Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Mianbao
Edited by RED
On this land enshrouded in darkness, the faint starlight and the dots of light in the woods from the fireflies were the only sources of light in the world.
The night was foggy. It was like the greyish-white city was wearing a thin veil around it.
In the center of the city stood a graceful statute. Anyone who stepped into the city would be able to see it if they just looked up a little.
It emitted a unique glow in the dark, its figure pure and holy. The beautiful sculpted face made everyone who first entered the city hold their breaths.
The statue was incredibly lifelike, like the Nyx goddess was draped in cloth made from moonlight and fog. Its tempting figure was faintly obscured to the eye, making it seem even more tempting.
However, even though it was remarkably beautiful, the people in the city didn’t dare have any profane thoughts toward it.
The person depicted on the statue was the ruler of this city!
Their attitude toward the statue wasn’t born from something positive, like a symbol of faith or freedom. It was more representative of war and killing!
The people referred to her as the Valkyrie, for she had tamed this savage and chaotic land in only one year!
This had allowed the city and the surrounding annexed territory to finally claim a shred of law and order.
The city guards were somewhat undisciplined. They would treat anyone who entered the city as if they were non-existent, including the poorly dressed beggars who were flooding in through gates in droves.
Zhu Minglang had been loitering outside the city gates for some time. Seeing the crowd of beggars, he decisively joined the crowd and successfully entered Ever City.
No one knew which cities these beggars came from to seek refuge. Zhu Minglang couldn’t understand a word they were speaking. When they saw the blurry statue of the Valkyrie, all of them froze on the spot for a few seconds, before leaving with their heads down.
They belonged to the Pinewoods tribe originally, and they had five walled cities of their own. Although their territory was not vast, they were considered a major power in these lands.
A year ago, their five walled cities were destroyed, and their rulers’ corpses were left on display in the streets. Having lost their protectors, half of the five walled cities’ folks became slaves, while the other half became refugees with no place to return to. In the end, they travelled to many cities and finally arrived at the territory of the main culprit of their predicament.
Speaking of which, it was laughable. In just a year, any thought of taking revenge and reviving their cities had gone with the wind after all the suffering they had gone through.
All they wanted was to have a wall around them, to no longer be chased by wild beasts, and to not die in the wilderness. They only wanted a dirty street to sleep on and live their lives, even if the walls of this large city belonged to the Valkyrie who had destroyed their five cities!
“There’s someone giving out free congee. Head to the backstreet,” a buck-toothed man in a guard uniform came over and said to the wandering beggars, who were just like cockroaches and rats.
Zhu Minglang went up to the guard and said politely, “Good sir, I’m from Mulberry Town and I came across some bandits while I was transporting silk meant for the city lord mansion. My money and the silk were taken away, and I was left in this state. Can I please trouble you to contact Uncle Wang from Mulberry Town to come fetch me?”
“What’s what? Get away from this daddy! If you’re not going to receive the congee and want to starve to death, then leave this street I’m in charge of! My head will roll if the city lord sees this filth!” The buck-toothed guard ignored everything Zhu Minglang had said and scolded him.
Helpless, Zhu Minglang could only walk away. When the other refugees heard the calls for free congee, they quickly swarmed to the back street, and Zhu Minglang was swept along by the traffic.
The backstreet was very shabby, its condition was much worse than the long street. Few of the houses built from wood and mud were completed. It was utterly messy at first glance. Walking into such a place felt like all of the smells of the mortal world had disappeared, leaving only the stench of wither and ruin.
The matter regarding handing out of free congee wasn’t a lie, however. In a wooden courtyard at the innermost area of the backstreet, a female servant of the city lord in a long blue dress was giving out congee.
She had an amiable smile, and showed no signs of contempt toward the vagrants, who had lice all over their bodies. Even when her white hands were dirtied, she continued handing out bowl after bowl of congee.
Zhu Minglang was feeling hungry, too. He could only do as the others did when he came across such charity and accepted their kindness.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump…
Soon, the vagrants fell, one after another, either falling face first, or straight on their backs.
Some of the vagrants who were still conscious were alarmed at the sight, wanting to make a run for it. However, before they could take a few steps, their bodies suddenly twitched and they started frothing at their mouths.
Zhu Minglang was also freaked out at the sight.
-No way!-
There had been rumors that in order to make their cities look cleaner and more prosperous, some ruthless city rulers would hand out food from time to time to the vagrants, refugees, beggars and whatnot, to poison them to death and bury them outside the cities.
It was like getting rid of the mice in the sewers…
Zhu Minglang was incredibly unresigned when he thought that his end was like this.
Moreover, after he died, who would feed that little fellow? It needed to eat so many mulberry leaves every day!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The vagrants continued falling, one after another. Their unwillingness and resentment could be seen in their widened eyes. However, in these cruel lands, if city rulers could rob others of their homelands because of a few mere offending words, why couldn’t they bring themselves to rob others of their lives, just to make their cities appear nicer?
