Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 291 The Emperor is Missing?!

Louis felt his limbs were heavy and finally collapsed from extreme exhaustion.

However, he did not fall into a coma and remained fully conscious.

Deep within his mind, a wisp of crimson mist was surging in wildly, like a flame scorching his soul.

The mist was filled with countless angry howls and the booming of war drums, as if millions of vengeful spirits were screaming together, trying to tear his will apart.

"Here we go again! Why does everything have to pop into my head?!"

Before he could react, a platinum-gold pulse suddenly lit up in his mind.

That is the original heart!
It radiated a star-like glow, its light flowing like a river, enveloping every wisp of blood-vine-like red mist in the darkness.

Two forces clashed within him, while Louis's consciousness was pushed into a third-person perspective.

He seemed to be standing on a void battlefield, watching light and blood fight within his body.

The feeling was extremely strange. It was clearly his own body, but he felt like a detached outsider observing from the sidelines.

There's nothing I can do but cheer on the Original Heart, because he seems more like the side of justice.

Crimson mist churned into flowers, which bloomed in the void, while blood vines meandered down like countless tentacles.

I want to tightly wrap around that heart and crush it.

The primordial heart transformed into a vast galaxy, its pulse carrying a platinum-gold light like a raging river, each tremor reducing the blood vines to ashes.

The collision of the crimson mist and the starry river was like a game of chess that could destroy the world.

An overwhelming surge of anger, madness, disorder, and chaos seemed to be crushing his entire body.

A furious roar echoed in my ears, as if ten thousand dead souls were howling simultaneously: "Wrath! Burn! Destruction!!"

The sound was so powerful that Louis almost lost himself; he could even feel his heart pounding with the crimson mist, on the verge of going out of control.

But soon the Primordial Heart erupted with a dazzling white light.

Like a star exploding in my mind, the crimson mist let out its final roar before being completely swallowed up.

Louis breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this; he had been worried that the red aura would turn him into a monster like Titus.

However, before he could recover for long, his consciousness was once again swept away by some kind of torrent.

Some memories that did not belong to him suddenly flooded his mind, pulling him into another illusion.

The scene shifts to a burning sky and blood-stained earth.

A black-haired youth is wielding a giant sword and fighting a jet-black dragon in mid-air.

The dragon's breath swept across the heavens and earth like raging flames, while the sword light carved out blazing white cracks in the void.

Beneath their feet lay mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The remains of countless dragons were intertwined with piles of human corpses, resembling an endless battlefield of carnage.

The scene suddenly changed.

Eight figures surrounded a lying corpse, each reaching out to take a piece of the remains.

Some took the head, some took the bones, some took the arms...

The last person took the heart.

The final scene abruptly rips apart, transforming into a gray-white snowfield.

A tall young man stood in the snow and ice; it was Titus Frostfire.

His eyes were empty, and his face was filled with contradictions and a twisted struggle.

Before him stood an upside-down ash thorn tree.

The angry flowers bloom on the branches, and the blood vines droop low, as if whispering.

"Do you want power...?"

Titus trembled, but finally reached out his hand.

The next instant, the blood vines suddenly wrapped around his body and burrowed into his flesh!
He let out a heart-wrenching roar.

And the angry flowers bloomed behind him, his eyes were ignited by a crimson madness.

The torrent of memories surged through Louis's mind like a river bursting its banks, but left almost nothing behind.

Louis instinctively grasped the three fragments, but he couldn't immediately decipher their meaning.

A quiet intuition was rising within me: this was not the end, but merely the prologue.

…………

"Hooah!"

A short, sharp gasp rang out, and Louis's eyes snapped open. He wasn't in the smoke-filled battlefield; he was in his room in New Frostspear City.

The moment he regained consciousness, he noticed the changes in his body.

The magical energy within his body flowed more smoothly and abundantly, as if the old bottleneck had been broken and some unknown channel had been opened.

Furthermore, he could sense some new abilities he had gained, such as the ability to reach near-peak knight speed and power for a short period of time if he released all his potential while in a state of overextension!
There's also the resonance of anger, the kind of feeling that can ignite the emotions of the soldiers around you simply by letting out a shout on the battlefield.

Moreover, the total amount of magic power in his body, its conversion efficiency, and the smoothness of his spellcasting have all increased by an entire level.

