Real Mount and Blade Game

The cobblestone streets of Deherme echoed with the sound of victorious hooves and heavy boots, but the somber atmosphere did not dissipate with the return home.

The smoke of battle still seemed to cling to the armor of the Wood Elf village. Soldiers silently escorted the crowd of prisoners, and the air was filled with dust, blood, and a barely perceptible sense of despair.

Shen Mu walked straight through the noisy prisoner-of-war area without returning to the council hall.

His destination was clear.

Deep within the castle compound lies a special cell, temporarily reinforced and guarded by both the Holy Tree Knights and the Lake Rat Gang saboteurs.

Zhang Bo lay on the cold stone slab.

The Holy Light of Pastor Aidengard barely kept the penetrating wound in his chest from expanding. The edges of the gruesome wound were an ominous blackish-purple, and the bones beneath the deep skin were clearly visible.

A uniquely shaped elven dagger, Yang Di's murder weapon, was still stuck diagonally not far from his heart.

Following Shen Mu's strict orders, the pastors only performed the most basic hemostasis and stabilization treatments and did not remove the knife.

This serves both to prevent sudden, massive bleeding and death, and as a form of torture that continuously inflicts on the prisoner's will.

'Squeak—'

The heavy iron gate slowly opened, cutting a narrow strip of light from the torchlight in the corridor outside.

Shen Mu's figure appeared at the end of the band of light.

He changed out of the battlefield-stained sacred tree armor and into a more practical but still well-tailored and expensive black fitted outfit, with a cloak lined with dark red velvet.

He slowly stepped into the room and silently stopped in front of the stone platform. His boot heels made a slight cracking sound as they stepped on the small scabs on the ground.

The guarding knight immediately bowed and quietly withdrew. The heavy iron door closed again, leaving only Zhang Bo's heavy, labored breathing and Shen Mu's calm, abyss-like gaze inside.

Condescending.

Shen Mu's gaze swept over the extremely pale and distorted face caused by blood loss and pain, and finally settled on the dazzling elven dagger.

A barely perceptible curve appeared at the corner of his lips, not a smile, but a scrutinizing look, almost like appreciating an object.

“I thought you would die sooner.” Shen Mu spoke, his voice low and calm, yet it pierced the deathly silence of the cell like an ice pick: “Yang Di’s stab, the location looked alright, but I didn’t expect you to hold on so well, which saved me a lot of trouble searching.”

Zhang Bo's eyelashes trembled violently. He tried his best to open his eyes, but his heavy eyelids seemed to be glued together. In the blurry light and shadow, he could only see a figure with a deep outline, exuding a cold and oppressive aura.

He could feel that gaze fixed on the knife in his chest, and a chilling shame and pain instantly seared his nerves.

"Uh..." A broken sob escaped his throat, laced with thick, bloody foam: "...It...it's you..."

"I sent someone to find you."

Shen Mu seemed very patient. He extended his finger, but did not touch the cold hilt directly. Instead, he hovered it half an inch above the hilt very slowly. An invisible pressure seemed to press heavily on the wound through the air: "It was I who asked them to save you. After all, a living Zhang Bo who can still speak is more valuable than a lump of rotten flesh."

Zhang Bo's body trembled violently from the invisible pressure. His violent coughing tore at his wounds, making his vision go black.

He gasped for breath, saying haltingly, "...You...you want to know...everything...I know...about the Green Leaf...Group..."

"Green Leaf Group?" Shen Mu raised an eyebrow, as if he had heard something extremely ridiculous.

His hovering finger finally fell, but instead of touching the hilt, he flicked the rough wooden end of the hilt lightly.

Om-!
The minute vibrations are precisely transmitted through the blade to the depths of the wound.

An indescribable, bone-chilling pain instantly swept over Zhang Bo's entire body. He arched his back violently, then collapsed weakly back onto the stone slab, letting out a scream that was not human. Cold sweat instantly soaked through his thin clothes.

“Green Leaf Group? Yang Di?” Shen Mu’s voice was filled with undisguised contempt: “A fool who was stabbed in the back by his own master, a idiot who squandered his last trump card and even attracted the ‘cleaners’ of a higher plane? He and his crappy group deserve to stay in the dustbin of history now. What secrets could he possibly have that would make me specifically pull you back to ask you?”

As the excruciating pain subsided slightly, Zhang Bo gasped for breath, his mind a complete blank.

