Chapter 65 There is really an assassin
The coordination between the two had been flawless. Xia Feng had even dissolved and consumed Li Siwen's phone with the blood beast, leaving no trace for the prince to discover.
"Catch her." The prince's gaze locked onto the trio in the corner.
Mu Qingtong's beautiful eyes remained composed, Xia Feng raised an eyebrow, while Mushroom's face stiffened.
The clatter of iron boots echoed as guards swiftly surrounded them.
"My deepest apologies, everyone." The prince stepped forward, hands clasped behind his back, his expression icy. "My daughter has committed this grave error - a father's failing."
"Take her away." At his gesture, two guards seized Mushroom's arms. She jolted violently, screaming, "No! It wasn't me! Let go!"
"Wait." Xia Feng pressed a guard's shoulder, his voice firm. "Lord Prince, you accuse Mushroom of murder - but how? What motive could she possibly have?"
The prince regarded him coolly. "Her refusal to acknowledge Yue Hongli as mother bred hatred for the brother who enforced it. There lies her motive."
Xia Feng blinked. That's the flimsiest motive I've ever heard.
Yue Hongli must be the current princess' name.
The prince turned to Mushroom. "Hongdou, have you any defense?"
Seeing her father's indifferent reflection in his pupils, Mushroom's panic strangely subsided, her eyes dimming.
"So you're saying... if I accept her as mother, I'm no longer the killer?" Her voice was barely audible.
Wang Jue's gaze never wavered. "Naturally. Without motive, there's no crime."
Their staredown sent chills through the gathered nobles.
Xia Feng pieced it together - both Li Siwen and Liszt had been pressuring Mushroom about this maternal recognition. The absurdity struck him: rather than pursue his son's actual killer, the prince was exploiting the murder to continue coercing his daughter.
As if the world would end should Mushroom refuse to call that woman mother.
"Answer me now - who is your mother?" Wang Jue demanded.
Mushroom drew a shuddering breath, squaring her shoulders as she declared louder than ever: "Certainly not that homewrecker!"
Truthfully, she bore Yue Hongli no malice. The new princess had never mistreated her. If anything, Mushroom suspected the woman was simpleminded - rarely seen, barely speaking, trotted out only for royal events like some living ornament.
Her defiance wasn't about the princess, but denying her father whatever obscure goal drove this obsession.
"Take her!" The prince's face darkened at her resistance.
As Xia Feng moved to intervene, Wei Shutong suddenly stepped forward:
"Lord Prince, supernatural cases must be transferred to the Holy Department per protocol."
The crowd froze mid-breath. Even the prince hesitated, his expression shadowed - but Wei Shutong was already in motion.
The elder raised his serpent-headed cane.
Space itself rippled as nearly a hundred black voids materialized, gun barrels sprouting like metallic weeds to encircle the prince.
A synchronized click echoed through the hall.
Then -
BOOM!!!
Fire serpents erupted as spatial tremors shook the chamber, the prince vanishing in a storm of bullets and flame.
Every witness: "!!!?"
"Lord Wang Jue!"
"Uncle Wei, have you lost your mind!"
Chaos erupted as the lights flickered out. Glass shattered explosively as dozens of black-robed figures wearing cat-faced masks poured through the windows. With lightning efficiency, they cut down the guards while biting their thumbs and pressing bloody fingerprints to the floor, shouting in unison: "Reconstruct!"
The blood instantly formed an intricate array. A deep hum resonated through the venue as the ground trembled violently - crackling sounds erupted beneath their feet like some ancient seal being broken.
As the smoke cleared, a black-robed man wearing a pure white mask stood unscathed beneath the gunfire, his robes billowing dramatically. Behind him, Wang Jue's face darkened like a thundercloud: "Uncle Wei!"
"Old Wei... I knew something was off about you." Zhao Jie slowly unsheathed his greatsword, grinning fiercely.
BOOM—
The floor tiles disintegrated into dust. Everyone plummeted into darkness below, except Wang Jue and his retinue who remained suspended mid-air.
Wei Shutong spun his serpent-headed cane impassively. The staff transformed mechanically into an ink-black hunting rifle as he backflipped through the air, firing continuous streams of fiery projectiles.
Xia Feng and Mu Qingtong exchanged a glance. Without needing words, they each grabbed one of Mushroom's arms and leaped into the abyss.
"Waaah! Slow down you two! SLOW DOWN—!" Mushroom's panicked shriek echoed through the void.
They landed in an Infinite Stone chamber containing only a dark tunnel. Though confused about Wei Shutong's sudden betrayal and the cat-masked assassins' motives, Xia Feng prioritized escape. "Move!"
Emerging from the tunnel, they found themselves in a gloomy forest beneath a terrifying blood moon.
"Evil Dragon Forest?" Xia Feng scanned their surroundings in shock. This tunnel bypassed Imperial Army nuclear inspections entirely!
"I see a building over there." Mushroom pointed through the dense foliage - what appeared to be a hospital.
Pushing through the undergrowth, Xia Feng froze at a chillingly familiar sign:
[Pingshan Hospital]
"There they are! Get her!"
A dozen white-masked black-robed figures came charging, pursued by cat-masked operatives displaying eerie feline patterns - ragdolls, Siamese, Scottish folds, even Maine coons.
"Block them!"
A Persian cat-masked figure landed directly before Xia Feng. "Quick! Hand over Li Hongdou - I'm here to help!"
"Do I look stupid?" Xia Feng yanked Mushroom into a sprint.
Though the cat-mask seemed allied with Wei Shutong, trust wasn't earned that easily.
Cornered with escape routes cut off, the trio burst into the hospital.
"White-masks inside too," Mu Qingtong observed grimly.
Surrounded on all sides, the cat-masks engaged the white-masks in combat while shouting: "Go! We'll hold them!"
"Since when were we on the same team?" Xia Feng thought wryly, but seized the opportunity. "Optimize!"
Drawing his Forest Scepter, he summoned ten wooden soldiers whose combat prowess rivaled second-level physical practitioners. These berserkers plowed through their enemies effortlessly.
With his personal army clearing the path, they fought their way into the hospital's depths until reaching a laboratory - where the sight inside stole their breath.
At the center of a vast circular testing ground stood an ice-blue glazed coffin. Intricate golden veins spread across its surface like sacred sealing branches, eternally imprisoning the woman within.
She wore resplendent phoenix robes, hands clasped serenely over her chest. Her bare, snow-white feet floated gracefully above the coffin's base. From slightly parted fox-like eyes spilled golden light, sanctifying her breathtaking beauty.
"Protect the princess!"
White-masked guards formed defensive ranks before the coffin, weapons drawn and killing intent palpable.
(End of Chapter)