2.10

'That's interesting, I don't recall you ever seeing Fu Junjie as a traitor,' 008 idly comments in Shi Zixin's head.

'She wasn't. I needed an excuse to kill her,' Shi Zixin responds. 'But, I want the other spies in the camp to know that I acknowledge their existence. Force them to stay on the down low while I enact my plan.'

'You know there are other spies?'

'With an army as big as ours, there's bound to be some.'

Two men stepped out of the crowd, glaring down in disgust at Fu Junjie's corpse.

"We'll take care of this," one of the men comments before the two  pick up her body to throw away. Shi Zixin sighs in relief, even though guilt tickles at the back of her mind.

No, don't feel guilty. Fu Junjie somehow had the soul of that bastard within her. Is he also apart of the V.I.P system?

'...008, is he?' Eman asks within her mind, feeling 008 read her thoughts.

008 pauses for a moment. 'While I am typically not able to disclose that information, in this sort of situation I am allowed to let you know that Reginald's soul is not registered under our V.I.P system. He...lacks many of the qualifications to be registered in any transmigration system.'

Eman gives a brief nod in response, turning her gaze back to the gathering crowd. "Alright, men, go back to bed. Training will commence as normal in the morning."

The men lowly murmured among themselves as they slowly dispersed back to their tents. With an annoyed look, Shi Zixin re-enters her tent and quickly cleans up the mess she made, pushing back thoughts of what had just happened to the back of her mind.

Shi Zixin sat down and began writing up new plans, deciding to entrust herself to Gwo Hai, who most likely won't drug her. Gwo Hai originally came as a healer, but his nimble nature as a former thief and con-artist stole his way into Shi Zixin's heart. His round face and wide eyes were untouched by the brutality of war, easily deceiving anyone, especially after he once stole all the horses in a village in a single night.

And, he most definitely wasn't a spy. After all, a Shaolian general once killed his mother and father, and he's hated that country with a burning passion ever since. It was a cheesy trope, but it worked in Shi Zixin's favor.

The next morning, Shi Zixin explained her plan to Gwo Hai, who quickly agreed to it. After Shi Zixin denoted him as her new general, she began the move of her fleet to Fort Erundal, the largest Jinzhouan camp. Shi Zixin gathered up her squadron and travelled for a week through heavy rains and winds to the hustling and bustling Fort Erundal. It seems as if the army was immensely bigger than Shi Zixin had imagined it'd be. Some of these soldiers even looked like professionals.

The effort must be going good, then. Maybe Lau Rong isn't a complete idiot...

Tents were quickly pitched by the men, all eager to relieve themselves of sopping bags. The rain seemed to have stop for now, but thick grey clouds still hung ominously above.

Shi Zixin walked past her men, making sure each was doing their job when a small nurse approaches her.

"Second Commander Shi," she greets with a quick bow before standing up straight again. "Chief Commander Lau would like to speak with you in his tent."

A frown worms its way onto Shi Zixin's face, but she follows regardless to Lau's tent. Shi Zixin enters and sees U.C Lau working at a wooden desk.

"Surprised to see me alive and not dead with the other originals?" Shi Zixin greets, causing the other commander to look up from his work, a blank expression still on his face.

"Commander Shi," he mutters. While Lau hated to admit it, Shi Zixin was one of the reasons they hadn't lost in the first few months of the war after the loss of the other generals. Even then, Shi Zixin's original brigade were the replacement generals, and most of them haven't burnt out yet either. Maybe it was her training or the common sense Shi Zixin instilled in them. "You're looking...well," Lau comments.

"I'd hope," Shi Zixin scoffs as she crosses her arms. "So, let's get down to business. I see we've decided to unite all of our troops on the forefront?"

"Mostly. We have some scattered still from your original Western side and my Eastern that are under the control of General Peizhi, Fengge, Niu and Renshu. Consider it a 65-35 split."

"So, we're hoping to unite on this front for any battles that come, then?"

"Yes. We have an advantage since we are slightly on a slope and have time to prepare traps before the opposition arrives," Lau notes. "And as much as I'd hate to admit it, I'll need some of your expertise in planning out our strategies."

"I can't."

"Pardon?" Lau asks as he blinks his eyes. Shi Zixin uncrosses her arms and puts them on her hips.

"I have my own idea of winning this war. No other spy will be able to as successfully infiltrate as I. If I'm unsuccessful in breaching, then I'll return to camp. But if I am, we'll be able to demolish Shaolian before the new year."

Lau leans forward, clearly interested. "Tell me more."

"I can't," Shi Zixin defies. "You'll just have to trust my expertise on this matter."

Lau laughs. "I've learned my lesson on doubting you. Doesn't mean I hate you any ounce less than I do, but it earns you the smallest bit of respect." The mocking smile wipes off his face. "Don't let that go to waste."

"As if I needed your permission to go," Shi Zixin comments with the roll of her eyes. "I just wanted to know who's the absolute worst in your camp. All of my men are angels, after all."

Lau scoffs. "Riiiight... the first man that comes to the top of my head is Zhu Song. He's a thief and an ex-mercenary. He has no morals and is only doing it for the plunder. He's...certainly a sight to see on the battlefront. He's all yours...for a price."

