Chapter 772 - Faceplate and rebirth (2/2)

Shen Yin, who was not giving in earlier, had now pissed his pants.

Bulan Zir and the others rushed into the official residences with their own tribesmen and did whatever they wanted. There were gold bars, jewelry, and firearms hidden in there while the arsenal and granary were also emptied out by Hassan.

By the evening, their plundering finally came to an end.

The nomads erected a huge wooden fence in front of the villa’s gate and hanged the bodies of the officials one by one. From afar, it looked like a row of terrifying wind chimes.

Regardless of whether Yan Liuyuan liked these “wind chimes” or not, the nomads needed to stir up their people’s fighting spirit before going on to face even tougher battles in the future.

Yan Liuyuan would have to let them enjoy each of their victories and killings so they would become his most loyal worshippers.

It no longer mattered if he liked it or not. As the lord of the steppe, he only had to consider whether his worshippers needed these things.

If it were necessary for the nomads, he would turn the corpses of the enemy into his flag.

However, an incident still happened after he repeatedly emphasized to the nomads not to slaughter innocent people. When the chief of the Khoton tribe was escorted over by Kirghiz Yan, Yan Liuyuan frowned and asked, “What happened?”

Kirghiz Yan answered, “Master, when the Khoton tribe was confiscating an official’s assets, they actually led their tribesmen to kill unarmed civilians without your permission. The other tribesmen could not control themselves when they saw the Khoton tribe’s actions and joined in as well. Fortunately, Hassan informed me and Bulan Zir, so the situation did not get worse.”

The Khoton tribe had been badly defeated in the grasslands. So, after arriving at the stronghold, their chief was hoping that Yan Liuyuan would give the order to massacre the entire city. That way, it would make him feel better about his previous losses.

However, he did not expect that after Yan Liuyuan had saved the Bulan and Kirghiz tribes, they became the most loyal tribes to Yan Liuyuan. They carried out Yan Liuyuan’s orders meticulously and captured all of the Khoton tribe members.

Yan Liuyuan asked, “What did they do?”

“They killed thousands of civilians, started fires in the stronghold, and even violated the women,” Kirghiz Yan answered.

Yan Liuyuan waved his hand expressionlessly and said, “There’s no need for the Khoton tribe to continue existing then. Kill them all and hang their heads up with the enemy’s corpses.”

The chief of the Khoton tribe cried and begged for mercy, but before he could say anything, his head was cut off by Kirghiz Yan.

Yan Liuyuan took a deep breath. He did not expect that such a thing would happen under his command. Perhaps other people would simply deal with this by calling for stricter discipline to be enforced on their subordinates in the future, but Yan Liuyuan did not want to let this matter go so easily.

He might be able to accept the act of killing, but he would not stand for women being raped.

Everyone left, leaving only Yan Liuyuan and Tsetseg in the villa.

Suddenly, Yan Liuyuan saw the newspaper on the coffee table in front of him. The words Hope Media were printed on its header.

When Yan Liuyuan saw the newspaper, he did not go over to pick it up and just continued resting on the couch with his eyes closed. The Qing Consortium’s envoy had already told him everything he needed to know. So he was not particularly interested in the papers.

Tsetseg remained beside him the entire time. She could feel the dilemma in Yan Liuyuan’s heart. It seemed like he was struggling as well.

The girl took a comb out of her sleeve and stood obediently behind Yan Liuyuan to comb his hair. As she combed his hair, she said, “You’re now the hope of Father and the rest.”

“Hope?” Yan Liuyuan repeated as though he was deliberating the meaning of it.

The girl said again, “That’s right, I’ve never seen Father so brave before. In the past, when those large tribes made him pay tribute to them with livestock, he always offered it to them submissively. The other people in the tribe also did not dare to speak out even though they were angry. But it’s different now. When I saw him talking to the chief of the Khoton tribe that day, he spoke confidently without being overbearing.”

“That’s because he holds greater power now.” Yan Liuyuan said with a smile, “Meanwhile, the Khoton tribe is already on the decline. I had wanted to see if they would fight bravely in this battle. But in the end, I was very disappointed. The Khoton tribe hid at the back of the forces throughout the fight. They’ve already lost their courage, so how could your father not be confident when facing people like them?”

“No, it’s not that.” Tsetseg said in a soft voice, “Father said that it was the gods who bestowed him with strength. Every morning, he kowtows to you with Mother. He said that you’ll bring our people a comfortable life and that we won’t have to be afraid of anyone anymore. Now, everyone in the tribe says that you’re the sun in the sky, and I think so too. It’s the only way to explain such a beautiful presence as you.”

“That’s enough,” Yan Liuyuan said with a smile, “Go to your father and tell him that I’m ready to leave.”

Yan Liuyuan absent-mindedly picked up the newspaper from the coffee table and glanced at the date. It seemed that this was yesterday’s newspaper.

He had heard of Hope Media because Wang Fugui liked reading newspapers every day.

At that time, he even asked Wang Fugui why he liked reading newspapers. Wang Fugui laughed and explained that he just wanted to kill some time. Then he told Yan Liuyuan that he should learn from Mr. Zhang. When he could read and understand an entire newspaper publication, he would reward him with a piece of candy.

At first, Yan Liuyuan would study hard every day with a longing for the candy. However, he started to become playful and lazy again very soon. Every day, he begged his brother to take him out to go hunting because he knew there was a bigger world outside of town.

Now that he could understand an entire newspaper publication, the person who promised to reward him with a piece of candy was nowhere to be seen.

