As noon approached, a woman's scream rang through the entire Yan Residence, filled with nothing but despair and terror.
For all of Yu City, and even the Qi Kingdom, this was a day of devastating blows.
Yan Xia, the most important figure in the Yan Residence and the current head of the Yan Clan, was found dead in his bed by a maid.
His corpse was so gruesome that it shocked every physician and mortician in Yu City.
Below his chin, his neck was hollow, with only a small section of throat bone remaining. His vocal cords, flesh, and meridians were all gone. Both eyes had vanished, and there was a fist-sized bloody hole in his abdomen. More than half his intestines were missing, along with his liver and kidneys.
After examinations by several healers, the bite marks on what remained of the corpse and the lingering smell led them to conclude that Yan Xia, the Yan Clan's most powerful patriarch, had been bitten to death by a rat.
When news of Yan Xia's death leaked out and spread throughout Yu City, people from all walks of life had yet to recover from their horror and disbelief before learning the details. It struck them like a bolt from the blue. They simply could not believe it.
Who could have imagined that a living person would be gnawed to death by a rat?
Who could have imagined that the unfortunate victim would happen to be Yan Xia?
Who could have imagined that the Yan Residence, renowned for its tight security, would fail to guard against a single rat, and that this very rat would so dramatically take Yan Xia's life?
Perhaps life was destined to be a drama, with great sorrow following great joy. However joyous yesterday's Birthday Banquet had been,