Infinite Sun in the East China Sea

Chapter 247 Controlling People’s Hearts
The werewolf zombie was extremely fast; in that instant, its speed exceeded the speed of sound.

However, its murderous intent was too obvious.

Before the outburst, Bud had already vaguely sensed something was wrong and focused his attention on the powerful man named Sergei.

As the werewolf zombies launched their attack, General Bud's body immediately crackled with lightning. With the power of the lightning, he unleashed even greater speed and delivered a powerful punch to the werewolf from the side.

The werewolf's claws were still quite a distance from the young emperor when the incompetent assassin was blasted away by a powerful blow.

It crashed into two walls before finally stopping.

Bud did not pursue the repelled assassin.

He shielded the young emperor behind him and shouted:

"Royal Guard, come immediately to protect the Emperor!"

"Apart from the Imperial Guard, anyone who comes within ten meters of His Majesty shall be killed without exception!"

Minister Ernest, who was standing behind the young emperor, wanted to say something, but the guards who rushed forward, under Bud's orders, immediately pointed their swords at the only person within ten meters of the young emperor.

—Normally, Bud wouldn't be so aggressive towards the minister, but the assassin was brought by the minister!

Ernest was somewhat unwilling, but faced with dozens of fierce guards, he had no choice but to take a few steps back.

After a while.

A disheveled werewolf zombie emerged from the ruins, dusted himself off, and said:

"General Bud's fist is really powerful!"

"As expected of someone General Esdeath acknowledges... but with this level of strength, he's no match for me!"

The werewolf zombie grinned, revealing its sharp teeth.

At this moment, dozens more heavily armored guards arrived at the palace upon receiving the order. Under Bud's command, these soldiers formed a sword and shield formation and swarmed towards the werewolf zombies.

However, these ordinary soldiers without Imperial Arms are simply easy prey when facing the zombie-like werewolves.

Their swords and blades couldn't penetrate the werewolf's defenses at all.

After strengthening their werewolf bloodline, their bodies naturally become extremely tough.

A B-level werewolf's muscles can easily block bullets fired from ordinary gunpowder weapons.

Ordinary zombies are invulnerable to weapons.

And when a werewolf with an extraordinary physique turns into a zombie, its defensive strength becomes exceptionally astonishing.

Ordinary swords and knives couldn't cut through it at all; even the evil-repelling peach wood swords of the various Taoist priests of Maoshan were powerless against these werewolf zombies... they couldn't even pierce through them.

The guards' weapons struck the werewolf's body as if striking a statue made of fine steel, producing only a 'thud' of steel clashing.

More than a dozen guards attacked too forcefully; they not only failed to injure the werewolf zombies, but the recoil from their swords also caused them to bleed from their hands.

The werewolf zombie's attacks were much more lethal; it could easily slice off half of a soldier's head with a single claw.

After turning into a zombie, the werewolf's claws also became much harder.

Furthermore, the wolf's claws are coated with corpse poison... Once caught, even if the person being attacked is very strong, they will suffer terribly.

"Sergei! Are you plotting a rebellion?!"

Before Bud could speak, Minister Ernest questioned him with a somewhat unpleasant expression.

The werewolf zombie laughed loudly: "Hahaha... That's right, it's about rebelling! Southern barbarians or northern barbarians... These forces outside the empire are too weak. The so-called northern barbarian hero Numa Seka is just a name without substance."

"Conquering the weak is not enough for General Esdeath... She craves a truly exhilarating battle."

"But there are too few people in this world who can fight her to a standstill. She has completely conquered the foreign tribes, so... she can only look for targets within the Empire. In this vast Empire, only General Bud is worthy of being General Esdeath's formidable enemy!"

The werewolf zombie tore apart the last guard who had surrounded him, and grinned menacingly, saying, "And this assassination attempt I launched was a challenge from Lady Esdeath to General Bud!"

He roared, "General Bud, if you can't even beat me, if you can't protect the young emperor from my assassination attempt, then this empire should have a new master."

"Arrogant people!"

"Bud said coldly, his body crackling with lightning, and the Imperial Arm Raijin Wrath Admiral formed a lightning ball about one meter in diameter in front of him."

Faced with the rebellious assassin, he showed no mercy and only wanted to kill him as quickly as possible.

His first move was a powerful one.

"Die!"

The lightning ball pierced the air and flew rapidly toward the werewolf zombie.

"This lightning... truly lives up to the reputation of... General Bud!"

The werewolf zombie unleashed its full power of yin energy and dodged rapidly.

