I only wanted to retire, but I ended up becoming an extremely popular character.

As night fell, Zod finished his workday, left his office, and headed towards his residence.

Since becoming a second lieutenant, Zod is no longer the lowest-ranking warrant officer and has to do everything himself.

Zod felt as if he had discovered a new continent.

Fortunately, he had two capable assistants under his command, Cassius and Hitis.

They can do almost anything for you.

For example, he directly assigned the task of eliminating the mountain bandits to Cassius.

Hitis is an expert at handling some tedious administrative paperwork.

Hitis could handle all the writing tasks that Zod found troublesome with ease.

Zod also experienced firsthand what it was like to be a leader and boss people around in the other world.

While it might be a bit unfair to say it that way, it certainly saves a lot of trouble.

His residence was some distance from the military base.

A light drizzle was falling from the sky. He breathed in the damp air and walked alone on that familiar old road.

Zod had long been accustomed to taking a leisurely walk home alone.

Because of a light rain, some areas of the ground that were not paved with tiles became muddy, making the road less easy to walk on.

There were hardly any pedestrians on the street; the empty streets were left with only Zod's lonely figure.

At this moment, danger is quietly approaching Zod.

A dark figure disappeared into the night, waiting silently on Zod's usual route home.

He had been lying in wait on the rooftops along the street since dusk, patiently waiting for his target to appear.

Until that familiar figure came into view, Zod was walking slowly towards him with his back to him.

The man in black slowly drew a short sword from his waist and silently leaped down from Zod's blind spot, the blade pointing directly at the back of his neck.

This strike was as practiced and precise as he had been through countless training sessions and assassination missions. He would slit Zod's throat in an instant, without the slightest deviation or possibility of missing.

Because the other party still hasn't noticed his presence.

However, just as he leaped down, and the blade was about to touch Zod,

Zod nimbly moved forward a short distance, causing the assassin's attack to miss its mark.

"Your murderous intent is too obvious. It would be better if you toned it down a bit," Zod thought to himself with a sneer.

Those so-called assassins will never understand how sensitive a person who cherishes life is to murderous intent.

Zod turned around, hands in his pockets, and stared at the masked assassin who was about to kill him: "Who are you, and why do you want to kill me?"

He doesn't think he's offended anyone.

He only makes enemies when carrying out imperial missions, and rarely offends people elsewhere.

Of course, if the other party is after money, then that's a different story.

"My goal is to kill 'Empire's Eagle,' and as for the reason, professional assassins never question their employers' motives for killing!"

The assassin hunched over, holding his short sword to his chest.

Although the raid failed, the mission is not over yet.

Even if the target evades his sneak attack, he still has a next strategy to take the target away.

Professionals like them never have only one plan. They always have a backup plan in case of failure, which is Plan B, to ensure that they can take the target away accurately.

"Emperor of the Empire? Who's that? I don't know him! Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Zod looked puzzled. He suspected that the other party had contacted the wrong person, as he himself did not know what the "Empire's Eagle" was.

"No, you are the 'Eagle of the Empire,' my target!"

Seeing Zod's puzzled expression, the assassin even thought he had the wrong target.

However, he quickly became convinced of his idea because Zod looked exactly like the target in the photo.

As a professional assassin, he has his own professional ethics, and he would never mistake someone for someone else.

Even if there is a chance of someone making a mistake, it can only be the other person's fault, since they look too much like the target.

"I'll give you a chance!" Zod said, still with his hands in his pockets. "I won't fight back for the next five minutes. Drop your weapon and let's see if you have the strength to take me down with your bare hands. How about it? Do you dare accept my challenge?"

Zod would definitely not tell the assassin that he just wanted to go to the hospital to recuperate for a few more days.

Zod possesses "Iron Defense," in addition to the physical skills he learned at the Imperial Special Training Camp.

With his current strength, the assassin in front of him is definitely no match for him.

If the assassin avoids vital areas and injures Zod, he can find another excuse to be hospitalized.

In this way, he won't contribute anything to the plot during this period.

He couldn't guarantee that his popularity would plummet, but it certainly wouldn't increase much.

How could he possibly let such a golden opportunity slip by?

"How is that possible?"

The assassin had never heard of such an absurd condition.

The assassin stood frozen in place, too afraid to move, carefully considering the conditions Zod had offered:

"If I drop my weapon, he won't fight back for at least five minutes?"

"Not fighting back for 5 minutes, that's a very tempting offer."

"Even without the short sword in his assistant's hand, he has all the means to kill his opponent with his bare hands."

"However, the crux of the matter is that he wants me to drop my weapon!"

"Could it be a trap?"

"Are there any of his accomplices nearby?"

"If that's the case, then the moment I drop my weapon, I'll likely be captured alive by his imperial hounds lurking in the shadows."

"So that's how cunning the 'Empire Eagle' is?"

"He hopes that after I drop my weapon, he will capture me alive and then extract the information he wants from me."

"No wonder! This explains why the other party was so calm and composed, without the slightest hint of panic."

"He was so calm because he was certain that I couldn't cause him any harm."

"If that's the case, who knows how many 'Eagle of the Empire's' lackeys are lurking in this darkness."

"I've long heard that the 'Empire Eagle' is powerful, but I didn't expect them to be so meticulous."

"Such a simple sentence could conceal so much scheming!"

"Terrifying!"

"This mission is likely to end badly."

"I desperately want to leave, but I can't! I have the professional ethics of an assassin; I will not leave until I achieve my goal!"

The more the assassin thought about it, the more his scalp tingled; he suddenly felt that there were enemies all around him.

Otherwise, how can we explain why the "Empire Eagle" is not flustered and remains so calm?

He's a professional assassin; he's always the one who's feared, never the one who's afraid of others.

Cold sweat slid down his face, and an unprecedented fear enveloped him.

He felt a dampness in his palm as he gripped the short sword; it wasn't rain that soaked his palm, but cold sweat.

If you ask him why he knew, it's because the clothes on his back were already soaked through with cold sweat.

He involuntarily took a step back.

All he wants now is to escape this place; it's too terrifying. No wonder he's the "Eagle of the Empire," who fought his way out of Clock Tower Town all by himself.

Those who have fought their way through the battlefield are indeed fundamentally different from assassins like him.

"Hey, are you going to accept my conditions or not?" Zod picked his nose, sounding somewhat impatient.

Whether you accept it or not, at least give me a straight answer. Zod just stood there like a fool.

"I..." However, the assassin could not give Zod an answer.

Because he wasn't sure whether he should agree to Zod's conditions.

If he didn't agree, he feared that Zod's imperial henchmen would be lying in ambush nearby, ready to tear him to pieces at any moment.

However, if he agreed to Zod's conditions, he was even more afraid of falling into Zod's trap, whereupon he would be captured unarmed and subjected to severe torture.

Therefore, he was unable to make a decision for a long time.

This agonizing dilemma was the first major crisis he had ever faced since becoming a professional assassin!