SGT CH133: The Emperor’s Shadow Guard is dying [Arc 4]

◎ The Shadow Guard is tattered, the Emperor patches him up ◎

In the second year of the Holy Calendar, the administration was harmonious, the people were peaceful, and all neglected tasks were being undertaken.

Mousse considered himself, if not a sage monarch, at least much better than his fatuous and immoral father.

So, why would divine punishment befall him?

In the Imperial Study, Mousse stared forward in confusion.

He wasn’t looking at memorials, but at a void light screen floating in front of him.

The light screen reflected his image, and many white texts floated across it.

Those texts were clearly not the script of the Mu Dynasty, yet he inexplicably understood their meaning.

Understood, but not quite understood.

For example, this thing called “Scum Gong Value” confused him.

【Scum Gong Value: 98】

【Warning! Current Scum Gong Value is too high! Please complete the task as soon as possible for reform!】

Sounded very serious.

Before, floating white text had told him that if the Scum Gong Value reached one hundred, it meant the reform failed, and he would pass away.

Mousse didn’t want to believe in these supernatural things, but when it really appeared in front of him, he had to believe it.

Better to believe it exists than not.

Otherwise, he had painstakingly survived the battle for the throne, comparable to raising gu, sending a bunch of imperial brothers and his imperial father down below. As a result, only two years after sitting on the throne, he would have to go meet them? He would be laughed to death, right?

“Speak, what do you want We (Zhen) to do? Issue an edict of self-condemnation?”

Mousse waited leisurely.

He didn’t care about edicts of self-condemnation or whatnot; as long as it solved the problem, it was fine. Anyway, he wasn’t the one writing it.

【Initial task triggered: Retrieve the abandoned Shadow Guard and treat his injuries and illness.】

Mousse: “???”

What thing?

Did divine punishment even care about how he treated his Shadow Guard?

He had only ascended the throne for two years, and only one Shadow Guard had left his side.

Thinking of that person, a few traces of imperceptible irritability appeared between Mousse’s brows.

Mousse pondered for a moment and called his personal eunuch.

“Li Defu.”

The rotund Chief Eunuch bowed as he entered, lowering his head to await orders.

“Your Majesty.”

“Where is Shadow One?”

Li Defu weighed his words in his heart and asked cautiously:

“Are you referring to the former commander, or the current…”

“What former or current?” Mousse frowned.

“Is there anyone else with this name?”

Successive commanders of the Shadow Guards were all called Shadow One.

The previous Shadow Guard commander had his identity as a Shadow Guard stripped by His Majesty after His Majesty ascended the throne.

Afterward, he was kept in the palace and subjected to all kinds of humiliation for a year.

Only a few days ago was he let go by His Majesty and exiled from the palace.

During this year, His Majesty never established a new Shadow Guard commander.

Only created a “Acting Commander” who was neither here nor there.

Li Defu thought that since His Majesty had thrown that person out of the palace, he should appoint a new Shadow Guard commander anyway.

Unexpectedly, His Majesty still held a grudge.

Li Defu dared not probe further, put on a silly smile with a naive look, and answered honestly:

“The former commander has been sent out of the palace according to your instructions.”

His Majesty’s original words were “throw out of the palace.”

How dared he really “throw”? He had the little eunuchs under him send the person out properly.

“Where is he now?” Mousse asked.

“This… how would this slave know?”

Li Defu wanted to cry but had no tears.

He also didn’t expect that after tormenting the person for a year and seemingly losing interest and throwing him away, His Majesty would remember to ask about him later.

Seeing he was useless, Mousse cursed “useless thing,” then called for the Shadow Guards.

“Shadow Two, Shadow Three.”

Two black shadows landed instantly, kneeling before the imperial desk.

Mousse didn’t look at them, directly ordering:

“Go bring Shadow One back.”

“Yes!”

The Shadow Guards took the order and left, disappearing from the room in the blink of an eye.

