I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 445 The Self-Saving Person
The player won.

Unlike Throw You Rem, Chris had been keeping an eye on the movements of the Overlord Tigers, because based on his understanding of Knife Stabbing Butt and the players, he knew very well that the latter would definitely not be able to stay quiet.

Let the players quietly guard the pass and block the snake people's retreat?
Oh, that's unlikely. It's like putting a group of piranhas that smell blood outside a glass tank full of fresh meat and expecting them to just patrol.

The glass will shatter sooner or later, and the meat in the jar is destined to be torn to shreds.

As for how many piranhas will die during the process of smashing the glass?

They don't care.

Although Rem is a player, judging from this incident, he has been out of touch with the player community for too long, to the point that he didn't even realize what he had done.

Chris was different. When he learned that the Overland Tigers had been sent to Gray Rock Pass, and that they were only one step away from the Snakemen, he knew that there would definitely be a big show to watch that night.

Therefore, Chris kept an eye on the actions of the Overland Tigers players from the player's third-person perspective.

When Xiao Daozai led his men in a charge towards the Naxi Fortress, Chris even felt a sense of exhilaration, as if "just as I expected."

However, Chris wasn't omniscient. For example, the smoke that rose from the back of the fortress while the players and the snake people were fighting was something he hadn't expected.

At first, Chris thought that the snake people had made a mistake in their haste and set fire to their own lair.

However, as time went on, the fire not only did not decrease, but expanded rapidly. At the same time, shouts of killing came with the wind, and Chris realized that something was wrong.

There's a third-party force stabbing the snake people in the back... well, maybe in the tail.

Have the Minieses returned?

This was Chris's first thought. When he saw soldiers in familiar blue uniforms emerge from behind the snake-men, he reaffirmed his idea and stopped thinking about it. He began to quietly enjoy the exciting scene of the players fighting the snake-men.

Why think so much? Let's just watch the show.

……

The knife, stuck in his buttocks, was used as a crumbling support for his heavily armed axe-spear, its tip deeply embedded in the ground mixed with dark red snake blood and scorched mud.

Xiao Dao was panting heavily, each breath carrying a heavy smell of gunpowder, blood, and the distinctive stench of some kind of snake, burning his throat and lungs.

After endless fighting and burning, the dawn's sunlight finally tore through the thick night, casting its gray light upon the Naxi Fortress, a land that had just endured purgatory.

Did we win?

The thought flashed through Xiao Dao's mind, which was so tired and almost numb from stabbing his buttocks. He then looked up and nodded with certainty, very sure that his side had won.

The snake people are all dead, but the players are not, so of course they win.

The fortress, or rather the place that was once a fortress, now resembles a huge and grotesque mixture of a slaughterhouse and a garbage incinerator.

Standing on the city wall, all Xiao Dao could see were broken walls and ruins.

The towering tower was half-collapsed by artillery fire, and the charred wooden beams twisted and pierced the gray sky like the ribs of a dying beast.

The thick stone walls were covered with huge cracks and charred craters from the explosions. In some places, they had even been blasted open, with rubble and twisted metal components scattered all over the ground... Last night, many players got carried away and rushed towards the area with the most snake people, carrying explosives.

The main buildings of the fortress were completely destroyed. Although the fire that had been burning all night was extinguished by the players and the self-rescue army, the embers were not extinguished. Thick smoke, like a dying python, rose from countless breaches and window openings, staining the dawn sky filthy.

The air was filled with a pungent, burnt smell—the smell of wood, cloth, corpses… even stones scorched by extreme heat.

And the corpses... were truly mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The most numerous snake people covered almost every inch of open space inside and outside the fortress.

Their twisted, broken bodies were layered upon each other, their green scales covered in blood and dust, with severed limbs, shattered weapons, and torn internal organs mixed in.

The central square of the fortress, originally used for drills, has now become the largest morgue, with the corpses of the snake people piled up like mountains, almost blocking the passages in all directions.

Many of the corpses remained in their final, grotesque poses, their fangs bared, their vertical pupils frozen with the last vestiges of madness and fear.

The knife stabbed his buttocks and he even saw several snake corpses burned to death by players with flamethrowers; they were charred, curled up, and no longer human-shaped.

