My lord, spare his life!

"Did Prince Chong come down? It's unlikely."

He wanted to say that Zhang Yang's idea was somewhat presumptuous.

Judging from the military formation alone, the four battalions below are clearly the elite of the rebel army. They naturally have more important things to do, so why would they waste their time searching for a worthless and infamous princess? To mobilize a large force to capture her? That's wishful thinking.

"What are these people doing?"

As soon as Zhang Yang finished asking her question, she saw Shen Zhichong give her a complicated and inexplicable look. The latter's eyes carried too many emotions, which Zhang Yang, with her limited understanding of human emotions, simply couldn't decipher.

Shen Zhi sighed deeply.

"It should be that they have won a battle and are returning to camp with the spoils of war."

Judging by the timeline, it's about time to reach this point. Thanks to a certain princess, these rebel troops didn't suffer much loss in their attack on the city. The wealthy families in the city didn't even have time to pack up their valuables and flee before they were all wiped out.

"They won the battle?"

"His Highness is the one who suffered a defeat."

He had never liked this important person to begin with, and since she was currently suffering from amnesia, Shen Zhi didn't bother to force himself to be respectful, and his words became somewhat unrestrained. Upon hearing this, Zhang Yang simply responded with an "oh," as if it were none of her business.

This attitude infuriated Shen Zhi.

"Does Your Highness not feel pain for the slaughter of your people?"

In Shen Zhi's opinion, this question was pointless. If the noblewoman had any conscience, she wouldn't have been murdered by her own servants, and in such a gruesome way, worse than being torn apart by five horses. This showed how deep the hatred in the hearts of those who did it was.

However, Zhang Yang simply looked at Shen Zhi with her clear, innocent peach blossom eyes and asked him, "What is 'heartbreak'?"

This kind of emotion was unfamiliar to Zhang Yang.

"you--"

Shen Zhi was momentarily speechless.

Seeing that Zhang Yang's expression didn't seem feigned, he could only repeatedly remind himself—this important person in front of him had amnesia, was now a blank slate, and didn't remember anything he had done before. No matter how sarcastic he was, the other party wouldn't break down at all.

It won't break down defenses, let alone lead to reflection, guilt, or heartbreak.

While his mind was in turmoil, Zhang Yang had already turned his gaze away expressionlessly, looking at the swarming rebel army below the mountain.

"Just tell me what I need to do now."

After saying that, Zhang Yang added a clarification to his statement.

"Besides heartbreak, I really don't know what 'heartbreak' means."

We're all NPCs, why make things difficult for each other?

Shen Zhi was thoroughly angered by her few words. If he weren't afraid of alerting the rebel army below, he would have jumped up and pointed at Zhang Yang's nose, ready to hurl insults. How could anyone in this world be so shameless? He sneered, "What are you going to do? If Your Highness has even a shred of compassion, please do more good deeds, treat your people kindly, and refrain from doing things that incur the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people. That would accumulate more merit than anything else!"

That's what she said, but Shen Zhi felt she didn't have that chance.

Firstly, old habits die hard; a leopard can't change its spots. Secondly, it's questionable whether she can even continue being a princess! The country is gone, what's the point of talking about being a princess?

Zhang Yang frowned and interrupted him.

"What are you babbling about? Give me something specific!"

"Specifically?"

"That's all I can do right now."

She focused intently on advancing the homestead side quest, skipping over all the irrelevant story text. If she found it interesting, she'd find a way to savor it later. Now, immediately, she'd issue a quest and start the story!

Zhang Yang once again envied her observation subjects.

Why can players skip the story using keyboard shortcuts?

Why should I listen to Shen Zhi's constant chatter?

Zhang Yang's words were like a fuse, igniting Shen Zhi's anger, which had just subsided: "What can you do now? Go down and die, or go down and rescue the prisoners from the rebels?"

"Sending them to their deaths? That won't do." Zhang Yang shook his head, then changed the subject, "But rescuing the prisoners is something we can try."

Shen Zhi felt like a duck with its neck being choked.

His eyes widened, and the last bit of air was squeezed out.

"What did you just say you could try?"

"Rescuing prisoners, we can give it a try."

As an NPC, she couldn't immediately discern a red-named player's level or health bar like a player could. However, after spending a long time among red-named players, she gradually developed her own method. By observing the intensity of a target's aura, she could roughly deduce their level and health. Without this ability, Zhang Yang wouldn't have been able to impersonate a player for sixteen years without being detected.

"The people below don't have strong auras."

"One isn't strong enough, but there are many of them!"

Wasn't this important person just now suspecting that he was pushing her to her death? Why is she now so eager to go down and throw her life away?

Zhang Yang turned his head: "I don't plan to kill them all."

These groups of red-named monsters are the most troublesome. After you kill one round, another batch will quickly spawn, one after another. No matter how good Zhang Yang's stamina is, he can't wipe them out before they spawn.

and so--

"A direct assault is not advisable."

"I'm prepared to outsmart them."

Shen Zhi: "..."

Forgive his bluntness, but does this important person even have a brain?

Seeing her resolute expression, Shen Zhi swallowed back what he was about to say, comforting himself that perhaps this wasn't a bad thing. This noblewoman had been hacked to pieces with an axe and yet recovered completely; her talent was truly remarkable. Perhaps, it could even have some miraculous effect right now?

Zhang Yang said, "Tell me about their weaknesses."

Shen Zhi: "..."

Zhang Yang: "What's with that expression?"

Shen Zhi gritted his teeth, his molars almost grinding to powder: "If I knew all this, would I have let them break in?"

Zhang Yang: "That makes sense."

These NPCs are unreliable.

Just as Zhang Yang was about to make his move, Shen Zhi's slightly annoyed voice came from beside him: "This army is definitely the elite force of the rebels. The Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise battalions are all here, making them good at both offense and defense. Look at their marching; their steps are synchronized, showing no signs of disarray or disorder. This is enough to show that they are well-trained and obey orders without question. Your Highness, you'd better not take the risk."

Zhang Yang: "Speaking of which, what is the Fourth Battalion?"

Shen Zhi: "..."

Who gave her the courage to talk about rescuing prisoners without even knowing the facts? He glanced at Zhang Yang's head, swallowing back his curses: "The so-called Four Camps are the Four Symbols. Those whose stars resemble the Twenty-Eight Mansions can be included in the Four Camps. However, there are no absolutes. If the celestial phenomena resemble turtles, birds, reptiles, or beasts, they can also be included in the Four Camps and called the Four Symbols..."

Zhang Yang: "..."

What came to her ears was just a series of babbling sounds.

The content flowed smoothly through my mind.

"Oh, I understand."

Speaking of which, Zhang Yang suddenly remembered that his panel also had the words "Stars" and "Talent". What are these things?

"Does 'stars' refer to the stars in the sky?"