There was a commotion on his wrist, Shen Xiuming opened his eyes suddenly, there were still two or three points left in the hard practice of Pang Mountain Yangshen Peak, he subconsciously grabbed the child's arm, but it was too late, the reins tied to the wrist had been untied, and the last mount galloped away, and the other half-sized man lay on the horse's back, shouting incessantly.

"Let go!" the captured child screamed, looking down and biting the back of the adult's hand.

Shen Xiuming felt a sharp pain, and the despair, sadness, and anger of more than half a month surged into his heart together, he raised his other hand and slapped the child hard.

The power of this palm is not small, the child was beaten to the point of leaning over, no longer struggling, no longer biting, his face was dirty, there was fear and stubbornness in his eyes, it was a kind of "you will not be convinced" look, the corners of his mouth were bleeding, I don't know who it belonged to.

The back of Shen Xiuming's hand was bitten, but that palm didn't give him a vent, "The demon clan burned my hometown, killed my family, you and your partner stole my horse, thank you, I finally have nothing." This is humanity, which is not worth protecting at all and is doomed to perdition. Boy, steal, rob, kill, burn, you deserve to do that. Get out, get farther away, and the demon soldiers will clean you up. ”

Shen Xiuming let go of the child's wrist and let him run away in a daze, lying on the thin blanket again, disheartened, and even regretted fleeing the imperial capital.

That was half a month ago, but it was like it happened before falling asleep: countless gray giant snakes rose up, surrounded the imperial capital, and the 100,000 talismans defending the city dragged a long ray of light and flew to the giant snakes around, it was a magnificent picture, as if the stars of the Tianhe River broke the embankment and scattered, but the magnificence could not save the imperial capital, and the meteor-like talisman spell was not greater than the power of the fireflies, and it could not stop the demonic giant snake at all.

The earth is spewing fire, and the sky is falling sharply. The entire imperial capital, millions of human beings, were thrown into the sea of fire.

Shen Xiuming's heart was tightening, the distance between him and his family was only a dozen miles, but he could never finish running, the imperial capital at that time was the abyss and death, far beyond his guts to bear Cheng Dù, he turned his horse and fled to a place where the flames were scarce, did not rush into the sea of fire to find his wife, nor did he go to the nearest Huang Fujun outpost.

He didn't know how many humans had escaped the catastrophe, but they just rode and ran. On the way, he lost another horse, and when it was dawn, he joined the refugees, no one knew what was going on, let alone where he was going, just went with the flow, following the people in front of him, hoping to get as far away from the imperial capital and the demon clan as possible.

It's been half a month, Shen Xiuming hasn't eaten a full meal, hasn't slept steadily, and his mind is blank. There always seemed to be a whip behind him, until the last horse was stolen, and the energy in him finally slackened, and the grief of losing his loved ones and the fear that the edifice had fallen all came to his heart. There is also deep self-blame.

The question that he had never dared to think about finally came to his mind: if he didn't run away at that time, but fought hard, could he kill the two demon clans, one old and one young, so as to save the imperial capital and the relatives in the city?

The chances of success are as slim as putting out a fire that burns down the city. But this thought tormented him, because he didn't even try, after saying so many righteous and stern things to the old demon. But he cowardly fled.

"Xiaoqiu ......" Shen Xiuming has never missed his good friends as much as he does now, he needs, and the entire human race needs the leadership of brave and fearless people.

The noise in the distance was getting closer and closer, Shen Xiuming didn't care, he suddenly found that he was not much better than the two children who stole the horse, neither of them deserved to live, and neither of them was worth saving.

"Queen Kaoru, it's Queen Kaoru......"

Shen Xiuming got up with a bone, if there is any name that can make him as excited as "Mu Xingqiu", it is "Queen Xun" - the former princess of Xijieguo.

How did she escape from the fire in the imperial capital? How did she come here? Shen Xiuming had a series of questions in his mind, temporarily put aside the despair in his heart, and ran along the road with many refugees.

This is a valley on the side of the road, where tens of thousands of exhausted refugees are gathered, they lie on the ground, the men guard the only remaining belongings, the women hold the crying babies blankly, and when the two children cooperate to steal Shen Xiuming's horses, many people around them see it, and no one cares.

Only the three words "Queen Kaoru" can call this group of dejected refugees.

"Is that really Queen Kaoru?"

"It's not like ah, the royal family has talismans, and it's not difficult to travel thousands of miles a day, even if Queen Xun escapes from the imperial capital, she should run ahead of us. ”

"That is, the pomp and circumstance are not big enough, there are only a dozen or so guards, and there is not even a carriage, can the queen ride a horse? ”

Shen Xiuming squeezed in the crowd without squeaking, he had seen Empress Kaoru riding a horse, at that time she was still the princess of Xijieguo, and she charged and fought with the soldiers on the battlefield outside the city of Broken Stream, but after that, he had not seen her true face, and occasionally contacted Princess Tongguò's attendant.

He squeezed forward hard, and finally saw the woman on horseback, but he didn't dare to recognize him, he was not a Taoist priest, and his memory gradually became blurred as the years passed, and the gap with the truth became bigger and bigger.

It was a beautiful woman, wearing simple leather armor, a bit like the princess in Shen Xiuming's memory, but there seemed to be something missing.

Tenacity, Dignity, Faith...... These are gone, and the woman not far away is more like an ordinary refugee, with a sad face, and a little dazed, as if she strayed into the crowd, and she doesn't know what she wants to do, no wonder everyone doesn't believe that she is really "Queen Kaoru".

