The night wind swept across the open ground of Blackwind Stronghold, carrying with it a pungent smell of sulfur.
The air fell deathly silent.
The torch held aloft by the assassin leader suddenly became a scorching-hot potato, trembling violently in midair.
The death warriors, who had been prepared to die without fear, all widened their eyes and stared at the little girl in the center of the clearing as though she were a monster.
Every word the girl had spoken moments ago was like an invisible blade, stabbing straight into their long-numbed hearts.
Seeing that the moment was ripe, Su Yaoyao curled her lips into a confident, victorious smile.
She struck while the iron was hot, taking her short little legs toward the overturned powder keg. Then she raised her foot and planted it boldly on the edge of the keg, which could explode at any moment.
“Don’t be fools, gentlemen.”
Su Yaoyao folded her arms across her chest and looked at the bewildered assassins before delivering the killing blow of the night.
“Let me tell you something. General Lin Zhenxiong is about to go bankrupt!”
“Today, he mortgaged the three most valuable and profitable shops in the capital to me. He’s already nothing but an empty shell!”
“What future can you possibly have following a pauper who’s nearly squandered his entire family fortune?!”
The assassins all sucked in a sharp breath.
Their lord was going bankrupt?
Not only was he penniless, he had even mortgaged his profitable shops?
How was that possible?!
But looking at Your Highness’s confident expression—and recalling how their lord had recently begun cutting back even on coarse grain—they believed her seven parts out of ten.
Su Yaoyao gave them no time to think or catch their breath. Her little mouth rattled on as she feverishly painted them a vision of a brighter future.
“Wake up, all of you! A wise bird chooses the right tree to nest in!”
“Come work for me!”
“Starting today, your base pay will be tripled!”
“At the end of every year, you’ll receive double pay! That means an extra month’s wages as a New Year bonus!”
“Whenever you go on a mission, food and lodging will be provided! You’ll have steamed white-flour buns at every meal, along with braised pork. You absolutely won’t have to gnaw on cold, dry rations!”
“If you’re injured, not only will all your medical expenses be covered, I’ll also give you paid sick leave!”
Double pay?
Food and lodging, plus braised pork?
Paid sick leave?
How could such wonderful things possibly exist in this world?
But Su Yaoyao wasn’t finished yet. She took a deep breath.
“Most importantly!”
“Any key employee who works for me for ten full years and performs exceptionally well…”
“Your Highness will give you a three-courtyard residence in the capital’s Second Ring Road, near the Imperial Academy!”
“That way, your descendants can attend the finest schools, pursue official careers, and completely cast off the lowly status of their birth!”
The term “school-district housing” might have gone over their heads.
But “attend the finest schools,” “pursue official careers,” and “cast off their lowly status” struck them like a massive hammer.
With a thunderous blow, it shattered the assassins’ final psychological defenses.
Assassins were human too.
Many of them had become emotionless death warriors because they had been sold as children or driven into desperate circumstances.
Who didn’t want to live openly and honorably?
Who didn’t want their children to grow up with dignity, rather than living on the edge of a blade just as they had?
The assassin leader’s mind flashed with countless bleak and desperate memories.
He remembered how, every bitter winter, his brothers could only huddle together in a dilapidated temple with gaps in every wall, shivering as they tried to keep one another warm.
He remembered how, during their last mission, one of his closest brothers had had an arm hacked off, yet the general had rewarded him with only two ounces of loose silver.
Then, as if tossing out a piece of garbage, the general had driven the crippled man from the camp, leaving him to fend for himself.
He remembered his infant son, not yet a month old, dying in his wife’s arms because they could not afford proper medicine.
And what had the general been doing at the time?
The general had stood atop the high command platform, his face cold and severe as he brainwashed them.
“You are all shadows without emotion! Shadows have no need for warmth!”
“To sacrifice yourselves for the greater good is your destiny—and your glory!”
Glory, my ass!
To hell with the greater good!
The veins on the assassin leader’s hand bulged as he gripped the torch, his knuckles turning deathly pale.
What had Your Highness offered them?
Triple wages, free medical care, and homes that could allow their descendants to change their station in life!
And what had the general offered them?
A few weightless, hollow words that neither hurt nor helped!
Along with coarse tea and plain food that never filled their bellies, and a dark life that could never see the light of day!
By comparison, they were nothing more than utterly exploited fools!
The assassins around him all had reddened eyes as well.
They looked at one another, then at the thin, bloodstained clothes patched in countless places on each other’s bodies.
Then they looked at their faces—sallow from years of malnutrition and covered in scars.
They earned only a pitiful few ounces of silver a month, not enough even to take a wife. If they died, they wouldn’t even have a decent coffin.
