Chapter 709-Inner Demons
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Guan Yu’s murder shocked Huang Gai the most.
Seeing Guan Yu’s head, the expression of the similarly tied up Huang Gai became uglier and uglier. The player Lord in front of him truly gave them no face.
He killed without even blinking an eye.
Huang Gai was truly worried that the next words he said would be, “Are you willing to surrender?"
If he rejected the offer, his head would be the next to roll.
Under such intense pressure, even someone like Huang Gai was prepared to surrender.
If he was alive, he would have a chance to make a comeback.
Huang Gai did not want to be like Guan Yu and have his head chopped off so cleanly.
However, Ouyang Shuo did not ask him about surrendering; instead, he smiled and said apologetically, “Lu Su and the others are locked up, so general, I'm sorry to have to ask you to stay with them for a while!"
As he said these words, he cupped his hand.
When Huang Gai saw his actions, a chill covered his heart. This guy truly changed faces so quickly. He had just killed someone and now acted like a polite gentleman.
Although that was the case, Huang Gai still felt relived. Guan Yu and him were both prisoners but faced different treatment, which meant that he was respected more.
One had to say, the olden people would always fall for such polite antics.
Huang Gai heaved a sigh of relief; his heart that was raised up was slightly calmed down. It seemed like he had temporarily avoided catastrophe. Moreover, the fact that Lu Su and the others were still alive gave life to his already dead heart.
20 minutes later, Huang Gai met Lu Su, Lu Meng, Zhou Tai, and Gan Ning in the jail. The five of them looked at one another; in the end, they could only give out bitter smiles.
This time, the Jiangdong Navy was swept by the enemy.
The five of them could be considered brothers in crisis.
The appearance of cannons gave Lu Meng and the other navy generals a lesson. Such killing weapons left them powerless and defeat was unavoidable.
"Who knows what the situation with the commander is," Lu Su sighed.
During these few days, they ate well and drank well, being treated like esteemed guests. Unfortunately, they were fallen soldiers, so how would they be in the mood to enjoy themselves? They were worried about the situation.
Seeing Huang Gai, they became even more worried.
"Do not worry, our commander is a god and definitely can break through that Cao thief!" Gan Ning was a fan of Zhou Yu.
"Let's hope so!"
Lu Su was not as optimistic as Gan Ning; his senses told him that this battle was the stage of the players. The direction of the battle was not something that them as natives could change and direct.
In truth, this was also the norm as the game entered the later stages. In the second half of the Gaia 3rd year, the Lords of the wilderness who rose up started to have bigger power.
The Battle of Red Cliff was a separation point.
The players had more troops than the natives; naturally, they would not let the natives control them.
The Red Cliff ambush battle was planned by Xiong Ba. After which, they just informed Zhou Yu, Lu Su, and Huang Gai; he did not even seek their opinion.
As the battle situation changed, Lu Su and Huang Gai even had to proactively aid the players and assist Red Cliff.
The result was that even before their carefully planned ambush, they were stopped in their tracks by the sudden assassination mission. As a result, even Lu Su, Huang Gai, and the others were captured.
Logically, if this proceeded, Liu Bei was going to drop in this hole too.
During the entire process, the natives were on the back foot and could not control the situation. They could not direct the entire battle like previous battle maps with the players assisting.
Even the Battle of Jiangling that was about to begin was so.
In truth, this would be a battle of player armies. Be it Zhou Yu or Cao Cao, they were only commanders.
At this moment, Zhou Yu had no choice but to attack Jiangling.
Di Chen himself could just command the players to attack Jiangling. To say the truth, the hundred thousand troops Zhou Yu brought was not much to Di Chen.
This was why the natives were helpless.
One could say that Zhou Yu and the others were taken hostage.
In a way, Cao Cao agreeing to fight the Zhou Yu Army was similarly because of Ouyang Shuo. Even without using his relationship with Xiahou Ying, Ouyang Shuo had other ways to reach his goal.
The player representative of the battle map was becoming more and more like a leader.
And this would shape the future leadership in country wars.
Of course, the prerequisite would be that the representative had enough prestige amongst the Lords. Be it Ouyang Shuo or Di Chen, they both had achieved that requirement.
The only hidden problem was that the player camp in Cao Cao camp was like a group of dragons without a leader. With Caiyun Zinan and the rest causing problems, the situation became exceedingly complicated.
