The seventh copy
With a suspect in mind, Du Ming prepared to test it out.
I took a look at the favorability level. Well... the Fourth Prince Yu Shaojun's favorability level is 15, which is five points lower than the Sixth Prince Yu Shaoqian's favorability level.
It must be said that they are indeed brothers.
'Left or right' Apart from the fixed classes to attend and not being able to move around freely at night, the rest of the time is quite free.
Players can choose to visit brothers and friends, or go to other places to experience the local customs and culture or start side quests.
Originally, Du Ming wanted to find an opportunity to knock the two brothers unconscious, but the perverted thing about this copy was that no external drugs could be used.
In other words, Du Ming currently has only two choices: either knock him out directly or go to the market outside the palace to buy knockout drugs.
It's easy to figure out that once he buys the knockout drug, he will definitely be traced. After knowing the truth, Du Ming will probably face death.
Du Ming stood at the door of the pharmacy, hesitant. But when he saw that there was only one kind of medicine on display, he made a decision.
On the shelf in the pharmacy: knockout drugs.
[The player purchased 2 knockout drugs.]
Walking out of the pharmacy, two guards stood outside. Du Ming had left Li Jin behind today. Although Li Jin now had a very good impression of him, he would never forget one thing: Li Jin's greatest loyalty would always be to Madam Lian.
Of course, the other party must not know about buying medicine.
Unlike the two guards, he is the most loyal one.
"Xiaojia and Xiaoyi." Du Ming called out, "Let's go for a walk."
"Yes, Master."
With the idea of getting to know the entire market thoroughly, Du Ming really started to stroll around, and when he got tired, he asked the guards to take turns carrying him.
As a result, halfway through the tour, a system prompt suddenly popped up.
[Discovered the Grand Prince's Mansion.]
Du Ming: “?”
A bright star suddenly appeared in the upper left corner of the map. I clicked it and saw that it was right to my left.
To its left was a wall, which, based on the location, could be inferred to be the backyard of the Grand Prince's residence. Even though it wasn't the main entrance, the system still very kindly provided a prompt.
Someone leaned out and took a few steps forward, and indeed saw a back door. There were many servants walking hurriedly inside, as if they were purchasing something.
The eldest prince...
Du Ming couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
The appearance of a new character means a new plot, and generally, if they are not important characters, the system will not specifically point them out.
Besides, Du Ming has never met this eldest prince.
How about visiting today instead of today?
This thought flashed through Du Ming's mind, and he took two guards to meet this so-called eldest royal brother, but suddenly found a group of people coming from another corner.
Hmm...the guy in the lead unexpectedly looks familiar.
Someone hurriedly stepped back, and when the group of people came in, he realized that they were really acquaintances.
Isn’t this Cuiyuan, the maidservant beside Madam Lian?
!
You noticed something was wrong.
[Side Quest: Cuiyuan goes in and out of the Grand Prince's Mansion. Who gave the order?]
[The branch line has been included in the memory column. 】
Another small card was included. As for who had instructed this, he had no idea who it was, except for his adoptive mother.
What made Du Ming curious was why Madam Lian and the eldest prince were in contact.
Mysteries were revealed one after another, and the whole plot became increasingly confusing. Someone looked at his own small body and realized that it was not suitable for a visit today, so he kept this in mind.
The unexpected incident during his stroll made Du Ming realize that collecting clues couldn't be limited to the palace. So for the next few days, he went to school in the morning and went out in the afternoon to avoid Li Jin.
I did collect quite a few clues.
For example, the restaurant incident.
【Restaurant anecdotes】
[Introduction: Hearing that a monster has destroyed Ogasa Village, the people gather those with sorcery skills to go up the mountain and destroy the monster.]
Although it is not clear how this matter is related to the main storyline, it has been included in the small card.
There are many similar things, and Du Ming also took this opportunity to understand the structure of the eldest prince's mansion.
Time passed by quickly, and it was the second prince's birthday again. This time, Du Ming had learned his lesson and did not join in the toasts but remained alert throughout the whole process.
The benefits of keeping an eye on all directions and listening carefully to all sides are fully demonstrated at this moment.
He saw a man leave the crowd and hand the gift box to the second prince's attendant, then walked over hurriedly without leaving a trace.
"The eldest prince has important matters to attend to, so I'm afraid he can't come today. I hope His Royal Highness the Second Prince won't mind this small token of my appreciation."
"Very well, very well. The eldest prince shares the emperor's worries about state affairs day and night, so it's only natural that he's busy. But he clearly said he would come a few days ago, so why today...?"
The gift giver showed obvious disgust on his face and curled his lips and said, "It's still about that matter."
"What's going on?"
The man came closer and glanced down, "Just like the seventh time..." Before he finished speaking, the obedient person immediately understood and nodded subconsciously.
Someone hiding in the dark also understood instantly.
You noticed something was wrong.
[Side Quest: This matter seems to be related to the Seventh Prince, but he is not...]
[The branch line has been included in the memory column. 】
really.
He clicked on the memory column, which contained a series of card stories. By linking these details together, the previously unclear plot finally began to make sense.
The Seventh Prince's death was not simple, and seemed to be related to the word "monster". The First Prince was elusive, but he was responsible for the Seventh Prince's death, and now he was sent to handle similar matters.
It's somewhat suspicious.
Du Ming secretly emphasized this point, and when he saw that the two of them stopped talking, he quietly left the place.
There were no mistakes in the subsequent process, and the second prince was still drunk.
