Novel The Great Game - The Young Master (Ch.308) [finished]

Discussion in 'Community Fictions' started by rdawv, Apr 20, 2016.

  1. Lokumi

    Lokumi 『The second greatest trash of society』

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    Thanks for the chapter :)
     
  2. idgetsxx

    idgetsxx The Real Life Snorlax

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    Damn this Ran Wei is smart. Well played sir.
     
  3. rdawv

    rdawv The Ancient of Lore

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    “I calculated with my fingers!”
    --Li Qiye, ‘Emperor’s Domination’


    Chapter 96 – Second Battle of Tigertrap Pass (1)

    Huang Zheng gazed at the horizon, unaware that Ran Wei was doing the same thing. The two generals did not meet in the recent disaster at Dashan Plains, and there was a sense of an opportunity missed to test one’s mettle against the other.


    In Huang Zheng’s case, the situation was disheartening. His own men had survived, but an entire army had been wiped out. Despite marvelling at their survival, his own troops too were demoralized by the calamity. As his soldiers make their way back to Tigertrap Pass, surviving stragglers from Marshal Gao Fang’s forces had joined them; their haunted looks and shuffling feet giving off an air of pessimism to the entire affair. Reports of Wei pursuers had lent wings to their march, but most of the men were cold, tired and hungry.


    The aged general sighed as he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, and shifted his attentions towards Huang Ming instead. His youngest son was riding carelessly, his head bowed in thought and his hands loosely holding onto the reins, allowing the horse to meander on its own accord as it followed the march. The amazon Zhao Sunli rode beside Huang Ming, keeping watch in case he fell off his mount.


    Huang Zheng frowned. The engagement between the two had been a distraction, even though Huang Ming himself did not seem overly concerned. The general knew better than to indulge in personal matters while still on active duty, but he could not help but feel a little guilty for his friend Zhao Tong and his daughter as long as the ambiguous situation persisted.


    Still, he was glad that this prodigal son of his had seemingly repented his ways. Now Huang Ming was a fine man, not too inferior to Huang Lang and Huang Ke. Speaking of which, where the devil was Huang Ke?


    The general looked around and saw that his middle son was missing from the marching column. Zhao Tong noted the searching gesture and moved his horse to be alongside Huang Zheng.


    “What’s the matter?” the stout family friend asked.


    “I seem to have misplaced one of my sons,” Huang Zheng said dryly. He wasn’t too worried, Huang Ke was an experienced military officer of his own right after all.


    “Ah Ke? You’re right, I haven’t seen him since we entered the pass,” Zhao Tong replied.


    Now Huang Zheng became a little disturbed. What were his sons plotting this time?

    ***

    There were plenty on Huang Ming’s mind. Having finally witnessed a full scale battle in this world, he realized that there were plenty of ways to improve his father’s troops.


    Obviously, the dream of an off-worlder in this sort of situation would be to create a weapon that could be manufactured quickly and cheaply. Usually this meant firearms. However, that would require time and resources. He would have to seek suitable alchemists and sources of gunpowder, both of which may not even exist in this world.


    This wasn’t the first time Huang Ming had been in a backward world. He had introduced deadly technologies to spear-wielding civilizations before… and the results were devastating. However, he had the suspicion that he wouldn’t have the luxury of time to do it again in this world, because the Princess of Jin had a ten year headstart over him. If she was indeed the enemy Avatar, it would be logical to assume that she would well be on her way to develop the weapons already.


    He shook his head and pushed the matter aside, it was akin to counting eggs before they hatch. There was a more pressing problem, even though he could see the silhouette of Tigertrap Fort in the far distance.


    “Are you done daydreaming?” Sunli asked sarcastically from the side.


    “Daydreaming? No, I was thinking about a scheme,” he said lazily with a lopsided smile that gave no help at all to his claims.


    Sunli snorted.


    Truthfully, there was still an air of awkwardness between them, but this was still a military venture and he knew her caustic attitude was a way for her to cope. In return, she too was aware of his cavalier talk was just his way of being friendly. Each was aware of the other’s façade and recognized the pointlessness of breaking the illusion when they have yet to find a suitable conclusion.


    A scout arrived to interrupt.


    “Sir, you are right,” the scout said in distress, and Huang Ming smiled cynically.


    “Go and inform the generals. I’ll be along shortly,” he said and waved a hand dismissal.


    Sunli waited until the scout had left before giving him a stare. “Right about what?” she demanded.


    “Remember Qin Lang? The man appointed by Gao Fang to take over Tigertrap Fort?”


    Sunli nodded. “What of him?”


    “He’s blocking the way of our return,” Huang Ming responded simply.


    “What!?”


    “Blocked. Closed the doors. Sealed the gates. Not letting us go home,” Huang Ming said patiently as if he was lecturing to a child.


    Sunli looked as if she was about to explode, but then another messenger arrived.


    “Sir, you’re right,” the messenger said, unwittingly repeating the words of the previous scout. But when it looked as if the messenger was about to say more, Huang Ming stopped him.


    “Save your breath, you’re going to repeat it again to the generals anyway. Go on, I’ll follow in a few moments,” he said.


    The messenger saluted and quickly went away to do so.


    Sunli was extremely puzzled, she glared at Huang Ming and waited for him to speak.


    “Hold on, wait for it…” he said.


    After a few moments, they could hear outraged roars from both Huang Zheng and Zhao Tong in the distance.


    “That’s our cue,” Huang Ming said and chuckled.


    The march was halted and an emergency meeting was quickly held between the senior officers. The two generals and their trusted aides were doing their best to look as if everything was normal so as not to disturb the ordinary troops, but as Huang Ming and Sunli rode up they could see that their faces were ashen. The only notable person missing was Huang Ke.


    “What’s with the gloomy atmosphere, did someone die?” Huang Ming asked lightly.


    Huang Zheng resisted the temptation to grab his son by the scruff of the neck.


    “We might soon be!” he snarled.


    “Let me guess, enemies to the rear, enemies to the front,” Huang Ming said with a grin.


    Huang Zheng was exasperated. He admitted that he had completely forgotten about Qin Lang in Tigertrap Fort. The rat-like fellow was one of Gao Fang’s creatures, but Huang Zheng never expected for him to completely bar the way of the returning troops.