It's like an old engine being replaced with a new core.

"...Is this the ability that Scorching Tear Fujiwara gave me?"

He muttered to himself as he stretched out his right hand, clenched his fist, and his knuckles made a crisp sound, revealing a strange sense of fullness in his muscles.

But it seems there are no side effects, no feeling of being controlled by anger, and even a very calm feeling inside.

Could it be that the side effects were all suppressed by the Primal Heart?

He frowned, pondering as he gently sat up.

Just then, footsteps approached from afar.

"My lord!" A familiar voice called out urgently.

Lambert strode in, his face etched with worry and exhaustion.

"That's great! You're finally awake!" Several other people followed, some he knew and some he didn't.

“Lambert…” Louis smiled, his voice hoarse but gentle, “You’re still alive too.”

Lambert paused for a moment, then smiled.

He knelt down on one knee and reached out to support Louis's arm, as if afraid that Louis was still too weak to sit up.

“Don’t be so nervous, I… I just slept for a short time?” Louis asked softly.

Lambert paused slightly: "Five days exactly."

"Five...days?" Louis's eyes widened. "You mean I was unconscious for five whole days?"

“Yes.” Lambert looked at him with a complicated expression. “We all thought you were just exhausted. The doctor’s examination also said it was just overexertion and there were no external injuries. But… no one can explain why you have been asleep for so long.”

Louis remained silent for a few seconds.

It was indeed bizarre. The flood of memories only lasted for a few minutes in his consciousness, and time in the illusion was even more fragmented, as if it were only a few moments.

But he actually slept for a full five days...

"Sir?" Lambert asked.

“It’s nothing, I’m probably just too tired.” Louis shook his head, but his eyes were clearer than ever before. “The doctor just came again and said that although you don’t have any internal injuries, it would be best if you rested for another day.” Lambert’s tone softened. “Also, Lady Emily is on her way, and it will probably take another five or six days.”

"She's here?" Louis was somewhat surprised.

“Of course she came.” Lambert nodded. “As soon as the war ended and she learned that you were unconscious, Lady Emily came immediately.”

Louis paused for a moment, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

He certainly didn't die; in fact, he became even stronger.

But only he knew that the red mist had truly entered his mind.

If not for his original heart, he might have become a puppet of rage like Titus.

“Lambert,” he suddenly asked, “how is the war going now…?”

Lambert nodded slowly: "It's over. The moment Titus died, the entire battlefield fell silent. All the giants, barbarians, and even the monsters collapsed like puppets with broken strings."

Right now, we're just cleaning up the battlefield, burning the wreckage, dealing with the corpses, and... rescuing those soldiers who've gone mad but haven't died.

“We…won,” Lambert said softly.

“We…won,” Louis repeated softly.

Hurried footsteps could be heard outside, and a man in a gray-blue medical coat strode into the room.

The doctor didn't say much, but carefully placed his hand on Louis's pulse, then moved it to his chest and listened to his heartbeat.

A moment later, he took out a dark gold bronze stone from the box and pressed it lightly on Louis's forehead.

That's a battle aura reaction stone, capable of sensing whether there are any out-of-control battle aura fluctuations within a knight's body.

"……strangeness."

"What's wrong?" Lambert immediately became anxious.

"No, it's not a bad thing." The doctor quickly waved his hand, "It's just... although your pulse and breathing are a little weak, they are very stable."

The flow of internal energy was smooth, showing no abnormalities. Logically speaking, someone with your constitution shouldn't have been unconscious for five days.

"So what do you mean?" Louis asked.

"...I can't tell." The doctor lowered his head. "There's no serious injury, nor is there any imbalance of fighting spirit."

“It’s alright. Now that you’ve confirmed I’m fine, you can leave.” Louis waved his hand.

"Yes." The doctor bowed and withdrew.

“Lambert,” Louis turned his head, his voice a little tired, “Have someone prepare some hot food for me, and then… I want to go to the restroom.”

"Sir, your health..."

"I can still walk." Louis gritted his teeth and stood up. His steps were indeed a little unsteady, but he managed to stay upright. "After being unconscious for five days, shouldn't I wash my face?"

Lambert sighed, silently stepped forward to help him, and led him to the washroom in the inner hall.

"I'll wait for you outside. Call me if you need anything," Lambert said softly, then gently closed the door.