When Yan Liuyuan looked at the first page of the newspaper, it wrote about the war between the Pyro Company and the Kong Consortium, as well as the moves the Wang Consortium was taking.

At the moment, the Wang Consortium was not in a hurry to join the battlefield. Instead, they had gathered their troops at the border and were waiting quietly for something.

Based on Yan Liuyuan’s deduction, the Wang Consortium was just waiting for the opportunity to finish off the Kong Consortium with one strike.

Actually, there was nothing special about the consortiums. Everyone out here was like wild animals in the wilderness. They would only go all out when there was an opportunity to do so. Before the hunt began, everyone would usually remain silent.

Yan Liuyuan flipped to the second page, which reported about the aftermath of the incident in the Sacred Mountains. For example, it wrote about how many people had gone on the expedition, how many made it out of there, and how heavy their casualties were. Furthermore, the page described in detail that the expedition to the Sacred Mountains was just a scheme by the Anjing House and the Pyro Company. However, no one knew who revealed this to Hope Media.

The news on the third page started getting boring. It basically described what the chief editor, Jiang Xu, had seen and heard at the Wang Consortium’s stronghold, as well as his review of the artificial intelligence, of which he had mixed feelings about.

The newspaper reported that Jiang Xu was still at Stronghold 61 and that he would continue observing the artificial intelligence’s developments.

On the fourth page, the newspaper started to talk about the revolutionary changes surrounding the Qinghe Group in Luoyang City. All the Riders other than Xu Ke had already left Luoyang City, with their whereabouts unknown.

Yan Liuyuan flipped through the pages slowly as he waited for his subjects to gather.

But the moment he got to the fifth page, the young lord froze.

Half of the fifth page had only two lines of words written on it.

“Don’t let the sorrows of our era become your sorrow as well.

“61.”

Yan Liuyuan was too familiar with these words, and he knew who said it too. All of his fond memories of the refugee town were related to that person.

On that day, he saw that red spear pierce Ren Xiaosu’s abdomen before he was swept away by the flood.

That flood was like an irreversible moment that almost wiped away all his fond memories of the world.

There was no more candy and no more new clothes to look forward to every year.

At that time, he was still Ren Xiaosu’s little brother. But now, he was the new king of the steppe.

At this moment, Tsetseg rushed into the villa. “Father and the others are back!”

But as soon as she finished speaking, she realized the young man was sitting by himself on the couch and shrouded in the shadow of the distant twilight. He looked exceptionally lonely.

Yes, this was the loneliness of a king.

It was a loneliness enwrapped by blizzards and thorns.

Yan Liuyuan looked out of the villa. He wanted to go to Stronghold 61 to look for Ren Xiaosu.

But when he looked up, he saw the suspended corpses on the wooden fence swaying nonstop as purplish-black blood dripped onto the ground drop by drop.

These were the people he ordered to be killed, and it also represented his sorrows.

Meanwhile, the flames burning in the stronghold were the sins of the Khoton tribe who were his followers. Corpses of thousands of civilians and women who had been violated were burning within those flames.

At some point in time, he seemed to have become a part of this sorrowful era.

Perhaps many people would find it difficult to face their former selves after they grew up.

No longer naïve, no longer kind, no longer regarding themselves as good people.

The fervor in Yan Liuyuan’s heart had gradually extinguished. It was as though he had slipped into an abyss. The humanity Xiaoyu pulled him back towards was once again defeated by the godhood he had attained.

Even Xiaoyu was unaware he no longer needed to pay a price to cast his curses.

Or rather, it was just that no one else could see what that price was.

Each time after he made a curse, and each time after he felt like his entire world had fallen apart, Yan Liuyuan would feel like he was taking a step towards a higher level.

That might be a higher level of humanity, but Yan Liuyuan did not know if it was the heavens or the abyss he was heading towards.

Just as Li Shentan had said, when humans were able to unlock their peak willpower, their consciousness would merge with the will of the world.

But would one still be human at that time? No one could be sure.

Yan Liuyuan’s gaze pierced the sky. It was as though he could not face the past and himself. He did not want Ren Xiaosu to see him in this state.

At the same time, Hassan and 10,000 cavalry had gathered next to the corpses suspended from the wooden fence. There was a sea of people as the line of tough cavalry stretched along the long street. It was impossible to see the end of the line.

Suddenly, the nomads dismounted from their horses and knelt on one knee. When they shouted loudly, cheering for the ascendancy of the new king, the stronghold started trembling.

Yan Liuyuan could see a glint of excitement in Hassan and everyone’s eyes from a distance away. They were looking at him with utterly devoted and passionate gazes.

He remembered the hope Tsetseg had mentioned earlier.

Yan Liuyuan got up and quietly lit that copy of the newspaper on fire. He threw it inside the villa and set it ablaze.

The luxury and decadence in the villa started burning up as the fire began to spread.

Yan Liuyuan stood within the fire and looked at the flames around him. It was as though he was watching this depraved era burn.

“Bro, I can’t go back anymore. Bro, I’m not going back anymore.”

Amid the flames, Yan Liuyuan took out his black and ferocious faceplate and put it on his face, concealing everything from his past.

He felt it was no longer necessary for his past identity, along with this era, to exist anymore.

Hassan knelt in front of Yan Liuyuan’s horse and acted as a footstool for him. Yan Liuyuan stepped on Hassan’s back and mounted his horse. “Return home! We’re triumphant!”

The warriors started cheering. Some of them even shot celebratory gunfire into the air with the automatic rifles they had just obtained. These men who had come out to participate in this battle could finally return home with their new king.

They were going back to their home located in the North.