Chapter 199: An Easy Success

Night fell. In a small grove about three miles from the Victory Palace, Lin Qi and his companions gathered there.

Lin Qi, Yulian, Vic, and Enzo — all four of them — wore black veils over their faces and were dressed entirely in tight-fitting black outfits. Beside them were set up two ballistas, each about two meters long and three meters wide. These were powerful weapons that Lin Qi had taken out from his Ankle Chain and just assembled.

Unlike ordinary ballistas, these two were entirely made of highly elastic spring steel, with a power more than three times that of a regular ballista. Equipped with specially made armor-piercing crossbow bolts, these ballistas could shoot arrows up to three miles away and pierce through ten heavily armored heavy cavalry soldiers within a hundred paces.

Enzo looked at these two ballistas emitting a chilling glint and couldn’t help but swallow nervously. By the Gods, even as an outstanding graduate of the Army Academy and an elite soldier with the rank of reserve Major, it was his first time seeing such specially made ballistas.

This kind of ballista was extremely rare even among the garrisons of the provincial armies; only the Imperial Guard and the Norman Fortress were equipped with them in large numbers. Yet, Blackbeard Old Man actually let Lin Qi bring two such ballistas to the Imperial Capital. The only reason for giving Lin Qi these ballistas was to let him seize territory in the capital!

These were war weapons specifically designed to counter mass charges of heavy cavalry. Using them in gang fights within the Underworld — wasn’t that excessive?

After looking up at the sky and praying to the Gods for a moment, Enzo struggled to load the string onto a pure steel armor-piercing crossbow in his hands. This type of crossbow was specially made to deal with heavily armored knights, capable of piercing through three sets of pure steel plate armor within thirty paces. It was also a fearsomely lethal weapon. Right now, Lin Qi’s group had at least thirty such armor-piercing crossbows piled beside them. When these crossbows were fired, they could wipe out a small squadron of well-trained heavy knights.

“I feel like I’m committing a crime!” Enzo grumbled incessantly. “We are preparing these things to actually take on the Empire’s regular army!”

Lin Qi gave him a sidelong glance. “You are not part of the Empire’s regular army yet, so you don’t need to feel sorry for your future colleagues!”

Enzo looked at Lin Qi with a woeful expression. “But Chief, we are subjects of the Empire!”

Lin Qi glared at Enzo. “But that guy is our friend! Enzo, which is more important — your status as an Empire citizen, or your friend?”

Yulian smiled and looked at Enzo, shrugging casually. Vic was silently loading the strings of the armor-piercing crossbows nearby, then carefully applying a bit of his own potent anesthetic onto the pure steel crossbow bolts.

Enzo tilted his head in distress, pondered for a long time, and finally let out a heavy sigh, silently lying down on the ground. From a young age, he received a formal Imperial military education, and loyalty to the Empire and His Majesty the Emperor was deeply ingrained in him. But as Lin Qi said, Long Cheng was their friend. Between the Empire and his friend, Enzo painfully chose his friend!

“Alright, if I kill an Empire soldier today, I will later kill ten times, a hundred times more of the Alien Race to make up for it!” Pressing his right hand over his heart, Enzo quietly swore an oath in the name of the God of Victory.

Lin Qi gave Enzo’s shoulder a firm pat and also lay down on the ground. After a while, Lin Qi curiously looked at Yulian, who lay motionless on a large tree branch, and asked quietly, “Yulian, why don’t you have any hesitation at all? You’re a Noble of the Empire. We might end up killing one or two Nobles — why don’t you feel any burden?”

Yulian chuckled lightly. He pulled out a salted olive from who-knows-where and began chewing on it carefully.

After sneering coldly a few times, Yulian shook his head. “Nobles? Come on, I come from a fallen Noble family. Those Nobles who kicked my family when we were down, well, if they die, they die! A few more deaths mean more room for my family to rise. As long as we don’t harm our acquaintances like Tixiang, why should I care if they die?”

Lin Qi approvingly gave Yulian a thumbs-up. He patted Enzo’s shoulder again firmly. “Hear that? Hear that? The more Nobles die, the more room there is for Yulian’s family to advance! If we can take out some high-ranking officers tonight, won’t you have more room for promotion after you join the army?”

Enzo stared wide-eyed at Lin Qi, then speechlessly looked at Yulian. He smacked his lips, wanting to say something, but he truly had nothing to say and could only let out a weak sigh. The shamelessness of Lin Qi and Yulian — he was officially witnessing it now.

One person lay on a tree branch, two lay on the ground. Only Vic, after loading all the armor-piercing crossbows and placing them beside Lin Qi, busied himself in the grove. Using a cleverly designed small steel shovel, he briskly dug traps designed specifically to trip horses’ hooves. With just three or five quick digs, he made a trap about the size of a fist and over a foot deep. In less than half an hour, Vic dug more than two hundred traps in front of the three.

Then Vic used black-painted wire ropes to set up dozens of tripwires densely throughout the grove.

The other three watched Vic work without any intention of helping, completely shamelessly. According to Lin Qi, this was called letting the capable do more work — professional tasks should be left to the professionals. The three simply lay there comfortably, watching Vic set up the tripwires. After that, Vic laboriously pulled out a large black bag from behind a big tree.