    According to the first messenger, Qin Lang merely smiled viciously as he tugged the whiskers of his pencil moustache.


    “Without the marshal’s order, I cannot open the pass to anyone!” the rat had dared to say. Evidently he did not believe in the messenger’s news regarding Marshal Gao Fang’s defeat, and thought that Huang Zheng and Zhao Tong were returning without the proper orders.


    Before Huang Zheng and Zhao Tong could fully register their shock, the second messenger came over to report that the Wei forces which had shadowed their retreat were following them into the pass itself. The generals had assumed that the Wei forces would not do so, because the presence of Tigertrap Fort within would deter any military action.


    The generals were aghast. Even though they were confident of beating Wei back; they would incur a tremendous loss due to the low morale of their soldiers. Even if they triumphed against these pursuers, what then? Surely Ran Wei himself wouldn’t be too far behind. And with Qin Lang blocking the pass; they could not retreat back to Wu either.


    All these problems presented a grave scenario to Huang Zheng, which was why he was so annoyed with Huang Ming’s nonchalance. Still, he had to praise his son for his foresight. Then he frowned. Why did the messengers report to Huang Ming first?


    “Did you send out that scout on your own authority?” he asked.


    “Of course. I told you that we might have trouble on the way back,” Huang Ming reminded him.


    “You’re just a supervisor, you do not have any actual authority to order my troops around,” Huang Zheng growled.


    Huang Ming gave him a wide-eyed stare. “I’m not about to bother you with all the little details, you are more busy with the bigger picture,” he said.


    “And where is Ah Ke? Did you ask him to do something?” his father demanded.


    Huang Ming smirked.


    “Will you stop laughing!” Huang Zheng exclaimed and his long, wintry beard trembled with his irritation.


    “Alright,” Huang Ming said, but the smile never disappeared. “Relax, let me tell you what to do…”


    The army in dire straits,
    But this crisis, he will navigate.
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2017
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  4. Lokumi

    Lokumi 『The second greatest trash of society』

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    Thanks for the chapter !
     
  5. idgetsxx

    idgetsxx The Real Life Snorlax

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    "Now Huang Zheng became a little disturbed. What were his sons were plotting this time?" There is an extra were. Thanks for the chapter!
     
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  6. rdawv

    rdawv The Ancient of Lore

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    “He who controls the past commands the future, He who commands the future, conquers the past.”
    --Kane, ‘Command & Conquer’


    Chapter 97 – Second Battle of Tigertrap Pass (2)


    When Yan Bei and Zhe Chou finally saw the tail end of the retreating Wu troops, they smirked in self-satisfaction. They saw that the Wu soldiers were disorderly and behaving exactly as how defeated would be.


    “Look at this lot, we should put them out of their misery,” Zhe Chou said mockingly.


    His colleague Yan Bei laughed uproariously. “And to think our general was so fearful of them!” he said loudly for everyone within earshot to hear. His subordinates chuckled maliciously in agreement.


    They were all part of the various selfish factions of Wei. Most of them were highborn and thus looked down on Ran Wei who had fought his way to the top. Besides, his overwhelming victory at Dashan Plains was through trickery. At the end of the day, it wasn’t very glorious for them to celebrate such ungentlemanly conduct. This in turn fuelled their desire to achieve merits of their own. They want to be able to say that while Ran Wei had defeated Wu, it was these noblemen who had finished the job.


    “Well, here I go,” Zhe Chou said conversationally.


    Yan Bei frowned. “Hold it, why should you be the one who gets this victory?”


    “Hah! Why don’t we vie with each other? Let’s see who will get to kill their officers!” Zhe Chou suggested.


    “That is fine, then we shall parade their heads before that upstart Ran Wei!”


    They slapped their palms together to seal the deal.


    In the distance, the Wu soldiers began to move and shout animatedly as if they had just noticed their Wei pursuers. The retreat became a chaotic rout as they threw aside their weapons and ran helter-skelter. The Wu soldiers looked very miserable, behaving like ordinary peasants running away at the first sign of violence.


    Zhe Chou and Yan Bei could not resist the temptation and immediately ordered a charge. The Wei soldiers roared with bloodthirst and surged forward. The Wu rearguard collapsed and fled without even attempting to put up a fight.


    “This is too easy!” Yan Bei laughed.


    “Perhaps too easy,” Zhe Chou said. “Remember how we had tricked Wu into complacency at Dashan Plains. We should be careful as not to fall into a similar trap.”


    Yan Bei realized that the advice was sound and ordered his men to be more cautious.


    Just as they predicted, a Wu ambush really occurred.


    “Zhao Tong is here!”


    The two Wei officers were startled when they saw the stout general who was brandishing a long spear. Then they relaxed when they saw the Wu ambushers were quite small in number, and despite the valiant Zhao Tong’s presence; they looked very reluctant to attack.


    “Just a feeble attempt to buy more time,” Yan Bei sneered. He ordered his men to push back and once again the Wu soldiers ran away even as Zhao Tong shouted at them to fight. It was almost a tragic sight, even the Wei officers felt a twinge of pity when they saw Zhao Tong gnashing his teeth in futile rage as he retreated.


    “Even if the generals want to fight, the morale of their men is completely broken. We should take this chance and assault Tigertrap Fort itself. Word of what happened at Dashan Plains surely would have reached them, they must be panicking by now,” Zhe Chou stated.


    Yan Bei agreed and the two officers ordered a march towards the fort. Along the way there were numerous little ambushes and blockades by Zhao Tong, but all were ineffectual in delaying their advance. Each minor skirmish ended with the Wu soldiers pulling back in disorder, and each little victory inflated the ego of the Wei soldiers.


    Then they saw the broken and defeated Wu troops forming a stand. A large banner with the word ‘Huang’ was emblazoned on it. At the head of these dispirited men was a general with a long, wintry beard and holding a great glaive.


    “The one ahead must be Huang Zheng, eh?” Zhe Chou called out mockingly.


    “So you know of my name! Why then do you press my men so hard?” Huang Zheng asked, almost genially like a grandfather.


    It only invited derisive laughter from the men of Wei.


    “It’s time for you to enter the grave, old man!” Yan Bei ridiculed.


    Huang Zheng angrily twirled his glaive above his head in a show of strength. “You menial! You’ll find my blade young enough!”


