Chapter 354: The Final Settlement
October 10, 1032 in the new calendar of the alien world, was an extremely unusual day for the people of Dutata City in Adler Territory.
Of course, for most of the day, not everyone noticed how different this day was from any other day…
At this moment, it is just one o'clock in the afternoon.
In the slums outside the city, the radio drama "Our Struggle" was being broadcast simultaneously by more than sixty loudspeakers. It was reaching its climax - the part where the heroine Caroline was attacked by Gold.
Among the more than 200,000 civilians in the slums, many people slowed down their work, stopped chatting with others, and listened attentively to the voice coming from the loudspeaker; the shameless threat of "Gold" made many people clench their fists and grit their teeth, and occasionally, when they really couldn't hold it back, they squeezed out a curse or two from between their teeth.
Although I have heard it once yesterday, this plot can still arouse the most simple emotional resonance in the hearts of the vast majority of poor people at the bottom of society - Caroline is such a hardworking and good girl, and how can one not be heartbroken to "watch helplessly" her being harassed and oppressed by a shameless man who is lazy and only wants to take advantage of marriage?
Even the gang members who were trying in vain to incite the people in the slums and who only understood half of what was said, many of them who still maintained a normal sense of good and evil subconsciously stopped, listened carefully to the plot, and frowned at Gold's behavior.
It was not just residents outside the city who listened to the radio drama.
Inside the city walls, in the blocks near the South Gate and Southwest Gate, some citizens stopped in the narrow courtyards, some parked on the side of the street, some opened the windows, and some stood on the balcony, craning their necks, quietly listening to the broadcast coming from outside the city.
The economic conditions of ordinary citizens within the city walls were better than those of the slum dwellers outside the city walls, but they were not well-off enough for the average family to own a radio; it was not that they could not afford it at all, but if the citizens had some spare money, it would be more economical to buy a sewing machine or a bicycle than a radio.
Listening to radio dramas is a "hobby" that only rich people are qualified to have, and it is still far away from ordinary citizens; because of the generosity of the Naderites in broadcasting dramas to residents outside the city, even if the citizens in the city don't say it, they can't help but feel a little envious in their hearts.
Farther away from the citizens who were enjoying the spiritual massage of cultural and entertainment works, residents of the central city area who could not hear the public broadcasts were enjoying the unprecedented "drama" with their naked eyes...
On South Street, middle-class residents living in single-family apartment buildings and townhouses along the street all hid behind curtains or door cracks in astonishment, staring at the chaotic situation on the street in amazement.
Tens of thousands of undead besieged the National Garrison. Not many people were lucky enough to witness this scene.
Of course... the most important thing is that the battle between the two sides did not result in a tragic situation with flesh and blood flying everywhere, otherwise these middle-class families living in the central city might not have the courage to act as spectators - the undead would always disappear cleanly in the white light after being attacked, and it would be difficult for the garrison soldiers in full armor to be broken by the undead.
When large groups of undead climbed up the buildings facing the street and jumped into the ranks of the garrison, countless residents of the audience let out meaningless screams, stretched their necks even more, opened their eyes wide, and stared at the battle area with half fear and half curiosity.
Most middle-class families would subscribe to two or three newspapers. Because of Viscount Nadelli's declaration of war, the origin of the Tarantan Undead, and their combat experience, many middle-class men could discuss them for an hour or so.
As for whether Coulson O'Neill can successfully take revenge and become the lord of Adler and the mayor of Dutata City with the support of the Innadri people, although the middle-class families will talk about this kind of struggle between nobles, no one thinks it is something they can influence.
On the bright side, the caravans passing through Dutata City would often bring back information about the current situation in Innadri. Innadri, where the undead had long been haunted, was not so chaotic that the caravans dared not go there, and there were also many cheap and affordable goods. In addition, Coulson O'Neill was a local after all. His family originally lived in Midtown and had a beautiful mansion on West Street. It was not so difficult to accept that a young man with local aristocratic blood became the new lord.
