Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1394 - 1387: Three People Accompanying

Chapter 1394: Chapter 1387: Three People Accompanying

After a meeting and discussion, the top echelons of the Demon Clan made a decision, to temporarily abandon armed confrontation with the three major aristocratic families and instead begin attempts at appeasing them to foment internal strife.

Luo’er believed that the three aristocratic families were certainly not a monolithic entity. It was only because they had a common enemy that they banded together. Just by letting the situation relax a little, their internal conflicts would start to surface, and if those were aggravated, the Demon Clan wouldn’t even need to lift a finger; the three aristocratic families would fall into chaos themselves.

Faced with the hundred-thousand-strong army of the three families, Luo’er didn’t even need to think about fighting. It wasn’t that they couldn’t win, but the casualties would be tremendous. If they insisted on fighting, it’s estimated that the Demon Clan wouldn’t be able to recover for the next ten or even twenty years.

Therefore, any opportunity to divide the three families should be seized. If they could make them fight amongst themselves, that would be ideal.

And the prerequisite for all this would be the Demon Clan’s military halting their operations, giving the three families a chance to breathe. It must be recognized that this hundred-thousand-strong army was hastily assembled by the three families in their panic.

Thus, this army was different from the Dongsheng forces, and the three families were not like the Dongsheng Empire. The Dongsheng forces, backed by the Empire, had a comprehensive logistics system and ample war resources that supported their campaign into the West Outer Heaven.

But even so, the Dongsheng forces found themselves in dire straits in West Outer Heaven. At the height of their power, they were forced to retreat rapidly and began to shift to a phase of strategic contraction. This shows just how high the cost of warfare is.

So, whenever the Demon Clan’s forces stopped their advance, even if they were just waiting quietly, the hundred-thousand-strong army wouldn’t last long. They would quickly crumble because they didn’t have the funds to pay their soldiers.

The three families were not facing the three major tribes of the Demon Clan, but a coalition of the Southern Yao Race, an entity already possessing the structure of a modern nation-state, no longer a primitive and backward feudal tribe. In other words, the three families were using their familial power to fight against the state power of the Southern Yao Race.

Initially, when the Dongsheng forces occupied West Outer Heaven, the Demon Clan was determined to drive them out completely, mainly because the forces represented the entire Dongsheng Empire. Once they settled in, the territory of the Empire would expand to West Outer Heaven.

If the Demon Clan counterattacked then, it would be equivalent to attacking the sovereign territory of the Dongsheng Empire. It could be imagined that this would inevitably provoke a fierce counterattack from the Empire. Because of this, during the occupation by the Dongsheng forces, counterattacking was the main tone of the Demon Clan’s policies.

Now that the Dongsheng forces had withdrawn, it was as if the Dongsheng Empire had voluntarily given up West Outer Heaven. The remaining three families were unable to organize a management system as effective as that of the Dongsheng Empire. Thus, dealing with them didn’t require the same urgency as dealing with the Empire. As long as they were worn down, they would inevitably not outlast a Demon Clan state.

At this time in the southern region of West Outer Heaven, with the help of the High-peak people, the Demon Clan was slowly tinkering with steam engines, harnessing a power beyond nature. Meanwhile, the influx of merchants was boosting the internal commodity economy of the Demon Clan, and the seeds of capitalism were beginning to sprout in the southern West Outer Heaven.

It could be foreseen that in the future, the Southern Yao Race Federation would only grow stronger, gradually negating the advantages held by the generals of the Dongsheng Empire, and might even come to overwhelmingly dominate them.

In order to resolve the conflict as soon as possible, after some discussion, Linglan decided to send Zisu to the South to make contact with the Yichuan Clan and discuss terms of peace.

Of course, that was just the official reason. Once contact with the Yichuan Clan was made, they would begin to widely propagate that the Yichuan Clan was prepared to join the Demon Clan, severing the understanding between the Yichuan Clan and the other two families, creating friction and disputes between them.

For this mission, Zisu reluctantly bid farewell to her sister and Luo’er, setting out alone for the frontlines. Out of concern for her, Luo’er specifically wrote a letter to Cheng Ziang, who was observing the frontlines, hoping he would assist Zisu in reaching the Yichuan Clan’s occupied territory and ensure her safety.

