...Those were all things the higher-ups in the XZ Military Region had deliberately spread.
"I..."
I was just about to say something when, suddenly, the soldiers who had been in the trenches all came out. Expressionless, they walked up to me. Years
of having no food had made them line up almost instinctively in a square formation, filling the entire open space by the West City Gate.
"Clatter—"
Without a word, the hundreds of soldiers all bent forward at the waist, bowing ninety degrees to me. For a moment... the scene grew even quieter.
"Fang Yuxuan, I know the XZ Military Region wronged you and schemed against you. As someone who has lived in the XZ Military Region for five years, I feel deeply ashamed."
The voice came from behind me. When I turned around, I saw an old man step out of the crowd. His aged voice echoed across the square.
"I'm just an old man with nothing to my name. I can't give you anything, and I have no right to ask you to forgive the XZ Military Region... But..."
As he spoke, the man, who was nearly eighty or ninety years old, suddenly dropped to his knees in front of me.
"This old man is kneeling before you. Please, help us..."
"Help us!"
"That's right... Fang Yuxuan, Miss Fang, please help us!"
"Miss Fang!"
"Miss!"
"Miss!"
"Big Sister, please help us..."
As the old man's aged voice rang out in pleading, the people behind him began dropping to their knees, one section at a time. From where I stood, I watched a vast swath of people sink down with a series of whooshes, the movement spreading backward like a wave. Those farther back might not have known what was happening, but they weren't fools. Hearing what the