The Trap (Part 1, 4th Update 1)

If I, Pig Head, still have four updates today, can everyone give Pig Head more recommendation tickets?

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In the core urban area of the Great Berlin City-State, mountains stood tall. Peaks with sheer cliffs, like celestial pillars, rose a thousand meters from the ground. Upon the flat, vast mountaintops, a cluster of dark gray metallic buildings stood majestically. This was the Executive Mansion of the Great Berlin City-State, the seat of the highest governing body for hundreds of millions of its citizens.

On the highest terrace of the Grand Hall within the Executive Mansion, Fire Queen Fainlan, holding a goblet of wine as red as blood, leaned lazily against the railing, gazing silently at the southern defense line of the Great Berlin City-State, which was engulfed in flames hundreds of miles away.

Southern defense wall section 9527 had been breached by the Yin Clan army. Tens of thousands of elite troops from the Great Berlin City-State had been routed. Apart from several thousand casualties, the rest had laid down their weapons and become prisoners of the Yin Clan. Over a hundred young men and women directly under the Executive Mansion, possessing divine powers, had been captured alive by the Yin Clan. Millions of citizens across dozens of districts had fallen under the Yin Clan's control.

"The losses are not small, but that's all there is to it!" Fainlan disdainfully raised her goblet and downed the mellow, sweet wine in one gulp.

The Great Berlin City-State had hundreds of millions of citizens, with over two hundred million people residing in this main city alone. The vast city stretched for thousands of miles, divided into tens of thousands of districts, large and small. The insignificant dozens of districts and millions of citizens temporarily under Yin Clan control, what did that amount to?

Thinking of Jiang Rusheng's promise to the thirteen Grand Arbiters of the Great Berlin City-State, and the immense benefits the Great Berlin City-State would receive after the Jiang Clan obtained their ancestral relics, a captivating smile bloomed on Fainlan's beautiful face. Her graceful, opulent demeanor was like a blood-red rose suddenly in full bloom, creating a dizzying, soul-stirring effect.

A middle-aged man in luxurious robes standing beside Fainlan greedily, and openly, scrutinized Fainlan's exquisite face and shapely figure. His eyes were slightly reddened, and a burning desire blazed in their depths. If not for the presence of several other men and women in luxurious robes beside him, he might have already approached Fainlan and made some less than dignified gestures.

"Fire Queen, you seem to be in good spirits? But just now, your people reported that your youngest disciple, Fennice, was captured alive by those damned vampires, and the Yin Clan army has already broken into the Great Berlin City-State! Aren't you worried at all?" The man in luxurious robes, barely suppressing the flames in his heart, asked Fainlan softly with a hint of a sinister smile.

"What is there to be worried about?" Fainlan tossed the crystal goblet in her hand far away. The sparkling goblet flew hundreds of meters, tracing a beautiful arc, and plunged directly from the peak of this mountain, known as 'Executive Mountain,' towards the ground a thousand meters below.

"Their arrival is merely following our plan. Were not all our arrangements made for their arrival?" Fainlan glanced with a smile at the five people in luxurious robes beside her. "If they hadn't come, wouldn't it have been a wasted trip for the five esteemed Grand Arbiters of the Milan City-State?"

The several people in luxurious robes laughed simultaneously. They each raised their heads with arrogance, adopting a very impressive posture.

The Milan City-State was located on the Italian Peninsula of the former European continent. During the Era of Dharma Decline, when humans were still the sole overt rulers of this land, Milan was a city of fashion, representing the peak of human civilization's artistic and cultural standards.

Even as the Era of Dharma Decline was drawing to a close and an unpredictable chaotic era was descending, the Milan City-State remained a decadent and luxurious, frivolous and arrogant city. Their strength was not great, at least much weaker than the Great Berlin City-State, but they possessed astonishingly great achievements in material enjoyment and artistic accomplishments.

Therefore, the Milan City-State had always been tacitly considered a vassal of the Great Berlin City-State. Although they were allies, the Great Berlin City-State, with its formidable strength, had always dominated all affairs between the two city-states. The sudden secret infiltration of the Great Berlin City-State by the five Grand Arbiters of the Milan City-State was naturally at the behest of Fainlan and the others.

On the terrace where everyone was observing the battle, a peculiar magic array was set up.

Six golden towers, each three feet high, were neatly arranged in a hexagonal formation on the terrace. Near each golden tower were three shimmering silver banners. These banners were six feet long, and their surfaces were adorned with numerous depictions of flowing clouds and streams. As the wind blew past these banners, they fluttered, and a large amount of silver-black mist seemed to roll out.

Near these banners were neatly inserted numerous bull-horn daggers, each a foot long.