    Yan Bei was about to charge out to meet the venerable general in a duel, but Zhe Chou stopped him.


    “Hold it, this is just too suspicious. I’m sure Zhao Tong is hiding somewhere,” he warned.


    But after witnessing so many failed Wu attempts, Yan Bei was in no mood for such mild advice. “Hah, another ‘ambush’? After what we have seen, what do we have to fear from them? You can hold position here and keep our men on the lookout, I’ll go and collect the head of Huang Zheng,” he snorted.


    Without waiting for his colleague’s response, Yan Bei rode out and duelled Huang Zheng. Zhe Chou was nonplussed but placed his men on alert.


    The duel was a stalemate but it could be seen that the elderly Huang Zheng was having the worst of it. Soon he was parrying more than attacking, and Yan Bei was incited to launch continuous blows to finish him off.


    When it seemed that Huang Zheng could withstand no longer, Zhao Tong reappeared with some horsemen, making as if to flank Zhe Chou’s position.


    “Ra-ha-ha! I’m back!” Zhao Tong laughed, a drastic change from his earlier self.


    But Yan Bei remained unimpressed. “Here’s your so-called ambush!” he called out to his colleague, and Zhe Chou was pleased for having predicting it. His men were already warned for such an occurrence, they quickly turned to face this challenge unlike Gao Fang’s men who were too late to block Ran Wei’s devastating charge in Dashan Plains. The men of Wei adjusted their facing and lowered their spears and halberds in a porcupine position, and it seemed that Zhao Tong and his horsemen were about to impale themselves upon them.


    But Zhao Tong and his men wheeled away, as if frightened by the fearsome wall of spears that had sprouted before them.


    Zhe Chou smiled, congratulating himself for his foresight.


    “Sunli is here!” a female voice shouted.


    Zhe Chou turned around wildly and saw it was a female warrior in scale armour of black and red, wielding a long spear. She led a large group of howling men wielding axes and swords.


    “How dare you use our own trick against us!” Zhe Chou shouted indignantly, remembering the same tactic used by the Feng brothers against Du Fang. His own disdain towards Ran Wei and the Feng brothers for using this underhanded manuever disappeared and it was replaced by fear.


    Sunli wasted no words, she saw that the Wei troops were facing the wrong direction and took full advantage of her surprise appearance. She and her men crashed into the rear Zhe Chou’s troops and smashed his formation. Her men who were armed with short-ranged weapons wreaked havoc on the ponderous Wei formation.


    At the same time, Zhao Tong returned to smite them, so that the Wei troops were now caught in a pincer.


    “Yan Bei! Come back!” Zhe Chou shouted in panic.


    Yan Bei saw the dire straits his colleague was in and wanted to pull away from his duel with Huang Zheng, but the veteran general fought back ferociously.


    “You had your fun, now it’s my turn,” Huang Zheng said menacingly, and Yan Bei knew too late that he had been fooled all along. Huang Zheng’s great sword rose and fell, and Yan Bei was cleaved in two.


    Zhe Chou had no time to mourn for his colleague. He tried his best to fend off Sunli, but the amazon’s spear soon found its mark and he too fell to the earth to rise no more.


    The Wei soldiers cried piteously, how did their moment of victory become so perilous? Now it was their turn to flee, their turn to throw aside their weapons as they took to their heels.


    Huang Zheng nodded in satisfaction at the victory. It was meagre compared to the devastating defeat at Dashan Plains, but once again things have played out exactly as Huang Ming had told him.


    “We’ll lay multiple ambushes and lure them in, before destroying them in a pincer attack,” he had said.


    “What? Isn’t that exactly what they did to us at Dashan Plains? Wouldn’t they be on their guard against the same trick?” Huang Zheng had asked.


    “So what? It doesn’t mean they have exclusive rights to such schemes,” Huang Ming scoffed. “It doesn’t matter if they know our blatant intentions, it is obvious from their hot pursuit that they are confident in themselves. We just need to keep feeding their ego, and they will not be able to resist and thus fall into our trap. If they are too cautious and wouldn’t follow, then we’ll have more time to make our way to Tigertrap Fort. In any event, we will be safe at our own fort.”


    “A fort that remains closed to us,” Zhao Tong reminded him.


    “Wei don’t know that,” Huang Ming said. “Once we have dealt with these pursuers, we’ll have time to think about the fort.”


    The two generals agreed with his assessment and duly followed the drama that he had laid out for them. Zhao Tong were to act defeated and lay incompetent ambushes to earn the scorn of the enemy, and he enthusiastically did so to great effect. The sudden appearance of Sunli was another factor in surprising the Wei forces, after all Zhe Chou and Yan Bei had only been mildly concerned about Huang Zheng and Zhao Tong and paid no heed to the other nameless Wu officers.


    Huang Zheng looked down at the corpse of Yan Bei that he had split in twain, and realized that he didn’t even know of his dead opponent.


    It brought a grim smile to his face. Everything had played out as Huang Ming had predicted.


    Then he narrowed his eyes. Where was his son anyway? And what about Huang Ke?


    He grimaced with annoyance.


    Why are they making it a habit of disappearing without telling him?


    Two leaders brought low,
    Their lives they did throw,
    How were they to know,
    That they would become food for the crows.
     
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  7. Lokumi

    Lokumi 『The second greatest trash of society』

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    Thank you for the chapter
     
  8. Mufarasu

    Mufarasu Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the chapters.
    I'm still here! I didn't forget! ...for long.
     
  9. rdawv

    rdawv The Ancient of Lore

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    “The world will be better without you.”
    --Ezio Auditore, ‘Assassin’s Creed’


    Chapter 98 – Disappeared

    Elsewhere at Tigertrap Pass and far away from the battle was a lonesome Huang Ming, waiting beneath a tree. He had been waiting there for a few hours, and already the sun was beginning to set.


    Huang Ming had little concerns about the battle being waged by his father against the Wei pursuers. This was not overconfidence, but a logical assumption after carefully calculating and weighing the possibilities. The Wei pursuers were too bold to have followed the retreating Wu forces this far, and it was inevitable that they be lured into an ambush. Even if the Wei pursuers were cautious, the geographical layout of Tigertrap Pass meant that they had no choice but to advance in an obvious manner if they wanted to catch the ‘defeated’ troops of Huang Zheng and Zhao Tong.


