That night, Yun Zhe returned to his room, slightly weary. He had just had another deep conversation with Morrison. This time, the talk was more relaxed, mainly focusing on military matters such as training and marching. However, Yun Zhe realized that although Morrison had accepted the fact that Yun Zhe, this Aruru, understood war better than him, and even had a favorable impression of Yun Zhe, it seemed there was still a long way to go before he could be won over to his side.
This is the problem that is troubling Yun Zhe: how can he get Morrison to stand on his side?
But just as Yun Zhe lay down on his uncomfortable bed, he heard a rapid knocking at the door. Yun Zhe had no choice but to open it, where stood Elke, looking anxious.
"What happened, Elke?" Yun Zhe asked knowingly.
"Sir... I'll be frank. Rumors are circulating among the prisoners of war that you're a vampire. I didn't take it seriously at first, but just now, for some reason, they started a mass riot and tried to escape. They said they'd rather die than become vampire food. I'm sending troops to suppress them, sir. Should we kill a few?"
Elke had expected Yun Zhe to be angry or smug upon hearing this. However, Yun Zhe's reaction was neither. Yun Zhe sighed with considerable regret.
"This effect is not bad, but I didn't expect them to be this afraid," Yun Zhe said in a low voice, his mind racing.
"What?" Elke was a little confused by Yun Zhe's train of thought.
“We must make good use of this fear and let them spread it throughout all of Kurman’s troops. That way, we can hold out a little longer,” Yun Zhe said, putting on his coat as he went out. Halfway there, he stopped.
Elke, standing behind him, was still somewhat confused. He couldn't understand why Yun Zhe was completely unresponsive to such a terrible reputation. Even more perplexing was the question: could such fear possibly be of any use?
"I won't go. You go and make arrangements. After you've subdued them all, create an opening during your night shift and let those who can escape get away..."
"My lord?" Elke interrupted Yun Zhe. He thought to himself, "My lord, are you worried your reputation isn't resounding enough? Spreading such rumors now is easy, but clearing them up later will be much harder."
"You don't need to worry about my reputation; it's nothing compared to the problems we're facing right now. The fear of being a vampire, this unproven nonsense, is the best kind of fear. Elke, let me ask you a question: if you were Marquis Kurman, and your soldiers came back crying and saying they'd been defeated by a vampire, what would you think?"
“I would think they’ve come up with a lame excuse and will completely kill that argument,” Elke replied fluently.
Yun Zhe nodded. “This is exactly what I need. The more something is kept secret, the more deeply it seeps into people’s hearts. The more you try to stop thinking about it, the more they will think about it. Once the seeds of fear and doubt are planted among the soldiers, they will take root and sprout. With each recounting and each prohibition, these things will seep into their hearts, causing them to react unconsciously.” Yun Zhe spoke eloquently, then looked at Elke, who looked somewhat skeptical.
“Elke, if you don’t believe me, let’s do an experiment.” Yun Zhe smiled slightly and continued, “From now on, I will not allow you to think about horses in your mind. Let’s begin.”
A hint of confusion appeared on Elke's face, but soon Elke realized that the more he tried to stop himself from thinking about the horse, the more he would think about it.
Elke suddenly realized that he finally understood Yun Zhe's thoughts. Whether Yun Zhe was really a vampire by then was no longer important; what mattered was that this fear had been deeply rooted in the hearts of the Kurman soldiers.
Yun Zhe suddenly gave a wry smile. "I'm actually worried that Kurman will believe it and use it to cause trouble. That would put us in a passive position. If it's proven that I'm not a vampire, then all of this would be meaningless."
Elke nodded repeatedly, unable to agree more.
"So, do you understand what you're going to do?" Yun Zhe had to ask again after discovering that Elke planned to release all the prisoners of war that night.
"The natural course is to release these prisoners of war, but we should do it in a natural way."
"The key point is that we can't release them all!" Yun Zhe said before walking down the stairs.
"Go and make the arrangements. I'll go and have a talk with Morrison."
But Elke didn't move. He stood there, his face flushed, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't get the words out.
Yun Zhe looked at him but did not expose Elke's thoughts. He was just worried that he valued Morrison too much and neglected Elke's existence.
In the end, Elke didn't say anything, but just went to make the arrangements with an awkward expression.
Yun Zhe didn't reveal his thoughts and went straight to Morrison's basement.
In the basement, Morrison peered through a low window at the standoff outside. The soldiers' shouts and resistance deeply moved him. Although he couldn't hear the shouts clearly, judging from the duration of the standoff and the current situation, Donic's soldiers weren't going to kill anyone. This reassured Morrison considerably.
The door creaked open, and Yun Zhe walked in.
Morrison's heart tightened. Yun Zhe's arrival at this time was definitely to interrogate him or to use him to control the rebellion. This was an excellent opportunity to sow discord between the generals and the soldiers.
However, Yun Zhe didn't say anything, but just walked to the low window and looked outside.
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