Unfortunately, although it was fast, it couldn't outrun lightning in the atmosphere... Lightning that breaks through the atmosphere isn't at the speed of light; it's much slower than the speed of light, but compared to a werewolf that barely breaks the speed of sound, that speed was fast enough.

The lightning ball instantly crushed the werewolf.

The werewolf's lower half of body was instantly vaporized.

Its more than two-meter-tall body is now only one-third of its original size.

The remaining part wasn't much better... some organs had been charred by the lightning.

The werewolf's physique and the intensity of its zombie transformation endowed it with tenacious vitality, allowing it to retain some willpower even in this situation.

He said with a ferocious expression, "Bud... you are strong! But compared to General Esdeath, this power... is utterly insignificant!"

“Esdeath?” General Bud conjured another ball of lightning and said coldly, “Soon, I will make that general explain why her subordinates would commit such a treasonous act as assassinating His Majesty!”

The lightning ball fell.

The remaining body of the werewolf zombie was also completely destroyed by the power of lightning.

At this time.

A Qingliu official, restrained by a straitjacket, hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, Minister Ernest has been secretly harboring assassins to assassinate you. This is a heinous crime, unforgivable. I beg Your Majesty to execute this villain!"

The official, who had been trying to uphold integrity, realized he had acted impulsively as soon as he finished speaking.

What he just said was what he wanted to say... but openly targeting the minister, wouldn't that offend that ruthless fellow to death?!

At this time, Minister Ernest was at the height of his power.

What happened in the palace today has no chance of bringing him down.

After all, although the assassin was brought into the court by Ernest, he was originally Esdeath's subordinate... Before his death, the assassin pinned all the blame on Esdeath, so Minister Ernest could easily shirk most of the responsibility, especially since the emperor trusted Ernest so much...

The upright official couldn't help but recall his colleagues who had offended Ernest not long ago, and his face turned somewhat bitter.

It seems... he's going to follow in the footsteps of his colleagues.

"I believe that Minister Ernest would never do such a thing..."

The young emperor blurted it out.

The young emperor's words instantly chilled the heart of the man who had just offered advice... Sure enough, the young emperor had been completely brainwashed by Ernest, and he was doomed!
On the other side, the minister wore a smug expression.

This was what he expected.

The young emperor had been taught by him since childhood and had long regarded him as the most trusted person... How could he possibly lose faith in him over such a small matter? "However, Minister Honest is also guilty of oversight. Let's suspend him from his post for a while." The young emperor's eyes were blank for a moment, but he said in an unchanged tone, "Once General Bud captures Esdeath and investigates the treason, we can reinstate the minister."

Ernest was stunned for a moment.

Immediately, he found that more than a dozen people rushed up to him and pinned him firmly to the ground.

One of his most trusted subordinates grabbed the Imperial Arms Jeweled Headdress, Ireston, from his forehead and removed it.

"Asshole~"

Minister Ernest realized something was wrong.

His power comes from two sources.

On one hand, there was the young emperor's trust... The minister believed that there would be no problem in this regard. He felt that the young emperor's words were just a sudden whim, and that once he calmed down, he would eventually believe him again.

Moreover, he didn't think losing the emperor's trust was a big deal.

At worst, we can just change the emperor.

Of course, such things can only be done as a last resort; in fact, as long as his men create more trouble under the guise of the revolutionary army and night raids, and let those self-righteous guys taste the troubles he faces, the young emperor will naturally remember his good deeds and reinstate him.

On the other hand, it comes from his subordinates... Only with enough subordinates to help him carry out orders and oppress the people can he have absolute power.

Without powerful subordinates to control the ignorant masses, official positions are meaningless.

When the previous minister, Jolly, was in office, he held a high official position, but he had almost no capable people under his command. In the end, he was forced to retire and return to his hometown by the minister, who held an even lower position, and was forced to leave the capital.

However, even his most trusted subordinates have now unknowingly betrayed him.

Once he's imprisoned, it won't be so easy for him to get back on his feet!

Ernest knew very well that he couldn't be caught right now; he had to find his most trusted confidants first and figure out why these people who had betrayed him had betrayed him.

He used all his strength to try to push away the people on top of him.

Ernest had trained at the Royal Fist Temple for a long time and possessed immense strength, easily able to push away more than a dozen people.

But as soon as he made a move, he discovered that these dozen or so people were all quite strong.

It was as if everyone's potential had been unleashed, and everyone was giving it their all.

Moreover, the way they exerted force and used their strength was like that of a boxer who had been training at the Imperial Fist Temple for ten years... They were all masters of grappling and wrestling.