    This was why Huang Ming was assured enough to leave the actual execution of the battle to his father. As the saying goes, a wise strategist could dictate battles from a thousand miles away.


    Indeed, Huang Ming was more concerned about the mosquitoes that were buzzing in his vicinity. He futilely slapped various parts of himself to deter their bites and found himself ruefully wishing that he had chosen a different rendezvous point.


    His grouses were interrupted when he heard a discreet whistle. He grinned and whistled back in response. Soon, a small troop of horsemen arrived, led by Huang Ke. In their midst was a dishevelled obese man; dirty and grubby. His clothes were tattered and in shambles; his mouth gagged with cloth and his hands tied as he was pulled along like a prisoner. Weariness and exhaustion weighed heavily on him, and his eyes were haunted.


    “Ho, little brother! Look at what I’ve caught!” Huang Ke called out.


    Huang Ming smiled, not wanting to remind his brother that the prisoner was only captured at his advice. Before the Wu remnants and Wei forces went into Tigertrap Pass, Huang Ming had told him to take some trusted men and patrol the entrance. They were to keep a lookout for a certain Marshal Gao Fang the Wave-Queller, the man responsible for the disaster at Dashan Plains.


    Sure enough, the marshal soon appeared near Tigertrap Pass, trying to make his escape back to Wu. He was walking on foot, having forced to abandon his luxurious carriage that had been damaged by his reckless handling. Besides, the smell of blood and guts permeating the transport sickened him. He was about to commandeer one of the horses of his few remaining subordinates who were still with him when sounds of the Wei pursuers reached their ears. Panic-stricken, his lackeys whipped their horses and abandoned the marshal to save themselves.


    They were his creatures after all, self-serving men of low quality calibre and dubious abilities that he had gathered solely to inflate his ego. Once confronted with real danger, there was no reason for them to flatter him any longer. Self-preservation was more important than pandering to the defeated marshal.


    The marshal was alone and was even entertaining the idea of finding the nearest Wei soldier to surrender when Huang Ke found him. At first the marshal thought it was a rescue, but his joy turned to despair when he was unceremoniously tied up and gagged like a prisoner.


    “You’re late. Did you make him walk all the way here?” Huang Ming asked in annoyance.


    “He deserved it,” Huang Ke said defensively.


    Huang Ming scowled. “Yes, but not me! I’ve been waiting here for hours, becoming food for the insects!” he complained.


    “Think of it as a character building exercise, little brother,” Huang Ke smirked.


    Marshal Gao Fang was almost delirious with fatigue, but hearing the light banter between the two brothers sparked fury and indignation in him. Bound and gagged, he could only glare angrily at them. When Huang Ming saw his constrained anger, he ordered the gag to be removed.


    Immediately the marshal roared furiously. “How dare you! Do you know who I am?!”


    “The Marshal of Wu, Gao Fang the Wave-Queller,” Huang Ming said mildly.


    That doused Gao Fang’s fire very quickly. He was a shrewd man and had made certain conclusions while being forced to march towards Tigertrap Fort.


    “Are you from Wei?” he asked, hope colouring his question.


    “No.”


    The marshal gulped visibly. “Then… from Wu?”


    “Yes.”


    Gao Fang closed his eyes, as if accepting his fate. When he opened them again, there was a sense of finality. Having been treated in such rough manner, he knew that all hope was lost. If his captors were from Wei, there was still a chance that he would be brought back alive as a trophy, possibly even paroled after a suitable ransom had been paid. But since they were from Wu and had shown little regard for his safety and comfort, it only meant that his life was in peril.


    “Who do you work for? Tong Xuan?” he demanded.


    Huang Ming smiled grimly. “Do you not recognize us, Marshal Gao?” he asked rhetorically.


    Gao Fang frowned and shook his head.


    “We’re the sons of Huang Zheng, and you have an unhealthy interest in our family,” Huang Ming informed him. “Did you think nobody would know about your attempt at our own home?”


    Beside him, Huang Ke snorted. He had trembled with rage when Huang Ming had told him what had happened. Their mother and Cao Shuang had written letters detailing the kidnapping plot, and Huang Ming had intercepted them to avoid distracting his father before the decisive battle at Dashan Plains.


    Huang Ming had calculated about Wu’s massive defeat there, but up to that point he had no plans for the marshal. He was more concerned about the eventual retreat back to Tigertrap Pass. But once he had read the letters, he knew he had to get rid of the marshal once and for all. After the battle was concluded in Wei’s favour, he drew his elder brother aside and whispered instructions for him to slip away from their father’s eyes. Once the retreat was under way, Huang Ke was to loiter around the entrance of Tigertrap Pass with a few trusted men to capture the fleeing marshal.


    The marshal stared at them in horror. Then his face twisted in rage. “Huang Zheng! Pfaugh! I knew it! All that reputation of honour was just a window dressing, in the end he is also a dirty schemer!”


    “You are mistaken,” Huang Ming said coldly. “My father knows nothing of this. In fact, I wager that he had completely forgotten about you, he has more important things to worry about.”


    Gao Fang sneered in disbelief. “Don’t bother playing him up like some holy man. His shit is just as foul as mine!”


    Huang Ming raised an eyebrow and gave him a once-over; causing the marshal to flush at the mocking, dismissive gesture.


    “The one remotely similar thing you have in common with my father is in your choice of subordinates,” Huang Ming said slowly.


    His brother was offended. “What the hell do you mean by that?”


    Huang Ming shrugged. “Qin Lang, the guy he appointed to hold Tigertrap Fort is refusing to open the gates, because of his loyalty to the marshal. Similarly, we’re doing this for our father.”


    Upon hearing the name Qin Lang, a glimmer of hope appeared in Gao Fang’s eyes. “Hah! So you want me to order Qin Lang to open the gates?” he dared to ask.


    Huang Ming shook his head. “There’s no need. You’re here because it’s time to end your feud with our father.”


    His faint hope extinguished, Gao Fang trembled in fear. “But how are you to return to Wu without opening Tigertrap Fort?”


    “That is no longer your concern,” Huang Ming told him. He nodded to his brother, and Huang Ke unsheathed his sword. It was already nightfall, and the sword’s metal glinted with the moonlight.


