. In a way, it's helped narrow the scope of our discussion.

"Then let's continue discussing plans."

"Hold on, Commander Jiang." Guan Zhiyong interrupted Jiang Chen: "I have other information to report to everyone."

Jiang Chen nodded.

Signaling Guan Zhiyong to continue.

Guan Zhiyong said:

"Besides the above information, I've also received news from other counties and towns in our regiment.

"First, the bad news: Cold Needle Town has already fallen. Vice-Regiment Commander Fei Jing, Brigade Commander Zhang Yonghuai, and others... all of their whereabouts are unknown. They should have already met with misfortune.

"And then..."

Before he could finish speaking, incredulous voices rose in the room.

"What! Cold Needle Town has fallen? What's going on? That's impossible, right?"

"Right, didn't they use long-term truce talismans?"

"Even if they didn't use them, it's impossible that none of them used them. Could their formation have malfunctioned? Cold Needle Town is on the front line."

"Vice-Regiment Commander Fei Jing and Brigade Commander Zhang Yonghuai are both missing? Then our White Tiger Regiment's strength has dropped quite a bit again."

"More than that — it's the equivalent of losing an entire brigade. Over a thousand lords all perished?"

"Not necessarily all perished. Surely quite a few were captured, but... they definitely can't fight anymore."

"Captain Guan, what's actually going on?"

"Yeah, what's going on?"

"Is the information reliable?"

Everyone discussed animatedly.

Guan Zhiyong waved his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.

Then he nodded and said:

"When I first received this news, I was also extremely shocked.

"But this news was sent personally by Commander Yao Feng, so it can be confirmed without a doubt!

"Cold Needle Town's formation had no problems. It was the werewolves channeling the central formation's energy to directly slam into Cold Needle Town's formation, causing the formation's energy to rapidly deplete, so the werewolf army was quickly freed up.

"In this way, Cold Needle Town was essentially facing the werewolf army head-on by itself.

"From Commander Yao Feng's description... the fighting was extremely fierce.

"Vice-Regiment Commander Fei Jing and Brigade Commander Zhang Yonghuai all died gloriously in battle. The other captains and lords also mostly fought to the very last moment, bringing no disgrace to the World-Breaking Army and no disgrace to humanity.

"They were all fine warriors!"

Guan Zhiyong was a brigade commander.

He and the other brigade commanders of the White Tiger Regiment were naturally very familiar, even old comrades-in-arms.

When announcing this information, he tried hard to keep himself calm, but his tightly clenched fists and overly even tone still allowed people to sense the intense fury he was barely suppressing.

The scene fell silent once again.

Gu Zhan shook his head and said:

"Looks like these werewolves really are going to fight us to the death.

"First they transferred the lords of three regiments to attack, then they used the central formation's energy to tilt magical beasts toward the Xuanwu Regiment, and now they're using the central formation's energy to directly clash against Cold Needle Town.

"Are they really going to leave the nobles any chance to resist?"

Jiang Chen said:

"No way around it!

"This month, the 'Xuanwu Regiment' and 'Dawn Regiment', together with the 'Celestial Court Army', once again rescued the nobles of District 9, making the werewolves' plan to capture District 9 fail again.

"The werewolves must absolutely hate us to the bone. So that's probably one of the reasons for this large-scale attack this time."

Gu Zhan said in surprise: "There's such a thing?"

This was the first time he had heard of it.

Jiang Chen said:

"Mm, our White Tiger Regiment didn't take part this time, so you probably don't know.

"But from the werewolves' perspective, this time it was again because of us that they failed at the last moment.

"So they resolved to eliminate us first, even at the cost of letting the nobles catch a big breath.

Lu Yibing said:

"Actually, it's not just that.

"The Heavenly King Army has also gotten in touch with the nobles, and is making moves in District 5 as well.

"The Blade Army and Iron Blood Army have also begun to make contact with the nobles.

"After all, everyone needs the World Stones in the nobles' hands… so these should all be among the triggers for the werewolves' large-scale strike this time."

Bai Zhenyu frowned: "This mess — originally it was for the nobles to take the brunt of the werewolves for us up front, but now it's turned into us taking the brunt for the nobles. Where do we have that kind of capacity?"

Li Ruanyu asked: "Hasn't District 5 already fallen? What moves is the Heavenly King Army making over there?"

Lu Yibing explained:

"There are some nobles lurking in District 5, ready to counterattack at any time — the ones who got in touch with the Heavenly King Army are these people.

"And the werewolves' main force is all in District 1 and District 9, so District 5 is relatively weaker, giving them room to develop in secret.

"Although relying only on those nobles and the Heavenly King Army to take back District 5 isn't very likely, it's still a threat to the werewolves in the end.

"They won't let that threat go unchecked. So after dealing with us, the werewolves are probably going to set about wiping out the Heavenly King Army and the other forces.

"No one can escape."

Li Ruanyu nodded: "Understood."

Gu Zhan asked: "Any moves from the other forces? Can the Blade Army and Iron Blood Army provide aid?"

Lu Yibing shook her head: