Chapter 155 True Dragon: The Eve of Action [VIP]
"...I think I understand what's going on."
Xiao Yun looked at Johnny with pity.
Intelligence obtained from Alans shows that not only are there high-ranking officials within the Green Scarf Army who secretly defected to him for their own benefit, but there are also at least five factions. The military advisor Johnny mentioned is named Tari, a jerk who thinks he is extremely smart but is actually a despicable bastard.
"Do you have a place to stay in the imperial capital?"
"I……"
Johnny sighed again. "After I returned to the organization, the military advisor believed that my return alive was a traitor... and threatened to execute me publicly. Fortunately, I was once a personal soldier of the Great Leader and had made many contributions to the organization. The Great Leader had Military Advisor Tari bring me in for personal interrogation... After hearing my story, the Great Leader not only released me but also appointed me deputy commander of the Imperial Capital Operation... Military Advisor Tari was very dissatisfied with this and told me to find my own accommodation..."
"Why is he so stingy!"
Luke grumbled in discontent.
"This young man is——"
"My name is Luke. I'm a stray dog that my owner picked up."
Luke raised his head, a proud smile on his face.
Xiao Yun quickly corrected him: "Johnny, Luke is still a child now, but he will become a great man in the future."
"The person that adults value is definitely not an ordinary child."
Johnny looked at Xiao Yun with admiration.
Luke echoed, "The Master is the smartest, most powerful, and most beautiful person in the world!"
"You admire me too much. I'm not as great as you think."
Xiao Yun smiled and pushed the noodles the owner had given him towards Johnny. "You probably haven't eaten much these past two days."
“I…I…”
Johnny was about to decline when his stomach growled uncontrollably. He accepted the gift and said as he ate, "Actually, even if he offered to give me a bed where he lives, I wouldn't move in."
"Why?"
"Because the residence he had prepared for him and his confidants was in the capital's most famous Color Street. He said that men and women who went in and out of Color Street were not decent people, so there was no need to worry about being targeted by the tyrant's men."
"Places like Color Street really have all kinds of people."
"I have a wife and children, and I don't want to stay in that kind of place... Living in that kind of place and not doing anything to let my wife and children down is easy to attract attention, but... in order to avoid exposing my identity, I do things that let my wife down with the woman from Color Street. I, I, I..."
Johnny couldn't go on.
"Where are the others? Where are they assigned?"
"He arranged for the remaining people to live in the outer areas of the northern city. The environment was dirty and messy, and there were gang members hanging around nearby. It was very unsafe."
"I found temporary lodging in the South City. After he found out, he asked me to bring people here to oversee the 'Family Search Alliance's' operations... I had actually discovered him a long time ago, but it wasn't until the 'Family Search Alliance' was over and the people he sent to work with me had left that I..."
Johnny became more and more depressed as he spoke, feeling like a useless waste.
"Are you afraid of this man called Tari Military Advisor?"
Luke asked Johnny, tilting his head.
Johnny nodded. "He's very smart and capable, and is deeply trusted by the Second Chief. He's the commander-in-chief of this Imperial Capital operation and the architect of the entire plan."
"And yet this brilliant and powerful man came up with a plan to send your allies out to die."
Luke said contemptuously, "Even a kid like me knows not to sacrifice allies so easily. He might deceive allies into dying for his own plan one day, and betray the organization for his own benefit the next. This kind of person is the most vicious and untrustworthy!"
"Lord Claude—"
Johnny looked at Xiao Yun cautiously - out of loyalty to the organization, he wanted to protect Military Advisor Tari, but Tari's behavior made him not know how to refute Luke's words.
"Luke's right."
Xiao Yun told Johnny bluntly: "Tari is not trustworthy. He is likely to trick you and your subordinates into carrying out a mission that means certain death in the subsequent operations."
"If our death can help the Imperial Capital Operation successfully achieve its goal, I, I don't mind—"
"Unfortunately, your action was doomed to fail from the very beginning."
Xiao Yun said seriously.
"Why?"
Johnny was shocked.
"Because everything you do is under His watchful eyes."
"But--"
Johnny didn't believe it. "Lord Claude said there was a traitor in the organization, and I told the chief about it. So all the people involved in this operation were personally selected by the chief, and every one of them is absolutely trustworthy. How could it be possible..."
"Because the person who provides you with information is also doing His business."
Xiao Yun spoke frankly.
"--ah!"
Johnny was shocked and stood up to go back and report the news.
"It's too late."
Xiao Yun said slowly: "It's too late now."
"……What's the meaning?"
"His 'Dragon Tooth Soldiers' won't directly enter the North City to arrest anyone, so the person living on the outskirts of the North City is relatively safe for the time being. The person on Color Street should have been surrounded by now."
