Chapter 13

The fourth prince, who had just been complaining about the fifth prince's method of applying medicine, finally realized his predicament after hearing Xue Jin'an's voice.

Fear returned and enveloped him, as if he had been given anesthesia, clearing his mind of the pain from his wounds, and his body stiffened inch by inch.

No, I have to leave here, I have to escape! The Fourth Prince swallowed hard, forcing himself to calm down, and the faint voices around him stopped.

The Fourth Prince had no idea what the two had just said. The moment Xue Jin'an's voice entered his ears, it felt as if his ears had been hit hard. Amidst the ringing in his ears, the sounds around him seemed to come and go. Completely immersed in his negative emotions, the Fourth Prince had no time to pay attention to any of this.

For him, the most important thing now is how to save his life from Xue Jin'an so that he can escape and get help.

The fourth prince began to observe quietly.

Xue Jin'an sat there quietly, expressionless, his breathing so light it was almost imperceptible. His dark eyes were vacant, his gaze unfocused, and he resembled an overly exquisite stone statue, his eyes unblinking, a sight that sent chills down one's spine.

Suddenly, those dark, impenetrable eyes turned around, clearly reflecting his image.

The fourth prince's hair stood on end in that instant, and he almost lost his composure and fled. He suppressed his screams and terror, swallowing them back down into his stomach.

Completely unaware of the uncanny valley effect, the fourth prince thought he was frightened by Xue Jin'an's previous behavior. He shifted restlessly, feeling ashamed and annoyed by his own reaction. He stiffened his neck and adopted a posture, trying to make himself seem less cowardly.

"You, you stop looking." The fourth prince was all bark and no bite.

Xue Jin'an couldn't discern his expression, but he heard his deafening heartbeat and asked, puzzled, "What's wrong with your heart again?"

He didn't even remove the battery, so why is his heart still pounding like he's about to die? Could there be some hidden quality problem with the battery?

Heart disease is a heart condition. The fifth prince, who has heart disease, has a stable heartbeat, while the fourth prince, who does not, has an irregular heartbeat. Is this some kind of hidden advantage of the human body's battery? Or is it that the human body has a built-in transformer or something else?

—Well, it's not impossible, after all, human batteries can heal themselves.

Xue Jin'an's eyes lit up, and he developed an unprecedented interest in humans. He opened the health monitoring software and began manually recording data on the two as experimental subjects, hoping to find a way to successfully exchange batteries.

In a good mood, he asked the fourth prince, "Do you need me to cut it out and fix it for you? I have a very steady hand."

"Take my heart out?! No no no no no no—" The fourth prince's face instantly turned to terror. He sprang to his feet as if electrocuted and darted behind the fifth prince at an incredible speed. He grabbed the fifth prince's clothes, too cowardly to even show his head, and kept saying, "Seventh brother, I... I really know I was wrong. I really won't tell anyone about this. Please let me go!"

The Fifth Prince was wiping his fingers. He looked at the powder and bloodstains on the pad of his middle finger. Because they had been exposed to the air for a long time, the marks were difficult to wipe off completely. His already irritable mood was dispelled by the Fourth Prince's sudden action.

"I'll beat you to death." The Fifth Prince kicked the man away impatiently and patted his dirty robes with disgust.

Xue Jin'an looked a bit strange, but he had been sitting there without moving since his knife was taken away. He had been in a daze just now and showed no intention of making a move again. It was just that his fourth brother was so jumpy and a bit annoying.

He's so timid even when he's trying to say something, so why did you provoke him in the first place?

Even if he can't be killed, it's still terrifying! The fourth prince, cowering in fear, thought: No, I can't rely on my fifth brother; I have to save myself.

Xue Xuanyue, you can do it! As long as you escape from here, Xue Jin'an won't be able to act so arrogantly anymore! The Fourth Prince cheered himself on in his heart and finally mustered enough courage to start negotiating with Xue Jin'an.

He rattled off a long list of benefits, believing it to be enough to humiliate the nation, "...Don't worry, I absolutely won't tell anyone. If you hurt me, I'll say it was an accident. I won't report you to Father and Mother! Absolutely!"

Xue Jin'an simply stared at him with her dark eyes, unmoved.

This was scrutiny, a sign of distrust. Feeling he had understood the question, the Fourth Prince immediately held up three fingers, saying, "I can swear if you don't believe me!"

Xue Jin'an remained silent.

The fourth prince could no longer hold back and said, on the verge of collapse, "No, seventh brother, what do you mean? Say something!"

Xue Jin'an slowly opened his mouth: "I didn't stop you."

The fourth prince choked.

Xue Jin'an noticed that his constantly rapid heartbeat had a few seconds of brief misbeats, and once again he was amazed at how amazing human batteries were, that their performance was so unstable yet they didn't explode.

"Leave if you want, do you need me to see you off?" He greeted her three steps out and saw her off seven steps in return. Today's lesson by Master Cen was about etiquette. Xue Jin'an had been reading the textbook for this subject on the learning software and was now using it naturally.

"I don't need you to see me off. Just sit down, just sit down." The Fourth Prince cautiously moved a little further away, tentatively asking, "So, I'm leaving? Really leaving?"

