Chen Gong
It was a scene straight out of hell — a nightmare beyond anything human. Cao Cao turned around, pressed a hand to his forehead, and looked distinctly put out.
"There was a bit of a problem before you got here."
"A problem? Did someone attack?"
"Nothing like that. But I really had no choice. That Lü Boshe betrayed me — had his servants sharpening their blades, of all things."
"No way… You two were genuinely close. So you killed them all?"
"I had to protect myself. What else could I do?"
Opinions on the so-called Lü Boshe Incident tend to split hard down the middle. The Book of Wei testifies that Cao Cao acted in legitimate self-defense, while the Shiyu and the Zaji claim he slaughtered an innocent family over a misunderstanding.
"Those bastards actually tried to kill you? Are they insane?"
Thud!
Xiahou Yuan flew into a rage and kicked Lü Boshe's corpse. And yet — why was it?
Why don't I trust a single word Cao Cao is saying?
"Kyaaah!"
"…?"
A woman's scream rang out from somewhere. Everyone in the courtyard turned as one toward the source of the voice.
"There was still someone alive, Mengde."
It was Cao Chun, who had been searching the house in place of her sisters. She dragged a woman before Cao Cao — half-stripped, tears streaming through a tangle of disheveled hair.
"Lü Boshe's wife, I see. How awkward. Your husband just had to try and kill me, so I really had no choice."
Cao Cao laid out his justification without so much as a flicker of expression. Even so, the way his eyes stayed locked on the woman's half-bared chest made it clear this friend of mine was utterly incorrigible.
"H-honey! The children! Hic…"
The woman was half out of her mind, wailing over the corpses of her family strewn across the courtyard. Xiahou Dun spoke up.
"What do we do? If we leave her, she'll report us to the authorities for sure, and then we'll have pursuers on our trail."
"We'll have pursuers whether she snitches or not. By now Dong Zhuo must be frothing at the mouth to get his hands on me."
Cao Cao was right. Regardless of whether this woman lived or died, a pursuit force would reach Chenggao by tomorrow morning. And the thought of more blood on my hands made the world go dark in front of my eyes.
"So what are you going to do, Mengde?"
"Hmm… No help for it. We'll take her with us for now."
"T-take her? You mean as a hostage?"
"Something like that. Self-defense or not, we did kill her family. We'll keep her until things settle down, then figure it out from there. Decision made!"
"…"
Everyone tilted their heads at Cao Cao's breezy — no, downright cheerful — resolution. For one thing, they didn't particularly need a hostage. For another, dragging along someone who would only be dead weight would make shaking the pursuit that much harder, wouldn't it?
"P-please spare me! I won't say a word! Please… at least let me bury my family, hic…"
"I'm sorry. But we have our own circumstances. So for now, you're coming with me."
As he spoke, Cao Cao casually reached a hand toward the woman. She recoiled as if he'd been covered in filth.
"W-why are you doing this to me?"
"What's with the shock? Your husband tried to kill me. Frankly, letting you live at all is an act of almost unbelievable mercy. So come along."
"Kyaaaah!"
Whether she refused or not, Cao Cao roughly seized her hand and hauled her forward. To have her family butchered and then be dragged off by the very man responsible — what a wretched life.
Was that why? Before I knew it, instinct had opened my mouth and something completely off-script came tumbling out.
"Did he really try to kill you?"
"…?"
Every gaze swung toward me. Cao Cao's brow twitched with a flash of irritation. Xiahou Yuan jabbed me in the ribs as if to say, what kind of lunatic are you?
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm asking whether Lü Boshe really tried to kill Cao Cao."
"So you're saying Mengde is lying?"
"Not lying, maybe — but he could have misunderstood. Say, for instance, they were slaughtering a pig to prepare a feast for him, he heard the sound of knives being sharpened, killed everyone in a panic, and only realized the truth afterward?"
"…?"
Xiahou Yuan looked from Cao Cao to her sisters, half-afraid it might be true. What was more surprising still was that not one of them stepped forward to deny it.
"M-Mengde? Is Do Yeop right? If you really killed them for a reason like that…"
"Of course not. This bastard's always good for a weird theory, isn't he? Honestly, I'm liking the idea of bringing him along less and less."
Cao Cao made no effort to hide his displeasure. But you are lying right now, aren't you?
"Looking at it now, that wasn't even the reason you killed them. You were after this woman from the start, weren't you?"
"What? What exactly are you implying?"
"Exactly what I said. By the time Miaocai and I got back, you already knew about the assassination attempt on Dong Zhuo. Some spy you'd planted inside the palace must have tipped you off in advance. And yet after slaughtering Lü Boshe's entire family, you stuck around to check for possible survivors? No — you were fretting because you hadn't found what you came for, weren't you?"
Once Xiahou Yuan had been captured after a failed assassination, the odds of her coming back alive weren't merely slim — they were zero. No one could have predicted a variable like me. Under normal circumstances, Cao Cao should have fled without looking back.
