Chapter Thirty-Nine: Generals of the Three Kingdoms

He managed to catch the last bus just in time, and when Su Tong arrived home, it was already half past nine in the evening.

Xiaoxiao had already gone to bed. Only Xiaoyu was still awake, keeping watch over the house as she worked on her summer homework while waiting for her brother to return.

Children in the countryside take on responsibilities early. In the morning, Su Tong would cook porridge and prepare breakfast. For breakfast and lunch, the two sisters ate porridge with some fermented soybeans and pickled vegetables. Dinner was prepared by Xiaoyu and Xiaoxiao themselves.

“Wash your face and go to bed,” Su Tong said as he helped Xiaoyu tidy up her textbooks and homework, urging her to sleep, while he also got ready to bathe and rest.

After his bath, lying on his bed, Su Tong felt an indescribable sense of happiness.

Nothing in life compares to the comfort of taking a hot bath after a long, exhausting day and then lying down cozily in bed.

“Host.” Just as Su Tong was about to drift off, the little demon appeared, its expression grave and solemn.

No one but Su Tong could see the little demon. Seeing its serious demeanor, a sense of unease welled up within him. Was that foreboding feeling finally upon him?

“Host, you must have noticed it today,” the little demon said heavily. “There are many people in this world with extraordinary strength. That bodyguard of Yang Feifei’s you encountered, for instance—he could easily handle you with one hand.”

Su Tong nodded, recalling the bodyguard with a stifled sense of frustration. If not for the sudden appearance of that middle-aged man, today would have ended very badly.

“Your task has come again,” the little demon continued.

“What task?” Su Tong asked nervously.

“One hundred thousand units of faith,” the little demon replied with a blank expression.

Su Tong hesitated. He already had far more than a hundred thousand units of faith at this point. Was the system giving out benefits for free again, like last time?

But judging from the little demon’s grave demeanor, Su Tong suspected there was more to it than he was being told.

Sure enough, the little demon went on, “Today, the system has activated a side quest—a mandatory one.”

Su Tong was startled. “What kind of side quest?”

“Remember the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms?” the little demon asked. “The hint from the system is related to the Three Kingdoms. As expected, the system never uses misdirection or tricks.”

All drowsiness instantly vanished from Su Tong’s mind.

The little demon’s voice grew grave: “This is a do-or-die mission. If you fail… you might be erased…”

Su Tong’s face went pale. Erased upon failure. Though the little demon said ‘might,’ even if he wasn’t erased, the consequences would surely be dire—losing the system? Losing his memories?

“Why did this system choose me? I could live just fine without it,” Su Tong said with a bitter smile. He was genuinely reluctant to leave the life he had now.

Xiaoyu’s obedience, Xiaoxiao’s innocence and cuteness—he couldn’t bear to let any of it go.

If he really failed and was erased, he would die with lingering regrets.

His foster parents from his previous life would manage without him.

But Xiaoyu and Xiaoxiao—without him, who knew how miserable their lives would become?

“The system is very strict in selecting its true host, but it also gives the host a chance. It’s up to you whether you can grasp it,” the little demon said, clearly frustrated as well. If the host got erased, it would share the same fate.

“When do I have to start the side quest?” Su Tong faced reality; complaining was pointless.

The little demon waved a hand. “Tonight, but don’t rush. There’s something else I haven’t told you—the system’s points shop has unlocked some new items. Let’s take a look first.”

Su Tong immediately closed his eyes, letting his consciousness enter the system’s interface.

“Voice-Changing Fruit (Ten Tones), Voice-Changing Fruit (Hundred Tones), X-Ray Fruit, Lucky Fruit, Strength Fruit, Intelligence Fruit, Endurance Fruit, Agility Fruit…”

Looking at the new items, Su Tong felt no joy at all.

The Voice-Changing Fruit (Ten Tones) cost fifty thousand points and granted ten new vocal timbres upon consumption.

The Voice-Changing Fruit (Hundred Tones) cost five hundred thousand points and granted a hundred new voices.

The X-Ray Fruit cost one hundred thousand points and allowed one minute of vision through solid obstacles.

The Lucky Fruit cost two hundred thousand points and would reduce the difficulty of the upcoming mission to some extent.

The Strength Fruit cost one hundred thousand points and increased strength by one percent.

…

They were all too expensive. Su Tong had the little demon submit the main quest just released by the system, and was instantly rewarded with a one hundred thousand point voucher and a one percent boost to all attributes.

“The Three Kingdoms mission is unknown, so buy the Lucky Fruit,” the little demon advised. “A single all-attribute fruit costs one hundred thousand points, and taking just one would barely make a difference for you. The other items, like the voice-changing ones, are of dubious use. Taking them for the mission might not be nearly as effective as a single all-attribute fruit.”