Even though it wasn’t the first time seeing this scene, Li Defu was still shocked by this ability to come and go without a trace.

But still not as good as that one.

Li Defu judged in his heart.

That one was the world’s number one martial artist, unmatched by anyone.

Such a person, having his internal energy sealed by His Majesty, humiliated in every way, and then expelled from the palace, was truly a pity.

Now, His Majesty suddenly remembered him and wanted to bring him back; unknown if it was a blessing or a curse.

Ultimately… thunder and rain are all grace from the monarch.

Mousse waved his hand, shooing away the chief eunuch standing like a pestle on the side, picked up the memorial on the desk, and casually made marks.

【Hmm… is this how memorials are reviewed?】

【Drawing circles and crosses, refusing to write a single word; easier than me grading student homework.】

【Done for, this Little Cake of this world looks like a fatuous ruler.】

【It’s okay, when I saw the 98 points of Scum Gong Value, my expectations for him dropped to the lowest. As long as the two of them are alive and breathing, it’s fine.】

Mousse reviewed most of the memorials out of habit, suddenly remembering he was being supervised by the light screen.

Looking up, he happened to see the light screen calling him a fatuous ruler.

Thought this wouldn’t do; it concerned life and death, had to pretend a bit.

Mousse picked up a new memorial, sat up straight solemnly, preparing to review it properly.

Enduring impatience to finish reading a series of wordy, useless, complimentary nonsense, he finally found the other party’s true intention from the dense text.

Summed up in one sentence:

Floods occur frequently in Qingzhou, suspected to be caused by a flood dragon. Your Majesty, let’s cast a golden statue of you on the river bank, using your true dragon body to suppress the evil flood dragon!

Mousse: “…”

Ah this…

Finally wanted to review a memorial seriously, and you show We (Zhen) this?

Mousse picked up the brush and cursed the official who submitted the memorial bloody.

As for the flood, he threw it backhand to the Prime Minister to solve.

He didn’t care.

If he needed to do these things, what use were the hundred officials?

Patiently reviewed memorials seriously for an hour (two modern hours), but saw no change in that “Scum Gong Value.”

Mousse lost patience, threw the brush, and prepared to go back to tease the dog.

Wait, his dog was gone.

Mousse’s steps paused.

Just at this moment, Shadow Two returned to report.

“Master, Shadow…”

Remembering the former commander had been stripped of Shadow Guard identity and could no longer be addressed by Shadow Guard name, Shadow Two swallowed the title and said muffledly:

“Person brought back.”

Mousse glanced at the light screen.

【Scum Gong Value -5】

【Current Scum Gong Value: 93】

Why still so high?

“Where is the person?” Mousse asked.

“Shadow Three is waiting with him outside. He… his condition isn’t too good.”

“How bad can it be?”

Mousse didn’t believe it.

A top martial artist, even without internal energy, had physical strength far higher than ordinary people.

However, he quite wanted to see Shadow One’s wretched appearance.

So, Mousse stepped past the Shadow Guard kneeling on the ground and walked quickly outside.

Under the corridor eaves outside the Imperial Study, two black figures were there, one kneeling and one lying down.

Kneeling was Shadow Three.

And the person lying on the ground, tattered all over, seeming lifeless…

Mousse’s breathing suddenly stagnated.

He indeed wanted to see Shadow One’s wretched appearance.

But, not like this.

Was that really a living person?

Looked more like a corpse.

Mousse pursed his lips, came to the person on the ground, staring at him intently.

Wanting to find evidence that this was a “disguise to avoid blame.”

Then punish him for the crime of deceiving the monarch.

Mousse’s gaze swept over the man’s tightly closed eyes, pale and bloodless cold face, tattered clothes with a strong smell of blood, and the flesh-turned-out wounds under the holes in the clothes one by one.

But failed to find what he was looking for.

If not for the faint rise and fall of the other party’s chest.

He would have thought the person on the ground was already dead.

“How did he get like this?”

