Unlimited Ambition

Now it was my turn to hesitate. I had planned to use this as leverage to negotiate with the EU after occupying Moscow. My demands weren't unreasonable; I simply wanted them to cede the entirety of Siberia. But that old bastard Kutuzov was ruthless. He destroyed my strategic objectives in one fell swoop, leaving me in a dilemma.

I waited at the front for almost a month, but received no report from intelligence about the whereabouts of those drunken soldiers. The weather was getting colder and colder. My soldiers' hometown in Northeast China, while considered a harsh region, was nothing compared to Siberia. Although military supplies were plentiful, several unfortunate soldiers still died or suffered frostbite every day. This situation couldn't continue.

That night, I was having dinner, absentmindedly munching on a frozen canned chicken. Just then, Xiahou Dun, a young general from the Xiahou clan (a branch of our family), who was my cousin by seniority, ran over and asked me for the password for tonight's sentry duty. I was busy chewing on a chicken rib and didn't have time to answer him. I just casually said "chicken rib, chicken rib." The kid then ran off and announced that tonight's password was "chicken rib."

A junior staff officer named Yang Xiu, thinking himself clever, told others that he was preparing to return to his hometown after hearing the news. Those who heard this naturally didn't believe him and went to Xiahou Yuanrang to accuse him of falsely conveying military orders. Yuanrang summoned him, intending to reprimand him.

As a result, this kid twisted his tongue and spouted a bunch of fallacies: "Based on tonight's password, we know that the Duke of Wei will soon retreat: Chicken ribs are tasteless to eat but have flavor when discarded. We cannot advance and are afraid of being laughed at if we retreat. There is no benefit in staying here, so it is better to return early: the King of Wei will surely withdraw his troops tomorrow. Therefore, we should pack our bags in advance to avoid being flustered when we leave."

Yuan Rang thought to himself, "What this kid said seems to make some sense." So he went to me to inquire. I was puzzled as to why he would associate a casually given command with a retreat. I had only said it because I was eating chicken bones! So I told him what had happened. Afterwards, I told him to beat up that staff officer named Yang Xiu and tell him to stop having such wild ideas and focus on his promising career as a staff officer.

So when Yuan Rang returned, he had Yang Xiu beaten with forty strokes of the military rod according to military law.

As soon as Yuan Rang left, I thought about it and it was really funny. It turns out that even something unintentional on the part of those in power can trigger all sorts of associations among their subordinates. Looks like I'll have to be a little more careful in my actions from now on. Hmm… wait, retreat! I think I've come up with a good idea.

Three days later, just as my junior advisor Yang Xiu had predicted, I gave the order to retreat. However, I secretly deployed a large force to ambush along both sides of the retreat route.

Upon receiving news of the Northeast Army's retreat, the EU leadership finally breathed a sigh of relief. The EU, which had just resolved to commit all its forces to a life-or-death struggle against Brittany, simply couldn't muster any extra troops to resist the Chinese Federation's invasion.

Of course, they had no idea that the only participant in this operation was my Northeast Army. The remaining troops controlled by the central eunuch clique were still deployed in the south, confronting the forces of the separatist allied states.

The EU leadership had even prepared for the worst, ready to agree to Britannia's harsh conditions and cede the entire continent of Africa. They were then prepared to redeploy troops to defend the European continent. But unexpectedly, at this critical juncture, I took the initiative to withdraw.

The EU began to loudly proclaim this "victory," claiming that under the leadership of the EU parliamentary leadership, a decisive victory had been achieved in the war against the invading Chinese Federation army, and the restoration of lost territories was imminent. Meanwhile, the true hero, Kutuzov, was intentionally or unintentionally ignored.

Meanwhile, the EU leadership strictly ordered Kutuzov to launch a swift attack and recapture the lost territory. They completely disregarded Kutuzov's well-intentioned advice: the enemy had not suffered fatal damage, and such a retreat was likely a trap. Instead, they ridiculed Kutuzov as a senile old fool, terrified by the "kids" of the Chinese Federation.

Meanwhile, the EU leadership pinned all the blame for the previous loss of Siberia on Kutuzov, claiming that if he disobeyed orders, he would be punished for both crimes and brought to a military court. After all, there were plenty of people willing to replace him; finding a suitable replacement was not a problem.

The old general suffered a tremendous injustice at the hands of the EU high command. Already quite old, this further traumatized him, and he nearly fainted. He thought to himself, "If you bastards hadn't sent all the elite troops to the North African front, would I have been unable to muster enough men to fight that brat to the death? The credit goes to you, but the blame for the defeat is all pinned on me. Damn it, anyone could take that!"

