Volume 3 – The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 113: The Aftermath Headache
The sky outside the window was still quite dark when Qianye woke up. However, there were already sounds of activity—light but hurried footsteps could be heard along with people speaking softly from time to time—this was the dawn of Evernight Continent.
Qianye propped himself up into a sitting position and felt his whole body was still feeble and weak. He looked around and found himself in an unfamiliar room. It wasn’t very big and the furnis.h.i.+ngs were simple but tidy. However, the sheets, mattresses and even the utensils on the table were fairly refined. They looked nothing like the practical style of Evernight Continent.
Qianye first examined his own body and found that all of his wounds had been treated and bandaged. There were countless internal injuries but most of them had begun to heal. There were many places on his body where the medicine hadn’t been fully absorbed; someone had obviously applied it for him while he was unconscious.
His blood energy had become especially well-behaved. The purple and ordinary blood energies were hiding in the depths of his heart and almost seemed nonexistent without thorough probing. The dispirited golden blood energy was hovering lethargically around his heart and refused to budge.
That attack from the twin flowers had consumed too much energy and had almost exceeded his tolerance. In the end, he felt as if the gun was a.s.similating his origin power and blood energy instead of him injecting them into the gun’s origin array.
At this time, a sensation of extreme hunger was transmitted from Qianye’s abdomen. He felt a mild throbbing pain from his completely empty stomach. Thus, he got off the bed and opened the door.
In the outer room, he saw two girls sitting back to back and dozing off on a small couch by the window. Two identical and elegant faces turned around at the same time when they heard the sound of the opening door. Both of them exclaimed in joy, “Young Master, you’re awake! This is truly wonderful!”
Qianye was momentarily startled before he identified the two as Seven and Nine.
“Young Master Song and Young Master Wei visited many times. We’ll inform them immediately.”
Qianye nodded. “I need something to eat first.”
“It’s already been prepared in the kitchen.”
One of the two sisters went to prepare the food and deliver the message, while the other stayed back to prepare a set of clothes for Qianye to change into.
Qianye still couldn’t tell between the pair of flowers. After asking, he found out that the one who had stayed behind was the younger sister, Lil’ Nine. He wasn’t quite accustomed to being so close with another person, but presently, he found out that this girl was agile and quick-witted. Her movements were very gentle, avoiding any of his sore wounds. It was apparent that she had received meticulous training.
Qianye chatted briefly with Lil’ Nine and found out that this place was located in the alley behind Song Zining’s temporary residence in Blackflow City. Qianye’s belongings had all been moved here. The greater part of his previous house was already uninhabitable. Furthermore, it had been sealed off for investigation as it was the scene of the battle.
Investigation? Lil’ Nine didn’t know much about it but Qianye already had a premonition—he frowned involuntarily—killing an active expeditionary army division commander obviously involved a lot of follow-up matters. The one to bear the brunt of this pressure would be Wei Potian. It was also unclear if Song Zining’s background business arrangements would still take effect.
Lil’ Seven returned with a large steaming pot while they were talking. Unexpectedly, her slim and graceful figure actually possessed such strength. The contents of the pot, consisted mainly of meat, flooded the place with its fragrance. Qianye sat down and finished five servings in one go before he felt satisfied.
It seemed the training these girls received at the Hidden Spring Merchant Group was indeed quite effective. They not only prepared sufficient amount of food but also set up Qianye’s personal belongings, which they had collected for him, in an orderly fas.h.i.+on. This was especially true for the firearms and other equipment—all of them were packed quite expertly.
Wei Potian appeared while Qianye was inspecting his belongings. He was actually the first to arrive despite living in another street block.
He hurriedly walked into the room and sat down at the table. After seeing a basin of rice even larger than a pot, he unceremoniously ordered Lil’ Seven who had just seen him in, “Give me one serving too!”
With that, he grabbed the cup beside Qianye and finished it in one gulp. He then said in a surprised tone, “How come its water?”
Qianye had just walked out from the interior. “Why can’t it be water?”
Wei Potian turned around and shouted, “Bring me a couple bottles of wine!”
Lil’ Seven and Lil’ Nine who were walking towards the door shot a questioning glance at Qianye. There was actually no shortage of wine and food since the Wei clan and Song clan had delivered a fair amount of supplies recently. It was just that the Wei clan heir’s expression was somewhat frightening. Lil’ Seven and Nine quickly left to prepare after seeing Qianye nod and wave his hand.
Qianye looked at Wei Potian and asked, “What’s the matter? In a bad mood?”
“I’ve a whole load of c.r.a.p to deal with! It’ll be odd if I’m in a good mood!”
Wei Potian began to unleash a torrent of complaints. By the time Wei Potian had wolfed down his second basin, Qianye had more or less begun to understand the things that had transpired while he was unconscious.
The first problem originated from Wu Zhengnan’s death. This expeditionary army division commander’s remains had been burnt to a crisp by Song Zining’s origin power flames. Nothing could be gleaned from those ashes. This indicated that Wu Zhengnan’s fall to evernight could no longer be proved.
Military police prosecutor Zhang Youheng maintained a strictly professional att.i.tude and refused to pa.s.s judgement in the absence of direct evidence. He merely recorded Wei Potian’s statement to bring back to the department of military affairs.
