THE SYSTEM IS NOT MINE

The crowd murmured as they stared at Hua Fain, who seemed to be the focal point of the entire murmurs.

"Sir Chu Feng..."

"No, let me start with something else."

Hua Fain said as a deep breath left his nostrils.

"I believe you are all aware of the berserker incidents that happened a few days ago all over the kingdom."

He paused.

"Sir Chu Feng was concerned about the ordinary citizens turning berserkers, so he sent me out to investigate."

"I travelled to the inflicted cities."

"And discovered that some restaurants are mixing a green colored liquid substance in wines and serving it to customers."

"And those who consumed it turned into berserkers, not immediately, as the wine acts as temporary resistance."

"Then I joined the restaurant as an employee. I came to know what was happening behind the scenes."

"A General of Noir is responsible for all of this."

Hua Fain paused as all eyes were on him, everyone who was present, observing him.

"I dug much deeper. The wine distribution network to the restaurants was run through criminal gangs in the cities."

"Then I exterminated the gangs and the known restaurants, but I was only able to save a single city."

"But the enemy acted first, and when I reached the other cities, the criminal gangs were already exterminated."

"The restaurants no longer sold the green liquid contaminated wines."

"We thought we couldn't proceed further."

"And at that moment, Fan Yu approached Sir Chu Feng with a deal to transport the green liquid."

"That was the turning point."

"Fan Yu explained to us the second purpose of the green liquid."

"It increases the quality of the spiritual lines."

Immediately multiple murmurs rose among the crowd, especially among the cultivators.

A spiritual line was fixed from birth. One's speed of cultivation depended on the number of spiritual lines.

"Yes. Increasing the quality of a spiritual line can allow one spiritual line to do the work of two or more."

Hua Fain said, "At first I didn't believe it."

"But Sir Chu Feng did. He said there was a sect in ancient times who had disciples who, despite having a single line, had resonance of multiple lines."

"But Sir Chu Feng strictly ordered us not to try it."

"We had an initial deal with Fan Yu. He supplied seventy percent of the green liquid as part of the deal."

"We stored it at Trade Miller City."

"Our plan was to gather everything and destroy it."

"But somehow other factions came to know of it. They kept coming after it. My brother Mutai was stationed at Trade Miller City."

"When they first arrived, as per orders of Sir Chu Feng, we warned them not to seek the liquid, and informed them that it was more dangerous than they knew."

"But they did not listen. They immediately started wreaking havoc, demanding the liquid. We had no choice but to fight back."

"Sir Chu Feng personally acted and the final negotiation was prepared at Trade Miller City."

"Then we had multiple clashes with the seekers of the green liquid, but at the same time the Shin Kingdom attacked."

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Hua Fain paused.

Murmurs rose among the crowd.

"We had no choice but to fight. And to defend..."

"And..."

Hua Fain dropped to his knees.

"Sir Chu Feng gave up his life for the kingdom, for protecting its citizens."

"So..."

Hua Fain stood and wiped tears off his eyes.

"We can't let his sacrifice go in vain."

"Today, the Saint Merchants announce the establishment of the Anti Green Foundation to fight against the green liquid conspiracy."

"For the citizens. For the world."

"Anyone is free to join."

Hua Fain paused.

Silence reigned for a moment, then it broke with, "I will join," a young voice.

Turning toward the source, people found a nine-year-old boy standing straight.

"I, Muja, will join," the kid declared again.

"I will join as well," another voice sounded a few blocks away from Muja.

"I will join."

"I will..."

The crowd began to raise their voices, as Hua Fain looked at them and whispered, "Sir Chu Feng... See... we are moving forward."

"Everyone, thank you for showing enthusiasm." Hai Mazi came forward.

"We will be taking applications shortly. You can apply there."

"And one more thing. The Anti Green Foundation will be led by Sir Mutai."

The muscled man who was carrying an axe on his back, who had stayed silent all of this time, came forward.

For a moment, the atmosphere turned heavy with his mere presence.

Then he gripped the axe, slowly pulled it up, and pointed it straight.

"The Anti Green Foundation has already started its first mission."

"As we speak now, our men in various cities might already have reached out to the restaurants in the list that Fan Yu provided."

Then he shouted, "Long live the Anti Green Foundation! Long live Chu Feng!" And slammed the axe to the ground.

