Zhuge Daozi closed his eyes and heard chaotic sounds in his ears. He knew that these sounds came from the live TV broadcast in the VR projection. Then, the chaotic sounds turned into a buzzing. In a daze, he heard a woman calling him in the buzzing sound.
So familiar, this voice is so familiar.
The buzzing continued to grow quieter, and the woman's voice became clearer and clearer.
It was his mother's voice.
"Daozi? Why are you standing there? Come here."
Daozi opened his eyes and found that he had returned to when he was about 7 or 8 years old. And the mother he had not seen for nearly 20 years was standing in front of him. She was as beautiful as in his memory, with a gentle smile on her face.
Is this an illusion? Well, not bad.
"Come here, Daozi, and see your two cousins."
Zhuge Daozi walked forward in accordance with his mother's call, and the surrounding environment became clear following his footsteps. Ah, yes, this is the delivery room of New Rome No. 1 Hospital.
There was a hospital bed in front of him, and lying on it was a woman who looked like his mother. She was his aunt, the wife of Governor Manfred, and the wife of the actual ruler of New Rome.
His aunt had just given birth and looked very weak. She looked as kind as he remembered. Zhuge Daozi knew that this was the last time he would see his aunt, because her aunt passed away a few years later.
Zhuge Daozi's mother picked up a baby girl beside the bed and handed it to him.
"Look, this is your sister. Her name is Elizabeth, and she is the sister of the twins."
"Ellie...Sabeth..."
Daozi read the baby's name silently.
"Elizabeth? Wasn't she just killed?"
Daozi's thoughts were not completely trapped in the illusion of memories. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye. The scene before him changed and turned into a night he would never forget.
In the cold night, the false, cold moon of the colonial satellite was projected in the sky to imitate the appearance of human beings living on the earth.
It's ridiculous to think about it. Human beings have entered the universe, but they still miss Mother Earth so much like children, creating such meaningless illusions to deceive themselves. It's like an adult holding a pacifier in his mouth and recalling his time as a baby. This scene is too funny.
"Mommy mommy!!"
That night, a group of soldiers suddenly broke into Zhuge Daozi's home and took his parents away. Young Daozi was held down by two strong soldiers. Seeing his mother being forced into a car by the soldiers at gunpoint, he could only scream miserably.
"Daozi, don't be afraid, we will be back."
In the end, my mother only left herself a smile.
Two days before that night, someone failed to assassinate Manfred and was caught. A furious Manfred believed the rumor and arrested his parents. The young Zhuge Daozi was placed under house arrest in a cold room in a juvenile detention center.
Daozi was imprisoned for 5 years. During these 5 years, Zhuge Daozi was never allowed to leave here. He was not allowed to have access to any outside information. The only people he could see every day were guards who could not talk to him and a man who came several times a week. A soldier, that soldier will provide him with basic education.
Daozi didn't like the officer. He looked scary and treated him like a prisoner. Whenever he tried to ask about his parents' current situation, he would slap him in the face.
"It's really a waste of my time to educate you. I'm also unlucky to be forced to take on such a task with no chance of meritorious service." The officer would say this every time after beating him.
Others might have given up struggling and resigned themselves to their fate, but Daozi never gave up. He knew that his only way to communicate with the outside world was through this officer, and only through himself could he not be completely forgotten. Maybe he could pass on his current situation to Manfred or his parents? Even though this might just be wishful thinking, he didn't want to give up this hope.
So during those five years, Daozi continued to learn all the knowledge he could come into contact with in that prison, and also began to exercise. The officer was puzzled at first when he saw his change and didn't understand what Daozi was doing. But he gradually began to appreciate Daozi's self-discipline, self-improvement and thirst for knowledge, and became willing to give him more knowledge and would bring him various books. Among them, Daozi's favorite books were history books, in which he could find many ancient people with similar fates to his own. He especially likes King Goujian of Yue. He feels that he will be in a difficult situation like King Goujian of Yue, but he will definitely survive one day.