The snake-men were completely wiped out; not a single survivor escaped this death trap jointly constructed by the players and the self-rescue army.

What's the cost?
Xiao Dao's gaze swept across the battlefield. Players, dressed in various outfits but now covered in blood and mud, were scattered about.

The Overlord Tigers... arrived as a massive force of nearly two thousand people, full of vigor and high spirits.

What now?
Judging by their appearance, less than half of them could stand, sit, or at least still breathe.

Among the pile of corpses, the players' bodies lay quietly, their equipment badly damaged, waiting to be slowly dragged back to the Holy Expeditionary Army camp.

The fortress was in an uproar, filled with cheers of victory and shouts of people searching for gear, but mostly with complaints about the respawn point being too far away, gear running out of durability, or simply wails of "I've died eight times!"

More than half were killed or wounded; this is no exaggeration. Countless piranhas fell before every strategically important point in the fortress and every snake-man squad that was overrun by the players.

Then his gaze fell on the soldiers in their dark blue uniforms... the Minieses.

They were silently cleaning up the battlefield, their movements slow and heavy, revealing a deep-seated weariness.

The number of these Minisians had also dwindled dramatically; their uniforms were torn, stained with blood and scorched, and many wore makeshift bandages soaked with dark red blood.

The soldiers helped each other as they struggled through the piles of corpses, searching for their own wounded or collecting the remains of their fallen comrades.

Xiao Dao saw several Minisian soldiers surrounding the corpse of a comrade pinned to the wall by a snake-man's spear, trying to put him down. Their movements were careful, but they couldn't suppress the low sobs.

A young soldier, his face covered in soot and his eyes vacant, mechanically bandaged a soldier whose abdomen had been ripped open, but blood quickly soaked through the bandages, and the latter's body grew cold under his hands.

The players held the front line, withstanding the snake-men's fiercest counterattack, but the casualties among these Minisians were equally heavy. Last night's desperate charge from behind the snake-men had clearly come at an unimaginable cost.

Their faces didn't show the nonchalant "die and start over" attitude of the players; instead, they showed deep sorrow and bewilderment at surviving a catastrophe.

He stabbed himself in the buttocks and wiped the blood and sweat stains from his face with a knife, feeling as if his bones were groaning.

He looked at the self-defense soldiers and saw them watching these allies—who had just fought alongside him but now seemed so unfamiliar and fanatical—with a wary, almost imperceptible awe and detachment.

Some players are rummaging through piles of corpses for valuable loot, some are slumped on the ground drinking sugar water, and others are curiously observing these suddenly appearing "friendly NPCs," whispering among themselves.

"Is this considered a new faction? Can I grind reputation with it?"

"I want to slash them a few times, I wonder if that earns me military merit?"

In the dim light of dawn, the Naxi Fortress was eerily silent. The smoke of victory had not yet dissipated, but the scent of death and the wounds of war were deeply etched on every charred brick, every cold corpse, and every weary face of the survivor.

The players won, the snake people were gone, but the fortress, and all the lives caught in this bloody vortex, paid an incredibly heavy price. Was the war just beginning, or... finally over?

Xiao Dao pondered.

It doesn't seem right to end it like this.

Should we continue deeper into Minicia?
However, that doesn't seem like a good idea either. There are still Minisians inside the fortress. What if they ask me to leave and give up the fortress to them?

If they become enemies, should I strike first?
But doing this seems a bit morally questionable...

As Xiao Dao was lost in thought, pondering whether it would be more worthwhile to continue expanding his territory or simply take advantage of the situation, a deliberately loud footstep interrupted his reverie.

He looked up and saw several players surrounding a man dressed in a dark blue military uniform, who clearly looked like an officer, as he walked over.

The officer looked to be in his forties, his face a mixture of gunpowder, blood, and deep fatigue, but his back was ramrod straight and his eyes were sharp. Even though his uniform was tattered and his epaulets were stained, he still exuded the "spirit of a soldier."

One of his arms was immobilized with a simple splint, indicating that he had suffered a serious injury.

"Boss, this guy says he's the leader of the self-rescue army."

A player approached Xiao Dao and lowered his voice to introduce the situation.

