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When the sketch on the tabletop gradually became clearer, I understood Fang Thirteen’s way of thinking.

With only the five cities remaining, it was already impossible to set up a formation setup. When there were still ten cities, even if Fang Thirteen didn’t appear on the battlefield, she would still be able to control the situation through changing the formation. In layman’s terms, she sat in the eye of the formation and controlled the entire formation. She could carry out power enhancement by either allowing everyone under her command to exert 120% of their strength or instantly raise one person’s strength by several levels. All of this was inseparable to her, the formation eye’s, silent commands.

She also spent a lot of effort in developing these ten cities into one huge formation with Sky Star City as the formation eye. When defending the cities, even if she didn’t immediately leave Sky Star City, it would be unlikely for the front line to run into any major issue. This is also the area that makes Fang Thirteen so formidable. She was able to gather these ten scattered cities to form a “territory”, an entire entity, and a well fortified one at that.

However, Fang Lita’s reckless offensive caused the ten cities to turn into five and made Fang Thirteen’s meticulous care throughout all these years go up in smoke. The former unrivalled defense formation now had a gaping hole torn into it and the northern defensive line completely fell into enemy hands. While it may look like just ten cities turned into five cities on the surface, the actual influence brought by this reduction was incomparably immense. The once invincible formation eye Sky Star City was now directly exposed to the enemy’s threats and the once echo of information between cities instantly turned into a sheet of loose sand once more.

Thus, Fang Thirteen intended to create another formation that would hold up the remaining five cities.

Last time, she most likely had some source material to base her formation off of, but she clearly didn’t have that this time.

My conjecture on why Fang Thirteen selected these ten cities to capture is because she had a plan before she set out to seize the ten cities. Which cities to get first, which cities to get later on, and which city to get last so that she could finish the jigsaw puzzle made of cities and complete a formation. These ten cities must have gone through a harsh selection process and was probably the reason why Fang Lita could attack, retreat, and defend for so many years.

If it weren’t for me, an extremely vicious and evil undiscovered traitor, I’m afraid that Fang Thirteen wouldn’t have worried much even if Abyss City and West-Resisting City launched a north-south pincer attack and wouldn’t have spat out so much blood. It’s because of me who has been guiding the situation step by step towards ruin that Fang Thirteen was forced to begin wasting her mental and physical efforts and create this new formation.

When Fang Lita was sleeping smoothly and soundly, Fang Thirteen was holding a pen and drawing out the sketch on the table.

When Fang Lita was chewing and swallowing good food, Fang Thirteen was holding a pen and pondering over the formation’s transformations.

When Fang Lita was in the courtyard excitedly watching his two dogs fight, Fang Thirteen was kneading her deeply tired mind and forcing herself to sober up.

When Fang Lita was having sex with his maids, Fang Thirteen tightly wrapped herself in her thin clothes.

When Fang Lita was yawning and idly trimming his nose hair, Fang Thirteen was pinching her fair and slim wrist full of purple blotches.

When Fang Lita was looking out the window and at the gloomy sky and acting insane, Fang Thirteen was wiping away the blood flowing from her lips with a handkerchief.

That blood now dyed the design in front of her in the form of mottled blobs.

Like how I said before, I’m a person who is very sensitive to noises. Thus, whenever Fang Thirteen begins weeping alone in the quiet of the night,, I often wake up with a start. The intermittent sounds of soft sobs go into my ears and I accompany her for a sleepless night.

Then, when Fang Thirteen is finally unable to endure it any longer and wants to sleep for a while, Fang Lita will come in with high spirits.

There have been at least three times that I’ve personally seen him rush into the office, rush into his older sister’s bedroom, and shake Fang Thirteen, who hadn’t even been sleeping for 30 minutes, awake. Then, with a face full of expectation and anxiety, he would ask Fang Thirteen:

“Still not done yet?”

“When will we be able to teach that damned fatty a lesson?”

“Can’t this be……a little faster?”

In response, Fang Thirteen would always cough, stroke her younger brother’s head, and reply:

“Soon.”

Sometimes, I even think that her reply of ‘soon’ isn’t an indicator of how long it will be before Fang Yuan is beaten, but rather how far away she is from death.

