Chapter 9: Surprise or Not?
Su Xiao walked out from the main gate of the Holy Court, a medal of nobility hanging on his chest — a Duke’s Medal!
As soon as Su Xiao descended the steps, the imperial soldiers lining both sides of the path raised their weapons and knelt on one knee, armor clashing with full momentum.
This kind of scene was also one of the reasons people pursued power — wherever you go, there are those who revere you and kneel before you.
Su Xiao walked along the path, with Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha following behind him.
Just as he reached the end of the path, a carriage was parked there. The carriage bore the Moon Wolf crest on its side, and the door was wide open.
“Though we detest that old man, we also trust his judgment.”
Li Lin was sitting inside the carriage. This upright duke always prioritized the greater good, no matter the situation.
Old Yinbi weren’t necessarily all bad people. Take Duke Li Lin, for example — he was ruthless in his actions, but most of what he did was for the people and the empire. As for occasional selfish desires, who could be completely without them?
A saying circulated within Yalans City: without Duke Li Lin, the empire would lose all hope.
In fact, more than 30% of officials would support Duke Li Lin becoming the Saint King. As for the remaining 70% of imperial officials, they had long since rotted.
Su Xiao boarded the carriage. This time, Baha shot a glare at Amu, who looked a bit wronged as he sat beside the coachman. The coachman trembled, wanting to say something but not daring to.
The carriage quickly sped toward the outskirts of Yalans City. The horses pulling it were two unicorns, far faster than rhino horses.
Within at most 20 minutes, the carriage had left Yalans City. About half an hour later, it arrived at a vineyard — the very winery where the Raging Lion Duke had been assassinated.
The ‘White Wine Winery’ was completely surrounded by soldiers, conservatively estimated at over ten thousand. Some minor officials or wealthy merchants were gathered together, some already sobbing uncontrollably.
These people wept sincerely — not because of their deep friendship with the Raging Lion Duke, but because after spending a large amount of gold pounds to buy connections, the Raging Lion Duke had died. That meant everything was for nothing. Some would go bankrupt within a short time, others would be stripped of their official positions.
The soldiers made way for Su Xiao’s carriage to pass. As soon as it passed, the soldiers closed ranks again, sealing off the winery layer by layer.
The carriage stopped. As Su Xiao stepped down, he caught a faint sour smell. Not far away on the grape trellises, the tendrils of the grapevines had withered, and clusters of grapes had turned a grayish white.
Someone had rapidly absorbed the plant life force from the surrounding area and converted it into hallucinogenic gas. Before the gas fully dissipated, it left a sour odor.
Su Xiao stood before the grape trellises and observed for a moment. With his combat experience, he could deduce many things.
Following the gravel path of the winery, Su Xiao arrived at an ancient castle. The castle had seen many years — the outer walls had begun to weather, revealing beautiful stone patterns.
The main door of the castle was wide open, and a figure lay sprawled inside. Judging by the clothing, it was a maid.
Su Xiao stepped forward and quickly determined that the maid wasn’t dead, just knocked unconscious. This style of action immediately made Su Xiao think that the assassin didn’t want to harm innocents, even willing to take extra risks for it.
Su Xiao pressed his hand against the maid’s nape. Her cervical vertebrae weren’t damaged, not even misaligned. From the damage to the subcutaneous soft tissue, he judged that the enemy’s hand was small.
Based on the size of that hand, the enemy’s height was around 157–163 cm, weight under 50 kg, female.
Su Xiao could only deduce this much. Bubu Wang stepped forward and sniffed.
“Woof.”
“Rose fragrance?”
Su Xiao frowned. The empire’s current season was August, and roses bloomed from May to June. Why would a female assassin wear floral perfume? Or perhaps she had accidentally brushed against it.
Female, had been in a place with floral perfume, the strike direction was slightly off — likely an injury at the waist affecting the body’s overall balance.
Su Xiao’s mind conjured an image: a previously injured female assassin hiding in some brothel within Yalans City to recover, and before the operation, she had brushed against rose-scented perfume on a prostitute.
“Kukulin, don’t block us.”
Lady Moon Wolf winked at Su Xiao. Su Xiao didn’t speak but walked into the castle.
Just before the wine-tasting room door inside the castle, Su Xiao smelled a strong stench of blood.
Pushing open the slightly ajar door of the wine-tasting room, a brutal scene appeared.
A very sturdy corpse was hanging. Its chest had over a dozen holes — not blasted open, but dug out piece by piece of flesh and organs with some sharp weapon.
This was the Raging Lion Duke. His head also had a hole dug out, a large piece of skull torn away.
Su Xiao stood diagonally below the corpse and observed for a while, roughly reconstructing the combat scenario.
The Raging Lion Duke had stayed overnight here. He was a man who loved wine dearly. This morning, he wanted a drink, but the poison in the wine paralyzed him, leaving him unable to move. There were two assassins — one male, one female. The male handled the assassination, the female took down the surrounding servants.
These two tasks were nearly completed simultaneously. From this, Su Xiao deduced that the two assassins were very familiar with the winery. To assassinate the Raging Lion Duke, they had even been willing to lurk here for months or longer, gaining the duke’s basic trust to facilitate poisoning the wine.
“Duke Li Lin, if I’m not mistaken, there were two assassins — one male, one female. They were servants or laborers at the winery, having worked here for at least several months. They wouldn’t have had much contact with each other on a daily basis. The male was on the thinner side. The female had recently left the winery and was injured. If they were death warriors, they would still be in the winery, waiting for the other dukes to arrive — that is, for you and me to show up. If they weren’t death warriors, after a successful assassination, they would likely hide in…”
After Su Xiao briefly explained the situation, Duke Li Lin looked at him with confusion.
“In that case, I’ll send people to search.”
Duke Li Lin replied politely, but in truth, he didn’t think finding the assassins would be that simple.
However, a few minutes later, a series of roars came from outside the castle, followed by a loud crash.
“Looks like they were death warriors.”
Su Xiao waved his hand, tossing out a small piece of ceramic shard. The hemp rope holding the Raging Lion Duke’s corpse snapped, and the body thudded to the ground.
Hurried footsteps approached. Several soldiers rushed into the castle through the main entrance, all holding long weapons. Seven long weapons pierced through a woman’s body, lifting her up. The woman was on the verge of death.
On the woman’s waist was a bloodstained bandage — this was the female assassin.
“How… is this possible… why…”
The female assassin muttered weakly, her body still pierced by three spikes that restricted her from manipulating the energy within. She couldn’t understand, no matter how hard she tried, how a plan laid out over half a year had been exposed halfway through execution. Not only that, but their physical characteristics were known, and worse still, the fact that she was injured.
The female assassin, her face smeared with blood and the light in her eyes dim, firmly believed there must be a mole — otherwise, this could never have happened.
Li Lin and Lady Moon Wolf both turned their gazes toward Su Xiao. Li Lin still maintained a stern expression, but his ugly complexion showed just how terrible his mood was.
Understandably so. Li Lin and Lady Moon Wolf had just managed to restrain one old fox, only to find they had unleashed something even more terrifying. In less than ten minutes, he had already rooted out the assassins.