Not for the sake of the green leaves?

So why?
Is it just to torment oneself?

Seemingly seeing through the confusion in his eyes, Shen Mu leaned down slightly, his deep eyes like two cold pools, precisely locking onto Zhang Bo's barely open, bloodshot eyes.

"I knew what you were from the very beginning."

These words, like a bolt of lightning, suddenly shattered Zhang Bo's dazed mind!

“At the diesel company, I knew at first glance that you, Zhang Bo, were never a true prophetic mage who had genuinely pledged allegiance to us.”

Shen Mu's voice was calm and even, yet every word struck Zhang Bo's heart like a heavy hammer: "You are a mole planted by Green Leaf Group in the diesel company. Now that the diesel company has collapsed, you've transformed yourself into a 'lost soul' who has come to Deherim for revenge or 'yearning for the light'? What a lame script."

Zhang Bo's breathing stopped instantly.

He stared at Shen Mu in disbelief, his pupils dilating rapidly with extreme shock and fear.

impossible!
He was so deeply hidden!
He played the role so perfectly!
Even the people at the diesel company thought he was real...

Shen Mu's icy narration continued, each word like a cold scalpel, precisely peeling away what he thought was a flawless disguise: "Zhang Song is very cautious, but unfortunately, the people around him have slipped up. Your method of transmitting intelligence is very secretive, but there are still traces to follow. Do you think that those inconspicuous 'coincidental' pieces of information can influence my judgment of Green Leaf? Or do you think that the warnings you, as a 'prophet,' gave to Yang Di can really help him?"

Zhang Bo felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight up to the top of his head, colder than the knife wound that pierced his chest!
His lips trembled violently: "You...how could you...not..."

"How would I know?"

Shen Mu straightened up, hands behind his back, looking down at the dying spy, his tone carrying a hint of knowing mockery: "It's simple. Because you need to 'play a role,' you need to prove to your master that you're still alive and useful. So the seemingly insignificant things you 'predicted' in Deherm always 'coincidentally' overlap with the intelligence Yang Di obtained. These 'overlaps,' which you see as signals proving your identity and ability, are, in my eyes, nothing more than the crawling tracks left between two poisonous insects." "You're using me?!"

Zhang Bo's consciousness was briefly cleared by the enormous impact, and anger, humiliation, and the despair of being mocked instantly overwhelmed the pain.

He cried out hoarsely, his chest heaving violently, and more black blood seeped from his wound.

"if not?"

Shen Mu countered, his tone matter-of-fact: "From the moment you stepped into Deherim, you were already a pawn on my chessboard. How could a skilled player not make the most of his resources? Placing you in the position of 'Prophecy Mage' not only puts Yang Di at ease, making him arrogantly believe that he still has eyes by my side, but it also subtly guides his judgment about Deherim through the 'smoke' you release. You think you're helping him? No, you're just leading Yang Di step by step into the abyss of self-destruction for me."

Boom!

Shen Mu's words were like a final verdict, completely shattering the last bit of support deep within Zhang Bo's heart.

He trembled, not from the excruciating pain, but from the overwhelming sense of absurdity and the sorrow of being utterly manipulated.

Loyalty to oneself?

Should they go into hiding themselves?

Everything she had given, including being stabbed in the back by Yang Di without hesitation...

"Is it worth it?"

Shen Mu's icy voice rang out again, like a devil's whisper, carrying a sharp sarcasm: "For Yang Di, who was the first person you thought of when the main plane's power interfered, and who couldn't wait to sever ties with you? For a madman who was still thinking of using the power of the Wood Elf plane to turn the tables when you were desperately trying to pass on information and were ultimately nailed to the ground by him?"

"puff--!"

The pent-up grief, immense grievance, and pain of betrayal finally reached their peak, overwhelming the limits of the body.

Zhang Bo suddenly spat out a mouthful of scalding black blood, tears mixed with blood, gushing out uncontrollably like a burst dam.

He was no longer the cool-headed spy, no longer the loyal undercover agent, but a pitiful creature abandoned by his own beliefs and the object of his loyalty, his wounds ruthlessly torn open by his adversaries, and exposed to naked pain.

“It’s not worth it…not worth it at all…” He seemed to be talking to himself, or perhaps accusing fate, his voice choked and broken, every word dripping with blood and tears: “…Yang Di…he deserves to die…he deserves to die!”