The bull-horn daggers, made of bronze, were covered in green patina, appearing ancient and time-worn. There were a total of one hundred and eight of these daggers. Their edges were densely carved with countless strange immortal texts and magical inscriptions. Although the edges were also covered by patina, when sunlight shone upon these bronze daggers, a flash of dark green light would occasionally dart out, so sharp that the eyes could not directly look at it.

This was a celestial array lent by the Jiang Clan to the Great Berlin City-State for the defense of the Executive Mansion's vital areas, named the 'Myriad Cloud Smoke Immortal Slaying Demon Suppressing Six Harmonies Killing Array.' As long as six equally skilled individuals controlled the golden towers to activate it, this array could easily handle attacks from a hundred times the number of enemies.

The other twelve Grand Arbiters of the Great Berlin City-State, along with a large number of elite forces, had followed the Jiang Clan to await the opening of the cave dwelling left by the Jiang Clan's ancestors, leaving the city-state's self-defense capabilities almost depleted. Yin Xuege's incredible escape from the Blood Prison, and his taking away of two super-criminals from the Great Berlin City-State, had alerted Fainlan and the others.

To prevent the Yin Clan from taking advantage of the critical moment when the Great Berlin City-State was extremely vulnerable internally and invading the city, the Jiang Clan specifically lent this immensely powerful celestial array to the Great Berlin City-State and helped them set it up properly!

If the Yin Clan didn't come, so be it. But if the Yin Clan dared to invade the Great Berlin City-State, as long as they dared to approach within ten miles of Executive Mountain, once the array was activated, it could trap all the attackers. Whether to kill them or capture them alive would depend on Fainlan's wishes.

"These minor losses, if they can result in the deaths of several more Yin Clan experts, the casualties of some lowly commoners, and some incompetent weaklings, what does it matter?" Fainlan pressed her hands on the guardrail, her voice a cold, sinister laugh. "Even Fennice, she's just bait that I threw out! If she survives, that's her luck! If she dies, that's also her fate!"

Turning around, she smiled charmingly at the man in luxurious robes and asked softly, "To sacrifice for the happiness and peace of the hundreds of millions of citizens of the Great Berlin City-State, to sacrifice to eliminate the evil Yin Clan vampires, this is their honor! What do you think, Lord Garbo D!"

Garbo D, the number one Grand Arbiter of the Milan City-State, known as 'Sky Wind Dragon,' shivered slightly. He gave a shiver and then smiled, nodding repeatedly at Fainlan. "Respected Fire Queen, you speak the truth! As the great era is about to descend, and more and more descendants with the bloodline of ancient gods awaken within them, although Fennice and the others are considered decent talents now, they are nothing more than that!"

Garbo D's gaze turned lecherous again. He narrowed his eyes, staring intently at Fainlan's prominent chest, and swallowed hard. "Perhaps in another two years, they will be nothing at all! To be able to sacrifice at this time for the benefit of the countless citizens of the Great Berlin City-State, that is their honor! It's just a pity that Fennice is truly a lovely little beauty!"

The Grand Arbiters from the Milan City-State all laughed. Especially the two beautiful women in luxurious robes among them, their eyes flickered as they looked towards Garbo D. The customs of the Milan City-State were decadent, and the private lives of their high-ranking officials could even be described as debauched. No one knew what kind of person Garbo D was better than they did.

Fainlan smiled slightly. With an alluring fragrance, she walked quietly to Garbo D's side and gently placed her fair, tender hand on Garbo D's chest, stroking it lightly.

"Garbo D, you're not interested in such a young girl, are you? Perhaps, you have better pursuits!" Fainlan's eyes were hazy as she cast a flirtatious glance at Garbo D. "If our plan goes smoothly this time, then anything is possible!"

Garbo D stared at Fainlan obsessively, smiling foolishly like an imbecile, almost drooling. He grabbed Fainlan's hand tightly with both of his own, then loudly sang towards the sky in operatic recitative.

"Respected Fire Queen Fainlan, your will is the guide of my soul! I will follow your will and turn all those evil, ugly vampires into ashes!" He paused slightly, rubbing Fainlan's small hand forcefully. "Of course, you, the beautiful, wise, generous, and kind one, will not forget your promise to us, will you?"

Fainlan felt a wave of nausea, but she suppressed the urge to burn Garbo D to ashes. She smiled even more sweetly. "Of course not, respected Sky Wind Dragon Garbo D. We have been old friends for so many years, don't you understand me yet?"

The two looked at each other and smiled, their smiles incredibly bright and sweet, truly the smiles of a pair of adulterous lovers.

On the ruins of the southern city wall of the Great Berlin City-State, Little Jack was letting out sharp roars. The Blood Spirit Sword had left his body, and a drop of Yin Xuege's Essence Blood was merging with Little Jack's heart. At this moment, Yin Xuege still had the Essence Blood of three Thousand-Year Dukes to digest, and the blood energy contained within one drop of his Essence Blood was astonishingly abundant. (To be continued)