Chapter 223: Die, the White Void Is Truly Clean

"Alas, how could this be?"

Collapsed onto the throne, the Golden King had long lost his former majesty.

The battlefield's clamor and chaos were still gradually closing in, and the area beneath the royal sedan was no longer peaceful.

With swords and knives at hand, who doesn't care about his own life?

"Your Majesty, we should retreat quickly; everyone may not be able to hold on!"

Seeing the guards around gripping their sword handles tighter, the situation had come to this; I fear I can no longer ignore the advice…

So the Golden King staggered to his feet and waved his hand.

"Then let's retreat first, return to the Tribe, and call upon the Dragon God for another battle!"

The moment the words "Dragon God" were spoken, the shattered morale finally showed a hint of recovery.

The guards moved swiftly, hoisting the royal sedan and preparing to leave.

But when a few others tried to lift General Huang's stretcher, he covered his chest and struggled to crawl up.

"No need, I can go on my own…"

The Golden King twisted his brow at the sight and hissed low.

"Ah Huang, why are you getting up? Just rest and heal!"

General Huang bowed respectfully, yet insisted verbally.

"Father, the rejuvenating elixir they sell is potent; I feel my wounds have healed considerably, and now is the time to use me…"

Those words made even the cold, arrogant Golden King's eyes warm.

Yuna, my whole life has been filthy, but at least for this child, I didn't…

Yet his heart remained sorrowful, and the clamor at his ears suddenly grew louder.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the situation has changed!"

It was the Red General, screaming loudly, clutching something to his chest, rushing forward, evidently to present it personally to Your Majesty.

He was Your Majesty's trusted minister, second only to the Golden King within the Tribe, and naturally no one dared to block him.

However, just as he approached Your Majesty unimpeded, General Huang let out a low growl, dragging his trembling body and lunged forward.

"Father, be careful!"

Pfft.

Amid the dull thud of a weapon piercing flesh, the entire royal sedan fell silent.

Seeing his only child collapse helplessly amid splattering blood, the Golden King's face froze into a comical expression.

Having slain the prince who tried to block him with his dagger, the Red General, after a moment of terror and hesitation, clenched his teeth again.

This was his sole chance to ascend the throne; even if exposed, now there was only one path left!

Thus he stepped over General Huang's corpse, hurried a few steps, and pointed his blade at the Golden King's chest.

And daring to rebel at this moment, those near the royal sedan were naturally not just him alone.

While he rose up, many guards also defected, helping him hold back everyone else around.

One‑on‑one, the Red General was confident he could kill the Golden King, whose level was far lower than his own.

Yet to sit steadily in this top position, the Golden King relied on more than just lineage.

When the Red General was only three steps away, he calmly retrieved a scroll from his cuff.

As magical energy was activated, the scroll shattered inch by inch into ash, and the surrounding temperature suddenly dropped.

The stored magic, in order, attached to the predetermined framework, and an extremely complex spell gradually formed in mid‑air.

Three‑Ring Magic: Instant‑Release Ice Killing Technique.

This was a treasure the Golden King obtained from the Dragon God at great cost.

He had intended to use it against the self‑sacrificial assassins of the oppressed, never expecting to wield it here.

The reason this magic is prized as a Three‑Ring spell lies in its "instant" activation.

Thus, from the Red General's perspective, before he could see what the Golden King had done, a sharp ice spear had already pierced his brow.

With the blood‑stained ice tip tearing through his skull, the Red General, his head shattered, fell to the ground with a thud.

The principal was dead, and the guards beside him halted in bewilderment and terror.

The Golden King's gaze swept among the corpses beneath the sedan, and he let out a sudden gasp.

Finally came a mixture of sorrow and joy, a series of what could be called mad laughter.

But after the laughter abruptly stopped, the composed Golden King displayed a terrifying calm.

"Kill them!"

Deprived of a backbone and direction, these traitorous guards barely resisted and all fell into the blood pool.

