“Treasure Tower Town River Demon.”
Lind also quickly connected the ordinary Mandarin code.
“Odd changes, even do not change!”
“Symbols look at the quadrant!”
“Palace jade liquor!”
“One hundred eighty-one cups!”
Confirming through eye contact, it was indeed a fellow townsman.
Lilith quickly said, “I am from Z City.”
Lind didn’t show much emotion and simply replied, “What a coincidence, so am I.”
“Then maybe we met before we crossed over, so for the sake of being fellow townsfolk…”
Lilith tried hard to appear more delicate and pitiful, but for some reason, when Lind looked at her, he thought of his younger sister, who had kept him up all night helping to play games and achieve achievements. He immediately rejected her with a look of disdain, saying, “No way!”
“Alright.”
Lilith also leaned back against her chair, her expression showing a hint of disappointment. Although she had anticipated this development, it was still somewhat disheartening now that it actually happened.
From her previous attitude, it was clear that this crossover had a competitive relationship with her. It made sense; the other party had the technology, so why would they willingly provide aid just because they were fellow townsfolk?
A united front among crossers? No way, once in another world, encountering other crossers would be a sure sign of a dark forest.
“In fact, I didn’t originally plan to leverage the fellow townsfolk identity for any benefits.”
Lilith wasn’t the type to cause trouble, or rather, the current situation didn’t allow her to.
“I just wanted to talk straight with you, what level do you want to achieve?”
Hearing Lilith’s question, Lind replied without holding back: “Eliminate the Demon Clan, fully reclaim the Northern Border, and if it doesn’t go smoothly, at least secure the Central region and Eastern Border. I need to ensure a sufficient population.”
Sharing their bottom line was necessary for potential cooperation. Only by exposing their intentions could the two crossers find a possibility for collaboration.
Lilith nodded. To be honest, if conditions allowed, she even thought about being a surrenderist. If she couldn’t win, she could just give in; losing to a fellow townsman wasn’t shameful since the Royal Capital was already a mess.
“Can I just surrender?”
At this point, facing the fellow townsman, she had already lost her inhibitions and came up with a French military salute.
“Impossible.”
While pressing his Jingming acupoint to rest, Lind rejected her. If the queen were to head to the Northern Border now, the situation in Cape would instantly become chaotic, and the Northern Border would face enemies on three sides. All cooperation would be out of the question, which did not align with Lind’s current strategy of recuperation.
There was no need for Lind to go to such lengths for a fellow townsman.
“Fine.”
Lilith sighed and continued to ask:
“What if it goes smoothly?”
Lilith felt she was kind of asking the obvious, as the only possible answer to the question was one. Sure enough, Lind answered without hesitation, “At least the entire kingdom.”
The land in Cape had to be said to have been chosen rather well. Each border wasn’t completely defenseless; after years of resistance against An Zhu’s kingdom, the defense strategies along the borders had long been developed. If Lind really took over in the future, he would only need to refer to Cape’s past operations, replace the old defensive tools with new ones, and he would be fine.
Even if Lind became complacent in the future and spent his days in drunken stupor, he could still manage to survive off this piece of land for a long time.
“So how do you plan to deal with me?”
Lilith was no longer in despair; rather, she had already given up.
“Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll be on a boat and it sinks?”
Lind shrugged and continued, “That depends on your attitude moving forward.”
Indeed, for this Northern Border Governor, whether Lilith lived or died didn’t matter; if she died at a critical moment, it could even serve as an advantage for this Northern Border Governor.
Surrendering? That was impossible. Not to mention the chaos it would bring, the other party wouldn’t allow it.
Perhaps it was because the makeshift location was poorly ventilated, but Lilith, wrapped in a velvet cloak, felt a bit overheated.
She slouched in her chair and said, “I once had an older brother with the same name as you before I crossed over. I often think, if only he were still around, although he was a bit naggy, at least I wouldn’t be in such a predicament now.”