After the door closed, Louis steadied himself against the edge of the pool, took a short breath, and then looked up at the bronze mirror directly in front of him.

The reflection in the mirror showed a pale face, faint blue under the eyes, and lips that were almost bloodless, making him look like a young nobleman recovering from an illness.

"...That's it?" He stared at his reflection, his brows furrowing slightly.

There were no blood vines clinging to it, nor did any angry flowers bloom.

His skin was undamaged, his bones had not mutated, and even the fluctuations in his aura were almost completely suppressed by the Primal Heart.

Even he himself was starting to doubt that those things were just a dream.

But it's always a good thing that it's not under control. As for whether there are any hidden side effects hidden in my body, that can only be dealt with later.

Louis lowered his head and immersed his face in the cold washbasin. The icy water slid down his cheeks, as if to wash away the drowsiness of the past five days in one go.

But what he truly cared about was never his reputation.

“The washroom is certainly not for washing your face,” he muttered under his breath.

After confirming that Lambert hadn't barged in, he quietly waved his right hand.

The next moment, the air seemed to freeze slightly, and a semi-transparent blue interface quietly appeared in the center of the space, shimmering with flowing light patterns like the surface of water.

A pale blue light stream flowed slowly along the edge of the screen, and then lines of information rolled down as if a flood had burst through a dam, quickly filling the entire screen.

Louis rubbed his still slightly heavy temples, reading while chuckling to himself, "Five days without logging on, and only sixteen updates... Looks like nothing major happened?"

[Daily intelligence update complete.]

[1: After the war, the situation in the Red Tide Territory stabilized, and the military and civilians were in good spirits. Under Bradley's leadership, preparations for spring planting began.]

[2: A giant, adult ice vein serpent has appeared on the northern edge of the Storm Plateau, ending its hibernation.]

[3: The initial signs of disease after the disaster in Frostspear City have emerged, and the distribution of food has sparked riots among the civilians.]

[4: Grain prices in the southeastern provinces have risen again, triggering a third wave of panic buying.]

…………

The intelligence reports were rolling in rapidly, and Louis read them one by one.

Most of the intelligence wasn't bad news; it was mostly related to the war.

Some reports concerned progress in repairing food supply lines, while others addressed emerging infectious diseases in various regions.

Another report states that the Seventh Forging Star Mine under his command, which was on the verge of collapse, has finally resumed initial production.

“Looks like Bradley did a good job…at least spring planting has started.” He nodded slightly, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Just as he was about to relax his shoulders, a piece of information suddenly popped up.

[12: Lord Governor of the North, Duke Edmund, severely depleted his life force during the Battle of Buried Bone Canyon, leaving him with only 183 days to live.]

The text on the screen seemed to carry a chill, and Louis's fingers froze in mid-air.

He remained silent for a full five seconds, his dry, cracked lips twitching slightly, his expression unreadable.

In that battle, Edmund withstood the charge of the Wrathful Crowned Giant three times, using his physical body to resist the corruption of the divine court.

Even if he possesses the body of a peak knight, he is still human after all.

He had considered the consequences; having only six months to live saddened him, especially considering how much the duke had helped him.

“With old injuries and over sixty years old, I was already nearing the end of my life… It’s quite remarkable that I’ve managed to hold on until now.”

Louis slowly sat down against the wall: "But with the Duke dead, my Red Tide will have no backing in the North..."

Before they could think any further, a second, even more shocking piece of information arrived.

[14: The Iron-Blooded Empire's Emperor, Ernst August, has disappeared. His last known appearance was five days ago at the Imperial Capital, Ancient Dragon Castle.]

[15: The Imperial First Legion, the Dragonblood Legion, and the Emperor's Personal Guard disappeared along with the Emperor.]

[16: Amidst the turmoil in the capital, the Regency Council has not yet issued a public announcement, and public opinion is under control.]

"Wh-what?" Louis's weak body almost sprang up from the ground.

The Emperor, the First Legion, the Dragonblood Legion, even the Imperial Guard have vanished?!

“This isn’t a vacation,” he said, his throat dry. “This is vanishing into thin air.”

Countless possibilities immediately flashed through his mind: civil war, coup d'état, catastrophe, magic, or even the awakening of some supernatural calamity...

(End of this chapter)