The sun—if you could still call that dim, red ember a sun—finally dipped behind the smoky skyline.
Night fell.
The air turned colder.
The moans of the injured mixed with distant howls, low and guttural.
The demonic beasts hadn’t left.
They were waiting.
The city was quiet, but it wasn’t safe.
Bai Zihan leaned against a cracked wall, wiping blood off his makeshift poleaxe with a torn strip of cloth.
His armor was dented, dirty, and far too tight in the shoulders.
His muscles ached, and there were three new bruises on his ribs from when he got thrown into a collapsed smithy.
(Tsk! What a weak body.)
He thought. Compared to his real body, which would have already healed from this kind of injury, this one was pathetic.
No power. Gets injured easily. Doesn’t heal.
It was already a miracle he’d taken down so many demonic beasts with this kind of body.
Around him, a ragtag cluster of survivors had set up camp in what used to be a merchant plaza.
Half the roofs were gone, but the walls were tall and thick, and there was only one narrow path in.
Easy to guard.
A small fire crackled at the center, hastily built from broken furniture.
Guards sat around it, sharpening swords, whispering, patching up wounds.
Civilians huddled near the edges—tired, hollow-eyed, but alive.
“Captain Bai, you saved us.”
“We all thought we were dead. But now… You gave us a chance.”
Others murmured in agreement.
“Yeah, if you hadn’t shown up…”
“I saw him cut that Spine-Tusk in half with a rusty sword.”
“You’re our savior!”
…
Bai Zihan rolled his eyes.
They were whispering like he was some kind of war hero.
He reckoned that if he came with his real body, they’d be treating him like a god. Well, not that he didn’t understand their feelings.
He was like a light of hope in this endless despair.
Like Hong Tao said, the ones who should have been commanding these people have run off to Inner City.
The ones left behind are those without status or power. They were abandoned by the very city they tried to protect.
Now, their only hope rests in him.
Though the irony of a villain being treated as a savior was definitely hilarious.
He spotted Hong Tao and called out.
“Hong Tao!”
“Yes, Captain!”
He immediately responded and made his way toward Bai Zihan.
“What’s the status of these people?”
Hong Tao saluted.
“We’ve got forty-six people total—twelve actual guards, the rest are mostly civilians or injured. We set up a few barricades, but we’re low on supplies. No more than one night’s worth of food left. Water’s worse.”
Bai Zihan nodded, then turned toward the people gathered.
“All right, listen up!”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it was authoritative.
It cut through the muttering like a blade through silk.
“We’re not gonna survive another day if we stay like this.”
Silence!
“So we’re not going to wait for it.”
Everyone tensed.
Bai Zihan’s eyes swept the camp. Calculating. Cold. Focused.
“We’re going to organize.”
He pointed toward a half-intact building nearby.
“That’ll be our shelter. Only one entry point. If the beasts come again, civilians retreat there. Guards hold the perimeter. If the civilians aren’t injured, have them reinforce the shelter with simple traps and barricades.”
He raised two fingers.
“We’ll split into teams. One team handles provisions. We need water, food, medicine—anything remotely useful. You find it, you bring it back.”
“The other team is a rescue squad. I’ll lead them. We’ll fight the monsters and rescue anyone who’s hiding or trapped.”
“No one acts alone. No one runs off. We move as units. If you ignore orders, I’ll personally throw you over the wall. Clear?”
Dozens of voices responded at once.
“Yes, Captain!”
Even the civilians nodded. Some hesitantly, others with fire in their eyes.
Hong Tao grinned beside him.
“You sound like a real captain now.”
Bai Zihan didn’t respond. He just crossed his arms.
“Hong Tao!”
“Yes, Captain?”
“You’ll lead the provision team. Take four others. Just stick to the area that’s free of demonic beasts.”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Hong Tao was hesitant, but he agreed—this was something Bai Zihan had ordered him to do.
“And one more thing. This might even be something that can save the whole city,” Bai Zihan said.
Hong Tao’s eyes widened in surprise.
Something that could save the city?
He looked around at the destruction all around them. Just surviving was already a miracle.
Save the city?
“Do you know what potassium nitrate is?”
Bai Zihan asked.
“Potassium nitrate?”
It was clear from his expression that he had no idea what Bai Zihan was talking about.
“Mmm… You know the white salty stuff they use in fertilizer?”
Bai Zihan tried again.
Hong Tao nodded after thinking for a second.
“Yes! That stuff.”
“You need to bring it back and even search for it if there is a possibility of it being there.”
Bai Zihan said.
And why did he need potassium nitrate? There is no need to think much.
That’s right—he wanted to make explosives.
He didn’t know how long this trial would last, but if the goal was to kill every demonic beast, it could take weeks. Maybe months. Doing it alone was suicide.
With explosives, the others could fight too.
(Let them feel the power of modern warfare.)
Well, although he said that, he only knew how to make basic explosives. But that was enough.
He could still fight—and whatever survived the explosions, he’d finish off himself.
Bai Zihan continued, telling Hong Tao to also find two more ingredients for explosives: sulfur and charcoal.
Those two were fairly easy to explain and find.
Hong Tao didn’t question Bai Zihan. Not after what he’d done.
Assembling 50 or so people in one day in the middle of all this destruction? That wasn’t something even real commanders could pull off.
Well, those same commanders had run away in fear, so maybe that wasn’t a fair comparison.
Either way, to Hong Tao, Bai Zihan wasn’t just a survivor.
He was their savior—and their leader.
Someone worth following without question.