The team exited the west gate of Kumamoto County, and after walking less than five li, the towering silhouette of Great Wall slowly rose from the horizon.

The blue-grey city wall shimmered with a cold light in the morning sun; stretching from east to west, it was endless to the eye, like a sleeping giant dragon coiled upon the Brown Earth Plain.

Jiang Zhaoyue rode on her Great-Horned Deer, traveling side by side with Lin Feng. She raised her head, gazing at the wall that was drawing ever closer, and sighed softly.

"No matter how many times I see it, I still find it too magnificent. Only with it do I truly have confidence that Daxia will survive this Cataclysm."

Lin Feng turned his head to glance at her and nodded. "I thought the same thing on the first day Great Wall was completed, but it is not the destination; it is only the starting point."

Jiang Zhaoyue was slightly stunned, then nodded.

The team quickly arrived at the foot of the wall. Lin Feng did not stop, taking the lead as he passed through the wall.

His body felt as if it were passing through a thin film of water; it [N O V E L I G H T] was cool and offered no resistance.

Behind him, Tie Dun, Zhao Hu, Su Yurou, Jiang Zhaoyue, and Jiang Yelan, followed by the team of over four thousand people, filed through, passing from the inside of the wall to the outside, like a school of fish swimming out from the shadows of water weeds.

Lin Feng looked back. The wall still stood there in silence, its blue-grey boulders stacked layer upon layer, fitting together seamlessly.

To the enemy, Great Wall was an insurmountable chasm, but to their own people, it was like an invisible door, allowing free passage. This asymmetric advantage was the truly terrifying aspect of an advanced wonder.

He withdrew his gaze and continued on his way.

After passing through Great Wall, the team continued to advance toward Fengzao County in the northwest.

The grey-brown ground of the Brown Earth Plain stretched out beneath their feet, with sparse, withered grass shivering in the morning breeze; the scenery along the way gradually became desolate.

On both sides of the road, ruins of villages and small towns flashed past their field of vision one after another.

Collapsed earthen walls, charred wooden beams, broken pottery jars, and occasionally, scattered white bones could be seen along the roadside.

This place was once the home of the human race, but now only a dead silence remained.

Jiang Zhaoyue urged her Great-Horned Deer to move a few steps faster to ride alongside Lin Feng, her voice steady but tinged with a hint of gravity.

"Lord Lin, only county-level and city-level territories can be converted into Orc cities after being captured by Orcs, and they cannot be destroyed. However, village-level and town-level territories can be destroyed."

"After Orcs destroy villages and towns, they can obtain organized Orc soldiers and resources. The resources they gain from capturing cities far exceed ours. We humans mainly obtain some County Soldiers, military families, minerals, and food, while the alien races obtain not only food,"

"but also organized elite Orcs of level 15 and above, as well as various siege weapons. That is why the size of the Orc armies can expand so quickly."

She paused, her tone becoming a bit heavier. "For every human city captured by an alien race, the enemy's strength increases by a fraction. When we take them back, the returns we get are far less than their gains. In exchanges of cities, we suffer heavy losses."

Lin Feng replied indifferently, "There is no helping that. After all, the human race has developed for decades and has taken root in the Nightmare World for longer."

"Although the alien races started late, their racial advantage is the ability to expand rapidly during war. Each race has its own strengths, and our strengths are the Village Establishment Order and wonders."

Jiang Zhaoyue was silent for a moment, then smiled faintly, her voice carrying an inner conviction.

"Daxia has two territories built with Special Village Establishment Orders; this proves that Daxia's national fortune is prosperous. We will definitely be able to defeat the alien races and achieve final victory."

Lin Feng did not reply. He looked ahead with no expression on his face, but his heart felt as if it had been lightly plucked by something.

Jiang Zhaoyue likely had not yet received intelligence about the Apostles. If she knew that behind the Nightmare World there might be Apostles under the gods, and knew that an Apostle could cause the chief assassin of Elderland to choose mutual destruction just by glancing at them, she would not be so optimistic.

But he did not say it out loud; he only nodded and replied, "I hope so."

Jiang Zhaoyue nodded, and the two stopped speaking.

The team continued to gallop across the Brown Earth Plain, the sound of the Great-Horned Deer's hooves and the soldiers' footsteps interweaving.

Two and a half hours later, a black silhouette slowly rose on the horizon ahead.

It was the wall of Fengzao County, twenty meters high, its blue-grey surface shimmering with a dull luster in the sunlight.

Lin Feng raised his hand, ordering them to accelerate.

The team switched from a forced march to a sprint, the sound of the black-armored soldiers' footsteps rolling across the wilderness like thunder.

But the closer they got to Fengzao County, the more everyone felt that something was wrong.

Tie Dun was the first to mutter, "Strange. How come there isn't a single Orc on the wall? I haven't even seen a guard."

Wang Wu narrowed his eyes, staring at the wall for several seconds. "Indeed, there aren't any. Not even patrols."

Arrow Eye did not speak, but his bow had already been taken off his back.

Feng Qingyan poked her head out from behind Jiang Zhaoyue, the Fire Crystal on her staff flickering. "Could there be an ambush?"

Zhao Hu said in a deep voice, "Regardless, caution is paramount. Maintain formation, Crossbowmen, nock your bolts."

Lin Feng kicked off the ground, his body soaring into the air, with Jiang Yelan following closely behind. The two landed on the city wall.

The wall was empty; there were no Orcs, no banners, no weapons, and even the ballistae in the arrow towers had been dismantled and taken away.

Scattered on the ground were some miscellaneous items: broken wooden crates, snapped ropes, and a few half-burnt torches.

Jiang Yelan crouched down and touched the ashes on the ground with her hand; they were still warm.

"The Orcs shouldn't have retreated long ago, at most an hour."

She stood up and looked into the city. The streets were also deserted, and the doors and windows of the Orc-style timber and stone houses were tightly shut, but it was clear that there was no one inside.

The two did not linger and flew directly toward the Council Hall in the center of the county town.

The door of the Council Hall was wide open, with crooked Orc characters carved into the door frame, and a few half-gnawed bones were scattered on the steps at the entrance.

Lin Feng pushed the door open and entered. In the center of the hall, a dark red territory core was floating, spinning alone like a heart abandoned by someone.

No Orcs, no ambush, nothing at all.

Lin Feng walked forward and thrust his Wildfire Spear. One strike, -220; two strikes, -220.

After ten strikes, the core shattered, and the dark red light points dissipated into the air. A golden radiance surged from the shattered remains, reconverging into a new, jade-like, warm golden core. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

【Fengzao County has been captured】

【This territory has automatically been converted into a subsidiary territory of Beacon Fire Territory】