I looked at the city in front of me. I had my pet rock in disguise as Abs following along behind me, pulling the cart. Ren and Fuyuka had been talking quite a bit, but it was about rebel stuff he would have to manage with her leaving.

I was just annoyed and angry as we approached the city. The rebels were clearly not at fault. The tears and sorrow were too much. Unless one of them acted independently and killed their own people to throw me off the scent.

That might have been a possibility if the Chief Diviner hadn’t been killed before. I shook my head in frustration, I had been going around in circles as we continued our trek. I saw people and monsters at a distance through the trees for the forest.

They were the same type of straight towering pine trees that were around Purgatory. No variation between zone types. The fact that this city was so far from Purgatory, was all the confirmation to make this a fact in my mind.

I saw the wall through the trees. The road made a hard left turn near the wall. It didn’t run exactly parallel since the wall was curved. A short time later we reached the gate. I noted the carts set up with food and supplies to trade for crystals.

They clearly weren’t letting anyone into the city. I was at the lead of our group. Danian was to my side and right behind me. One of the soldiers said something in Chinese. “Acid Shot,” x10. I took out all the guards at the entrance. Air Burst. Air Burst. Air Burst. I quickly shot upwards to the top of the wall.

“Acid Shot,” x10. “Acid Shot,” x10. I cleared the top of the wall, making sure to aim in side of the city more than outside, so the rebels wouldn’t get with acid splatter. I finished off the few soldiers on top of the wall by getting in close and giving them a hard shove off the top of the wall.

Their screams assuaged some of my anger. I leapt off the wall just as the rebels pushed through to the other side. I aimed myself so my feet landed on one of the soldier’s shoulders. I was kind of curious what exactly would happen.

There were weird things that occurred when people had a high body stat when they struck a person. Normally a person would crumple and their shoulders would be shattered from such an impact. At least that was my guess with regular Earth physics.

With Systemic Land energy, the person’s upper body exploded outwards inside their armor and clothes, turning to a slurry. I made sure to land on my feet and not get splattered. That was just another point of data confirming that the Body stat really was generating and nullifying force.

“Acid Shot,” x10. A wave of soldiers screamed and melted. Danian was punching his way through the nearby soldiers. While they went down in one hit, they weren’t all being killed instantly. The remaining rebels had swords and spears and were attacking anyone left alive.

I finished up a few more soldiers but the fighting at the entrance to Wuhan was soon over with everyone having been killed off. “We make for the plaza, all set?” Ren asked me.

“Yes. Unless someone on the Envoy’s level shows up, these fights are nothing to worry about,” I replied.

Wuhan had a straight street leading from the gate to the plaza, which was nice. I hated having to figure out the roads and paths. At least my Body stat was high enough to cross single wide streets if I needed to run on the roofs.

The rebels and I moved as one group. I wasn’t about to leave my pet rock Abs alone with them. After all the nonsense that happened, I couldn’t afford any more mistakes.

There were about 1,000 soldiers in the plaza. I raced ahead. “Acid Shot,” x200. I aimed high up in the air. It was raining acid. While a few drops wouldn’t kill anyone, getting any on you was painful and eat into your flesh. I raced forward and began cutting the soldiers down. The rebels right behind me.

A few stayed by the carts to guard them and have a fallback point. I didn’t notice any skills from them. It was a massacre. I made sure to stop by the store pillars for a restoration while I had the chance. After that the rebels moved in on the pillars once the plaza was secured.

“Ren-“ Fuyuka tried to speak but was cut off.

“Everyone agreed. Take the points. Come back alive,” Ren said. I didn’t say anything as Fuyuka bowed her head.

“Thank you everyone.” She began cashing in the crystals. I noted it wasn’t all of them. The rebels needed restorations of their own, supplies, and maybe a small stat boost in some areas. But Fuyuka got all their disposable income.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Danian came back from the city treasury, with more crystals in tow. I just calmly watched all of this while checking the supplies in my cart. I purchased another robe and cloak for Abs. I didn’t want it to be discovered. No damage to the key supplies and armor.

I noted that Fuyuka also went to one of the secured buildings and came back cleaned up and wearing fresh clothing.

“You ready to go?” I asked Fuyuka. She turned away from Ren and then looked back at him. She gave him a long deep kiss which he returned. I just calmly watched. She then broke off the kiss and turned towards me.

“I am, Champion Michael,” she replied.

“You can walk or sit in the cart, I don’t care,” I said and set off. She walked next to Abs. I didn’t bother to say goodbye to the rebels. They would stay here a day or two before running away. Hopefully that would draw forces out of the Forbidden City and make people think I was to the North and not planning to go South.

