I poured myself another glass of red wine and raised my glass to Raffles, Xiao Ying and the other members who had stayed back in Queen Town. “Raffles, Xiao Ying, and Sis Ceci who is taking care of Ah Duo, thank you for your hard work. Because you held the fort, we could build Queen Town without worries… Oh yeah, Silver Snake, welcome to our big family too.” I raised my glass at Silver Snake.

Silver Snake was instantly stunned. It seemed like no one had ever proposed a toast to him, nor had any Ghost King ever thanked him.

Moto who stood next to him looked even more excited than he was. He pulled Silver Snake’s shirt as his cheeks turned red.

Xiao Ying raised her glass to Silver Snake too. “Thank you so much for the past few days. Thank you for sowing seeds for us, Brother Silver Snake.”

Instantaneously, Silver Snake’s body grew weak and Moto quickly held him up.

Just one call of ‘Brother Silver Snake’ from Xiao Ying and he couldn’t keep his footing. He chuckled and blushed.

Fat-Two narrowed his eyes and stared at Silver Snake as he raised his glass. Noticing Fat-Two’s rage, Silver Snakeimmediately stood straight and stared back at Fat-Two as he raised his glass too. It was a war between two men. With tacit understanding, they pitted their rage against each other with their raised glasses.

Joey and Sia watched from the side. Joey looked distressed while Sia patted his shoulder gently.

Xiao Ying bit her lips and smiled.

I wouldn’t get myself involved in Xiao Ying’s personal affairs.

Instead, I looked towards Moto, Eletta, Juye and the rest of the beautiful young men troop. “Moto, Eletta, Juye…” As I called their names, their faces turned nervous and excited. They met my eyes directly and stood straight in respect.

My eyes passed over the rest of them. “And everyone else, you still have an opportunity to return to your homes…”

Shocked, they looked at one another in anxiety, as though I was chasing them away.

“Don’t worry. I am not chasing you away but I respect your will. It isn’t running away if you wish to go home. Everyone has a right to go home, to return to your family, to return to your loved ones…” Moto and the other men relaxed as I explained. Their eyes welled up in tears, moved by my speech.

“But after this wine!” My voice became stern and solemn. “...you will be one of us, Ice Dragon troop! You will become Lieutenant Ghostie…” I raised my glass and looked at them. Their gazes became excited again when I brought up Ghostie’s name. “... Lieutenant He Lei and Lieutenant Ah Zong’s soldiers! Or you may be assigned to Lieutenant Xiao Ying and safeguard Queen Town. From today onwards, we will advance and retreat together!”

I raised my glass high and the entire palace became silent.

Seeing the young men’s faces, Uncle Mason nodded in satisfaction.

Ghostie raised his glass and smiled at them too. “We welcome everyone to join us. Everyone also has the choice to go home and not participate in the war."

Everyone glanced at one another, seeming to be slightly lost.

“Most of the livable zones are safe…” He Lei said solemnly. His voice caught everyone’s attention again. His expression was calm and steady. “There are only the seventh zone, the ninth zone and the eleventh zone left. But we will take them down very soon. To save all your families and to set everyone free!”

Everyone’s eyes trembled at He Lei’s confidence. Thrilled with excitement and anticipation, they finally had hope in their hearts again. They now believed in hope again.

“So…” Ah Zong raised his glass lazily as he looked at them smilingly. “What do you think? Now… You should have your own stance. To go home? Or to… stay back and follow our King?”

The young men glanced at one another. Some were hesitant, some frowned, some had tears in their eyes, some were determined.

“I want to stay back!” Moto proclaimed loudly with determination. He gripped his glass tightly, the swirling wine resembling how his eyes trembled with rage.

Eletta, Juye and everyone else looked at him.

Silver Snake sighed and held Moto’s shoulder to calm him down.

“I come from the seventh zone. The seventh zone is still enslaved by the Ghost Eclipsers! They killed my father and my mother. The old lady ate my brother! I want to, I want to kill the enemy with my own hands! To save my people! I will not back off!” He raised his glass and fixed his gaze on me. “King! I, Moto, am willing to follow you to war!”

“I am staying back too!” Eletta raised his glass. “I come from the sixth zone. Thank you, Lieutenant Ghostie, for saving my people from the Ghost Eclipsers!” Eletta looked at Ghostie gratefully. His eyes welled up in tears and his lips quivered. “If possible, please let me join your troop and become a warrior like you!”

Ghostie smiled and made fun of himself, “Thank you for not complaining that I am a water ghost.”

Eletta blushed and wiped his tears away. “Lieutenant Ghostie, we will be angry if you say that again!”

“That’s right!”

“Lieutenant Ghostie, please let us follow you!” Suddenly, a few other young men raised their glasses too. “We are from the sixth zone too. We are grateful that our people are safe! So, we have to stay back and fight with our power. To safeguard Queen Town, to safeguard our home!”

“Lieutenant He Lei!” Juye suddenly blushed and raised his glass as though he had finally gathered enough courage to do so. “Please let me join your troop! I am from the first zone! Without the King, there wouldn’t have been freedom in our first zone!” He looked at the other men. “We have to unite and fight against our enemy so that we can safeguard our homeland! We have superpowers and we should join the war! Just like Lieutenant He Lei and the other troops! Just like our…” he looked at me in admiration, “...King!”

Everyone became determined once again. Their gazes were strong as a tightly knotted rope; no one could easily break it.

“Juye is right. Without King, there wouldn’t be a home. We are only going to get beaten up if we are alone. We wouldn’t be able to safeguard our homeland then.”

“That’s right. We are still among the Ghost Eclipsers. If the other Ghost Kings were to take over, we will return to our lives in the past.”

“I don’t want to be a coward anymore!”

“I am a man. I have to fight!”

“We finally have a great King! We have to protect him! And safeguard the entire Queen Town!”

“Lieutenant He Lei! Please let me join your troop!”

“Lieutenant Ah Zong, please let me join your troop!”

“Lieutenant Ghostie! Please let me join your troop!”

“King! I can detect other metahumans from thousands of miles away. Please let me safeguard Queen Town! I will not let any enemy come close to Queen Town!”

“King! I can interrupt electromagnetic communication. I can make the enemy’s spaceship malfunction! I want to protect Queen Town too!”

The entire palace became busy. The temperature was on a rise because of the highly spirited young men. In front of me, was a spirited army with high morale.