Chapter 72 The Culprit

Past

Li Tianming was a man who cherished peace.

The Kingdom of Slovenia, his birthplace, lay to the east of the Vermillion Kingdom. In the early days of the Rhine Empire’s assault on the minor alliances, the Kingdom of Slovenia had already submitted to the Empire. Then, once Vermillion repelled the imperial forces, Slovenia immediately surrendered and joined the Vermillion Kingdom.

Consequently, his childhood was largely devoid of hardship.

Nevertheless, as the foremost prodigy of the Slovenian region, he was conscripted into the army at the age of fifteen, becoming an officer in the Eastern Expedition to the Cherry Blossom Kingdom.

Undeniably, war was a brutal affair.

Yet, to survive, despite his reluctance, he was compelled to incessantly slaughter innocent lives.

He even earned the moniker “The Ten Prodigies.”

“What are ‘The Ten Prodigies’? Nothing more than a few obedient model students promoted to stabilize morale when the war bogged down.”

He wholeheartedly agreed with this assessment from others.

He even planned to replace “model students” with “unlucky wretches.”

For within a mere month of acquiring that moniker, three individuals had lost their lives, targeted specifically by the enemy.

Honestly, if desertion didn’t mean facing a court-martial, he would have fled already.

Of course, steadfastly holding their positions was also a viable option.

In any case, it wouldn’t be long before the kingdom realized this war was “flavorless to eat, yet a pity to discard” and withdrew its troops.

However, he did not await a retreat; instead, he awaited—

“Rest assured, this war will end in victory. If you ask why, it’s because I have arrived.”

A supremely confident, incredibly arrogant child became his new superior.

****

Now

“What happened? Why is Shenhong like this?”

Li Tianming summoned Lyte to his office.

“My sincerest apologies. Shenhong was determined to flee the royal capital. I managed to catch up to him with great difficulty, but after I pulled him onto the train, he seemed utterly lost, as if his soul had departed…”

Lyte spoke with a despondent expression, “…………”

“No way? Could it be that…”

Li Tianming frowned slightly.

‘That boy is truly lawless.’

“Couldn’t you have tried to guide him?” Li Tianming frowned slightly.

“I tried, but it was no use… The main point is, only the one who tied the bell can untie it. My words couldn’t move him,” Lyte said, pained. “Are you perhaps pushing him too hard?”

“Impossible. Do you even realize how confident and reckless he used to be…?”

“That was the old Shenhong, wasn’t it? The one I know is completely unrelated to confidence.”

“This is merely because he hasn’t recovered his memories, existing in a temporary and mistaken state. Our task is to rectify all of this.” Li Tianming voiced his displeasure.

“But… have you considered that Shenhong might have multiple personalities?” Lyte pondered before saying, “Moreover, the other personality might have already vanished.”

“Lyte!” Li Tianming slammed his hand on the table with fury. “Please refrain from adding your own meaningless personal conjectures!”

“This is not meaningless speculation,” Lyte retorted, unyielding. “Shenhong’s memories haven’t changed in five years. Suddenly giving him such a drastic treatment… aren’t you worried it might go wrong and ruin everything?”

“Lyte, if you’re unwilling to continue with the mission, then leave!” Li Tianming snapped, annoyed.

“I will continue to execute my duties from the sidelines, but your methods… I simply cannot agree with them.”

With those words, Lyte departed the office.

Li Tianming scoffed at this.

After all, Lyte didn’t even know that Xie Shenhong was Hai Zhu; any effort from him would be utterly futile.

This was merely because his previous accidental success, which made Xie Shenhong mistakenly believe he could transform into Hai Zhu, was, in Li Tianming’s eyes, nothing more than a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse—it could never happen a second time.

Indeed, the reins of control always remained in the hands of this person in charge.

It was true that Xie Shenhong’s current state seemed almost like he had been overly traumatized by him… yet, this also implied that their methods were indeed effective.

All that remained was to fan the flames further, ensuring events progressed precisely as he intended.

Pondering this, Li Tianming retrieved a small silver communication bird.