He couldn't break free!
"What's going on? Could it be that Bud, that rock-solid guy, has finally seen the light? Is he secretly recruiting these people and teaching them martial arts?" Ernest's mind raced.

"Or... is this a scheme orchestrated by the Revolutionary Army? Have these people been recruited by the Revolutionary Army?!"

Ernest thought a lot. He had risen from a commoner to a minister second only to the emperor, so he was not stupid... but he couldn't come up with the idea of ​​extraterrestrial visitors no matter how hard he tried.

"What kind of decorum is this in the palace?!"

Bud flung aside the officials who were pinning Ernest down, including the guy who had put away the Imperial Arms Jeweled Headdress, Ireston.

Although his words were blunt, a slight smile played on his lips.

Whether it was gloating over the misdeeds of the ministers who had acted recklessly, or being pleased with the young emperor's growth, Bude was quite surprised that the young emperor would actually have the ministers arrested.

This general, loyal to the royal family, was aware that the situation was not good, but he always believed that as long as the misbehaving minister Ernest and his cronies were eliminated, everything in the empire would be fine.

Since the emperor ordered him to arrest Ernest.

Then he naturally has to comply one hundred percent...

soon.

The disheveled Ernest, along with some of his confidants, were escorted by the Janissaries to a prison in a corner of the palace.

Knowing Ernest's considerable strength, Bud specially arranged for his strongest subordinates to escort him.

The original agenda for this court meeting was how to deal with the massive explosion on the outskirts of the capital and how to pursue the prisoners who had escaped from the prison.

But because of this unexpected assassination attempt, the meeting's topic naturally shifted to how to defeat Esdeath...

Some of the controlled military officers were the first to speak up, asserting that the explosion more than four hours earlier was orchestrated by the minister and Esdeath—that Esdeath deliberately created the commotion to send assassins.

As for the prisoners who escaped from prison?
Most of those prisoners were merely political enemies of Minister Ernest, and their escape was only somewhat detrimental to the minister himself.

When a civil official muttered something under his breath, saying that all it would take to appease public anger was to behead the minister and display his head to the public, and the revolutionary army would return to the empire.

A group of officials immediately echoed this opinion, and it quickly became the mainstream approach to dealing with the revolutionary army.

Xu Feng didn't use restrictive clothing to guide him too much. He would often just start something, then select one or two people to agree, and some decisions would be quickly passed with the agreement of more people... It went so smoothly that Xu Feng felt it was a bit too smooth.

After a brief discussion, even the manner and time of Minister Ernest's death were brought up.

The young emperor on the throne was stunned... Even though the minister had only been temporarily dismissed and had just been imprisoned, the civil and military officials in the palace unanimously believed that the minister could not recover and was doomed to die!

He instinctively wanted to say a few words in defense of Ernest.

But the words just wouldn't come out... This awkward feeling was making him very uncomfortable, but he could only watch as his civil and military officials made decisions on various matters without any restraint.

After discussing how to deal with the minister.

They then began discussing how to deal with Esdeath.

"Your Majesty, I believe that to subdue Esdeath, we must first eliminate her allies. We might as well conceal this upheaval and issue an edict ordering General Esdeath to enter the capital alone..."

In the palace, a military officer offered his advice.

The young emperor realized that his ministers were no longer by his side, and he wanted to consult General Bude, who was standing nearby.

But the words that came out of his mouth were:
"Well, let's do it!"

“Your Majesty, to prevent Esdeath from becoming too powerful, I think we should summon all Imperial Arms users within the Empire and find new masters for the Imperial Arms in the Empire’s inventory.”

Another military officer made a suggestion.

The little emperor lay down.

He nodded and said, "You're right."

In this way, policies were discussed and formulated one by one in the palace.

They then transformed into commands.

The messengers, riding on flying dangerous species, deliver the message in all directions.

One of the orders was to summon the Imperial Arms users to the capital.

Near the palace.

Shoko's face lit up with an excited smile: "Hehe... not counting the ones Esdeath and the ministers have, the Empire has twelve Imperial Arms whose whereabouts are clearly known... once all these people gather in the Imperial Capital, these Imperial Arms will become our spoils of war!"

Among the twelve Imperial Arms, there are also some Imperial Arms that are not mentioned at all in the story.

Xu Feng smiled and shook his head: "Who said we have to wait for those Imperial Arms users to enter the capital? We only need to find out the location of the Imperial Arms users from the messengers!"

"The Empire's actions are too slow!"

"By the time all the Imperial Arms users have entered the capital, who knows how much time will have passed... Rather than waiting passively, we might as well go and get it ourselves!"

(End of this chapter)