Chapter 23 Skull Warning? No, it's more like being terrified!

Since the last incident of "attempting to run away from home but being robbed instead", Yun Zhan found that his treatment at the Prince Yan's villa had been "upgraded".

Specifically, wherever he went, two taciturn guards with bulging temples always followed him at a short distance. They called it "protection," but in Yun Zhan's eyes, it was no different from surveillance and house arrest!

"System! This is illegal detention! He's restricting my personal freedom!" Yun Zhan paced restlessly in his yard, feeling like a pet being kept in captivity.

[According to the laws of this world, the Prince has the right to take necessary security measures for the people in his residence. Logically speaking, the host's previous actions did indeed prove that he lacked basic self-defense capabilities.] System Xiaoqi's objective analysis.

"I was careless for a moment!" Yun Zhan retorted stubbornly. "Besides, what right does he have to care about me? Just because he saved me once? Does that give him the right to treat me like a criminal?"

He tried to speak to the two guards, but they remained silent, like two stone statues. He tried to force his way out, but was "politely" but firmly stopped.

Yun Zhan was furious, but there was nothing he could do. His relationship with Yan Linye had already reached a freezing point, and now it had only gotten worse. Occasionally, the two would bump into each other in the courtyard, their eyes would meet, one cold and distant, the other resentful and aggrieved, and then they would turn away, as if the air itself had frozen.

In this extremely oppressive atmosphere, something happened.

During a bandit suppression operation, Yan Linye's soldiers captured several notorious bandit leaders who had been entrenched in the mountains for many years. These men had committed murder, arson, and wanton slaughter, their hands stained with the blood of innocent civilians, arousing great public resentment.

With the evidence irrefutable, Yan Linye ordered the execution.

On the day of the execution, Yun Zhan was drawn by the noise outside and couldn't resist climbing up the old locust tree in the courtyard (this time he was careful not to fall) to look out. He saw that the execution ground was surrounded by furious people, and rotten eggs and vegetable leaves were rained down on the bandits who were tied up tightly.

As a modern person living in a society governed by the rule of law, this was the first time Yun Zhan had witnessed such a scene. He felt a little scared, but also felt that these people deserved what they got.

However, what happened next chilled him to the bone.

The executioner's blade fell swiftly and cleanly. Several heads rolled to the ground, blood splattering everywhere. This was already enough to shock Yun Zhan's senses. But what chilled him even more was that Yan Linye had actually ordered that the heads be processed (dried) and hung on the city wall as a warning to others!

When Yun Zhan saw from afar those black skulls, their original forms no longer discernible, swaying slightly in the wind under the eaves of the city tower, his stomach churned and he almost fell off the tree!

"Ugh..." He leaned against the tree trunk and dry heaved, his face as pale as paper.

That image was etched into his mind like a curse. Especially when the wind blew and the skulls collided with each other, making a soft yet eerie "clattering" sound, Yun Zhan seemed to see his future—his skull would be carefully processed and placed on Yan Linye's antique shelf, or in some conspicuous place, becoming a "work of art" for people to "admire"!

"No...no..." He trembled all over, his hands and feet were ice cold, and immense fear overwhelmed him like a cold tide.

That night, Yun Zhan developed a high fever. He curled up in bed, plagued by nightmares. His dreams were filled with swaying skulls and Yan Linye's face, sometimes gentle, sometimes cold. One moment he dreamt of Yan Linye gently feeding him medicine, the next he dreamt of Yan Linye expressionlessly ordering his head to be chopped off…

"My head... my head..." he murmured in terror in his sleep, his clothes soaked with cold sweat.

The high fever flared up and down, tormenting him for several days. Yan Linye visited him several times, his brow furrowed, and instructed the doctor to use the best medicine. But as soon as Yun Zhan saw him, he was reminded of the skulls on the city wall, and fear overcame everything. He didn't even have the strength to glare at him, and simply turned his face away weakly.

Yan Linye looked at him with a complicated expression, and finally just sighed and left silently.

A few days later, Yun Zhan's high fever finally subsided, but he had also lost weight, and his eyes held something he hadn't seen before—a clear, cold fear.

The first thing he did after getting out of bed was to drag his weak body back up to the old locust tree and gaze at the city gate from afar.

Those few black skulls still hung there, swaying gently in the wind, like deathly wind chimes.

Sunlight shone on the skulls, reflecting a stark white light. Yun Zhan stared intently, as if he could see his own end.

Although he had always known that Yan Linye would kill him in the future, his fear stemmed more from the knowledge of the outcome, carrying a sense of absurdity and irony. Yan Linye's usual gentleness and thoughtfulness had also somewhat numbed his senses, allowing him to occasionally indulge in unrealistic fantasies.

Only now, having witnessed Yan Linye's ruthless side and seen the bloody, tangible "skull on display," did he truly realize that Yan Linye was the future emperor! A decisive and ruthless ancient ruler who treated human life as worthless! His gentleness was limited, and his bottom line was inviolable! He would show absolutely no mercy to his enemies (or rather, to those he deemed deserving of death)!

In his eyes, was he, this "tyrannical ruler of the previous dynasty," no different from those bandits, or even more despicable? Were those tender gestures merely a desire for conquest, curiosity, or... a cat-and-mouse game?

A chill ran from the soles of my feet straight up to the top of my head.

“System…” Yun Zhan’s voice was hoarse but calm, carrying a sense of clarity as if he had survived a catastrophe, “I must leave here. Immediately, right now.”

[The host's physical condition has not yet recovered, and external surveillance is tight; the success rate of escape is less than 10%.] System reminder.

“I still have to leave!” Yun Zhan’s eyes were unusually firm. “If I stay here, I will eventually become one of those things on the city wall! He is not the Yan Linye I know, or rather, that is only one side of him… He is cold at heart.”

He looked at the clanging skulls on the city wall and seemed to hear the countdown to his own fate.

"I must escape. Go back to the palace, even if I'm just a puppet, at least... I can live a few more days." He clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. "This time, it's not out of spite, it's for survival."

This time, he was truly afraid. And he was truly determined.

What hung on the city wall was not only the skull of a bandit, but also a nightmare that had been shattered and awakened him.