    “You can’t do this! I’m the Marshal of Wu!” Gao Fang shouted in terror. He tried to scurry away, but strong hands from Huang Ke’s soldiers pinned him down in place.


    “You have perverted your office to suit your own desires,” Huang Ming said tonelessly. “You have been vain, ambitious, greedy. You treated your responsibilities lightly, and a hundred thousand men have been lost. You are rich and powerful, but still covetous of others. Your crimes are heavy, your sins unforgivable.”


    “No...no! No! I’ll pay you! I’ll give you everything!”


    A feeling of disgust welled in the men as they witnessed the Marshal of Wu disgracing himself. What was this base creature that had dared to stir a hundred thousand men into battle for his own convenience?


    In one swift motion, Huang Ke mercilessly chopped off his head.


    Marshal Gao Fang the Wave-Queller was no more.


    The Wave-Queller went to war,
    Seeking glory and more,
    On his chariot he met The Onslaught,
    And his dreams came to naught.
    The field of battle did he cede,
    Not caring that his men still bleed.
    Where he went, it’s a mystery,
    Now a mere footnote in history.
     
  10. Mufarasu

    Mufarasu Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the chapter.
    Are they just gonna go around the fort now, or something else?
     
  11. idgetsxx

    idgetsxx The Real Life Snorlax

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    Thanks!
     
  12. Lokumi

    Lokumi 『The second greatest trash of society』

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    Aah, his death is deserved, thanks for the chapter
     
  13. rdawv

    rdawv The Ancient of Lore

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    “It's awful, awful, awful, awful, and then something incredible happens. And then it's awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, awful and then something incredible happens again.”
    --'The Backup Plan'


    Chapter 99 – I have a plan

    By the time Huang Ming and Huang Ke returned, the second battle of Tigertrap Pass was already over. The dead were being buried, the wounded were being tended to and the survivors were making makeshift preparations to camp for the night.


    The battle did not yield too many prisoners. The defeated Wei soldiers were allowed to flee after their leaders were slain. Huang Zheng did not order a vigorous pursuit as he feared a follow-up force from Ran Wei.


    “Where the hell have you two been?” Huang Zheng demanded as soon as they entered his makeshift tent. With him were Zhao Tong and Sunli. The tanned woman’s eyes flashed when she saw Huang Ming and looked away when he smiled at her in greeting.


    Huang Ke nudged his younger brother with an elbow, signalling for him to speak. The unsavoury business regarding Gao Fang was his idea after all.


    “Just wrapping up loose ends,” Huang Ming said enigmatically, and Huang Ke couldn’t resist a grin.


    Just looking at the two scheming brothers was enough to give their father a headache. Zhao Tong who was in attendance chortled at the sight


    “I’m glad that you lot can still find humour in this situation,” he grumbled. “Now see if you can find a way to open the gates to Tigertrap Fort!”


    “Calm down, let’s have some tea,” Huang Ming said.


    “Will you please be serious!” his father fired back.


    “Relax. I have a cunning plan…” Huang Ming murmured placatingly.


    Huang Zheng clutched his forehead to ease the throbbing headache. Ever since his youngest son’s change of heart, he had grown wary of his slyness. Previously he only had a silver tongue to tell lies, a cast-iron stomach for drinking and a brain filled with lust. But now… now it seemed that his new attitude had a tinge of duplicity and manipulation.


    He was glad that his son had found maturity, but he was not sure that he liked the sarcasm and lackadaisical attitude that came with it. Huang Zheng had the impression that his youngest son was becoming quite insidious.


    “Well, what is it?” the general asked with a sigh.


    “Tomorrow we’ll march to the fort and publicly demand for the gates to open,” Huang Ming replied.


    “And?”


    “And we’ll see how Qin Lang reacts,” Huang Ming said blandly.


    One could almost see the veins on Huang Zheng’s forehead pulsing. “Is that it? Your cunning plan is to run to the walls and talk?” he growled through clenched teeth.


    “It’s for our benefit as well. Surely by now his scouts would have reported the battle with the Wei pursuers. At the very least, he would realize that something has gone wrong with the marshal. Maybe he’ll even open the gates if we ask for it,” Huang Ming said.


    Zhao Tong snorted. “And if he should answer our request with a hail of arrows? What then?”


    Huang Ming smiled faintly. “He will not risk doing something like that in public. Even if he hates our guts, he could hardly ask the ordinary soldiers to attack the Great General Huang Zheng.”


    Zhao Tong scratched his short beard in a short of reluctance. “I’m not going to risk becoming a porcupine solely on one person’s good name, even if it’s your father’s,” he rumbled.


    “Don’t worry, we’ll take it slowly and cautiously. We have all the time in the world,” Huang Ming said easily.


    “Have you forgotten about Ran Wei?” Zhao Tong asked, raising an eyebrow. “He had scored a huge victory at Dashan Plains but we have given him a slap in return. There’s no way that he’ll take this affront so calmly, he must be furious.”


    “Why?” Huang Ming smirked.


    Huang Zheng glared at him. “What do you mean ‘why’. We have killed two of his leaders. Surely he would press on and retake Tigertrap Fort itself.”


    Huang Ming laughed. “And then what? You all have placed too much importance on the fort, there is no reason for Ran Wei to take it at this point of time.”


    “If not now, then when?” Zhao Tong asked.


    Huang Ming elaborated, “Tigertrap Fort is just an inconvenient cork in the wine bottle. You’re assuming he wants to take the cork out to drink… but Ran Wei is no drunkard. Even if he were to take the fort now, the state of Wei is too exhausted to do anything more. On the contrary, for them to hold Tigertrap Fort at this point would be stretching their supply lines thin. Didn’t we spent a month rampaging their countryside? We had driven away their farmers, seized their crops and burned their lands. It will take at least a year or so for them to stockpile resources for a campaign, to say nothing about rebuilding the losses their army had suffered prior to Dashan Plains.”


    His father’s brows creased with thought. “You mean to say that even if he wants Tigertrap Fort, there’s no real benefit for doing so? Because Wei won’t have the strength to continue after he captures it?”