He stared intently at the knife belonging to Yang Di in front of his chest, as if he could see Yang Di's cold and even disgusted eyes as he fell.

All my efforts, all my lurking, all my suffering, were worth less than a withered blade of grass in the eyes of that selfish and ruthless master!

The intense emotional turmoil caused the life-sustaining spell chains to flicker wildly, and an alarm faintly sounded outside the cell.

Shen Mu watched all of this quietly, witnessing the collapse of this dying, abandoned child. There was no pity, no satisfaction, only a kind of indifference that came from the realization that "the resource's value had been exhausted."

He slowly raised his hand, and the knight standing outside the door immediately and silently reopened the heavy iron door through a crack.

"Your life is a tragedy co-directed by Yang Di and me."

Shen Mu's voice, like a final verdict, clearly pierced Zhang Bo's ears: "Your self-righteous loyalty is a tragedy, your meticulously staged betrayal is a tragedy, even this knife in your chest is the final footnote to your tragedy. And the reason for directing this tragedy—"

Shen Mu took a step forward and walked towards the open door. The hem of his dark red cloak drew a cold arc under the light, and his figure was about to disappear into the light and shadow.

"—Simply because you once had a tiny bit of value to me, like being a piece of trash. That's all."

The moment he finished speaking, he disappeared outside the door.

The iron gate slammed shut, completely isolating the inside from the outside.

Zhang Bo stared blankly at the cold stone ceiling with his lifeless eyes, tears streaming silently down his face.

The elven dagger at his chest, illuminated by the eerie blue light, gleamed with a cold luster, like an unhealed brand of shame.

It all turned out to be nothing more than a phrase originating from Shen Mu: "making use of waste."

The loyalty for which he risked his life and the betrayal for which he suffered heartbreak were, in the eyes of this high and mighty lord, nothing more than a lighthearted joke and dust on a cold chessboard.

Beneath that blade, only a shattered heart remained, filled with despair and regret.

The iron door of the cell slammed shut behind Shen Mu, shutting out Zhang Bo's silent, despairing world.

The stone corridor was cold and oppressive, filled with a mixture of disinfectant and a faint smell of blood.

Shen Mu had only taken a few steps when two figures emerged from the shadows—the steward Manid and James.

They had clearly been waiting for a while.

Manid bowed and said in a low, cautious voice, "My lord, everything has been arranged. As for the handling of Zhang Bo and Yang Di, some of the servants have been discussing it, privately wondering why their lives were spared."

James interjected, his tone carrying the caution of a physician: "Especially Yang Di, whose injuries are extremely severe. Keeping him alive will require a considerable amount of medicine and effort. Zhang Bo's stab wound to the chest is also quite difficult to treat."

The mockery that had been on Shen Mu's face in the cell had not completely faded. Hearing this, he merely curled his lips slightly, his gaze fixed on the flickering torchlight in the depths of the corridor. His voice was calm yet carried an undeniable power: "Don't understand? Then let them understand."

Manid understood immediately, took a half step forward, and whispered, "Your Excellency's plans are profound, and we naturally understand their meaning. If we don't kill these two, the primary strategy is what the humans of Blue Star call 'spending a fortune to buy a horse's bones'."

James nodded in agreement, adding, "That makes sense, sir. Keeping these two men alive, especially Zhang Bo, who once held significant influence in Longcheng and the Wood Elf Village, and even had a life-or-death struggle with our formidable enemy Yang Di, is of paramount importance. We are about to fully integrate the Balihe region, and even set our sights on the broader Twilight Realm. How many anxious eyes are watching Deherim? How many exiled forces, native tribes, and even our fellow Blue Star citizens are observing?"

Shen Mu did not turn around, but simply gestured for him to continue.

Manid's voice became clearer: "Keeping them alive is tantamount to declaring to the entire Twilight Realm: even those who are enemies of Shen Mu, even spies and leaders of hostile forces, as long as they 'repent' or still have some value to be exploited, and as long as it aligns with the overall interests of Deherim, the 'merciful' lord Shen Mu will not hesitate to give them a chance to 'reform'! This will give those who come after hope, greatly reducing the resistance and suspicion they encounter when expanding their power in the future. They will think: 'Look, even figures like Zhang Bo and Yang Di can find a glimmer of hope in Deherim, wouldn't it be more secure for us to join them?'" (End of Chapter)