Assassination

"Our situation... everyone understands it now, right?" At Zichuan Ning's home, Zichuan Xiu gathered Roger, Shirakawa, Changchuan, and the other subordinates to talk.

All the subordinates nodded firmly, indicating that they understood.

"President Commander Yang Minghua and I are mortal enemies—whose side will you choose?"

Roger said, "We never had any grudge against President Commander Yang Minghua..."

Shirakawa said, "But since he is Your Excellency's enemy..."

Changchuan said, "Then of course we would choose without hesitation..."

The three spoke in unison: "Support the President Commander and bring down Zichuan Xiu!"

"After taking your abuse for so long, we finally have a chance to pay you back!"

"Exactly. Never mind Yang Minghua—if you, Zichuan Xiu, had a feud with hell itself..."

"We would not hesitate to defect to the King of Hell!"

"All right, everyone, don't get worked up—I'll give you freedom of choice. I'll turn around and count to ten. Anyone who doesn't support me can just walk out the door. We'll part on good terms. Those who remain after ten will be considered determined to follow and support me—hey, Roger, I haven't even turned around to start counting yet, and you're already running? That's just rude!"

"All right, I'm starting: one, three, five, six, eight..."

"No, no, you're counting too fast—and cutting corners too! I haven't had time to run yet! Do it again!"

"One, two, three..."

"Hey, Changchuan, I can't get this door open!"

"Four, five..."

"Damn it, that bastard locked the door!"

"We can't get out—he never intended to let us out!"

"Seven, eight..."

"Shirakawa, hurry and use the master key to open the door!"

"I left the key in my room—there's no time! Roger, you're bigger, hurry and smash the door open!"

"Roger, hurry and ram it, or it'll be too late—we'll end up in Zichuan Xiu's hands again!"

"Nine..."

Bang! Roger slammed into the door.

"It hurts like hell! What is this door made of? It's so hard!"

"Ten!"

Zichuan Xiu turned around and explained, "This door is made of Safe Material—looks like not a single one of you left. That really comforts me. True feelings show in hardship, loyalty is known through frankness—at this critical moment, you are all so utterly devoted to me, Zichuan Xiu. I'm so touched... I'm practically in tears..."

Zichuan Xiu wiped his nose.

"Sir," the secretary knocked on Commander Lei Xun's office door. "Deputy Commander Di Lin requests an audience."

"Oh, understood." Lei Xun felt somewhat displeased. Di Lin, that wet-behind-the-ears brat, was becoming increasingly favored by Yang Minghua. Just because he had won a few battles against the Demon Race, he had become completely arrogant. He was only in his early twenties and already a Deputy Commander—one day, he might even surpass my position... He checked the time. It was already seven in the evening. In another hour, the curfew would begin, and the operation to besiege the Commander-in-Chief's Mansion would commence. What did Di Lin want at a time like this?

"Let him in."

Di Lin entered the office and respectfully saluted Lei Xun. He showed none of his usual arrogant air, which made Lei Xun feel somewhat better.

"Di Lin, what time do you think it is? You should be off doing proper work! What do you want with me?" By "proper work," Lei Xun meant hunting down Ge Yingxing.

"Oh, sir, it's like this: during my time in the Far East fighting the Demon Race, I gained a few things. I would like to offer them to you as tribute, as a small token of my respect."

Lei Xun's tense face immediately relaxed, and his tone became much smoother. "Oh, Lord Di Lin, you are too polite. You're very thoughtful." Who doesn't know you scraped the Demon Race clean in the Far East, down to the last blade of grass? Of course you made a fortune!

"However, as a public official, it would truly be inconvenient for me to accept your kind intentions!" Don't try to fob me off with worthless Magic Stones and Flash Jade. I don't want cheap junk!

Di Lin looked at Lei Xun with the reverence of one gazing upon a towering mountain. "Commander Lei, your noble integrity truly earns the boundless admiration of juniors like myself! But these humble gifts were prepared for you alone. Please, sir, give this subordinate some face and accept them." He leaned close to Lei Xun's ear and whispered, "This isn't something one sees every day. After I captured Kashlaqi, I seized it from Demon Race nobles who had no time to escape. It is absolutely priceless!" Di Lin grinned ingratiatingly.

This kid really knows how to behave! "Ah, Lord Di Lin, you truly put me in a difficult position... You must understand, I normally never accept gifts. Because they are always too little. Fine, I'll make an exception this once for your sake. What could possibly be so rare? But there won't be a next time!"

Di Lin smiled mysteriously. "There definitely won't be a next time, sir. Would you permit my servants in the waiting room to carry it in?"

Lei Xun ordered the guards to let them through.

Two soldiers with their caps pulled low carried in a large iron chest, over half a man's height tall, with considerable difficulty. Lei Xun calculated silently: It's this big—what could it be? Diamonds? Gold? Some rare magical treasure?... They're carrying it with such difficulty. It must be heavy...

The chest was set upon Lei Xun's desk. Di Lin mysteriously shut the office door before gently opening the chest's lock. Smiling, he said, "You'll know once you open it, sir."

Unable to restrain himself, Lei Xun lifted the lid and froze: the chest was completely empty.

He mechanically raised his head to look at Di Lin. "You..."

A shocking change erupted!

The soldier standing to his left suddenly drew his blade and slashed at his neck—a completely ordinary strike, one that could be called utterly devoid of form or technique. Its only feature was speed! Speed beyond all reason, fiercer than lightning and swifter than light! Even more terrifying, the blade came without any warning. No motion could be seen; in an instant, the gleaming blade was already at Lei Xun's neck—as though a blade had materialized from thin air!