    Huang Ming nodded. “That’s right. And I’m willing to bet that the leaders you have killed here were jealous of Ran Wei. If they truly wanted to assault the fort, where’s the rest of their forces? Remember the information given by Qiong Ying, their military is riven with factionalism. We have seen this first hand when we were first confronted by Fei Yue instead of Ran Wei himself. If I were him, I would prefer to take this chance to claim my supremacy, rather than risking an attrition here. Though our soldiers are damaged in morale, the fact remains that we have many veterans still; and enough supplies to last us awhile. We could simply remain in the fort and it would be very difficult to dislodge us.”


    “But we’re not in the fort,” Huang Ke pointed out the obvious flaw.


    “A temporary situation,” Huang Ming replied confidently.


    “It sounds very plausible, but you’re riding awfully a lot on assumptions,” their father said doubtfully.


    Huang Ming shrugged. “Well, if you’re that worried then we can make some preparations for tomorrow.”


    “What sort of preparations?”


    Huang Ming then listed some items and asked for some men who were skilful with their hands. When Huang Zheng and the rest heard his demands, they gawked at him.


    “What exactly are you up to?” they asked.


    Huang Ming smirked. “This is just a backup. Actually, the backup to the backup. If all goes well we might not be using these things at all. My initial plan is far less dramatic. But rest assured we’ll be in the fort tomorrow, with or without Qin Lang’s blessing.”


    Huang Zheng, Zhao Tong and Huang Ke were understandably curious, but sent orders to prepare the material and men that he had asked for. While waiting for them, Huang Ming took the opportunity to go away and find a quiet spot to rest, but hardly had he sat down when a shadow loomed over him.


    He looked up and saw the glowering face of his amazon fiancée, Sunli. The dusky-skinned, athletic woman was scowling at him, her hands on her hips.


    “What are you planning?” she demanded bluntly.


    “I’m about to take nap actually,” Huang Ming replied honestly.


    “Cut the nonsense, you know what I mean,” Sunli said testily.


    “What do you think?” Huang Ming countered, staring back at her.


    Sunli looked away. “I think you’re going to do something reckless again. Like the time when you first entered the fort and captured it on your own,” she said accusingly.


    “You’re that worried?” Huang Ming asked.


    “Your mother made me promise to keep you safe,” she reminded him stiffly.


    It was an obvious cover-story, but Huang Ming knew better than to act like some flirty young master dealing with a prickly woman. Seeing her being so awkward made him aware that he could not put off the matter of their engagement forever, and he was not about to pretend that it didn’t happen… nor make a half-baked plan from a sappy love drama to drive her away.


    Thus, he decided to take the direct approach.


    “Do you want to talk about things between us?” he asked quietly.


    She bared her teeth in a snarl. “Do you take me to be some love-struck fool? How did you make such a leap from me asking a simple question?”


    Huang Ming winced. “I’m sorry,” he said in contrition, executing the Standard Male Response. He was experienced enough to know that he shouldn’t qualify the apology as it would imply that she was the one who had misunderstood him, however irrational that was.


    Sunli opened her mouth, as if wanting to say more. But seeing the apologetic expression on his face ventilated her anger, and she merely exhaled heavily.


    “Don’t do anything stupid tomorrow,” she warned him.


    “If things go well, I shouldn’t need to,” Huang Ming said with a grin.

    A small chore,
    To open the door.
     
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  14. rdawv

    rdawv The Ancient of Lore

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    “Who dares wins.”
    --David Sterling


    Chapter 100 – Repossession

    The next day saw a stand-off. The remnants of the grand army that had departed gloriously under Marshal Gao Fang had returned before the walls of Tigertrap Fort under very different circumstances. A hundred thousand soldiers had marched through the fort, now barely forty thousand returned. Most of the officers were missing, including the marshal himself. The most senior commander in charge of the weary survivors was Great General Huang Zheng. In an ironic twist of fate, the first leader to have ventured into Wei was also the first one to return alive and well.


    In Tigertrap Fort, Qin Lang was trying his best to remain calm. He did not expect for Huang Zheng and Zhao Tong to boldly march here, despite his refusal to open the gates. It was a tense situation as the defenders of the fort faced against the returning soldiers, but fortunately he had replaced most of the garrison with his own people. Even so, Qin Lang thought he could see the reluctance in his soldiers when he told them to wear their armour and take up their arms. Why were they on their guard against heroes of their country?


    “Qin Lang! Open the gates!” Huang Zheng called out.


    “As I said before, I cannot open the gates without the marshal’s orders!” Qin Lang shouted back.


    Huang Zheng grimaced. “The marshal has fled, nobody knows whither had he gone!”


    There was a sneer on Qin Lang’s face. “Why does the general besmirch the marshal so? Your feud is known to all, I did not expect you to bring your private quarrel into public matters!”


    It took all the self-control Huang Zheng had not to explode into a paroxysm of swearing. Nearby, Huang Ming saw his father’s face turn into an interesting shade of purplish rage. Zhao Tong too was gnashing his teeth in anger, his short beard bristling. As entertaining as it was, Huang Ming knew the fury was real and decided to step in before his elders pop a blood vessel.


    “At least allow the wounded to return! They can no longer participate in the campaign, let them have shelter and rest!” Huang Ming said.


    Qin Lang thought he had stung Huang Zheng into silence, and thus was emboldened.


    “What if there are Wei spies hiding in your midst? No, the marshal’s order is quite clear. Nobody is to return without the proper authorization!” he said with a vicious smile. The rat-faced man did not notice the wave of doubt spreading in his own troops when they heard his callous words.


    “Why are you so heartless?” Huang Ming asked, dangling a rope for Qin Lang to hang himself.


    The man with rat-whiskers did not disappoint. Qin Lang waved a hand is dismissal as he proclaimed, “Our country have no use for men who would not fight. I do not know by what scheme you have misled them to come here, but if you rejoin the marshal in his great crusade, I’m sure all would be forgiven!”


    Huang Ming put on a look of disbelief. “You would push the weak and injured to fight a lost cause?” he asked imploringly.


    “It would be their honour to sacrifice for the country!” Qin Lang said righteously.


    Zhao Tong laughed in derision. “Qin Lang, pray tell us; what battles have you fought? Why don’t you come and take our place then?”


    Qin Lang did not get to where he was without having a thick skin, thus such rebuke did not shame him.


    “Each man has his duties, mine did not take me to the front. On the other hand, Generals Huang and Zhao, you are frontline commanders! Go forth and do your duty, I’m sure the marshal will find use for you!” he said as he tugged on his rat whiskers in gloating fashion.