Be it Bai Hua or Feng Qiuhuang, they could not control the situation.
This was what Ouyang Shuo had neglected.
Even if he thought about it, he had no other way. In the battle of the river, his presence was crucial. After all, Zheng He and Jia Xu were not familiar with one another, so who could predict what kind of situations would occur.
Dragon Head, battle room.
The post battle matters were handled by Zheng He and Jia Xu, so Ouyang Shuo did not need to worry about it. After sending Huang Gai away, Ouyang Shuo met Gong Chengshi alone. When they met, the atmosphere was a little awkward.
"Big brother!" Gong Chengshi said.
Ouyang Shuo looked at Gong Chengshi and did not mince his words, “You chose Sun Liu Camp. To say the truth, I really did not expect that at the start."
"Big brother, this…." Gong Chengshi tried to explain.
Ouyang Shuo waved his hand, “You do not need to explain. I've said that it's your choice on which camp to choose, and I would not interfere. The only thing I'm unhappy about is why did you not inform me?"
That's right; Ouyang Shuo was the leader of Shanhai Alliance. Even if Gong Chengshi planned to choose a different camp, he should have given him the heads up so that he could prepare.
If not, Ouyang Shuo would not have been caught off guard.
In Jiangdong, Ouyang Shuo could clearly feel that Feng Qiuhuang, Bai Hua, and Wufu had started to feel disdain toward Gong Chengshi and Xunlong Dianxue, causing cracks to form in the alliance.
This was what Ouyang Shuo least wanted to see.
Gong Chengshi froze; guilt and regret appeared on his face as he sincerely apologized, “Brother, I am wrong!"
Ouyang Shuo shook his head; he sounded like he was replying to him but it also like he was muttering, “You are not the only one wrong. As we became more powerful, we lost ourselves. Lost in power, letting our ambitions grow. All of these are sins. Since we did wrong, we must deal with it."
These words came from deep within his heart.
He was not as unaffected by Xunlong Dianxue’s betrayal as he seemed. These thoughts had been hidden in his heart and were not voiced.
Seeing Gong Chengshi, Ouyang Shuo finally said it.
"Big brother!" Gong Chengshi's eyes were red, filled with regret.
"Don’t you remember when we were so young and crazy? Our fighting words?" Thinking about that, Ging Chengshi could not hold in his emotions; his eyes teared up, and all the pent up emotion was released.
When Ouyang Shuo saw that, he kept silent and did not say anything.
A sad and tragic atmosphere engulfed the room.
Both of them had touched that forbidden area in their hearts that they did not want to enter.
Within it was a bloody field of sadness.
This was a rare experience to Ouyang Shuo. Till now, he could not say that when he recruited Xunlong Dianxue, how much of it was because of friendship and how much of it was for interests.
In the last life, after he was betrayed by his big brother Song Pu, that person who believed in friendship had died. All that remained was a soul that could not trust others.
This soul was like a lonely ghost wandering in the depths of his heart.
Everything in this life, brotherhood, closeness, and love; in the end, he could not avoid the endless chase of power and ambition.
Probably only a higher amount of power could let Ouyang Shuo feel secure.
That Ouyang Shuo was the true Ouyang Shuo.
Underneath all the extravagant clothes was a lonely soul, a soul that had had gone all in and was not intact from the start.
The only thing that was unchanged was his love for Bing'er.
The familial love was the only thing that held him up as he walked to this stage. As it was pure, did not need any decorations, making it seem strong.
Some people said that every ruler had a foundation in his heart that was the source of his power. His foundation was this love and protection of family.
However, even this was not complete.
The betrayal from the last life was not truly wiped away by time. In his heart, there was still this knot.
Only today did Ouyang Shuo find that this knot had slowly transformed into his inner demon.
If he did not remove it, it would be hard to become a true ruler.
It seems like after the battle map ends, I need to find time to end the inner demon from my last life, Ouyang Shuo thought.
In the 3rd year of the game, Ouyang Shuo had purposely avoided making contact with Liangshan Mercenary Group.
This was his inner demon.
Quiet and no signs of existing.
Ouyang Shuo took a look at Gong Chengshi; he had grown up, quickly collecting his emotions and did not cry in front of him.
In truth, Ouyang Shuo needed to thank this little brother today.
If not, the deeper the inner demons, the scarier it would become when it exploded out one day.