Chapter 1205 - 20: Shocking Turn of Events
Chapter 1205 - 20: Shocking Turn of Events
Su Xiao squatted in front of Sharin Herbert’s corpse. The girl’s cause of death was a bladed weapon piercing through her heart. The strike was clean and decisive, and after stabbing through her chest, the killer had even hooked her up on the weapon, then casually flung her aside.
Su Xiao’s fingers pushed open the wound on the girl’s back. The elasticity of the severed muscle tissue was clearly reduced, indicating she had been dead for over three hours.
Su Xiao casually drew a Longsword from the waist of a nearby Guard. After observing the surroundings for a few minutes, he finally stood before the flowerbed; the killer had most likely stood here when committing the murder.
The killer had pierced Sharin Herbert from behind; this could be seen from the wound. When it came to judging wounds, Su Xiao was absolutely at expert level.
Su Xiao tossed the Sword in his hand back to that Guard, then walked slowly to the flowerbed. After the killer hooked Sharin Herbert up, he had directly flung her onto this flowerbed. This could be determined from the large patches of bruising at the girl’s collarbone.
The girl’s body had been thrown onto the flowerbed, yet there were no bloodstains along the flowerbed’s edge, though the smell of blood was obvious.
Su Xiao took out an iron can and a flashlight from his Storage Space. Under Reincarnation Paradise’s Disguise mechanism, his current actions didn’t seem out of place.
Ssshhh~
White spray misted across the flowerbed. Su Xiao switched on the Blue‑Light flashlight, and large patches of fluorescence appeared along the flowerbed’s edge; the bloodstains here had been cleaned.
Based on the direction of the bloodstains, Su Xiao judged that the girl had not died immediately after being thrown onto the flowerbed. She had struggled slightly for a while and finally died here. After she died, someone dragged her down from the flowerbed and cleaned away the bloodstains on it.
After Su Xiao pieced together this entire sequence of murder, he found it very unbelievable.
First of all, this was the Royal Palace. Who would dare to kill here? And what was the motive? A girl who had never left the Royal Palace—whom could she possibly have offended?
Secondly, Sharin Herbert’s personality was very lively. Why did she not Appeal for help after her chest was pierced? The agony of having one’s chest pierced and being lifted off the ground was absolutely not something a thirteen‑year‑old girl could endure. Her shrieks would have echoed through the entire Royal Palace. Or rather, she was unable to Appeal for help or scream; that was the most reasonable deduction.
Su Xiao loosened Sharin Herbert’s clothing. Although she was very young, he could not rule out the possibility of someone with a special taste. Five Guards formed a human wall, blocking the Queen and others’ line of sight.
"What are you doing, let go of Sharin!"
In the distance, the Queen let out a helpless wail, and Commander Kalon at her side also showed anger in his eyes.
The five Guards formed a human wall and drew the Longswords at their waists. Their meaning was obvious: whoever stepped forward would be cut down.
Su Xiao found nothing from Sharin Herbert’s upper body; it was basically a mangled mess of flesh and blood. But when he removed the clothing from Sharin Herbert’s lower body, his brows furrowed.
"Are all the Royal Family’s Princesses... this open?"
Su Xiao murmured, then signaled a Guard to carry away Sharin Herbert’s corpse.
"Iron Hand, where are you taking Sharin! Let me... see her one more time, I beg you, I beg you, just take it as a mother’s last request...."
The Queen collapsed onto the ground, looking extremely helpless.
"Let her see."
Su Xiao felt there was something very off about this Queen. Her grief was not faked, but her behavior was very wrong.
A Guard carried Sharin Herbert’s corpse to the Queen and lifted the black cloth covering the body.
"Sharin~"
The Queen’s hands trembled slightly.
With a sudden retching sound, the Queen vomited a mouthful of Black Blood without warning, then toppled to the ground with a thud.
Commander Kalon rushed forward, pressing two fingers against the Queen’s neck. Moments later, cold sweat seeped from Commander Kalon’s forehead.
"The Queen... is dead."
Commander Kalon’s cheeks twitched slightly. If Sharin Herbert’s death was his dereliction of duty, then the Queen dying right in front of him...
[Hint: The Side Task has undergone changes, Difficulty Level has soared drastically.]
[Hidden Side Task: Royal Secret]
Difficulty Level: Level 32
Task Description: Within 72 hours, find the Murderer who killed Sharin Herbert.
Task Time Limit: 72 hours.
Task Reward: Shadow Stone (Special Item/Golden Gem)
Task Penalty: Old King’s trust reset to zero, Iron Hand position forcibly stripped.
...