    Huang Zheng and Zhao Tong were perfectly furious, but Huang Ming stopped them from launching an actual assault on the fort. He told them to retire the army a safe distance away. The weary and wounded soldiers were itching for a fight after hearing Qin Lang’s shameless diatribe but obeyed.


    One of Qin Lang’s subordinates went to speak with him. “Sir, what if it’s true? Shouldn’t we at least ascertain the truth?” he asked, remembering the indignant looks on the men that they had so cruelly turned away.


    “I will not disobey the marshal,” Qin Lang said coldly. “Even if it’s all true, it would only mean that Huang Zheng and Zhao Tong had fled the battlefield to save themselves. All they have is their word about what happened, but I have a valid, standing mandate and I intend to follow it. Do not worry, we are merely doing our duty. We have the law on our side.”


    ***


    “Well, what do we do now, my brilliant son?” Huang Zheng asked sarcastically.


    “The men I picked are ready, I have told them about what needs to be done. Tonight I’ll go and open the gates. Have your best veterans be ready to storm in quickly,” Huang Ming stated nonchalantly.


    “You’re not going anywhere until you explain further,” his father replied. Nearby, Huang Ming could feel the heat from Sunli’s glowering stare on his back.


    “Fine, fine…” Huang Ming sighed. “It’s like this…”


    They were not reassured after hearing his explanation.


    “What recklessness! I actually thought you had a real plan! What you’re suggesting is suicide!” his father exclaimed.


    Huang Ming shrugged. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”


    “Then let me come with you,” Huang Ke said.


    Huang Ming gave him a once over and shook his head. “Too big, too heavy, too conspicuous,” Huang Ming said, and his brother unhappily agreed with his assessment.


    “What about me?” Sunli demanded.


    Huang Ming opened his mouth to respond negatively when he saw the tanned woman narrow her eyes, as if daring him to say something about her weight. Wisely he shut his mouth and nodded meekly.


    “This does not look like a job for mortals,” Zhao Tong said worriedly.


    “Relax, I’ve done this before,” Huang Ming said with a smile. ‘In another life, at another world…’


    ***


    That night, a small troop of a dozen men stealthily approached Tigertrap Fort. The men were all dressed in black and they virtually blended into the darkness of the night. In addition to their daggers and hand axes, all were carrying a backpack each.


    Sunli thought they were to quietly scale the fort’s walls, but then Huang Ming led them to the canyon rockface instead.


    “Alright, listen up. We’re going to climb up this cliff. Halfway to the top is a ledge and a small cave, we’ll gather there,” Huang Ming announced.


    “So that’s why you go climbing in your free time,” Sunli exclaimed.


    “Do you think I climbed these places just for fun?” Huang Ming smirked.


    Sunli’s half-lidded stare was enough answer, apparently she did think that his hobby was just that.


    “But why are we climbing here?” she asked. “Do you mean to clamber back down into the fort afterwards? But that will take ages, and we’ll all be too exhausted afterwards to do anything useful!”


    “You’ll see, don’t ask so much!” Huang Ming admonished, causing the men to chuckle. Sunli’s eyes flashed angrily, and the men quietened down. They knew better than to antagonize the fearsome Amazon.


    “I’ll go first. I’ll mark the handholds with chalk, so take your time and don’t panic!” Huang Ming told them.


    With Huang Ming leading the way, the odd dozen made the climb. The men were brave on the battlefield but something unfamiliar as this made them nervous. When they saw Sunli climbing up fearlessly, it inflamed their sense of competition. They were helped by the relatively low difficulty of the rockface, and the later climbers were assisted by a guiding rope once Huang Ming reached the ledge.


    Still, a few were huffing and puffing as the height and darkness compounded their difficulties.


    Sunli joined Huang Ming at the ledge, from their position they could look down at Tigertrap Fort. But it still entailed a long, dangerous shimmy across the rockface, and Sunli was doubtful of the entire enterprise.


    “This won’t work,” she said softly as not to disturb the men. “I don’t see how you’re going to lead them all across the face of this cliff and then climb down into the fort.”


    “Who said anything about climbing down?” Huang Ming said with a smile. He snapped his fingers to get the attention of his men, and they quickly unslung their backpacks. As she did not have one, Sunli watched on with curiosity as each person unpacked a large canvas of sorts and securing it to their belts via metal anchors and ropes. Then they checked the canvas for creases and folds.


    “What is this?” she inquired as the men busied themselves.


    Huang Ming made a sliding motion with his hand, ending it with his fingers splayed open. “It’s a parachute,” he said, before turning to face his men. “Alright lads, we got a dark moon and little wind tonight. So keep calm and remember the plan. Have your knives ready to cut the parachute off, we’ll have to move fast.”


    “A what now? I don’t understand, what does it do?” Sunli asked warily even as the men nodded and signalled their readiness. By now, the men were wearing mouth masks that was garishly decorated with motifs of sharp fangs and dangling tongues, making them look like bloodthirsty demons.


    “Something to gently drop us down when we jump,” Huang Ming explained off-handedly as he pulled on his own mouth mask.


    “When we jump?” Sunli exclaimed. “What about me? I don’t have one!”


    Huang Ming grinned wolfishly underneath his mask as he slid an arm across the small of her back and pulled her close.


    “Hold on tight!”


    Before she could mount a further protest, Huang Ming made a running leap. The crude canvas parachute spread open behind them to slow their descent, but Sunli was still terrified. Her eyes squeezed shut when she felt her legs dangling in the air. Instinctively her arms and legs twined themselves onto Huang Ming. Perhaps if she had peeked at his smug eyes, her fright would be replaced by anger.


    This wasn’t a romantic interlude, the drop was actually quite short which was why Huang Ming was confident about the canvas that was normally used for tents. Despite the urgency of the situation, he couldn’t help but enjoy the moment. The redoubtable Amazon who was a fiery war goddess on the battlefield was now as timid as a rabbit in his arms.


    “Brace yourself, we’re going to tuck and roll into some company!” he said to Sunli’s ears. She opened her eyes to see the parapets rushing up to meet them, and she reflexively bent her knees to absorb the impact. In one swift motion they landed and rolled forward, and Sunli jumped back onto her feet.


