Battle Royale of the Sinners

"A Clan?"

…

"What is a clan?"

…

"Da heck is this!?"

…

Fifteen bewildered reincarnators received the same announcement. Most of them did not have a clue about the existence of a Clan from the system, let alone the Clan Contract.

<<Because of the founding of the first Clan, Clan Contract and Clan feature details will be published to everyone>>

The system menu updated and more details appeared. Clan Contract and its details could be read from the menu now.

"The system is hiding this from me!?"

Liu Ping stomped his foot. He walked to his bed and sat down to focus on reading the details.

'I can form a clan contract with any reincarnator instantly, but one reincarnator can only recruit one native per year. I need five members to form an official clan and get the clan quests. Clan pool…'

'Shit! That Tong has gone further than me.'

'No, it doesn't matter. Our status is a world apart. He won't be able to reach me that easily now. History has changed. There will be no alliance against Dong Zhuo! There will be no Emperor Xian!'

'For now, I have to take advantage of the clan quest ASAP.'

"System, can I recruit Wang Li into my Clan with her status?"

[Haha! Nope! Members of the Clan Contract must be consent. But she has no soul, so nope!]

His breath became short and quick from the irritation. Liu Ping clenched his fists as he tried to think.

'I can't trust any reincarnator. I have to recruit a native here.'

'But one person a year is too slow.'

'FOOk! Fine! One person a year it is. I don't have a choice!'

"System, how can I recruit a native? What's the procedure?"

[One, the potential native member must swear allegiance with the Clan Leader.]

[Two, the potential native member must drink a drop of your blood… Whoops, in your case you don't need to do this. So just make the person loyal to you and press the recruit button on the menu, then it's done.]

…

…

Xia Pi City, Xu Province, Zhongyuan Region.

<<This is a Global Announcement>>

<<Because of the founding of the first Clan, Clan Contract and Clan feature details will be published to everyone>>

A young man and a young lady sat side by side on a rock nearby a pond. At first glance, it looked like the two were flirting couples. But if they looked at them closely, their expression was solemn.

"We've made a mistake. We shouldn't form only the Soulmate Contract. We should have formed the Clan Contract instead.."

"No, we should form all contracts that the system has, so we won't miss anything."

"You're right."

"But from the looks of it, we can only have 4 members this year, including us."

"Hmm, this is painful. We don't know what the clan quests are."

"Well, you shouldn't feel that way. If this is similar to mobile games, the system will make us do something like occupying cities or counties for rewards. Or maybe worse."

"I hope you're right."

The young man gazed toward to horizon as he thought. He spoke what in his mind for the lady beside him.

"We're at disadvantage. Zhang Tong changed the fate of the Yellow Turbans. Liu Ping will take the throne in a matter of time. But we can't break free from Tao Qian. If the Yellow Turban Uprising doesn't happen, my father will not get any promotion or get sent to be the governor of Changsha City."

The young lady closed her eyes.

Her slender fingers flickered the small zither she had on her laps. As she played the zither, she gave the man a bit of advice.

"Relying on the Yellow Turban events or historical events won't help. There's more than one way to get your father promoted."

"Hmm?"

"One, we hunt small fry pirates, thieves, and bandits. But it will take years to get noticed, which isn't efficient. Two, we march to Ganling City to subjugate Zhang Yan and his goons."

The man frowned. He did not want to attack Zhang Yan for many reasons. The city was too far away and they did not have enough intelligence inside the city.

"Is there a third option?"

"Yes, rebel against the Han Dynasty once the famine starts. If we use the same trick that Zhang Jiao used in history, we can gather the troubled peasants for our cause."

"That's impossible. My father and Huang Gai will kill me if they heard that."

"Fourth option, both of us surrenders to either Zhang Tong or Liu Ping."

"That's also a no. None of them can be trusted."

"Fifth option, we change the history. Instead of following the customs of this world, we'll boldly go to Jianye and take the entire southern provinces. Then you'll be known as the little conqueror in the place of Sun Ce."

"That's too... bold. I don't want to expose our identities to the world yet. There are still many otherworlders lurking. There are, like, 16 of them?"

"It's 17 now."

"Huh?"

"I don't know why, but the number increases by one. Maybe someone has just been born into this world?"

"Ugh, forget it then."

"We will choose the second option?"

"We don't have a choice, huh?"