The vagrants who had lost their cities were no different from the rats seen on the prosperous streets. They wouldn’t have a good ending, even if they discarded their pride and tried their hardest to live on.
Zhu Minglang started feeling light-headed.
He was actually a decent man from Ever City! A hardworking mulberry farmer, an honest silk trader, who paid his taxes on time and took the initiative to send in tributes.
-If those people are like rats who die from ingesting rat poison, then I should be considered a loyal ox who had only ingested the poison in my own house by mistake! Please spare me!-
Zhu Minglang wasn’t able to prove his identity in time. At this moment, a few soldiers walked out from the courtyard, holding hemp sacks in their hands, with cold blades sheathed at their waists.
He tried his best to maintain consciousness.
In the end, however, Zhu Minglang wasn’t able to overcome the effects of the “rat poison”. He swayed about and finally fell over.
In the moment before he lost his consciousness, he saw a pair of jade feet coming out from deep in the courtyard, taking light and elegant steps.
Zhu Minglang tried very hard to garner a look at the owner of those feet, but he completely lost consciousness before he could do so.
In the dreamy world influenced by the drug and his chaotic thoughts, the pair of jade feet and the figure of the Valkyrie statue combined into one, turning into a vivid beauty that had come to life. Her charming and graceful figure slowly came closer with a flush on her face.
—
The beautiful dream was like springtime. Zhu Minglang felt like the heavens didn’t treat him badly, giving him such an extremely sweet dream before his head rolled.
He dreamt that the graceful statue in the center of the city came to life, and slowly crawled toward him under the dim light of the oil lamp. The marvelous curves and the slight blush on its face was truly the best visual enjoyment one could experience in this world. As for what followed, it even made Zhu Minglang feel like meeting his end wasn’t such an unacceptable reality.
Under the illumination of the dim oil lamp, surrounded by cold stone walls, yet the white body twisting in his embrace was so warm.
“Ah, I’m dying,” Zhu Minglang cried out uncontrollably. He had originally thought everything was but an illusion before his death, but unexpectedly, echoes of his voice rang out in this enclosed space.
“I’m dying… I’m dying… dying…”
When Zhu Minglang heard his echo, he slowly regained consciousness.
He observed his surroundings, and realized he was in a dungeon. The flickering light from the oil lamp wasn’t an illusion, either. He could even feel the heat when he reached out to it.
-I’m not dead?
-Could it be that it wasn’t poison meant to get rid of the rats?
-Crap, if I’m still alive, then I’ll most likely be sold off to the remote mountains and become a slave in the mines!
-If I had to become a slave in those dark mineral caves… It would have been better to just poison me to death!-
“Unn?”
Suddenly, a soft, delightful voice was heard. It came from right beside Zhu Minglang.
He turned his head sideway and finally realized there was actually a naked woman laying beside him.
Her long hair was like black tea-colored silk. The flush on her face still remained, her beauty unlike anything in this world. His heart stopped for a moment as he looked at her up close, before suddenly pumping violently.
-What’s going on?!
-Was that not a dream?
-Why am I in a dungeon?
-Why am I locked up together with a woman?
-Her appearance is clearly identical to the statue erected right in the middle of the city. It was that Valkyrie who looked like a tranquil fairy, but whose methods are similar to a steel-blooded emperor’s!-
“You’re both awake? You look great, sister. It seems this little vagrant served you well last night,” a woman’s voice that sounded like a shrill fox came from the metal window high above.
The woman beside Zhu Minglang was still somewhat dazed, like she was drunk.
“I wonder how many people would have their hearts broken if they heard my dazzling sister had slept with a little beggar. But don’t worry, sister, I’ll make sure this news reaches everyone’s ears, and becomes the memorable, neverending topic of the people after their meals,” that shrill foxy voice continued.
Hearing this sentence snapped the woman lying beside Zhu Minglang fully conscious. Before she could reply in anger, however, the footsteps outside gradually faded away, a sharp, haughty laughter resounding in the cold dungeon for a long time.
Zhu Minglang felt troubled. He looked closely at the woman who was left next to him in the prison.
The person before him was clearly the city lord of this city, the one referred to as the Valkyrie. Her absolute beauty was too recognizable. Even without any clothes… Uhm, in any case, Zhu Minglang was sure it was her.
-Then, judging from the words from that person earlier…-
Zhu Minglang broke the silence of the dungeon and asked, “You were overthrown?”
These lands had always been extremely chaotic. There had never been a moment of peace. The rate at which rulers changed was no slower than the changing of seasons.
The Valkyrie remained silent, using her long hair to cover herself. Regrettably, the areas that should be slim were slim, and areas that should be voluptuous were so, and thus not everything was covered properly.