"Hey, you really don't regret it?"
On the way to the town, Vivian, holding a cigar for the first time in a long time, turned his head and looked at Shukman who was at the end of the team.
At this moment, Shukman seemed to have used his fighting ability again, and he looked much older compared to when he brought them food yesterday.
Vivian estimated that if this guy released his full strength once more, he would probably die of exhaustion just like he had just said.
But what does that matter
Shukman didn't seem to care about his life or death. After hearing Vivian's question, he still smiled firmly and said, "Of course, I don't regret it."
"Why?"
Vivian tilted her head, "You know who I am. If I take action, I won't need your help at all."
"I know."
Shukman put his hands behind his back, hunched over, quickened his pace and walked to Vivian's side, "But even if I don't do anything, I won't live for another year or two. I want to do something meaningful in the last moments of my life..."
"Something meaningful?"
"For example, I will complete my unfulfilled promise and protect the entire Xiangning Kingdom."
Shukman grinned, and changed his previous dejected state, as if he was ten years younger. He looked at Vivian and said, "I feel very excited just thinking about you. Tell me, if I can save the kingdom from this group of coalition forces, then in the future, will the people of the Lemon Kingdom remember me?"
"Well...it depends on whether the Lemon Kingdom can continue to survive." Instead of nodding in agreement, Vivian thought about it and gave an answer that he thought was more realistic.
But when Shukman heard this, the smile on his face became even wider.
"As long as you are here, this kingdom will never perish, right?"
"Are you blackmailing me? I can't guarantee that I can completely annihilate the 64-nation coalition forces while protecting all the people."
As Vivian spoke, he took a puff of his cigar, exhaled, and looked extremely melancholy.
I used to think that as long as I destroyed Yin Mu, I could live a carefree life, be the leader of my new government, and leave all the work to Long, Sabo and others. But now...
Ultimately, it was all that damned Zero's fault.
In order to eliminate the trouble once and for all, he thought that he must completely eliminate it in this war.
Even if not for himself, he has to think about his descendants, right
After all, Zero and Yinm are both monsters that can live forever.
In terms of lifespan, I definitely won't be able to survive them. Unless I can extract some special props in the future, the safest way for now is to kill both of these guys.
Thinking this way, not long after, the team, under the command of his ability of clairvoyance, entered the edge of the town of the Xiangning Kingdom unimpeded.
Looking at the deserted streets in front of them, Vivian took the two hundred or so civilians to an abandoned factory and hid there before it got fully light.
"You all stay here and don't move around. I'll ask someone to bring you food and drinks." Shukman looked at everyone and said.
The civilians nodded in agreement.
Vivian then asked, "I think the number of people they are forcibly conscripting should be more than this, right?"
"Um."
Shukman nodded. "I wanted to tell you before. The group of people we brought here now is the last group of their compulsory conscription. The men who were conscripted before had already undergone military training for more than half a month in the city."
The conscription started nearly a month ago. The entire Lemon Kingdom has a total population of 500,000, of which the elderly, children and women account for about 350,000. The remaining 150,000, except for a few people with physical disabilities, have been forcibly pulled into the coalition army.
And because these civilians lived in mountain villages outside towns, they would be the last group to be captured by the Allied Forces.
"I once sneaked into the military camp in the city. The training method of those guys was simply inhumane... But I think they might want to use this method to make all the men who were forcibly conscripted become numb and obedient." said Shukman.
"So, the first priority now is to rescue these soldiers from the barracks?"
As soon as Vivian muttered, Shukman interrupted him, "I'm afraid that's not possible. The families of these soldiers are now somewhere in the city, being controlled by the United Army."
Shukman once tried to find this secret place and rescue all the soldiers' families. However, no matter how he investigated secretly, he could not find any information about this place.
This really made him feel a little unbelievable.
"Okay, let's wait one more night. When night falls, I'll go with you into the city to find the place where the Allied Forces are hiding their families." Vivian said.
As for Zero's trace...
If that guy dared to show up on this island, he would definitely make sure that he would never come back.
But now it seems that the safety of civilian lives is the most important thing at the moment.
"Do you have an intelligence network in this city?" Vivian asked.
“Originally, there was.”
After all, he had served as the commander of the kingdom's guard for decades. Although the kingdom declined and he abdicated, he still had many spies left in the kingdom.
"What now?" Vivian asked.
"Most of the spies were forcibly conscripted, and the remaining few were detained as family members. I have lost contact with them for many days." Shukman sighed.
Vivian: “…”
If that's the case, doesn't that mean there's no eyeliner at all
No wonder you can’t find anyone in the city.
"Leave it to me later, just follow me."
Vivian thought that even if there were no intelligence personnel, it would not be difficult for him to thoroughly scan this not-so-big kingdom town with his own pair of X-ray eyes.
So the two of them simply sat down and began to wait for the night to fall.
It must be said that perhaps they did not expect that they would flee into the town. Throughout the day, although there were some patrolling soldiers walking on the streets, there was no house-to-house search, which saved them a lot of trouble.
In this way, time soon came to midnight.
Vivian changed into a black shirt, black pants and black slippers, and took advantage of the night to disappear into the street outside the factory with Shukman.