Mao Tuan always wants to attack me

Bai Shuyu stared at Nightingale for a moment.Suddenly, he turned around and asked the shadow guards sharply, "Who is 'he'?"

Xiao Yuntian was a little dizzy for a while, why did Bai Shuyu ask those shadow guards?How would they know?But Bai Shuyu took out a small piece from Nightingale's hand.Upon closer inspection, it was actually a token.

Bai Shuyu held up the token: "Look at the appearance, this should be the token of the shadow guard class?"

Most of the shadow guards said they didn't know anything about it, and one of them said: "If you go back to the emperor, the chief guard entered the palace early, and he was the first to be promoted to the emperor's personal attendant. Only shadow guards who have trained for a long period of time or have earlier qualifications can recognize them."

An obviously older shadow guard stepped forward, bowed to the emperor, and said, "Your Majesty, please take a closer look."

He took the token from the emperor.After only one glance, the shadow guard immediately said: "This is the token of the coach of the shadow guard. It has not been seen for many years... Your Majesty, the humble officer and the nightingale guard entered the palace for training at the same time. This token Belonging to the coach of the shadow guard class at that time, the humble staff and others were only seen in the last experience assessment of the training. Since the instructor candidates were replaced later, the shadow guards who participated in the next training session of the humble staff have never seen it again Tokens of this style.”

"That assessment..." Bai Shuyu frowned, "What happened?"

The shadow guard recalled it for a moment, and replied: "That assessment was conducted in batches, and the humble officer and the chief guard were not in the same batch." He glanced at Nightingale, and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the humble officer thought that the assessment was attended by the chief guard Nightingale." It is different from the ordinary graduation assessment, but a selection assessment——the assessment held four years ago was a special test conducted by the instructor for the selection of the emperor's personal attendants. It is rumored that the items of the assessment were extremely strict, and only the best in the same period You can only participate in the reserve service. The qualifications for humble positions are not enough, so you can't participate in the selection."

Bai Shuyu asked: "Then, who else participated in the selection at the same time as Nightingale?" He stared at Nightingale for a long time, and ordered, "Order him to come see me."

The shadow guard paused for a moment, then said slowly: "The only one alive... is Chief Nightingale Guard."

Bai Shuyu's expression turned serious, "Then, where's their coach?"

The shadow guard trembled subconsciously when he heard the words. He tried his best to calm down, and lowered his head, "Shortly after that assessment, the instructor disappeared and never appeared again."

All the witnesses from that year had disappeared, and Bai Shuyu had no choice but to give up this clue for the time being.He ordered the other shadow guards to carefully carry Nightingale and bring him back to the post house.

=====

"Report to the emperor."

"speak."

"Officer Nightingale has regained his sanity, but he has been repeating two sentences since he woke up..."

The shadow guard who came to report took a deep breath and said, "One sentence is 'he is back'. Another, the other sentence is, 'The emperor is going'..."

After that, he quickly lowered his head again, waiting for the emperor's order.

Several important officials who were traveling with Bai Shuyu looked at each other, nervous expressions appeared on their faces in unison.

"Your Majesty, this... the visitor is obviously not only targeting the Chief of Guards, he may also have other plans for the Emperor!"

"Besides, even Nightingale, who is the most powerful among the shadow guards, can't do anything to him... Maybe the rest of the shadow guards are no match for him!"

The officials chatted in low voices, with apprehensive faces.The shadow guards who were closest to the emperor were attacked quietly, and were not recovered until they were seriously injured—the sudden situation today obviously frightened them a lot.

If a powerful enemy and a powerful enemy appeared openly, they might not only not be afraid, but would confront them bravely; but now, the crisis has already appeared, but it has never been obvious.Our side is in the open, the enemy is in the dark, and it is difficult to defend against hidden arrows. This feeling is the most tormenting feeling, and it is enough to defeat the psychological defense of an ordinary person.

"Enough, let's stop here."

Bai Shuyu raised a hand to stop the uneasy speculation of the accompanying officials.

"No matter how intimidating the enemy is, you can't mess up your position first. When people do evil things, the ultimate goal is nothing more than to seek wealth or kill. This tracker shot Nightingale several times, but he didn't kill him. The clues of tokens and lanterns are left behind, which shows that his purpose has not been achieved, and it is not simply murder for money, but other demands."

Bai Shuyu said firmly: "I am more sure that before he achieves his goal, he will not take someone's life for no reason."

