203 Untitled (2/2)

”Or a massacre.”

15 minutes later, the door to the room slowly opened. Meng Fuyao was still sitting on her seat in all smiles, but the pearls and dagger had disappeared. The four Vice Captains sat on her sides and smiled at her with a tinge of nervousness; their sleeves were all slightly heavy.

After a while, other Captains came forth after receiving the order. The Imperial Army was split into three camps that each had a Captain and two Vice Captains, but they were not all filled up. For example, Meng Fuyao was also the Captain of the Flying Fox Camp. Other than Meng Fuyao, Jian Shuangjin who was in charge of patrol duty, and the four Vice Captains, there were still the Vice Commander of the Imperial Army, Captain of the Flying Tiger Camp, and the other Vice Captains of the three camps.

The Vice Commander, Zhenghui, was a close confidante of former Commander Xie Yu. When Xie Yu was shifted to the Ministry of War, he thought that he would have a chance to be promoted, but little did he know that the Emperor would bestow the position upon a young and inexperienced lad like Meng Fuyao. Naturally, he did not accept the decision, and always paid lip service to Meng Fuyao while he opposed in secret.

After he sat down, he gave a supercilious look at the ceiling. Meanwhile, Meng Fuyao placed her hands on her knees and was not angered at all. As she beamed at him, she said, ”Captains, I just received the Emperor's decree from the palace. Our Imperial Army will bear the responsibility of protecting the palace. Later, we'll swap out the palace guards.”

Everyone in the room was stunned. Flying Fox's Vice Captain exclaimed, ”Our Imperial Army has always been the main defense of the city. Now that the rebels are attacking, we should be immediately ordered to fend off the enemies on the city gates. Why would we swap out the palace guards?”

Meng Fuyao caressed her knees, and her eyebrows were locked in frustration. ”I can't oppose the Emperor's decision as well.” Standing up, she announced, ”Everyone, let's get ready to do the swap.”

”Wait there.”

Slowly turning around, she saw that Zheng Hui was the one who spoke, just as she had expected. In a belittling manner, he glanced at Meng Fuyao and sniffed. ”Sir, the Imperial Army is an army that fights, not the guards that watch the door for the concubines and princesses. You actually accepted such an order without speaking a word? Why didn't you lay out reasons for the Emperor?”

”May I ask, Sir Zheng, how am I supposed to reason with His Majesty?” Meng Fuyao smiled affectionately as she asked. ”Should I tell His Majesty that 'Hey, Your Majesty, your guards are too weak and their weapons have long rusted from watching the palace gates. Why don't we let our Imperial Army fight, while the watchdogs continue watching?'. Is that what you're implying?”

Zheng Hui was at a loss for words. Moments later, he stood up and said, ”If you're not going to say it, I'll go!”. Then, he started walking out.

”Stop there!”

The shout was as loud as thunder, causing the armored captains to jump in shock as their ears rang. A vase dropped from its rack, cracking into a near powder form; the turquoise porcelain pieces flew as the vase shattered, causing the Vice Captains to step back in fear.

Zheng Hui's heart thumped when he heard the shout, and he momentarily realized that this famous yet foolish Captain was the Champion of the True Martial Arts Meet. He intended to leave but he didn't dare to, so he stood rooted the ground. Just then, the teenage Captain who was usually calm and friendly suddenly released her fury, and her suffocating force instantly came down on him like a thunderstorm.

”Zheng Hui!”

In a towering rage, she said with a stern voice, ”I must have to remind you that this is an order, not a discussion. If you think that you can't execute my order, then we are no longer boss and subordinate - there are two ways to settle this. Either I stop being the Commander or you stop being the Vice, but right now, I do not have the first option in mind. So, if you continue to resist against my order, I can only give you two choices. One, you immediately

bring the Captains to carry out my command, or two, I'll lead the fellow Captains to…”

As Zheng Hui was so bombarded by this string of words, he could feel himself becoming giddy and his heartbeat starting to quicken. Hence he stood dumbfounded in his spot. Instinctively, he was waiting for her last sentence, but Meng Fuyao suddenly pushed her robes to one side, stepped on the mess of broken porcelain pieces, and pounced on him like a furious dragon or demeaning eagle.

”Kill you!”

When she pounced, her raging inner energy swept up the porcelain pieces, causing them to fly in all directions. The Captains quickly raised their sleeves to protect their faces, and from the gaps of their sleeve, they could only see a pitch-black robe crossing the room, creating an arc that resembled the movement of a curved knife. In a split second, she had cut through the stagnant air and appeared in front of the stiff Zheng Hui. Using two fingers, she perched and pinched!

There was a very light sound of cracking, resembling the noise made when walnut was broken apart.

In an instant, everyone was so stunned that they seemed to have been pegged onto their seats.

The only person moving was Zheng Hui - his Adam's apple on the broken neck wriggled weirdly, and strange sounds appeared in his throat. His neck slumped, but his body collapsed on the ground.

With a bang, he fell on the ground filled with the porcelain pieces, creating a very muffled echo. Gradually, thin streams of blood flowed out from under his body, slowly slithering on the floor like snakes until they reached the foot of the Captains.