He carefully retreated to a safe distance, then turned and ran without a second thought, as fast as the wind. Even crashing into the palace gates didn't slow him down.

The Fifth Prince twitched his lips, somewhat speechless. He asked Xue Jin'an with a half-smile, "Just let him go like that? You believe what he said?"

Even his five-year-old dimwitted brother knew that promises and oaths were worthless; only leverage and personal gain could truly make people obey. Xue Jin'an actually believed an oath made under duress from his fourth brother? Were there really such naive people in the palace? How did he survive?

To the Fifth Prince's surprise, Xue Jin'an shook his head and denied it.

“He just wants to get out,” Xue Jin’an said. “I heard the guards calling for someone; they’ll find us here soon.”

The fifth prince listened intently for a while, but instead of hearing anyone searching for someone, he heard his fourth brother shouting impatiently.

"Help! Help! There's an assassin!" The fourth prince screamed until his voice cracked.

Fifth Prince: "..."

The Fifth Prince had mixed feelings about the Fourth Prince's actions. He didn't know whether to call him clever or stupid. If he was clever, he did it behind the back without anyone's knowledge. If he was stupid, he knew that the guards wouldn't dare to lay a hand on the princes, so he concealed his seventh brother's identity and directly called for assassins.

What good would it do if this matter escalated? Seventh Brother has nothing left to lose. Fourth Brother's heart wound wasn't serious and was even treated with medicine. The worst punishment Seventh Brother could get is confinement, which is insignificant. On the contrary, if this matter escalates and is thoroughly investigated, and Fourth Brother's past mistreatment of Seventh Brother is brought to light, then he will truly be in deep trouble.

Although the Emperor was not a loving father and was busy with state affairs, and his relationship with them was not very close, he would not stand by and watch his brothers fight to the point of violence and pretend that nothing had happened.

Moreover, the seventh brother is different.

Xue Jin'an, Xue Baoning… He was once the Emperor's most beloved child, a child who was neither the eldest nor the youngest, yet whose name carried auspicious connotations. The recent palace reorganization was because of him; the Emperor has noticed him again.

Fourth brother, good luck to you.

The Fifth Prince also heard the guards' voices coming from afar. They must have been attracted by the Fourth Prince's shouts. The Fifth Prince, who had no desire to watch the commotion, got up and said, "Let's go."

As he spoke, he used the artificial hill as leverage to push off, channeling his inner strength into his legs. With three leaps, he gracefully hung on the wall, his arms nimbly flipping over.

Xue Jin watched him run away the whole way, her thoughts shifting from "So humans really can fly with their lightness skills, I want to learn" to "Isn't he flying a little too low? Human cub, I understand" to "Ah, he's just a ground chicken that can only flap its wings."

Xue Jin'an possesses the "Code Technique," which is a path of cultivation. Cultivation is the upper echelon of martial arts, and some top-tier martial arts techniques are even incomplete cultivation methods. In other words, if Xue Jin'an wants to, once his magical power recovers a bit more, he can completely rely on the "Code Technique" to generate internal energy for himself.

External skills are no good. Martial arts external skills train physical fitness, which is honed through rigorous training in the coldest and hottest winters and summers. At most, he can only write himself an experience-boosting card or something, but that doesn't stop him from training.

After all, even if it's a cheat, it only works after the game has started.

The footsteps outside gradually approached, and the guards rushed in. Leading them was the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards. After all, the disappearance of a prince was no small matter, and without some status, one really couldn't keep order.

After the deputy commander shouted "Bold assassin, surrender!" he realized that the so-called assassin was actually the Seventh Prince. He was stunned and broke out in a cold sweat.

The Imperial Guards are elite troops stationed in the capital city, serving as the emperor's direct bodyguard. It would take ten years to rise to the position of deputy commander, but if one could stay by the emperor's side for ten years, one would inevitably become acquainted with the imperial relatives and would be unable to remain ignorant of the secrets of the palace.

This is clearly an internal power struggle among the princes; it's not something they can take sides and interfere with! The deputy commander, sweating profusely, could only bite the bullet and say, "The assassin has already escaped; protect His Highness the Prince!"

The fourth prince, who was hiding behind, was immediately displeased upon hearing this. Although he was still a little flustered when he saw Xue Jin'an, he had more confidence to speak now that he had guards protecting him.

He stood up in dissatisfaction, wanting to order the Imperial Guards to arrest the person. He didn't intend to do anything to Xue Jin'an; he was just a kid who had been wronged and couldn't swallow his anger, so he wanted to retaliate and teach him a lesson.

But before she could even open her mouth and utter a sound, Xue Jin'an beat her to it.

"Fourth Brother, I'm sorry, it was my fault. I shouldn't have fought back. If you want to kill me, I won't dodge." Xue Jin'an handed over the kitchen knife, the tip of which was still stained with blood, with both hands. His clothes were already a bit short, revealing his thin arms and the bruises on them.

Using his newly acquired human skills, Xue Jin'an lowered his eyelashes expressionlessly, his thin figure appearing as if he were about to collapse.

Instantly, everyone's gaze towards the Fourth Prince changed.