149: confirm

"Lord Xiao, my apologies. Our defenses weren't tight enough, allowing these fellows to find their way here. There's no need to trouble you with such a trivial matter; just leave it to me," Tanaka Mori said, suddenly rushing out from nowhere.

Xiao Xu didn't insist further and withdrew his hand, saying, "In that case, I won't meddle."

Only Su Ze continued to slaughter until Tanaka Mori roared at him with bloodshot eyes, "You get back too!"

Su Ze glanced at him but still stopped his hand.

Tanaka Mori continued to roar as he fought the several individuals. Suddenly, they turned around and began to flee.

"Where do you think you're going!" Tanaka Mori immediately gave chase.

Su Ze turned around, still feeling unsatisfied, only to see Xiao Xu looking at him from behind with a meaningful gaze.

"Why didn't you act right from the start? What were you hesitating about?" Xiao Xu asked.

Su Ze ignored him, walked straight past him, and returned to the room.

Xiao Xu tapped his own head and said, "Really, what am I saying to a puppet?"

Then, he also walked back.

In the direction Tanaka Mori had chased them, the group ran for several kilometers before stopping to wait for his arrival.

When Tanaka Mori caught up, he didn't attack immediately. Instead, he asked, "Well? Did you test anything out?"

The remaining three men bowed a standard ninety degrees toward Tanaka Mori before speaking in Fusang: "Reporting to the Captain, Xiao Xu's strikes were extremely decisive. He didn't hold back at all despite our identity as Great Xia Spirit Guards. Every move was aimed to kill; he killed three of our squad members."

Tanaka Mori gritted his teeth, then nodded and said, "In that case, it seems there's nothing wrong with him..."

Then another person said, "But that puppet named Su Ze didn't move the moment he saw us. However, he also dealt killing blows in the subsequent battle, killing two of our men."

Tanaka Mori didn't care much about Su Ze's performance and nodded, saying, "He is currently a puppet whose mind is controlled; it's normal for his reactions to be a bit slow. You just need to keep an eye on Xiao Xu."

"Alright, change your clothes and go back to monitoring them."

"Yes!" The men bowed deeply and left.

As they departed, Zaraki Kenpachi emerged from the shadows behind him.

Tanaka Mori didn't turn around, simply saying, "You heard them. After our test, there's nothing wrong with him."

Zaraki Kenpachi stepped forward and said, "How do you know he didn't spot some flaw in your disguise?"

Tanaka Mori snorted coldly and said, "They are all my trusted subordinates. Their Great Xia pronunciation is flawless, and the uniforms they wore are spoils of war collected in the past, not fakes. I don't believe he could have found any flaws in such a short time."

"Believe?" Zaraki Kenpachi smiled and said, "This kind of thing cannot be left to uncertainty. You must realize he will be a General Commander on our level in the future. There must be absolutely no issues!"

Tanaka Mori sneered, "If you want to continue testing him, send your own people. Stop trying to waste my subordinates!"

He knew Zaraki Kenpachi was merely trying to diminish his power.

But now that he lacked the Divine Artifact, he indeed had little confidence before the other man.

Fortunately, Zaraki Kenpachi did not press further. Instead, he smiled and said, "Tanaka-kun, you worry too much. I have already activated the last sleeper agents remaining in Great Xia. They have already gone to confirm Lin Xi's death for us."

"Once it's confirmed that Lin Xi was truly killed by Xiao Xu, there will be no more need to doubt him."

Tanaka Mori's expression didn't improve much, because the sleeper agents in Great Xia didn't belong to Zaraki Kenpachi's faction, but to the faction of another deceased General Commander... Meanwhile, after a long standoff, Xiao Sheng and Holy Sun had returned to Great Xia with their people, as he had to return to keep vigil for his teacher.

Lin Xi had never married and left no children. The person closest to him was Xiao Sheng, with whom he shared decades of a teacher-student bond.

The moment he entered the mourning hall, he smelled a thick scent of blood that shouldn't have been there.

Xiao Sheng frowned as the legion commander of the Great Xia Spirit Guards' Eastern Theater walked over.

Xiao Sheng asked, "What happened here?"

The legion commander looked apologetic as he said to Xiao Sheng, "Lord Xiao Sheng, we didn't expect the Fusang Dark Guards to expose all their hidden moles in the Great Xia Spirit Guards, the Beast Tamer Association, and the Beast Tamer University all at once, just to desecrate Principal Lin Xi's body..."

Xiao Sheng's eyes widened suddenly. The legion commander quickly explained, "But rest assured, we didn't let them succeed!"

Then he added somewhat guiltily, "It's just... the coffin was opened..."

Xiao Sheng roared suddenly, "All of you, get out!"

The crowd immediately scurried out in disgrace.

Xiao Sheng walked quickly to Lin Xi's coffin. Sure enough, there were marks of it being violently pried open.

But other than that, it hadn't suffered any other damage.

Xiao Sheng breathed a sigh of relief while murmuring softly, "Teacher... did you foresee this too? Is that why you modified the plan on your own..."

"But I specifically captured a Dark Guard and had him take me into the Shadow Realm, and I didn't find the Nightmare Lord's corpse. Are you... really dead?"

Xiao Sheng looked hopefully at the pale body in the coffin, but Lin Xi didn't suddenly jump up as he used to, telling him it was all just a dream.

"How I wish that this time was still just a nightmare..."

...Back on Fusang Island, after overcoming numerous obstacles and at the cost of all sleeper agents being uprooted, this information finally reached Zaraki Kenpachi's hands.

He opened it with some excitement, but his expression soon turned sour.

However, he didn't dare to forge anything and brought the true information to the Emperor's Gosho.

At this time, Emperor Meiji was performing a tea ceremony there, as if he had long known someone would come.

"You've arrived just in time. Come, taste my tea-making skills," Emperor Meiji said, gesturing for Zaraki Kenpachi to sit opposite him.

He didn't refuse, lifting the teacup and taking a sip of the hot tea, praising, "The Emperor's tea skills have improved yet again."

The Emperor also drank a cup of tea and sighed, "A pity that tea arts were ultimately inherited from Great Xia. However... once Great Xia is gone, how many people will remember its origin after a few years?"

"They will only remember our Fusang tea ceremony."

"Alright, speak. What business brings you to me?"

Only then did Zaraki Kenpachi take out the slip of paper and say, "Please have a look, Your Majesty!"

Emperor Meiji glanced at it, then said without surprise, as if he had known all along, "Since Lin Xi is truly dead, there is no longer any need to doubt Xiao Xu. Let him move freely."

"And as I said before, give him the vacant General Commander position in the Fusang Dark Guards."

"Yes!" Zaraki Kenpachi didn't dare to defy the Emperor's decision. He bowed deeply and backed out of the Emperor's Gosho.