"What do we do?" The governmental officials worriedly discussed because this was a moment that would decide their lives, so they had to talk with great haste.
Right now, they could either surrender and live or resist and die. They no longer had any chance of success.
A relatively short governmental official with small eyes said nervously, "I say that we should surrender! If we continue to resist, we'll just be massacred. Think of those innocent residents."
If Shi Jian was still alive, he could at least make sure that everyone stayed loyal. However, now that he was dead, everyone thought for oneself. No one wanted to die, as one would lose everything and no longer be able to enjoy this world.
However, hearing these words, a well-built man harrumphed unhappily and said, "You're just craven and cowardly. You want to affect the residents as well. We shouldn't surrender. We should do our best to kill as many of them as possible to take revenge for the City Lord."
Evidently, this man was very loyal to Shi Jian, and he would rather sacrifice himself than surrender.
The others all had different views, and they were split into a surrender faction and resistance faction. Neither faction was able to convince the other.
In the air, Zhao Fu didn't give them much time to think. He took out Heavenstone City's City Lord Seal and chose to destroy the city walls and list all of the residents as wanted fugitives.
A formless energy rippled out from the City Lord Seal, causing the sturdy, ten-meter tall city walls to start to crack before collapsing. The sound of this collapse was massive and shocked countless people.
Now that even the city walls were gone, their confidence to resist Great Qin became even smaller. Now, the players were set on surrendering and didn't dare to resist at all.
The residents' expressions were quite unsightly. Not only were the city walls gone, but they had also been listed as wanted fugitives. If they remained within Heavenstone City, they would receive a 30% debuff to their stats, and they lost the buffs that they had from the city.
Now, their stats were lower than those of ordinary players, and it would be incredibly easy for Great Qin to slaughter them.
The governmental officials were incredibly shocked, and they quickly fell silent, coming to a final decision.
"Heavenstone City's residents, I'll say this one more time: if you're willing to surrender and want to enjoy the treatment of a resident of Great Qin, walk out of the city. If you're unwilling, I'll have to kill you all," Zhao Fu said, his voice filled with killing intent.
This caused a few governmental officials to finally make up their minds and say, "We're going to surrender. If this goes on, there'll only be pointless deaths."
The other governmental officials sighed and didn't try to stop them – after all, they didn't have the right to ask others to die with them. However, they also made the decision to fight to the death with Great Qin!
Very soon, the residents split into two groups – one walked outside of the city and knelt down, choosing to surrender, while the other took up weapons and made some simple defenses, preparing to battle.
There were roughly 200,000 or so people who had come out, and all of them were residents – not a single one was a soldier. There were 380,000 residents in total, which meant that roughly 180,000 residents and 20,000 soldiers were choosing to resist.
Zhao Fu coldly laughed – now, Great Qin didn't even need to act. Zhao Fu loudly said to the players, "Do you normally envy the indigenous residents for their equipment and items? Or have you ever wanted their skills? Or the fortunes on them?
"Right now, all of them have been listed as wanted fugitives by me, and their stats are lower than yours. I will allow you to do anything in this city for four hours, whether it's killing or stealing; all that is required is that not a single person remains alive after. After four hours, I will open the isolation barrier, and all of you must leave!"
Hearing Zhao Fu's words, the players' eyes all went red with greed. The residents were quite wealthy compared to ordinary players, and just like Zhao Fu had said, the players had always been envious of the indigenous residents. However, because of the system main city's soldiers, they didn't dare to do much.
However, Heavenstone City no longer had any power to stop them, and what's more, Great Qin was permitting them to do this. As such, they could do whatever they wanted with full justification and without fear of any repercussions.
There were 200,000 residents and soldiers left, and if Great Qin's 400,000 soldiers charged in, they would be able to easily kill all of them. Their cultivation and equipment were all far superior, and they had 200,000 Stage 1 soldiers who could easily kill those below Stage 1.
However, 200,000 people were still a lot of people, and Great Qin would most likely still lose tens of thousands of soldiers. Because Great Qin valued its people's lives more and didn't care as much about the wealth that the residents possessed, he decided to do something like this.
After hearing Zhao Fu's words, the countless players immediately started to act. Not only could they obtain great benefits, but they would also be able to live. Therefore, they were naturally quite happy.
Many players took out their weapons and rushed towards the residents, causing sounds of battle to be heard. Countless players excitedly rushed towards the residents, starting a massacre and stealing anything of value.
The residents had never thought that they would have to face so many greedy players before even fighting with Great Qin. There were nearly one million players, and because their stats were generally all higher, the only advantage that the residents had was their equipment.
The residents defended with all their might, but they were unable to stop the countless greedy players. A governmental official, the well-built man, led 10,000 soldiers out of the city, disregarding the players behind them, and they rushed at Great Qin's soldiers.
They didn't want to die at the hands of players, as they only had a single enemy, which was Great Qin!
However, Great Qin had long since made preparations, and the Archers already had their bows drawn. Countless waves of arrows rained down, giving off terrifying auras. Before the 10,000 soldiers could even reach Great Qin's army, they had been completely annihilated without a single person remaining.
This gory scene gave the players who had wanted to come out to collect equipment a big fright, and they were scared back into the city.
The residents who had surrendered had complicated or sad looks on their faces as they watched the people they knew being slaughtered by countless players. They had all belonged to Heavenstone City, so many of the people knew each other.
However, they couldn't do anything about it – this was the outcome of not surrendering.
The battle concluded faster than expected, and all 200,000 of the residents and soldiers had died. 10,000 or so of the players had died as well, and their bodies were everywhere. The stench of blood filled the city, and the scene within the city was quite chaotic. However, a large number of players looked incredibly delighted as they stepped into teleportation channels and went to other system main cities.
By now, the sun had set. There weren't many stars in the sky, nor was the moon out, making the night quite dark. In the darkness, ten Disaster Cavalrymen walked out.