Armipotent

'This is frustrating and interesting at the same time,' Zhang Mengyao thought to herself. It was interesting that the King of the second floor could cover up the fact that this world was just a second floor of the dimensional tower. Twelve Kingdoms and millions of living beings, yet the King of the second floor managed to pull up such a tricky trick. It was interesting to crack the mystery. However, it was frustrating because she knew this would take a long time to solve the mystery of King. She wanted to finish the second floor before Tang Shaoyang returned from the trial.

'Let's focus on what's in front of you first, Zhang Mengyao! Don't let greed take you over and cause a fatal mistake!' She warned herself as she entered the city through the main road.

Most of the buildings were completely shut off, but there were also knights laid down on the ground with their weapons a few meters away from them. She was not expecting that the trading center of the Athilia Kingdom was this bad. She could see the trashes all over the street, "Is this what Harnian looks like, Alvarina?"

Zhang Mengyao did not hear the answer from her slave. She turned toward the former Queen's protector and found out the latter was confused with the Harnian's living condition, "Do you hear me, Alvarina? Does Harnian always like this?"

Alvarina snapped out of her daze and shook her head, "NO! It must be the rebel army. They took over the city, but they did not bother to manage the city! We— The Athilia Kingdom lost Harnian City to the rebel army seven days ago, so they have been neglecting the city since then."

Zhang Mengyao nodded, but then she suddenly stopped at the finer house than the others. It was obvious the house belonged to the rich people in the city, but she could see the dust on the windows, and the door had been roughed up. There were three knights laid down in front of the house. One of them lay below the window, and the other two lay down in front of the door.

Instead of continuing toward the core of the city, she opened the door. The door was opened with a gentle push, and it made a creaky noise. She stopped by the house because she heard faint sobbing from the house. Alvarina and Liang Suyin heard faint sobbing when they entered the house.

Inside the house was a mess, and it smelled bad as Alvarina and Liang Suyin immediately covered their noses. Zhang Mengyao did not care about the bad smell as she rushed to the second floor. When she arrived on the second floor, the sobbing stopped, but Zhang Mengyao had found where the voice came from.

She stopped by the opened door and saw a boy, around five or seven years old. He was holding a knife with both hands, pointing the knife toward her. She was not bothered with the knife but the body on the bed behind the boy. A woman with dark brown hair lay down on the bed with her eyes closed. From the neck down to her feet was covered by a white blanket.

"D-don't come, o-or I-I will stab you!" The boy threatened Zhang Mengyao. He tried to look firm and strong, but tears were gathering in his eyes. It was for sure the boy was the one who made the sobbing noise, but he tried to suppress it.

Zhang Mengyao took a deep breath and released it in one go. Then she returned the lance to the inventory and opened her helmet and also her armor, putting them back into her inventory. She wanted to appear harmless to the boy. The boy was surprised for a moment that it was Zhang Mengyao behind the heavy armor. But he still held the knife firmly, protecting the body.

She forced a smile and said, "I am not from the Rebel Army. Put down the knife and calm down. Let me check your Mommy, okay? Maybe this sister can help your Mommy,"

"Who are you? Are you from the King's Army?" The boy shook as he finally found hope. The hope that would bring him and his mother out of this hell.

"I am not from the King's Army but the Tang Empire. We have taken over the city and will free you all from these bad guys. Can I come in?"

Zhang Mengyao was cautious as she was afraid the boy would hurt himself with the knife in his hand. The boy lowered the knife, and she entered the room. The first thing she did was take the knife from the boy and hug him, rubbing his back, attempting to calm him down, "It's okay. You will be fine now. There's no one who will hurt you anymore."

She did not check the woman in bed because she knew the mom was dead. The woman was no longer breathing, leaving behind a pained expression before death came for her.

The boy cracked in tears out loud and hit Zhang Mengyao's back repeatedly, "WHY? WHY? WHY ARE YOU ONLY COMING NOW? WHY? WHY? WHY?" The boy's voice filled the room.

Zhang Mengyao closed her eyes and let the boy vent his emotion on her. The only thing she did was rub his back, trying to calm him down. After a whole minute, her shoulder was wet with the boy's tears, and the boy stopped moving. After that, she heard stable breathing as the boy fell asleep.

She carried the boy and stood up. Her right hand moved to the blanket; she wanted to find out the cause of the woman's death. Her hand stopped midair as she hesitated to open the blanket.

She ended up pulling the blanket away from the woman's body after some hesitation and saw something she feared the most.

Zhang Mengyao pulled a deep breath and closed her eyes at the sight of the woman's condition. Her chest heaved up and down chaotically as she did not expect there were people doing this kind of thing.

"These bastards are beasts in human skin!" Liang Suyin's suppressed raging voice came out from behind.