The other people present, including Xiao Yuntian, after hearing the emperor's words, felt that it was reasonable.The strength of the tracker is even stronger than that of Nightingale - Nightingale's own force is already at the top level of the Bai country, so the level of this tracker can be imagined, and the masters who can defeat him in the Bai country can probably be counted on one hand.If he really wanted to kill one of them, with his strength, he would have wiped them out long ago in a place where no one was around. Why wait until now?He has been following the emperor and his party, presumably he has other plans.

And this "conspiracy" will become the only weak point for this strong man.

The longer the time dragged on and the more clues he left behind, the more chance Bai Shuyu had to crack his plan.And there is no benefit in chaos.

He immediately got up and ordered, "The shadow guards obey the order, pay close attention to Nightingale's emotional changes, and protect his safety. The rest of the people return to their respective places to rest. I will set off tomorrow as originally planned, leave Mucheng, and head to Mingcheng."

The emperor's convoy set off from Mucheng, traveled day and night, and after two days of driving, finally stopped at Mingcheng, the last stop before entering the snow mountain.Nothing happened along the way, it was surprisingly peaceful.But after the quilt lizard sensed it, it told the emperor that the pursuer was still following them, keeping a close distance from the emperor's carriage.

in the car.

"My lord, I have an idea."

"You said."

"That tracker...doesn't want to go into the snow mountain with us?"

Hearing what Xiao Yuntian said, Bai Shuyu frowned slightly, "I have also considered the possibility you mentioned. If the tracker is really ordered to work for Bai Qiming, then just taking my life will not satisfy Bai Qiming's request." The name of Bai Qiming's throne is not justified. The northern part of the Bai Kingdom is divided and the rich and powerful are tyrannical. East and West, in order to demonstrate its orthodox title of imperial power, it can not only suppress the warlords and officials and dignitaries in the north, but also establish prestige in front of the people."

"So, that tracker may be following the emperor to find the secret left by the ancestors of the Bai family in the snow mountain." Xiao Yuntian said slowly.

However, there are still many unexplained doubts about things.If it was really to follow them into the snow mountain, why did they need to attack Nightingale?The broken bird lantern, the inexplicably appearing coach's badge in Nightingale's hand, and the depressed victim himself all show that this matter will not be simple.

And the easiest way to solve this question is to listen to what Nightingale said.Fortunately, Chief Wei overcame the psychological difficulty with his amazing willpower, and came to find Bai Shuyu on his own initiative.

=====

Knock on the door.

"Enter."

On the couch in the posthouse room, Bai Shuyu, who was half leaning on his body, put down the book in his hand, and moved aside the sleeping hairball lying on his lap.

Xiao Yuntian was immersed in his sleep when he suddenly felt a turmoil.When he woke up rubbing his eyes, he saw Nightingale in black half-kneeling in front of him, so startled that Tuanzi snorted and shook his round body, his eyes widened, and his mind immediately regained consciousness.

Nightingale fell on the ground and bowed deeply to Bai Shuyu.

"Your subordinate delayed the emperor's schedule and made him worry. Please forgive me."

"Compared to those..." Bai Shuyu looked at him leisurely, "Let's talk about what you know first. Nightingale, you know who 'he' is, right?"

Nightingale's forehead touched the ground, but she still didn't dare to raise her head.

"If you go back to the emperor, this subordinate will indeed know the identity of the tracker. 'He' is a contemporaneous student who was trained together in the palace before this subordinate officially became a shadow guard, named Deka."

Nightingale simply confessed the name of "him", but Xiao Yuntian noticed that when Nightingale said that name, her body still couldn't help trembling.

This tiny detail could not escape Bai Shuyu's eyes. He paused and asked, "I don't know much about the shadow guard training system in the late emperor's time. I heard that the token you carried once belonged to you." The coach, and the last time he appeared was in the training assessment of the shadow guard class. I don't know what happened in that assessment?"

Nightingale pondered for a while, and then told Bai Shuyu all the things.

"Five years ago, the shadow guard class held a special assessment for you, the emperor who was still the crown prince at that time. The candidates were nominated by the former emperor and the coach. Including the subordinates, the training class is the most powerful The top five candidates were ordered to participate in the assessment. In the end, only one person will win and become the emperor's entourage. There are many dangers in the experience assessment, and if they want to survive, the candidates must pass the deadly checkpoint set by the instructor himself."

He paused, and continued: "Dekka ranks first in comprehensive strength among the shadow guards trained at the same time, it stands to reason...he is the one who is most capable of being elected as the emperor's entourage, and the final winner must be him The assessment was perilous, and the other three candidates for the election all died in the checkpoint. The subordinates encountered difficult difficulties several times, but with the help of Deka, they were all saved. With his help, the subordinates finally escaped. .

