Chapter 245: Smile (Fourth update, bonus for Grandmaster 'Ss Xiaodouzi')

With what had just happened, this time no one dared to block the Little Emperor.

The Little Emperor had almost realized just now that he had been hollowed out. If this incident led to the Little Emperor realizing his power had been hollowed out, then the guards present wouldn't live.

Su Xiao stopped his footsteps when passing by the captain of the guards.

"If you don't want to die, wait outside. This is the meaning of those two. The situation in the Imperial Capital is not good, and the Supreme Teigu must be ready to be activated at any time."

Hearing Su Xiao's words, the captain of the guards' pupils shrank. He remembered Su Xiao's previous behavior and Su Xiao's identity as a member of the Jaegers.

A monstrous wave rose in the captain of the guards' heart. He had almost walked into the muzzle of a gun just now. The Little Emperor and the Jaegers coming here in the middle of the night could only mean one thing: the war was urgent, and the Supreme Teigu needed to be activated.

The captain of the guards guarded the ancestral hall, so of course, he knew what was inside.

"Thank you, brother. I almost lost my head just now."

"It's nothing. We are all subordinates of those two lords. As for tonight's events, as long as the Little Emperor doesn't mention it, I'll pretend I didn't see anything."

The captain of the guards beamed with joy and quietly took out a gold ingot.

"Brother, you've worked hard."

Su Xiao's face didn't look very good.

"What do you mean?"

"Right, right, look at my memory."

The captain of the guards hurriedly apologized with a smile. Everyone in the Imperial Palace knew that Esdeath's subordinates didn't accept bribes. Last time, if it weren't for the special situation of handling things in the Flower Street and the need to accept hush money, Su Xiao wouldn't have accepted that bag of gems.

"Let's go to the Flower Street for a drink tomorrow, and then..."

The captain of the guards showed a smile that all men understood.

"Hmm, guard outside. We'll be out soon."

"Got it, brother."

Su Xiao walked forward. The Little Emperor had already walked more than ten meters away, and the Boundary Breaking Thread had also been released for more than ten meters.

While using the spool to retract the Boundary Breaking Thread, Su Xiao approached the Little Emperor, following not far behind him at a distance of three meters.

After Su Xiao left, the captain of the guards' face was gloomy.

"Damn it, the Jaegers are just a bunch of murderous lunatics."

The captain of the guards became angrier the more he thought about today's events, looking fiercely at the deputy captain beside him.

*Slap! *

A loud slap landed on the deputy captain's face. The captain of the guards had considerable arm strength, and the deputy captain spun twice on the spot, seeing stars, and spat blood on the ground, with teeth visible in the blood.

"You blind dog thing, is your brain full of shit? Did you want to kill me in that situation just now?"

The captain of the guards kicked the deputy captain in the face, and the deputy captain was kicked three meters away, rolling several times on the ground.

"I'll chop you up to feed the dogs today..."

The captain of the guards drew the saber at his waist, making a move to kill the deputy captain.

"Biao-ge, I was wrong, spare my life."

One of the deputy captain's cheeks was already swollen like a pig's head.

The captain of the guards' hand holding the saber was trembling with anger. If this weren't his cousin, the position of deputy captain would have to be changed tomorrow.

"Go deal with your injuries. Get out, I get angry just looking at you."

The captain of the guards was sulking, and the other guards around were trembling, not daring to breathe loudly.

Inside the ancestral hall, Su Xiao felt relieved after perceiving the farce outside.

That was quick wit just now. He never expected the Little Emperor's power to be hollowed out to this extent, knowing that activating the Supreme Teigu required the Little Emperor himself.

This might be the reason why the Little Emperor had been able to live until today.

"Your name is Byakuya, right?"

The Little Emperor walking in front had a depressed expression.

"Yes."

"Am I a very undignified Emperor?"

It seemed the Little Emperor had indeed realized something.

"No."

The Little Emperor was overjoyed and turned to look at Su Xiao.

"You are a muddled monarch."

"Muddled monarch..."

The Little Emperor looked at the spirit tablets placed beside him; these were all his ancestors.

The predecessor of the Empire was a very small tribe. This tribe lived by farming. The Little Emperor's ancestors started from a small tribe. Farming life gave the tribe stable food, and the scale of the tribe gradually expanded.

Relying on extraordinary wisdom and courage, the Little Emperor's ancestors formed a small country.

This country still lived by farming, and its development speed wasn't slow. Two hundred years later, this small country developed into a medium-sized country.

Four hundred years later, this medium-sized country conquered the location with the richest resources and the best environment on the continent and established the Empire there.

Five hundred years later, the empire entered its most prosperous era. The emperor of that generation was wise and highly ambitious, beginning to use the nation's strength to hunt down super-dangerous species.

