Chapter 313: Day 682 (3) – Is It Even Possible?

Chapter 313: Day 682 (3) – Is It Even Possible?

“You want to fight your way through the Forbidden City?” Bao Wang slowly said and was clearly turning that thought over in his mind. “If you can fight the Envoy on even ground, then it should be possible. But the hardest part will be locating the Divine Empress and making sure she doesn’t return.”

I nodded at that. “That is the biggest problem. Everything else can be solved with force. Would the people rise up?” I asked.

“The people? There are only slaves and soldiers. The slaves will not be able to do anything. The soldiers will fight. You will have to kill them all. The elite guards of the Empress. The Black Talons. Each with 1,000 to 3,000 stat points it is said and skills,” Bao Wang explained. That meant I could defeat them as easily as the Divine Empress defeated me with a few thousand more stats.

“The outer wall is well defended. There are cannons on the wall, though I have never seen them used. Soldiers patrol everywhere constantly. Also, there is a single airship that is in the city to quickly move troops and attack from above.” I listened intently about what I would have to fight my way through.

“Assuming you manage to fight your way past the wall. There are two layers with a wall made from buildings and then a wall of flesh.” Similar to Purgatory in that regard. “The slaves that service the soldiers live in the outer ring. The middle ring houses the soldiers. The inner ring contains the palace, city buildings, and what bureaucracy the Empire has,” Bao Wang said.

“The treasury is contained in a five-story building isolated from all the other buildings. There is only a single entrance, and the bottom floor is the processing area for the tribute.”

“What about the airship?” I asked. “Could it be stolen?”

“Maybe? I have no idea how one works. There are only two airships. The flagship of the Divine Empress. And the reserve one inside the Forbidden City to respond to threats.” Stealing the Empress’s airship would be the cherry on top of what I wanted to accomplish.

“Could we sneak into the inner ring?” I asked.

“Impossible. The soldiers know if there is any incident they will be the ones fleshcrafted it has happened many times before,” Bao Wang answered.

“How many of these Black Talons are there?” I asked.

“There are one thousand. They guard the inner ring only. The rest are regular soldiers like you have already faced.” I imagined facing a thousand Narans. I would need a lot more in my Body stat. That would be very annoying. They would force me to use my energy and wear me down.

I had a level 4 processing rod and somehow the annihilation bomb the good doctor and Clarissa had developed for me. Even the headlamp had survived on my utility belt, despite being yeeted into the sky and the multi-zone crawl. I had made sure all my gear was snug on my belt when I had gotten the utility belt and had gone through a couple to get one, I wanted.

That small number of points was nothing to me. “Why not ask for help?” Hope brought up.

“Hope, high level combat is do or die. Who is going to help me?” I shook my head. “No, we grind, and then make a move on the treasury. I am thinking we sneak in past the outer wall. I should be able to get us over that easily no problem.”

“The inner walls, especially the fresh one concerns me. But we go as far as we can. The hard part is capturing the airship and taking the treasury. I can do one, but not both,” I visualized everything and shook my head. I was thinking too much in terms of theft not combat.

“Breach the inner wall and then fight. During that time, I will draw everyone out while another group would take the Airship and load up the crystals for escape,” I said. I would be tossing bombs everywhere. Since I had a bomb design, I could make more with the right type of crystals.

I would need lots of bombs. A lot. I would need resupply most likely as well. So crafting crystals and more stats. The plan needed a lot of work.

“Insanity, but for someone who called the Divine Empress an old hag to her face, I would expect nothing less,” Bao Wang said. Well hopefully I would never see her again.

“Freedom?” I asked.

“Well, it is technically called City Number Eight. But the original names have stuck around and people use them. Far to the Southwest. Constant fighting and rebels. Every new arrival is made a slave and soldiers are brought in from other cities.”

“Where does it pull from?” I asked.

“Australia and Japan. It is quite amazing they have held on so long killing several Lords.” Bao Wang truly was a font of useful information. “Try and find these rebels for your attack?” he asked.

“No. It would be better if they are creating distractions elsewhere. The East will not be easy to hold for the Divine Empress. The more territory she has, the harder it will be to keep everyone in line and groups from forming,” I said.

“Perhaps. But as long as she lives, no one at the upper levels will go against her,” Bao Wang said.

“You have,” I pointed out.

“With enough stats, I would be able to kill myself before being captured. Whatever happens, don’t allow yourself to be taken alive or surrender,” he said and shuddered.

“I need to use the bathroom,” Hope said. I helped her out of the cart and held onto the back of her shirt.

“Are you looking away?” she asked me and I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, I am.”

“I don’t see why you need to keep an eye on me like this,” she muttered. I had already explained that with the mist messing her and Bao Wang up that they would die if they wandered off. There was no other option unfortunately.

“I can’t go,” she said. Almighty System, how did this woman ever save my life? Whatever luck skill or meta-point she had earned, I wanted it. I didn’t say anything and just kept waiting and waiting. If this woman hadn’t saved my life, I would let her wander off and die.

“I have a shy bladder.” I counted in my head, not saying anything. It wouldn’t help. After a couple of minutes I heard a tinkle. I didn’t move or make a noise, in case she stopped mid-stream and I had to wait even longer.

I heard clothing shuffling around. “All done,” she said. I lead her back to the cart. Bao Wang was still alive, but he was moving his hand in front of his face trying to see it.

“Coming back,” I said so as to not scare him. He jumped a little bit.

“I was getting worried,” he said.

“Don’t. Everything is fine.” I helped Hope back into the cart. I couldn’t wait for these four days of hell to be over and my debt to Hope paid off. I really didn’t know what to do with her. It would be a pain to take her with me and she clearly wasn’t quick on the uptake.

I was suspecting she had some kind of mental damage the Almighty System hadn’t fixed. Or it could just be her personality and I was wrong to blame mental damage. Still, the end result was the same. Someone very passive.

They made for a great follower, but a poor teammate. She was the kind of person I hated and looked down on. The people who had no drive to push forward. They were the people who just lay down and die with no one telling them what to do. Well, I wouldn’t abandon her or put her in a bad spot. She deserved that much at least.