Even beneath the sedan, internal strife erupted; the despondent Golden King ordered his subordinates to burn his beloved son's corpse on the spot.

Watching Ah Huang's face twist in the flames, he withdrew his lingering gaze.

"Let's go, we'll head to the Hanging Castle and lodge a complaint with the Dragon God!"

At the same time, seeing the Golden King flee alone in the sedan amid the chaos, General Cheng completely lost hope.

In despair, he let out a mournful sigh and slit his own throat with a dagger.

Since then, six of the seven generals have died, and the Golden King fled in panic.

The lizard army had lost its entire backbone, becoming a scattered heap with no resistance left…

Oh, there's still one who hasn't died.

"I surrender, I surrender!"

Cang Lang's fist was about to strike the Purple General's head when he heard him hoarse shout that line.

The Purple General actually held little hope, after all, exterminating invading enemies in Yangyue World was a routine matter.

He was only shouting a little under the influence of survival instinct, just a token shout.

Who would have thought he closed his eyes waiting for death, yet the pain of his broken neck never came.

Instead, a voice came to his ears.

"You're surrendering, right? Surrender and we won't kill!"

"What… what?"

Purple General could hardly believe his ears, slowly opened his eyes, and found his head was indeed still there.

In a daze he almost lost his breath and fell straight to the ground.

"What, surrender and no killing!"

The other lizardmen, seeing the situation, had their eyes nearly bulging out.

Either way they're all dead. One of them boldly stepped forward.

"Sir, can surrender really save our lives!?"

"Uh…"

Hiding the blood‑stained lizardmen blade behind his back, Cang Lang nodded.

"We are a regular force; surrender and no killing, we treat prisoners well."

"Then sir, I surrender right now!"

"Brother, I surrender too!"

"Dad! The son has already knelt!"

One can only say it lives up to its scale‑armor color; if the lizardmen's retreat speed exceeds their charge speed, then surrender speed is even faster than the sum of the two.

The players felt they hadn't even chased much, yet the red‑named lizardmen before them all turned yellow as "【Surrendered】".

"Ugh!"

Killing prisoners carries an experience penalty, so no matter how angry they are they can only stop here.

However, by this point of the battle, over two thousand lizardmen had already been mostly slain.

Those who survived by surrender total only about three hundred.

Standing with over a thousand players, they looked like a herd of waddling geckos.

On the hillside, wiping nonexistent sweat from his forehead, Ji Ming let out a slight sigh of relief.

He had thought that even if today's battle wasn't the last‑ditch war, the players would still bleed heavily.

In the end, not even the lizardmen were enough to grind; the experience was so massive it wasn't enough for a single life.

Fortunately he acted quickly; otherwise the lizardmen would have been stripped of all experience by the players.

Unfortunately Golden King escaped too fast to be caught; otherwise this battle would have been a perfect victory.

But the fight was over, and a more important question now faced the players.

Although the Scale Armor Tribe is a raiding tribe, any healthy adult, male or female, counts as a "combat‑ready warrior."

Even with many combatants, after the whole nest moves and collapses, about a thousand elders, weak, and children remain at home.

So how should these captives be dealt with?

Or rather, how to handle this Scale Armor Tribe whose defenses have been stripped away?

"Even if we kill them all, it'll be fine!"

But construction is always more complex than destruction; the Players' Council debated for ages without reaching a conclusion.

After consulting countless historical sources, from bullet screens to real life, they finally produced a barely acceptable implementation plan.

First, to secure loyalty, the families of the three‑hundred surrendered soldiers cannot stay in the tribe.

Coincidentally, Dog Village is about to expand into Dog Town, so let them become new residents there.

While participating in the town's production and construction, they will also remain here as hostages.

But having this leverage does not mean the surrendered can be fully trusted.

Thus these lizardmen will be completely dispersed into several independent combat squads directly answerable to the Players' Council.

They will serve as patrol units for the players' territories, scattered across the vast Underground Plain.

In this way, even if any squad tries to cause trouble, it will be hard to spark a major incident.