The above are all reasonable speculations made by Xiao Yun based on the information provided by Alans.
All the people who lived on Color Street were arrested except Tari who escaped and contacted you. He also became unusually kind to you. You must be extra careful.
“I, I…”
"Take this gold and find a safer place to live."
After that,
A piece of gold, I don't know what to do.
…
…
The carriage with a crystal wind chime hanging on the front, under the protection of the "Dragon Tooth Soldiers", rolled over the blood-stained stone slabs of the South City Market, passed through the spacious, neat and clean East City, and entered the mysterious and solemn Grand Palace.
The carriage stopped at the shore of Lake Oro. The door opened and a pair of young boys and girls in court costumes walked out. They were Lily and Samit, who had escaped from the convoy in the chaos with the help of Xiao Yun and were running towards freedom.
The two men had not yet recovered from the previous killing. They stood on the shore with trembling legs, accepting the cold gaze of the "Dragon Tooth Soldiers" and waiting for the ferry to take them to Rosa Marie Palace in the center of the lake.
…
Rosa Marie Palace is an extremely luxurious Western Continental-style palace built on an island in the middle of a lake.
The palace is mainly built with white marble, covers a vast area, and is equipped with fragrant and beautiful gardens and exquisite sculptures. Nearly one-fifth of the building is completely suspended above the water, which is extremely ingenious and unique.
However, such a palace, which cost a huge amount of money and has an exquisite structure, has been vacant since its construction five years ago and was not officially named Rosa Marie Palace until two months ago.
Half a month ago, on a moonless night, a large black ship brought the owner to Rosa Marie Palace.
From that day on, His Majesty the Emperor would visit Rosamarie Palace almost every day and stay in the water palace, sometimes even overnight. The Emperor's favorite freshly bloomed Rosamari would be delivered to the island in the middle of the lake by water every day, adding fragrance to the beautiful palace.
Surprisingly, the mysterious owner of Rosa Marie Palace enjoys so much respect but never leaves the island in the middle of the lake. No one outside Rosa Marie Palace has ever seen his/her face or known his/her name - they don't even know whether he/she is a man or a woman.
The male and female servants in Rosa Marie's palace were also forbidden to go out and could only obtain daily necessities from the outside world through the ships that arrived on time every morning.
The ships transporting items to Rosa Marie Palace usually dock at a fixed location, and the crew will leave immediately after moving the items on the ship ashore.
They did not speak at all, and had no verbal communication with the male and female servants of Rosa Marie Palace.
(Who lives in Rosa Marie Palace? Could it be the legendary Queen?)
(If the person living in Rosa Marie's Palace was the Queen, why did the Emperor forbid the Queen from having any contact with the outside world?)
(If it wasn't the Queen, why did the people living in Rosa Marie Palace receive such high-level treatment?)
The color of the sky was always a strong blue-purple due to the influence of the barrier. Inside the Grand Palace, people were terrified and whispered to each other.
…
The boat carried the young men and women across the sparkling lake and into the sunny water palace. In addition to the "Dragon Tooth Soldiers", they were greeted by two young attendants dressed in the court costumes of the Western Continent.
"Hello, welcome to Rosa Marie Palace. I am Kelly, the chief attendant here."
The leading attendant smiled and extended his hand to the two of them. His face, as pretty and serene as a young girl, immediately made Samit and Lily feel a little relieved.
"We, we..."
"His Highness is resting. He won't see you for a while."
Kelly said gently and calmly: "Everything in Rosa Marie Palace is different from the outside, but as long as you follow the rules, remain silent and calm, you will be able to survive for a long time."
"Live long?"
The two young men's bodies trembled slightly.
"Rani, take them down and familiarize them with the job."
"yes."
The attendant named Rani nodded and took the young man away.
After watching the young man and woman leave, Kelly turned and walked into the main body of the palace built of white marble, passed through the brightly lit corridor, and entered the dark-toned room based on deep rose color.
Each window in the room was covered with two layers of heavy curtains, so the light was dim and one could barely see that every piece of furniture in the room was decorated with gold and silver mother-of-pearl. In the corner of the room stood a huge white marble jug filled with the owner's favorite blooming rosa canina.
In the center of the bedroom, under the high ceiling, there is a luxurious big bed, with curtains on all four sides hanging down to the carpet.
Kalil knelt in front of the big bed, clasped his hands over his heart, and uttered a desperate prayer through the heavy curtains.
"Your Highness, He sent two more young men... I lied to them, saying it was safe here... If they were called out, Rani would also give them wine mixed with sleeping powder and painkillers as usual to prevent them from dying in too much pain..."
…
…
In the evening, the lights of Rosa Marie Palace gradually lit up, and the palace was reflected on the moonlit lake, swaying gently with the waves.
