Chen Rui had to endure the pressure while saying, “This time, to participate in the mechanic contest, I accepted the invitation of Custer Family’s first son, Dior and became a participant in the Custer Family’s game of heir. However, I unexpectedly found something interesting…”
He didn’t disclose the information related to Kia and the Dark Moon. Instead, he selectively told the story of the Beelzebub Royal Family, and it included his assumption on Broc. Christina listened very carefully. Although he couldn’t see the expression on her face, he could feel that her eyes became more serious.
After listening to Chen Rui’s elaboration, Christina said in a serious manner, “I’ve heard from Her Majesty about this matter. She has also found many related clues, but she has no specific idea. Now that you’ve mentioned about a Beelzebub Demon Overlord-level powerhouse, these clues can basically be connected together. Your assumption is right. Broc and the Beelzebub Royal Family should be accomplices.”
Chen Rui asked, “Can Broc be uprooted?”
Christina shook her head, “Broc is cunning in nature. He never easily leaves any clues usually. He’s the son-in-law of the empress’ uncle, Prince Florence and the first general of the empire. Not only is he popular in the military but his forces in the Dark Moon are also deeply rooted. So, he is difficult to eradicate completely, at least not at the moment. Besides, he’s likely to be just an important part of that force but not the whole.”
“Hmph! It’s because Catherine is afraid of Broc, even though she knew you were the victim the last time, she still unreasonably imprisoned you in the palace?” Chen Rui was obviously very disappointed at the most beautiful empress, “The smartest person in the Demon Realm isn’t that impressive afterall!”
There were indeed too many things to consider for the ruler. It was much easier to be a chivalrous wanderer that acted on impulse. Certainly, he also understood that things weren’t that simple. If Broc could be easily eliminated, with Catherine’s wisdom and strength, he wouldn’t survive until now.
“Rude! How dare you speak of the empress’ name directly?” Christina knew that Chen Rui made such a complaint for her, but she scolded with dissatisfaction. Her voice contained a little demeanor, and the murderousness that was dissipated seemed to get stronger again.
“She can’t hear it anyway.” Chen Rui couldn’t bother and shrugged. A weird look flashed past in Christina’s eyes, but her veil was still blocking fortunately, so it couldn’t be seen.
“So… if it were you, what would you do?”
“It seems that you’ll only show me a better expression when we’re discussing important matters. Do you remember the time when we eat barbecue together?”
“Don’t try your luck. If you mention the past again, it’ll only make me unable to control my killing intention.” The coldness in Christina’s eyes seemed to be felt through the veil, “I can put my personal grudge aside. Now, I’m sincerely asking you about this issue.”
“Reel silks from cocoons. First, we must remove this guy’s side forces before anything else.” Chen Rui stopped joking around. When it came to dealing with Broc, he certainly wouldn’t be stingy with his ideas, “For those who support him, we can use certain means to make them have conflicts in interests or we can make the empress express trust to those people so that they’ll suspect each other. Broc has a [Soul Shackles] skill, so he can definitely control many people with this skill, paying extra attention to some key figures. However, the number that [Soul Shackles] can control is also limited. Thus, we can appropriately exaggerate the impact of the skill to isolate Broc from all aspects…”
Chen Rui talked eloquently. The art of war left by the ancestors of the other world was indeed extraordinary. Christina’s eyes flashed in surprise from time to time.
“Then… what to do with the military? This is the most important part. The Jergal Fortress is guarded by Broc’s Blood Blade Legion now. Ut’s the most important defense against the Bloody Empire. If we force him to the corner, the consequences could be disastrous.”
“There is a solution.” Chen Rui said solemnly, “It depends whether the Empress Catherine has the courage.”
“Yes!” When Christina heard there was a solution, she immediately blurted out and quickly added, “This is the biggest problem for Her Majesty that she repeatedly mentioned with me. If there’s a solution, I believe she’ll try it.”
“I can tell you.” Chen Rui frowned at Christina, “However, you can’t reveal to the empress that I am the one that said it, including what I said before. Just tell her that you thought of it… you must wear the royal ring. Eh, the ring is gone? Then, swear by your family name.”
“Are you sure?” Christina’s eyes seemed even more weird. After Chen Rui’s reassurance, she made an oath.
