Chapter 219: Unless General Chen Dies In Battle
Even so, he couldn’t stay here waiting for death. Thus, he used all his strength, dragging his inconvenient body as he flipped down from the top of the tent, and staggered away running.
Only after his figure disappeared into the darkness did Mo Ziyuan and Lin Xin’s figures appear at the tent entrance. After exchanging a glance, they chased after in the direction that person had left.
However, they didn’t chase too closely, just tailing behind.
That person’s injury was truly severe, and he couldn’t afford to take detours, so he dodged the patrolling soldiers all the way to Kong Xiao’s tent, lifted the curtain, and barged in.
Kong Xiao was lying on the bed sulking. Ever since he started following the general, he had never received such punishment. Even though he had made plenty of mistakes before, the general had only punished him symbolically, mainly focusing on instruction. He hadn’t expected that this time there would be no mercy at all, directly suspending his duties.
At this moment, he only felt that he had been treated unjustly, completely not thinking about how excessive his previous actions had been. Chen Lingyuan had suffered such a heavy injury, yet he only had the military doctor apply medicine and bandage it, leaving the rest to fate.
He was cursing General Chen to the empty air when suddenly the tent curtain was lifted, and a dark shadowy figure practically rolled in.
“Who is it?” Kong Xiao was startled and jumped up from the bed, grabbing the sword from beside the pillow and pointing it at the dark shadow.
“Idiot, it’s me. What are you shouting for!” The man in black was nearly infuriated by him. He had gone to great trouble to escape here, not so that he could shout loudly and call the soldiers over to capture him.
“It’s you!” Upon hearing his voice, Kong Xiao’s pupils suddenly contracted. He also smelled the scent of blood and quickly sheathed the sword in his hand, walked over, squatted beside him, and asked, “What happened to you? You’re injured?”
“I won’t die!” The man in black now felt that his right foot had no sensation at all, only intense pain remaining, while the left was slightly better.
Kong Xiao rubbed his nose, walked to the table to light the lamp, held it up in front of him, and said, “Let me see your injury.”
“Don’t worry about me first. Go clean up the bloodstains outside, quick!” The man in black grabbed his hand that wanted to check his injury, pointed to the trail of blood on the floor, and said lowly to him.
Kong Xiao hesitated slightly, placed the oil lamp beside him, got up, and went outside. He couldn’t let anyone discover that he was harboring an injured stranger in his tent.
His luck was good; no soldiers were patrolling nearby. He meticulously cleared the bloodstains left by the man in black along the way.
He originally wanted to clear them all the way back to where the bloodstains started, and incidentally see where that person had been injured. But halfway there, he heard neat footsteps not far ahead, knowing that patrolling soldiers would pass by soon. He had no choice but to abandon the plan and return to his camp tent.
Mo Ziyuan and Lin Xin, who had followed him all the way, imitated the man in black earlier and climbed onto Kong Xiao’s camp tent.
“How is your injury?” After entering, Kong Xiao deliberately used things to seal the tent door curtain shut, then went to the man in black’s side and asked.
“I won’t die!” The man in black still said those three words. By now, he had moved himself onto Kong Xiao’s bed, his face pale as he half-reclined against the headboard, with a pile of bloodstained cloth strips thrown on the ground in front of the bed.
However, the black cloth on his face had not been removed, so Kong Xiao couldn’t see his currently deathly pale complexion or the hair under his headcloth dampened by cold sweat on his forehead.
“I shouldn’t move around recently and need to recuperate here for a few days. You figure out how to arrange it.”
“What? Recuperate here with me?” Kong Xiao jumped three feet high upon hearing this. “Are you joking? Chen Lingyuan has been watching me very closely lately. If he finds out you’re here with me, forget about you—even I would be done for. No, absolutely not!”
“Say that again?” The man in black’s half-closed eyes suddenly opened wide, his cold gaze piercing toward him like two sharp blades.
“I-I said you can’t stay h-here, because last time the Western Rong people burned the grain and fodder, the general removed me from my post and is already very dissatisfied with me. If he finds out I’m harboring an outsider, I’m completely finished.” Kong Xiao said to him with a mournful face, trying to evoke some sympathy from him.
However, to his disappointment, the man in black indifferently glanced at him and withdrew his gaze, closing his eyes again. “That’s your problem. In any case, I need to rest quietly for these couple of days. You should know my identity by now. If I get captured, guess what confession I would give? And what would your fate be?”
“You!” Kong Xiao was furious but had no way out. He now wished he could go back to last night and strangle the version of himself who had talked to the man in black.
Like a trapped beast, he paced around the tent several times without figuring out how to respond. In the end, he could only smash the jar and sigh heavily, coming up with a “good” idea.
“What? Planning to capture me while I’m asleep to claim credit?” As if seeing through his thoughts, the man in black’s faint mocking voice suddenly sounded in the tent again, startling Kong Xiao, who had just sat down at the table, into a shudder.
He incredulously turned his head.
“No need to wonder how I knew. People are all animals that seek profit and avoid harm. The things I could give you before, I might not be able to now, so it’s normal for you to choose to betray me. But you overlooked one thing: whether I’m the type who can tolerate being betrayed. Don’t you think?”
The man in black’s body had remained in the previous posture without moving, and his voice was flat without any inflection, but in Kong Xiao’s ears, it was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, blasting him until his soul scattered.
Indeed, once he handed this person over alive, who knew what he would say. If he really implicated him, even if he could explain it away, it would definitely leave a thorn in everyone’s hearts.
Rather than that, better to… go all out!
Having made up his mind, Kong Xiao put on a different face, laughed it off, and said, “How could that be! You’re overthinking it. But this really isn’t a good place to recuperate. General Chen is easy to fool, but that Heir of Dingguo Duke who came from the capital city is no pushover. My suspension is greatly related to him!”
“Heir of Dingguo Duke? Mo Ziyuan?” The man in black understood what Kong Xiao meant right away. He just wanted to provoke him into dealing with his enemy, right?
If it were usual times, he could help him out, just to show his strength.
But now, this injury was something he had been ambushed with on top of the Heir of Dingguo Duke’s camp tent. Until now, he still didn’t know who had done it, so how could he possibly provoke Mo Ziyuan again at this time?
However, he couldn’t say that. He closed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then said, “The Heir of Dingguo Duke is already on our death list. You needn’t worry about him. What you should be thinking about now is how to seize military power in the Western Frontier large camp.”
“Heh, unless General Chen dies in battle, don’t even think about it!” Kong Xiao sneered.
“Then make him die in battle!” The man in black’s voice was sinister and ruthless.