The Undead Army frantically used airborne tactics to defeat the tightly-packed garrison, the Undead Army brutally pinned down and disarmed the roaring garrison soldiers, the Undead Army savagely tied up the disarmed garrison soldiers and dragged them out of the battlefield... This novel and exciting live broadcast made the residents of South Street scream in surprise, but they couldn't take their eyes off.
"It's horrible... Oh my God, it's horrible - it's horrible!"
Countless middle-class women who hid at home with their maids to watch the fight kept muttering behind their hands while staring at the street outside the curtains.
No matter which dimension women are from, they will not like violent scenes, but... the scene where the legendary Tarantan undead fight against the local garrison is seriously lacking in violence, and instead the elements of weirdness and curiosity are increasing steadily - in other words, it is quite friendly to female "audiences".
The tall and rude men were toyed with by the lively undead. They were disarmed, tied up and dragged away while howling in pain. There were no bloody scenes. The worst "battle casualties" were that some unlucky garrison soldier was knocked to the ground and had a nosebleed by the undead that fell from the sky. This situation... was really similar to the effect of a large-scale farce performed by many people.
If the residents of South Street were not really familiar with the dead, and if not many people had any relationship with the Coulson O'Neill family and could not empathize with them, I don't know how many people would have laughed loudly...
The middle-class families on South Street still have a bit of a mood to watch the fire from the other side, but the "live audience" on Central Avenue has a completely different feeling.
If we say that at the beginning, when the undead only captured the Lord's Mansion and the administrative department , the "audience" on the central avenue was relatively relaxed and able to accept this unconventional "noble war" mode; until the undead army surrounded the 3,000 Red Flame Snake Legion and attacked it, countless people changed their faces on the spot...
In the middle of Central Avenue, in the Bounty Hunters Association on the upper floor of the shipping company, whether it was the local branch president of the association or the two gold medal hunters from the Nosk Federation, their mouths were wide open for a long time.
In less than an hour, the Red Flame Snake Legion that had entered the Central Avenue with great momentum had been torn to pieces by the Undead Army.
A large number of cavalrymen were dragged off their horses, either into the alleys or displayed on the sidewalks; a large number of horses that had lost their owners were tied by the undead to roadside hitching posts or street lamps, or even to ornamental trees on the sidewalks and courtyard fences of street buildings.
It’s so dense and shocking.
Up to now, only more than 200 soldiers and officers who abandoned their horses and rushed into a department store on the street were still resisting stubbornly; but seeing how skillfully those undead were climbing the outer walls and climbing through the windows...it was only a matter of time before the Scarlet Flame Serpent Legion was destroyed.
This made the Bounty Association, which had watched the entire street ambush from a relatively good angle, extremely silent .
——That’s three thousand cavalrymen! The elite cavalrymen raised by Count Ezekiel!
With these 3,000 cavalry as the foundation, we recruit 20,000 to 30,000 auxiliary soldiers and civilians, and send them out to attack cities and seize territories. Excluding the Nosk Federation, there are only a handful of cities in the eastern region that can resist this force!
Such a strong army couldn't even hold out for an hour under the siege of this chaotic and disorderly undead army!
Even if it is not an urban street battle, if we move it to a field battlefield that is more suitable for cavalry... it will probably only delay it by an extra hour or two .
The Bounty Association has an intelligence network that is no less powerful than that of official organizations, and the branch president is well aware of the resources and strength of the six major lords of the Rhine Kingdom (including Innadri during the Bartles family era).
If we say that the Undead Army initially captured Innadri only because the Bartles family had a shallow foundation... then at this moment, the Undead Army can be said to have proved with their strength that their glorious military exploits were not in vain.
Although it is inevitable that this was due to the fact that these guys had no moral principles and directly killed the enemy's highest commander - but it was also a fact that they could not even protect or rescue the highest commander in their own absolute home court.