When I first arrived at the City Lord’s mansion, I discovered that the resources within it were severely tilted. Fang Lita could eat large mouthfuls of meat, drink bowls of wine, and when he didn’t feel like eating meat anymore, the cook would make some red braised pork only to throw it onto the ground for the dogs to eat. In contrast, Fang Thirteen had been eating plain and simple dishes all along, from stir-fry dishes to salted vegetables to millet pancakes that required some water to gradually swallow. Her life is a very bitter one.

All living things are subject to suffering, but she suffers even more than most.

As a result, her body really isn’t as healthy as it seems. Let’s first not mention her innate disability; just think about the mass of anxiety she’s accumulated from living for so long. If Sky Star City had a Moon to help her share the burden of internal affairs, an Aleya to help protect her surroundings, a Felita to act as her tactical weapon, and me as her City Lord……forget it, stop causing trouble for her, me. If she even had just a Moon to help her share the burden of all sorts of things, she would definitely not be as tired as she is now. Unfortunately, such a person doesn’t exist for her. She is Fang Lita’s pillar controlling all ten cities and she is that experienced laborer Zhuge who controls political power and military authority.

Therefore, I often think that perhaps she should have the same destiny as the man who shouted the slogan ‘Rectify and Support the Han Clan’, that she should die in this Sky Star City. ¹

She is a mortal, not God.

But now, she is stubbornly pursuing a miracle that only God can create, with innumerable roads to defeat and only one road to success.

There were several times when Fang Thirteen collapsed in tiredness onto the table, choked on the blood she coughed up, and suffered enough pain to make her not want to live any longer.

There were several times when Fang Thirteen collapsed in her wheelchair and truly was unable to bear her weariness any longer. Even when she was fast asleep, she was mumbling formations.

There were several times when I believed Fang Thirteen would never wake up ever again.

But she still sat up and returned to the earthly realm.

What surprised me was that she was actually able to finish the formation.

Dragging along such a body, holding such a crappy set of cards, she was still able to think up a method to make herself stand invincible.

On the day she completed the formation, Fang Thirteen cried and laughed, and pulled on my hand as she told me about many many things.

I personally went to cook for her and fed her.

Fang Thirteen still hadn’t forgotten to find Fang Lita and share the joy in her heart with her younger brother.

As for Fang Lita, he responded with a simple “Fantastic! Let’s see who dares bully me in the future”. He once again recovered that self-confident, pretentious expression and called on people to write letters full of provocation to Fang Yuan and West-Resisting City’s Li De——in the view of the people outside, I was definitely still within West-Resisting City’s City Lord’s mansion bossing people around and remote commanding.

The words on the letter were filled with self-confidence and lofty heroic aspirations; if he continued writing, he might have even written himself to be some unconventional monarch.

Heaven is my boss while I am the second-in-command, I walk with a blade in hand, I scare my enemies shitless when I start fighting on demand. It was probably a letter with words like this.

Truly a boast that was snatched from an infant’s hands.

As I watched the joyous Fang Thirteen, I saw how she finally broke away from her sorrowful, grieving face and made it turn into a happy face filled with a smile and relaxation.

I sincerely felt happy for her.

Then, on a windless, rainless, and unclear night, I silently extended my hand and a carrier pigeon landed on my shoulder.

Soon after, I stuffed the concisely written information about Fang Thirteen’s new formation into the small cylinder on the carrier pigeon’s foot. The formation that took Fang Thirteen countless nights of hard effort and an unknown amount of mental and physical efforts to accumulate. The information about its layout and military strength, the strong points and disadvantageous points, as well as its sole breakthrough point. All of that, I stuffed into the small cylinder on the carrier pigeon’s foot. Then, I raised my hand and the ash-gray carrier pigeon soared into the skies and flew out of the city.

Fang Thirteen, there won’t be any angels out there to save you. They only admit those sheep who are able to recognize their own mistakes and able to reform themselves.

Therefore, I will become a devil and bring you towards the deep abyss of hell. Only when you are in endless despair and suffering will you have a single opportunity to live.

1. I believe the man in question is Zhuge Liang.