Mousse felt terribly suffocated in his heart, as if filled with rage knowing not where to vent.

He turned to look at the person kneeling beside him, questioning angrily:

“Did you lay hands on him? Laid hands on a person whose internal energy was sealed?!”

“Replying to Master, we did not attack the former commander.”

Shadow Three bowed his head and replied:

“When we found the former commander at the mass grave, he was already covered in wounds and had been unconscious for a long time.”

What Shadow Three didn’t say was that when they arrived, the former leader was surrounded by wolves with eyes green from hunger.

If they were a step late, the other party would surely have been buried in wolf bellies.

Mass… grave?

Mousse suspected he heard wrong.

How could such a word be connected with Shadow One?

Shadow Guards were to enter the Hall of Heroic Spirits after death.

Even if Shadow One had been stripped of Shadow Guard identity by him, he shouldn’t be connected with a word like mass grave.

Mousse swatted away the hand of the personal eunuch coming to support him.

Suddenly remembering something, he turned to glare at the Chief Eunuch, his expression looking like he wanted to eat people.

“Li Defu, We told you to throw the person out of the palace; you threw him in the mass grave?!”

Li Defu knelt down in panic.

“Your Majesty, how would this slave dare? Even give this slave ten guts, this slave wouldn’t dare to act on his own.

“This slave only followed your instructions and sent the former commander properly to the palace gate.”

The Emperor’s order was to “throw” the person out of the palace, but at this moment Li Defu had to risk the charge of disobeying the monarch’s order to emphasize he sent the person out “properly.”

Mousse believed Li Defu had no reason and no guts to do so.

It was just… he finally decided to let Shadow One go and drive him out of the palace.

Only a few days later, Shadow One lay in front of him looking like a dead corpse.

He didn’t know where to vent his rage, and looking at the fat eunuch kneeling beside him became increasingly annoying.

Cursed angrily: “Still not going to invite the Imperial Physician? Thing with no eye for the situation!”

“Yes yes yes, this slave is going right now.”

Li Defu rolled away like a ball, disappearing from the Emperor’s sight with agility inconsistent with his body shape.

【Such an agile chocolate ball, worthy of being Dove (Li Defu).】

【How did Brother Cha get like this, so miserable, so miserable.】

【These wounds look painful just watching.】

【Little Cake No.4 having nearly a hundred points of Scum Gong Value is not wronged at all. If the task was issued a little later, Brother X would have lost his life, straight to Bad Ending.】

Mousse turned back to look at the person on the ground, slightly biting his lower lip, his gaze complex.

The light screen told him to bring back Shadow One and treat Shadow One.

If he didn’t complete the reform task mentioned by the light screen, he would die.

Shadow One’s life was now bound with his.

No matter what, Shadow One couldn’t have any mishaps.

Mousse half-squatted, reaching out wanting to carry the person into the room.

But looking at the wounds all over the other party, he really didn’t know where to put his hands.

Could only order the Shadow Guard beside him:

“Bring the person into the room.”

“Yes.”

Shadow Three reached out preparing to lift the former commander.

Just touching, he heard His Majesty make a hissing sound as if in pain, then got scolded again.

“Gentler! Clumsy!”

Shadow Three originally planned to carry the person on his shoulder.

Hearing this, he silently switched to a steadier princess carry, avoiding the wounds on the other party’s body as much as possible during the movement.

Mousse frowned tightly following into the room.

His gaze swept over Shadow One’s arm hanging by his side with hideous wounds.

He subconsciously touched his own arm.

Clearly his arm was intact, yet he inexplicably felt pain.

Mousse became increasingly irritable.

Following by his side for so many years, the treacherous clouds in the palace, countless open spears and hidden arrows, never let Shadow One get hurt like this.

Just left the palace for a few days, actually got himself into this state.

Really useless.

Shadow Three entered the room and stood straight like a pestle in the center, not knowing where to go.

Mousse could only continue to command:

“Put on the couch.”

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