The only difference from before was that this time Du Ming made sure that the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince were completely unconscious before being carried back to their own courtyard.
The fact that it went so smoothly was naturally due to the knockout drug he had administered.
After the others left, Du Ming, as usual, asked someone to carry the second prince back to his room.
This time, he didn't come up and say that he couldn't sleep at night. Instead, after confirming that the other party was a little conscious, he took out a "mask" from the player space.
This is different from ordinary □□, and is a visual error caused by the impression in people's subconscious mind.
However, there is a limitation, which is that it cannot be used when the deceived object is awake, otherwise there will be only one result, and that is failure.
Fortunately, the second prince was not conscious at this time.
Du Ming put on a 'mask' and guided him verbally, "Second brother... Second brother, who do you think I am?"
The Second Prince narrowed his eyes, his brows raised in confusion, "Eighth...Royal Brother?"
"No, have you forgotten me?"
"Second brother, I'm Shao Min."
"Shao Min...?" Yu Shaoqian's face suddenly showed a sense of discomfort and distortion, as if he was recalling many bad things. "No... You are not."
"I am."
Finally, the Second Prince gave up, "It's Shao Min, you are... the Seventh Prince."
He looked painful, but a hint of relief was hidden deep in his eyes. "Seventh Brother, you're here. Are you missing me too? That's why you came back today, my birthday?"
"Is it very cold over there? The soil in Qishan is very cold..."
Qishan?
Isn’t that the name of the mountain behind where we learn martial arts?
Du Ming suddenly felt blessed. It seemed that the seventh prince Yu Shaomin should be buried somewhere in the back mountain.
At this time, the second prince was still speaking.
"But how did you come back? You clearly..." He paused before continuing: "It wasn't me who didn't save you back then. It wasn't me, it was my eldest brother..."
Before Yu Shaoqian could finish his words, the outside suddenly became quiet.
An evil wind blew and the candles in the house went out.
Du Ming could clearly feel that there was an extra breathing sound inside the entire space.
In a flash, Du Ming returned to the place he had chosen at the beginning.
Why does the back of my neck feel a little itchy?
He subconsciously touched it with his hand and found a few strands of chopped hair.
In the next few choices, Du Ming tested the other princes one after another and found that none of the princes in the Palace Pavilion were the murderer behind the scenes.
Then the only person who arouses suspicion is the eldest prince.
But Du Ming tried several times and found that he could not successfully enter the eldest prince's mansion. Even if he did enter, he could not see the eldest prince himself.
This NPC is becoming more and more mysterious the more I think about it.
The Seventh Prince's tomb was quite easy to find. Du Ming simply wandered around Flag Mountain and found it. Unfortunately, there was a tombstone but no body. The only thing he found was a fish-tail key that could be used to open the storeroom door.
Afterwards, Du Ming thought about it and realized that there must be some plot point that had not been triggered, which resulted in the eldest prince's storyline being unable to be opened.
So when he returned to the original place where he chose his identity, Du Ming did not choose the identity of a prince this time.
One reason is that every time he encountered danger on the second prince’s birthday, the plot seemed to end there.
Second, Du Ming's intuition told him that the other two identities were there and could not be just for show.
So, this time he chose A - a child from an ordinary family.
After the scene changed, what Du Ming saw when he opened his eyes was a broken and leaky thatched roof.
At this time, a woman walked in from outside. Her hair was messy and her clothes were patched.
[Name: Wang Xiaocao.]
Age: 38.
[Position: None.]
[Grade: None.]
[Favorability: 70. 】
[Character Introduction: Your mother raised you alone.]
There was nothing strange about the character, but Du Ming was a little surprised at the other party's favorability.
Favorability 70? Surprisingly high.
When the woman saw him wake up, the tiredness on his face disappeared. She walked over happily and touched his forehead, "Thank God, my son's fever has finally subsided."
"How's it going? Does your head still hurt?"
Du Ming shook his head.
Wang Xiaocao smiled and said, "If it hurts, tell me." Then she slapped her forehead and said, "Oh, look at my head. My little Shitou has been sleeping for so long, he must be hungry. Wait for me to bring him something to eat."
What was brought was a bowl of egg custard. While eating the egg custard, Du Ming learned roughly about his current identity from Wang Xiaocao.
His current name is Wang Shitou, he is five years old, and takes his mother Wang Xiaocao’s surname. He is an outsider in this village.
The reason they came here was because they had fled a flood in their original home. His father had left his mother and son behind during the escape and was nowhere to be found.
As outsiders and an orphan with a widowed mother, the two did not have a good situation in the village.
Wang Shitou developed a fever when he was accidentally pushed into the river while arguing with another child and was frightened.
Originally, Wang Xiaocao wanted to report the matter to the police, but the village head persuaded him to give up.
The porridge they drank was a gift of apology from the other party. Perhaps because he knew that he had let the Wang family down, the village head also gathered the villagers to send some food rations.
Having said that, Wang Xiaocao looked at Du Ming guiltily and was comforted by the latter.
After resting for another two days, on the third day, Du Ming finally got Wang Xiaocao's approval to go out.
The first NPC he met when he went out made him realize that this side quest was not simple.
[Name: Yu Dabao.]
Age: 30.
[Position: None.]
[Grade: None.]
[Favorability: 10. 】
[Character introduction: A fellow villager who has little to do with you.]
Du Ming's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
A villager with whom he has little connection has such a low level of favorability towards a five-year-old child.
What happens if it does matter?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
