When Zhao Zhenwu woke up again, his wife had already left. The house was clean and tidy, without the slightest scent of her and their son.
Zhao Zhenwu sat on the edge of the bed in a daze for a long time. For some reason, he touched the gun on his waist.
The medal and saber had been snatched away, but no one wanted the general's gun. Perhaps this gun was the same as the generals in the Imperial Capital. They were as plentiful as the hairs on a cow and were not worth much.
Zhao Zhenwu took out his mini storm bolter and rubbed it close to his thigh. Translucent brilliance beamed out of the barrel. For some reason, it was so weirdly attractive that he couldn't help but open his mouth, about to …
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Someone was bashing the door.
Zhao Zhenwu shuddered and threw his gun far away as if he had an electric shock. Calming himself down, he asked, "Who is it?"
"Old Zhao, it's me."
A familiar voice said in a muffled voice outside.
He opened the door, only to discover that it was He Peng, his classmate from the Seminar of Generals.
When the Immortal Cultivators were in the prime of their lives, they had absolute confidence in their own strength. Naturally, they were scheming against each other, scheming against each other and scheming against each other.
However, on the battlefield, on a planet, or even in a trench, they would occasionally form life-and-death friendships.
It was especially so when their level had been blown up and they had been reduced to the fire pit that was the Seminar of Generals. There was nothing left for them to scheme against or take advantage of anymore. Their friendship was rather pure because they were in the same boat!
The Immortal Cultivators were human beings, too. Sometimes, they could be loyal too. This "Lieutenant General He Peng" had been through almost the same thing as Zhao Zhenwu. The two of them were quite close to each other on the battlefield. Now that they were both in the same boat, they were even more bosom buddies.
Seeing that it was He Peng, Zhao Zhenwu was rather uneasy. He thought that the guy had come to comfort him after learning the conflict between him and his wife.
However, judging from his brother's miserable face, he did not think so. He frowned and asked, "What's going on?"
After a heavy sigh, He Peng shook his head and said, "Zhou Lifu is dead. What a miserable death."
"What!"
Zhao Zhenwu was greatly alarmed.
The Zhou Lifu they were talking about was also a student of the School of Generals, a lieutenant general of the Imperial Army, and a ruthless person with an outstanding reputation in the outer world of the first quadrant decades ago.
This man was a gladiator. He was cruel and merciless, and his cultivation was extremely strong. It was said that he once won thirty-five battles in a row. At his peak, he had reached the beginning stage of Yuanying. He was known as the "Ghost Butcher"!
Zhou Lifu was an extremely famous student in the School of Generals' Study. He had a forthright personality and a wide circle of friends. He could be considered a core figure among the students.
Who would have thought that he would die so silently?
"Old Zhou is different from you and me. I'm all alone and don't have anything to worry about. You only have a wife and a son, so your burden isn't too heavy. Old Zhou, on the other hand, has a total of five sons, and each of them looks like they have cultivation talent.
He Peng walked into the room and sat down. Slapping his thigh, he said, "You're just a half-grown boy, yet you're eating off me. There are five strong boys waiting to be fed at home. How can Old Zhou's allowance be enough?
"The children's future is more important. Having no other choice, he could only resume his old job. He somehow reached out to a dark arena in the underground world of the capital and went to play games again.
"Does he think that he is still the 'Ghost Butcher' from decades ago? After fighting on the battlefield for so many years, one of his balls has already been knocked out by the Holy League. Why is he still a butcher? With the stimulation of drugs, he managed to win two rounds. Last night, he encountered a tricky opponent, and he was greedy for the huge bonus. He seemed to have said that he would get more money even if he lost one more round. But as it turned out, he was beaten to death on the stage!
"Damn it. The 'Bloody Butchers Legion' that he established with eight hundred gladiators years ago was so dominating and awesome. He was never killed by the Holy League after fighting bullets and swords in the frontline for so many years. Yet, he was killed in such a cowardly way after he returned to the capital!"
Zhao Zhenwu had mixed feelings in his heart. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the loss of his friend. He couldn't help but sigh too.
"That's not all —"
Wiping his eyes, He Peng said, "After the body was shipped home, Old Zhou's wife immediately knew that something was wrong. She did not cry or make a fuss. She even thanked the staff of the arena. After everybody left, when it was almost dawn, she was going to leave with her five sons together with Old Zhou!"
"Huh?"
Zhao Zhenwu was so shocked that he forgot that he had almost stuffed a gun into his mouth just now. "Why did she do such a stupid thing? Was she saved?"
"Thankfully, there was a family that demanded payment. We kicked their door before dawn and discovered them in time. Everything is fine now," He Peng said.
He Peng said, "But so what if they are saved? Now that Old Zhou is gone, the family will collapse, too. What are the five kids going to do in the future? Without enough resources, are they going to be 'hominoids' for the rest of their lives?
"Right now, the students of the general studies class have all gone to Old Zhou's family. Old Zhou was a rather good friend of us when he was alive. We have discussed that we should work together to deal with his funeral. We can't be as cowardly when we are alive, can we?"
"Yes!"
Zhao Zhenwu declared resolutely. "Let's go. Let's go together. I don't believe that we can't bury our comrade in glory when so many generals and lieutenant generals are gathered together!"
The two lieutenant generals of the Imperium walked toward Zhou Lifu's shack in the depths of the thirty-sixth district, bending their backs and sticking close to the wall.
