Chapter 332 Bad News

Percy Brody's face was as pale as a dead man. Until now, he had not really reacted to what had happened.

His father shot and killed his aunt... the mother his brother had asked him to take care of, and his brother's only direct blood relative left in this world.

There was a loud bang outside the bedroom. Percy's pupils trembled violently. He looked up suddenly and saw that the Shadow Chaser was holding a person in each hand and throwing them in front of the door. One of them was no longer human, and the other was so scared that he was crying. When he saw him, he immediately shouted as if he saw a savior.

"Percy! Save me! Save me quickly!" Outles Brody crawled towards his son like a worm.

The cold murderous intent in the assassin's eyes was like a tsunami about to erupt! Outles thought with utter terror, he must not fall into his opponent's hands, otherwise he would be tortured like the man in black who had already fainted from the excruciating pain, and would only stop breathing after being tortured into a rotten mass of flesh that was no longer human!

"These people are going to kill your father!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "Order them to leave the Brody family!"

Percy seemed not to understand, and looked at his father's face, which was distorted by fear and looked particularly strange and hideous, almost blankly.

He slowly took a step back, his voice so soft it seemed to come from a ghost: "You did...what?"

"That old fellow," Shadow Chaser said coldly, raising his chin and pointing at the man in black beside him, "secretly contacted the Bateman family, promising to go to the royal city and accuse Mr. Ghost of treason in front of the royal family in exchange for his escape from Ironthorn Territory. He was discovered by Madam Brody."

He tried his best to suppress his anger, so he didn't shoot the idiot.

Before leaving Port Morris, the professor privately instructed him to "please take care of his mother, Aidoni Brody, as much as possible."

The gentleman told him very frankly that this was purely selfish, and that he had been asked to tell Mrs. Brody that Percy Brody would take care of her food and clothing. But before everything was over, no matter what she had heard, it would be best to openly break off with him and pretend that she had never given birth to this son - this would actually make her safer.

The lady flew into a rage and smashed him on the head with an old book, completely losing her aristocratic image and kicking him out of the room. Shadow Chaser certainly wouldn't argue with a neurotic old widow, but would only mutter to himself about how Mr. Ghost's biological mother had such a strange and bad temper.

The most troublesome Royal City Army had been dealt with, and everything seemed to be going well. In addition, Percy Brody was a warlock of the Lord's Prayer class after all, so he relaxed his vigilance a little - but who knew that such a tragedy would happen by accident.

...How would he explain this to Mr. Ghost? Your biological mother was shot and killed by an ordinary person while under the care of two powerful men? And the murderer was even your uncle?

"No! I'm also fighting for the lives of the entire Brody family!" Noticing the growing murderous intent in the assassin's eyes, Outles Brody shouted in despair.

He tried to grab the hem of Percy's pajamas with his hands covered in dirt and urine, and trembled and spoke incoherently: "Percy, it was the Bateman family who forced me to do this. That's right, he forced me to do this - he, he threatened to kill our whole family if I didn't do what he said!"

The lie became more and more fluent, and Outlets even stopped stuttering: "I have no choice. Your aunt found out, she was yelling and insisted on stopping us. I, I got nervous... Percy, I did this for you! For the lives of our whole family!"

"You're still quibbling!" The Shadow Chaser on the side couldn't help but sneer and gritted his teeth. "Did you know that Batman's people used the two-way recording stone to record everything you said?!"

Outlets was stunned. The next second, his face turned pale, and he collapsed to the ground, trembling and unable to utter a single word.

Seeing this scene, Percy understood everything. He stumbled, his voice dry as sandpaper, trembling with disbelief and perhaps even a hint of despair. "For... me? You actually said it was for me?!"

"Stop talking nonsense." Shadow Chaser didn't bother to understand the boy's pain and despair. His inevitable anger made it difficult for him to treat this young man, who was related to the professor, with any kind of friendly attitude. He grabbed the man in black by the collar and said expressionlessly, "I'm taking this man away. We'll get everything he knows out of him."

The bloody implication is self-evident.

"As for this person." Shadow Chaser glanced coldly at Outles Brody who was lying on the ground, and then his gaze moved to Percy.

"Do you want to protect him?" He asked without warning, but his body was tensed as if ready to strike, and he adjusted himself into a posture that was convenient for exerting force. His eyes calmly swept over the vital parts of the dazed black-haired boy in front of him.

"...Protect him?" Percy repeated subconsciously.

"I only follow Mr. Ghost's orders. I'll have to wait for Mr. Ghost to decide what to do with this person." Shadow Chaser clicked his tongue impatiently and patiently explained, "Since you haven't behaved like a coward on the battlefield before, I'll ask you in advance: do you want to save your father's life? If you insist on saving him, I'm afraid I'll have to cripple you, or at least render you incapable of movement."