“Then that’s it,” Su Tong said through gritted teeth. Since he had no idea what the mission entailed, the Lucky Fruit was the safest choice.

The system only hinted that completing the mission would greatly enhance his combat power.

Su Tong redeemed the Lucky Fruit; the one hundred thousand point voucher and the hundreds of thousands of points he had saved were instantly reduced by two hundred thousand.

So the system wasn’t giving out freebies after all—Su Tong’s face was grim.

“Should we start the task now?” the little demon asked.

“In a moment.” Su Tong sat up, got out of bed, put on his shoes, and quietly opened the door to Xiaoyu and Xiaoxiao’s room.

The two sisters were sleeping soundly, completely unaware that Su Tong stood at their bedside.

Bathed in starlight streaming through the window, Su Tong gazed at them in silence for a long time. Then he bent over and kissed each sister on the forehead, quietly leaving the room.

“Hah, I’ve already died once—what’s there to fear? Little demon, let’s begin,” Su Tong said, lying back down and swallowing the Lucky Fruit.

“For the sake of your two sisters, you must succeed in this mission,” the little demon encouraged him.

Su Tong said nothing more, for the side quest had already begun. It seemed he was to return to the Three Kingdoms to complete the mission.

In the darkness,

Su Tong’s soul turned into a paper figure, drifting forward through the void. He had no idea where the journey would end.

Ding—

A clear alert sounded, startling Su Tong.

“Reincarnation mission initiated. The reborn challenger is about to arrive. Host, prepare to defend yourself.” The cold, emotionless voice of a goddess echoed all around.

“Oh, hell no,” Su Tong shouted. “What kind of damned quest is this? Someone’s coming to seize my body?”

Regardless of what Su Tong thought, as soon as the system’s voice faded, a beam of light enveloped him.

Beneath his feet was a road of white bones—skeleton after skeleton—but these were only patterns, carved into the ground, not actual corpses.

Who would try to seize his body? Su Tong felt a rare, acute sense of nervousness.

Suddenly,

“This is the road to the underworld, yet why do I see no Bridge of Helplessness, only a moon reflected in the water?” a deep voice intoned. Then, into the shaft of light stepped a man eight feet tall, with a face like a ripe date and eyes shining like stars.

Su Tong nearly collapsed in fright. The man wore armor, exuding a commanding presence and overwhelming resentment, as if harboring countless grievances.

Judging by his appearance, wasn’t this one of the famed generals of the Three Kingdoms?

Having merged with the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms and returned to that era, Su Tong recognized him at once.

Later generations’ judgments on this general were largely negative. Almost all had forgotten his merits, recalling only his faults.

For the world believed he betrayed Zhuge Liang and the state of Shu.

He was Wei Yan.

The historical records described Wei Yan just as Su Tong, having returned to the Three Kingdoms, saw him now.

“W-Wei Wenlong…” Su Tong pressed back against the dark wall, face pale. Damn this system—this was one of the Three Kingdoms’ fiercest warriors! Compared to Liu Bei’s Five Tiger Generals or Cao Cao’s Five Elite Sons, he was only a half-step below.

But even so, he was far beyond anything Su Tong could handle. How could he possibly defend his position?

Despair clouded Su Tong’s vision.

“You know me?” Wei Yan fixed him with star-bright eyes, surprised.

Suddenly, Wei Yan paused, as if receiving some prompt from the system, and then burst out laughing: “Yang Yi, you petty villain, you framed me for treason. I lived my life as vanguard, never failing the Prime Minister’s trust, leading the troops against the enemy—yet you ordered me to cover the retreat. Who am I, Wei Yan, to become your subordinate? Now that I live again, I shall cut you down and break from Hanzhong.”

Su Tong was stunned. Even in death, Wei Yan was still obsessed with his feud with Yang Yi.

It made sense; in all the history Su Tong knew, Yang Yi was the one Wei Yan could never accept.

As a general, Wei Yan wasn’t without great achievements—he was battle-tested and undefeated in single combat, proud and aloof, yet ultimately controlled by cunning civil officials like Yang Yi, which filled him with resentment.

After Zhuge Liang’s death at Wuzhang Plains, Wei Yan refused to submit, partly for the sake of the Prime Minister’s legacy, and partly because he couldn’t bear to become Yang Yi’s subordinate.

These two reasons combined to make him a villain for the ages, condemned as a traitor to Shu.

Zhuge Liang, after all, was only human; he made mistakes, though history later deified him. The contingencies he left behind were in fact the source of Wei Yan’s “rebellion.”

Knowing that Wei Yan couldn’t be trusted, Zhuge Liang still arranged matters as he did—how could Wei Yan not rebel?

“You have already rebelled. In the eyes of posterity, you are a villain of the highest order, universally despised, your name forever tainted,” Su Tong said, leaning against the black wall, forcing himself to meet Wei Yan’s gaze.