The three members of the Advance Team deployed at the frontlines contributed nearly seventy percent of the Advance Team’s total combat strength. Thus, with their protection, Luo’er felt quite at ease about Zisu’s safety.

Leaving Big South East Peace, Zisu took more than five days to reach the frontlines. By then, although the Demon Clan’s army had already disengaged from the three families’ forces, they were still encamped on the frontlines, awaiting the next order to attack.

Upon arriving at the tent, Zisu conveyed to Yunji the highest will of governance. Though Yunji was dissatisfied, she still ordered the troops to prepare to break camp and retreat. Following that, Zisu handed Luo’er’s letter to Cheng Ziang and his companions.

Luo’er’s letter was written in Chinese characters. In Otherworld, especially on the East Continent, this was no different from a coded telegram. Even Feng, who had studied Chinese for some time, couldn’t understand it, let alone other inhabitants of the East Continent.

"What did it say, did the boss mention me?" Hu Daoke leaned in and asked as he saw Cheng Ziang reading the letter.

"Can’t you read it yourself?" Cheng Ziang responded without lifting his head.

"But you’re in the way!" Hu Daoke, irked by his tone, slapped his butt and complained.

"Luo’er tasked us with protecting Miss Zisu on her journey to the Yichuan Clan’s territory," Cheng Ziang shrugged after reading the letter and handed it over to Hu Daoke.

"This..." Hu Daoke hesitated, squinting at the letter.

"It’s clear that they want Feng to protect Zisu," Cheng Ziang shrugged again, while looking toward an innocent-looking Feng.

"Wait a minute, the boss wants us to figure out a way to protect Zisu, which means..." Hu Daoke said, giving Cheng Ziang an excited look.

"Your guts have been growing bigger recently," Cheng Ziang said with a wry smile at Hu Daoke’s excited expression.

"What’s there to fear, the mountains are high and the Emperor is far away; we can’t always listen to those behind us. Besides, letting Little Fengye go alone to such a dangerous place, could you bear it?" Hu Daoke said as he closed the letter.

"Feng’s combat ability is still assured," Cheng Ziang said and glanced at Feng once more.

"I can’t bear it, I need to protect her," Hu Daoke declared, striking an exaggerated pose as he hugged Feng.

"Is it her protecting you, or you protecting her..." Cheng Ziang let out another wry smile, shaking his head.

"Everyone, what does Luo’er mean by this...?" Zisu, not understanding the Chinese they spoke, stepped forward and asked hesitantly.

"Ah, it’s nothing," Cheng Ziang said as he looked at her and waved his hand, "This is doable. Since Luo’er requests it, we will certainly do our best to protect Miss Zisu."

"Luo’er wants the three of you to protect me?" Zisu blinked excitedly upon hearing this.

"Of course, Luo’er is very steady," Cheng Ziang said, patting his chest without really understanding what she meant.

"I didn’t expect he’d care about me so much to have the three of you protect me," Zisu said excitedly, unwittingly revealing her inner thoughts.

"Uh..." The three of them didn’t expect Zisu to misinterpret their words, and after an awkward exchange of glances, Cheng Ziang coughed and said, "Ah, that, Luo’er is quite the ’Sea King’; he takes every girl very seriously."

"Mhm, mhm, mhm!" Feng nodded continuously, agreeing entirely with Cheng Ziang’s description.

She didn’t grasp the meaning of ’Sea King,’ but since she had personally experienced Luo’er’s kindness, she was very happy whenever someone spoke well of him.

"What is a ’Sea King’?" Zisu asked curiously about the new term.

"It means... a person with a broad heart," Cheng Ziang stuttered a bit before quickly explaining.

"Mhm, I also think Luo’er is a good ’Sea King’!" Zisu nodded approvingly.

"Pfft..." Hearing her words, Cheng Ziang and Hu Daoke exchanged glances and simultaneously turned away, trying to hold back their laughter.

"What’s wrong, did I say something incorrect?" Zisu looked at them puzzled.

"Alright, let’s stop joking about Luo’er. Miss Zisu, when do you plan to depart?" Cheng Ziang finally managed to pull down his grinning mouth and asked her with a straight face.

"If possible, the sooner the better, but we need to send someone to make contact first. Acting hastily might lead to misunderstandings," Zisu said seriously.