My lord, spare his life!

Suddenly, Zhang Dami, who was between his legs, let out a irritable roar.

Its sudden movement startled the refugees who were kneeling and begging the guards to open the city gates, several dozen feet away. The refugees had already endured three days of freezing weather, and dared not close their eyes at night for fear of freezing to death. Their bodies and minds were stretched to the limit, and Zhang Dami's sudden movement made many of them feel as if their chests were about to suffocate with fear!

"Silence!"

Zhang Yang slapped its head so hard it tilted to the side.

The intensity is well controlled; it only leaves you confused without causing any brain damage.

"Don't disturb the neighbors!"

After being beaten, Zhang Dami immediately stopped making a sound, bent down, and whimpered softly towards the moat, making gurgling noises cautiously.

"What do you want me to see?"

Zhang Yang narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping across the direction of the moat.

She soon noticed something strange.

Despite days of blizzards and temperatures dropping below freezing, the moat showed no signs of freezing. Not only was it not frozen, but she also spotted several corpses floating in the water. Zhang Yang guessed they were refugees trying to swim to the other side.

Unfortunately, they underestimated the river's swiftness and overestimated their swimming ability and physical strength. The refugees on the bank ignored this, simply keeping their heads down and working together to push the makeshift rafts into the water.

This is?

Are we going to borrow a raft to cross the moat?

Seeing the confusion in Zhang Yang's eyes, Fan You wheeled himself forward and asked, "Is my lord wondering why it's not freezing?"

Zhang Yang's question was concise: "Why?"

Fan Youdao said, "Firstly, it's because the upstream sluice gates were opened, making the water flow rapid and less likely to freeze. Secondly, it's also related to the fact that the remaining star array in the city is still in operation. Although the Celestial Flame Star Lord has perished, the corresponding star city is relatively well preserved, so it can still play some role."

It has some effect, but not much.

However, it's enough to ensure that the snow disaster in the city isn't too severe.

"...It's also possible that there's someone in the city with the ability to forcibly drive this section of the moat, making it difficult for it to freeze, thus preventing refugees from trying to cross the river into the city...the reasons are nothing more than these."

Fan You's calm voice slid smoothly past Zhang Yang's ears.

Zhang Yang only heard him babbling on and on.

I was only able to understand what he said thanks to the system logs.

She only had one question: "Why aren't refugees allowed into the city?"

This was beyond Zhang Yang's understanding over the past sixteen years.

It's extremely rare to hear of a survivor base refusing survivors' refuge, let alone shutting them out with its doors closed. Even the smallest survivor base tries its best to accept living people—a survivor base is only a survivor base if it has people; without people, it's nothing more than a dilapidated, dark, and cold steel tombstone.

Fan You repeated the same thing.

"Weeds are worthless."

Zhang Yang neither expressed opposition nor agreement.

Fan You continued, "If we allow all the refugees stretching for miles into the city, where will they live? What will they eat? What will they drink? How will they keep warm? If we rashly open the city gates without solving these problems, we will only be dragging the people in the city down to the underworld with us."

Zhang Yang said indifferently, "That's a matter for officials to consider, not a problem between you, me, and the refugees. If they can't solve it, they're incompetent! Tsk, these good-for-nothings haven't even finished eating, and they're already thinking about which latrine to use for their excrement?"

Why don't you open the city gates first? Stop with all this blabbering.

Fan You: "..."

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and remained silent.

However, the system log that popped up with the message "Fan You's favorability towards you has decreased by one" truly reflected his feelings. His purpose was to guide Zhang Yang to think about the follow-up issues, but Zhang Yang directly cursed everyone in the city and Fan You together, using very offensive language.

Zhang Yang remained completely unfazed by the decrease in favorability ratings.

Anyway, there are still over fifty left to deduct slowly.

"I just want to know how we get into the city!"

Fan You hadn't answered her previous question yet.

"us--"

Just as Fan You opened his mouth, a loud splash came from afar. Several rafts were pushed into the water, each carrying two people. One person steered across the river with a simple wooden stick, while the other held up a makeshift shield pieced together from various odds and ends. Like a few weak ants, they slowly moved towards the opposite bank of the moat.

The refugees on the shore were still desperately pleading for the city gates to be opened.

Their throats were burning from shouting, and their lips were cracked.

Finally, their pleas moved the guards on the city wall.

The guards who saw the commotion in the moat glanced down, turned around and went to tell someone something, then returned a short while later.

By this time, the refugees attempting to cross the river on rafts had already passed the center and were getting closer and closer to the opposite bank. Zhang Yang was engrossed in watching when his keen ears caught a unique rhythmic twang of a bowstring. He knew this sound all too well.

In the post-apocalyptic wasteland, industrial production has suffered a devastating blow.

Some remote rural bases couldn't afford guns and cannons, so they had to use crossbows instead. These were easy to craft and had readily available replacement materials. As a result, the game developers even designed a player class specifically for using crossbows. The exclusive weapons for this class were all incredibly strange, with crafting materials, visual effects, and destructive power completely unlike anything one would expect from a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Don't ask her how she knows; she observed the complaints from the sample members.

Zhang Yang not only knows how to use a crossbow to mow down zombies, but she has also mastered the skill of dodging stray arrows. She can pinpoint the location of an arrow and determine its power and target simply by listening.

The goal of the archers on the city wall was—

Refugees crossing the river!

After a very slight "thump," the arrow left the bowstring.

Guan Zong was a step behind in noticing something amiss.

He cursed gruffly, "Damn it!"

Unfortunately, he was still in a weakened state due to the descent of the stars, and his body was unable to do anything. Some of the refugees by the river spotted archers on the city wall, bows drawn, and a commotion erupted!

"don't want!"

Many people gasped in surprise at the scene.

"ah--"

Some of the more timid ones covered their heads and closed their eyes, too afraid to look.

however--

The expected bloodshed did not occur.

A sliver of extremely thin golden light shot out from outside the moat, cleaving the arrow about to strike the refugees in two. The remaining force of the golden light struck the river surface, exploding abruptly. The resulting waves propelled the raft several meters in the opposite direction.

Hearing the noise, Fan You suddenly opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of Zhang Yang's indifferent face and the bowstring in her hand that was still not taut.

"At this distance, we could try shooting through the suspension bridge's ropes."

Zhang Yang tested the feel of it and felt somewhat confident.

Fan You forcibly suppressed the urge to get up, gripping the armrests of the wheelchair tightly, though the pent-up frustration in his chest subtly dissipated. He said in an unnatural tone, "My lord, please don't be rash. We can first use Ren Shu to trick them into opening the city gates."

We'll discuss everything once we're in the city.

If Zhang Yang really manages to shoot down the drawbridge, is he planning to attack the city?

Zhang Yang: "You should have said so earlier."

This made her think that she would have to forcefully breach the city walls to get in.

It turns out that it is possible to outsmart them after all.

It seems that there are options for the storyline when entering the city.

Fan You: "..."

Words cannot express his feelings at this moment.