Chapter 265: Winning the information war
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Once he was out of his seat and back on his feet, Zhen Wang turned towards Zhen Shi, cupped his hands and did a small bow.
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Zhen Shi watched as Zhen Wang exited the tavern via the front door, a surprisingly straightforward route for any would-be killer or agent of vengeance…then again, it did fit the memories Zhen Shi had of the man.
‘Straightforward and bloodthirsty…the worst combination to fucking deal with,’ Zhen Shi mused.
The patriarch of the Zhen Clan fell into thought as he tried to consolidate the sheer amount and quality of information that had been shared with him during this little drinking trip.
‘So the plan is to challenge me to a duel or capture one of my sons prior to doing so and then use them as leverage to either justify killing me or having me surrender myself to their capitivity? Can’t tell if that’s clever or just plain convoluted.’
Regardless of the quality of the plan, at least Zhen Shi now had an idea of what this would-be assassin…avenger…jackass trying to kill him, had planned in order to do so.
‘Hmmm. Still weird to me that he came here by himself though…unless he was lying about that…shit…’
Zhen Shi became antsy, as he tried to figure out if he was being played or not.
‘Gah. No matter, I’ll just head home for now.’
Unable to think properly in the rowdy environment, and with the head addled by cactus wine, Zhen Shi made his way back home…unaware of the tail he had sprouted behind him.
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Zhen Wang walked through the interior of the Drunken Hog with a smile plain on his face, an indication that the drink had made him merry, as alcoholic drinks do.
*Clatter.*
“Hmm.”
But once he exited the doors into the outside air, the smile melted way, giving way to a flat, stone cold expression.
Zhen Wang proceeded to turn right, walking away from the city center and toward the outskirts, before making another right once he hit a crossroads.
Zhen Wang essentially made a circle around the tavern, an old trick meant to get rid of tails or spies, until he finally re-entered the inn.
‘And so the “Zhen” clansman has left,’ Zhen Wang mused as he saw that his drinking companion had left, or at least, he didn’t see him on the tavern’s main floor anymore.
Zhen Wang didn’t randomly choose to sit next to the man at the bar, rather it was a bit of calculated deception on his part.
Improvised calculation at least.
Zhen Wang had initially planned to go drinking and that’s that, but then he noticed that the man at the bar was wearing the bastardized insignia of his beloved Zhen Clan on his shoulder.
Sometimes the greatest trick one can pull, is telling your enemy what your plan…was.
Zhen Wang returned to the upstairs portion of the inn and back to his room.
Inside, he saw his younger counterpart busying himself with a mirror-like aether tool.
Displayed on the mirror was the image of Zhen Wang’s drinking companion making his way back home, from a point of view directly behind the man on the street.
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The two warriors of the Zhen Clan brought their focus on to the mirror tool and watched on, waiting to see where this middle aged man was headed.
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Zhen Wang and his disciple continued to watch their new “friend” blissfully unaware of their viewership, but also failing to notice that the watchmen have long became the watched.
If only they had noticed the little toy frog hiding in the rafters of their room, maybe they wouldn’t have been so…verbal.
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[Milord, you getting all this?]
‘The fact that apparently the so-called main family is saying my grandfather stockholmed my grandmother as justification to hunting his ass down and may also use it as fucked up justification to 86 me and my family, and in the weirdest fucking plot twist, has informed my grandfather of the plan on how they’re going to kill him in order to deceive and come up with a new plan at the same time? Yes, yes I fucking got all that.’
[Sweet, so what’s the plan? Should I eat them? Can I eat the one wearing glasses, he looks scrawny!]
‘What is with you guys and wanting to eat people? That’s cannibalism!’
[What? We’re not human, it’s fine…I think.]
‘Hurricroak, you’re made of human desire, I’m pretty sure that counts.’
[Bah, philosophy! Debate that with Logos and Frosttusk, that is not my thing.]
‘Regardless, continue keeping watch on them until further notice.’
[~Fine.~]
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Zhen Liu could feel that a fight was probably going to be coming soon, an unwelcome complication due to current circumstances, but there was nothing he could do about that…technically.
Regardless, with this probable pain in the ass incoming, Zhen Liu found it prudent to review all of the kaijins’ abilities, and bank on the fact that he could use them to overpower these assholes.
‘Thank the gods that my kaijin can get stronger than me at least… hopefully the power gap between a kaijin Grand Master and a normal Aether Lord ain’t too big…’
In the privacy of his room, Zhen Liu focused his aether into the ring/seal combo in his left hand and summoned up a familiar interface.
‘Wait…did my borrowing of those arts remove them from the catalogue?’
