Chapter 26: The Noble
Within Segona City, the black dragon descended from above. The city had been hastily tidied up, the smell of scorching mostly dissipated. In about an hour, their own soldiers would be able to fully take over this fortress city.
Through negotiations with Molei and the others, Su Xiao had basically confirmed that the violator named Saw Venom was not an old schemer. This was good news.
Shadu was a huge pitfall. If the rulers of Shayan were truly engaged in internal strife, the central battlefield would have long been lost. Chaos in power would first manifest on the front lines.
Su Xiao had previously stepped one foot into that pitfall. After discovering it was bottomless, he immediately withdrew and came to the front lines.
The current situation was favorable for Su Xiao. He temporarily ignored the violator named Saw Venom. Only by developing well on the front lines could he best deal with the violator; otherwise, he would be wasting the War Lord title.
Segona City had been successfully captured. Standing on the dragon's back, Su Xiao looked at the vast rows of buildings inside the city. They were mostly two-story, rectangular stone barracks, each about ten meters wide, nearly thirty meters long, and around eight meters high.
Su Xiao leaped down from the dragon's back and pushed open the door of a barracks. The interior had good lighting and ventilation. A corridor ran down the middle, with connected bunk beds on both sides, upper and lower levels.
Each barracks had two floors, with four rows of beds per floor. With eight rows total, excluding the space taken by storage lockers, each barracks could comfortably house 100 soldiers.
Looking around, the city was filled with these barracks, arranged in eight main rows, totaling over a thousand buildings.
This place was perfect for stationing troops. Soldiers were human too; constant marching would eventually cause problems.
Su Xiao didn't let his soldiers rest immediately. According to Baha's reconnaissance, at least 250,000 dwarf reinforcements had arrived in the areas surrounding Segona City. It was Spring·Iron Ram.
What puzzled Su Xiao was that these dwarf troops hadn't attacked immediately. Instead, they set up camp around the city, adopting a siege posture.
"Bai Ye, good news. We caught a big fish."
Kaisa hurried over. Hearing this, Su Xiao understood why Spring·Iron Ram hadn't attacked immediately. There was a "big fish" inside the city, and Spring·Iron Ram was wary of that.
"We caught Red Beard again. That dwarf is drowning his sorrows in drink."
"..."
Su Xiao narrowed his eyes. He sensed something was wrong. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what, but he was sure the "big fish" Spring·Iron Ram feared was definitely not Red Beard.
"Did you stop him from committing suicide?"
In Su Xiao's understanding, Red Beard was unlikely to be captured alive twice.
"Suicide? No. That guy surrendered quite readily."
"Is that so."
Su Xiao sat on the bunk, lost in thought. After a moment, he asked, "How many civilians were captured?"
"About 3,000."
"Give me the exact number."
Su Xiao needed to clarify one thing. Related to this were Red Beard's surrender and why Spring·Iron Ram hadn't attacked directly.
Based on his understanding of Red Beard, that guy shouldn't be able to endure such humiliation. Captured alive twice in a few days. With that dwarf's fiery temper, he would likely have committed suicide before being captured. But he hadn't, which was abnormal.
"Civilians, 2,759. That's about it."
Kaisa was puzzled, not understanding why Su Xiao cared about the number of civilian captives.
"Go find all the civilian corpses and recount."
"Not a single civilian died. They were all hiding in the rear barracks, just like this one."
Kaisa pointed at the ground, meaning the barracks they were in.
"Go find them. Dig three feet deep if you have to."
What Su Xiao could think of was that someone was hidden in Segona City, or something important to the Peru Kingdom.
"Find what?"
"I don't know. Bring anything suspicious to me. Baha."
"Here."
Baha appeared suddenly. With spatial abilities, it was almost always on call.
"Detect spatial fluctuations in the city. Look for any alternate spaces created by supernatural abilities."
Baha flew off, and Kaisa led soldiers to search the city for anything suspicious.
Su Xiao had Bubu Wang release a dark crow to notify Shadu that he had captured Segona City and urgently needed troop reinforcements. He subtly indicated that without reinforcements, he would have no choice but to negotiate with the Peru King.
Capturing Segona City meant one thing: regardless of Uno's stance, they had to respond. Otherwise, whether Segona City would return to Peru's hands was uncertain, especially since Su Xiao only had 68,000 soldiers and would "struggle" to hold it.
His soldiers began searching everywhere in Segona City, even pulling mice out of their holes if they saw one.
Half an hour later, the captured Peru dwarf soldiers started causing trouble. Their reasoning was that Shayan could defeat them but couldn't insult them or trample Segona City arbitrarily.
After the leading dwarf officer was executed, the dwarf captives quieted down.
An hour later, Red Beard requested a meeting with Su Xiao. He wanted to negotiate with Su Xiao on behalf of the Peru Kingdom.
Su Xiao was still in the barracks, pondering what was hidden in Segona City.
Red Beard, holding a bottle of wine, was escorted by several soldiers into the barracks. He shrugged his shoulders, walked to the bunk opposite Su Xiao, and sat down heavily.
"Kukulin, is it really wise to hold Segona City long-term? This is our Peru's gateway. How many soldiers will come to attack this place? You know as well as I do."
Red Beard exhaled alcohol fumes, already slightly drunk.
"Let me return to Peru. I'll negotiate with my brother the king. My minimum guarantee is that Peru's entire front-line forces will withdraw from Shayan's border and return your territory. This round is your victory."
Red Beard's proposal wasn't impossible. Segona City was too important to Peru. No one expected anyone to capture it within an hour. The war machines here were terrifying in number.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He just looked at Red Beard with a faint smile.
"Think it over. Oh, and one more thing. You can pretend you didn't hear this: whatever Shayan can give you, Peru can give you tenfold. Peru has never been just a dwarf kingdom. I'm leaving. Take your time."
"Wait."
Su Xiao's words made Red Beard pause.
"Red Beard, let me guess. Which noble person is in Segona City? Could it be your goddess? I heard your deity wants to interfere in the central battlefield?"
"Hahaha, goddess? Kukulin, how long has it been since you've touched a woman? You're having such fantasies. Would your Sand Emperor come to the front lines?"
Red Beard laughed loudly as he walked out.
"Thank you, Red Beard. You saved me a lot of time. So she's hiding in an alternate space."
"What are you talking about? You really should find a woman, hahaha."
Red Beard laughed as he reached the barracks door.
"So she was mixed in with the civilians."
Bang!
A dull thud rang out. Red Beard lunged at Su Xiao. With a swish, a sharp sword pierced through his abdomen from behind. Several soldiers rushed forward and pinned him to the ground.
"So it really is a goddess. I thought it was some artifact."
Su Xiao lit a cigarette. Hearing this, Red Beard, with blood in his mouth, let out a roar.
"You'll die a miserable death, Kukulin!"
Red Beard was dragged away, roaring. Su Xiao snapped his fingers. Soon, Baha appeared out of thin air.
"Boss, what's up?"
"Peru's goddess is in Segona City, mixed in with the civilians. We need to hurry. She might try to escape."
"Understood."
Baha flew out of the barracks. Soon, the sound of assembly horns echoed outside.
"All troops assemble! Search all civilians, focus on women. Hurry!"
The soldiers quickly gathered. This capture of Segona City was no longer just about catching a big fish. Red Beard's presence here was suspicious in itself.
Su Xiao could sense that this was the key to finding the Prosperity God. If they caught the goddess and the Prosperity God manifested an avatar to rescue her, that would be perfect—a gift delivered right to their doorstep.