Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 1051 - 653 They Have Arrived

Chapter 1051: Chapter 653 They Have Arrived

The insect tide has arrived as scheduled.

Rolling with the yellow sand, it swept across the sky and earth, and then crashed headlong into the heavenly canopy outside the city.

Compared to the beast tide, the insect tide, though terrifying to behold, is actually less threatening than the former.

Powerful races always occupy the best habitats, and theoretically, these insects should be driven by those demonic beasts into this barren, sandy Great Desert.

The sharp blade-like legs, the hard shells, the trait of not stiffening even in death are all terrifying aspects of the Insect Demons, but all these horrors cannot hide the weakness of their slender bodies.

Once the shell on the surface of their bodies is broken, the insects are only a matter of time from death, for they cannot heal their shells, or their vitality cannot sustain the long cycle of healing.

But at this moment, the sheer numbers of the insect tide have already compensated for this flaw.

The first wave of contact between the heavenly canopy and the insect tide quickly ended. The terrain of Zhenxi Prefecture City is treacherous, with only a hundred-zhang-long plank path linking the two sides of Qianji Gorge, where countless insect corpses struggled.

And before the thousands of dead insect corpses rolled into the abyss, they were devoured by the subsequent Insect Demons.

Very soon, those who gathered under the city walls hoping to compel the authorities to open the gates witnessed what a true ant-infested siege looked like.

At first, the towering walls blocked their view, and they could only vaguely hear some rustling crawling sounds coming from beyond the city walls.

They didn’t wait long before the rustling intensified, the insect cries became sharp and piercing, accompanied by countless jarring sounds of tunneling, the first Insect Demon clinging to the heavenly canopy appeared in their sights.

Following quickly were the second, the second, the third until... half of the City Defense Canopy was completely covered by the insect tide.

Thousands upon thousands of insects clung to the array veil, densely and rustlingly wriggling, spreading continuously along the heavenly canopy, and Zhenxi Prefecture’s sky darkened at a pace visible to the naked eye.

And when the last ray of sunlight was swallowed by the sea of insects, those buildings ignited amidst the chaos became especially conspicuous, and the requiem interwoven by the excited curses of the assailants and the terrified cries of the victims came to a halt.

The rioters collectively lifted their eyes to the sky, but they could no longer see the once blue sky dome.

What they could see,

were the countless blood-red compound eyes full of greed, watching everything inside the city from beyond the heavenly canopy.

"Hey... hey! Look at the sky quickly."

"What are those things?"

"Insect beasts?"

"Why... why are there so many insect beasts?"

"Hahaha, no wonder the Zhenxi Army withdrew, turns out they knew these insects were coming, so they ran first... a bunch of cowards!"

"Where.. where is the Zhenxi Army?! Where are those damned soldiers?"

"Damn it, are those armies just loafing around? Can’t they see those insects?!"

When real despair arrived, the rioters who originally expected the collapse of order suddenly began to crave the protection of the order keepers.

But after their prayers went unanswered, amidst the curses and wails, a larger scale of rioting began.

House after house was set aflame, orderly citizens were dragged from their homes to be slaughtered and raped, and the unbridled rioters began to wantonly release the evil in human nature, indulging in the last madness of their lives....

...

...

...

"Changtian, are you really going to ignore the riots in the city?"

In the incense-filled Military Hub Hall, Li Junwu’s voice carried a trace of hesitation.

Even as riots raged within the city, the Government Office remained in tranquil peace, and after a few batches of ignorant fools were slaughtered for attacking the Yamen, no more rioters dared to wander near the Government Office.

The moment he heard the voice, Xu Yuan opened his eyes, which had been closed for a moment of relaxation, and calmly uttered two words:

"Ignore them."

Li Junwu slightly frowned and rebutted:

"The reason the riots could happen in the city today is entirely because we have recalled the entire army of The Second Town to the Government Office, otherwise, the forces of three groups of soldiers would be enough to suppress those unorganized rioters."

Xu Yuan’s voice was icily calm:

"Jun Wu, every matter has its priorities. It’s not that I’m unwilling to send troops for suppression, but the loss caused by those rioters is not worth the risk."