After passing the level, the subordinate thought that his performance was not as good as Deka, and he would be assigned to be an ordinary guard.However, the head teacher ordered that only one of the subordinates and Deka could survive, and the one who failed could not be an ordinary guard, but had to die in the final struggle between the two. "

Bai Shuyu frowned: "You and Deka must die alone?"

Nightingale nodded and said, "Yes, killing the friends of the same period who get along day and night, this is the last test given by the coach to the candidate for the crown prince's entourage."

He paused, "This subordinate is unwilling to fight to the death with his classmate and friend who saved his life, and requested to cancel the final assessment, but... the instructor told his subordinate, 'If you can't completely give up your selfishness, you are not qualified to be the emperor's closest attendant. , not worthy of the emperor's trust'."

Bai Shuyu nodded slightly, without too much expression on his face.

"I heard from the other shadow guards that in the end, only you survived the assessment. According to the current situation, Deka is not dead..." He stared at Nightingale, "So, could it be that Deka didn't die at that time?" By killing you, you survived and became my entourage. He himself disguised himself as a sign of death in some way, and concealed it from your instructor, and has since disappeared. Is that so?"

Nightingale was silent for a moment, then raised her face to look at Bai Shuyu: "Decka didn't kill my subordinate...but my subordinate killed him."

As soon as these words came out, Xiao Yuntian was taken aback, and he and Bai Shuyu looked at each other.According to his impression of Nightingale, Chief Wei is not the kind of person who can kill his friend for the sake of being in power, let alone that person has the grace to save his life.So he made a bold guess.

Borrowing the emperor's spiritual power, Xiao Yuntian asked: "Nightingale, you knew at that time that you were not as strong as him, but you still chose to kill him. Because you didn't want to embarrass him, you simply planned to die by his hands. Pay him back for saving his life, right?"

"……Do not."

Unexpected answer.

Nightingale clenched her teeth, "This subordinate really wanted to kill him at the time, and was going to kill him."

Xiao Yuntian frowned, unable to understand the logic of Nightingale's actions.

Nightingale immediately said: "After hearing that the final result could only be one death, this subordinate originally planned to let Deka kill herself. After all, this subordinate owes him favors for saving his life, and knows that his strength is not as good as him. He competed for the top position. But then... an accident happened. Deka told his subordinates that he felt that this kind of assessment was unreasonable, and he was not convinced."

Even from the perspective of Xiao Yuntian's bystander, this kind of assessment is indeed unacceptable.Only by killing your friends with your own hands can you win, and you must do so... Xiao Yuntian unconsciously glanced at Bai Shuyu.He never knew that the shadow guard training system of the Bai Kingdom court was so cruel.Excellent shadow guards are hard to come by, but the coach actually ordered the two elites to fight each other, leaving only one alive.Isn't this a great waste of talent and human life?

"The coach left after setting a time to come to collect the corpse of the loser. After the coach left, Deka suddenly said to his subordinates that he finally couldn't bear it anymore. He felt that all this was unfair. The subordinates and He deserves no one's death, and the two of us can't be left here to be slaughtered.

He was going to try his best to leave the assessment site and escape from here... He said, "Nightingale, with your and my abilities, are you afraid that no one who cherishes talent will take you in?"We escape from here, get rid of everyone who knows our identity, and then try to find people who really recognize us, no matter if it's a foreign country, a foreign race, or whoever...and join them.I don't want to be at the mercy of others in life and death anymore. '"

Nightingale's eyes froze for a moment, but he quickly calmed down.

"Your Majesty." Nightingale said, prostrating on the ground solemnly, "This subordinate believes that no matter how strong someone is who disagrees with the monarch's orders, he cannot become an excellent shadow guard. What's more, Deka has to prepare As a shadow guard, he fled the training ground and went to seek refuge with others! This move is tantamount to deliberately leaking the secrets of the palace to the outside world, surrendering to the enemy and treason, an unforgivable crime!"

Nightingale stood up straight and said solemnly: "This subordinate is not as capable as him, but even if I can't win, I can't let someone like him who disobeys the emperor's order become the emperor's personal attendant. Even if he dies together, let the ability It is better to have someone who is not as good as I wait for the two of you to be elected than to let him be elected."

"So... when Deka relaxed his vigilance and looked for a way to escape, the subordinate succeeded in a surprise attack and survived. However, the situation was chaotic at that time, and the subordinate did not see his body with his own eyes. Many years have passed, and the subordinate I thought he was dead, but who knows... he reappeared a few days ago, and he followed the emperor's convoy relentlessly."

