The Deserters Return

The arrow gave the people outside the city such a fright that they dropped to the ground on the spot.

At the same time, Black Stone City's gates slowly opened, and a centaur unit led by Zhuo Ge swiftly charged out.

Seeing the centaur unit charging straight at them, the people outside the city instantly turned ashen. Without even having time to think, they fell to their knees one after another and assumed surrendering positions.

Seeing this, Zhuo Ge did not lead the charge and slaughter them outright. Instead, once they had closed to a certain distance, he quickly spread out his formation and surrounded them.

"Where did you come from? What is your purpose in coming to Black Stone City?"

At the question, a middle-aged man among the group summoned his courage and shouted hoarsely...

"Spare us, sir! We're residents of this city. Later, we were conscripted into the army. When the two armies clashed earlier, we got scared and ran away."

Earlier, merely from their clothing, Zhuo Ge had already formed some guesses.

Now that he had heard this, he basically understood the situation.

In the earlier battle, there had probably been around two thousand deserters alone. Judging by the large group before him, there were at least three or four hundred.

They had likely realized after fleeing that there was nothing to eat in the wilderness and that they could not survive there. With nowhere else to turn, they had finally returned, bracing themselves despite everything.

Deserting in the face of battle was a capital offense. For deserters, the road ahead was essentially a dead end.

However, after seeing the centaur unit emerge from the city, the deserters seemed to realize something, and a glimmer of hope rose in their hearts.

After all, Yan Sheng had no