“Up!” I heard the shout and quickly got to my feet. I had been sleeping by my cart. Bao Wang had chosen to stay in it and keep Abs nearby. The name was growing on me for my pet rock. The one unattainable thing in the Systemic Lands, abs.

I was about to move away from the cart, but something was off. Bao Wang was not moving. I went over and checked him. He was dead. There were no marks or cuts on his body. He was just not breathing. The rebels were going to die. I was going to go Divine Empress on them. I noted they were all standing around two people on the ground. I paused before going over and looked for Abs rod. I found it under Bao Wang’s body.

I couldn’t afford to lose Abs. Well, I could. I was the only real indispensable part of the heist. I could replacements for everyone else if I absolutely needed to. I picked up the rod and then went over to the rebels thinking how I would break their legs melt them one by one so they could listen to their friends die.

I paused since two of the rebels were not moving on the ground. They were the two that were assigned to the watch during this part of the night.

“I told you everything I know. I woke up to replace them, and they were just dead,” one of the rebels was explaining to Ren. Everyone parted and looked at me as I made my way over.

I stared at Ren and he stared back. “Did you kill Bao Wang?” I asked.

“No. You kill my companions?” Ren asked.

“No,” I replied. There was silence at our declarations. I was trying to think how all this could happen.

“Ren, everyone is accounted for. Nothing was stolen,” Fuyuka came up and told him. My gaze snapped to her.

“I checked around the perimeter, nothing,” Danian replied. I looked at the faces of the other rebels. They were giving me fearful looks and three of them were crying silently.

“Aari and Fukuyama were both good friends. Fuyuka, see their send off. I would speak to you alone Champion Michael. Bao Wang?”

“Leave him for now.” Ren nodded at that and we walked away from the others a short distance from the camp. I was still processing this assassination on both our groups.

“Has this happened before?” I asked Ren once we were alone.

“No. You?” he asked. I shook my head.

“The Divine Empress? A group of assassins?” I asked.

“No. When you have absolute power and are unkillable, there is no need to act in the dark. At least I have heard of assassins being used before. You didn’t sense anything?” Ren asked me.

“The Perception stat. I would have woken up. I was right to Bao Wang and he was killed without a sound. It must have been instantly,” I speculated.

“Either a covert unit of the Divine Empress or a third party,” Ren said.

“Are there other nations?” I asked.

“Maybe. But I didn’t even know of Purgatory next door. Travel isn’t exactly easy and not something we like to do. To easy to get caught in the open and killed. I don’t understand the purpose. It would have been better to kill me,” Ren said.

“No. The target wasn’t you. It was me. A third party killed the Chief Diviner and planted a bomb on his corpse, willing to wreck an airship in the process right when I was going to trade with him for quite a bit of information. Now an assassination of Bao Wang right before I needed him most.”

“They say once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is enemy action. The Chief Diviner’s death just as he was defecting, a planted bomb, and now Bao Wang being killed without a trace.”

“I was worried you would blame us,” Ren said.

“If you hadn’t lost your people I would have. The fact there are no marks, is concerning. No blood, no wound, just dead,” I muttered in frustration.

“Perhaps a suicide implant of some kind?” Ren asked. I considered that.

“Maybe. But why now? Why not earlier? It makes absolutely no sense. And I can’t Sense anything, you?” I asked and activated my stat once again. I paused since I had missed it earlier. Human energy was active flowing, and obvious.

Bao Wang had none of that. But as I focused on him, there was a black energy inside him spreading out. “Death energy, possibly a skill,” I speculated and then focused back on Ren.

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“I don’t have that stat. One of our weaknesses, unfortunately,” Ren sagged and let out a sigh. They clearly weren’t targeting me while I rested or dozed. I hadn’t been really sleeping. Perhaps a remote attack? Or doing the Astrologer’s trick of moving in between energy layers.

The good doctor had no idea how do that and I speculated it was made possible by his word of power Shatter. The milk was split and there was no way to put it back the cow.

Spending time with the rebels had been a bad idea. I wanted to increase my chances of success at the heist, now it was all crumbling around me before I even got started.

This was unacceptable. There were ten billion points on the line. I went back to the cart and looked over Bao Wang. There was dark energy oozing out of him and he was slowly shriveling up. I began stripping him of his clothing and armor.

What a waste. All that time and investment into him and he was dead. Once he was stripped, I took him a short distance away and tossed his body on the ground to disappear. Ren had watched me the entire time, even as I stomped back angrily.

I gave him a look. “You speak Chinese?” I asked him.