The story is over.Nightingale lowered her head quietly, Xiao Yuntian looked at him silently, feeling complicated for a moment.

From the point of view of the ruler of the White Kingdom, Nightingale's approach is correct, because the monarch must not keep a servant who resists or disobeys - even if it is only a subconscious resistance, it will make people Human beings become a security risk like a ticking time bomb.

No selfishness, no emotion at all - this can probably be called the professionalism of a shadow guard.

However, from a "human" point of view, Nightingale abandoned her personal friendship and even killed her savior for the benefit of the royal family.This move is obviously unreasonable and unreasonable - and Nightingale herself is well aware of this.

What Nightingale did many years ago was his own choice.

That's how it is sometimes—the truth is simple, but the reality is much more complicated.Whether Nightingale's actions were right or wrong, there is no way to judge with a certain standard, and Xiao Yuntian, as a bystander, has no right to comment.If it had to be said, then Nightingale's actions just proved that a person like him who had no other distractions and cared about personal affairs was the most suitable candidate to be Bai Shuyu's personal attendant.

Bai Shuyu listened silently, did not comment on his behavior, but asked, "Nightingale, does he hate you?"

"...It should be hate." Nightingale clenched her lips, her expression no longer as calm as before.

"I hate that you succumbed to the assessment system, hate that you betrayed the friendship between you, and hate that you almost killed him during the assessment, so he came here to take revenge on you? If that's the case, why didn't he just kill you Venting anger? He seems to have the ability to do it."

Nightingale smiled wryly, and lowered her eyes: "Aside from hatred, there must be reconciliation... What he hates isn't just for his subordinates..."

"That's right," Bai Shuyu slowly raised his eyes and looked out the window of the posthouse, "his hatred also has a part of the Bai family's royal family. If it wasn't for the persecution of the system established by the royal family, how could he face a dilemma? The choice that I made, and now it has come to this stage?"

"This time, is he here for you?" Bai Shuyu looked directly into his subordinate's dark eyes.

"Yes, but not only that. After so many years, he chose to appear at such an opportunity, and has been following the emperor's convoy. Presumably, he has other plans. He didn't just come for the purpose of revenge."

The enemy more terrifying than the Assassin is probably the Avenger.After all, the pursuit and killing actions mixed with personal feelings are even more unpredictable and unpredictable.

That's why Nightingale kept repeating the words "The Emperor, go quickly" when she first woke up.

Xiao Yuntian felt that tension spread in his heart.Even the time when he parachuted to the center of the battlefield with Bai Shuyu, he never made him so nervous.

Crazy enemies hiding in the dark.Does he have no weaknesses?

Xiao Yuntian gritted his teeth, and said to Bai Shuyu: "Your Majesty, since this is the case, let's make a deal with Deka before entering the snow mountain! Deka was once the top shadow guard, but we are not vegetarians here." All members of the shadow guard class, plus me and the emperor, I don't believe that all of us together can't defeat him. If we can't even deal with a rebel tracker, we don't have to go to any snow mountain to practice. "

Bai Shuyu looked at him, and finally there was a smile on his plain face.

"Not bad ambition." He said, "I would like to ask the accompanying officials to take a look. They are quite frightened by the pursuers, not even a ball of hair."

"Aha...?"

"That's right, I think so too. I intend to eradicate this scourge no matter what before entering the mountain. However, the officials are very afraid and advise me not to act rashly. Heh, if the royal family of the Bai Kingdom was killed by a person who was exiled out of the palace many years ago The former shadow guard was trembling with fright, even at the foot of the snow mountain, he would have no face to meet the ancestors of the royal family..."

Seeing the strange excitement in Bai Shuyu's eyes, Xiao Yuntian sweated wildly in his heart. Is the emperor going to play cards unreasonably again?The previous experience told him that the beauty emperor went crazy but even cheated himself...

"Actually... what they said is also reasonable. The emperor should not be impulsive. After all, the enemy is very powerful. Does the emperor have any preliminary plans?"

There was a faint brilliance in Bai Shuyu's eyes.

"This Deka is indeed powerful, but its weakness is also obvious. As long as I firmly grasp this flaw and don't let go, I will have a way out."

"weakness?"

Xiao Yuntian thought for a moment, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he understood his intention.

Nightingale, who was half kneeling on the ground, suddenly realized that the emperor and the hairball next to him were looking at her brightly.