Chapter 290: Clear The Name
Hearing this, Ximen Hao sneered.
"So it was under that bastard’s management? No wonder..." He then turned toward a nearby warrior, the one who had brought the bloated commander here.
"Young master! Wasn’t it you who cut our budget because this place was under Lord Ximen Ren!? He already told us! All of it!" the warrior said to Ximen Hao indignantly.
Ximen Hao turned toward the warrior.
"What exactly did that bastard tell you? Did he tell you that I refused to approve any funding for this place? Or that I was the one stealing your salaries?" Ximen Hao asked.
This was one of the tricks Ximen Ren often played, throwing his own negligence and corruption onto Ximen Hao’s name. A lot of idiots believed it because that bastard Ximen Ren was so good at acting like a benevolent lord.
And from the looks of it, the news of that bastard’s true nature hadn’t reached this place yet. Or maybe it had, but no one believed it.
"Let me ask you something. Have you heard the news about that bastard Ximen Ren’s true nature yet?"
"We don’t believe it! Lord Ximen Ren has always been the one protecting us from you!" This time, another voice came from a warrior who walked over from the side.
The warrior had a solemn expression and carried himself with a stoic air. His rusted armor and makeshift repairs on his weapon told everyone about the poor state of their equipment.
"Captain!" the warrior who had arrived with the commander exclaimed as he looked at the newcomer.
Seeing this, Ximen Hao let out a long, tired sigh.
"Haaaa... Since this place has always been under Ximen Ren’s management, and I had absolutely no authority over it until recently, when that bastard became a cripple, why do you think he had to protect you from me?" he asked.
"Of course!" the captain began. "Aren’t you the one who cut this place’s budget and tried to get us killed by letting the beast tide crush us because we supported Lord Ximen Ren?" the captain said with a sneer that practically screamed, Gotcha.
Seeing this pathetic display of idiocy, Wei Chen could not help but chime in.
"Hey... I know everyone has the right to be stupid, but man... you guys are abusing the hell out of that right." He sneered.
"What did you say!?" The captain glared at Wei Chen while releasing his killing intent, assuming this little bastard was just another one of Ximen Hao’s wastrel followers.
The moment his killing intent was unleashed, however, he was immediately taken aback by the cold, horrifying aura radiating from Dream Butterfly.
The captain looked at her. He could clearly see her otherworldly beauty, but the creeping sense of fear she exuded completely overwhelmed any admiration he might have felt, making him unable to maintain his killing intent.
"I said you’re a retard," Wei Chen replied, deliberately changing his wording.
"You!"
Without waiting for the captain or the other warriors to speak, Wei Chen continued.
"If you stopped and thought about it for just one minute, you’d realize that what Ximen Ren told you is nothing but complete bullshit. You remember that before Ximen Hao turned over a new leaf, he was just a typical wastrel young master, right?"
"Hey!" Ximen Hao shouted in protest.
Hearing this, both the captain and the other warrior paused before nodding.
"Yes, we know. What about it?"
"Good! That’s the beginning of enlightenment." Wei Chen nodded repeatedly as though he had just discovered that a monkey could be taught, then continued.
"Then... do you really think the patriarch would allow a guy like that to have any say over the clan’s budget? I’ve met Patriarch Ximen Hong. He doesn’t seem like someone who would entrust the clan’s finances to someone that unreliable."
Wei Chen turned toward Ximen Hao.
"No offense, buddy..." he shrugged.
"It’s fine..." Ximen Hao replied through gritted teeth.
The captain paused to think. What this wastrel said actually made sense. But then he remembered something.
"That is reasonable, but it’s also true that Patriarch Ximen Hong favors Young Master Ximen Hao because he’s the son of the madam he loved the most. He might have allowed Young Master Ximen Hao to interfere with the budget..."
Before the captain could finish, Wei Chen sneered.
"Come on. You don’t actually believe that half-ass reason yourself, do you?"
