Sheng Fei grinned. His mate was really smart. "And have you thought of what to say to the Emperor yet? Because I always fulfill my promises."
Hua Ren’s brow twitched. Promise? That was a threat! His glands itched just thinking about it. Tch, the Rebel was so annoying. Must he always bring up the topic of the Emperor?
Instead of answering Sheng Fei’s question, he switched the topic. "You have an escape plan."
"Naturally." Sheng Fei replied, smiling as he let go of Hua Ren’s hand and leaned back in his seat. "Are you going to help us?"
"You know I will." Hua Ren responded immediately. He wouldn’t even be able to sleep well if he didn’t. "Although I shouldn’t fight alongside you rebels, tonight will be an exception since you’re fighting for a just cause."
"We’re always fighting for a just cause." Sheng Fei asserted.
Hua Ren glanced at Sheng Fei skeptically but reserved his comment on that. He had witnessed many innocent people die because of the rebels but he didn’t feel the need to point that out at the moment. There will be more opportunities to make Sheng Fei see the error of his ways.
"I can take the guards." He said as he took out his dagger. "You and your people should be able to get the boys and all the other kidnapped people out."
"They will." Sheng Fei agreed. "But I’ll join you. Each of the guards should be almost as strong as me. You can’t take them all on your own."
Hua Ren scoffed. "I can take down dozens of you without breaking a sweat. I’ll be fine."
"Oh really?" Sheng Fei chuckled, his voice low and teasing as he leaned towards Hua Ren’s seat. "Then why didn’t you take me down that night? In fact, I think you ended up in my arms."
Hua Ren flushed at the memory. "You cheated!" He protested. "When we succeed and everyone is safe, I want a rematch and you must not use your pheromones!"
Sheng Fei’s smile widened, eyes glinting with amusement. He leaned in just enough to make Hua Ren’s pulse race. His fingers snaking their way behind the veil and lightly brushing the smooth skin of Hua Ren’s cheek. "Challenge accepted, General."
Hua Ren quickly smacked his hand away, shooting the rebel leader a glare then made a move to get up.
Alarmed, Sheng Fei quickly pushed him down again. This mate of his was going to give him a heart attack. "Where are you going?!" He whisper-yelled.
"What? Aren’t we starting now?" Hua Ren asked, oblivious to Sheng Fei’s turmoil.
"No!" Sheng Fei replied firmly, gazing down at the new set of female omegas being escorted onto the podium. "We’re not starting. We wait for now."
"Wait?" Hua Ren questioned, incredulous. "How can we just wait? We’re wasting precious time."
Sheng Fei sighed helplessly. "General, have you ever handled any rescue missions before?"
Hua Ren gritted his teeth, turning away with annoyance. "My expertise has always been on the battlefield."
"Then you should keep quiet and leave this to the professionals, or you’ll risk the lives of innocent people."
Hua Ren stared at him, stunned. "I’ll be risking their lives? Do you realise who you’re talking to? I’m the one who saved an entire village from you pesky-"
Sheng Fei quickly covered his mouth. "Your voice is getting too loud, General." He warned, his voice low. "You’re attracting unnecessary attention."
Hua Ren glanced around, noticing a few curious eyes on them then gave Sheng Fei a pointed look. "You can let go now."
Sheng Fei retracted his hand. "And for your information General," he said. "That village you think you saved? It’s suffering now, under your beloved Emperor’s rule. Many of the omegas on that stage right now are from that very village."
Hua Ren’s heart sunk to his stomach. He gazed at Sheng Fei with eyes full of disbelief. It couldn’t be true. Didn’t the auctioneer say that they were gotten from unique places? The village he saved wasn’t a unique place.
Sheng Fei sighed, feeling a bit bad for the Ivory Warlord. Then again, it was his fault for blindly trusting the Emperor. "You can asked them where they’re from when we rescue them. For now, we wait. The mission will commence once the auction is over."
Hua Ren nodded absentmindedly, his eyes flicking over to that dark spot in the secluded area.
He had every intention to find out whether the person there was truly the Emperor or not and if it were.... he took a deep breath.
A lot of things would change.
There was no way he would serve or marry a ruler that supported selling people.
The crowd around them buzzed with excitement, whispers and murmurs growing louder as greedy eyes focused on ’items’ after ’items’. Sheng Fei pretended to bid for a few Betas and Alphas, uickly giving up whenever someone bid higher than him.
At first, Hua Ren was furious that Sheng Fei was participating. It wasn’t until Sheng Fei explained that he had to do something so as not to look suspicious that Hua Ren calmed down. All the while, his hand never left the handle of his dagger. It was like his body was charged with electricity and he couldn’t wait to just jump out and unleash his fury on the guards of all the people gathered. To put an end to the barbarity.
Most especially, he couldn’t wait to get up there and confirm whether the Emperor was there or not.
Sheng Fei watched the General, amused. It was obvious that Hua Ren could not wait for the mission to start. He had never seen anyone so battle hungry. He for one, really didn’t want to get his hands dirty. He was the kind of person that didn’t like to fight unless it was absolutely necessary. He always planned his missions meticulously, with little to zero chances of them engaging in a fight. That was how he was able to free many towns and villages from the Emperor’s tyranny without drawing much attention to themselves.
He then smiled for he had a feeling that if it was his little wife was the one in his shoes, they would storm those towns and villages with swords drawn and arrows nocked, ready to kill any wrong doer.
"It’s over." He heard Hua Ren say, breaking his thoughts.
"Huh? What’s..." he turned around but Hua Ren’s seat was empty.
In that exact moment, everyone heard a loud scream.
Sheng Fei facepalmed.