Ma Xiaoru was affected by the touching scene as well. "Grandmaster rea.s.sured that w.a.n.g Tong will lead us to victory."
"Haha, of course! He is going to be the new grand master of the Templars. All eyes are on you now, kiddo!" w.a.n.g Buting had never admitted defeated even once in his life. But after six years of struggle against Patroclus, he was tired, and hopelessness had started to creep in. Overall, the situation on Earth was much better than what those who didn"t live there would think, all thanks to the Templar and the Confederation"s perseverance.
"Grandmaster, w.a.n.g Tong has already come up with a solution, and we are currently working on it. " Ma Xiaoru went on to explain their plan of capturing the queen. Old Fart nodded from time to time, and after she had finished, his face was lit up with glee. "Excellent plan! But, how confident are you in defeating Patroclus?"
"Hehe, I don"t remember you ever taught me how to fail, so I won"t." w.a.n.g Tong said airily. w.a.n.g Buting locked his eyes onto his face and saw through his nonchalant mask right away. w.a.n.g Tong"s resolution was unswerving. With his current level of power, it was not impossible to get rid of Patroclus by paying the ultimate sacrifice.
"Kiddo, I know a person who might be able to help us. But I am not sure how long it will take us to find him."
"Who is that?"
"You know him too." Old Fart said knowingly.
"Sisi?" w.a.n.g Tong gasped.
"That"s right. Over the years, she had been helping the Templars secretly, and without her, I might have already been dead." w.a.n.g Buting heaved a sigh.
"How come? I had tried to contact her, but... I thought she was dead." Ma Xiaoru was surprised by the revelation.
"A strong soul, that one. I knew she was to play a big role in human history the moment she was chosen to enter Valhalla, although I admit that I have no clue what exactly that entails, and neither does she. Therefore, I have left her with an encrypted communication device, and we have stayed in touch ever since. I have not told anyone about his for obvious reasons."
"No wonder that we could always get the alert of Immortals" attack just in time. I thought that the information was provided by the underground agents." Ma Xiaoru exclaimed as realization dawned upon her. Although she and Zhang Jin had their suspicions on the source of the precise intel they had been getting, neither of them delved into it.
"She is the only person who has access to Patroclus, and therefore, only she will know where the Queen is. Even a general direction would be of great help."
"Is she in danger?" w.a.n.g Tong asked concernedly. "We need to get her out of there."
"You think I didn"t try? I have asked her many times, but somehow, she refused to be rescued. Maybe she wanted to stay close to Patroclus to protect us. She had saved so many lives. Without her, I wouldn"t even be here talking to you. The only way to get her back is to kill the queen and end the war" w.a.n.g b.u.t.ting said. He was grateful for Zhou Sisi"s secret protection over the years.
"That"s fine, Old Fart. I have been to the moon, and I couldn"t find Zhou Sisi. But, if you know her whereabouts, I can figure it out myself." w.a.n.g Tong said firmly and then looked at Ma Xiaoru beside him. She appreciated the sacrifice that Zhou Sisi had made for her man, and therefore, despite her obvious crush on w.a.n.g Tong, she didn"t protest his plan of rescuing her personally.
"I agree with w.a.n.g Tong. If Patroclus isn"t aware of Zhou Sisi"s communication device, he is not likely to expect w.a.n.g Tong to show up either. We suspect that the queen is on the Ark, and we will locate her sooner or later. It is about time for Zhou Sisi to come home."
"You guys are too young and too simple, sometimes even naive!"
"Shut up, Old Fart! Tell me where she is, and I will bring her back."
w.a.n.g Tong had always been mindful not to owe anyone anything. Zhou Sisi was the only person he genuinely felt indebted to. Not only had she sacrificed her own chance of escaping to save w.a.n.g Tong during the tragedy on the Ark, but she had also endured the slandering and smear attacks in order to protect the safety of the Templars. She was a true heroine.
"Don"t be so hasty! Let"s think this through!"
"I believe in w.a.n.g Tong, and I hope you do too." Ma Xiaoru put in.
"You two are..." Old Fart sighted heavily and then said, "How about both of you take a good rest tonight, and we will talk tomorrow. If you still insist on going, I will make the arrangements for you. But, I am not sure if she will come with you or not even if you can get to her." Years of experience told w.a.n.g Buting that w.a.n.g Tong"s action was too brash.
When the rest of the Templars saw w.a.n.g Tong, their hearts were filled with excitement and trepidation. Not only did he look different than he did six years ago, he also had become a legend and the beacon of hope among the Templars.
The Templars didn"t leave w.a.n.g Tong"s residence until late that night as they exchanged tales of the battlefield with the young master. The Templars had proven their abilities during the test of war. It wasn"t until the war broke out that the world finally saw the full strength of the court. Millions of secret followers revealed their ident.i.ty as inner court Templars and picked up their weapons to fight. Of the hundreds of thousands of inner court Templars, half of them were METAL warriors and the other half weren"t, as they were comprised of elites from other professions. Their offspring would inherit their t.i.tle as the inner court disciples as they did from the generation before them.
The Templar"s court had kept most of their inner court disciples undercover during the peaceful times, and only enlisted their services during a crisis.
There were only a handful of Templars on the Moon and Mars, but all of them were elites in their own rights. Yin Tianzong was a good example of those Templars who operated covertly. Even now, there were secret agents working against Patroclus right under his nose on the Moon. Even House Zhang that was well known for their espionage capabilities could not match the Templar"s large covert network. All of House Zhang"s agents were picked off one after another by Immortals due to Patroclus"s familiarity with House Zhang.
w.a.n.g Tong tucked Ma Xiaoru"s shoulder under his arm. Without the war, this could be their life forever. The thought of a happy and peaceful life as one family spurred him to continue fighting.
"w.a.n.g Tong, you need to get her out of there. She must be suffering." Ma Xiaoru murmured.
w.a.n.g Tong was touched by Ma Xiaoru"s understanding. To save Zhou Sisi meant that she would have to leave Ma Xiaoru again. Although Ma Xiaoru had the protection of her guards, leaving her worried w.a.n.g Tong. However, compared to her, Zhou Sisi"s situation was much worse, and w.a.n.g Tong still cared about Zhou Sisi a great deal.
"Xiaoru, I…"
"You don"t have to explain. I know you care about her and I can"t mind…But only her, no one else, however pretty they are." Ma Xiaoru half-joked and half warned w.a.n.g Tong.
"Who are you talking about? You are the prettiest!"
"Really? Prettier than Princess Heidi?"
"Of course!" w.a.n.g Tong squeezed Ma Xiaoru"s b.u.t.t and said.
"Well, you better save your energy for me then." Ma Xiaoru pressed her firm b.u.t.t deeper into w.a.n.g Tong"s palm and winked at w.a.n.g Tong.
The next morning, w.a.n.g Tong left the earth for the moon to save Zhou Sisi.
While w.a.n.g Tong was gone, the human fleet didn"t rush to the Moon as the Immortals had expected; instead, they had secured Mars" s.p.a.ce and cut off the Immortals" communication with the remaining Zergs outside of the Earth-Moon system.
Mars was situated at a strategic location since it was the gateway between the solar system and colonies that were in other galaxies.