Chapter 61: Old Zhu, You Are A Madman! Seeking Extra Monthly Tickets
This brat is just pretending! He’s definitely acting!
The more he carelessly distances himself, the more it proves he cares! He cares desperately!
Old Zhu thought this with absolute certainty in his heart.
“Good! Very good! Zhang Biao!”
“You are utterly shameless! Utterly brazen! I’ve truly opened my eyes today!”
He abruptly sat up straight, his withered fingers almost poking into Zhang Biao’s nose, and then said heavily:
“Do you think I don’t dare to kill them?! Do you think I care about that bit of reputation?!”
“I’ll tell you! The reason I could go from a beggar monk to sitting on this dragon throne isn’t because of sweet talk and morality! It’s because of this ruthlessness! It’s about killing! Killing everyone who stands in my way! Killing everyone who dares to challenge me!”
As he spoke, a beast-like light flickered in his eyes, with a self-destructive frankness: “Reputation? That’s bullshit!”
“As long as I hold the blade! As long as I hold the military power! This world must follow my rules!”
“Shen Lang, Li Mo? A bunch of ants! If they’re killed, they’re killed! Their lives are worth nothing in my eyes, just like yours, Zhang Biao!”
“But I will use their blood to sharpen this unruly blade of yours!”
Old Zhu completely tore off his hypocritical mask, revealing the most primitive, bloodiest, and most shameless fangs of a founding emperor.
He wanted to tell Zhang Biao in the most direct, most shameless way.
Your brothers are hostages!
If you dare to disobey, I’ll kill them all!
Reputation? I don’t care!
Zhang Biao’s heart sank to the bottom.
Old Zhu’s level of shamelessness had completely redefined his perception of rock bottom.
This old beggar was determined to drag him, along with Shen Lang and those low-ranking capital officials, into an endless abyss.
His outward nonchalance was almost crumbling; a trace of suppressed worry and anger in his eyes surged like volcanic lava on the verge of eruption.
Just then.
“Reporting to Your Majesty!”
From outside the bedroom door, a report suddenly came.
Jiang Huan’s deliberately lowered, yet still unmistakably panicked voice rang out from outside the door: “Your Majesty! Something big has happened at the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square.”
Old Zhu was interrupted and roared with extreme displeasure: “What’s the panic?! The sky isn’t falling! Speak!”
Jiang Huan’s voice, laced with a sense of absurdity, said: “Shen Lang! Li Mo! And those dozens of low-ranking capital officials who caused trouble today! They’ve all collapsed at the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square! Lying all over the place! Like dried fish!”
Zhang Biao: “???”
Lying there dead? What the hell is going on?!
His heart skipped a beat, and a strong premonition of something bad arose.
Old Zhu also froze for a moment, then angrily said: “Collapsed? What do they want? To play dead for us? Or to stage a coup?! Drag them all into the Imperial Prison!”
“Your Majesty! We can’t drag them!”
Jiang Huan’s voice, sounding somewhat speechless, said: “They not only collapsed, but they’re also shouting slogans together! Their voices are earth-shattering! The entire Yingtian Prefecture can hear them!”
“Shouting what?!”
Old Zhu and Zhang Biao asked almost in unison, one with rage, the other with disbelief.
Outside the door, Jiang Huan took a deep breath, as if using all his courage, before he could repeat the treasonous words that would shake the entire Hongwu Dynasty, his voice changing pitch:
“They’re shouting—Give us back Brother Biao! Give us back Pig’s Head Meat!”
“And—If Brother Biao had not been born, the Great Ming would be eternally dark!”
Boom—!
Inside the bedroom, there was dead silence.
Zhang Biao felt his vision darken, and a surge of blood rushed to his head.
He stumbled, almost falling on the spot.
Shen Lang! Li Mo!
You bunch of idiots!
What the hell!
Ten thousand ‘grass-mud horses’ galloped through his mind.
Which ‘genius’ came up with these slogans?!
“If Brother Biao had not been born, the Great Ming would be eternally dark?”
This isn’t saving my life, this is clearly tying me to the pillar of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and striking me with lightning!
Are you afraid Old Zhu’s knife isn’t sharp enough? Or are you afraid I won’t die thoroughly enough?!
Zhang Biao felt all his previous posturing, all his performances of distancing himself, were utterly shattered by these slogans that echoed throughout Yingtian Prefecture.
They had become a colossal joke.