The old general weighed the options again. If he refused orders, not only would he be in trouble, but if the higher-ups sent a parachuted general who would recklessly jump into enemy territory, wouldn't it be his own soldiers who would die? Oh well, he figured he might as well give up his old life here. He could only hope that, by some miracle, God would bless them and they could successfully defeat the Chinese Federation. Hallelujah.

The old general made the sign of the cross, and then ordered the entire army to attack.

Watching this group of Rossan drunken soldiers advance cautiously and slowly, I knew that ambushing them was impossible. But it didn't matter. They only had a few hundred thousand second-line border troops, and only a thousand mechs. Even in a direct confrontation, I would win.

However, that old general was a bit of a pity. He was barely a match for them. Unfortunately, he had a bunch of scoundrel superiors. It was no wonder he died.

Sighing, I ordered the entire army to turn around and wipe them out.

The old general was a capable commander. Despite being completely outnumbered, surrounded by our forces, and suffering from severe supply shortages, he held out for three months. He eventually succumbed to exhaustion. After his death, his successor, the deputy commander-in-chief, turned out to be an incompetent and irresponsible man who immediately ordered a surrender.

From then on, there were no longer any organized enemy troops within the entire territory of Russia. The heartland of the EU was completely exposed before me. The EU leadership was now in a panic. They hurriedly prepared to sign a treaty with Britannia.

Just as EU high command was once again arguing over whether to sign a treaty with Brittany, my announcement stunned them once more. Compared to Brittany's harsh conditions, my terms were naturally far more favorable. All that was required was the cession of all of Western Siberia and Central Siberia. The new border would be defined by the Ural Mountains – Ural River – Caucasus Mountains – Black Sea, the dividing line between Europe and Asia.

This way, the EU, which was more emotionally aligned with the European Union, felt less burdened by the prospect of ceding "Asia." Compared to the harsh, cold lands of Siberia, the resource-rich continent of Africa was naturally more valuable. After a brief negotiation, the EU agreed to these terms.

Based on this, the two sides also signed a secret agreement concerning Brittany. The EU Federation was even overjoyed to have found such a reliable ally. They comforted themselves by thinking that by ceding a trivial piece of barren land, they had actually gained a powerful ally and thus made a profit.

Within the Chinese Federation, the victory was naturally met with jubilation. Heaven help it, the Federation hadn't expanded its territory for over a century.

This gave the old man much more confidence to speak. After all, he represented the central government. Meanwhile, the bastards in the south remained collectively silent, as if they had fallen silent. Newspapers were filled with propaganda reporting this victory. All pro-Indian, pro-Vietnamese, and pro-Burmese rhetoric disappeared.

As the protagonist of this victory, I also received immense honor. Official Federation reports have elevated me to the status of a legendary military god. The title of "Wolf King of the Far North" quickly spread throughout the Federation.

Chapter Ten: The Day the True Demon King Was Born

Military victories could not offset the economic stagnation. Ever since some emperor of the last century, for reasons unknown, introduced the infamous "Bipism," the socio-economic situation of the Chinese Federation has been a mess. Ironically, this "Bipism" holds immense appeal for the common people who crave easy riches.

Therefore, after each emperor, although many rulers of the Chinese Federation attempted to reform the economic system, they all failed without exception. After all, the uprising of billions of people at the grassroots level is no joke.

However, such a planned economy system is indeed too rigid and lacks vitality. Hmm, a uniquely Chinese form of "beep" ideology. What do you think of this proposal?

As a result, a group of civil and military officials were summoned to discuss the proposal. The military officials were better off not mentioning it, but few of the civil officials disagreed. Especially the two uncles and nephews surnamed Xun, whose lips trembled so much they couldn't utter a single coherent sentence. Seeing their predicament, I couldn't help but laugh and mutter: "Truly spineless."

After that, I assigned the task to the two of them. To be honest, among my team members, those two were the best at civil affairs. It's not that the others were weak; it's just that they were the most outstanding.

The result was very gratifying. The two uncles and nephews arrived at the governor's mansion in less than three days with a preliminary plan. Judging from their panda-like dark circles under their eyes, it was clear that they hadn't had a proper rest in the past few days.

Although such exploitation of laborers has always been my wish, what I think and what I say cannot be the same thing. At that moment, I touched my eye, and the pepper I had prepared beforehand got into it. With tears streaming down my face, I held their hands and said, "With Wenruo and Gongda assisting me, how fortunate I am."

The two silly kids were so moved that tears streamed down their faces. They repeatedly vowed to serve their lord's eternal ambition: "We are willing to shed our blood to write history, and we will not rest until our ambitions are fulfilled."

