CSMCDB - Chapter 203
Chapter 203
The Dragon King regretted it, but it was a little too late now.
The Huanling general repeatedly spoke of "reinforcements," mentioning that the technology to stabilize the planar passage was already being prepared and that the Phantom Saint would soon be able to come to the Starry Sky Continent—all of this was to raise the stakes.
They were trying to use these promises to tie down the Dragon King, to make the scales in his heart, which had begun to tip, lean back in their favor. The Huanling commander repeatedly emphasized Wen Yuncheng's hostility and slaughter of the dragon race, wanting the Dragon King to understand that while Dragon Island and the Empire might be able to maintain a temporary peace, Dragon Island would absolutely not meet a good end after the Huanling army was defeated. He was telling the Dragon King, over and over, that even if he regretted his choice now and switched his allegiance to the Empire, the Empire might spare him for the time being, but what would happen after the external enemy was dealt with?
The Dragon King remained silent, ultimately suppressing his wavering thoughts.
"Cooperating with you might be the greatest disservice this king has ever done to Dragon Island."
"I believe our Lord Phantom Saint regrets this even more."
The Dragon King met the gaze of the Huanling general below. But in truth, even if they could do it all over again, they would have made the same choice. Because both the Huanling and Dragon Island had ambitions and desires.
In the eyes of the Dragon King and the Phantom Saint, some sacrifices and losses were normal. If those Emperor-rank dragons or Huanling soldiers had died fighting the Empire, neither the Dragon King nor the Phantom Saint would have been so furious or even shaken. But their deaths were too insignificant.
They died without even having the chance to create the value they were supposed to.
And for a time, neither the Dragon King nor the Phantom Saint could do anything about their killer. The Dragon King couldn't leave the island, and the Phantom Saint couldn't teleport over yet. This was what had created the current situation.
"Wen Yuncheng will raid Dragon Island again. Lord Dragon King, you…"
The Dragon King's expression was grim. Thinking of the speed at which Wen Yuncheng had departed, he said, "This king will do his best."
But sometimes, no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't compete with someone who was cheating the system.
Even for the Dragon King, what was impossible was impossible.
He had been led on a wild goose chase by Wen Yuncheng and Lin Jinyu for a week.
Even though he was the first to arrive every time, all he could see were the blasted corpses of dragons.
Even when he had the Emperor-rank dragons group together in fours or fives, they still died. As long as Wen Yuncheng ran into them, whether it was one or five, she took them all without fail.
The only difference was that when she encountered a single Star Emperor dragon, the retreating Wen Yuncheng wouldn't leave a corpse behind. But when she met three or more Emperor-rank dragons, she would leave the corpses—because she didn't have time to collect them.
"Phew, this is getting to be a bit much. If the dragon race puts ten Emperor-ranks together next time, I won't be able to handle that many." Returning to their residence in the Imperial Capital with Lin Jinyu, Wen Yuncheng flopped onto the bed. The very first time she teleported over today, she'd run into five dragons. Fortunately, she and Lin Jinyu had perfect coordination and managed to escape before the Dragon King arrived. But if there were six next time, she might not be able to take them on.
"…I don't have to go, either." Lin Jinyu watched Wen Yuncheng on the bed, hesitated for a moment, and then walked closer.
"No, it's not because of you." Wen Yuncheng scratched her head. "Even if I were alone, I couldn't kill that many Emperor-rank dragons. Besides, having you with me puts my mind at ease." With Lin Jinyu around, Wen Yuncheng instinctively avoided taking risks. If she were by herself, she might have hesitated, wondering whether to collect the dragon corpses before retreating.
"Besides, you're a first-layer Star Emperor now. If you weren't with me and a huge battle broke out on Dragon Island… I'm honestly afraid you'd charge straight onto the island by yourself."
Lin Jinyu froze for a second, realizing that Wen Yuncheng had a point.
Lying on the bed, Wen Yuncheng rolled over, thinking: If only my skills had no cooldowns. Then I could fight guerrilla-style on Dragon Island to my heart's content.
[Since you're already dreaming, why not dream bigger? If you really had no cooldowns, you could probably kill the Dragon King just by spamming your skills, right?]
Wen Yuncheng: I guess that's true.
Host: Wen Yuncheng
Race: Human
Age: 24
Class: Mechanical Overlord
Level: 85
Experience: 94855/152000
Points: 28453
The guerrilla warfare of this period had caused her experience to skyrocket. She hadn't only killed Emperor-rank dragons, but Venerate-rank ones as well—after all, she killed whichever one she saw. But as she continued this way, Wen Yuncheng suddenly felt that she seemed to have killed… a lot of the Emperor-rank dragons on Dragon Island.
If the Dragon King really gathered all the surviving Emperor-rank dragons into squads of ten, Wen Yuncheng might not even encounter them anymore. After all… Wen Yuncheng didn't think Dragon Island had enough Emperor-rank dragons left to form even two squads of ten.
Just how many dragons were left on Dragon Island to be killed? That was the question.
Wen Yuncheng lay on the bed pondering for a moment, then suddenly sat bolt upright. "Starting tomorrow, we're not killing dragons anymore!"
"Hm?"
"I'm going to scout out the location of the Huanling troops stationed on Dragon Island," Wen Yuncheng said with a serious expression, her tone somewhat heavy. "The dragon race… probably can't even scrape together ten Emperor-ranks anymore."
It was time to think about ending the war at its root.
Right, there hadn't been any news from the Fu organization for a long time. Who knew what they were plotting in the shadows.
[Ah, about that. Once the third phase is over, you'll know what they've been up to.] 1947 glanced at the progress of the third phase and said reassuringly.
