Chapter 22 The End (Part 2)

"I heard that you had a priceless crown made at the Treasure Pavilion? Was it for that girl named Xiu Chu Qi Yu?"

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince of Pingnan's expression changed instantly.

"She was just an ordinary person in the martial arts world and had never been involved in this treason incident."

"Oh, really?" The emperor casually flipped through the memorial. "But the memorial says that she helped you sell the extra ribbons."

A bead of cold sweat trickled down the forehead of the Prince of Pingnan. He deeply regretted giving the extra ribbon to Xiu Chuqi earlier. Now, he could only try his best to excuse her.

"She was unaware of my plan. She sold the ribbons only because she was tricked by me. Please, Your Majesty, do not make things difficult for a weak woman."

“If she were truly just a weak woman, I would naturally not make things difficult for her, but she is a top expert who can rival a peerless swordsman like Ye Gucheng.”

The emperor turned to look at the heir of the Prince of Pingnan and said, pausing between each sentence, "Since she has a deep friendship with you, if one day she decides to avenge you, wouldn't I never have a peaceful day again?"

"After all, the grudge of a top expert cannot be ignored even by the emperor himself."

At this moment, the Crown Prince of Pingnan deeply regretted that he had arranged for someone to make a crown at that particular time. He could only try his best to distance himself from Xiu Chu's extraordinary encounter.

"They weren't particularly close. One loved gold and silver, and the other loved beauty. Without any mutual benefit involved, their friendship naturally faded away."

"Hahaha." Seeing the Prince of Pingnan's heir trying so hard to exonerate him, the emperor suddenly burst into laughter.

The next moment, the folded document in his hand was thrown back onto the table with great force, causing the pastries on the table to roll off.

"Cousin, do you think I'm a fool? Judging from how you're trying so hard to defend her, even a fool wouldn't believe that you two are just casual acquaintances."

The emperor raised his hand, signaling the guards to restrain the struggling Prince Pingnan, and an idea popped into his head.

"But you don't need to worry. Since I am wary of her martial arts skills, I naturally won't kill her at this time and force her to attack me."

“I can give you a chance to let her prove whether her relationship with you is really just a casual acquaintance as you say.”

"What opportunity?" The Prince of Pingnan felt a slight bitterness rise in his mouth.

After glancing at the attire of the Prince of Pingnan's heir, the emperor suddenly stood up.

"Since you dare to rebel with a face that looks just like mine, you must be very confident that you can completely impersonate me."

"Why don't we stand in the room together and see if the girl you've been longing for who showed off her amazing adventure can recognize you?"

"If you can't recognize me, it means you really are just casual acquaintances. I don't need to worry about incurring the hatred of a top expert by dealing with you."

"What if you can recognize it?"

"The fact that you recognize me means you have a close relationship. I don't want a peerless master who could kill me at any moment to leave the palace alive."

"how?"

What else can we do?

"Now that we're at their mercy, what else can we do but agree?"

The heir of the Prince of Pingnan gave a bitter smile.

This is truly killing someone by destroying their spirit!

At this moment, he couldn't tell whether he hoped the other person would recognize him or not.

After waiting a while longer, the first to arrive was Lu Xiaofeng with four eyebrows.

"This is?"

Looking at the man who had caused him to fail at the last moment, the Prince of Pingnan did not speak.

The emperor, however, seemed to appreciate him greatly and explained in a gentle tone.

"Please watch a play and be a witness. Please don't speak and just watch quietly."

Before Lu Xiaofeng could answer, Xiu Chuqi stepped in, carrying his familiar arrogant aura, and walked directly to one of the men wearing a dragon robe, patting him on the shoulder.

"Didn't you fail in your rebellion? What are you still doing here?"

Another man wearing the same style of dragon robe asked.

"Can you tell us apart?"

A sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in Lu Xiaofeng's heart. Before he could stop it, he heard a familiar voice.

"Of course I can tell them apart, it's a piece of cake."

It’s over!

Lu Xiaofeng closed his eyes.

It opened its eyes again after a moment.

He was prepared to break out of the palace and become a wanted criminal of the court.

But the other person in the room seemed even more desperate than him.

With a soft "plop," a strong smell of blood wafted over.

Lu Xiaofeng looked up and saw that the man next to him who had just shared his extraordinary encounter had committed suicide with a dagger.

This is the heir apparent of the Prince of Pingnan.

Lu Xiaofeng recognized him too.

He quickly turned to look at Xiu Chuqi, only to see that the other person's face still held a hint of surprise, but he didn't see a trace of sadness.

Lu Xiaofeng didn't feel cold at all; he only felt fortunate.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps, he won't lose another friend.

"Don't you feel sad?" asked another man in a dragon robe inside the room.

"Why should I be sad?" Xiu, who already knew from the spoilers that the Prince of Pingnan would die, showed no surprise at her extraordinary encounter.

"His rebellion has failed; he's definitely going to die today."

The emperor, who had guessed the beginning but not the ending, fell silent.