No one bothered us as we made our way North and then turned West in the side streets. The outer parts of the city not near the North, West, East, and South roads were completely abandoned.

I found a dead end and checked around. No one had followed us. Fuyuka was looking at me, I could tell she wanted to ask what she was needed for but didn’t say anything. “Can you really speak good Chinese? Your life depends on this?” I asked her.

“Yes. I can. I can pass off as a native. My father was Chinese and my mother Japanese. I grew up learning both languages,” Fuyuka said, and I nodded at this.

“Once I tell you, there is no backing out. No half measures. You betray me. I will kill you and your friends. Well, I will cripple you and leave you behind for the Divine Empress. Since you probably don’t fear death but fear her.”

“Whatever it is, I will see it through,” Fuyuka said. I smiled slightly at that. She would need to hold onto that courage.

“I am going to have Abs here impersonate the Divine Empress and steal her treasury for myself,” I said, revealing the crux of the plan. Fuyuka’s eyes went wide. “Your job will be to speak on behalf of the Divine Empress who will appear injured.”

“That…I…what…impossible…” Fuyuka was losing her composure which wasn’t good. I let her process that while I got to work abandoning the cart. After having Bao Wang killed, I couldn’t afford anything tracking us.

I carefully inspected each portion of everything I would be wearing and my companions would be wearing. “How is Abs going to do this? A skill?” Fuyuka asked.

“Abs is a monster. A mimic rock. This rod, controls it. I removed the hoods and mask from Abs. Fuyuka came in close and looked at the wounded head of the Divine Empress.

“Impressive, but it doesn’t look real.” I focused a bit and touched up some of it, but there were still things I needed to work on.

“I will be working on Abs for the next few days as we approach the Forbidden City. Your job is to sell the deception. If not, then it will devolve into combat and you will die,” I explained.

“That is going to be very hard,” Fuyuka muttered while I began changing into my Edge Lord armor set. Black, lots of spike, and a concealing helmet. I made sure to inspect everything both visually and with my Sense stat.

“Get changed into this. Elite Black Talon armor,” I told her and pointed out the armor sets I had inspected. “There are two sets. Use the one that fits best,” I told her.

“Bao Wang was wearing one and they smell terrible,” she looked back at me.

“That is not my problem. That is a you problem. Unless you have a better outfit or plan?” I asked her. She frowned but didn’t argue and began changing.

“Why are you staring at me?” she asked as she paused in her undressing.

“I am inspecting you for anything that could be a communication device. Remove your underwear and bend over.” She just stared at me. “In case you have something stuffed up you ass.” She just kept staring at me and I stared right back in the contest of wills. “I think you are a five out of ten if that helps?” I offered.

He stare turned into a glare. Well that might have been the wrong thing to say. “Just hurry up so we can get this over with. I won’t be touching you.”

“FINE!” Fuyuka said and yanked down her underwear. She spread out her feet. “Getting a good look?”

“Yes, turn around please,” I asked her. She turned around and there was nothing I could see with my eyes or Sense energy stat. “Alright, you can get changed.” I didn’t think she would have a device on her, but it didn’t hurt to be sure about these things. There was a long period of silence as she slowly got dressed and figured out her armor.

“How are we moving all the crystals?” Fuyuka asked as she adjusted her armor.

“We aren’t. Our story is that I am an elite warrior from a distant land. I located the Divine Empress and assisted her. You were picked up along the way to speak for her due to her injury, making it hard for her to speak. We have the treasury people bring out the crystals for her. I will keep my hands on the pillar near her as a guard and cash them in myself.”

“Insanity. You….you really think it will work?” Fuyuka asked me.

“Well you will have to sell it and we have to work on our pre-arranged signals. I will kill anyone you point at and control Abs, our Divine Empress. You speak for her. So don’t be afraid of other people. Be afraid of she would do to you if they don’t hurry up.”

“That is the most insane plan I have heard of. We are going to die horribly. Well probably just me.”

“There is a reason I was using Bao Wang. He was easily disposable.” Fuyuka winced at that, probably recalling her words about wanting to get rid of him. “Now you will be taking his place. If plan A for audacity fails, then it will be plan B for brutality. You probably won’t survive plan B.”

“I will do my best, don’t worry about that,” Fuyuka said. I could only hope so. We weren’t playing games here or stealing a cart. This was the Divine Empress’s treasury with 10 billion points worth of crystals.

“Based on the distances, it will probably take 3 days to get there. I have a pack prepared. Anything else you need or want to keep, goes into this pack,” I told her and handed her a pack. “I will also be inspecting everything.