    On the parapets of Tigertrap Fort, the guards did not notice their approach until they were already landing. How could they, when they had absolutely no reason to think that an attack could come from above. When Huang Ming and the first of his men landed on the walls, the guards stood still and gawked. Then they saw these black figures with their terrible teeth. And they came from the sky!



    “Demons!”


    Huang Ming’s men added to the confusion by howling and baying for blood. They quickly whipped out their short swords and hand axes and charged towards the defenders. The people of this world were still a superstition lot and the guards fled without a fight, screaming in terror as they ran away in panic. They simply did not think of using the bows and spears in their hands to resist.


    “The gatehouse!” Huang Ming ordered, and his men quickly swarmed the installation. By now the fort was waking up to the cries of alarm, torches were being lit and the men were being roused. But it was too late, for Huang Ming’s infiltrators had opened the gates.


    Almost immediately a cavalry unit led by Huang Ke appeared. He charged into the fort to quickly reinforce his brother.


    The rest was almost a formality. Qin Lang was not the sort to inspire military confidence, and most of the men quickly surrendered when they saw the attackers were the very same people that they had heartlessly drove away earlier.


    By the time Huang Zheng and Zhao Tong showed up proper with the main force, Qin Lang himself had been captured, and the fort was back in the hands of the Huangs.


    “Rebellion! This is rebellion!” Qin Lang sputtered at the two aged generals.


    “Qin Lang, come to your senses. Our army really was defeated, and Marshal Gao really is missing,” Huang Zheng said, pitying the delusional man.


    “B-b-but.. but we had a hundred thousand men! How could we lose?” Qin Lang said as his shoulders slumped in disbelief. Huang Zheng shook his head, already thinking about how to inform the royal court of the disaster. But first, time to give his son a dressing down.


    “That was ridiculously dangerous,” he said.


    “But it worked,” his son answered lazily.


    “If you keep this up, there won’t be a next time,” Huang Zheng growled.


    “Alright, next time I’ll just build a secret big red button that would blow up the fort on command,” Huang Ming replied. Then he frowned, and Huang Zheng saw that his son was actually seriously entertaining such an idea.


    Events proceeded very quickly thereafter. Huang Zheng took control of the fort and reorganized its defences, this time paying attention to what his youngest son had done, adding spikes and more torches to prevent similar ambushes.


    In the Wu capital of Gusu city, news of Marshal Gao’s colossal failure soon spread and reached the courts. The King of Wu, ill as he was; hastily convened an emergency meeting.


    In a way, Marshal Gao’s disappearance provided a convenient scapegoat for the entire affair. The impetus of war and the failure of the campaign was heaped at his feet. The king distanced himself from the stigma of defeat, and court officials soon poured memorials after memorials decrying the marshal’s warmongering and waste of lives. Even if the marshal was alive, he would find himself unwelcome in his home country. His family name quickly fell into disgrace, and his clan’s influenced waned. The likes of Qin Lang and other lackeys that were associated with the marshal were dismissed, and a search for the new leader of the armies began. The obvious choice was Huang Zheng, but he was needed to stand against Wei. Other officers and generals who were sidelined by Gao Fang cast their eyes towards the capital…


    The one who benefited the most of this debacle was Prime Minister Tong Xuan. Though he had a hand in the war’s conception, it was Gao Fang who took charge of it. Before anyone could rebuke him, Tong Xuan had sent in a pre-emptive memorial to express his remorse. The King of Wu did not want to lose his loyal ‘Heavenly Hound’ and thus quickly glossed over his faults. The few remaining upright officials of the court were outraged, but they were unable to defy their king.


    In the midst of all this terrible atmosphere, the court frantically searched for a silver lining. Huang Zheng and Zhao Tong’s return was lauded as ‘miraculous’, and their deeds to save their men were praised to the heavens to contrast against the marshal’s crimes. Huang Zheng was formally installed as the Guardian of the West, and Tigertrap Fort was officially under his direct command with Zhao Tong as his colleague.


    Still, the King of Wu was troubled. Marshal Gao was gone, and the two generals Huang and Zhao were already aged. Were there no young heroes in his kingdom?


    It was then that the names of Huang Ke, Huang Ming and Sunli reached his ears; whispered by the loyal officials who were seeking new tools to check Prime Minister Tong Xuan’s influence. Huang Ke was a busy military officer assisting his father at Tigertrap Fort, while Sunli was just a woman. Surely her exploits had been exaggerated.


    But Huang Ming, wasn’t he the poet whose works had shook the country? Was he gifted as a strategist as well?


    “Send forth an edict and call Huang Ming to the capital!”


    Thus, a new part begins...

    Marshal Gao played with soldiers,
    Wanted too much on his shoulders.
    Ran Wei the merciless,
    Took advantage of his carelessness.
    One hundred thousand lives wasted in battle,
    Pity them, slaughtered like so much chattel.
    But lo! Generals Huang and Zhao,
    Made of iron, they did not bow.
    A young tactician gave them a scheme,
    With it they broke a situation most grim.
    They took the defeated home safe and sound,
    And even killed two Wei officers of renown.
    The old have been swept away,
    New leaders emerge from the gray,
    Now the young master is called to court,
    A new intrigue for him to consort...

    END PART TWO - THE WAVE-QUELLER’S FOLLY
     
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  15. Lokumi

    Lokumi 『The second greatest trash of society』

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    Eh, thank you :)
     
  16. Deleted member 41274

    Deleted member 41274 Guest

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    *pokes*
    it's the big 100th chapter haha
     
  17. Lokumi

    Lokumi 『The second greatest trash of society』

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    Oooh, I didn't saw this !
    CONGRATS !!!!!!!!
    I offer you a star for this :)
     
  18. Deleted member 41274

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    keke you read it but ignore the number XD \(~_~)/ you know I thought this comment section is like the comment section of any other novel like ISSTH etc
     
  19. Lokumi

    Lokumi 『The second greatest trash of society』

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    Well I don't know the number of the current chapter of ISSTH neither...
     
  20. Deleted member 41274

    Deleted member 41274 Guest

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    my point is that when certain milestones are reached people will say congratulations and stuff in the comment section, which I like a lot. ISSTH was just an example, but maybe from what I see, you never check the chapter number? haha