Di Yiwei came in person? That made sense—aside from her, who else could give such a bold order?
Tie Ci widened her eyes to peer through the mist, but unfortunately it was too thick. Her clairvoyant ability could see through solid objects but couldn’t penetrate fog. She could only vaguely make out what seemed to be a grand chair at the bow of that ship, with someone seated there. Beside the figure, something flickered with alternating bright and dim light.
The sea surface fell completely silent. Even the troublemaking captives were stunned into submission. Guard Commander Yu knelt there, sweat pouring down his face.
After quite a while, that voice spoke: “Old Yu.”
“This subordinate is here!”
“Lower your voice, it’s too noisy.”
Guard Commander Yu switched to a breathy tone: “This subordinate is here.”
“Why are your eyes so red? From staying up all night?”
“Yes. This subordinate and several others have been guarding this ship of captives, working day and night without rest, not daring to slack off…”
“How touching. You’re so stupid it makes me want to cry for you.”
“…”
“A ship of captives—you know it’s a ship of captives. Do captives need a whole ship? Just keep a few high-ranking ones for convenient interrogation. Why guard the rest when they’re just wasting food and energy? This sea is so vast—don’t you know how to dump them overboard?”
Tie Ci: “…”
Just… incredible.
Even enemy nations don’t execute prisoners of war. This person spoke of killing captives with such refreshing eloquence, as if it were perfectly justified.
Thinking back, Di Yiwei’s glorious military record included many accounts of how many enemies she’d killed and how she struck fear into enemy hearts, but very few mentions of how many prisoners she’d taken.
Could it be that… she’d killed all the prisoners?
Looking at Guard Commander Yu again, he actually showed an expression of sudden enlightenment and deep regret.
Tie Ci was astounded.
Now she somewhat understood how Di Yiwei could intimidate these fierce men.
This contemptuous disregard for life, death, rules, and reason—it was a natural intimidating force.
This person’s style was swift and decisive. The incident with navy officers disguising as pirates had just occurred, and she must have immediately seized the opportunity to move against Yongping Navy, controlling the military camp and docks. Otherwise, she couldn’t have set out from the docks so quickly to meet Guard Commander Yu.
Though the navy didn’t have as many men as Yongping’s forces, they were of equal rank. Ordinary people, even when catching others red-handed, wouldn’t dare easily move against forces of the same level. They’d hesitate, investigate, plan before acting.
But judging by the timing, this person had acted immediately upon receiving Guard Commander Yu’s message.
Her decisiveness was evident, as was her absolute trust in her subordinates.
The clicking sounds continued, and red light flickered on and off in the thick fog.
“Though you’re a bit stupid, you handled things well. Go back and rest. Your merit has already been recorded by the military clerk. Your wife and children were brought over some days ago. Your previous quarters were too small, so I had someone arrange larger ones for you. Go find Old Zhang for the keys when you return.”
The cold demon king had turned into a chattering nanny, her bland tone filled with warm human feeling. Guard Commander Yu immediately burst into tears, kowtowing with a resounding thud: “Thank you, Commander!”
Tie Ci remembered that military officers of Guard Commander rank and above weren’t allowed to bring their wives and children, for fear that officers without hostages might easily defect.
Clearly, Di Yiwei not only ignored this rule but used it as a means to win military loyalty.
She wasn’t afraid of betrayal.
Someone set up a gangplank and jumped over, replacing Guard Commander Yu and his men on Di Yiwei’s ship. Before boarding, Guard Commander Yu looked hesitantly at Tie Ci and the others, saying to the figure in the fog: “Commander, these few were of great help to us. Without them, we couldn’t have captured these people…”
“You seized an opportunity this time. But clearly you don’t understand what constitutes an appropriate opportunity,” Di Yiwei said. “How many times have you interrupted me while I’m enjoying this smoke?”
Guard Commander Yu immediately lowered his head, glancing apologetically at Tie Ci before slinking away to the other ship.
More clicking sounds followed. After quite a while, Di Yiwei spoke again, her voice sounding even lazier, more relaxed, and breathless, as if her very bones had gone soft: “Let’s go back.”
From beginning to end, she hadn’t acknowledged Tie Ci and the others.
Feiyu suddenly called out: “Wait, where are my five qian of silver?”
The people on the opposite ship fell silent for a moment. After a while, Di Yiwei said blandly: “Those people in the water were condemned men who didn’t need your rescue. Not even one qian.”
Feiyu: “Hm?”
“The five qian is what you owe us,” she said. “We showed you mercy by raising our arrows half an inch, which affected our accuracy. Every arrow our soldiers loose is recorded and evaluated. Poor accuracy results in pay deductions at best, demotion at worst. So you owe us those five qian in compensation.”
Listening to this, Tie Ci was amused.
Watching Feiyu get the short end of the stick was just that delightful.
Feiyu showed no signs of anger and even asked: “Given your ruthless nature, you don’t seem like someone who would raise arrows for strangers. So why did you give me this five-qian opportunity?”
The voice from across remained bland, neither male nor female, without emotion, as if commenting on nice weather: “Because you look good.”
Tie Ci: “…”
This blatant coveting—should she be worried or amused?
Hearing this, Feiyu took a step back and whispered to Tie Ci: “See? Even strangers recognize my beauty and pursue it. Why do you remain blind to it?”
Tie Ci laughed: “Then go with the strangers.”
Di Yiwei’s hearing was excellent and immediately replied: “No thank you. Go back where you came from and stay cool.”
She knocked a couple of times, as if tapping something, with a dismissive air: “Year-round, I’ve seen plenty of beauties. If I wanted them all, could I afford to keep them? Better to save the money for a few more meals at Hefang Restaurant. Return to ship—”
The boats turned around, and their vessel followed. The replacement officer was a brigadier general with a stern expression, who said to Tie Ci: “Young Master, we already know of your assistance. The Commander said that the student trainees in formation are currently drilling. Since you arrived late, you should have been punished according to military regulations, but in consideration of your help in guarding prisoners with Guard Commander Yu, this punishment is waived. After disembarking, you should hurry to the Yongping Bieshan garrison.”
Tie Ci thought: I did far more than just guard prisoners.
In fact, she had done Di Yiwei a tremendous favor.
Di Yiwei had just captured these navy officers disguised as pirates and would next need to interrogate them about Ghost Island, as well as reorganize the navy. She probably couldn’t immediately grasp the true thread of the Ghost Island incident.
But Tie Ci didn’t plan to explain everything herself.
Going to seek credit proactively was a poor strategy. It would be more useful to let Di Yiwei figure it out herself.
So Tie Ci said no more, just smiled and nodded. Following Di Yiwei’s ship to shore, she saw that the navy had indeed been controlled. The docks were full of Iron Guard troops, with sentries every three steps and guards every five, creating a very tense atmosphere.
The two ships docked, and the prisoners were first escorted off. As the fog gradually dispersed, Tie Ci saw Di Yiwei disembark, with a large carriage waiting nearby. She swayed as she entered the vehicle, and the curtains were drawn tightly shut.
Tie Ci was wondering if she needed a carriage to reach the Bieshan garrison when she saw the sedan curtain lift, and a long object extend out, waving at them. It looked like a summoning gesture.