In the blink of an eye, more than half of Paradise descended into chaos.
Just a few hours earlier, the city had looked perfectly ordinary—slaves and workers toiled themselves to death, merchants haggled over every penny, nobles indulged themselves without restraint, and politicians made trouble for everyone as usual. But with a tremendous boom from the King's City District, everything began plunging toward an abyss no one had seen coming.
The City Defense Guard poured out from every direction and seized every street with overwhelming force. There were no orders posted, no announcements, only dark gun barrels and cold bayonets. Not long before, some people of "distinguished standing" had tried to challenge them. But now...
The corpses piled like rotten meat on the street corners said it all.
But the City Defense Guard's occupation did not last long, either.
Soon, large numbers of private troops and mercenaries emerged from all directions. They might have been fewer in number than the City Defense Guard, but their equipment was on an entirely different level. Quite a few inheritors supported their ranks as well, bringing the situation to a temporary stalemate.
Still, both sides had one thing in common.
Neither cared whether ordinary civilians lived or died.
Shells and spells blasted indiscriminately through the houses. Piercing screams and pleas for mercy rang out, only to be cut short moments later. Soon, towering flames replaced the streetlights, and blood and corpses piled up into one barricade after another.
From their very first clash, both sides fought with feverish intensity, determined to battle to the death!
As for Zhou You...
How should he put it? For the first time, he felt truly strained.
Breaking out on his own would not have been difficult. The problem was that he also had to protect this entire group.