Shen Tang was certain she'd never dug up his ancestors' graves.
Not because her morals had improved, but because her Central Continent branch had a generous budget, and there weren't many wealthy tombs in the territory she currently controlled. Before she was fully established, grave-robbing was simply too poor a bargain. The profits were meager, and it was easy to make lifelong enemies of the descendants, adding needless obstacles to her entrepreneurial journey. Once she ruled out grave-robbing, the answer was obvious.
"It's probably got something to do with Gongxi Chou."
Half a day later, Shen Tang silently deleted the word "probably."
She had captured an enemy scout and obtained an important piece of information from the intelligence on him: Qi State's capital had fallen, and its Sovereign was hanging upside down, his life hanging by a thread. Men of insight were urged to come to the Sovereign's aid, and might someday be rewarded with a fief and a crown. Shen Tang read the intercepted message over and over, but one question still puzzled her. "You Rong, didn't you say Qi State's Sovereign was doing a lousy job?"
Gongxi Chou had indeed gone straight for the crystal, point to point.
Shen Tang fell silent for a long moment, then could only sigh.
Sometimes she didn't want to understand how Gongxi Chou's mind worked so well; it made her seem just as abnormal. But what was done was done. She'd have to wait until their forces joined up before she could throttle him. Getting angry now would only make herself mad, and nothing else.
Setting aside Gongxi Chou's headlong charge for the crystal, Shen Tang forced herself to focus on something else and noticed a strange detail.
"These days, countries rise and fall as casually as people go to sleep. Qi