Free Web NovelChapter 2455: Chapter 2456: Zhanzheng Qichen
Even with the City of Death marking the intruders, it still took three full days for the Time Storm expulsion operation to conclude, and although it was only a probing attack, the post‑battle tally showed over a hundred dead.
This test offensive forced Maomu City to temporarily suspend all mountain and forest patrol missions, handing them over entirely to Wild Spirit Beasts.
There was no helping it; this time the Patrolmen were hit just as hard. Unlike the patrol squads, the Patrolmen never had much manpower to begin with. They’re usually one person in charge of one sector—when something like this happens, they can hardly mount any effective resistance.
Precisely because of that, the group with the second‑highest death toll in the Time Storm was the Patrolmen, and that’s even with their scattered distribution and small numbers.
This operation in The Imperial Timeline didn’t just enrage Great Xia; it also inevitably created rifts within the Alliance, with conflicts between the Pro‑War Faction and the stability‑seekers growing ever sharper.
These changes had nothing to do with Feng Yuan. He didn’t want to be too deeply involved in this War. The very reason he summoned the City of Death was both a warning and a test; otherwise, those bastards would keep staring at Maomu City because of him, which would put him in a very tricky spot.
After all, the matter was related to him. Doing nothing would be inappropriate, but if he acted, he’d be dragged into this War between worlds.
Using the City of Death to temporarily pull Maomu City out of the vortex was Feng Yuan’s primary goal. As for the test, even he didn’t know whether they would dare take action against the City of Death.
Over this period, Zhanzheng Qichen had also helped Maomu City force its way through several Time Storms. Now that things had temporarily settled down, he strolled through the place Qi Chen used to live, a pale yellow cloak draped over his shoulders.
Compared to the villa district he lives in now, this place is instead where the two of them share their common memories.
Walking slowly with his hood up, Zhanzheng Qichen’s gaze swept over the familiar yet unfamiliar streets. It hadn’t been that long, so nothing had really changed. Unlike the dreamscape, everything here was incomparably real.
"I really don’t know if you’re just lucky, or if you’re some behind‑the‑scenes mastermind. But aren’t you going to explain why your report was so bare‑bones?"
While Zhanzheng Qichen was immersed in past memories, a resentful female voice yanked him back. He halted, slowly lifted his head, but didn’t turn around.
"Hey, you don’t actually think you can dodge this just by keeping your mouth shut, do you?"
The short‑haired girl in combat gear raised her voice, unable to hold back. Because of the Time Storm, the two of them were the only ones on this street. A gust of wind tugged at Zhanzheng Qichen’s cloak. With a disdainful smile, he said,
"I haven’t kept silent. I’ve reported everything. As for the specific location, wherever it is, it doesn’t affect your negotiations."
"Oh really? Then what do you have to say about that thing hovering over our heads? That thing caused quite a stir in the East Continent Empire. Don’t tell me you somehow didn’t get intel on it. According to the information you gave us, they shouldn’t be keeping this under wraps."
Hands on her hips, Bai You was thoroughly displeased. The City of Death was just hanging there over Maomu City, and it had even kicked up a sizable storm in the Eastern Alliance Empire, yet even after two days, they still hadn’t received any material on it from Zhanzheng Qichen.
"It has nothing to do with us, and we are not his match. What’s the point of knowing about it?"
"Sometimes, ignorance is actually a blessing."
He continued forward without looking back. Bai You rushed ahead, cutting him off, and snapped angrily,
"Quit speaking in riddles with me! What do you mean ’not his match’? As allies, you keep something this important from us, and you don’t think there’s a problem with this alliance?!"
"What, just because this place looks like the old Maomu City, you..."
A sharp Wood spike burst up from the ground, cutting Bai You off mid‑sentence. Staring at the spike only a few centimeters from her, Bai You shouted furiously,
"Aren’t you afraid I’ll report this? Don’t think that just because you have the Envoy’s status you can do whatever you like!"
"Whether they understand or not, I don’t want to bring trouble down on our country."
Speaking lightly, Zhanzheng Qichen looked at Bai You, sighed at her angry expression, and said,
"Tell them to send someone else to take over your assignment. Continuing like this won’t do you any good."
"Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!"