Chen Rui knew the weight of oath by the family name, so he was relieved, “The empress was worried about the military only knows the presence of general, but they don’t know the presence of empress. Although rewarding has a certain effect, it isn’t a radical cure. She must firmly control the military’s mind… soul in her hands. There were many defects in the Demon’s conventional military system at present. She can consider starting from this aspect to properly implement a military reform…”
His method was actually to plagiarize some military systems on earth and added the position of “political officer”. This trick seemed to be seen in many crossover novels. Although “old-fashion”, it was very feasible.
Certainly, instead of calling them political officers here, Chen Rui casually named them as “spiritual officers”. Their apparent responsibility was to listen to the voice of the “base level”, appease the military and deal with the captives. In reality, they were responsible to brainwash them about the supremacy of the empress.
Every 100-person team must be equipped with a spirit officer. It should go rank by rank. The lower rank should obey the upper rank and the highest rank was called the great spirit officer that had the same rank as the general. In this way, the power of the army would be divided. The general had the right to command the army to fight, but his authority would be governed by a spirit officer which would prevent the general from holding too much military power.
After Chen Rui finished speaking, Christina gradually recovered from the shock and fell into contemplation. After a while, she said, “This kind of military system is very novel. To be sure, it will drive the entire Demon Realm’s military reform. However, for the time being, we have to keep it a secret for a while. When the time matures, we can start implementing from one or two key points and promote it throughout the army. By then, even Broc cannot do anything.”
“It seems that my life is saved for the time being.” Chen Rui looked like he was relieved.
“You entered the palace as a trio-specialized mechanic master. From the beginning, you knew that I had a lot of concern, and it was difficult to kill you.” Christina stared at him, “You’re quite outstanding in your wisdom and talent. Even I’m ashamed to be not as good as you. If you can help us, the Dark Shadow Empire will definitely be stronger…”
“Slow down!” Chen Rui interrupted her words, “Stop whatever recommendation or high position and the like. I’ve already joined the Mechanic Alliance of the Dark Shadow Empire, so I’m more or less contributing to the empire. What do you think of the plan I mentioned earlier? If it succeeds, it will severely damage the strength of Broc and the Beelzebub Royal Family.”
Christina stared at him for a moment and said, “You should know the risks of this plan. If you decide to suicide, it will just save me the trouble of doing it myself.”
Chen Rui accepted her stare frankly, “I’m always afraid of death, and I will definitely not send myself to death if I’m not confident. A Demon Overlord can crush me with one finger, so I can’t afford to offend him, so about the empress..”
“I have full confidence with the empress. This magic item can manually provide your location, and it can also be used to send a signal by explosion as the final message.”
As she spoke, Christina threw over a magical item and said indifferently, “If there isn’t anything else, you can leave now before I change my mind to kill you… This time, although you’re lucky enough to save your life, don’t underestimate a woman’s grudge, you’re still on my must-kill list.” “You still know you’re a woman?” Chen Rui said that in his heart, but he said differently with his mouth, “Then I should really leave quickly. I think I won’t come here to suicide any time soon.”
“By the way, I broke your gold crystal shackles last time. Take this cloak as a compensation.” Chen Rui took out the cloak that he made during the contest, “Longing of the Stars” and put it on the table.
As he turned and walked toward the door, Christina’s voice suddenly sounded behind him.
“Actually you should understand that no matter how much you do for me, my perseverance will not change.”
Chen Rui stood for a moment, turned around and answered, “If your perseverance is to protect everyone’s perseverance, then my perseverance is just to protect you.”
Christina’s eyes were finally unable to maintain her water-like calmness. With a snort, the courtyard’s door suddenly closed automatically and a huge repulsive force pushed Chen Rui out of the door. However, right before the door was closed, a golden light flew out.
“This golden puppet can temporarily hold your opponent for a short period of time when you encounter an unmatchable enemy. It can only fight once.”
After that sentence, there were no longer any other sounds in the courtyard.
Chen Rui received a golden light in his hand. He smiled as he strode out.
In the courtyard, Christina looked at the black potions on the table and the strange emotions that she thought had faded appeared in her heart again. Behind the supreme throne that stood tall, it was actually an exhausted heart. This man’s stupid emotions and perseverance, although far from being able to regard as a shelter, she could feel a trace of peace that she couldn’t ignore.