"If you go further north in Adler County and cross the Barcelo River, you will reach the royal city... If the black magician behind the Tarantan Undead wants to threaten the Rhine royal family - well, it's unlikely. The court magician group will not allow the undead to cross the river."
The branch president shook his head slightly, shaking off the dangerous thoughts that suddenly popped up in his mind.
Bounty associations can only make money in peaceful regions, and the branch president does not want to see the Rhine Kingdom in turmoil.
"Dark magician Yang allowed Phoenix of the Odysseus family to use him to resist the covetousness of the royal family. I think he must have a deep friendship with the Odysseus family. Since he is willing to maintain friendly relations with the great nobles of the kingdom... he should not easily let the Rhine Kingdom fall into turmoil."
The branch president tried to ignore Yang's notoriety as the "Nightmare Butcher" and thought as optimistically as possible: "Charlie Rex, China Darcy, and now Coulson O'Neill, who followed him, are all noble youths of their country. Even for the sake of his own people, this black magician should not act recklessly."
After giving himself a lot of reassurance, the branch president calmly looked at the two guests who came from afar: "It seems that everything in Dutata City will be settled within today. We can continue the previous topic."
The two Nosk hunters looked at the branch leader expressionlessly.
Are you serious?
Seeing the miserable plight of Ezekiel’s family unable to hold out for even half a day at the hands of the undead, can the problem of the local nobles’ exodus be ignored?
What the gold medal hunter from Nosk didn't know was whether the local nobles would flee. Maybe someone cared more about it than they did.
On the top floor of the high-end hotel on East Street, after watching the entire process of Viscount O'Neill's mansion being ransacked, Yang Qiu took China and Coulson away and headed for the lord's mansion.
When the player army was fighting fiercely with the Red Flame Snake Legion less than 800 meters away from the Lord's Mansion, Yang Qiu, China, and Coulson walked past the Lord's Mansion staff who were tied up and thrown all over the yard, walked into the big house, and entered Count Ezekiel's study.
It is 2pm in the other world time, 8:30pm on Earth time.
The garrison and the Red Flame Snake Legion that entered the central city to defend the city have all been disarmed, and all departments of the city hall that may have organized personnel and caused security risks have also all been controlled.
Yang Qiu, who was occupying Count Ezekiel's study, poured himself a glass of fat house happy water, and first assigned the task of clearing out the gray industry dens in the outer city and cracking down on street gangs to the players, and sent this group of excited Huskies out of the central city that had been tormented by them; then he notified the large force outside the city through the branding matrix to enter the city to receive the prisoners and take over the city hall.
When the large army entered the city to take over Dutata City, Yang Qiu took the trouble to... ask the new lord, Coulson, who was about to take office, to personally go to the Gold Coin Church in the port area and politely invite the diocesan bishop of Adler Territory to the lord's mansion.
The diocesan bishop, who had a complicated expression but actually cooperated and acquiesced to the fact that the dead had entered the city after receiving the gifts, was invited to come. In front of this witness, Coulson O'Neill, who was just one step away from "ascending the throne", used Count Ezekiel's phone book to call the nobles in Midtown.
Considering the presence of the diocesan bishop, and having just witnessed the undead riot, the local nobles did not dare to incur Coulson's hatred at this time, and all the nobles of Dutata City arrived before dark.
These nobles from Dutata City, with reluctance written all over their faces, saw the looted lord's mansion up close. Almost all of them had their eyes rolling around, with a look of "running away is the best strategy" written all over their faces.
Then... Coulson O'Neill, who "let the wolf into the house", brought a man in front of the nobles of Dutata City in full view of everyone.
Upon seeing the appearance of this unrecognizable thin man with loose skin, several of the Dutata nobles changed their expressions on the spot.
"It seems that some of you know him." Coulson O'Neill said gloomily.
"Who is this?" asked the parish bishop, who was sitting in a high-backed chair to Coulson's left, in confusion.
"Respected Bishop, please allow me to introduce you." Coulson bowed his head slightly and pointed to the downtrodden man who was trembling in the middle of the hall. "This is Lord Stuart, the Lord of Dutata City. He is also the most influential slave trader in the Adler underground human black market."