“Master Duanmu, please inform me of Master Shenhong’s location.”

As the Vermillion Priestess and the kingdom’s most formidable intelligence officer, Duanmu Yun excelled at avian summoning and communication magic.

Were it not for privacy concerns, she could have her summoned migratory birds spread across every corner of the kingdom, monitoring the movements of every individual…

As for Xie Shenhong, though his intelligence wasn’t transmitted constantly, a sparrowhawk always shadowed him from above.

Thus, in a mere ten seconds, Duanmu Yun transmitted the coordinates.

Li Tianming immediately set off for the destination, and then—

“Li Tianming? Come quickly and support me!”

“Crimson Hawk? Come and die with me!”

As fate would have it, in that vicinity, he encountered enemies attacking another of the Eastern Expedition’s Seven Prodigies.

The attacked Prodigy was Yin Qinggang, who specialized in metal magic and was renowned among the Seven as the “Vanguard Blade,” often uttering the motto, “To cleave the formation, to die or to live!”

That meant, after Xie Shenhong was parachuted in as his direct superior, Yin Qinggang had been the very first allied general he had supported.

On that occasion, as a vanguard force rushing to provide aid, he found himself trapped in an encirclement, only for Xie Shenhong, who had anticipated this, to lead a small contingent to ambush the enemy’s rear, thereby turning the tide of battle.

Just moments ago, he had noticed Xie Shenhong approaching their position, while the enemy’s attention was entirely focused on him and Yin Qinggang… This very scene was an exact replica of the situation from years past.

“Hold on!”

He shouted while simultaneously sending Xie Shenhong a message instructing him to leave—a deliberate provocation, playing on Xie Shenhong’s long-standing rebellious nature.

As expected, Xie Shenhong did not depart; instead, he drew his twin crimson pistols.

For a considerable while thereafter, however, Xie Shenhong did nothing.

He simply stood there, staring blankly.

Li Tianming’s heart sank.

‘Is his post-traumatic stress disorder flaring up?’

“I’ll be right back!”

Uttering these words, Li Tianming executed a fiery flying kick, brushing past the enemy, then swiftly darted to Xie Shenhong’s side and pulled him into a nearby alleyway.

“Master Shenhong, this place is dangerous. Please leave quickly.”

“I can’t just leave like this…” Xie Shenhong trembled as he retrieved his golden pocket watch, yet no matter how he tried to activate it, it remained unresponsive.

‘(Has the transformation time run out?)’

Li Tianming had some slight knowledge of the golden pocket watch’s effects.

Considering Xie Shenhong and Lyte were still in Qilin City early this morning, and by noon they had already returned…

“Master Shenhong, please trust us.”

This time, it wasn’t a provocation, for upon returning to the street, he immediately signaled the enemy who was currently engaging Yin Qinggang.

The latter immediately understood, kicking Yin Qinggang high into the air.

“Heheheh, the Eastern Expedition’s Seven Prodigies are nothing more than this… Next time, it will be your death day!”

With that, the enemy was about to fly away like a typical villain, but suddenly a gunshot rang out.

It was Xie Shenhong.

He held his pistols with both hands, his face fraught with hesitation as he gazed at the enemy in the sky.

“Don’t… don’t you dare run…”

His poor condition was evident from the fact that his shot had gone wide by at least five meters just moments ago.

The enemy turned their head to look at Li Tianming.

Li Tianming subtly shook his head.

“Hmph, a meaningless reinforcement,” the enemy scoffed instantly, and with a casual wave, destroyed the building above Xie Shenhong’s head.

Thus, Li Tianming “had no choice but to” rush over to rescue him, thereby missing the optimal moment for pursuit… This was the perfect script in his mind.

However, events unfolded contrary to the script.

Before Li Tianming could reach him, a burst of light erupted from Xie Shenhong.

This was followed by a towering wave of fire.

As the falling stones were incinerated to ash, the enemy’s escape route was simultaneously sealed off.

“I told you… don’t even think about escaping!”

From the source of the flames, a blue-haired, crimson-eyed girl snarled ferociously at the sky and roared.