Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

"What is going on?" each soldier screamed as they tried to hide from the invisible enemy. The Great Jade Kingdom's previously
impeccable formation quickly spiraled into chaos as the surviving soldiers in the frontlines kept retreating in fear of being blown
up by the unpredictable explosions. Within minutes, their forces had already lost a lot of men.
Shawn only stared coldly as he continued to attack and decimate the number of the invading forces. He felt like a devil, but in the
grander scheme of things, he knew he was only doing the right thing.
The deputy general was petrified. Slowly, he turned his wide eyes from the massacre that was happening below due to the box
that was by Shawn's side. He never thought such things held that much power! Shawn had only launched a dozen of the mud
balls at the Great Jade Kingdom's army, but he had already halved the number of their soldiers. His men were also wide-eyed at
what was happening.
Toby was on the ground trying to make sense of things when a blast went off and he was swept away by its accompanying air
wave. Immediately, his ears felt like they were shot, with buzzing, the only thing he could hear. He touched his head to check for
injuries, and indeed, he was already bleeding.
"What happened?" Toby roared.
"General, people from the Bright Dynasty are attacking us!" The soldiers who were close to Toby dragged him back hurriedly,
worried about his safety. Toby felt his blood churning. In the dark night, he raised his head to look at the upper floor of the city
gate tower, where Shawn was standing.
"Shawn Shen, you bastard! What are you doing? What are you attacking us with?" Toby was anything but a damned fool. He
knew that Shawn had something to do with these nightmarish attacks. What he didn't understand, however, was what he was
using. As far as he knew, no weapon had been made that could kill so many people at once!
The cold look Shawn donned on his face made him look like a devil. With his internal force he was able to amplify his voice
across the land as he said: "Toby, the people of the Bright Dynasty are not afraid of you and your puny army. The Great Jade
Kingdom has destroyed the alliance between the two kingdoms, and now you have started this war. We will respond as needed,

as you have seen. This is a lesson for you—retreat now and live, or continue on and perish." Toby's eyes widened with surprise
and anger. As he heard Shawn admit causing the explosions that had killed his men, his body began to tremble. He wanted to
retaliate, but he knew that the wisest thing he could do at the moment was to retreat.
They had expected that their sudden attack would yield a different outcome, but they had to retreat and deal with the great and
unprecedented losses they incurred. More urgently, they needed to know what had caused the sudden explosions. "Did anyone
see clearly what happened at that time?" Toby inquired after being tended to in their camp. If Shawn really had powerful
weapons, it would be difficult for them to conquer the Dragon Pass. "General, the enemy seemed to have thrown explosive
stones to our men. I saw it with my own two eyes. The stones had sparks," someone shared, looking scared. "It's not a stone. It
was a mud ball that had been ignited. I saw when Shawn threw it," someone else interjected. "Could a mud ball do this much
harm?" Toby asked angrily. These people thought he was either foolish or easily cheated. If a mud ball could inflict so much
damage, he would have made a lot of mud balls beforehand and killed Shawn!
The crowd looked at each other and didn't know how to answer. They really didn't know what happened in the darkness last
night. The explosions were so sudden that none of them really had time to process what was happening.
"How about we have another try in the daytime to see what kind of method Shawn used? I doubt he'll change tactics if it worked
extremely well the first time," someone suggested. Aside from the explosions, the darkness was their main enemy then.
Attacking during the daytime would help them see the secret weapon clearly.
Toby immediately liked the idea and felt excited. If Shawn really had a powerful, secret weapon, he must find a way to steal it
from him. Starting then, he not only wanted to conquer the Dragon Pass but also planned to have the world's most powerful
explosive! "We lost a lot of men when we attacked the Dragon Pass last night. The soldiers who survived are still shell shocked
and traumatized. We need to lay low for a bit; if we attack again, I'm afraid we'll suffer the same fate. Many of our soldiers have
been badly mutilated or just completely blown to pieces. It's a cruel scene I wish not to see again," a general said, almost tearing
up. There was no way he would send his men to that kind of environment again. "If we don't find out what that explosive was, we
will never succeed in conquering the Dragon Pass. If that happens, more

soldiers will die the same way as the ones who died last night! Do you want to be killed, without knowing what kills you?" Toby
said, sounding agitated.
"We don't want to, Your Highness!" the generals said in unison.
"Since none of you would want to suffer that fate, go and gather your soldiers and tell them to get ready to attack the Dragon
Pass again. This time, we'll know what Shawn is attacking us with and we'll be ready for it!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Outside the gate of the Dragon Pass, Shawn was commanding his subordinates as they cleaned the numerous carcasses
strewn about. A lot of people clearly remembered the horrible scene that happened last night, and many generals had already
come to ask him about the kind of weapon he used that caused such extreme damage. He, however, elected to say nothing and
just asked the soldiers to bury more mud balls on the battlefield.
"General, why are we burying these balls here?" one general asked.
"Toby is so self-absorbed and stubborn that he will not give up until he discovers what we used against them. They have suffered
a great loss last night, but I am sure that he is already leading his troops to attack the Dragon Pass again. These are gifts I
specially prepared for them. I hope that his luck will be better today," Shawn answered calmly.
The deputy general swallowed his saliva thinking about Toby being a victim of Shawn's mud balls. 'It would only take one for him
to turn into a muddy pool of blood and flesh!' he thought, wincing. But considering the fact that they had such powerful weapons,
the deputy was able to heave a sigh of relief, saying, "General, you can finally have a good rest tonight!"
"Rest is something we still cannot afford to do. Is there still no news from Prince Matthew?"
"None, general."
"Let's go back to work then."