Battle Royale of the Sinners

6 PM.

The messengers returned to give Tong the answer of Sun Jian and Sun Fang.

Tong narrowed his eyes and raised his eyebrows in suspicion once he heard that they accepted the terms without any bargain or a haggle. Li Feihong was also puzzled by Sun Jian's motive.

"Are they up to something, or they just don't care?" Li Feihong asked Tong.

"Since they demanded the city, I think he just wants the credit for terminating bandits. If this is the case, then we'll give the city to them."

"Do you want me to assassinate Sun Jian? Since he's the father of Sun Ce and Sun Quan, how about we get rid of the future threat here?"

Tong shook his head. "It's too risky to jump in at this moment. I suspect that an otherworlder is part of the Sun Clan, and the person should have enough influence to move Sun Jian and his entire army. Or else, Sun Jian shouldn't have come here."

In Tong's opinion, Sun Jian might be a good general according to his previous world history, but he was not an opportunist like Cao Cao or Liu Bei. Instead, he was a passive yes-man who valued duty over personal gain.

Sun Jian was Tao Qian's subordinate initially before the Yellow Turban began. After the Yellow Turban's main forces were destroyed, Sun Jian was assigned to be the governor of Changsha Commandery to subjugate the Yellow Turban remnants in southern Jing Province.

In 189, Anti-Dong Zhuo coalition was formed. In order to join the coalition, Sun Jian relinquished his status as the governor of Changsha and marched north. He met Yuan Shu and joined his forces in the battles against Dong Zhuo. After the Anti-Dong Zhuo Alliance was dissolved, Sun Jian continued to serve Yuan Shu as he had no other place to go.

Later on, after Yuan Shu broke off his relationship with Yuan Shao and turned against each other, Yuan Shao formed a distance alliance with Liu Biao to attack Yuan Shu, who retaliated by sending Sun Jian to attack the Jing Province of Liu Biao. Sun Jian died on the battlefield by either an ambush by Huang Zu, one of the subordinates of Liu Biao.

Throughout his life, he never made a move which indicated that Sun Jian was an ambitious man other than when he protected the Imperial Seal from the hands of Yuan Shao.

He also was known to be a gentleman and an understanding man. However, the current Sun Jian demanded a city from Tong, which his behavior was opposite from the historical records. There was no other explanation other than assuming that there was interference from the reincarnator.

"Since they agree to our terms, then we will not attack or ambush them unless they start it. From now on, double the patrol guards. We'll rush the house-building as well. If there is a house or a noble resident that is unoccupied, give it to the peasants so we don't have to build a new home for them."

Li Feihong took Tong's order and stood up from his wheelchair.

"Are you sure you can walk now?" Tong asked Li Feihong with a concern.

"It's still a little pricky to the chest, but it's better now. At least, I should start walking now, or my legs will be permanently dead."

"OK. Take care of yourself."

"Will do."

…

August 5th. Morning.

The rebuilding project was rushed. More idling soldiers were forced into helping the construction. Combined with the recycling noble houses, the promise would be completed by the end of the day.

Tong kept monitoring his radar. Sun Jian Army kept their words true as they were staying over 50km away from the city. Although a few teams of scouts were deployed by Sun Jian into the perimeters, they did not come close to the city wall.

Tong stood up on the top of the wall for the entire morning, staring at the horizon and his radar map. His instinct kept telling him to be alert at all time since yesterday afternoon. He felt a strong presence of someone in Sun Jian Army which was similar to Lu Bu, but it was more tranquil while Lu Bu's was violent.

The cloth on Tong's back was wet by his sweat. The weather was not that hot, but Tong was shaken mentally by the mysterious presence.

'That ninja is already driving me crazy. But this person is even scarier! We are all otherworlders but how come that existence is this strong!?'

While Tong was thinking in nervous, an obnoxious laugh resounded within Tong's mind.

[Well, well, well. You've made the right decision for not picking a fight with that girl. It was thrilling when I was watching both sides making the decision planning. It was like, one wrong move and you're fOOked.]

The familiar voice of the system came. It was different from the automatic voices when he used his system skills.