"Indeed. But please be careful. I doubted that Liu Ping will promote your father's rank if he is aware of us, so we have to do this undetected. We will not use our skill in this operation."

"Fine. I'll go recruit my father into the Clan. Can you recruit Huang Gai or Cheng Pu?"

"No, I'll recruit Aunty Wu."

"My mother? Why?"

"Once we have both Sun Jian and Wu Guotai into our clan, it will be easier to rope in Sun Ce since we are relatives. Once Sun Ce joins us, Zhou Yu will follow us automatically. Then other officers will not go anywhere but slowly joining us, one by one."

"Good. Let's get going then. I'll plan a strategy for the assault."

"Please tell your father to gather more intelligence about personals in the northern plains, too. We might hit a jackpot and pick up someone famous."

"Someone famous?"

"Historical figures. We are in the year 182 at the moment. Most of the famous figures are still young. It's a good time to scout talents. Who knows, maybe we can find someone like Zhao Yun or Guo Jia there."

…

…

Outskirt of Ganling City, Ji Province, Southeast of Julu City.

Zhang Yan and his bandit subordinates roamed around the woods in search for someone in the forest. Most of the bandits had fresh wounds all over their bodies. Some of them were missing an arm or a leg.

"Brat! Come out! You can run but you can't hide!" Zhang Yan shouted.

There was no answer or a sound to respond to Zhang Yan's taunt. Every bandit felt goosebumps.

Zhang Yan turned around and shouted to a young man who sat idly on a tree while he gazed into a distance.

"Dammit! We lost him again!? Hey, boss! Please help us! Stop daydreaming already!"

Irritated by the sudden call, the young man threw a branch nearby at Zhang Yan. The branch pierced the ground as if it was a knife.

"Shut the fOOk up! I'm trying to concentrate! Leave me alone!"

The young man continued to read the details of the Clan Contract in front of him. He clicked his tongue after he read the requirements to establish an official clan to receive the clan quests.

'I can't recruit these morons. They are too weak and too useless! I guess my playtime around here is over. Time to ditch this place.'

'Where should I go?'

'The Yellow Turban Rebellion hasn't happened yet. I think I should join Liu Bei and drag them into my clan members. Maybe I can be their fourth brother.'

The young man leaped from the branch and disappeared from the area, leaving Zhang Yan and his goons behind.

As soon as Zhang Yan noticed that his boss suddenly abandoned them, he cursed.

"FOOk you! You hypocrite! How dare you leaving us behind!? I was blind for believing in you!"

His subordinates were panicked seeing that their boss left. They asked Zhang Yan in a trembling voice.

"Boss Zhang, what's next?"

"Retreat to Ganling! What else!?"

Hundreds of injured bandits fled back to the city with reluctant. They already cornered the young man that they were pursuing. Because of their boss indecisiveness, they had to retreat.

Within the forest, a young teenager in ragged clothes was panting while he was crouching behind a bush. He peeked around to ensure that there was no one else.

Seeing that he was left alone, the teenager collapsed on the ground.

'That was too close. I was lucky.'

'I don't know why that monster chose to leave, but I'm thankful.'

The teenager attempted to assassinate Zhang Yan many times after he took over Ganling City. However, the mysterious boss of theirs was too strong. The teenager had to run for his life many times in these short few months, but he managed to sabotage Zhang Yan Army many times as well.

Today, he fumbled and almost got himself killed by the mysterious boss of Zhang Yan. He was glad that he survived.

'I have sent so many letters to every neighbor lords, but why didn't they reclaim the city?'

'Is it because of that person?'

The teenager was scared of their boss. He clashed with the person head-on once, but he lost from his unique way of fighting.

Gazing at a letter under his bosom, the teenager hesitated if he should send this letter.

'I heard he was looking for me. But…'

'Can he be trustworthy?'

'They said he is an immortal. But no sane person should claim that he is an immortal.'

'But the battle at Anping was the best proof…'

'Dammit! Stay cool! Stay sharp! Stop your useless thinking!'

He got up and kicked the ground, running away from this forest.

'I'll place my bets on this then.'

'If you are righteous as they said…'

…

…

Nanpi City, Official Residential Areas.

Te Langpu glanced at the system menu and chuckled.

"Stupid baits. I won't fall for it. Go ahead and fight each other to your heart contents."

"I'll enjoy my life here."