Inside the palace, the emperor sat on his dragon chair and elders stood on both sides. In the middle was a mutated human covered in Death Claw fur.
In mutated human society, only a clan leader of ten thousand could wear clothes made of Death Claw fur.
"My people are in a bloodbath against NAC invaders in the frontlines! And you, you cowards, are curled up behind the bunker. Is this the glory you referred to?" This rude roar made the tiles of the palace shake. The emperor on the dragon chair's had a grave face, but he couldn't say a single aggressive word against the discourteous green-skinned man.
The prosperity of Empire required the support of mutated humans. When he considered the bigger picture, he couldn't break ties with Guru Tribe.
The Emperor hid his anger behind his black pupils."I'll order the frontline forces to accelerate the attack against NAC."
"No need!" The mutated human ten thousand clan leader swung his hand and glanced the emperor and guards with contempt. "Just let your cowards continue to hide behind the bunkers. Useless people should stay where they belong; the battlefield belongs to warriors! Our people will tear apart the people who dare to offend Guru Tribe."
"But-" The ten thousand clan leader's words took a sharp turn and he stared at the emperor directly in the eyes. He fiercely said, "I want to ask you - regarding the unfair treatment received by the mutated humans, what's going on!?"
[Unfair?]
[What the fu*k! How do you want this to be fairer? More special treatment?]
The emperor didn't say anything, but the guards by the pillar were almost furious. They had never seen a mutated human this shameless.
"I will order the soldiers to search for the murderers," the emperor said."The blood of 154 mutated humans needs to be washed by 154 criminals." The ten thousand clan leader gave a bloodthirsty laugh.
"I know," the emperor replied.
"I hope you know, or else I'll let you know." His amber pupils were as bloodthirsty as a Death Claw's.
He looked at the emperor threateningly before he turned around and left with the mutated human soldiers surrounding him.
When the green-skinned things left, the emperor smashed the table and cursed out.
"These monsters! They can't just bully us like this!"
The emperor and elders of Empire were all raiders before; their thug nature was merely hidden by their glamorous clothes.
"Emperor, what should we do?" an elder asked with a bitter smile.
The soldiers couldn't even find one murderer, let alone 154 murderers. Those people clearly had a plan. Otherwise, they wouldn't have committed 154 murders in three days.
It was a conspiracy against the friendship between Empire and the mutated humans; anyone could easily see that.
Aside from the simple-brained mutated humans.
The emperor hadn't been this bothered by the intelligence of the bastards.
A simple conspiracy could make them start a war against NAC, and the NAC could use tactics to force them to stand on the side opposing Empire.
A silent atmosphere lingered in the palace. At that moment, someone broke the silence.
"Emperor, I have a strategy."
An elder walked up.
The elders all looked at him with shock. This elder was the least respected among all the elders, and he always sat at the end of the banquet table.
He normally didn't have the opportunity to speak during meetings, but now, since no one had any good ideas, no one spoke against him.
The emperor thought for a moment with his head lowered before he finally remembered the name of this elder. He slowly said.
"Chen Lin, go ahead."
Chen Lin walked up two stairs and smiled with a grimace. He suggested to the emperor, "The mutated humans believe their rights were violated, so we could just comfort them like usual."
"But what could we give them?" the emperor asked, frustrated.
"Only 154 heads. Since they need the murderers, we'll just hand them over." With ferocity in his voice, Chen Lin looked directly at the emperor.
The emperor raised his eyebrows, not understanding what Chen Lin meant.
But then he caught on and instantly understood the deeper meaning.
Since mutated humans' brains couldn't distinguish the murderers.
Then were they just going to kill a few random people and use their heads to comfort them?
"Where would we find 154 people?" The emperor's fingers tapped the armrest of the dragon chair as he muttered to himself.
With a grimace, the elder walked beside the emperor and whispered into his ear.
"There are ten thousand slaves working in Donggang Plantation. 154 missing slaves is nothing at all…"
…
"How long will this war last?" Standing on top of the wall, Sun Xiaorou dangled her legs while picking up binoculars to observe the horizon in the distance.
In the distance, the sun was sliding west.
NAC unleashed 1000 combustion missiles on the mutated humans' zone of control and suppressed them within the city. Based on the casualty reports from Aurora-20's reconnaissance, the mutated human's 5000 division lost about a third of its troops with all armored units destroyed.
But NAC still hadn't served the final blow. They maintained the illusion that they were fairly matched.
Before the arrival of the signal of Empire's collapse, NAC needed the mutated humans to maintain their arrogance.
Next to Sun Xiaorou, Jiang Chen carefully observed the side of her face.
Sometimes, he thought she was extremely similar to her sister.
Jiang Chen then shifted his gaze to the distance.
"It depends how well the Hunter Division is doing."
Han Junhua stepped onto the wall and walked behind him.
"The ten thousand slaves in Donggang Plantation are uprising."
When he heard his long-awaited message, a victorious smile surfaced on his face.
With the Hunter Division's purposeful provocation, the tension between Empire citizens and officials was pushed to its maximum. And the foolish idea of sacrificing slaves was suggested by an elder bribed by Zhao Baodong. When this news spread out between the slaves, even the numbest people couldn't suppress the fury in the bottoms of their hearts.
They just needed a person to lead and a person to give them a few guns before they would naturally choose the option to riot.
NAC didn't need to send out a single troop.
"Good. In this case, we should start moving."
"Yes."
Han Junhua nodded and turned around.
Sun Xiaorou stood up from the edge of the wall, patted the dust off her hand and looked at Jiang Chen.
"Finally going to start fighting?"
With a smile, Jiang Chen raised his head and gazed at the steel airship.
"Mhmm, time to display our true power."
In the lingering sunset glow, this was the first time the Hammer of Order was stained with a menacing vibe.
Just like the signal produced from a conductor's baton, the prelude to the fall of Empire was about to begin.
