Although the melon-eating system still had quite a few issues, compared to being completely unusable, she suddenly felt that the current situation was not unacceptable.
The colorful pearl that the system had turned into was in Yue Fuguang’s hand, and it suddenly flickered rapidly, as if letting out a tiny sigh of relief. [Of course it can be used!]
Afraid that Yue Fuguang would keep dwelling on this, it quickly assured her, [Host, rest assured, Tongtong will definitely try to recover the data, but it might just take a bit longer.]
Yue Fuguang’s eyes shimmered as she said with great confidence, “Tongtong, I trust you to get things done!”
Yue Fuguang’s rain-making brigade had marched through Xingzhou and Yizhou, traveling across a large part of the Dayan Dynasty.
“Second Brother Xian, have you found out who sent them?”
During the midday break, Yue Fuguang took the opportunity to ask Yu Huaixian about the identity of the assassins from the night before.
Along their journey, if one were to call it smooth, there were always those reckless enough to launch assassination attempts or sneak attacks. The largest-scale incident was the one with over two thousand people from Nanyue.
Since then, it seemed like a switch had been flipped—over the past half month or so, there had been no fewer than five sneak attacks or assassinations, large and small. Some involved over a hundred people, others just a few dozen. All of them had perished without returning. Yet, despite such a record, those hiding in the shadows did not seem to have been intimidated.
“System, do you think I was too merciful last time? That’s why these people keep coming one after another to annoy me?”
[Hst, showing mercy is fine, but be careful—too much killing will cost you merits!]
Yue Fuguang rolled her eyes. “This isn’t the same as when you had me expose the aristocratic families. You weren’t saying that back then!”
[That’s different!] The system felt wronged. [That was a system mission. When we act according to the mission, the main system bears the responsibility, and the karma does not fall on us.]
Yue Fuguang’s eyes flickered. System 07 had just used “we,” implying that whatever she did, it would also share the consequences.
Seeing that Yue Fuguang was silent, the system continued. [Host, since you want to walk the path of immortality in the future, you cannot carry too much karma. Otherwise, when you face tribulation, not only will the lightning be harsher, but the heart demon tribulation will also be a hurdle.]
Yue Fuguang thought: I say one thing, and you fire back with several sentences. The system definitely has something on its mind! It definitely didn’t tell me everything last time.
As Yue Fuguang and the system bickered, Yu Huaixian had also organized his words. “With someone like Lord Feng, who is a master of interrogation, even an iron mouth can be pried open.”
Yue Fuguang nodded in agreement. Over the past two years, Feng Tang had indeed improved his ‘professional skills.’
“We learned from one of them that they were originally bandits from the neighboring mountain stronghold. The stronghold had only fifty to sixty people, surviving by robbing homes and looting. Barely making a living.
A little over a year ago, a group of people arrived at the stronghold. Although they were about the same in number, they all had real martial skills.
These locals were forcibly absorbed into the group. The stronghold’s leader was killed, and the second-in-command became the third-in-command. Everyone there followed the orders of those newcomers.”
Yu Huaixian took a sip of water and continued, “It’s said that those people were brought in by the new second-in-command. The lower-ranking members didn’t know the background of those people.
As for this raid on us, they were forced to do it by those people—calling it a sort of ‘testing our strength.’ The leader was that unlucky third-in-command.”
Yu Huaixian grimaced with regret at this point. “It’s too bad that unlucky second-in-command died instantly—he jumped around the most and was struck down by Commander Dai in one blow.
If we had left him alive, we might have gotten some useful information out of him.”
Yu Huaixian looked at Yue Fuguang eagerly, and she understood his expression perfectly, but she had to pretend she didn’t.
Times had changed. Her melon-eating system had been locked, and querying information unrelated to system missions consumed too much energy—it simply wasn’t worth it.
“Do you all think their story about ‘testing our strength’ is believable?” After all, they were in the open while the enemy was in the shadows. Didn’t anyone with a keen interest across the whole realm already know the size and combat power of the rain-making squad?
Why were they still sending people to die in waves?
And each time they sent people to die, they wouldn’t sacrifice their own, just useless cannon fodder. What was the point?
“Lord Feng doesn’t think it’s believable, so he’s still interrogating the others along with Lord Shen.”
After speaking, Yu Huaixian quickly pulled a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Yue Fuguang. “This just arrived!”
Yue Fuguang took it and saw it was from her family—her grandfather’s own handwriting. She hastily opened it and began reading.
The moment Yue Fuguang finished the first page, her expression turned cold. By the time she read further, Yu Huaixian and Shen Chunying felt the temperature around them plummet. Though it was the warm April of spring, it suddenly felt as if winter had struck.
Shen Chunying exchanged a glance with Yu Huaixian. He shook his head helplessly, earning a glare from her at his uselessness.
Finally, unable to bear the pressure from his colleagues, Yu Huaixian nervously took a peek at Yue Fuguang’s expression and asked cautiously, “Fuguang, what’s wrong? What did Grand Uncle’s letter say? Is something wrong at home?”
Yue Fuguang coldly downed a cup of tea to suppress her anger, then said furiously, “That bastard Xie the Fifth has actually proposed to marry Fourth Sister!”
“Xie the Fifth? Who’s that?” A confused look spread across Yu Huaixian’s face. He couldn’t recall such a figure for a moment. Whoever dared to propose to their family’s Xinjie had some nerve.
After all, over the years, several families had set their sights on Fuguang’s studying companions. Not to mention the other three families, but their own Yu family’s two girls had grown increasingly outstanding over the past two years. There were hardly a few eligible young men in the entire capital who could match them.
“That bastard Xie Zhiquan!” She said, so that was why that guy was so afraid of her—he had been coveting their family’s ‘cabbage’ all along.
Shen Jian and Feng Tang, who had been about to walk over, silently withdrew their big feet. The two dragged each other away in a different direction and slipped off.
Throughout the whole dynasty, no more than three people dared to call a prince a bastard. Even Shen Jian’s mother, the Grand Princess, found it inappropriate to curse her own nephew like that.
If she did, what did that make her, her imperial brother the emperor, her late father the former emperor, and her mother the empress dowager?
Yu Huaixian immediately wanted to slap himself when he heard “Xie the Fifth” was the fifth prince. Why was his mouth so fast?
How long had it been since they left? How could he forget that their divine girl always referred to the emperor’s sons by their rankings, just to keep things simple?
Yu Huaixian happened to be facing in the direction where Shen Jian stood. He had seen with his own eyes that Shen Jian and Feng Tang had intended to come over earlier.
The moment they heard Fuguang yelling at a prince, the two promptly slipped away.
Shen Jian was practically part of the royal family. Seeing Fuguang scolding his own cousin like that, he probably wouldn’t take offense, right?
Yu Huaike stiffly forced himself to ask, “How did the Fifth Prince suddenly decide to propose to Xinjie?”
Did princes have the final say in their own marriages? And since when did the royal family announce ‘proposals’? Wasn’t it custom for them to just issue an imperial decree betrothing whoever they fancied?
He didn’t dare to ask what the emperor’s stance was.
But guessing by his speculation, the emperor was probably secretly delighted. If the emperor had no hand in this, he wouldn’t believe it at all.