"Oh?" Shi Zixin asks as she props her hands on his desk, leaning over. "Do tell me."

"Give me your right-hand man, Fu Junjie. I've heard what he can do with a sword," Lau banters and Shi Zixin laughs. "Fat chance, Lau."

"And why is that?" Lau glares and Shi Zixin's face falls serious.

"Her body is buried in the old camp."

Lau's mouth opens slightly in surprise before closing. "I had no idea, I didn't receive a battle report."

"I decided it'd be best to forget about the traitor who tried to murder me in the middle of the night," Shi Zixin adds, feeling her first clench involuntarily. "I wouldn't want her family to face treason for her actions."

Lau nods in understanding. "I see. Since it seems as if you have lost enough already, I'll give you Zhu Song in hopes that your venture will pay off in due time."

Shi Zixin laughs. "It certainly will, Lau."

Suddenly, a soldier rushes into the tent. Behind the soldier, a battlefield raged. Tents were strewn this way and that, some were even set on fire, while soldiers from both Jinzhou and Shaolian fought.

How did this happen-!? And how did we not hear the chaos outside?!

"They're here-" he says breathlessly. Lau stands up.

"How?!" Lau asks, spittle flying from his mouth. The soldier's shook his head briskly, "I...I have no idea! T-they were just suddenly here and-"

The soldier abruptly stops talking as blood drips from the corners of his mouth. He slowly looks down at the sword point that jutted out of his abdomen before he was thrown off the sword by a brisk motion. Where the soldier once stood was a proud looking man.

"So, these are the 'breadwinners' of the war..." he comments idly, leering down at the two Jinzhouans.

"Yan Li," Lau spits out, clearly recognizing the Shaolian Prince.

"In the flesh, brother," he chuckles, his Shaolian accent coming through.

Hold up, brother?!

Shi Zixin looks at Lau, feeling betrayed. He turns from her gaze, glancing at the ground. Shi Zixin turns back to the foreign prince, scrutinizing his face. While he seemed to be leaner and had sharper features than Lau Rong, they both looked very similar.

"I'm a bastard, an abandoned child. My mother was a maid, my father the Shaolian emperor," Lau quietly explains, before looking up at Yan Li with hatred. "But I have no ties to that shithole of a country."

"Mmm..." Yan Li hums, not caring less. "A man is made through his actions, not his blood. Yet you are far from a man-"

"Shut up!" Lau roars, preparing to lunge at Yan Li but Shi Zixin holds him back.

"How did you even get here so fast?!" Shi Zixin intterrupts. Yan Li coyly smiles. "That's a secret. But, no matter what, a war needs to end. I'm tired of all these cat-and-mouse games...so here's the deal."

He steps forward, revealing a platoon of soldiers behind him, who quickly flood the room and surround the two remaining generals in an eerie ring. "You both fight to the death," Yan Li suggests smoothly as a narcissistic smile twitches onto his face. "The winner gets to serve by my side as head general."

Lau Rong glares at the Prince. "I'd rather die than fight to be your pet!" he spits out.

Shi Zixin keeps her face blank and hesitates for a moment before she reaches towards her cloak's clasp and unhooks it, throwing the furs to the slide. After all, she had no time to unpack, as she had just arrived at the camp.

Lau's face twitches as she reaches towards the sword, unsheathing it silently.

"Oh! What a twist!" Yan Li laughs as Lau hand drifts towards his scabbard.

"Shut it," Shi Zixin snaps. "I don't care for you at all."

"Then why bend to my will?" Yan Li casually asks as if the two were just chatting about the weather.

"Who says I'm bending to your will?" Shi Zixin chuckles, throwing a wink Lau's way. His eyes widen in shock, realizing that Shi Zixin probably has a plan.

'Well, what's the plan, Eman?' 008 asks.

'I don't have one.'

'That isn't reassuring. Remember what happens if you lose a world? You still haven't met your goal yet.'

"Let's do this, Lau," she says, looking her superior in the eyes. Lau's eyes momentarily widen, thinking that the master strategist was onto something. He nods, finally unsheathing his own sword.

"I can't believe I turned the highest Jinzhouan commanders into mere pets," he chuckles to himself, stepping back to allow Shi Zixin and Lau Rong to pass through. They quickly do, the smell of blood overwhelming them. Shi Zixin looked through the gaps of the soldiers, eyes widening and mouth opening in shock.

Bodies had been strewn all over the ground, stacked on top of each other like jenga chips--as if they were completely worthless. There were so many bodies that the Yan Li's soldiers were standing and walking on the bodies. The stench of blood and death rolled over Shi Zixin, making her feel disgusted.

There hadn't been a battle, no, this was a genocide.

Shi Zixin clenched her fist, heart going out to all of her men.

They died such shameful deaths...but how did this happen so quickly?!

Shi Zixin turned her head back to the foreign prince, but he only smirked with a gleam in his pitch eyes. "The fight has to start sometime before I get old and die," he yawns out.

Lau looks at Shi, who holds a determined look in her eyes.