"He said he wanted to talk to you about... well, cooperation? Or something like that? Anyway, it sounded pretty formal."

"Self-Salvation Army?"

Xiao Dao stabbed his buttocks and subconsciously repeated the unfamiliar word, his brows immediately furrowing into a knot.

He had heard the blue-uniformed soldiers calling each other "self-rescue army" last night, but at the time the fighting was so intense that no one had time to think about it.

The way this term is being used by an officer carries an unusual weight.

It has the feel of a side quest.

Colonel Vigo stopped in front of the knife, his gaze sweeping over the commander without any attempt to look away... He was covered in blood, and his face carried that uniquely player-like expression that was a mixture of excitement, exhaustion, and a touch of nonchalance.

The colonel took a deep breath, seemingly to suppress the pain in his body and the heaviness of witnessing the heavy casualties, and then spoke in a hoarse but clear voice in Bagnian.

"Your Excellency Commander, thank you and your warriors for your timely and fierce attack."

"Without you holding back the main force of the snake people, our self-defense army's counterattack last night would have been impossible."

He nodded slightly as a sign of acknowledgment, but the movement aggravated his injury, causing his lips to twitch.

"Self-Salvation Army?"

Little Knife couldn't help but press for more information, genuinely puzzled by this suddenly appearing name that seemed quite different from the regular army of the Kingdom of Minicia.

"You are not the army of the Kingdom of Minicia?"

Colonel Vigo's eyes instantly became complex, showing pain, determination, and a sharpness that had been touched on a wound.

"The Kingdom of Minicia?"

He let out a short, cold laugh, heavy with sarcasm.

"No, Commander, we are the Self-Salvation Army, the Minesian Self-Salvation Army. We are a group of pitiful people abandoned by the Kingdom of Minesia. Perhaps we can be considered rebels."

"Rebels!?"

The knife stabbed his buttocks, and his eyes widened even more.

Wow, this plot development is quite interesting!

The enemy's rebels are our allies.

Then, is the reputation of this Minisian rebel faction red, yellow, or gray?

Countless possibilities, along with some random thoughts, flashed through Xiao Dao's mind as he stabbed his buttocks.

The colonel ignored Xiao Dao's surprise, or rather, he had already anticipated the other's reaction.

He straightened his back, his gaze passing over the knife, sweeping across the ruined battlefield smeared with the blood and flesh of players, the self-rescue army, and the snake people, his voice low and firm.

"We are here because the kingdom's corrupt nobles and incompetent king have long since betrayed the people of Minicia!"

His words were filled with suppressed anger and sorrow.

“Our attack on the snake people’s rear last night was both revenge and a desperate attempt to survive… Naxi Fortress… I…”

Xiao Dao Zai Pi Ji was a little confused by what all this nonsense meant... However, this self-rescue army seemed to have a bit of a righteous camp vibe.

At least they're more pleasing to the eye than those Minise Charless.

Just as Xiao Dao was pondering what this self-rescue army was all about, Colonel Vigo's next words struck him like a thunderbolt, leaving him utterly stunned.

The colonel withdrew his gaze and refocused on Xiao Dao's face, his eyes filled with a desperate determination and a barely perceptible plea.

“Commander, our self-defense force… is desperate. Although we have annihilated the snake people here, we have betrayed the kingdom, so…”

He paused, then spoke clearly, word by word:
"Therefore, on behalf of all the soldiers of the Minesian Self-Salvation Army, I formally request that our Self-Salvation Army join the Kingdom of Bagnia!"

"kindness!?"

The knife pierced his buttocks, causing him to shudder violently and almost lose his balance. He wondered if he was hallucinating from excessive blood loss.

"Join...the Kingdom of Bagnia!?"

His mind was instantly filled with a huge question mark.

Aren't you called yourselves the Self-Rescue Army? Why are you suddenly joining others?
Is this self-rescue effort going to other countries?
Besides, aren't we enemies?

The Kingdom of Bagnia and the Kingdom of Minicia are still at war, and so many people have died. Even if you are a rebel from the Kingdom of Minicia, you should at least be somewhat hostile towards us. Why are you suddenly joining the enemy?

Is this your opinion?

Have you asked the soldiers below for their opinions?

(End of this chapter)