Ghost Fox took a hard swig of watered-down liquor. His eyes were filled with utter desolation, his gaze unfocused. Only after draining the bottle did he stop, sigh, and grab another.
The next moment, a middle-aged man knocked and entered. It was none other than Hou Li, Di Nan Ye's chief adviser.
Ghost Fox merely glanced at him and ignored him.
"Will you buy me a drink?" Hou Li asked.
Ghost Fox said nothing.
Hou Li paid him no mind. He sat across from him, opened a bottle of watered-down liquor himself, and took a sip. "How long have we followed our lord?"
"Three thousand six hundred and forty-three years."
Ghost Fox tipped back his head and drank, then gave a self-mocking smile.
"When I first met him, he was high-spirited and ambitious, determined to change the corruption and conservatism of the Dark Forest. At the time, I was merely an ordinary command cadet at War College. Later, he recognized my talent and brought me into the Dark Forest military, where I began as a squad captain.
"Over three thousand years, I rose all the way to deputy commander-in-chief of the Dark Forest War Department. I even helped him launch the coup. He had always fought for his goal. He succeeded, and so did I. I just never expected that after the coup succeeded, he would begin to change."
"Ha..." Hou Li sighed without arguing, as though agreeing with Ghost Fox. Perhaps the pressure had become too great, or perhaps becoming a leader meant becoming entangled in far too many things, such as power.
"If you came to persuade me to return, there's no need." Ghost Fox spoke with disappointment.
The war had been lost. As commander, he hurt more than anyone else. But knowing it could not be salvaged