【He still doesn't want to wake up? 】
A heavy, oppressive, and omnipresent voice rang out, enveloping the fragrant bedroom.
Hearing this voice, Kelly trembled all over.
"Yes, Your Highness still hasn't..."
[So many people died for him, yet he remained indifferent. He is truly a pure monster bred by the primordial darkness.]
A dragon-shaped black shadow flowed into the dim room, lifting the curtain as soft as water.
Yaris lay quietly on the big bed, wearing a silk nightgown with white ruffles, his delicate, thin face surrounded by pillows and flowers.
The long period of "magical sleep" made his already pale cheeks lose the last bit of blood color. His hands on the bedding were as cold as marble sculptures, and his thin chest was almost motionless. If it were not for the hair on the wings of his nose occasionally swaying slightly with the air flow, even Kelly, who took care of him day and night, would have mistakenly believed that the person lying on the bed was just a body that looked like it was alive.
"Yaris, I have good news for you. Your beloved brother has arrived in the imperial capital and is currently wandering between the North and South districts with a stray dog..."
"He once let a young couple, deeply in love, escape from the outskirts of Sais. Unfortunately, ten days after they separated from him, they were captured by my men. I sent them to Rosa Marie Palace to wait for him with you."
"Will he be surprised when he sees them again?"
"His Majesty……"
Kneeling beside him, Kelly cried out stiffly, "His Highness..."
"Why? Are you afraid that he'll stop breathing completely because of what he said?"
“No, no…”
"If you weren't his favorite attendant, I would have torn you apart and sprinkled your blood and entrails on him!"
“…”
"Go down and bring up the two young men we sent three days ago."
"His Majesty--"
"Get down!"
"Yes, sir."
Kelly lowered his head and left the dim bedroom.
The black shadow stretched out its slender sharp claws and copied Yaris's facial lines in the air.
"It's strange... I'm sure you're still alive, but your body exudes a silence unmatched by any inanimate object, as if the real you has long since left your body. The one lying here isn't a 'person' named Yaris, but an 'object', an 'indescribable object' that would terrify even those who know you best..."
"Is this your true self? You've never lived, nor have you ever died. You've always been caught between life and death... When you use your body, it's Yaris. Once you leave it, it becomes an object, a temporary carrier of your true self, created by the gods to fulfill their dark desires."
"Perhaps my feelings for you were twisted from the beginning... I longed for you, I chased you, loved you, hated you, trapped you, tortured you... Even though I knew I would gain nothing in the end, I still treated you as one of the few people in this world that didn't belong to me who could truly understand me..."
"I know you look down on me and laugh at me as a stupid beast, but—is it wrong for a living being to want to become a god and to reject death?"
"All life resists death, pursuing 'immortality'. Some choose the path of magic, constantly activating the body's potential to achieve longevity... Others advance science, allowing those who would otherwise die from serious injury or illness to survive... In pursuit of 'immortality', magic and science collaborate time and again, using experiments to combine completely different genes to create unprecedented forms of life..."
"You completely deny me, but you affirm all of humanity's attempts and struggles to defy death and pursue 'immortality'. You know that all of humanity's efforts so far have been blind explorations in the darkness, fleeting and futile! But I'm different! I've found the only correct path! I'm approaching the only correct answer!"
"—Jaris, I no longer want to find out who you are. What happened to Lucien? Who is the 'he' who is now using Lucien's body? Where did he come from? Was it fate, the gods, or you who brought 'him' to this world? I just want to walk the only correct path and hold the only correct answer in my hands."
…
…
On the evening of the second day after Thorin delivered the one hundred Rosamaris dyed red to the Grand Palace as agreed, Xiao Yun received a reply from the Grand Palace.
The reply was a piece of white silk with exquisite dark patterns, stuffed into the hands of a young man who was killed as a sacrifice and sent out of the palace to Thorin for disposal.
After receiving the corpse and the order from the Grand Palace, Thorin immediately delivered the silk to Xiao Yun.
"Sir, no matter how you look at it, this piece of silk doesn't look like an ordinary thing..."
"Um?"
Xiao Yun took the white silk calmly and found that the silk seemed to have been cut from Yaris's clothes. The surface of the silk exuded a faint sour smell of juice.
(Another world version of lemonade writing letters?)
"Anything else?"
"have."
Thorin knew Xiao Yun had close ties to the top brass of the Assassin's Order. He also received instructions from the Grand Palace, so he flattered him, "Last night, the Emperor's 'Dragon Tooth Soldiers' surrounded the entire Color Street and shut down all the brothels. The occupants—men, women, and children alike—were all taken away as accomplices of the traitors."
