New Three Kingdoms Tales: Starting as the expressionless Liu Bei

"He wanted to become incredibly powerful, to protect his younger brother Yuan Shu, and to bring the entire world into the hands of the Yuan family..."

Liu Bei repeated in a low voice the words Ah San had brought back, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper, and he fell into a long silence. The firelight flickered on the tent walls, casting alternating light and shadow on half of his face.

That's not right. Whether in official history or in the new version, the brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were always openly and covertly fighting each other, neither willing to concede to the other.

Forget about being of one mind and one heart, they can't even maintain a semblance of sincerity on the surface.

If the two most powerful warlords had truly joined forces, Cao Cao would have been irrelevant, let alone the tripartite balance of power.

According to Ah San's retelling, Yuan Shao's tone when he said these words was clearly sincere and not perfunctory.

Could it be that after being corrupted by something strange, the trajectory of history has also become distorted?

A thought suddenly flashed through Liu Bei's mind: Could it be that Yuan Shao's weakness is Yuan Shu?

He turned his head and tossed the question to Yuan Shu beside him.

Yuan Shu held the wine bowl and stared blankly for a while, finally shaking his head in bewilderment, indicating that he did not know.

Even with a deductive ability as strong as Conan's, Yuan Shu dared not draw any conclusions without sufficient clues. After all, this was a bizarre world of strange rules and supernatural tales, where one wrong step could cost you your head.

Liu Bei pondered the matter for a long time but still couldn't pinpoint Yuan Shao's weakness.

Before he knew it, it was already late at night. The footsteps of the patrolmen outside the tent gradually thinned out, so he had to tell everyone to go back and rest.

Gongsun Zan, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and A-San returned to their respective tents, while Liu Bei and Yuan Shu surprisingly entered one tent together.

The first three had mysterious protective auras within them and did not require additional guards. As for Ah San, being an assassin by trade, Liu Bei was not used to sleeping in the same tent as an assassin, so he let him have a separate room.

Yuan Shu has no internal abnormalities and needs the most protection in this chaotic situation. Since the two are sharing a room, Liu Bei can protect him.

Fortunately, Gongsun Zan had prepared two sets of bedding for them, one bed for each person, so it wasn't too crowded.

After everything was settled, the tent flaps were drawn, shutting out the charred ruins and the cold wind that blew all night. Guards were on duty in shifts outside the door, and tonight I could finally get a good night's sleep.

The candlelight flickered in the tent, and Liu Bei was bending over, scooping water to wash his face. The cold water splashed on his face, finally making him a little more awake.

He shook the water droplets off his hands and was about to straighten up when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a small pool of dark red blood on the ground at his feet, which gleamed stickily in the candlelight.

Judging from how fresh the bloodstains are, they must have been left not long ago.

He frowned slightly, about to speak, when Yuan Shu's voice came from behind him.

"Xuande, come and see!" Yuan Shu turned around from the tent flap, holding an opened letter in his hand. His expression was complicated, and it was hard to tell whether it was surprise or something else. "There is a letter here. Yuan Shao put it on my bed."

Liu Bei took the letter and unfolded it by the candlelight. The handwriting was slightly messy, but it had a familiar style.

"I have left a letter to my brother Gonglu. I was wounded by Sun Jian and must return to Suanzao to recuperate. I have already resigned from my position as leader of the alliance. The coalition of the nineteen warlords is hereby disbanded."

"This parting may be our last. I present you with ten thousand elite cavalry, my brother. I hope you live well and never speak lightly of life or death."

Wow, Yuan Shao is actually so generous?

Liu Bei felt a slight smirk, but his gaze continued to sweep downwards, and the tone of the letter suddenly changed.

"Please remember this, my brother: be extremely careful of Liu Bei. This man is treacherous yet appears loyal, deceitful yet appears genuine; in his hands, benevolence and righteousness are transformed into deadly weapons!"

"Previously, I wanted to trade with him for the soul of Gongsun Zan, but he ridiculed me in every way, so I had no choice but to teach him a lesson. Unexpectedly, this man still did not know how to restrain himself, and relying on Cao Cao's power, he tried to forcibly demand several of my generals."

"Now that the allied forces are falling apart and all ties have been severed, I naturally won't give him these generals. You can allocate some of them from those ten thousand elite cavalry; as for how many, that's up to you."

Upon seeing this, Liu Bei's lips twitched involuntarily.

Even after Yuan Benchu ​​had fled back to Suanzao, he still managed to hurl a few insults at him in the letter. As he continued reading, the last few lines of the letter suddenly became casual in their writing, as if the writer had added them on a whim.

"The following words are for that brat Liu Bei. Although you are a treacherous villain who appears loyal, and a hypocrite who appears genuine, the wine in your household is indeed quite good. I'll give you a word of caution: be careful of Gongsun Zan. This man harbors great ambitions and cannot be a friend, only an enemy."

hiss.......

Liu Bei slowly closed the letter and looked up at Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hands supporting his knees, also looking at him.

The two exchanged a glance, neither speaking, but both were thinking the same thing. Liu Bei couldn't help but recall the third rule in Gongsun Zan's strange tales.

[Rule 3: Remember, in this world of bizarre rules, no one corrupted by the supernatural can be completely trusted. Even brothers can only be used to check and balance each other.]

Was Gongsun Zan truly problematic, or was Yuan Shao sowing discord?

He carefully reviewed Gongsun Zan's performance since joining the group and couldn't find any fault with him.

Both were time travelers with the same goal: to fight against the supernatural. Moreover, Gongsun Zan had watched the new "Dynasty Warriors" so many times that he must know that Liu Bei would one day achieve imperial power, so following him would be a good choice.

But Liu Bei remained cautious. "If you don't want others to know, then don't do it in the first place."

If Gongsun Zan truly intended to harm him, this precaution would come in handy. If he didn't intend to harm him, being cautious wouldn't hurt.

He patted his head, thinking about what had happened that night, and felt somewhat regretful.

He couldn't hold back tonight and broke the rules by laughing loudly. He enjoyed showing off, but the price he paid was clear.

Sun Jian used the power of the Imperial Seal of the State and actually gained combat strength that rivaled his own.

If he hadn't arranged for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to take Sun Ce and Sun Quan hostage beforehand, given Sun Jian's increasingly frenzied fighting, he probably would have really died in those ruins.

Liu Bei gritted his teeth secretly, determined never to laugh again, he had to keep it up at all costs.

Sleepiness washed over him. He yawned, rolled over back into bed, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

On the other side, Ah San was also lying on the bed, but he tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep.

His mind was in turmoil; ever since he witnessed that inhuman massacre, he had been on edge.

Although there were guards outside, he was still afraid. He was afraid that Yuan Shao would suddenly emerge from some corner, afraid that the shark fin would cleave the tent flap open with a single stroke, and afraid that he would be eaten alive like his three brothers.

He tossed and turned countless times before finally drifting off to sleep.

In a daze, he had a dream. In the dream, he became a pageboy, following a teacher named Zhuge Liang, grinding ink and sweeping the floor every day, and the days were quite peaceful.

While I was sleeping, I suddenly heard a rustling sound.

He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt like they were being pressed down by something. He tried to shout, but his throat felt blocked, and he could only let out a few muffled sobs.

Immediately afterwards, a sharp pain shot through his mouth, as if something was cutting his tongue, so painful that he wanted to scream but couldn't.

He struggled desperately, but his body remained motionless. A voice came close to his ear, whispering something softly.

"Remember this in your next life: speak less, and you won't die such a terrible death."