The diocesan bishop's reaction at the time was shock.
Of course, there was an element of acting in this shock... After all, he was the diocesan bishop of the Gold Coin Church. It was impossible for him to be completely ignorant of the internal conditions of Adler Territory. It was even more impossible for him to completely forget what happened in the southern wilderness in the first half of the year after only half a year.
Pretending to be shocked and confused, the diocesan bishop glanced sharply at China Darcy, who was sitting behind Coulson, and... the black magician who was dressed like an ordinary gentleman.
"As expected of the Nightmare Butcher, this is what he was planning," the diocesan bishop thought to himself.
Yang Qiu noticed the diocesan bishop's gaze and smiled friendly.
Innadelli defeated a great nobleman with a heavy blow in order to help his cousin, a female Countess. This reason can be said to be without a legitimate reason, but it is not perfect after all... If the royal family is not satisfied, there will be no problem in blocking Coulson O'Neill's title.
The royal family was very dissatisfied with the establishment of Charles Rex, the new lord of Innad, so Rex is still just a nominal lord without a title and not recognized by the aristocratic circle.
But if this power grab, which was completely dishonorable and unethical in details, was dragged into the high-sounding reason of "to defend the kingdom's constitution that symbolizes the authority of the Rhine royal family and to combat the slave trade that is strictly prohibited by the constitution at all costs", and if the banner of "teaching a lesson to Count Ezekiel, a great noble who had the audacity to trample on the kingdom's constitution" was raised - then the royal family would have no excuse to dislike Coulson O'Neill, who borrowed troops from the undead.
Even if he had to hold his nose, the King of the Rhine had no choice but to sign his name on the document awarding Kolson the title.
The diocesan bishop would certainly not believe that the black magician Yang would be a man who would brazenly send troops to maintain the dignity of the royal family and defend the kingdom's constitution, but this reason was so politically correct that anyone who questioned it would be stained with SHI; in the face of Yang Qiu's kind smile, he could only show a smile of appreciation and support as much as possible.
Yang Qiu also knew that the other party was just pretending to be nice, but that didn't matter... He was going to settle accounts with these slave traders anyway, and now he was just making the best use of it and killing two birds with one stone. He was very clear-headed.
Next, the cousins, Colson O'Neill and China Darcy, followed the script they had rehearsed beforehand. In front of the parish bishop and a group of Dutata nobles, they expressed their indignation at the fact that some dishonorable nobles were involved in illegal businesses. They also presented the testimony they had pried out of Sir Stuart more than half a year ago, as well as the evidence they had copied from Earl Ezekiel's house.
After confirming the evidence under the witness of the diocesan bishop, the newly appointed lord Coulson O'Neill called in agents on the spot, arrested several nobles with irrefutable evidence, and arranged personnel to search and seal up their homes - throughout the whole process, the nobles who were watching could only agree with him even though they had embarrassed expressions on their faces.
It’s not that the nobles don’t hurt their own kind, but it’s these idiots’ fault for taking advantage of their weak spot!
The local nobles, who were cursing inwardly, were actually much calmer than when they entered the room.
It was indeed disturbing that Coulson O'Neill had taken down several noble families right from the start; but since this guy was using these unlucky guys to establish his authority, those who were not involved in this matter had at least overcome this difficult hurdle for the time being.
After spending more than two hours in the unrecognizable lord's mansion in agony, they finally returned home before dark. The nobles of Dutata City had experienced too much in this day, and they were all so exhausted that they wanted to go back to their bedrooms to rest immediately.
But unfortunately, the "surprises" of the day are not over yet.
Soon, countless roars were heard from the nobles’ mansions in various blocks in the central city.
"What?! The industries in the outer city were also seized by the undead?!"
"All the brothels in the port area were robbed? All the people were taken away?"
"All the members of the XX gang are gone?? Our casino is gone too?"