"…"
Cao Cao kept his mouth shut and said nothing. Because in his entire life, he had never once met someone who could dance circles over his head like this.
"I-is it true, Mengde? You wanted that woman, so…"
"Is there a problem?"
"Is there a problem? Lü Boshe was your friend! I know you like married women, but for something that petty…"
"You think that was the only reason? The assassination of Dong Zhuo failed, so a pursuit force is definitely coming. I trusted Lü Boshe, but I couldn't count on him keeping his mouth shut with a merciless blade at his throat. He had to die either way — so if I could at least spare the wife, isn't that better?"
"…"
Xiahou Yuan's jaw hung open and stayed that way. Even coming from Cao Cao, this was more than she could swallow.
"Y-you killed my husband and children for a reason like that? Ugh… uuugh…"
Once the full truth came out, Lü Boshe's wife began to sob harder than before. And who could blame her? To learn that all of this had happened because of her exceptional beauty — how could she not feel the injustice of it?
"Looks like you and I just don't mix. I was going to repay you for saving Miaocai's life, but that seems a bit much now."
The moment the words left Cao Cao's mouth — shing! — the sisters raised their weapons and leveled them at me once more. Planning to silence me for good, were they?
"Mengde! You're not seriously going to kill him? Without this guy I never would have made it back alive!"
"A minute ago you said he was only a tiny bit of help. Sounds expendable to me."
"But…"
"But what? Don't tell me this guy matters more than your own brother's orders? Fine. Miaocai — you cut him down yourself."
Whoosh!
Cao Cao unhooked the sword at his waist and held it out. Xiahou Yuan stood frozen, unsure whether to take it or not.
"What are you waiting for, Miaocai? Mengde said to kill him!"
"B-but…"
An order from the brother she revered like a god. And a benefactor she barely knew, who had nonetheless saved her life. The fact that she was hesitating at all was almost touching.
"Let the woman go."
But I had no intention of dying here — and no intention of letting Cao Cao take that woman either. Perhaps it was because I answered so boldly in front of the terrifyingly capable Cao sisters. Cao Cao seemed to find a flicker of interest; the corner of his mouth curled up as he asked,
"What did you just say? So you're saying you'll take her?"
"Better me than you, isn't it? Forcing her to give herself to the man who murdered her family is a bit much, don't you think?"
"Ha! I like the sheer nerve of you, at least. But what exactly do you think you can do here? Confident you can brush past all my sisters with one sword and walk out with her?"
Cao Cao sneered at me. But did he really think I couldn't?
I just couldn't use lethal force. Show them an illusion the way I had earlier, then calmly take the woman's hand and stroll out — that would be enough. Of course, that wouldn't solve every problem.
Because the duration on Zuo Ci-style Earth Magic was nearly up. We were already marked as co-conspirators in Dong Zhuo's assassination, so a pursuit force would be coming. Alone, I might manage — but I couldn't guarantee her life as well.
No — they might catch us before that. Without Run Away, she would never escape.
"Please… I beg you. Take me with you… please… please…"
The woman prostrated herself before a complete stranger, pleading. Cao Cao barked at her in a sharp, furious voice.
"Shut up, Chen Gong! This isn't your place to speak!"
"…?"
The name that came out of Cao Cao's mouth was so absurd I nearly lost it. Who did you just call her?
That Cao Cao meets Chen Gong after killing Lü Boshe is a famous piece of apocrypha. I never imagined the developers would implement the lore quite like this.
I couldn't help but hesitate. Take Chen Gong with me and risk capture — or prioritize my own life once again?
"I'm truly sorry. I don't have the ability to save you too."
"Th-that's…"
The woman trailed off, devastated. I wanted nothing more than to walk out of here with her — but no matter what path she took, she was headed for ruin either way.
"So just go with Cao Cao. Once you do, you'll figure out what you need to do."
"…?"
So for now, I would swallow my tears and let Chen Gong go. And leave her free to take revenge on her family's killer with her own two hands.
"Ha! What are you two doing? I never said I was letting either of you leave. Getting a little too comfortable in front of Cao Mengde, aren't you?"
Cao Cao let out a hollow laugh, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Then he flicked a glance at Xiahou Yuan and the sisters — a silent order to kill me.
What happened after that, I don't know. Whether Xiahou Yuan truly took my head on Cao Cao's command, and whether she felt even a single shred of regret — not even the power of a sage could tell me that.
Whoosh!
I dissolved into smoke. I slipped out of Lü Boshe's house without a sound, swung into the saddle, and drove hard for the north.
In the end, I never entered Cao Cao's service. Watching Chen Gong submit to the man who murdered her husband as if nothing had happened — I still had too much of a modern man's conscience left for that.
So I let it go. Cao Cao was simply not a man I could contain.
More than that — I had no desire to watch the same scene play out over and over and become the same kind of person.
Shi Le had been right. Cao Cao was without question the surest answer for clearing this game. Even so, I had no wish to ride the chaos of the age by deceiving women and children along the way.