"Think about it. Ximen Ren was the one managing this place, right? And the patriarch is also the one who allocates the budget to every department. Do you really think he’d allow an idiot wastrel to touch the clan’s core interests?"
He turned toward Ximen Hao.
"No offense."
Ximen Hao: ...
"You said all that, but do you have any evidence?" the captain asked.
"Of course! Duh... Why would you ask such a stupid question? We’re talking about budgets and money here. There are clear paper trails and official records. Just go back to the main clan and check them. Give it one day, and you’ll know exactly who managed which budget. I believe all those documents are still sitting in the archives."
Wei Chen said with a shrug, then continued.
"Besides, you can just ask this lady right here. You should remember that she used to follow Ximen Ren. She knows his true nature."
Wei Chen pointed toward Song Wan, who was standing behind him with Mo Xingyao and Dream Butterfly.
Hearing Wei Chen mention her name, Song Wan stepped forward.
"Lady Song...." The commander and the captain recognized Song Wan. They remembered that she was the woman who had once supported Ximen Ren and broken off her engagement with Ximen Hao.
"What Young Master Wei said is the truth," Song Wan said. She then began recounting everything she had personally witnessed regarding Ximen Ren’s true nature to the captain and the other warrior.
During this time, the commander was sweating bullets. He was the one who had colluded with Ximen Ren, and he had also benefited from Ximen Ren’s schemes by siphoning off part of the budget to build up their own forces.
He had never thought that one day his backer would become crippled and be reduced to a vegetable barely clinging to life.
After listening to Song Wan’s account, the captain and the other warrior looked at each other in disbelief.
"If you two still don’t believe it, I also have even more damning evidence of that bastard’s true nature," Wei Chen added.
He then took out his U-Phone 2 and showed them the recording he had captured of Ximen Ren revealing his true colors, where he openly admitted everything and exposed his own villainous nature in front of Song Wan.
Seeing the recording, the two had nothing to say. But then they remembered a very important detail.
If this defensive line had been under Ximen Ren’s management, and Ximen Hao had no authority over it and could not even touch the clan’s budget...
Then what about the miserable state of the defensive line?
Where had all that budget gone?
The two immediately turned to look at the commander, who was sweating bullets as they glared daggers at him.
Seeing that the people of the first defensive line had finally understood the situation, Ximen Hao also let out a sigh.
The reason he had wasted so much time explaining everything was because, without the help and manpower of the soldiers stationed at the first defensive line, they would never be able to hold the beast tide back long enough for the second defensive line to prepare.
Yes, in Ximen Hao’s mind, this defensive line would not hold. At best, delaying the beast tide for one or two days would already be a remarkable achievement.
"I’ll follow up on the investigation and determine who is responsible for the missing budget later. Right now, all of you must strengthen the defenses and repair the barricades as much as you can," Ximen Hao said.
The captain let out a sigh as he looked at the condition of the walls and the gate.
"Young Master Ximen, this place won’t be able to hold for even a single day. However, if you allow us to use our last resort, we’ll make sure to drag as many of those damned beasts down with us as possible. That should make things easier for the second defensive line."
"What are you planning to do?" Ximen Hao asked.
"Young Master Ximen, you might not know this, but this place was designed with two objectives in mind. The first is to hold the line like any other defensive fortress. But judging from the condition of the walls, I know we won’t be able to hold them back for even half a day."
"As for the second objective, it’s to inflict as much destruction as possible on the beast tide after they break through the walls," the captain explained.
"Are you saying you would..." Ximen Hao muttered.
Before coming here, he had already done his homework. This place contained a formation that allowed the warriors stationed here to sacrifice themselves. The formation would absorb all the spiritual qi and vitality of everyone manning it, creating an unimaginably powerful explosion that would annihilate everything across a vast area.
"Yes... Young Master... I... no, we would..." the captain said with unwavering determination.