"Hmm…" From the sound of it, Fu really has been up to something? Wen Yuncheng was completely baffled. Since 1947 wouldn't say and the Empire had no news either, she stopped focusing on it. Wen Yuncheng glanced at Lin Jinyu, who was quietly watching her from the side, and thought, The Little Ice Mountain's birthday is coming up. Where would be a good place to go that day? As for the gift, Wen Yuncheng already had a plan, and her three Apostles were preparing it.
"What's wrong?"
"Sigh, I was just thinking about how there's no news from the Fu organization again. As long as those rats in the shadows aren't completely wiped out, just thinking about them is unsettling." Wen Yuncheng complained, sighed, and started walking toward the bathroom. When she reached the door, she looked back at Lin Jinyu. "Jinyu, want to join me?"
The tips of Lin Jinyu's ears turned red, and her gaze drifted away. "You go first."
Wen Yuncheng laughed and entered the bathroom, humming a tune.
Wen Yuncheng and Lin Jinyu scouted the interior of the dragon valley for several days and finally found the location of the Huanling army's encampment. During this time, they hadn't killed any more dragons. Even when they saw Emperor-rank dragons, they would silently bypass them to avoid revealing their presence.
Wen Yuncheng noted the coordinates of the Huanling troops. Then, remembering that Lin Jinyu's birthday was the day after tomorrow, she suddenly had a new idea.
Originally, Wen Yuncheng had asked the First Princess to have people transplant a vast sea of flowers in the suburbs, planning to celebrate Lin Jinyu's birthday there. The flower transplanting was paid for with Star Stones, and since Wen Yuncheng was footing the bill for both the flowers and the labor, Wei Qingyu endured the discomfort of being force-fed their romance and helped her.
But now, Wen Yuncheng had changed her mind. A sea of flowers? Too ordinary. She'd let the First Princess enjoy that place herself; she had a new idea.
Although time was a bit tight, it was completely doable.
On the third day, on the pretext of preparing a surprise, Wen Yuncheng didn't let Lin Jinyu accompany her. The small gift Wen Yuncheng planned to give was actually ready long ago: a new mechanical rabbit. It was modified from the Self-Destruct Dog, with the specific concept and design completed by Number One. However, this rabbit didn't explode; it was just a small mechanical toy. Twisting its tail would make it hop forward. Its ears could also move, and for its eyes, Wen Yuncheng used rubies instead of paint—after all, she was very wealthy now.
But that wasn't enough. Wen Yuncheng had a new idea and went to prepare it that very day. She went to the First Princess and asked for all the attack-type scrolls from the imperial treasury. Then, she consulted with 1947. The old father figure resignedly rushed to contact other systems and purchased, at a high price, something from another plane—custom fireworks.
When Lin Jinyu's birthday arrived, Wen Yuncheng acted mysteriously and said nothing, only telling her that the surprise would be at night.
When night fell, Wen Yuncheng took Lin Jinyu to the edge of Dragon Island. "Wait here for me for a moment. The surprise is coming soon." As she spoke, she stepped onto the Space Shuttle again, but before she could activate it, Lin Jinyu grabbed her.
"Will it be dangerous?" Lin Jinyu looked at her with a solemn expression, her brow slightly furrowed, as if she had a guess.
"No, I said it's a surprise, so I won't lie to you." Wen Yuncheng took the hand Lin Jinyu was using to clutch her clothes and brought it to her lips for a kiss. "Wait for me to come back. It will only take two minutes."
Lin Jinyu stared intently at Wen Yuncheng. Wen Yuncheng met her gaze fervently for two seconds before Lin Jinyu turned her head away. "Alright. Two minutes."
Wen Yuncheng smiled. "I promise, just two minutes." After saying that, she activated the Space Shuttle and vanished in an instant.
Two minutes later, in the central area of Dragon Island—or to be precise, at the location of the Huanling troops Wen Yuncheng had discovered—a series of earth-shattering explosions suddenly erupted!
Amidst the massive explosions and furious roars, streaks of fireworks shot into the sky, bursting and spreading across the entirety of Dragon Island. Countless small fireworks exploded, surrounding the words formed by fireworks that were continuously being launched into the center. One character at a time, they spelled out "Happy Birthday Lin Jinyu" completely, before a super-sized, heart-shaped firework covered it all, kicking off another round of the pyrotechnic feast.
These specially customized fireworks, which 1947 had purchased from other planar systems for the price of 1314, would, once set, launch their entire programmed display before self-destructing.
Wen Yuncheng had bought three of them. She set timers and buried them under the Huanling troops' tents. One round of fireworks could last for an hour, so three could last for three hours. Moreover, the area they covered was extremely wide.
After tonight, the entire continent would probably know that it was Lin Jinyu's birthday.
Of course, Wen Yuncheng's arrangements didn't stop there. She had made the trip not only to activate the firework devices but also to release various attack scrolls to attract the dragon race and the Huanling army. Then, as she left, she detonated the circle of mechanical Self-Destruct Dogs—balls—that she had secretly buried around the encampment.
The two minutes wasn't the time Wen Yuncheng gave herself to set off the explosions. It was the time she gave the dragons and the Huanling people to rush over. However many arrived would be how many she blew up. Detonate. No hesitation.
Two minutes later, Wen Yuncheng put away her shuttle, pulled Lin Jinyu into a fierce hug under the sky full of fireworks, and then let go. "I said two minutes. I wouldn't lie to you."
"Lin Jinyu, happy birthday." Wen Yuncheng held out the exquisite little mechanical rabbit to her.
An orange-red firework burst, dyeing Lin Jinyu's eyes with a hint of red. She looked at Wen Yuncheng, whose smile was also bathed in the warm colors.
Happy birthday.
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