Naturally, He Peng noticed Zhao Zhenwu's anomaly and asked him what was on his mind.
Zhao Zhenwu was too embarrassed to say that his wife had run away with someone else. Thinking for a moment, he told him that his family saber had been stolen by someone else.
After that, he sighed and said angrily, "If it were ten years ago, I would've beaten eight of those guards with one hand!"
"It's a pity that both you and I were heavily wounded in the frontline. Right now, it's their turn to beat eight of us with one hand."
He Peng smiled bitterly. "When a tiger goes down, he will be bullied by dogs. Why is the world so cruel?"
The two of them heaved long sighs and talked about the recent situation of their classmates and fellow Daoists, but in the end, they were all sad and miserable, without any inspiring news.
When they talked about "God of War" Lei Chenghu, Zhao Zhenwu managed to cheer himself up and said that he had heard a piece of news that Lei Chenghu, Marquess Liaohai, could not bear to see the miseries of the surplus generals and commanders who had no soldiers and would probably appeal to the Council of Elders to improve their situation. He Peng shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "Brother, your news is already outdated. The latest news is that General Lei is barely able to protect himself. Even his military power is about to be cut off.
Zhao Zhenwu nodded and stopped talking. The two of them walked on in depression and soon reached the alley of Zhou Lifu's house.
At this moment, the alley that was no more than three meters wide was already crowded with surplus generals and commanders who had no soldiers.
The black, gray, and brown uniforms covered the ghosts that were neither human nor ghost, making the atmosphere more solemn and depressing.
Deep inside the alley, a woman seemed to be crying like a ghost. Zhao Zhenwu was so upset that he somehow thought of his wife again.
Shaking his head hard, he raised his head and looked around, only to discover that they were all his classmates who he was familiar with or unfamiliar with. Most of them were in the same predicament as him. Some were sighing, some were gnashing their teeth, some were furiously looking, some were whispering to each other, and some were nodding at Zhao Zhenwu and He Peng, as if they had reached some kind of secret agreement.
Zhao Zhenwu and He Peng squeezed into the crowd. Suddenly, they heard that other than crying, somebody was also roaring at the top of their voice. There was no telling if it was a poem or a suicide note. Vaguely, they heard the following sentences:
"The warriors who died miserably on the battlefield, the wandering souls in the sea of stars, open your eyes and look at the bloody noble families in the rear that are built with your bones!
"You are dying for nothing in the frontline, and your family is starving in the rear, but the corrupt officials and the noble families are exchanging your flesh and blood for songs, dances, and luxuries!
"Who can pity you? Who will remember you? Who can protect your innocent family? Let the wind and rain come more fiercely and cover up your extremely mournful cries! "
Clenching his fists, Zhao Zhenwu asked in a low voice, "What's the poem or the song? Who wrote it?"
"I don't know."
He Peng shook his head. "It must've been written by some frustrated student. A lot of people have been writing and singing songs in the past two days. What else can it be?"
The two of them finally squeezed into the mourning hall, only to discover that Zhou Lifu's widow was kneeling on the ground in a daze in a white dress. Next to her, the five little fellows were somewhat at a loss. They bulged their big, round eyes and looked at the "generals" around them who were supposed to be awe-inspiring.
A female officer was comforting Zhou Lifu's widow in a low voice. There was no telling what she said, but Zhou Lifu's widow suddenly burst into tears again. "I don't want to die, either. I want to live. I want to live well! But sister, how can I live? How can we live? "
Her words poked everybody's sore spot. The female officer was dazed for a long time before she cried together with Zhou Lifu's widow.
The cries spread like a virus. The uncanny things that had perhaps never happened in the history of the Imperium of True Human Beings took place. In the shabby alleys, hundreds of Immortal Cultivators were all sobbing because of what they saw.
The atmosphere was so good that even Zhao Zhenwu and He Peng were shedding tears of sincerity.
While everybody was crying their hearts out, an officer in the crowd suddenly shouted, "We are all honorable soldiers of the Imperium. Now that the Imperium has fallen to such an extent, are we just going to cry in secret here and be done with it?"
There were too many heads. Under the flickering lights, it was impossible to tell who was talking.
Somebody else argued, "Right now, we have no soldiers or guns. Most of us are heavily wounded, and our level has plummeted. Even if we are determined to serve the country, what can we do except cry in secret?"
The officer who spoke first said, "Even if we can only cry, we should not cry in secret here. Nobody will know even if we cry until we are dead. If we want to cry, let's go to the gate of the Council of Elders and cry openly and astoundingly so that all the people of the Imperium will know what we have been through!"
The second officer continued to argue, "Who doesn't know that the capital is under martial law right now? The elites of the four Kurfürst families have surrounded the Council of Elders. I'm afraid that they will be discovered, dispersed, and captured before they can approach the Council of Elders. How can it be astounding?"
"Everybody —"
The first officer finally stepped forward and stood on the high ground. He declared indignantly, "Fellow Cultivators, fellow Cultivators, and brothers who have been through life and death with us, we cannot hold it anymore that the highest authorities are kicking the donkey away after it has outlived its usefulness! What happened to General Zhou today will be what happens to all of us tomorrow. Are we really going to accept it and wait to be killed in such a cowardly way?
"It's true that we are unarmed, and we have no intention of rebelling. However, now that we have lost our livelihood and have nowhere else to go, we can gather together and cry, demonstrate to the highest authorities, and complain to the billions of people. Do you not even have the courage to do that?
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