I chuckled inwardly, having tricked two more unlucky kids, but outwardly I appeared unusually moved and continued to encourage them: "There's plenty of time to prove your skills, and we'll celebrate with a toast one day."

After seeing off the two still-crying teenagers, I turned around again. My sword, the Heaven-Slaying Sword, was already drawn. I sneered at the screen in the corner of the room, "Did you enjoy the show? How about we calculate the ticket price?"

To be honest, at such a young age, I've already seized military and political power in a region, and achieved such results in the battle against the EU. Naturally, there's been no shortage of outside intelligence gathering about our situation.

I'm actually not very brave, especially when my life is at stake; I'm as timid as a grain of rice. Therefore, besides issuing a strict order to the Ministry of the Interior to eliminate enemy spies, the entire Governor's Mansion was also heavily guarded, with sentries every three steps and patrols every five. Several hundred highly trained special forces soldiers and intelligence agents were deployed. Enemy agents could only manage to reach the outer hall at most. A situation like today, where they ran all the way to my study, and I didn't even notice them for a while, was a first.

Just now, out of consideration for the Xun uncle and nephew, two scholars who were powerless even to kill a chicken, I pretended not to see them. In the short time that has passed, the Xun uncle and nephew have gone far away. I want to see which kind of monster or demon has such great ability that it dares to come here and cause trouble.

Just as I was staring intently at the figure behind the screen (which appeared to be a woman), the spy remained completely calm. After a soft laugh, she gracefully stepped out.

"I never imagined the Wolf of the Far North truly lived up to its reputation. I admire you." After saying that, she even gave me a ladylike bow typical of the Chinese Federation. However, combined with her Caucasian appearance and all-black outfit, it just looked awkward no matter how I looked at it.

I didn't say anything, I just stared intently at her. This woman with long green hair and a captivating allure in her eyes.

"I don't want to ask you anything. If you don't act now, you'll have no chance of survival." I looked at her calmly. The Heaven-Slaying Sword in my hand trembled slightly, and a dragon's roar resounded.

"Oh?" The woman seemed not to have heard my warning. She walked around a few steps as if she were in her own home, and finally stopped in front of the display cabinet. She picked up a jade ornament and played with it.

Was she just incredibly audacious, or utterly thick-skinned? I sneered again, about to say a few more sarcastic remarks, when the woman spoke first.

"You're really overconfident, aren't you? You think you can be invincible after just a few days of swordsmanship training? Who do you think you are? The undefeated swordsman?"

Who is Dugu Qiubai?

I forced myself to suppress the urge to complain. I snorted and said, "You'll see when you try."

The green-haired woman said "Oh" and then fell silent, intently playing with the jade ornament in her hand.

A few seconds passed in the blink of an eye, but it felt like years. Perhaps someone who's been locked in a cage with a Siberian tiger that's been starving all day can understand how I feel right now—no, if it were just a tigress, I might have a fighting chance with my Heaven-Slaying Sword. But the woman opposite me is clearly a female Tyrannosaurus Rex. If a real fight broke out, I might not even be left with a trace. After all, a human can't compare to a monster.

So when I received the signal from the light reflected in the mirror outside the window, I immediately felt a sense of relief.

Immediately afterwards, the office door was violently flung open. Several armed guards dressed in black, wearing masks, and carrying automatic rifles rushed in, surrounding me and pointing their guns at the woman.

That's right, I have no intention of fighting this woman to the death. Even if I could beat her, I wouldn't. Everything I did before was just to buy time.

After the Xun uncle and nephew left, I quietly pressed the alarm bell under my desk. The bell, directly connected to the outer guard room, rang, and the entire elite bodyguard team sprang into action. Once the signal outside flashed and the snipers were in position, the situation was reversed.

The green-haired woman seemed to have also noticed the optical signal coming from outside the window. She couldn't help but snort coldly, and her gaze towards me became less friendly—of course, it had been just as unfriendly before.

But none of that matters anymore. No matter how powerful she is, can she compare to an elite force with modern technology? No matter how fast she is, can she outrun a sniper rifle bullet?

joke.

"Alright, you probably know what happened. Don't even think about resisting. Just surrender obediently. I'm also very curious to know who has the ability to sneak all the way to my study." I laughed and said.

"Is this your plan? It seems quite different from what you said before," the green-haired woman said sarcastically.

"Whatever." I shrugged. "If we don't do it this way, am I supposed to fight a female Tyrannosaurus Rex one-on-one with a melee weapon? Seriously..."

Just when I thought I had the situation under my control and that this green-haired woman was like a Magikarp on the chopping block—a sudden change occurred!