Shi Zixin stepped forward, hand outstretched to Lau.

"May we be the tokens of the Jinzhouan army, forever and in death," Shi Zixin comments as Lau steps forward, shaking her hand.

Shi Zixin pulls him down, whispering something in his ear. Lau Rong quickly stumbles back, clearly shocked.

"No...you wouldn't..." he mutters. Lau Rong puts his hand over his chest where Shi Zixin's sword was just pulled back from, looking down at the blood gushing between his fingers.

Lau Rong glances back up, looking betrayed. "A man...of his word... would never..."

"Lucky for you, I'm not a man of his word..." Shi Zixin responds, watching as Lau Rong falls to the ground, lifeless.

'Side Quest points earned! 'Kill Lau Rong.' +800.'

I'm a woman of my word, after all. If I accept a side quest, I'll take it.

"Wow! I never expected such a cheat move," Yan Li says, breaking the icy silence with a slow clap. Shi Zixin's head snaps towards him, some blood splatter on her face.

"And what kind of cheat move did you use? To do all of this?" she asks, gesturing towards all of the dead bodies. "The camp was teeming with life not even an hour ago!"

Yan Li smirks, pressing a finger to his lips. "That, my pet, is a secret. My preoccupation is not with the war, so I decided to end it as soon as possible."

Shi Zixin's lips tightened.

He claps his hands together. "Now then! I just need you to sign this decree, saying that the war is over, then we can all go back to Shaolian!"

He walks into Lau's old tent as if he owned the place, not waiting for Shi Zixin to follow. She quickly steps inside with him.

"Close the flaps behind you," he waves at the tent, causing Shi to arch a brow.

"You're not afraid I'll murder you?"

"I'm not so easy to kill," he says with a knowing smirk. "Now, sit. I hate this frigid air and would like to head home as soon as I can."

Shi Zixin sits down, looking at the paper set in front of her. It decreed a surrender, calling for certain towns to be given back...

"Why not all of the mountainous towns in the () direction?"

"Oh, those shitholes?" he asks. Shi's brows twitch. How could he have done such a thing and act like...well, this!?

"It expends more money to take care of those towns under the Shaolian name than it would in Jinzhou. You guys need to recuperate money from the war. In the future, this means that you'll owe us a grand debt," he informs. Shi Zixin merely sighs.

Once I sign this, it's all over. The war, the rankings...

Wait...the rankings...?

I killed Lau Rong, so I'm the Chief Commander now. There are still troops out there, far from this camp, but I don't know how they'll last with crazy prince over here...

'Ah, so you finally realized? I wonder what you'll do, Eman. I mean, you can always become the highest ranking in the Shaolian military, but the crown prince always holds that position-'

'I hate this bastard,' Shi Zixin spits back to 008. 'To have done such a thing without a conscious...'

Yan Li starts tapping his fingers on the wooden desk. "Well? Will you sign?"

Shi Zixin snaps out of it and nods. "Sorry, I was thinking about something. Just let me grab the brush."

She reaches forward with her left hand, picking up the brush. Yan Li follows these movements, noticing the scar on her finger.

"What's that from?" he asks, and Shi Zixin arches a brow. "What?"

"The scar...on your finger," Yan Li adds, his flat voice rising a bit. Shi Zixin shakes her head.

"I don't understand."

He stands up, briskly walking towards her and grabbing her left hand roughly.

"This scar!" he says, pointing at her left ring finger with a frenzied look in his eye. "Do you not see it?"

"Hm?" Shi Zixin asks, a confused look in her eyes.

He lets go of her hand, and Shi Zixin brings her left hand down to face, looking at the back of her hand.

"I...I don't see it," she comments. He grabs the ends of his loose pitch hair in annoyance. "How can you not see it! It's right there!"

He slams her left hand against the desk, pointing at the white scar, visible to Shi Zixin.

"I don't see anything," she says again. "Maybe it's just a trick of light?"

"It...it..." Yan Li trails off, his voice losing energy again. He picks up her hand, much looser this time, bringing it closer to his face.

Faster than Yan Li could process, Shi Zixin pinches her fingers tightly together and drives her nails into Yan Li's left eye. Before he has the chance to yelp out in pain, Shi Zixin grabs him by the throat with her right hand, choking him off.

She quickly pulls back her hand, as Yan Li pushes her off of him, coughing as he leans back onto the desk.

"You bitch," he hoarsely coughs, wincing as he clutches at his eye. "Why would you do that?!"

"Because," Shi Zixin says, moving closer as she pulls out her hidden dagger, raising it high in the air, a wide grin on her face. "Someone is about to die..."

The guards run into the tent, shocked at the sight of the tent. Bloody smears were all over the wooden desk, pooling and dripping off corners. Papers were crumpled and trampled over, and one important treaty was ripped in half and thrown across the room.

And the worst sight of all was the figure on the floor. The throat was deeply cut without remorse, scarlet blood sliding down a pale neck and seeping into the dirt floor.

And the most horrific part about this scene was Yan Li squatting by the body, squeezing Shi Zixin's left hand and begging the general to wake up while his eye dripped with blood.