It was filled with sharp caltrops, and what’s more, these caltrops were coated with venom from a Poisonous Snake. Even Lin Qi didn’t know where Vic got these things, but considering Vic was not only a core member of the Iron Fist Brotherhood but also a thief — and thieves had their own Thieves’ Guild in the Imperial Capital — it wasn’t hard to guess the origin of these dangerous items.

Just as Lin Qi and his three companions were making preparations in the grove, Long Cheng had already infiltrated the Victory Palace.

As the name suggests, the Victory Palace was built to celebrate the victory of the Hundred-Year Land-Island War. It was also the new palace of the Gaul Empire. Thirty years ago, the peace treaty ending the Hundred-Year Land-Island War was signed right here in the Victory Palace.

Even at night, the tall statue of the Victory Goddess atop the massive golden dome of the Victory Palace’s main hall was clearly visible. Numerous Magic Arrays and Magic Gemstones made the statue shine with a dazzling light during the night, visible throughout the entire Imperial Capital.

Long Cheng had already entered the Victory Palace. He wore a neat Imperial Guard uniform with a golden suit of armor over it. He strolled lazily along a shaded path in the Victory Palace’s rear garden. The Imperial Guards on the palace’s periphery had no clue how he got in. All the Magic Traps, all the hidden sentries in the Victory Palace, all the hounds and other magical beasts — none detected his intrusion.

It was as if he were walking into his own backyard on a warm spring night; Long Cheng entered this freely and at ease.

On his forehead, a rectangular, shimmering Rune glowed faintly, but it was hidden by his golden helmet, so no one could see this strange sight. Guided by the spiritual energy emitted from this Rune, Long Cheng casually passed by one exquisitely laid Magic Trap after another. His pupils emitted an unusual cyan light — a mysterious, noble cyan, like the scales of a cyan dragon.

Two Young Girls slowly approached from the other end of the path. Seeing Long Cheng in his armor, they hurriedly bowed in respect.

All Imperial Guards permitted into the inner court of the Victory Palace held Noble titles, at the very least that of a hereditary Knight. These Young Girls were merely beautiful commoners selected from among the people; how would they dare show disrespect to an Imperial Guard?

Long Cheng walked up to the two Young Girls with a strange smile. He reached out and pinched one of the girl’s fair bosom, which was exposed outside her bodice, then asked in a lowered, gentle voice, “Darling, your skin is so fair. Ah, sorry — is His Majesty still in the study?”

The two Young Girls suddenly saw Long Cheng’s cyan pupils. Their minds grew hazy, and they answered instinctively, “His Majesty just left the study. Only His Majesty’s Clerk Official is in the study organizing documents.”

“So beautiful, you two are truly beautiful!” Long Cheng puckered his lips and engaged the two pretty little Young Girls in a deep, tongue-filled kiss. Then, with a flick of his fingers, the two Young Girls went limp and fell to the ground, fast asleep.

Glancing around cautiously, Long Cheng stuffed the two Young Girls into the flower bushes by the path, then made his way toward the Victory Palace study with graceful, dance-like steps.

Unlike the Imperial City of that vast Empire in the East, the Victory Palace was opened to the commoners of the Imperial Capital once every month at the beginning of the month. Under the watch of the Imperial Guards, commoners could fully enjoy the sight of their Emperor’s residence. Therefore, architectural plans for the Victory Palace could be bought on the market, some even including extremely detailed guide maps with titles like How to Tour the Victory Palace as Much as Possible in One Day and A Selection of the Victory Palace’s Most Important Buildings.

“Barbarian nation — a bunch of uncultured wild monkeys! Their Imperial Palace on a usual day has only four Celestial Knights on duty? And is guarded by only five hundred Imperial Guards?” Long Cheng shook his head and sighed softly. “If our Emperor dared do this, he would have been killed a hundred times over. Imagine our Imperial City — guarded by eighteen Saint Realm experts, sixty thousand loyal Imperial Guards, a clean army composed of one hundred twenty thousand Eunuchs! Savages are just savages. How can this even be called an Imperial City?”

Mocking the Victory Palace’s defenses all along the way, Long Cheng slowly arrived at the Emperor’s study located on the east side of the Victory Palace.

The study was brightly lit. Only one young Noble and a few attendants remained inside, sorting through a thick pile of official documents.

Long Cheng pushed the door open brazenly and walked into the study.

That young Noble was alarmed and was about to shout reprimands when Long Cheng struck out with a palm from a distance. The young Noble flailed his arms and legs as he was sent flying backward.

Before the attendants could react, the cyan light in Long Cheng’s eyes intensified. The attendants all went limp at the same time, falling to the ground sound asleep.

Long Cheng walked over to the young Noble, took a small Seal from a hidden pocket on his chest. This was the Seal that the young Noble was responsible for safeguarding — the personal Seal that the Emperor of the Gaul Empire used for handling daily documents.

He swept all seal-like items off the writing desk, and as he did, he casually stuffed a pure gold Crown that was sitting on one corner of the desk into his robe. Long Cheng then strode quickly out of the study.

“Easy as turning over my hand. The Emperor here is truly inept. He wouldn’t even know how he died if it happened!”