Li Junwu was puzzled:

"Three battalions of soldiers would not affect the overall situation, why speak of risk?"

"Have you forgotten? The potential traitors within the Zhenxi Army have not been thoroughly eradicated."

Xu Yuan spoke unhurriedly, his voice unvarying, stating facts: "I had you order the urgent return of The Second Town to the Government Office, first to consolidate the unsettled army spirit, and second to clear the city walls."

Saying this, Xu Yuan slightly furrowed his brow, speaking sternly:

"Zhenxi Prefecture is the third siege battle I’ve encountered. The start of the defensive crisis in the previous two was due to someone attacking the city walls from within, causing damage to the City Defense Array Patterns. Even though the probability of drawing out traitors to leave is small, we cannot risk sending people out, they must all be kept under close watch."

"Can’t we send cultivators to supervise the army?" Li Junwu whispered.

"Send whom? All my people are already dispatched to monitor the city wall patterns. Besides General Jin on your side, is there anyone you can trust with certainty other than the Qilin Wolf? Are you sure sending that fool there wouldn’t cause more chaos?"

"So we just let those rioters rape and slaughter others?" Li Junwu’s hand clenched slightly on the desk.

"...." Xu Yuan.

From a purely cost-effective standpoint, dealing with those rioters is not actually crucial at this key moment.

The number of rioters involved is less than five percent of the total population in the city, and half of them are ordinary people. Moreover, those fools overwhelmed with lust would irrationally gather to assault the high gates and mansions, hoping to plunder the powerful ones under cultivator protection with their numbers.

Even if we let them run amok, it would at most destroy a few blocks. Compared to the safety of the entire Zhenxi Prefecture City, this loss is insignificant.

Thus, Xu Yuan did not continue this topic:

"Now the main problem is not those rioters, but the insect tide clinging to the heavenly canopy."

"Those insect tides can’t break in. With the current energy consumption speed of the array, the Source Crystal reserves within the city should hold for at least a decade, but if we don’t control those rioters, more people will join in."

Saying this, Li Junwu’s eyes widened slightly, his voice carrying a hint of severity: "Changtian, this is a border Prefecture City, most of the people who come here are desperados!"

"....."

Seeing that his good brother was unyielding, Xu Yuan instinctively felt a tinge of impatience.

Indeed.

Even if troops were sent to suppress the rioters, the chance of giving traitors an opportunity to damage the defense arrays is minuscule.

But what if they manage to damage it?

They are already walking a tightrope, with no room for error.

At that time, the city inhabitants will die from the conspiracy of The Six Saints, and the cascading destruction of the Prefecture City will be too large to bear.

This is a difficult choice to make, isn’t it?!

"Li Junwu, benevolence doesn’t command troops, you....."

Xu Yuan wanted to chasten Li Junwu’s naivety, but his words halted midway due to the flickering emotions in her slender eyes.

It was a familiar emotion, one that had once appeared in his own eyes, a human emotion everyone should have.....

"......"

The hand under his sleeves clenched slightly, Xu Yuan tilted his head back, pressing his brow, and heaved a long sigh:

"Forget it, I will arrange for someone to deal with it."

After saying that, Xu Yuan did not make any further sound.

Li Junwu noticed that he was angry, pursed her thin lips, leisurely stood up from behind the desk and stood next to him calmly, then leaned over onto his chair and nudged his arm, gently asking:

"Hey, is there any need to be so angry?"

Xu Yuan glanced at her mildly and said:

"If you want to know how I will handle those rioters, just ask directly, Sizi Jing and Huang Shiwei can’t leave the city wall range, they have to guard against anyone attempting to approach the walls, that’s a baseline.

"But this insect tide, though it brought violence inside the city, has also pushed those Noble Clans who wanted to leave the city, as well as various large-scale commerce associations to our side. With this insect tide, they won’t think of leaving the city anymore. I plan to have them handle those rioters."

"...."

Li Junwu recalled the scenes seen earlier through the City Defense Array.