Lei Xun was also a first-rate master, but faced with such a terrifying strike, he could only react on instinct: he leaned to the right and unconsciously raised his left hand to block.

With a swish, his left hand was severed at the wrist. The blade's momentum was slowed slightly, but it still cut deeply into the carotid artery beneath his neck.

Almost at the same moment, the soldier on Lei Xun's right lightly punched his shoulder—so lightly that Lei Xun barely felt it. Yet immediately, a numbness spread from his shoulder through his entire body. Every blood vessel, meridian gate, and breath in Lei Xun's body froze and solidified in an instant. Even the tiny bit of True Qi he had hastily gathered to counterattack was sealed away—whose martial arts could be so tyrannical and overwhelming? At this moment of life and death, Lei Xun thought of only one name—since Sterling had come, he was certainly doomed. But he had to at least alert those outside—Lei Xun gathered his last ounce of strength and tried to cry out...

But he only felt a chill in his throat and could not make a sound at all... Di Lin stabbed his sword into his throat like lightning, severing his windpipe.

The last image Lei Xun saw before his consciousness blurred was Di Lin holding a blood-dripping sword and grinning savagely at him. Suddenly, he felt that this scene was so familiar, as though he had seen it somewhere before...

The Zichuan Family's foremost master, the once illustrious commander of the Central Army—Lei Xun—died just like that, standing stiffly with his eyes wide open. Whether he understood the reason by the time of his death would forever remain unknown.

The entire assassination took less than a second—only then did the left hand Zichuan Xiu had severed fall to the floor with a slap.

Zichuan Xiu withdrew his blade, and Sterling stepped back. They were both battle-hardened warriors, and it was not as though they had never killed before—but using an ambush and ganging up on one opponent made them feel very... Anyway, neither of them wanted to meet Lei Xun's wide-open eyes.

Di Lin, however, appeared relaxed. Wiping the blood from his sword on Lei Xun's clothes, he teased softly, "What first-rate master? We slaughtered him like a chicken—look at him, he died with his eyes still open!"

Sterling said softly, "Retribution. Deputy Commander De Lei and Banner Captain De Ke can rest in peace now."

"Hey, Sterling, don't curse me, all right? I killed De Ke. If you tell him to rest in peace, then wouldn't that mean..."

Sterling shot him a glare and did not answer. That boy's death had always been a thorn in Sterling's heart...

Zichuan Xiu listened at the office door, then turned back. "They haven't noticed outside yet."

All three breathed a sigh of relief. This was the Central Army headquarters. If Lei Xun had let out even the slightest scream, or if the tiniest sound of fighting had escaped—the Central Army was filled with masters. No matter how skilled they were, they would not have been able to fight their way out.

The rest was easy: put Lei Xun's body into the iron chest and wipe away the bloodstains from the fight. That was simple enough, because under Sterling's Ice True Qi, Lei Xun's blood had frozen before it could flow out. They pried open the hidden compartment in the desk and found the commander's seal and the Central Army's troop-deployment token. The compartment also contained a great deal of cash and valuable treasures. Naturally, a certain someone was not about to be polite, but Sterling stopped him. "Don't! We did not kill Lei Xun for personal vengeance—you would disgrace our operation by doing this!"

Zichuan Xiu answered solemnly, "Yes." He put the things back—though he secretly kept half.

The three then swaggered out carrying the iron chest. No one questioned them. Di Lin walked arrogantly in front; who would dare come looking for trouble?

Once they had left Central Army headquarters, all three breathed out together, only then realizing that sweat had soaked through the thick uniforms on their backs.

The streets were sparsely populated, cold and deserted. Clearly, it was because curfew was about to begin.

"Now we have to split up!"

Sterling looked uneasily at Zichuan Xiu. "Axu, your task is the most dangerous. Why not take command of the Imperial Guard while I..."

Di Lin nodded as well. "I also think Axu is taking too great a risk—let me do it. I'm Yang Minghua's confidant. They won't suspect me right away..."

"No need!" Zichuan Xiu said to Sterling, "Second Brother, you are the backbone of the Imperial Guard. Yang Minghua will attack the Commander-in-Chief's Mansion tonight—it cannot do without you!"

"Big Brother, those fifty thousand Far East Army soldiers obey only your command—you cannot leave either."

"Therefore, I'm the only one who can do this."

"Big Brother, remember this: the red lights are the signal! When you see three red lights lit atop the city wall, immediately lead the troops in and kill your way through!"

The three clasped hands tightly. "See you tomorrow!" It was an ordinary farewell, but could these three brothers, each bearing a mission and with their fates unknown, truly see the sun rise at dawn together tomorrow?

Sterling finally could not restrain himself. "Axu, is there anything you want me to tell Miss Ning? She has always been..."

Zichuan Xiu thought slowly for a moment. "Yes, yes...

"Tell her not to wear those super-short skirts anymore. Her figure is like a fire poker—not sexy at all, and they don't suit her. Also, tell her to make egg porridge for me when I get home tomorrow morning—put in more eggs. Stop using a ton of rice, a ton of water, and one egg. I'm so sick of bland food I could shit feathers... Hey, Big Brother, Second Brother, where are you two going? I'm not done yet! Tell her to return those dirty books she hid from me, or I really won't be polite to her! I mean it..."