730: The Con Job in a Chain (Part One) [Two-in-One]

In the dead of night, the sudden appearance of an army like this would have unnerved anyone. But once they made out the banners in the scattered firelight, their taut nerves finally relaxed.

A guard pointed toward the banners and shouted, "It's the general!"

Taking a closer look, they really were their own men.

The guard hurried down from the watchtower and relayed the news to the deputy general guarding the city. He had drunk quite a bit of strong liquor, and the fumes had already gone to his head. At the news, he forced himself to perk up, circulating his martial energy to drive the excess alcohol from his body. His eyes soon cleared.

"The general's back?"

He hurriedly pulled on his boots and donned his armor.

After briefly confirming the army's identity, the guards on the city wall ordered the soldiers at the gate to open it. With a heavy creak, the gates swung open. The deputy general and the others were already waiting beneath the gate tunnel. As the soldiers drew near, the smell of blood wafted from them.

The deputy general asked the man at their head, "How did you end up looking like this?"

He knew this man: the general's fellow townsman and sworn brother. He wasn't especially powerful, but he knew how to work people, and his flattery was nothing short of masterful. The general liked taking him along wherever he went. For that reason, many of the soldiers looked down on him. The man had no backbone.

"We'd only been out of the city for half a day when we ran into Shen Thief's army. After a fierce battle, we killed over a thousand of them and captured two thousand." His armor was spattered with filthy blood, the sticky blood on his face