As for the remaining few hundred lizardmen in the tribe, they cannot just sit and eat for free.

Anyone who can walk or move, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, send them in batches to work in the city!

Those who cannot work must not idle either; there will be all kinds of handicrafts and other light‑industry goods for them to produce.

After all, the players are here to play a game, not to serve prison time.

Weaving, farming, etc., dabbling in cosplay, experiencing the life they yearn for, pretending to be artsy youths—that's enough.

These simple mechanical labors are too grueling; many players have left the logistics center to enjoy the game.

After all, who would have free time after a day job only to work again in a game at night?

…What, you play that game? Then it's fine.

As for the huge amount of goods produced, can they even be sold…

First, that's a matter for the Pioneers, not for you lizardmen war criminals; no slacking off!

Second, from the closed beta it's clear that everything from the internal test will carry over to the open beta.

So at worst, wait until then, leave the dungeon, and sell to other NPCs outside.

In short, all of you get moving, get busy, and leave no lingering second thoughts!

Even if many players have been leaders before, this is certainly their first time wielding such great power.

Holding life‑and‑death authority in one hand, the wisdom required in many places is far beyond a mere spark.

When they carry out the discussed plan and tweak it to work, it's already the next morning.

Not every player has the courage, or rather is short‑sighted enough to quit a job for something like this.

So even though there are many more professional players, this moment is still when the player count is at its lowest.

As a member of the Pioneers United Council, the Squad Leader of the Scale Armor Tribe Lizardmen Mercenaries, Purple Captain finally took post at the dungeon entrance.

…In fact, the position was originally set as Captain, since his hat looks big, and he actually has only seven or eight subordinates.

But a few of the brothers examined the title closely and found it really didn't fit.

After all, even if he can be Purple Captain, players can't be Lord Hei Teng!

So he was promoted from Captain to Squad Leader, and even received a special uniform from some petty ghost with "Don't stop" written on the back.

He thought today would be a disaster; even if he survived, the humans would publicly humiliate him.

But there are plenty of wild beasts to kill for venting; who would idle and torture a captive just for fun?

Instead, a few humans forced him to chat about a strange thing.

From what he did last night to what he ate yesterday, from the internal affairs of the Lizardmen Tribe to how the Lizardmen…

Cough, Shen He, don't look at me.

"Thanks, I was born from my mother, but at first I was in an egg."

In short, it was like idle chatter, a long talk about the Lizardmen and the Scale Armor Tribe.

And each time Purple General thinks humans are trying to tease him, he finds they were only coincidentally talking about it.

So his back trembles intermittently, even though the topics are ordinary; after the conversation his whole body shakes.

"Alright, thanks Purple Captain for sharing with us, folks, let's go stroll around the Scale Armor Tribe again."

Just as he let out a long sigh and was about to change his stance to rest, he suddenly heard a sentence.

"What, your first time?"

Startled, he almost flew up on the spot, trembling and looking around, finally noticing a dark shadow not far away.

The underground plain is dim, so black things appear even more blurred.

He had previously glanced with his peripheral vision, thought it was a rock, and ignored it.

Now, upon closer inspection, he realized it was… a huge wolf!

Since being almost fainted from yesterday's scare, his body has been getting weaker; a flicker and he collapsed.

"Squad Leader, what are you doing? Squad Leader!"

Anyway, he's the "savior" who opened a new route for everyone, so a few teammates rushed over to help him.

Cloi had a clueless expression, and only after thinking carefully did she realize.

She thought it was that the other's heart was huge and they showed no emotion, but it turned out they simply hadn't noticed her at all…

Struggling to stand, Purple Captain immediately began cautious flattery.

"You… may I ask who you are, sir?"

"Sir? What kind of sir am I? I'm just a captive like you."

Leaning on a flat stone at the city gate, Cloi let out a long sigh.

"Newcomer, looking at you, were you also tortured by him until you were stripped?"

"What? Stripped…"

"Squad Leader, why did you collapse again? Squad Leader!"