After suffering more than 300,000 casualties in the army, the Empire obtained some body materials of Super Danger Beasts.

The Empire spent astonishing financial resources to collect various precious materials and forcibly gathered all craftsmen in the territory to start screening.

Out of 30,000 craftsmen, the Empire finally selected 120. These craftsmen included top-tier blacksmiths, contemporary alchemy masters, and leaders in mechanism studies.

Just like that, the Empire used the power of the whole country to manufacture 48 Teigu. Some of these Teigu were for military use, some were suitable for individual combat, some focused on defense, and some had long-range firepower.

If someone collected all 48 Teigu and found users, they would find that these Teigu users could form a perfect assault formation, with both offense and defense, and no lack of ability to kill enemies in large areas, and even Teigu responsible for assassinating enemy leaders.

These 48 Teigu became the cornerstone of the entire Empire. The 48 Teigu users were called the "Imperial Guard," and enemy countries called them the "Mad Dog Unit."

There was no city that the Imperial Guard couldn't break, and wherever the Mad Dogs passed, life was devastated.

In those two hundred years, other large surrounding countries lived in fear, afraid that they would wake up and find the Mad Dogs already at their capital.

But good times didn't last long. The invincible battles and rich land made the royal family of the Empire begin to be arrogant and look down on everything.

Five hundred years after the establishment of the Empire, seven of the 48 Teigu were lost.

A thousand years later, only 14 of the 48 Teigu remained, and the country was surrounded by strong enemies, with constant internal strife.

During the Little Emperor's reign, more than ten Teigu were lost, and this situation was only alleviated until Esdeath appeared.

Esdeath's appearance could be considered as forcibly extending the life of the Empire.

The predecessors planted trees and the descendants enjoyed the shade, but the Little Emperor was no longer enjoying the shade, but eating the tree.

"I am a muddled monarch..."

The Little Emperor walked in front, lost in soul. Soon, the two arrived at the deepest part of the altar.

On an exquisitely carved stone platform, a golden key floated in mid-air. This was the activation key for the Supreme Teigu, the key to Su Xiao completing the main quest.

Su Xiao walked toward the key, but after two steps, his footsteps stopped, and his face became not very good.

"This is... what's going on?"

Su Xiao grabbed the Little Emperor, and the Little Emperor was full of astonishment.

"The key is right in front of you. Are you planning to break your promise?"

Observing the Little Emperor's expression, the other party wasn't lying more than 80% of the time, so it wasn't that his plan had deviated.

A large sound of footsteps came from around, and Su Xiao was surrounded. Behind him was a wall of unknown thickness, with no escape route.

There were at least several hundred people coming, maybe more, but they couldn't all enter the ancestral hall. The leader was actually Esdeath, and behind Esdeath followed Wave.

"Byakuya, why are you and His Majesty appearing here?"

Esdeath's voice was cold, her face not very good, and Wave behind Esdeath stared straight at Su Xiao.

Su Xiao could now be sure that his plan had deviated in some link, and he began to recall quickly in his mind.

After combing through the action completely, he didn't find any loopholes.

"I am protecting His Highness."

"Ye... Yes."

The Little Emperor hurriedly confirmed, feeling something tightening on his neck.

"Byakuya, tell me your true purpose."

Esdeath pointed the rapier in her hand at Su Xiao.

This time Su Xiao could be sure that he had been exposed, but he couldn't figure out how he had been exposed.

"How did you find out?"

Su Xiao looked at Esdeath and Wave.

"Earlier when we came out of the forest, General Esdeath asked you 'Did you see Kurome?', and you said you didn't see her."

"But... why do you have the unique scent of Kurome on your hands?"

Wave clenched his fists, gritting his teeth and saying: "Did you kill Kurome?"

Su Xiao sighed in his heart that it was like this. He had neglected one thing: Wave's nose was very sensitive. This was information he didn't know before, whether in the anime or after real contact.

Esdeath might have deployed a large number of eyes and ears in the Imperial Palace, which hadn't alerted him before because Esdeath knew that without special terrain, Su Xiao could escape even if he wasn't a match.

"General... Esdeath, let me tell you a secret. I'm actually not from the Anbu."

Su Xiao looked at Esdeath with a smile. Esdeath was stunned, her pupils shrinking slightly. She had never seen Su Xiao smile; she had always thought Su Xiao wouldn't have such an expression as a smile.

After seeing Su Xiao's smile, Wave felt even more chill in his heart.

Su Xiao smiling was far more dangerous than when he was "poker-faced."

The updates I owe are being paid back more and more. I feel like my whole person is much more spirited. I have been updating four times a day for a month in a row. It's painful but happy. ===== CHAPTER 246 =====