"That girl? That monster that is on par with Lu Bu is a fudging girl!?"

[Nope, she's waaaayyyy stronger than Lu Bu and all otherworlders. Heck, if she really attacks your city, it's a guaranteed a city-wiped and a GGEZ.]

"…"

[And that comes to my realization, you people have strong imaginations, too strong imagination to be honest. All of your created skills are too OP that defies all logic. No wonder why my father favors humans so much.]

[If these trends continue, it won't be a fair trial anymore. Everything will be a one-man-army-shit-show, which is uber-boring IMO. So the big nerf is coming.]

[Consider yourself lucky, boy!]

"Wait, I have a question. What are my skills with the name [Demonic]!?"

[Ask the mother of your loli wife. She knows about it more than I do. Well, ciao!]

"Ask the mother? Wait, I still-"

Before Tong could finish his sentence, another voice roared inside his mind. It was different from the usual female voice that he always heard as it was a mixed voice of a male and a female.

<<Attention please, all reincarnators>>

<<It has come to my attention that there are many individuals with too strong created skills. Several of you already exploited the skills and slaughtered the natives of this world, which is a troubling issue. If you continue to act without restraint, the native population here will be enslaved by you all>>

<<So I have to give you a harsh fix>>

<<From this day onward, all skills that have an upkeep of 1,999 lifespans or less will get upkeep of 2,000 lifespans per year to replace the old upkeeps. In addition, all skills that have less than one-day cooldown will get additional one-day cooldown>>

<<Be warned that this fix will injure all reincarnators. The injury level is depending on the number of skills in possession>>

Tong's body uncontrollably trembled as the system forced the change inside of his body. Iron-like taste and smell came from Tong's throat. He coughed out condensed black blood out and spat it to the ground. Several blood vessels in his body ruptured, and his skin was bloody red.

"Regen!"

Tong healed himself in a hurry as the nerf gave him internal bleeding.

<<The second fix, the skill shop will be removed from the system shopping menu, effective immediately>>

<<The third fix, all reincarnators can delete his/her own skills. The delete button has been implemented>>

<<The fourth fix and the later fixes will be given after the last main mission was issued>>

"What!?"

Blood was drained out of Tong's face. The first thing he thought about was Hua Shi after he heard that this fix would injure all reincarnators depending on the number of the skill they had.

Tong had 10 skills on him and the fix almost killed him from the internal injuries. What would happen to Hua Shi who had 5 skills? What would happen to the baby!?

[Zhang Tong, don't worry. I'm not that heartless. I exempted her from the nerf until she gives birth to your daughter and recovers herself a bit.]

The system goddess read Tong's mind and sent him the message to console him. As a fellow woman, she would not harm a pregnant woman and an unborn innocent baby.

Tong gulped down his remaining bloody saliva. He gazed at the screen message with teary eyes.

"Thanks… Thank you."

[…You've owed me a favor, well, a few favors already. Please keep that in mind.]

"… I will. Thanks again."

Tong opened the clan chat and texted. "Anything unusual happens at home?"

A few seconds later, Zhang Jiao replied back.

"Aside from the lack of iron ores, nothing in particular. Why did you ask?"

Hua Shi also texted back. "Nothing else happens but that annoying system announcement. But yeah, thanks to your wartime policy and your armors, the blacksmiths that are making steel are complaining about the lack of iron ores."

"I thought we have many tons from Jinyang? Where did it all go?" Tong asked.

"You spent most of it outfitting your soldiers. Eighty percent of them was consumed during your preparation. You dimwit!"

Tong gave himself a facepalm. He screwed himself up because he was thorough enough on the resource management.

"You don't have to worry about it. Sir Ding Yuan has returned to his city to arrange more iron ores for us. The next batch of ores is coming at the end of this month." Zhang Jiao consoled his son. He had already covered Tong's mess during the time Tong was away.

Reading the chat, Tong smiled. He closed the chat box and searched for Li Feihong. Since he had two skills, the injuries he would suffer should be minimal.

A few minutes later, Tong found Li Feihong. Fortunately, he only fainted from the dizziness without any other serious injuries.