Chapter 284: Unexpected but not unwelcome
The next day…
‘Strange…I wonder who those people were…,’ Zhen Shi mumbled as he thought over his notes from the night before.
As if this moment, Zhen Shi was busy sitting at his office desk while looking over some of the reports that he compiled from his own intelligence network operations.
The results of which were…weird.
________________________________________________
Luckily for Zhen Shi, the clan stables did have a few stealth beasts that were ready to be used for spying.
The only issue? None of the beasts could transmit images like an aether tool.
Regardless, he could still use them to keep an eye on his family and make sure nothing…uncouth, happened to them.
However, it was during this monitoring that he kept receiving a very strange detail in regards to their safety.
That being, while the family member themselves was fine, in the background report, he would get a detail about someone suddenly being jumped and rendered unconcious by some rather strange looking people.
At first, he thought it was fluke…then those exact same people showed up twice each in two separate reports!
________________________________________________
‘A woman that looked unusually heroic, a very tall man with an elaborate beard, a sharp featured dancer and a mischievous girl with purple hair… whoever they are, this can’t be a coincidence,’ Zhen Shi concluded as he looked over his notes.
At this point, he could only assume that they were either spies under the main branch’s employment…which was doubtful given to what he remembered about their degrees of professionalism and general uptight attitude, or that these guys were unexpected helpers who were taking out the actual people spying on his family.
An unexpected but not unwelcome development.
‘Maybe these guys work for that-.’
*Knock-knock*
“Hmm? Come in.”
*Click.*
The door opened, allowing a confused-looking Zhen Long, his eldest son, to enter the room. Judging by the look on his face, he had a weird piece of news to share with him.
“Father…you’re not gonna believe this, but…uh.. ”
“Xiao Long? What’s wrong?”
“Well…a member from the main branch family is at the front door, and he wants to…talk to you.?”
“…what?”
If this representative was who he thought it was, then he was gonna have a lot more questions about the circumstances behind this.
‘There’s no way it’s…him. Right?’
________________________________________________
‘No fucking way.’
“Greetings Patriarch Zhen…Shi…what?”
Zhen Wang was about to give his greetings to the patriarch of this exiled clan when the greeting stopped half way through his throat.
This was due to the sudden realization that the patriarch was none other than that middle aged man with whom he had a shared a drink with not too long ago.
A strange look came over his face for a brief moment, but screwing back into a smile. The distant memory of an attempt to rile up the Patriarch’s weariness being relegated to “almost worked”.
The two men stared each other in abject and awkward silence, until the visitor of the two decided to break it with a few simple questions.
“Just to clarify, are you the same Zhen Shi that I-”
“Was sent to kill for the sake of upholding the Zhen Clan’s honor after a ‘crime of passion’? Yes.”
“Okay…nex question, why do you look so…young?”
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“A freak encounter with a giant mammoth-man who was the spirit of ice, regret and revenge.”
“…okay, that is rather unbelievable.”
“My turn to ask questions,” Zhen Shi interjected before Zhen Wang could ask another, “why are you here?”
Zhen Wang had a strange look over the question.
“Didn’t you answer that your-?”
“No, I don’t mean why you came to Stone Claw, I’m asking why you decided to waltz through my front door like you’re here for a business proposal when you’re here to kill me?,” Zhen Shi asked point blank.
“Ah. That…”
Normally, Zhen Shi would be a bit more tactful about such things, but he’s been learning how to be more blunt in regards to such deceptions as of late. He was understandably getting sick of such behavior.
“Well…,” Zhen Wang paused while thinking how to answer. Zhen Shi’s bluntness threw him off and now he has no good idea how to answer…well, except for one way.
Zhen Wang let out a deep sigh before answering, “I heard a rumor that you were going to head back to the Pearl Scale Empire to make ammends, is that true?”
Zhen Shi’s eye twitched at the question, apprehensive on how the fuck this particular bit of information got into the wider world… probably involved alcohol…regardless, if Zhen Wang was going to be honest, he might as well try to be as well.
“Well it’s none of your business, but yes,” Zhen Shi answered, “It’s been decades and I made a promises to Bai Hua that I’d buried this hatchet we made together. We were going to leave at the start of next month.”
“Huh…”
Zhen Wang had initially assumed that the Overlord who told him this was full of shit, but hearing it from the source itself…well, that was an entirely different matter.
“I see…very well then, I suppose that changes some plans of mine.”
“Plans to kill me you mean?,” Zhen Shi asked with sarcasm.
“Close, plans to go home with you.”
“…fucking, what?”
________________________________________________
The night prior.
“SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!,” Zhen Wang cursed as he saw the displays of his subordinates disappear one by one.
He knew that them blacking out was a sign that they had been rendered unconcious, but that the displays disappearing would mean that they were dead.
Zhen Wang had been hoping for the latter moreso than the the former.
At this point he couldn’t figure out who or why this was happening, other than attributing it to that Overlord again, who he still doubted whether or not they existed.
“I have to go, now,” he shouted as he got up from his seat.
However, just as he was about to leave the door, the displays all came back, showing on the other side a man in a strange mask and weird purple robes.
“I’m going to assume that you can see me now, and that you’re hearing me talk right to you, Zhen Wang?,” the masked man said.
Zhen Wang paused as he heard himself get addressed in such a direct manner.
“Oh…fuck me.”
________________________________________________
[My lord. Talking like. You Is. Weird.]
‘I know Spring, just bear with it for now,’ Zhen Liu grumbled. How they had this costume ready to go, he didn’t want to know.