His tone was calm, but the murderous intent hidden in it could not be concealed.

The black-haired boy stared at him blankly, his breathing rapid, his eyes red, and he looked like he had suffered a great blow. Just as the Shadow Chaser was thinking about whether to knock him out first to prevent the situation from getting out of control, the other party finally spoke.

"...What right do I have to protect him?" His gaze slowly shifted from the woman's body lying in a pool of blood to his father's face, which was filled with fear, pleading, and a hint of poorly concealed resentment. His voice trembled, "What right do I have to protect him?"

...He could no longer turn back. He was walking towards the abyss step by step with great clarity.

"Percy Brody!" Outlets roared almost crazily, "I am your biological father!"

Percy ignored him. The pale, slender boy seemed to have grown up overnight, the childish fragility, collapse, fear, and grief on his face fading like the tide, leaving only a blank, indifferent expression.

"Seal off the Brody Mansion and gather everyone inside." His voice was light and cold: "Investigate who provided the master with a way to contact the Bateman family, and who allowed him to get the pistol?!"

Shadow Chaser's body relaxed a little: at least this kid didn't do anything stupid at the critical moment, otherwise even if the opponent was injured, it would still be difficult for him to fight against a warlock of the Lord's Prayer level.

Several servants who had rushed over after hearing the noise were frightened and their legs trembled. The old butler standing in the front shook and fell to the ground.

"The pistol, the pistol was given to the master!" The old butler burst into tears, kneeling on the ground tremblingly. "The master... the master begged for it, saying he was worried about 'robbers' breaking into the house and just wanted to use it for self-defense... I served the master for over forty years and couldn't bear to see him suffer. I was also frightened by the noise outside the city wall and worried that those outsiders would harm the master and the young master... That's why, that's why..."

He knew he was in great danger, and while crying out for "Master, spare my life," he quickly added, "But I have no idea how the Master contacted the Batman family!"

Percy closed his eyes.

The boy's pale face looked like a marble sculpture in the dim light, cold and stiff. Only his clenched fists with white knuckles at his sides gave a glimpse of the turmoil deep in his heart.

"...drag them away and lock them up in the cellar to await interrogation. My mother and those illegitimate children will be placed under house arrest in a room, under around-the-clock supervision." Percy's voice remained steady. "Before dawn, I want to know the names of all those who knew about this but didn't report it."

The mansion was deathly silent, the only sound being the chattering of Ottless Brody's teeth. He watched his most trusted butler being dragged away, and as he looked at his son's unfamiliar and cold profile, a chill ran down his spine.

Percy suddenly seemed to remember something, walked past his father with fear in his eyes, and quickly walked towards the messy bedside table - as expected, he soon found a business card with burn marks belonging to the Batman family.

"Looks like we've found a way to contact you." Percy numbly whispered to Shadow Chaser, "My father, Outles Brody, is in your hands. The Brody family will cooperate with Mr. Ghost's actions."

"Then I will report everything truthfully to Mr. Ghost." Shadow Chaser said expressionlessly, and ignored Outlets who suddenly burst into a pig-slaughtering howl and struggled violently.

...It's over, he thought tiredly. The boss probably wanted to kill him this time. After all, even he couldn't forgive himself.

…

When the professor learned the sad news, he was still preparing for the third meeting of the Blooming Conference in the royal city.

The second meeting was ultimately forced to be interrupted due to a fire in front of the palace. While neither side appeared to have made any progress, the undercurrents behind the scenes grew increasingly turbulent. Those fleeting moments of relief vanished silently like bubbles amidst the endless tide of danger.

When Orel rushed in with news from his subordinates far away in Ironthorn Territory, the professor was making final preparations before an internal meeting. The information had been almost sorted out, and he was about to get up to attend the meeting.

The assassin leader's face turned ashen, his expression unprecedentedly ugly. The black-haired young man couldn't help but frown, paused his writing, and immediately asked sharply, "What happened to Leader Tieji?"

Azuka also raised his head, frowning slightly, staring at his friend's face.

Orel opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say for a moment - it was too cruel. Even though he had conveyed the death news countless times, if possible, he never wanted to be the one to tell others about his mother's death, even if that person was a tyrant who he had criticized for having no human emotions... What's more, the other party was not a cold and hard stone, but a human with flesh and blood, and even a soul brighter and purer than others.

But this matter happened to be related to the game between the royal court and even the royal family and the Third Parliament. He had to deliver the bad news without any preparation and in an extremely tragic way on the thin shoulders of the tired and pale young man.

—Don't delay, don't beat around the bush, Ole.

…and don’t say you’re sorry.

Ole took a deep breath and tried to speak clearly.

"Something happened to the Brody family." He heard his voice was extremely hoarse: "...Mrs. Aidoni Brody was murdered."

“…”

The ink from the black-haired young man's pen left a black mark on the white paper.