Perhaps it was for this reason that she once again became soft-hearted. Otherwise, he had no chance to meet her this time.
Anyway, the information and analysis, especially the reforms in the military system were simply unexpected surprises. I’ll just see it as a reward for being soft–hearted occasionally. By the way, speaking of reward, it seems to be more than that.
Her jade-like hands caressed the light cloak and the words that the man said in the mechanic contest sounded in her ears which she heard in person.
“The inspiration for this cloak comes from the star-like eyes of a woman…”.
Behind the veil, in the star-like eyes, the light gradually softened. She gently put on the cloak.
Certainly, it’s a warm feeling, just like his perseverance.
Shortly after Chen Rui walked out of the yard, the court lady that led him appeared again. She took him all the way out of the palace and gave him a small bag with a seed in it. It was exactly the seed of the flower of mist promised by Empress Catherine. He planted the seed into the Galaxy Garden and the prompt showed the maturity period as ten days. It seemed that there was no problem in lifting Skye’s curse anymore.
Chen Rui took a glance at the golden puppet given by Christina. It was a small gold man at the size of a palm. He wondered if he could call it Oscar. This little gold puppet should be the strongest [War Puppet] made with the secret method of the Asmodeus Royal Family. He had seen the power of bronze puppets in the battle of Christina and Broc at the Silent Night wetland. The puppets had no pain and thought, and they never exhausted nor died. So, they were quite hard to deal with. Now, Christina gave him the most powerful golden puppet. Thus, even if he was facing a Demon Overlord, he still had a chance, but unfortunately, it could only be used once.
The golden puppet was a bit familiar, then Chen Rui suddenly thought of something. When Dodo surrendered in the black rainforest, Dodo once presented several treasures left by the dragon that he devoured. Among them was a puppet about the size of a golden puppet! As Chen Rui thought of it, the puppet had already appeared in his hand from the storage. It was indeed almost the size of a golden puppet. Although the surface was dull, as a mechanic master, Chen Rui could naturally tell that the puppet’s material was even superior from the golden puppet.
As Chen Rui thought about it, he once again activated [Analytical Eyes] which had reached the time limit. [Analytical Eyes] had the appraisal function after reaching Migrez state. However, the prompt that appeared was: Unknown item (Sealed); Attributed: Unable to Judge.
That prompt was very strange, and it might be related to the “seal”. However, Christina would definitely not see him again. I’ll just wait for the next meeting. Perhaps I can even give her a surprise.
The meeting this time was a little different from what Chen Rui expected. [True Camouflage] was completely useless in front of her as she saw through it at a glance. Chen Rui still didn’t know where his flaws were. However, after this meeting, Chen Rui’s understanding of Christina became more profound, especially her perseverance.
It could be seen that Christina did have feelings for him, especially after he sacrificed himself to drag Broc. The Blood of Nirvana and the red piccolo were the best evidence. However, no matter how strong the feelings went, it couldn’t replace the biggest perseverance in her heart.
Chen Rui finally understood a little why Christina would become the next empress candidate. If she was placed in another world, she would be criticized as “Mother Mary, Drama Queen, Retarded” by some overbearing guys. Yet, even if those guys crossovered to this world, they were merely ants in her eyes. She wouldn’t even bother about them.
She insisted on her perseverance and pursuit. Her will was so strong that there was nothing that could replace or shake. It could be said that Christina was more suitable than Shea to be an excellent ruler.
At that moment, Chen Rui clearly saw the distance with her, and he felt farther away. Perhaps at the moment when she was enthroned in the future, this distance would increase indefinitely. Yet, he felt even more attracted by this woman. Not only her appearance, body and temperament but also that kind of perseverance… also the occasional trace of softness that revealed in her logical and almost merciless heart.
If there was a day that the Dark Shadow Empire and even the entire Demon Realm would have eternal peace, maybe she could truly release the feelings she suppressed in her heart… This seems to be more difficult than Shea to rule over the entire Fallen Angel Empire.
However, these things were too far away for Chen Rui, not to mention they were unrealistic. His main concern now was the plan.
This plan was undoubtedly risky, but for Christina, Kia and Delia, and perhaps his own desire, it was worth trying.
It was too tiring to live for others, but one couldn’t just live for themselves. That was Chen Rui, a man whose blood hadn’t run cold.
