Chapter 110: Trapped in a Scheme

Originally, I thought it was merely a coincidence. But since magical beasts have appeared on the outskirts of the capital, the situation is clearly more complicated than I imagined.

After finishing, Mike spoke up in front of Zhou Tian and the others, who watched curiously. "Since a month ago, the population flow in our capital has been steadily decreasing. Up to now, the population has dropped to nearly the size it was when we were just a border town. And that's only because we've hired a large number of people. Without that, I estimate the population now might even be less than when we were a border town."

In other words, it’s very likely those people knew some danger was coming to the capital, so they withdrew before the threat arrived.

“That must be it,” Zhou Tian agreed silently. Though his face showed no emotion, anger was already burning inside. So many residents, more than half the members, knew about this, yet his side remained completely unaware until now. If it weren’t for the abnormal activity of the magical beasts, they might have never realized anything was wrong. Zhou Tian felt deep dissatisfaction with his own intelligence system—and even more hatred toward those who had concealed the truth from him.

“It seems we’ve been set up,” he concluded quietly. Then he gave an order: “Mike, keep an eye on intelligence related to this. I don’t care what methods you use—I want to know exactly what they’ve hidden from us.”

“Understood, Captain,” Mike replied. Like Zhou Tian, he was furious about being outplayed. As a primary leader of the capital, Mike might have been even angrier than Zhou Tian. Hearing the order, he responded immediately. If Zhou Tian hadn’t seemed to have further plans, Mike might have already stepped down to focus all his energy on gathering intelligence.

Meanwhile, Zhou Tian shifted his gaze to Anna and asked, “How is the military training progressing?”

A faint smile appeared on Anna’s face as she confidently answered, “With the help of the Gravity Sphere and Healing Spring, our troops completed basic training a month ago. Aside from those eliminated to handle security duties, over three hundred soldiers are currently undergoing combat energy training. If all goes well, within two months we should have an additional squad of over two hundred fighters.”

Hearing this, Zhou Tian frowned slightly. He wasn’t entirely satisfied with the results. After all, he had invested a great deal of spiritual energy in this army—both the Gravity Sphere and Healing Spring were expensive resources he had procured. After so long, Anna was delivering a force that was still not particularly strong. Naturally, Zhou Tian felt some disappointment.

But he understood that although combat energy is easier to learn than magic, it’s not something one masters casually. Most start training at six or seven years old, and those who develop combat energy before adulthood are considered quite capable. For Anna to have trained over two hundred combat energy-capable soldiers in such a short time was extraordinary by any standard.

Because of this understanding, Zhou Tian did not blame Anna. Instead, he instructed her to take the troops into the forest to hunt magical beasts. This would both test the beasts’ reactions and give the soldiers firsthand experience of bloodshed, which would benefit their training.

“Understood.”

Next, Zhou Tian assigned Wei Wei and the others corresponding tasks. With the entire capital’s institutions running at full capacity, they obtained the intelligence they sought in less than a day.

In truth, the information Zhou Tian wanted to uncover was never much of a secret. It had simply been obscured by someone’s manipulation, which kept it from reaching Zhou Tian’s ears. Naturally, unaware of this, Zhou Tian and his team did not seek out the matter themselves, which led to the current predicament.

Now, with focused effort and regardless of how tightly lips were sealed, Mike and his team managed to acquire the intelligence they desired.

Upon learning the truth, Zhou Tian nearly lost his temper with Li Jiahao.

“Tricked,” was Zhou Tian’s first reaction. His second: he realized, sadly, that although he wanted to confront Li Jiahao, there was no solid excuse to do so.

Li Jiahao had indeed given Zhou Tian the border town as his territory and even granted him the power to expand it. At first glance, it seemed Li Jiahao had entrusted Zhou Tian with greater authority. But after hearing something from others, Zhou Tian realized that Li Jiahao’s later delegation of power was actually a trap.

The agreement prohibited any infringement on the territory of the Yanhuang Empire. However, if Zhou Tian’s forces expanded toward the magical beast forest, no matter how much land they occupied, the Yanhuang Empire would recognize Zhou Tian’s ownership of the territory.

This agreement seemed straightforward and reasonable. Yet Zhou Tian only then discovered it contained secrets he had not known.

Expanding territory was not inherently difficult—after all, the capital had already claimed a considerable portion of land from the magical beast forest. But Zhou Tian had never considered that if things were truly so simple, every lord would vie to claim more land. So why did all the border town owners stubbornly guard their small plots? Why was Zhou Tian the only one expanding so aggressively?

The truth was, Zhou Tian did not know that an agreement had long existed between the magical beasts and humans: if the beasts initiated a beast tide and occupied human land, that land would be considered part of the magical beast forest. Conversely, if humans occupied land from the magical beast forest, the beasts might initially tolerate it. But at some point, the beasts would launch attacks on that area. Only by withstanding these assaults until the beasts voluntarily retreated could humans be said to have truly claimed the territory.

In other words, Zhou Tian’s current occupation of land from the magical beast forest was tantamount to declaring war on the beasts within.

If Zhou Tian and his forces could not withstand the beasts’ attacks, then all their hard work—the capital they had painstakingly built—would be destroyed by the magical beasts.