Those Noble Clan commerce associations and large-scale Xia Groups previously intended to charge the city gates.

Contemplating, she tentatively asked:

"Will they cooperate, the leaders among them could also be insiders, and they might harbor resentment from our previous refusal to let them out of the city."

"Men of understanding will cooperate, and even if they are from the sects, not all will die for their cause."

Xu Yuan’s response was straightforward.

The large-scale Xia Groups and Noble Clan commerce associations command simplified Military Formation Techniques, even if a few agree to cooperate, they could suppress the riots within the city.

As he spoke, Xu Yuan reached over and gently pushed the half-leaning Li Junwu off him, firmly meeting her eyes:

"Li Junwu, this is the last time.

"If you truly wish to lead Zhenxi Prefecture, then you must discard your soft-heartedness."

"....."

Li Junwu’s red lips instinctively parted, wanting to argue, but ultimately, she simply nodded in acquiescence.

Xu Yuan took a deep breath, adjusted his facial expression, and steered the conversation back on track:

"Now, let’s discuss how to deal with those disgusting insect tides."

"Eh, disgusting? Changtian, you’re this grown yet you fear insects?"

"......" Xu Yuan stared at her without a word.

"......" Li Junwu’s smile stiffened.

Turning her gaze away, Li Junwu whispered: "I... I just wanted to make a joke, lighten up the atmosphere."

A fleeting urge to smile, but Xu Yuan didn’t show it, continuing coldly:

"You should have noticed by now that the sects don’t expect the insect tide to break the formation. Ever since the heavenly canopy has been covered by insects, the probing array patterns of the City Defense Array have been gradually failing. What they want is to disconnect us from the outside world."

The method of probing involves both Origin Qi and Will-spirit.

Array patterns cannot coagulate the Will-spirit of creatures; they can only use Origin Qi to probe the surroundings. But a certain pheromone secreted by those insects is disrupting the Origin Qi and Will-spirit in the vicinity.

The entire Zhenxi Prefecture City is losing all means of detecting the outside world.

In other words, even if The Six Saints were to appear at close range nearing Zhenxi Prefecture City, ready to unleash their powers, they couldn’t be detected through the City Defense Formation.

Li Junwu didn’t speak further, pondering for a moment, softly saying:

"Are you saying, they are forcing us to convert the City Defense Canopy into a Slaughter Formation?"

"Yes."

"But if the formation is altered, the energy consumption will be faster, and changing the operational patterns of the City Defense Array would leave a huge gap period unless we disregard the array’s depletion and overload it for full charge." Li Junwu contemplated and proposed her suggestion.

"There’s no need for that; I’m just notifying you."

"...." Li Junwu.

Disrupting Origin Qi and Will-spirit doesn’t mean they can disrupt his Spiritual Vision.

This is also one of Xu Yuan’s trump cards.

"I have a way to bypass their sensory block and communicate with the outside world; if they plan to collectively charge and break the formation, we could turn the tables on them, and I will notify you then."

With that, Xu Yuan deftly stood up and walked out of the hall.

Li Junwu instinctively asked:

"Where are you going?"

Xu Yuan didn’t turn back, speaking without enthusiasm:

"Don’t you want to suppress the riot? Shouldn’t I inform the people below to contact the Noble Clan Commerce Associations?"

"...."

Li Junwu’s clear eyes flickered for a moment, instinctively speaking:

"Do you want me to accompany you? I can now mobilize the City Defense Array to protect you."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan immediately paused in his steps before the threshold.

Li Junwu thought he agreed, smiling faintly as she caught up, only to find him seriously gazing at the pitch-black insect tide above the heavenly canopy.

Staring for a few breaths, Xu Yuan turned back to look at her with a measure of resignation:

"It seems I must break the promise I made just now."

"Huh?"

"Do you remember what I just said?"

"..."

Li Junwu’s heart raced:

"Was it... about turning the tables?"

"Yes."

Xu Yuan looked up, feeling the turbulent, resentful aura wafting from beyond the insect tide, clenching his fists under his sleeves and whispered:

"They’ve come."