“A bit, but I am Japanese.” I gave his face a hard look, but I couldn’t tell the difference. I bet people from Asia could tell the difference between different Asians. But I couldn’t.

“That is unfortunate. I need someone who can speak Chinese and handle a tremendous amount of pressure. Also, stats like Danian,” I said.

“Can I ask what for?” Ren asked me.

“No.” I stepped in close to him. “Otherwise, I will cripple everyone and use your screaming bodies instead,” I said very close to his face. I could see the tension in his muscles.

“Then do your worst,” Ren told me and we glared at each other in silence.

“Ren, is everything okay?” Fuyuka asked and came over. “We are ready to have the memorial service.” I didn’t look away from Ren and he didn’t look away from me. “What is your problem? It is a good thing that the Butcher-“

I moved and gripped her by her throat and lifted her into the air. She struggled to breath and hit my arm. But her Body stat was too low to do anything. Everyone went silent. “What gives you the right to speak to me like that?” Her attempts to move my arm were growing sluggish.

“Champion Michael, she can’t breathe,” Ren said.

“I know,” I replied. I noted Ren hold up a hand at Danian so he didn’t intervene. I lowered and loosened my grip slightly so she could suck in some air, but I didn’t let her go. “I am very annoyed right now. Bring me someone who had Bao Wang’s stats, can speak fluent Chinese, and will obey me without question,” I demanded.

“We don’t have anyone like that,” Ren said desperately.

“Then, I will take all your broken bodies as payment or punishment. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you were responsible or not. I require a solution, and you will provide,” I said.

“I…will…,” Fuyuka gasped out. I let her go and she stumbled back, rubbing her throat.

“Fuyuka no!” Ren said.

“Shut up, you can speak Chinese?” I asked her. She something in Asian.

“I said, yes I can speak fluently. I deal with information gathering, so I need to know all the dialects. My stats aren’t as high as his were, at least I don’t think so. But let them all go. Alive and unharmed,” Fuyuka said.

“Now you can speak,” I told Ren. He glared at me for a second before looking at her.

“Fuyuka, you don’t have to do this,” Ren said.

“He won’t take no as an answer. He was our guest and suffered a loss, it is only right we make up for that,” Fuyuka said.

“I will be lost without you. I love you,” Ren said and clued me into the relationship drama. Fuyuka went over to him and hugged him. She whispered something quietly in his ear. I strained my Perception stat with my hearing to try and pick up what was said, but I didn’t catch anything.

“What was that?” I asked as I stepped forward.

“Just something personal. If you must know, I was telling him I would come back alive no matter what,” Fuyuka said. I looked at Ren.

“That is what she said,” Ren confirmed and I glared at both of them.

“Get ready, we are going to attack right away. Then we are leaving. Well you will need to clean up first and quickly after we take the city. No more setbacks or delays,” I said and glared.

What a massive mess. This Fuyuka clearly didn’t like me. But I didn’t have time to find someone else. Where there was no time limit, it was also a huge hassle. Any low level person was probably not going to be able withstand the pressure.

They would fold. It wasn’t enough to know Chinese. They had to speak with the confidence that the Divine Emperor was standing next to them and acting as her spokesperson. I couldn’t just grab any idiot off the streets even if they knew English and Chinese.

That is why I pressured Ren. I had been hoping it was him. He was reasonable. But his second in command would have to do. It wasn’t a good choice. It was my only short-term choice. This was the same reason why I couldn’t just replace Bao Wang.

Despite his poor attitude, terrible history, and possibly of betrayal, he had the surety and confidence to pull the heist off. Ren could have done it, but apparently he was Japanese not Chinese. Fuyuka was the only option left. If she hadn’t volunteered, then she wouldn’t have been worthwhile.

Taking Bao Wang’s spot would place a huge pressure on her. Once the heist was done, I was going to find and kill this third party or parties messing things up for me. They clearly had some kind of stealth and attack, but not a good attack.

My guess is that they slowly seeped in death energy somehow into a person, killing them. Maybe a tether, but that seemed overpowered, but also possible. The real question was who? Also, this person didn’t have strength, otherwise they would have gone for me directly. Not targeted others.

What I couldn’t understand was their purpose. The Chief Diviner might have been an accident they had run into in the wilderness or tracked down. Regardless, it wasn’t out of the question to kill him if someone found him.

But to target Bao Wang while he had been in the cart next to me, was a clear provocation and a hostile action directed at me. The issue was that I didn’t understand why? It made no sense. If someone wanted to kill me, they would target me. If they wanted to target the rebels, they would target the rebels. Instead, they were making life difficult for me.