Another thousand died in the next few days before the Capital calmed down a little.
I believe it was the Federation's heavy handedness and willingness to execute all of the spies, agents and traitors that delayed the war by so long.
That particular operation probably blinded our enemies for a good period of time, and allowed the Federation to finally openly act out against ALL of its suspects.
You think all of the thousand who died in the following days were involved in the Slaughter of Zhang Du District?
A generous estimate would probably put the number directly involved at around fifty people.
The other nine hundred fifty killed were mostly family members and suspects that the Federation had placed in its watchlist.
Sometimes, it is good to leave a spy that you've already identified alone. Better a spy you already know, than a new spy whom you do not know at all.
That way you can watch him and know what he's actually after.
But other times, it's good to have NO spies at all.
The Federation went on a tight critical information lockdown after it cleansed its government of spies and agents.
All of the planning and the grunt work of the tremendously impressive war we conducted later on were done during that time.
However, I wasn't part of it.
Not at all.
After two exciting days piggybacking on Jeanette's Void Walker for the cleaning operation, my life had turned very decidedly towards a more… academic direction.
School was about to begin for me!
"So how long do I have to stay in school?" I asked Emma nervously as she helped me pack my stuff.
Well, not pack "my" stuff. I had nothing to my name at that point in time.
She was helping me pack some of Jeremy's old clothes which still fit me and a bunch of other stuff which I would need to survive in the dorm.
"Three years of basic training. Two years of intermediate training. And if you're still alive by then, one final year of advanced training." Emma replied as she threw another jacket into the extremely large and extremely messy luggage that she had prepared for me.
She stared at the unholy mess she had made in satisfaction.
"I think we have everything you need. I'll go tell grandpa that you're ready for school." Emma announced.
"What? Wait! You're just gonna leave me like this with this mess you've made?" I asked incredulously.
"What do you mean mess? I've picked out all the items you'll need for school, and conveniently placed them into the luggage so you don't have to go all around the room and take them one by one!" Emma frowned. "AND I haven't received a single word of thanks from you!"
"What are you two arguing about so early in the morning?" James yawned widely as he padded into my room. "Dude, what's with the ungodly mess you're making with your luggage?
James frowned in disapproval as he looked at my luggage, then at me and shook his head.
"Exactly." Emma chipped in. "You should start packing your luggage properly. We're leaving right after breakfast, so you better be ready by then!"
My mood brightened considerably at the mention of breakfast.
"The cook said he'll make a unique dish featuring a creative use of bacon for breakfast this morning!" I said excitedly. "I can't wait for breakfast!"
James chuckled helplessly at me.
"You know, probably 99.99% of the world, if found in your situation, would focus more on the rewards that grandpa had promised to give to you this morning instead of on the bacon. You know that with the amount of money you have now, you can buy an entire pig farm and get them to produce an endless amount of bacon for you every day, right?" James said.
"What good is an entire pig farm if there's no bacon on my breakfast plate? And if there's bacon on my breakfast plate, who cares where it came from?" I spouted off some of the wisest words that I had ever said in my entire life.
"HAHAHA! Wise words! You're not my bacon rival for nothing!" James roared with laughter as Emma rolled her eyes at me.
"Your preoccupation with bacon will one day make you overweight and fat!" Emma prophesied. "And by that time, you won't be able to fit into mecha cockpits!"
"Absolutely not. Bacon is mostly protein with just a little bit of fat. Proteins are healthy, and a little bit of fat never hurts anybody! Plus, I don't really need to fit "into" mecha cockpits!" I retorted back at her smugly.
"Hear hear!" James agreed with me heartily while patting his already slightly protruding belly.
"Whatever. I'm going. You better finish packing fast and get to the breakfast table before James finishes all the special bacon the cook had promised you." Emma said before leaving my room.
"She seems pretty excited for school." I commented as I stared at the pile of clothes and other stuff in my luggage.
"School treats her much better than some of us here at home." James said with a little sigh.
The true sign of a brother is when he automatically helps you without even thinking.
James sat next to my messy luggage and began to absent-mindedly pack it up neatly.
I helped, of course. It was my luggage afterall.
"Why is that?" I asked curiously. "I asked her about it yesterday, she merely shrugged at me and changed the topic."
"Well, it's a big family secret…" James started.
"I know most of it. She got the inactivated experimental mecha core, right?" I asked to encourage him to talk.
"So you already know." James said in mild surprise.
"Just that. I don't know why exactly your family treats her so badly."
"I don't think I should tell you why. It's her story to tell." James sighed and said.
"It's alright, James. You can tell him." Emma said from the door.
We turned to the door and were surprised to see both Emma and the damned old man standing there.
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