An indescribable sense of frustration and panic gripped him.
Since transmigrating, he had always maintained a casual attitude towards life. Seeking death was to go home, offering admonishments was to do something practical, and helping Shen Lang and the others was out of modern-day sympathy and a peculiar way of seeking death.
He had always considered himself a player, and this world a game arena where NPCs could respawn after death.
But now…
These NPCs were holding chamber pot lamps and shouting ridiculously chuunibyou slogans, putting themselves under the Emperor’s butcher knife to save him.
They would truly die, not because of a game reset!
Make Zhang Biao treat human lives as worthless? He simply couldn’t do it!
But Old Zhu could.
Thinking of this, Zhang Biao suddenly looked at Old Zhu.
He saw the rage on Old Zhu’s face recede like a tide, replaced by an unbelievable, utterly absurd ecstasy.
He looked at Zhang Biao, and an unprecedented brilliance erupted in his cloudy eyes.
That gaze was like a hungry wolf finally clamping down on its prey’s throat.
Like an old farmer finally catching a watermelon thief.
It was filled with naked, unmasked pride, as if he had found a priceless treasure!
“Hahahaha…”
Old Zhu let out an irrepressible low chuckle from his throat, the laughter growing louder and more unrestrained, finally turning into a deafening cackle.
“Good! Good! Excellent! ‘If Brother Biao had not been born, the Great Ming would be eternally dark!'”
Old Zhu laughed until tears were almost streaming from his eyes, his thin fingers trembling as he pointed at Zhang Biao, each word a knife coated in ice and honey, fiercely piercing Zhang Biao’s heart:
“Minister Zhang! Listen! Listen to these brothers of yours, with whom you have no deep bond, who would fly apart at the first sign of disaster! Listen to their ardent hopes for you! Listen to their epitaph for our Great Ming Dynasty!”
“This charge of ‘eternal darkness,’ tsk tsk, is far, far heavier than being labeled as unkind and ungenerous!”
Old Zhu’s smile on his face suddenly vanished, leaving only icy, bone-chilling killing intent and unparalleled control:
“Now, Zhang Biao, tell us! How can our Great Ming last for ten thousand generations? How will you solve the problems you’ve mentioned? I want you to tell us everything you know! Otherwise, you know the consequences!”
“I told you, their lives are no threat to me. If you want to kill, then kill!”
“Is that so? No threat to you?”
A cruel curve spread across Old Zhu’s lips: “Then let’s go to the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square, and I’ll kill them one by one! Until you’re satisfied! Do you want another bowl of clear soup noodles! Should I poach an egg for you?!”
Zhang Biao: “…”
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you speaking? Weren’t you indifferent?”
“I want them to see, to see what kind of person their beloved ‘Brother Biao,’ whom they deify, truly is. Is he stronger than me, a selfish and incompetent ruler?! Can he truly watch them die before his very eyes?!”
“Not only will I not let you die, but I will make you live in pain forever, letting those who died because of you haunt your dreams day and night! Tormenting you! Burning you! Making you wish for death but unable to find it…”
Hearing this, Zhang Biao’s chest heaved, and he finally couldn’t help but roar: “You are a goddamn lunatic!”
“Hahaha—Lunatic?!”
Old Zhu let out a mad laugh, then roared at Zhang Biao: “My sister is dead! My Biao’er is dead! My family is gone—!!”
The roar shook the heavens, carrying a mournful tearing sound and a sense of madness.
A fierce glint flashed in Zhang Biao’s eyes!
Seeking monthly tickets! Seeking monthly tickets! Seeking rewards! Seeking recommendation tickets! Seeking continued reading!!! Seeking all forms of support! Stabilize the rankings! My parents who provide for me are truly amazing! They actually reached number one on the charts!
As previously promised, here’s an extra chapter! Thank you for your support!
Also, don’t forget to like the character profiles! If it can break through to five stars, and give Pig’s Head Meat a birthday celebration, it’ll be hilarious just thinking about it!
Thanks to Qiaoqiao Yuanyuan for the 3000 reward for Pig’s Head Meat.
Thanks to Dao Fa Ziran for the 600 reward.
Thanks to Zan Xiao Fanxing for the 500 reward.
Thanks to Bonfire Vendor for the 500 reward.
Thanks to the user with the last four digits 9028 for the 100 reward.
Thanks to Peixiang 37851 for the 100 reward.