The situation took a drastic turn. Su Xiao had originally thought this was just a Side Task to earn some extra cash, but the Difficulty suddenly spiked, directly breaking through Level 30 and reaching Level 32.
Sharin Herbert had died a gruesome death. Her grief‑stricken mother also died after taking one look at her. Judging from the changes to the corpse, this Queen had ingested a potent poison beforehand.
"It’s over, it’s over, everything is over."
Commander Kalon’s lips began to tremble. He let out a bitter laugh and suddenly drew the Longsword at his waist.
Boom!
Grass fragments exploded under Su Xiao’s feet as he lunged straight at Commander Kalon, and so did the five Guards.
Slice.
Blood sprayed out as Commander Kalon slashed his own throat with the Longsword in his hand. The cut was extremely deep; blood spurted out at least five meters.
Su Xiao clamped one hand around Commander Kalon’s throat, and Kalon’s hands seized Su Xiao’s arm.
"You all... will... die, beneath the throne..."
Commander Kalon’s life faded away, and blood dripped from Su Xiao’s cheek.
A Princess dead in the rear garden of the Royal Palace, stabbed through the chest from behind and then thrown onto the flowerbed—after a preliminary examination, Su Xiao had obtained several crucial pieces of information.
First, Sharin Herbert died from massive blood loss due to heart damage. At only thirteen, she had often been doing that sort of heh‑heh‑heh with someone, most likely voluntarily.
Sharin Herbert was discovered three hours after her Death, and her mother died shortly after looking at her body, the cause of Death being ingestion of a potent poison in advance.
Just after this Queen died, Commander Kalon, Legion Commander of the Royal direct guard, killed himself, leaving behind the words, "You all will die, beneath the throne..."
"Beneath the throne" again. Su Xiao had already heard this phrase once from the High Priest.
Without a doubt, some secret was hidden within the Royal Capital, and it absolutely involved the Old King.
Thud, thud...
Bodies hit the ground one after another. It was the dozens of Royal direct guard around them who had been responsible for watching over the corpses and for accompanying Commander Kalon.
A Guard went forward to check their condition. All of them were dead, their cause of Death being the biting and crushing of poison sacs in their mouths.
Well, that did it. The rear garden that had been so "lively" just moments ago was now eerily silent, with dozens of corpses lying on the ground.
The situation was clearly out of control. Su Xiao took a few Guards and quickly headed toward the banquet hall.
Two minutes later.
Bam.
The banquet hall doors were flung open as Su Xiao entered with five Guards. Blood was still dripping from his left hand—that was Commander Kalon’s blood. One Guard behind him carried Sharin Herbert’s corpse in his arms; this corpse was the origin of the entire incident.
The loud bang of the door made everyone jump—not just the officials and Princes, even the Old King was startled, spilling the Wine in his cup.
The Old King’s eyes narrowed. Those who knew him understood that he was already somewhat angry. But when he saw the blood on Su Xiao’s hand, the anger in his heart gradually faded.
"Iron Hand, why have you brought the corpse here?"
Seeing the bloodstains on Su Xiao’s hand, the Old King knew something was wrong. He trusted this Iron Hand, Su Xiao; otherwise he wouldn’t have entrusted the Golden lion token to him.
"The situation is roughly like this..."
Su Xiao softly recounted to the Old King what had happened in the garden. The Old King unconsciously set his winecup flat, tilting it so the Wine inside spilled out.
Although the Old King’s expression remained mostly unchanged, that winecup showed that he had lost some composure.
"They... are once again... seeking... Annihilation Law..."
The Old King murmured almost unconsciously. Because his voice was too low, Su Xiao only caught a few words; two of them interested him very much—"Annihilation Law."
Compared to the Main Task, Su Xiao desired even more to find the Relic of the Annihilation Law in this world. As for the Main Task, Su Xiao had even considered tying up the Old King, slaughtering 48 of the 49 Princes or Princesses, and randomly picking one obedient one to inherit the throne.
Unfortunately, the Royal Capital was crawling with hidden experts. The Holy Warrior was a high‑level force that could not be ignored. If Su Xiao really started a rebellion, a mutually destructive outcome would be the best he could hope for.
The Main Task’s time limit was as long as 28 days. Now that clues about the Relic of the Annihilation Law seemed to have emerged, Su Xiao planned to focus on this matter first; the Main Task could wait.
As for clues to the Relic of the Annihilation Law, the "Hidden Side Task: Royal Secret" was definitely the best breakthrough point.
PS: (Once Wasted mosquito’s cold gets better, the liver‑bursting update marathon will begin.)
novel bin