The officer later guessed Daozi's intention and said to him: "I will only submit a brief report to my superior every month on all your performance. He is as insignificant as me. Governor Manfred will not notice you. You Now he has completely forgotten about it... As for your parents, I know you really want to know, but I have been given a silence order and cannot tell you."
Daozi was not shaken by his words and continued his efforts.
Finally, he was released. The villain who framed his parents back then was caught for other things and confessed to the frame-up. Manfred released Daozi.
On the day he regained his freedom, it was his father who came to pick him up. Two years ago, his father had been tortured in prison and was emaciated. He was in a completely different state from himself.
Question, why is it only father and mother?
Facing Daozi's question, his father choked up. In order to protect his family, his mother took the initiative to commit the so-called crime and was executed five years ago.
Daozi only remembered that he punched his father when he lost control because he felt that his father was too weak to protect his mother. But he soon realized that his mother's death was also due to his own weakness.
Be strong, you must become stronger, and take revenge on Manfred!
As compensation, Manfred gave his father a large sum of money, and Daozi used the money to hire the best teachers to educate himself. And began to work hard to get involved in the upper class circles of New Rome and began to build his own network of relationships.
At the age of 18, he was admitted to the New Rome Military Academy with excellent results and soon became the best student in the military academy. At this time, he finally caught Manfred's attention. Daozi suppressed his anger towards his enemy and became Manfred's confidant by being groveling and deliberately trying to please him. Maybe he felt guilty about the false accusation back then, or maybe he didn't care at all. In short, Manfred reused Daozi after he graduated from the military academy.
Also at the military academy, Zhuge Daozi met Vlad the "Red Knight" who also wanted revenge on Manfred. At first, he just thought that Vlad's good grades in various courses were valuable to win over, but after accidentally learning his true identity, he turned Vlad into his good friend.
By the way, there is also Daozi's girlfriend from the military academy. Daozi later arranged for her to become Elizabeth's maid as his spy. It's a pity that she died when Elizabeth just left New Rome. If not, he could have better control over Elizabeth and there would be no need to kill her now.
Daozi originally wanted to use Elizabeth's naive peace ideals as a puppet in his hands to realize his plan to split the empire and take revenge on Manfred.
In fact, with the passage of time, the motivation driving Zhuge Daozi's actions has changed from revenge to the realization of ambition.
It's a pity that Elizabeth guessed Daozi's intention and asked the imperial military and civilians to give up force and follow the path of complete peace at the meeting. This was contradictory to his plans, and the opportunity to try to catalyze a civil war in the Empire was lost. Moreover, if Elizabeth makes Daozi's ambition public, his years of hard work will be in vain and he will become a prisoner again.
Instead of doing this, it would be better to kill her and use her death to make a fuss. Although she is his cousin, she is also the blood of his enemy Manfred.
Kill her and make the citizens of the empire think that the person who killed Elizabeth was her father who had fallen into war madness through the drama played by his killers at the meeting. This can also catalyze the division of the empire.
Just in case, if Manfred and the Imperial citizens suspect him. Zhuge Daozi also prepared someone to be his scapegoat. After long-term contact, Daozi knew that he would not support his ambition.
…
Zhuge Daozi opened his eyes. The live broadcast had ended. The red knight was still shocked by Elizabeth's death.
"Zhuge Daozi, princess she, she..."
The red knight turned to look at Zhuge Daozi behind him, and found that Daozi, who had just witnessed his cousin being killed, looked unusually calm, as if he had known this would happen.
"Princess, she...you, how..."
Before the Red Knight finished speaking, a group of armed soldiers suddenly rushed into the room and surrounded the Red Knight.
Daozi then said slowly: "Vlad von Richthofen... No, I should call you Vlad Adenauer. You are suspected of murdering Princess Elizabeth and trying to assassinate His Majesty Emperor Manfred." And got arrested!”
