Chapter 313: Fourth Level, Defending a Ruined City! (1/2)

As a colorful light flowed through, the surrounding scenery once again changed, but the constant was that Bai Xiaofei was still on a wall.

There was just a little difference, that was, the current wall was much more dilapidated than the earlier one.

Bai Xiaofei and his 500 troops stood crowdedly on the wall. Although those who passed the last level had grown stronger after, their faces were currently very serious, even Tie Zhu was no exception.

Fourth level – Defending the ruined city: Protect the city under your feet, ensure it remains unbreached for one day and one night. If more than half the civilians die or flee, it will be regarded as failure. Upon success, 1 troop point will be rewarded for each remaining civilian. Current number of civilians: 21,466.

Enemy troop setup: unknown. Commanders: 3 Martial Masters and 2 Master Rank puppet masters.

Unlike the people watching outside, Bai Xiaofei didn’t know that this level was called a ‘welfare’ level, so there was a lot more he had to consider.

Looking around, this ruined city was almost the same size as that of the previous county town, except that all of its walls were damaged to varying degrees, and the artillery was even less than half. At the base of the walls, the civilians were all kneeling, seemingly waiting for Bai Xiaofei’s decision.

After thinking for a long time, Bai Xiaofei promoted all the surviving soldiers up a rank. The initial reward for entering the fourth level was a full 1,000 points, plus what he earned at the last level was more than enough for this.

As for the remaining troop points, he didn’t exchange for new soldiers but used them to repair the city wall and resupply the artillery. Unlike soldiers, these things couldn’t be carried to the next level, so these troop points were as good as going down the drain.

However, it wasn’t meaningless. When the city walls became complete and brand-new artillery appeared on the wall, the soldiers in front of Bai Xiaofei visibly transformed.

Morale!

This was one of the things that he had learned after the first three levels. The gap between the two forces and what Bai Xiaofei did would affect the morale of the soldiers under him. The higher the morale, the stronger their fighting capacity would be, given the same circumstances. Although there was still a certain gap with reality, it wasn’t easy for the Illusionary Sandboard to achieve this.

Moreover, it wasn’t only Bai Xiaofei's soldiers who changed. When Bai Xiaofei chose to start the level, the civilians under the city wall suddenly burst into cries of shock and happiness, shouting ‘Heaven-sent’ and ‘heavenly soldiers’ and things along those lines as if they were already out of danger.

Seeing this, Bai Xiaofei’s heart tightened.

If I didn’t repair the city wall, would the people below be in a different state now?

Indeed!

The challengers who didn’t repair the city wall would first have to face the problem of calming the civilians, and if they couldn’t do a good job, many civilians would run away before the enemy even arrived.

“General, you must save us! The duke has run away, you are our last hope!”

“That’s right, General, we really don't want to leave this place. I’ve lived here for over 60 years!”

Under the leadership of several elders, countless civilians began to ask Bai Xiaofei for help. The heaven-sent Bai Xiaofei had become their last lifeline.

Bai Xiaofei was delighted upon witnessing this scene.

Asking me for help? Okay! I was worried about how I should make you say ask!

Despite thinking this, Bai Xiaofei kept a serious face as he slowly walked to the edge of the wall, his voice echoed solemnly, “Rest assured, as long as I, Bai Xiaofei, still have breath left in me, I will never allow an enemy through our gates! This I swear on my life and the lives of all my soldiers!”