Chapter 144 The Man Hiding in the Dark

The darkness began to spread from the west, gradually covering the entire canyon.

When night fell, the vast canyon battlefield finally fell into silence. The soldiers of the Wu and Shu countries began to return to the camp, dragging their wounded bodies. If you stand on a high place and take a bird's eye view, the army holding countless torches stretches for dozens of kilometers. In the dark canyon, the three lines of soldiers are like lifelike fire dragons flying back to their nests, which is quite spectacular.

At this time, on the edge of the city wall of the Shu Kingdom's highlands, stood a young man in blue and white armor.

That was the architect of the victory in the Wu-Shu War, Zhuge Liang, the commander-in-chief of the Shu army.

Looking back at the afternoon, when the heroes from both Wu and Shu gathered on the top lane, no large-scale team battle broke out.

Zhou Yu was very worried that the Japanese pirates in Fuso, far away overseas, would take the opportunity to launch an attack on the State of Wu.

What's more, the heroes of Shu have returned, and even if the war continues, Wu has no chance of winning.

So in the evening, the invading State of Wu withdrew its troops.

Under the leadership of Zhuge Liang, the Kingdom of Shu won the battle.

Having said that, Zhuge Liang's brow was still furrowed. This genius, strategist with unparalleled wisdom and vision seemed to have encountered an unsolvable problem.

"Sir, you seem to be troubled by something?"

A steady voice suddenly came from behind Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang turned around and found that the person coming was Liu Bei.

"Your Majesty." Zhuge Liang nodded slightly to show his respect.

Zhuge Liang had a privilege because of Liu Bei's kindness and close friendship, which was that he did not have to kneel down when facing the king.

"Thanks to you, sir, our Shu Kingdom was able to win despite being so weak. Your talent is unprecedented in history." Liu Bei said with a smile, his eyes full of gratitude.

Zhuge Liang did not speak, but turned his head and continued to look at the canyon under the night sky.

Liu Bei didn't mind and continued, "To be honest, when Wu invaded, even I thought Shu was doomed. After all, my second brother and I couldn't go to war. It was a fantasy for you and my third brother to fight against the four heroes of Wu. But I never thought that you had already predicted that Wu would take the opportunity to invade, and even sent two war messages, causing Wei and the Japanese pirates to move, thus forcing Wu to retreat in humiliation."

"To be honest, Your Majesty." Zhuge Liang, who had been silent all this time, suddenly interrupted and said, "In fact, I did not tell the Japanese pirates in Fusang that Wu was coming out in full force as I said to the outside world. I was helpless and told that lie to intimidate and confuse Zhou Yu."

When Zhuge Liang finished speaking, even Liu Bei was stunned.

"Although the world praises me as a wise man, I am not a god after all. It is impossible for me to control everything perfectly. Just like I predicted that Wu would invade, but did not expect that Zhou Yu would kill my messenger halfway. This was my negligence, but Zhou Yu's talent is actually not worse than mine." Zhuge Liang said. Despite his words, his face remained calm.

"Sir, you are too modest. The so-called way of employing troops is to attack the heart. Even in such a passive situation at that time, you were still able to grasp Zhou Yu's psychological weakness, that is, Zhou Yu's suspicious character, which led to his serious misjudgment and made him believe it to be true. Just this point alone is far beyond the reach of other people in the world." Liu Bei said with a smile.

Zhuge Liang was silent for a moment before he slowly said, "In fact, I think there is another important reason that forced Zhou Yu to withdraw his troops."

"Oh?"

"In the afternoon, under Da Qiao's summons, only Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao showed up from Wu. Sun Shangxiang, the most powerful output force of Wu, did not show up."

Zhuge Liang turned around and looked at Liu Bei seriously: "So, in fact, all this should be attributed to Your Majesty. Your Majesty is the biggest creator of the victory of this battle, don't you agree?"

Hearing this, Liu Bei's eyes suddenly showed a moment of panic for no apparent reason.

Zhuge Liang frowned slightly.

"We'll talk about this later." Liu Bei suddenly asked meaningfully, "By the way, sir, do you have anything else you want to tell me besides this war?"

"No more." Zhuge Liang shook his head slightly, turned his back to Liu Bei and continued to look at the canyon.

"I've heard quite a few rumors recently." Liu Bei smiled gently, his wide cloak draped over his body swaying in the night breeze.

"rumor?"

"Yes, I heard that a very special soldier appeared in the canyon. He held a strange-looking weapon and seemed to have done many incredible things. Have you heard of it, sir?"

"No." Zhuge Liang answered directly.

And Liu Bei sighed silently behind Zhuge Liang.

boom!
In the silent and cold night, a loud gunshot suddenly rang out, as deafening as spring thunder.

Liu Bei held an ancient golden steel double-barreled heavy cannon in both hands. The black muzzle was still emitting gunpowder smoke, but in front of him, there was nothing.

call out--

With a low sound of wind, the air trembled slightly, and with a faint blue light, Zhuge Liang appeared ten meters behind Liu Bei, with a pair of strange green eyes full of frost. Liu Bei turned around, and his usual elegant look was gone, replaced by an evil smile: "Have you really seen through me?"