"Compared to them, we’re the weaker side. What’s more, Maomu City is even more dangerous than all of Great Xia put together because he’s here. And you... I don’t know what’s true and what’s false, and I don’t want to find out. Don’t waste your effort on me."
He spun around abruptly. Zhanzheng Qichen didn’t want to deal with Bai You. On paper she was his assistant, dispatched together with him to handle liaison and coordination for the alliance with Great Xia.
But Zhanzheng Qichen knew very well that her real mission was likely to monitor him—and possibly to serve some other purpose as well.
Unlike the Main World, the War Timeline had long been engulfed in War, with all sorts of messy plots and schemes. Even if something looked perfectly natural, Zhanzheng Qichen couldn’t swear that his "accidental" rescue of Bai You back then hadn’t been a coincidence deliberately engineered by her side.
Her identity was anything but ordinary, after all. No matter how much evidence suggested he was just overthinking it, he still couldn’t lay those suspicions to rest. All the more because... he still couldn’t forget her.
The reason Zhanzheng Qichen wanted Bai You replaced on the monitoring assignment was precisely because she didn’t act like she was monitoring him. More often than not, she was the one helping cover up his over‑the‑line behavior.
Like how he’d been helping Maomu City lately—something explicitly forbidden. An Envoy has an Envoy’s rules; they’re not allowed to interfere in another country’s affairs at will, even if the other side has no objections.
"What do you mean, ’have someone else take over my assignment’! And also—what on earth is that thing!"
While Bai You was still in a daze, Zhanzheng Qichen had already walked off. Snapping back to herself, she quickly caught up and demanded loudly, but Zhanzheng Qichen had no intention of explaining anything about Feng Yuan to her.
It had nothing to do with Qi Chen and the others. Zhanzheng Qichen knew all too well that if he fully reported Feng Yuan’s intel, those people would definitely do something they shouldn’t.
Unlike Great Xia, East Continent Great Xia had no relationship with Feng Yuan at all. If they enraged him, the City of Death might well lock onto the last remaining land of East Continent Great Xia.
Even the Eastern Alliance Empire, mighty as it was, had been thrown into chaos by the City of Death, let alone East Continent Great Xia, which was inferior even to Great Xia.
In Zhanzheng Qichen’s eyes, the best way to deal with Feng Yuan was not to bother him, not to provoke him.
He might have a certain standing, but precisely because of that, Zhanzheng Qichen understood what kind of stupid things they’d do once he handed in that file—even if he, even if other smart people tried to stop it.
While Maomu City was run ragged dealing with the Time Storms, Feng Yuan spent a few leisurely days holed up in the villa. Mainly, he had no intention of getting involved in resolving the Time Storms, and besides, after the City of Death was deployed, The Imperial Timeline no longer focused its attention on Maomu City.
They had no choice. Feng Yuan’s counterattacks had been escalating each time. Last time he’d only wiped out the Mordan Empire’s royal capital. It threw the Mordan Empire into chaos, but they could still barely restore order.
This time, however, the Emperor resurrected by the City of Death had been rampaging nonstop across the Eastern Alliance Empire’s territory. Maybe it wasn’t as instantly devastating as wiping out a capital in one blow, but in terms of duration and scope of impact, it left the Mordan Empire incident in the dust.
Even after discovering that he had more than a day, the resurrected Emperor still had no intention of negotiating. Things had already come to this—how could they possibly make peace with the other side?
As for the impact on the Eastern Alliance Empire’s order and its people? What did that have to do with them? Everyone with blood ties to them had long since been wiped out by the latecomers. The commoners had nothing to do with them. If anything, those people were now the subjects of the Emperor’s mortal enemies.
The fact that they’d shown some restraint and hadn’t had the Army of the Undead recklessly expand the lands of death was already proof of their rationality. There was no way they were going to stop the killing because of that.
The other Empires might not have had their own Emperors resurrected, but seeing the miserable states of those two, they had no plans to do anything to Feng Yuan or Maomu City until they had absolute certainty.
After all, no one knew what kind of counterattack the other side might unleash. And given that Maomu City’s geographic position had nothing to do with any strategic chokepoint, whether they seized it or not didn’t affect the bigger picture at all. They weren’t about to let some place that was currently irrelevant to the overall situation drag them into trouble and blow up their plans before they even began.
As for later?
They’d have to face the decisive moment sooner or later, but that would be in the future. They could make other preparations in the meantime.