The green-haired woman moved in an instant. With a flick of her right hand, several flashes of silver light appeared, and several guards inside the room fell dead. At the same time, the sniper outside noticed something amiss and pulled the trigger—but missed! The woman was indeed faster than a sniper bullet!

The next moment, the woman was in front of me, a dagger pressed against my neck. And I had only just raised the Heaven-Slaying Sword.

Completely defeated.

It seems my previous assessment was somewhat inadequate; this green-haired woman isn't a female Tyrannosaurus Rex, but a female dragon! A single character difference makes all the difference between a giant lizard and a mythical beast. The ancients' creation of characters is truly ingenious.

"Now, can we have a proper talk?" the green-haired woman said to me with a smile. Damn, she had obviously copied my smile from earlier.

“Of course, everyone knows that I, Cao Cao, Cao Mengde, am the most hospitable to my friends. Miss is a guest from afar, so I naturally want to entertain you. But…” I chuckled and pointed to the dagger at my neck, saying, “Miss, this is not how a guest should behave.”

"You've changed pretty quickly," the green-haired woman chuckled and said. "I've never heard of any woman using an army to entertain guests."

I laughed a few times and said, "Of course I did. That's how I was treated when I visited the EU last time."

The green-haired woman seemed surprised by my words, momentarily stunned, before laughing. But her laughter caused her hand holding the dagger to tremble violently. It startled me so much I almost screamed.

After the green-haired woman finished laughing, she looked at me with more interest and repeated what she had said before: "Now, can we have a proper talk?" After saying that, she looked at the corpses all over the floor, frowned, and said, "This isn't the place. Let's change rooms." She then added, "A room without surveillance cameras."

There are no surveillance cameras, so it's just my bathroom and bedroom. Speaking of which, this woman has a good figure and is quite pretty, especially her thighs, which are incredibly attractive. No wonder she's trained in martial arts.

※※※

After all that commotion, I temporarily gave up the idea of ​​eliminating this woman. I knew that a master of this level was very difficult to kill unless there were mech units deployed on the battlefield, or a group of machine gunners surrounded her in a ditch. Fortunately, this woman didn't seem to want my life. In that case, she shouldn't be a spy or assassin sent by another faction.

Are these self-recommended talents? Come to think of it, I posted a job ad before, but I didn't receive many responses. Most people who want a job are taking the civil service exam. The vast majority of applicants are scammers.

But today, it seems we might be able to recruit a formidable female assassin?

Okay, I was just talking nonsense.

After I brought the woman to my bedroom, she was quite uninhibited, lying down on my bed without any hesitation. Then she revealed her purpose: to sign a contract with me.

"Oh, a contract worker? That's not impossible. How many years do you want to sign?" I nodded, then turned around to find paper and pen.

"No, it's not a contract in the written sense." The green-haired woman looked at me with a wry smile.

I blinked: "In today's materialistic and morally corrupt society, I don't feel secure without signing in on paper."

Green Hair was speechless, choked by the words. After finally abandoning her plan to kill me outright, she uttered a bunch of fantastical things: the power of a king, the death of chickens and ducks. She claimed that just kissing her would grant this superpower. She also said she had lived for hundreds of years and was recently tired of her endless life. Kissing me was just a ploy to get me to kill her.

……

This child is seriously ill. She must be one of those eccentric girls. Science fiction is really harmful.

Seeing me shaking my head and looking at her with utter contempt, the green-haired woman suddenly went berserk: "I was originally going to explain the side effects to you and let you choose for yourself, but now it seems unnecessary! Accept my contract, you bastard!" She then grabbed me and hugged me tightly.

That's indecent! This female hooligan forcibly pushed against the young boy!!

I was about to scream when my mouth was covered. This was my first kiss, and an unprecedented experience instantly flooded my mind. Then I realized something was wrong; this definitely wasn't a simple kiss—the woman was telling the truth!!

I don't know how much time passed—I turned to look at my watch, it was probably less than five seconds. What a loss.

The green-haired woman looked at me smugly, as if to say, "Now you believe what I said, right?"

I nodded and immediately lay down on the bed, feeling a little dazed. Then I took a deep breath, sat up, gave the green-haired woman a forced smile, and said, "You said before that this chicken and duck died—"

“It’s Geass,” the green-haired man corrected.

"Oh, Geass." I casually changed my tune: "It has some negative effects, but I don't know what they are?"

Upon hearing this, the green-haired woman became a little embarrassed, and her expression turned much more serious: "The path of the king is lonely—"

I interrupted her directly: "Just say what you want to say, stop being so childish, okay? Besides, do you think there are many people on the path I'm on right now?"

The green-haired girl rolled her eyes: "If you use it too many times, it will go berserk and then be permanently on. You can never turn it off again."