"Let's all go to Floating Sea City. The woman spoke, her voice amplified by the talisman, and the pleading meaning in it was also amplified, "The armies of the Holy Rune Dynasty are gathering there, and you will be protected." ”

The crowd was silent, and then an unceremonious voice asked, "You call yourself Queen Kaoru, what evidence do you have?"

The woman smiled wryly, "What's the benefit of impersonating her at such a time?"

Having said that, she still made a gesture to one of the maids behind her, and the maid continued to give orders behind her, and the two guards simultaneously raised the flags that had been placed horizontally on the saddle, one with an intricate pattern embroidered with the royal talisman flag, and the other with a unicorn, which belonged to Empress Kaoru herself.

The crowd believed it, but only some of them knelt down, the other part was quietly retreating, and Shen Xiuming was also retreating. Not out of suspicion, but out of shame, he was embarrassed to let Empress Kaoru see his surviving self.

Empress Kaoru motioned for the kneeling man to get up, "The army of the Holy Rune Dynasty can hold Fuhai City. ”

"I used to say that I would definitely be able to defend the imperial capital, but the result was ...... I don't believe anymore, the Huang Fu army will attract the demon army, I want to go to the northeast, there is no war there. ”

The crowd rang out in response.

"Soon, I got definite news that at least the three-way demon army has invaded the three vassal states in the northeast. It is advancing towards the territory of the Holy Rune Dynasty. ”

The crowd was silent, they fled in an extremely hurry, and they had no way of knowing what was going on in the distance, and another voice sounded: "Then let's go south, the Wave Country has just defeated the demon army, how can it be safer than Fuhai City." ”

"That's right, go to the country of treading waves, the demon army will destroy the imperial capital, and it will definitely attack Fuhai City. It's not safe there. ”

"If you really can't do it, get a boat and go to the sea, in short, don't go to Fuhai City. ”

Empress Kaoru waited for the crowd to calm down a little before she spoke: "You can go to the Wave Country, but there is also a war about to start there, this is not a war between the Sacrificial Kingdom and the Holy Fu Dynasty. This is the confrontation between the demons and the entire human race. The royal family and the Manchu civil and military forces have let you down, the security we promised was not realized, the promised victory did not come, I apologize, it was our mistake. ”

The queen confessed her mistake to the people herself. For the first time, the oldest of the refugees could not recall anything like this in the history of the Holy Rune Dynasty, reflecting on what they had seen and heard.

The crowd fell silent all at once.

Empress Kaoru was also silent. Because the next words are too difficult to say, but she has to say that it is her duty as Queen Kaoru.

"I'm going to tell you the truth, Floating Sea City is not impregnable, the demon army of the sacrificial country will definitely attack it, and there is news that a demon army is approaching from the sea. ”

"But Her Royal Highness still wants us to go to Fuhai City?" asked an old man.

"Because there is no real safe place in the world, the aimless escape will make the power of the human race more dispersed, giving the demon army a chance to take advantage of, I hope that the surviving human beings can unite, I hope ...... Allow me to make the decision for you. ”

Every decision made on the way to escape can be a matter of life and death, the crowd buzzed into discussions, the loss of the imperial capital made them lose a lot of trust in Queen Kaoru, but they themselves didn't know where to go, although the world was big, suddenly it seemed that there were demons and monsters everywhere.

"There's really no way to live. Someone broke down and wept bitterly.

Empress Kaoru waited for a while before speaking slowly, her voice slightly hoarse, this was obviously not the first time she had persuaded a refugee, "Let me make a decision for you, if I'm wrong—"

If she was wrong, it would mean the death of thousands, but someone had to take on the responsibility of reuniting humanity that was dispersing like quicksand.

"If I am wrong, please accuse me, hate me, break my body into pieces, break my bones and scatter ashes, that is the punishment I deserve, please don't blame yourself, please don't lose hope, because the rest of humanity's hope lies in each of you. ”

Queen Kaoru paused, she was good at winning people's hearts, but at this moment she was extremely disgusted with this ability, because she herself couldn't tell whether the words just now were more of a performance or more of a real feeling.

But the words did take effect, and the fame of the Empress Kaoru, her personal presence, her humble gesture, and every word she spoke, all touched the bewildered group of refugees.

"I'll go with Queen Kaoru. Shen Xiuming said loudly, he was not used to speaking in public, so his voice trembled slightly, "As long as the human race has not died, it will not be a complete defeat, we have lost the Broken Flow City, lost the imperial capital, lost half of the country, and don't lose the only remaining dignity." Since there is no way out, then turn around and fight with your back!"

Empress Xun probably recognized Shen Xiuming and smiled at him.

The refugees were not soldiers, and even if they were told to move, they would not cheer in unison, they nodded their heads, observed each other's reactions, and so it was done, and after many days of exile, they finally had an imperfect but clear destination.

Someone tugged at his sleeve, Shen Xiuming turned his head, and was surprised to see the two brothers who had stolen the horse just now standing behind him, and the face of the child who had been slapped by him was still swollen, and he stuffed the reins into his hand, and turned around and ran away without saying a word.

For the first time, Shen Xiuming had the belief that he was fighting for something.

He squeezed through the crowd, Empress Kaoru bent over on her horse, her beautiful face showed obvious tiredness and sadness, she was not as firm as she appeared, and she also needed encouragement, "The ancient gods are above, I really want to hear a little news of Mu Xingqiu now, I don't believe he is dead." ”

"He's alive. Shen Xiuming swore and said, "I saw it with my own eyes." ”

Queen Kaoru smiled, what she needed was confidence, and she didn't care if the news was true or not.

(Ask for recommendation and subscription) (to be continued......)