"This has nothing to do with me."
"But sir—there are members of the Green Scarf Army stationed in the North District. I heard they are plotting to disrupt order in the Imperial Capital and endanger His Majesty the Emperor... If they cause trouble in the North District, we will surely incur the Emperor's wrath."
“Is this something you need to be concerned about?”
Xiao Yun pursed his lips.
Thorin quickly lowered his head.
…
Xiao Yun returned to Luke's hiding place with the silk in his hand, and the boys under Luke also brought him good news.
"Master! We discovered a problem that few people noticed!"
"What's the problem?"
"Lake Oro is very large, and the area enclosed by the palace walls only accounts for one-tenth of the entire lake."
"Ten percent..."
Xiao Yun narrowed his eyes.
He opened the map and looked at it carefully, and found that the shape of Lake Oro was very much like a magatama, with its small head enclosed by the wall of the Grand Palace, but its big belly was exposed outside the wall.
"There are several islands on Lake Oro. The one closest to the Grand Palace is so close that you can reach the palace walls in just half a day by boat. However, the island is outside the palace and is not well defended."
"The defense is not tight..."
Xiao Yun instantly realized the opportunity.
(Given his ruthlessness and unscrupulous nature, he must have seen Red Rosamary by now and realized that this was my declaration of war. He has set a complete trap in the Grand Palace to welcome my arrival... However, my real plan is to use their own tactics against him...)
(While playing along, pretending I didn't know this was a trap He had set for me, I followed the path He had laid out to enter the water palace, find my brother, and awaken him, who was already in a state of extreme danger. Meanwhile, I planned my true escape route... The island in the middle of the lake closest to the Grand Palace was my escape route... Before the formal operation, I would have someone hide the boat in the reeds surrounding the island. Using the cover of night, I would silently approach the Grand Palace as a backup...)
(From now on, I have to pretend to be immersed in the joy of reconnecting with Kelly and the others...)
Xiao Yun took out a candle and placed the silk over the flame to slowly roast it. A cipher letter written in acidic juice, which only a few people could decipher even in the Silver Moon Palace, gradually appeared in front of him.
【His Majesty:
I'm Kyle.
He cannot destroy the 'demon sleep' and force His Highness to wake up, but He visits the water palace every day, kills a girl or boy as a sacrifice, and pollutes His Highness's body with their blood and the painful screams of their dying.
His method was obviously very effective. Although His Highness was still in a deep sleep, his health condition deteriorated rapidly. His body became colder and colder, and his heartbeat and breathing became weaker and weaker.
Perhaps, it won't be long before His Highness will have to choose between eternal sleep and waking up.
The evening before yesterday, He sent two young men and women to the Water Palace. They were a couple in love, one named Lily and the other named Samit. Lily was pregnant, and He planned to wait until she was two months pregnant before killing them, gathering the resentment of the pregnant woman and her unborn baby, as well as the hatred of the husband who had watched his wife and child die tragically...
(He had actually been using... and now was using the resentment and hatred of Samit, Lily, and the unborn baby in Lily's belly to pollute his brother's body...)
Xiao Yun felt a slight chill in his heart.
He knew that he could not wait any longer and had to take action as soon as possible.
"Luke—"
"Master, what is it?"
"Help me hire three boats near Lake Oro. Each boat needs at least two boatmen who are good swimmers..."
"clear!"
Luke nodded seriously, looking at Xiao Yun eagerly: "The man trapped in the Grand Palace... who... who is he?"
"He is my most important relative. Just like you were willing to take the risk of sneaking into the Evil Ghost Gang to kill the gang leader for your brother, I am willing to do anything for him."
Xiao Yun said heavily.
"I see……"
Luke nodded, not quite understanding.
…
The next morning, Luke came back from outside, followed by Johnny who looked depressed.
"Lord Claude—"
"What happened?"
Xiao Yun, who had already learned about the changes in Color Street from Thorin, asked casually.
"You, what you warned me about before... really happened..."
Johnny said with a sad face, "The night before last, all the brothels on Color Street were sealed off for inspection, but Military Advisor Tari... not only did he escape safely, he also found his way to my new residence and asked me to take him in. I don't know how to deal with this matter."
"Give him your place, and then—"
Xiao Yun thought for a moment and decided to drag Johnny into his plan: "How many people around you are absolutely trustworthy?"
"perhaps……"
Johnny counted on his fingers and gave a number.
"Bring them all to the North City District and hand them over to Luke for unified management and command."
"ah?"
Johnny was stunned.
Luke was also surprised.
"Me? Can I do it?"
"I never make mistakes in judging people. You must have confidence in yourself."
Xiao Yun patted Luke's shoulder encouragingly and added, "You are a crucial part of my plan."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