While fanning her collar to cool off, Lilith continued, “Alright, I will cooperate with you, but I have some conditions. Let me know if you can accept them.”
Being a fellow townsman wasn’t without merit. At least proposing cooperation as fellow townsfolk was far more reliable than an agreement between Queen Your Majesty and the Northern Border Governor.
But just as she finished speaking, Lilith saw the Northern Border Governor looking at her with an expression as if he saw a ghost.
It truly was an expression akin to seeing a ghost. Looking at her slouching posture, unraveling her cloak, fanning herself with her collar, and propping her legs up on the table, the image of the queen began to overlap with someone from Lind’s memory.
“You mentioned you were in Z City before you crossed over, right?”
Hearing this question, Lilith replied earnestly, “Yeah? What’s wrong? Do you remember me? But I haven’t even told you my name yet.”
Unconsciously, Lilith noticed that the expression on the Northern Border Governor’s face increasingly resembled that of someone being nagged, somewhat akin to his older brother who saw him lounging at home in just a tank top.
Lind sighed heavily and asked:
“Excuse me, are you the Lin Li of ‘born on a day in 2000, studied at Z High School’?”
What the hell, it’s a box!
Having just been unboxed, Lilith instantly reacted, cautiously probing, “Brother?”
“……”
Lind’s mood was like someone who had been arguing fiercely with someone online and was about to shatter their defenses, only to discover that the person on the other side was family.
Meanwhile, Lilith felt like she had crossed over as a dethroned queen, only to find that the opposing general was her own brother.
The current situation was indeed like that.
Once it was confirmed that the Northern Border Governor before her was her older brother, Lilith cautiously probed, “Brother? How did you also cross over?”
Lind slammed his hand on the table and cursed, “I should be asking you! How come you crossed over before me?”
Now it was Lind’s turn to be overwhelmed.
“I’m not!”
Lilith mimicked Lind’s earlier style, shrugging both hands.
At that moment, Lilith even found the mood lighthearted enough for a joke.
Lind felt a pulsating headache; this was absurd. The two confirmed each other—they had indeed crossed over one after the other.
But this was not the time to get caught up in such details.
“Wait, you can’t go back; come with me directly to the Northern Border!”
Lind forcefully slapped both hands on the table, his tone leaving no room for discussion.
“I don’t want to!”
Lilith also slammed the table, her action mirroring Lind’s perfectly.
“Running away now? Brother, you must be joking! Do you know what will happen if I escape now?”
“The entire Royal Capital, the entire Central region, no, the entire kingdom will fall into chaos!”
The situation on site suddenly took a dramatic turn, as Lind demanded Lilith to surrender directly to the Northern Border, while Lilith was adamantly against it.
From the perspective of an older brother, encountering a younger sister in another world was certainly reassuring when placed in his territory. However, Lilith thought that if the Northern Border Governor was indeed her brother, shouldn’t they join forces instead? How could she give up her identity as queen to become a surrenderist?
Did she really have to start playing easy mode after a moment of hellish difficulty? Both emotionally and rationally, Lilith could not obediently go to the Northern Border.
Seeing Lilith’s reaction, Lind quickly approached her, intending to lift her up, but Lilith kept running around the table, evading him.
As they circled each other, Lind scolded, “You little brat! You have no idea how dangerous your position is, do you? Several people have their eyes on you!”
“Show some respect; I am the queen of Cape now! And you are just a mere Northern Border Governor!”
Once these words left her mouth, Lind’s face turned red with anger; this little brat was pushing her luck. He turned to look for something handy nearby.
Seeing Lind’s familiar movement of turning to search for a weapon, Lilith quickly shouted, “Don’t do anything reckless! I will call for help!”
With that, she pulled out a scroll of prepared runes from her pocket.
Upon seeing the scroll, Lind finally realized that both he and his younger sister had now crossed over, leading him to calm down and sit back down.
Seeing Lind had cooled off, Lilith also didn’t dare to provoke him any further, instead asking, “Brother, what should we do now?”