At this point, Wei Potian smacked the table angrily and cursed, “This man surnamed Zhang accepted so much money from my Wei clan but used this kind of method when the situation became critical! d.a.m.n his grandmother! What an a.s.s!”
Wei clan dispatched two family elders from nearby regions the day after Wei Potian was attacked. The elders were also distressed by the present situation. In any case, failing to bring forth direct evidence of Wu Zhengnan’s fall to evernight meant that Wei Potian had murdered a major general of the expeditionary army in their territory. There would certainly be repercussions from the expeditionary army higher-ups regardless of the reason.
That military police prosecutor antic.i.p.ated these troublesome matters. That was why he had decisively extricated himself and let the Wei clan face the expeditionary army headquarters directly. Wei Potian and the personnel he had brought this time were insufficient to placate the expeditionary army higher-ups. Hence, he had no choice but to request help from his family.
At the thought of this, Wei Potian couldn’t help but feel a bad headache. Compared to this matter, losing an external elder and a few guards seemed relatively small. He would at most receive a superficial scolding upon his return.
Finally, the 7th division and Blackflow City were in shambles.
The 7th division had largely become Wu Zhengnan’s personal army throughout the years due to the expeditionary army’s particular methods. Wei Potian absolutely wouldn’t dare to put the soldiers to full use even if they expressed compliance after Wu Zhegnan’s death. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left the city’s defenses to the Broken Winged Angels.
The actual situation wasn’t too far off from his predictions—the 7th division collapsed on the spot after news of Wu Zhengnan’s death was disseminated. A small part of the soldiers stationed in the Four Rivers Military Base deserted their posts. These people escaped with their weapons. As one could easily imagine, there would likely be many more robbers and bandits in the Trinity River County thereafter.
The ones staying behind were also a cause for worry. Several instances of group conflicts had arisen within the Blackflow City barracks. Two of them were quite serious enough to force the Wei clan guards to open fire and kill a couple of the instigating leaders. In the end, it was the Broken Winged Angels who had appeared to quell the scene.
It would be a great undertaking to reorganize the whole of the 7th division, not that different from forming a new division. Wei Potian wasn’t afraid of charging into battle but he had absolutely no interest regarding management, training, logistics, and supply. He would feel distressed just by thinking about it.
To pour oil on fire, Song Zining completely vanished after saying that Qianye was stable. Even most of his clan guards had been left behind with no idea where he had gone. Watching over the unconscious Qianye and dealing with all these chaotic matters, Wei Potian felt that he was facing this terrible mess alone.
Qianye comforted Wei Potian after listening to all of his complaints. “These are all trivial duties. It’s not a big deal. Why don’t you just list them out one by one and deal with them in order? Is there anything I can help?”
Wei Potian shook his head. “You’ve been wounded badly this time. It’s better you rest well and recuperate. Evernight Continent won’t be peaceful in the future.”
Qianye was shocked. He recalled the news he had heard at the Hunter’s a.s.sociation in Darkblood City. “Are we looking at a war?”
Wei Potian nodded and replied solemnly, “That’s right. The dark races are drafting soldiers on a large scale. The situation here has become so strained that even the higher-ups of the empire are alarmed. It’s said that the Bai and Zhao clans have begun to move their men towards Evernight, just in case.”
Two of the four great clans had begun to move. This indicated that the situation was abnormally serious.
Wei Potian said dejectedly, “What’s worse is that, according to the army distribution map, this Trinity River County is also at the van. So I’m left with very limited time to reorganize the 7th division. I’d be lucky to have one month of adjustment time.”
Qianye stood up and found a map of the Trinity River County as he listened to Wei Potian summarize the military intelligence released by the Imperial Army bulletin and the information he had obtained himself.
In the end, Wei Potian sighed and said to Qianye, “I’ll leave first. There’s a mult.i.tude of things I need to see to. Sigh, an originally good matter had turned into this mess. That d.a.m.ned Wu Zhengnan! I fail to understand what got into him. It’s a relief that your wounds left no sequelae. Otherwise, this daddy will dig up and ma.s.sacre his whole clan!”
Qianye continued pondering in front of the Trinity River County Map long after Wei Potian left. At noon, it was said Song Zining, who had disappeared for quite a few days, had finally appeared.
The seventh young master of the song clan was in a good mood and appeared quite well compared to the overworked Wei clan heir. As he entered, his eyes fell on the map of the Trinity River County spread over the table.
“Why are you suddenly looking at this?” Song Zining asked.
Qianye drew two lines on the map and said, “This morning, Wei Potian said that the dark race side is probably going to make a move. Judging from the enemy troop movements, the pressure on the Trinity River County is pretty big and Blackflow City happens to be the most important and protruding defensive node on this battlefront. It might be broken through at any time if war breaks out.”
Song Zining nodded and said, “I also heard similar news. The movement this time is quite large. Even the Bai and Zhao clans have moved out. Previously, our Song clan only has a few auxiliary industries in Evernight Continent. However, they’re recently ama.s.sing a private army in preparation to join the war here at a moment’s notice.”
“Just what had happened? Could it be that we’re going to fight an all-out war?”