Chapter 98 An Era Belonging to Us

Chapter 98: Our Era

"Commander, a confidential report."

A knock came at the door late in the night.

Zhu Shinian had already turned in for the night, but upon hearing his adjutant's voice, he got up right away, threw on some clothes, and opened the door to take the confidential report the adjutant handed him.

A few lonely stars dotted the night sky. Zhu Shinian read the brief report quickly.

Tomorrow was the day of the final battle.

The war had already dragged on for five years, and now that the final moment had arrived, he felt surprisingly calm instead.

The adjutant stood at attention, waiting for orders.

"Go get some rest," Zhu Shinian said with a smile.

"Commander, is there... anything you need me to do?" The adjutant paused for a moment before asking.

They were now camped outside the capital's gates, with the decisive battle set for tomorrow. With the urgent report that military intelligence had rushed over, he'd figured Zhu Shinian would tell him to get right on it.

"No need," Zhu Shinian said with a smile, giving the report a little wave. "Go on back and get some rest."

"Tomorrow, it should all be over."

The report said the King, the Prime Minister, and the other top officials had just fled under cover of darkness, leaving behind only a few underage princes and princesses, who would hand the city over to the rebels the next day.

Tomorrow, it should all be over.

Zhu Shinian gave him a gentle smile. The warm amber lamplight fell across his face, making him look gentle and relaxed.

The adjutant was used to Zhu Shinian's stern demeanor, so seeing him like this felt a little strange.

After all, that formidable commander was only twenty-seven.

The commander said tomorrow, everything would be over.

Everything would be over...

The adjutant stared at him blankly, frozen like a statue.

When it hit him what the report said, he burst into tears like a kid.

"Commander... did we win? Can we go home? *sobs*..."

A grown man over six feet tall bawling like that was a little ridiculous. Zhu Shinian didn't feel like laughing, but he was a bit stunned, frozen in place.

After a long moment, he finally thought to give the adjutant a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"Alright, what are you crying for? We won, and you're still crying—aren't you afraid your buddies will see you and laugh? Go back to bed. It'll be light out soon, and you won't get much sleep anyway."

The words "your buddies will see and laugh" worked like some kind of magic spell. The adjutant immediately stopped crying and instinctively glanced around like he was up to something.

Once he confirmed no one else had seen, he saluted and turned to leave Zhu Shinian's quarters.

The young adjutant reminded Zhu Shinian of himself and his comrades back in the day. Watching him go, Zhu Shinian couldn't help but duck his head and smile softly.

He looked into the distance. The wartime capital was swallowed in darkness—nothing was visible.

A few years ago, even in the dead of night, you could see the capital's bright lights from this spot in the camp.

It was almost over.

From tomorrow on, the night sky over this city would light up again.

Street vendors would set up their stalls and carts, hawking barbecue that smelled so good it drifted for miles. Warm streetlamps would glow in the parks. And on New Year's and holidays, fireworks would light up the city like it was daytime.

No one would ever again trample on the lives of ordinary people as carelessly as stepping on weeds.

No one born poor would ever again die the way his father had.

People breathing the same air would be born equal, grow up equal, get an education, and be paid for their work.

And in the end, they would die equal.

Zhu Shinian couldn't get back to sleep.

He felt like crying, but also felt he shouldn't at a moment like this.

He'd told his adjutant to rest, but he himself lay awake until dawn, watching the dark slowly give way as morning light filtered through the curtains.

—And then the sun came up.

This magnificent war didn't end with some legendary final battle that would go down in the history books. What ended the war was the King and Prime Minister fleeing, and the youngest omega prince surrendering the city on his own.

When he signed the surrender papers, he looked like he'd just been crying, clearly terrified of Zhu Shinian. When the acting Prime Minister talked to Zhu Shinian, his lips wouldn't stop trembling.

Zhu Shinian had no intention of making things hard for him. He just looked at the assembled officials, calmly counting in his head.

Even counting the four or five who'd fled with the King on the private helicopter, a few were still missing.

He called over his subordinates, gave his orders, and then signed the empire's surrender papers.

And just like that, the empire that had stood for over four hundred years was completely toppled.

The exiled outcast, rising from his place of banishment, swept across the land like a storm and ended it with his own hands.

Unstoppable.

........

A few young soldiers found Gu Liancheng in the basement of the imperial military command center.

When they found him, he was holding a revolver, swaying as he pressed it to his head.

But he was probably still afraid of dying—after a long while, he still hadn't worked up the nerve to pull the trigger.

The soldiers kicked open the door and, almost as an afterthought, gave his arm a hard kick. The revolver slipped from his hand and skittered across the floor.

It hit the ground with a loud clatter.

The ones who found him were a few green recruits. They didn't immediately recognize the disheveled old man as Gu Liancheng himself, figuring they'd just caught another prisoner—and given how decrepit he looked, probably some civil official.

It wasn't until they saw the rank insignia on his shoulders that they realized who he was.

"Come check this out! This guy's Gu Liancheng!"

"No way... holy shit, it really is Gu Liancheng! We can get a fat bounty for him!"

Gu Liancheng collapsed to the ground, and they dragged him to his feet. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he'd end up in a damp basement, a prisoner of a few nameless nobodies.

The reward for capturing Gu Liancheng was on a completely different level from that for an ordinary high-ranking official. The young soldiers were ecstatic, fumbling to tie him up and haul him out.

Gu Liancheng was shoved down the corridor, up the stairs, and out of the basement into the open air, where the sunlight was warm and the sky was clear, without a single cloud.

He was dragged along in a daze by the young soldiers, like a corpse whose legs still moved on their own.

From the broadcast, the leader of the resistance spoke in a calm, gentle voice that echoed from all directions.

"We have won."

"The era of the empire is over. The era of the Republic—our era—now officially begins."

It took him a long time to realize it was Zhu Shinian's voice.

His voice sounded distorted through the broadcast, strange and unfamiliar.

Gu Liancheng could barely remember his voice or his face now.

How could this be Zhu Shinian?

The Zhu Shinian in his memory was timid, weak, and easily pushed around.

He believed Zhu Shinian had seduced Gu Zhen. When he locked Zhu Shinian in the isolation cell, Zhu Shinian didn't dare make a sound. When he sent Zhu Shinian to the Federation as a spy, hoping he'd die there, Zhu Shinian still never fought back.

He believed Zhu Shinian was a lump of dough he could knead however he pleased, a fish on the chopping block whose fate was decided by others.

Then who was this person in the broadcast booth now?

Who was this man who had turned him into a prisoner and personally ended the empire he had believed would last forever?

Seeing him freeze and refuse to move, the soldier got annoyed and yanked him along.

"Old General Gu, you're not worried our Consul is going to come over and humiliate you like they do in the TV dramas, are you?"

"Don't worry, our Consul is very busy. He has no time to see you. You'd better just wait for your military tribunal in a few days."

...A military tribunal?

Gu Liancheng was stunned.

Shouldn't Zhu Shinian hate him? Shouldn't he come strutting over, gloating and sneering at his downfall?

Why wouldn't Zhu Shinian even bother to see him?

The young soldier escorting him saw him freeze up again and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"What the hell is wrong with you, you old b*stard? Still haven't accepted reality? You're not a noble lord anymore—you're a prisoner now, got it? You're not going to make us carry you, are you?"

The next second, Gu Liancheng, seething with rage, had his eyes roll back and fainted on the spot.

Author's note: