EBE Chapter 1000: There's No Way to Save It!
Chapter 1000: There's No Way to Save It!
Upon hearing Tuoba Feng's words, Emperor Dan felt even more alarmed than when he heard that Zhen Song was injured. He staggered back half a step, his wide dragon robe pulling down several memorials from the table. If his personal eunuch hadn't caught him, he would have almost fallen.
The candlelight flickered in the hall, illuminating the shock on his face. He took a deep breath, trying to suppress his fear. "Feng'er, what exactly does this enormous creature you spoke of look like? It can... can carry people into the sky? How can it carry so many people? People from the Northern Yue Kingdom and the Southern Frontier Kingdom were also taken away by them."
Tuoba Feng had never seen his father so terrified, so he quickly replied, "Father, that enormous thing...it's this big!" Tuoba Feng gestured. He continued, "It looks exactly like a featherless bird with outstretched wings, but it's hard as a rock, I don't know what it's made of!"
Tuoba Zeyang, standing nearby, hurriedly echoed in a fearful tone, "Your Majesty, this humble general saw it with his own eyes! That thing really does look like a large bird with its wings spread. It's very hard. Our archers shot arrows at it, and the arrows only made a clanging sound when they hit the iron shell, but there wasn't even a small hole!"
“Father, what’s even stranger is,” Tuoba Feng frowned, then quickly added, “I originally intended to let them out of that behemoth and tell them that a carriage had been prepared to take them away from the capital.”
But they refused to come out, and somehow they rose into the sky and flew away.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Your Majesty, that thing flew very fast; it disappeared in the blink of an eye,” Tuoba Zeyang chimed in.
At this moment, Tuoba Feng seemed to remember something. His eyes lit up and he quickly said, "Father, I can draw it for you to see."
"Quick! Quick! Draw it quickly so Father can see it." At this moment, Emperor Dan had long forgotten about Zhen Song's injuries and was eagerly urging Tuoba Feng to draw it.
He sat back down on the dragon throne beside the dragon desk and told Tuoba Feng to hurry up and draw.
Tuoba Feng dared not delay, quickly walked to the side of the dragon desk, took the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and knelt down beside the desk.
He began to draw carefully.
In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he finished drawing the airplane. He held the drawing paper and handed it to his father, saying, "Father, look, this is what that big thing looks like."
Danhuang grabbed the drawing paper and examined it from all angles. The drawing on the paper did indeed resemble a large bird without feathers, but the bird had no feet; instead, it had only a few small wheels underneath.
He tapped his fingers lightly on the drawing paper, his brow furrowed, and asked in confusion, "Feng'er, were they carried into the sky on the back of this big bird? Won't they fall down?"
"Your Majesty, they're not sitting on that thing's back! They're sitting inside this giant bird's belly," Tuoba Zeyang quickly added for Tuoba Feng.
"Inside the stomach? This stomach can hold people? How did they get inside?" The Emperor was even more puzzled.
Tuoba Feng quickly pointed to the small picture below his drawing and explained, "Father, look at the small picture I drew below. There's a staircase here."
Then he added, "They went up these stairs, and there's a door here. They went into the stomach through this door."
Tuoba Zeyang added, "Your Majesty, their staircase can actually be retracted, and the door can be tightly closed. The enormous structure behind it is exactly what the Second Prince drew."
Emperor Dan stared at the drawing on the paper, his expression growing increasingly solemn as he listened, and the air in the hall seemed to freeze.
He remained silent for a long time, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the dragon-patterned table as he made his judgment. "So, this thing is definitely not some divine bird or mythical beast, but a monster created by the Western Chu Kingdom."
“Father is absolutely right!” Tuoba Feng quickly replied, “Those behemoths can not only carry people, they also have amazing weapons!”
"All our archers were killed by them, and they can also throw small fire bombs from those things, exploding in clusters at once. We had no way to defend against them!"
Upon hearing this, Emperor Dan's face grew even more somber, and he remained silent for a long while, the hall utterly silent.
Just then, Crown Prince Tuoba Di stepped forward, his voice breaking the silence of the hall, "Father, in my opinion, the strange events that happened in the Eastern Palace today were most likely orchestrated by the Crown Prince of Western Chu and his ilk."
“Brother Crown Prince, this is impossible,” Tuoba Feng immediately retorted. “When this happened today, the Crown Prince of Western Chu and Prince Jing were also present. I saw with my own eyes that their faces were full of surprise, and that was definitely not an act! In my opinion, there must be a force behind this that is even more powerful than Western Chu!”
He paused, then said, "Father, the Western Chu Kingdom now possesses such powerful weapons. If we continue to fight against them, I fear our chances of victory are slim!"
Emperor Dan didn't reply. Thinking about the strange events of the day, and how he had unknowingly been poisoned with the muscle-weakening powder, he felt a sense of fear. But he was still very unwilling and coldly looked at Tuoba Di: "Di'er, what do you think?"
Tuoba Di held the airplane drawing on the paper, examining it repeatedly with disbelief on his face. He had never even heard of such a thing before, let alone seen it.
Seeing his father asking him, he composed himself, bowed, and said, "Father, we cannot be frightened by them and lose our composure!"
But this matter is indeed of utmost importance; we must be cautious and first ascertain whether it is truly as miraculous as my brother described.”
Tuoba Feng and Tuoba Zeyang exchanged a glance, secretly thinking: Tuoba Di is so calm because he has never seen the power of that divine weapon in person.
Upon hearing Tuoba Di's words, Emperor Dan nodded, his eyes flashing with a sharp and authoritative light. He said, "Di'er, immediately send men to investigate! You must find out the details of these weapons from the Western Chu Kingdom, and what exactly this behemoth is!"
"Yes, Your Majesty, I obey!" Tuoba Di bowed and accepted the order, then turned to leave.
Just then, a eunuch's urgent announcement came from outside the hall: "Your Majesty, two imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital request an audience!"
Emperor Dan suddenly remembered Zhen Song, who was seriously injured. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly said, "Summon them in!"
A moment later, two imperial physicians stumbled into the hall. As soon as they entered, they knelt down with a thud, their foreheads pressed tightly to the ground, their voices trembling: "Your humble servants... Your humble servants greet Your Majesty!"
Emperor Dan, seated on the dragon throne, stared intently at the two imperial physicians kneeling below and asked sternly, "How is General Zhen's injury?"
The two imperial physicians trembled even more violently. One of them, the older one, raised his head, his face covered in cold sweat, and his voice was broken and intermittent: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty! When I arrived at General Zhen's side, he... he had already passed away! We tried our best to save him, but in the end, it was all in vain!"