This round was originally meant to decide the fate of the other player, but the reactions of the two players were somewhat unexpected.

At this moment, he found himself in a dilemma, unsure of what to do.

At the crucial moment, Lu Xiaofeng's voice rang out.

"Your Majesty, now that the traitor is dead, may I leave with my friend?"

"Friends?"

"Your Majesty doesn't know?" Lu Xiaofeng feigned surprise: "The girl who had a serendipitous encounter with Xiuchu once helped me solve the case of the Embroidered Thief, so we are naturally friends."

"She killed all the members of the Red Shoes within twelve breaths. In terms of martial arts, even Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chuixue combined might not be able to defeat her."

As a clever man, the emperor understood the unspoken meaning in Lu Xiaofeng's words.

"..."

The emperor, having overlooked yet another detail, waved his hand helplessly.

"Alright, you can leave now."

*********

The sword fight ended, but the results screen did not pop up.

I was invited to play a guessing game in the South Study, but the results screen didn't pop up.

The Prince of Pingnan died, but the settlement interface still did not pop up.

I don't know what went wrong, but I clicked on customer service to report the bug.

"Dear customer, your status is normal and there are no bugs. Please wait patiently for the story to end."

"I read the walkthrough, but there's no more story after that!"

"Dear user, the new gameplay uses a new calculation method. The NPCs operate intelligently and will generate different feedback based on each person's behavior, which will also lead to a deviation in the ending. Please wait patiently for your exclusive ending to arrive."

After arguing with customer service for a while to no avail, I showed off my serendipitous encounter and sighed.

Ignoring the chattering Emperor NPC, I saw a bubble pop up above Lu Xiaofeng's head inviting me to leave, so I quickly controlled my character to follow him.

As the two reached the door, Xiu Qiyu, with her sharp eyes, spotted an interactive pastry on the ground.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a piece of osmanthus cake.

She subconsciously clicked the interaction button.

The next second, the character interface suddenly turned gray, and the game character fell to the ground.

She only had time to see the speech bubble pop up above Lu Xiaofeng's head.

"I've already told you, don't eat things off the ground!"

The settlement interface popped up at this time.

"In a martial arts competition, the peerless swordsman Ye Gucheng died, and a remarkable woman who had just begun to show her talent had a miraculous encounter. I also heard that a prince and a palace eunuch died."

"Nobody knows what exactly happened that day. All that is known is that everyone who watched the fight keeps quiet about it."

"The occasional words he uttered were a lament that he could no longer taste that kind of wonderful wine. He wondered what kind of wine it was that made him so nostalgic."

System: "Congratulations to the player for clearing the game level 'Before and After the Final Battle' and achieving the ending 'The wind howls and the Yi River is cold, the hero goes forth and never returns'."

System: "The completion reward will be sent to your mailbox one minute after you log out of the game. Please check your mailbox in time."

"What's going on? So the ending requires my death?"

Showing off their amazing encounters, I couldn't help but complain.

"If I don't eat anything that might poison me, does that mean this awful game will never end?"

After angrily complaining for a bit, I showed off my adventure and was about to check the rewards when I suddenly remembered something serious.

"I bet a thousand gold coins at the gambling den. I didn't even get to claim my principal and winnings before the game ended. I hope Xishanju won't steal my reward?"

Showing off his extraordinary encounter, he quickly opened his email.

"Congratulations on successfully completing the 'Embroidered Thief' game level and earning 300 Hero Coins. Hero Coins can be used in the Hero Shop to hire NPCs whose affinity with you meets the requirements in the game level as your heroes. Please go to the Hero Shop to check it out."

"Congratulations to the player who successfully formed a steward contract with an NPC during a game level. Please note that each player can only choose one steward to form a contract with in the game. Please check the steward's status upon returning to your home."

"Congratulations on successfully completing the 'Before and After the Showdown' game level and earning 300 Hero Coins. Hero Coins can be used in the Hero Shop to hire NPCs in the game level whose affinity you have reached as your heroes. Please go to the Hero Shop to check it out."

"It has been detected that the player who showed off their extraordinary encounter has unclaimed rewards in the game level 'Before and After the Final Battle'. These rewards have been sent to their in-game mailbox. Please claim them in time."

"Thank goodness. My seven thousand gold coins weren't swallowed up."

Show off your adventures and claim all the rewards for completing the level. Then, casually open the Hero Shop and find that three heroes have already been unlocked.

This means that she has three NPCs whose favorability rating meets the requirements, and they can be recruited using hero coins.

The three heroes are, in order, Lu Xiaofeng, Tang Tianzong, and Bu Ju.

"They're all guys. Next time I need to increase my favorability with some pretty girls."

As for buying a swordsman now...

Haha. Stop joking.

It costs 1500 Hero Coins to recruit a hero, but with the current "Show Your Adventure" feature, you only have 600. That's a long way from being able to buy a hero.

"Let's go back to our homestead and check on the new housekeeper first."