"There are some things that Your Majesty himself would definitely know." Zhuge Liang did not comment.

"Is that so? You are indeed worthy of being me." 'Liu Bei' stuck the muzzle of the double-barreled heavy artillery on the ground, as if he wanted to use it to maintain his body balance.

Zhuge Liang did not say anything else, but kept scanning Liu Bei in front of him with his sharp eyes, as if he wanted to see through this person completely.

Suddenly, with the help of the light fan in his hand, Zhuge Liang saw something flashing behind Liu Bei.

Zhuge Liang narrowed his eyes slightly and was surprised to find that it was a line, no, more than one, but four lines!

Four almost transparent threads connected Liu Bei's limbs respectively. It seemed that because of these very tough threads, Liu Bei could "stand" in front of him. There was a terrifying and creepy sense of déjà vu.

"It's been a long time since we last met, senior brother. Do you mind if I greet you in this way?" With a low laugh like that of an evil spirit, the face of 'Liu Bei' actually began to 'dissolve' silently, like an oil painting that was splashed with water, the paint kept flowing away, and finally his true face was revealed.

It turned out to be a puppet!!
"Why are you here?" For the first time, Zhuge Liang showed a complex expression full of shock and surprise, and when he said this, he was speaking to the darkness farther behind the puppet.

"Because the Master is very disappointed with Senior Brother."

The puppet's face was covered with circles of tree rings, which looked like a whirlpool with a strange gravity that could captivate one's soul. The "mouth"-shaped mechanism that represented the mouth kept opening and closing with a "click-click" sound.

"Let me start from the beginning. Two months ago, Jixia received a report from Wei. The general content said that they met a very special soldier in the canyon. He was wearing a strange-looking silver bow. However, Jixia did not pay much attention to this matter at that time."

At this point, the puppet man swung his wooden arms with obvious gaps at the joints, making a heart-pounding "cracking" sound.

"But what's interesting is that a month ago, Jixia received another report, and this report also came from Shu. The content of the two reports was roughly the same. Jixia finally took this matter seriously and contacted you as soon as possible, but you replied that there was nothing unusual. I think you still remember it?"

The puppet's words were spoken with a thick, difficult mechanical accent, and as it spoke, Zhuge Liang's face gradually became gloomy.

"And just ten days ago, another report was sent to Jixia. It was sent by Zhou Yu." At this time, the puppet's voice was a little teasing and a little hostile and cold: "Do you want to hear the specific content?"

"What on earth do you want to do here?" Zhuge Liang stared at the darkness behind the puppet, shrouded in the shadow of the city wall.

"It seems that as one of the most powerful heroes in Shu, you are not as ignorant as you replied to Jixia about these things?" The puppet spread his hands in a very human way, like a detective exposing the murderer's methods of crime.

Then, it stood at attention.

"The Master wants me to thoroughly investigate the authenticity of these three reports. You have disappointed him so much."

After a pause, the puppet turned and asked meaningfully.

"By the way, Master also asked me to ask my senior brother, is that Xiang Yu hidden by you in Shu?"

When the time entered the hour of Hai, the bright moon slowly rose from the horizon. Its silver light sprinkled on the earth and fell on the city walls, stretching its towering shadow very long.

And in this shadow, there are two figures snuggling closely together.

"Ah, Ayao, be gentle, I can't breathe." Luna, who was tightly embraced by Wang Yao, couldn't help but protest in a tender voice.

"No." Burying his cheek deeply in the girl's neck, Wang Yao was unwilling to let go as if he was afraid that she would leave again.

"Wait a little longer, please. I missed you so much."

Faced with this sincere confession, Luna felt her cheeks burning. Feeling the tight force around her waist, she seemed to understand his mood at the moment.

In fact, she missed him too. But——

"Yes, yes." The girl suddenly broke free from Wang Yao's restraints, rubbing the hem of her skirt nervously, and said timidly: "Ayao, I have to discuss something with you first."

Looking down at Luna's cautious and cute appearance, Wang Yao felt his heart melt. He couldn't help but said boldly, "Tell me, no matter what it is, I will agree to it."

"Eh? Really?!" Luna, who was originally hesitant, came over excitedly. Her beautiful pair of watery eyes were more beautiful than the bright moon in the night sky.

"Of course, as long as it's your business, I will agree to everything." Wang Yao smiled and rubbed Luna's little head.

"That's great! I thought you would definitely not agree! I'll go back and tell Uncle Han Sheng right away!" Luna smiled happily, like a child who got a gift.

"Wait, wait." Hearing the word 'Han Sheng', Wang Yao's smile froze, and an ominous premonition enveloped him: "Girl, the matter you said you wanted to discuss with me is related to that old man named Huang Zhong?"

"Yes, when I came back to Shu, Uncle Han Sheng kept saying that he was worried about me and wanted to move in with me. I couldn't persuade him. But it's okay, as long as you agree!"

(End of this chapter)