Durin's Diary

Chapter 991 Qing'e

Watching the Seraphim chopping wood for three days in the distance, Dulin finally understood why Shanhaiguan was still the pass everyone trusted most despite the freezing weather—it was simply because this frigid place was unsuitable for any living creature.

Every day, frozen Chaos believers were burned as firewood, filling the city walls with the pungent smell of burnt proteins.

Let alone ordinary mortals, even Dulin thinks that a vegan nutritional paste is not bad—if you smell the aroma of barbecue every day, your stomach will tell you that it wants to eat meat, but your brain will tell you not to remember to eat meat every day, and a vegan nutritional paste is more suitable for you.

Since the Seraphim didn't have the overwhelming combat power of the Red-skinned Men of Zhennan Pass, nor the useful brains of the aliens outside Yumen Pass, they were at the level of being good at everything but mediocre at everything. They hadn't even built a few siege weapons after chopping wood for three days.

Dulin expressed concern that there might be problems if things continued to drag on like this.

The general guarding the pass said there was nothing to worry about. Apart from this area being a plain that was still passable, the vast wilderness was filled with all sorts of strange creatures—from sensible spirits who didn't submit to the king's rule but dared not breathe on the people of Changtang, to the most feared forest-crossing groups in Changtang. The lineup of the wilderness was even more terrifying than that of Shanhaiguan. In the past, there had been instances of chaotic demon armies trying to cross the wilderness, but they were all eventually eaten by the spirits or frozen solid. Even now, chaotic corpses can still be found in the wilderness.

After all, Chang Tang Chuan Lin Ke said that as long as the spirits didn't breathe on him, they could turn a blind eye to the monsters eating some Chaos Beasts.

As for the demons getting sick or going mad from eating the demon army, the spirits won't even need the forest travelers to take action; they'll beg the forest travelers to help them—after all, after a fellow cultivator dies, the neighbors will naturally be the ones with the virtue to take over the cultivator's wealth, magic, companions, land, and children.

After hearing the explanation, Dulin felt relieved—let's wait for their reinforcements to arrive; the more targets within the effective kill range of the artillery, the better.

With this in mind, Dulin sat down by the oil drum, warming himself by the fire while having the medic pick at the frostbite on his ears.

“Mr. Dulin, this little injury is nothing. Last time, a young legend from the south almost frostbitten his toes. Shanhaiguan is too cold; it’s a godforsaken place that only northerners would come to. Southerners are more suited to Zhennanguan. It’s too damn hot there for northerners. In the spring, it’s so hot that you can only wear underwear. When have we northerners ever suffered like this?” The medic said as he treated Dulin’s sore.

Several wounded soldiers laughed heartily, and after they finished laughing, they felt a little envious of the South.

“Actually, it would be better if it were warmer; it’s too cold here.” The old soldier with a half-gray beard rubbed his hands together while warming his frostbitten feet. “By the way, Lord Dulin, you should go to Zhennanguan and tell us how hot it is there.”

"Yeah, I've been there. It was quite hot, but I thought it was alright. It's just a bit unfair to the girls, since the men, young and old, don't wear shirts. The big men in the wounded soldiers' camp, unless they have injuries that require them to be exposed, all have to wear a short-sleeved shirt. Otherwise, what kind of decorum would that be?" Du Lin said with a smile.

The officers at the wounded soldiers' camp laughed so hard they could hardly breathe.

"What about Yumen Pass?" a new recruit asked. This guy also had frostbite. He wanted to look cool, so he wore the leather boots his girlfriend gave him, and ended up losing two toes—Dulin helped him grow them back. However, he still had extensive frostbite on his legs and feet, so he still had to stay in the wounded soldiers' camp for a few more days.

"I've heard of Yumen Pass. It's alright inside the pass; the Celestial Masters have reclaimed vast tracts of fertile land. But outside the pass, it's all sand," another veteran said. This old man was on patrol last night, and his ears weren't properly covered, so he got frostbite.

“Yes, the land outside the pass is all sand.” Dulin nodded. “The weather there is nice, neither cold nor hot, so the alien army comes to attack from time to time. Our troops also go out of the pass to sweep away the alien settlements. There is no day when people don’t die. There are also alien infiltrators, many of whom are assassins. I saw them when I went there.”

"Is she a beauty?" an old soldier asked with a smile.

"Yes, a faceless beauty with a great figure, want one?" Du Lin asked with a smile. "Then forget it, a faceless woman is too scary." The veterans all agreed that the first description sounded good, but if you add the last part, it's better to politely decline. After all, even if she's not good-looking, she's still a human being. If she weren't, she might scare a few timid people to death if they woke up in the middle of the night.

Then an elderly lady from the treatment department came over with a stern face to apply medicine to the veterans, completely subduing these gossipy old men.

After chatting for a while, someone came to find Dulin, so he had no choice but to put on his hat and follow the general's adjutant to the city wall.

"Mr. Dulin is truly kind-hearted. He deliberately froze his ears so he could check on the wounded soldiers. He really put a lot of thought into it." The general of Shanhaiguan was a sheep demon, and it was said that his ancestors had the blood of a bear demon, so he was very big.

He greeted Dulin with a smile, making Dulin a little embarrassed—Do I look like that kind of person? I really have frostbite.

But there's really no way around it. If the general thinks so, then everyone in Shanhaiguan must think so too.

Yeah.

The reason the general invited Durin here this time was because the follow-up troops of the Slaanesh army had arrived.

Dulin looked up and saw that, sure enough, there were many new camps of demonic troops behind the camp, and the Chaos believers were setting up camps.

I heard that these were the disqualified people who were driven out by the Changtang people back then. Most of them froze to death in Mangyuan, but some survived. They were eventually taken in as slaves by Chaos—they were called believers, but in reality they were slaves and cannon fodder.

People in Changtang today, having heard of these people's stories, would certainly not show them any mercy.

In addition to the increasing number of believers joining in the construction of the siege engine, Dulin also saw rows of believers hanging in front of the old camp—it seemed their master was very dissatisfied with their work.

The general nodded in response to Dulin's question.

"Definitely. These bastards are wicked and lazy. They run away as soon as there's any sign of trouble during a siege. If killing them wouldn't hasten their defeat, the soldiers wouldn't want to waste bullets on them." The general sighed as he said this.

It's unclear whether they were looking down on the performance of these useless people or simply thought they were completely worthless.

Dulin wouldn't pity these believers—if Dulin had driven old men like AI and Pang, both from the old era, to the brink of madness, he probably would have already shot them.

Those traitors to civilization don't even deserve to enter the exoneration camp.

(End of this chapter)