When the axe hit the ground, cracks began to form at the point of contact and spread to the surroundings.

After a moment of silence.

Someone in the crowd chanted, "Long live the Anti Green Foundation! Long live Chu Feng!"

"Long live the Anti Green Foundation! Long live Chu Feng!"

"Long live the Anti Green Foundation! Long live Chu Feng!"

Chants followed.

Right then, multiple soldiers pushed through the crowd and began making a way. Mutai and the others looked over.

A man wearing royal robes walked toward them. An arm-sized black bird and a white bird rested on each shoulder.

The black bird had three long tails, with gold orbs at the end. The white bird seemed simple, with a single tail. It looked more like a parrot.

His steps were ordinary, but the crowd on both sides immediately knelt on one leg and bowed.

His Majesty, the King, Xia Shin, arrived for the funeral.

Mutai tightened his grip on the axe. Hua Fain kept his hand on Mutai's shoulder. Then Mutai looked at Hua Fain.

Hua Fain nodded.

King Xia Shin walked to the freshly made grave of soil. He bowed.

Then he turned to Hua Fain, Mutai, Hai Mazi, and Yan, and said, "I am sorry for your loss."

The black bird on his shoulder shrieked at them.

"Kajal, calm down."

King Xia Shin stroked the beard on its head.

"Sorry about that. It's just angry that you did not bow." He said, and then turned toward the large crowd and said, "Raise!"

The crowd began to stand one by one. Once the thousands of people stood up, King Xia Shin looked at them and said, "It's such a sad day. Today, we lost the gem of Noir."

"But the way the Saint Merchants declare that one of my generals is behind the incident without any evidence is unconvincing."

"But I don't conclude him innocent either. I will let the Anti Green Foundation search for the answer, as long as they don't harm the kingdom and citizens."

"But I believe the real culprit is Shin."

"They might have framed my general so we could fight internally."

"All the events strongly supports that."

"They attacked Sir Chu Feng's mansion when Sir Chu Feng was dealing with the destruction of the green liquid."

"Isn't that quite a coincidence?"

"And moreover, by attacking the gem of Noir, in Noir, they breached the truce. And tell me, what should we do?"

"The assassination might also have been carried out by Shin."

"Should we stay as cowards? Or should we fight back?"

Hearing the King's speech people began to have second thoughts, they absolutely can't let the enemy attack them or their family.

Then they began talking among themselves.

The King smiled and said, "My dear subjects, we will definitely crush them. Show them what happens if they mess with Noir. And I announce the War."

"The War will resume in one month." The King declared.

Then he looked at everyone and turned toward Mutai and Hua Fain. "Hope you understand. I am taking revenge for Sir Chu Feng."

"Hypocrite!" Hai Mazi, who was next to Mutai, shouted.

"Sir Chu Feng never wished for a war. In fact, he stopped the war by protesting against you. Now you are using his death for your agenda." Hai Mazi said as all eyes, who were shouting for war, turned to Hai Mazi.

The black bird opened its mouth. Air concentrated as a ball in its mouth.

"Kajal, calm down!" The King patted its head. The air ball dispersed.

"You are right. Sir Chu Feng never wished for a war."

"But yesterday they attacked Chu Feng. Today they might as well attack everyone's family here."

"Do you want everyone here to wait and see when they will attack? Or take the initiative to attack before they do it again?"

He paused.

"I..." Hai Mazi could not come up with any sentence.

"You will not..."

"Now, I will not either. Neither will Noir. The war will resume whether you agree or disagree. Protection is more important than waiting to be butchered."

"Also, I announce the execution of the City Lord of Trade Miller City for secretly collaborating with Shin."

"Our war will start with his execution."

"He will be executed at the place tomorrow."

The King said, then turned toward the birds. "You guys go and play. I am going back."

The birds nodded as they leapt into the sky and moved toward the giant black palace with the floating leaf above it.

Then the King slowly walked out of the graveyard and disappeared from view.

The audience could not believe what just happened. They came to attend the funeral, instead they joined an alliance and came to know of the upcoming war.

Hua Fain then turned toward them and said, "We will meet tomorrow. Whoever wants to join the foundation, please reach out to the Saint Merchants House in Ebonreach."

Then people slowly began to disperse.

After about an hour, Hua Fain looked at Yan and said, "Brother Shui, don't we have something to discuss?"