Just who the hell were they giving their lives for?
Standing to one side with a black sack over his head and a body glowing with pink light, Su Jin had gone completely numb.
The hand holding his poisoned blade was frozen in midair, while his mind buzzed.
He had thought tonight would be a brutal bloodbath. He had already prepared himself to be gravely wounded, perhaps even on the verge of death.
Instead, this wretched girl had won over General Lin Zhenxiong’s most elite trump card with nothing more than a few incomprehensible words?!
What kind of sorcery was this?
What terrifying art of mind control?!
Clang!
A crisp metallic crash shattered the oppressive silence.
The youngest assassin had lost his grip on his steel saber, sending it clattering to the ground.
The sound was like the first domino falling, setting off an unstoppable chain reaction.
The assassin leader drew a deep breath. His eyes, which had never once faltered amid flashing blades and bloodshed, were now completely red.
He stared at the black gunpowder radiating the aura of death.
Then he gritted his teeth and swung his arm through the air with grim resolve.
With a sharp hiss, the torch—only inches from the gunpowder and capable of triggering a devastating explosion at any moment—was hurled into a massive water vat used for emergencies.
Water splashed in every direction. The leaping flame was swallowed by the cold well water, sending up a cloud of pungent white smoke.
The danger that could have destroyed half the mountain was dispelled just like that.
Then the infamous assassin leader, a man who had killed without batting an eye, suddenly went weak in the knees.
With a heavy thud, he dropped straight to his knees before Su Yaoyao.
He slid across the ground and prostrated himself at her feet.
“To hell with our lord! To hell with sacrificing ourselves for the greater good!”
The leader tore off his sinister asura mask, revealing a weather-beaten face.
He raised his head, his voice choked with emotion and burning with the fervent devotion of a man who had broken free of his shackles and been reborn.
“Starting today!”
“You are the only boss our brothers will ever have!”
“Wherever the boss points, our blades will strike!”
“Even if the boss orders us to chop up the Jade Emperor himself, we won’t so much as blink!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Following their leader’s sliding kneel, the remaining dozens of elite death warriors dropped like stalks of wheat before a scythe.
In perfect unison, they threw down their poisoned steel sabers.
A great black mass of men fell to the ground and prostrated themselves before Su Yaoyao.
Everyone was so moved that tears filled their eyes, and their whole bodies trembled.
In the dark, freezing Blackwind Stronghold, they felt as though they had seen the brightest ray of light in their lives.
That ray of light had brought not only meat buns, but also the promise of school-district housing in the future!
“Good morning, Boss!!!”
Dozens of voices, all belonging to men who had endured brutal training, erupted at once in a deafening roar.
Their shouts soared into the heavens, echoing throughout Blackwind Stronghold.
Su Yaoyao stood atop a pile of gunpowder.
“Excellent! Everyone’s dedication is truly admirable. No wonder I chose you all as talents worthy of this princess’s attention.”
“Return to the palace tomorrow morning. Go together and report to my maid to complete your employment formalities and collect the first round of settlement allowances!”
“As for tonight…”
A glint of pure money-loving delight flashed through Su Yaoyao’s eyes. With a wave of her little hand, she pointed toward the main storeroom behind her.
“Tonight, we’re all working overtime!”
“Move every last piece of refined iron, every barrel of gunpowder, and every heavy repeating crossbow in there! Even a single hair from the General’s head—take it all!”
“Overtime pay will be calculated at triple rates!”
The assassins’ eyes turned green with hunger the moment they heard “triple overtime pay.”
One by one, they scrambled up from the ground, suddenly filled with boundless energy, and charged toward the storeroom doors.
“The General’s finest refined iron is hidden in the cellar on the left! Brothers, get your tools and pry that door open!”
The leader had switched sides more thoroughly than anyone else, personally leading the raid on his former master’s stash.
“The high-purity black powder is on the right! Carry it carefully—Boss will have important uses for it later!”
Dozens of assassins threw themselves into the work of being movers with astonishing efficiency. They were so thorough that they practically wanted to pry the copper nails out of the doorframe and take those too.
The hopeless situation, once fraught with danger and poised to end in mutual destruction, had transformed into a bustling, frantic house-moving operation.
Watching her new employees work with such blazing enthusiasm, Su Yaoyao contentedly dusted off her hands and snapped her fingers in triumph.
Now, not only had she secured all the refined iron and gunpowder needed to manufacture firearms without shedding a drop of blood, she had also acquired an elite special-forces unit for free.
Next, all she had to do was empty Blackwind Stronghold and return to launch her grand undertaking!
