[Black Bone City. The Ancestral Hall.]
The stone floor of the Ancestral Hall was cold, but the air was hot with the smell of strange spices and the sweat of men hauling crates.
"Careful!" Lieutenant Zhao barked, his voice cracking with a mix of exhaustion and hysteria. "That is a divine artifact! If you drop it, I will have your head!"
Two skinny soldiers were trembling as they lifted a heavy crate of "Canned Beans." They treated the cardboard box as if it were made of fragile porcelain.
Jiang Li stood by the altar, watching the frantic activity.
The pile of treasure Lu Chen had sent was staggering.
Fifty "Crystal Vessels" of water.
Twenty crates of "Silver Bricks" (Compressed Biscuits).
Ten boxes of "Iron Canisters" (Beans/Meat).
And the bags of soft, white clouds (Marshmallows).
It wasn't enough to feed the entire army for a month, but it was enough to pull three thousand men back from the brink of death tonight.
"General," Zhao approached, holding a silver packet of compressed biscuits. His hands were shaking. "The squad leaders are assembled in the courtyard. They... they are afraid to eat."
Jiang Li frowned. "Afraid?"
"They say the packaging shines like silver armor," Zhao whispered. "They think it is food for the spirits, not for mortals. They fear if they eat it, they will be struck down."
Jiang Li took the packet from him. It was dense and heavy, vacuum-sealed in foil. To these men, who had only ever seen rough pottery and paper, this flawless, shiny material looked like magic.
"Follow me," she commanded.
She marched out into the courtyard.
Three hundred squad leaders—the backbone of her remaining forces—were kneeling in the dirt. They were gaunt, their eyes hollow skulls staring out from starved faces. They looked less like soldiers and more like a graveyard waiting to be filled.
When Jiang Li stepped out, they bowed their heads, but their eyes darted fearfully to the strange silver bricks in her hands.
"Soldiers of Xia!" Jiang Li's voice cut through the wind.
She held up the compressed biscuit.
"You think this is spirit food? You think you are unworthy?"
She tore the packet open with her teeth. RIIIP.
The sound was sharp and unnatural. The soldiers flinched.
Jiang Li pulled out the beige, hard block of compressed wheat and oil. She took a large bite. It was dry, crumbly, and incredibly dense. It tasted of wheat, sugar, and fat—flavors so concentrated they made her jaw ache.
She chewed and swallowed.
"It is food," she declared. "It is the flesh of the grain, compressed by the hands of the Gods into a brick of life. One brick will keep a man full for a day."
She walked to the nearest soldier—a boy of no more than sixteen, whose skin hung off his bones. She handed him the rest of the block.
"Eat."
The boy took it. He looked at it, then at Jiang Li. He took a tentative bite.
He chewed. He stopped. His eyes went wide.
"It... it is sweet," he whispered. "And... thick. It sits in my stomach like a stone, but... a warm stone."
He took another bite, frantic this time. Crumbs fell onto his dirty armor. He caught them with his hand and licked his palm clean.
"Water!" Jiang Li ordered.
Zhao stepped forward with one of the crystal bottles. He cracked the seal and poured a splash into the boy's cup.
The boy drank. The combination of the dry, calorie-dense biscuit and the sweet, pure water hit him instantly. Color flooded his pale cheeks.
"It's real!" the boy shouted, his voice breaking. "The General has brought us real food!"
The fear in the courtyard shattered.
"Distribute the rations!" Jiang Li commanded. "One Silver Brick and one cup of Divine Water for every two men! The Iron Canisters (beans) go to the wounded!"
Chaos erupted—but it was a disciplined chaos.
The soldiers tore into the packets.
"This wrapper... it is tougher than silk!" one veteran marveled, tucking the empty foil wrapper into his shirt. "I will keep it as a talisman. An arrow might bounce off this!"
"This brick is hard," another soldier grumbled, trying to gnaw on the corner of a biscuit. "It tastes like sawdust mixed with sugar."
Thwack.
Lieutenant Zhao slapped the back of the soldier's head.
"It is Sawdust from Heaven!" Zhao roared, tears streaming down his grimy face. "You ungrateful brat! That is the holiest sawdust you will ever taste! Eat it before I shove it down your throat!"
The soldier didn't argue. He dipped the biscuit into his water to soften it, took a bite, and then started to sob.
"It's full," the soldier wept, his mouth full of mush. "My stomach... it actually feels full."
Around the courtyard, the sound of chewing was replaced by the sound of weeping.
Three thousand men. Fathers, sons, husbands. They had prepared to die at sunrise. They had written their death poems. They had sharpened their blades to kill themselves before the barbarians could capture them.
Now, they sat in the dirt, holding strange silver wrappers, feeling the warmth of calories spreading through their veins.
Jiang Li stood on the steps, watching them.
She kept her face like stone, the mask of the Iron General firmly in place. But inside, her heart was trembling.
One gold coin, she thought. I gave one coin, and He saved my army.
She looked up at the moonless sky.
Who are you? she wondered. You are not the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor does not care about mortals. You... you sent us 'Sawdust from Heaven' and sweet, soft clouds that melt on the tongue.
She touched the empty space at her waist where her Jade Pendant used to be. She didn't regret it. Not for a second.
"General."
Lieutenant Zhao appeared beside her. He was holding a can of beans that had been opened with a dagger. "You must eat too. The men... they saved the 'meat' for you."
Jiang Li looked at the can. It was pork and beans.
"I have eaten," she said automatically.
"General," Zhao said softly. "If you faint on the battlefield tomorrow, who will lead us?"
Jiang Li looked at him. Then she looked at the can. She took a spoon and took a single mouthful. The salty, savory taste of pork fat coated her tongue.
She closed her eyes, fighting back the sting of tears.
"It is good," she whispered.
In the darkest corner of the courtyard, away from the torches, a single pair of eyes watched the scene with cold calculation.
Lieutenant Wang did not weep. He did not celebrate.
He held his portion of the "Silver Brick" in his hand, examining the packaging. He ran his thumb over the strange, smooth material.
No kingdom in the Nine Provinces can make this, Wang thought. This material... this water... it is not of this world.
He looked toward the Ancestral Hall, where the General had forbidden anyone to enter. He had seen the lights. He had heard the strange thumping sounds.
Wang narrowed his eyes.
He had a secret mission from the Prime Minister in the Capital: Ensure the Jiang family line ends in Black Bone City.
If Jiang Li starved, his job was easy.
But if she had found a way to summon food from the Heavens... that was a problem.
Wang took a bite of the biscuit. He chewed slowly, his gaze fixed on the closed doors of the Ancestral Hall.
I need to see what is in that room, he decided.
He slipped the rest of the biscuit into his sleeve and melted back into the shadows, disappearing like a ghost.