Escaping with His Life

The bedchamber.

Ren Ye stood beside Lian'er, staring gravely into his room, tension gripping his heart.

The situation within Prince Huai's Residence was complicated. Even a trivial matter could spark disaster-or cost someone their head. The servants attending Zhu Zigui were all old hands who had spent years in the residence. There was no chance anyone had simply "blundered into" Prince Huai's bedchamber.

All three hairs had snapped. Someone must have slipped into his room while he was visiting the princess consort.

Whoosh!

As he pondered this, Er Leng, who had just gone inside to investigate, darted back out without making a single footstep. "Your Highness, there's no one inside."

"Did you check everywhere?" Ren Ye asked cautiously.

"Definitely no one." The simple, guileless look had vanished from Er Leng's face, replaced by seriousness and composure. "But we still need to search the room in case the intruder left hidden weapons or traps."

"I'll summon people to search at once," Lian'er interjected.

Ren Ye looked at her. "Remember, only people we can trust. Not too many-three to five will do."

"Yes." Lian'er bowed and hurried away.

Standing at the entrance to the bedchamber, Er Leng rested his right hand on the Famous Blade Invite the Moon at his side. He asked Ren Ye curiously, "Your Highness, how did you discover someone had entered your bedchamber?"

"I have my ways." Ren Ye answered evenly, lost in thought.

He had tied the hairs in place when no one was watching. Even Er Leng knew nothing about them.

Ren Ye had worked along the border for years and taken part in several undercover operations. He had long grown accustomed to surviving dangerous environments, and many of his actions were instinctive. Tying hairs in place was merely standard procedure. He also liked to keep his phone completely wiped: chats, call histories, everything stayed at zero. He never downloaded any mini-apps that might reveal his daily habits.

Of course, Ren Ye himself disliked this habit. He considered it an illness-the sort that made everyone look suspicious. Yet that illness had saved his life several times.

Standing in the corridor beneath the flickering lamplight, Ren Ye began "reading" Zhu Zigui's memories, hoping to discover whether the useless fool had hidden anything important in his bedchamber.

He carefully went through them but recalled nothing significant.

If they weren't stealing something, what exactly had they entered my room to do?

Tap, tap...

Footsteps approached as Lian'er returned with four trusted eunuchs.

"Greetings, Your Highness." The four bowed respectfully.

According to Zhu Zigui's memories, these personal eunuchs and maids were the only people around him he could trust. But that trust was not absolute. They could still betray him.

Ren Ye nodded slightly in acknowledgment and gave Er Leng a meaningful look.

"Come inside with me." Keeping his hand on Invite the Moon, Er Leng led the four eunuchs into the chamber.

The doors of the main bedchamber stood open inward. Ren Ye and Lian'er remained in the corridor, watching without daring to approach.

Er Leng and the four nimble young eunuchs spread out and searched carefully, going through every corner and every place that was difficult to see. They even tested several teapots for poison with silver needles, but found nothing unusual.

Standing in the center of the chamber, Er Leng looked up at the roof beams and reminded them meticulously, "Check the dusty areas for marks. Be thorough."

"Yes."

The young eunuch on the left wiped away his sweat, got down on his hands and knees, and inched along the bookshelves, searching for traces.

Beside the bed, a delicate-featured young eunuch of around sixteen or seventeen respectfully removed his shoes and outer robe before carefully feeling his way up from the footstool.

His was actually the most difficult task. People in ancient times observed strict distinctions of rank, and imperial rules were especially severe. If he discovered something excessively private on the prince's bed, he could easily lose his head. After all, servants at the very bottom had neither official connections nor powerful patrons...

Life was hard for nobodies, no matter the era.

The young eunuch trembled with fear but dared not be anything less than thorough. Before long, sweat beaded on his forehead.

Er Leng dropped soundlessly from a roof beam and approached Ren Ye to report, "Your Highness, there are no signs of an intruder hiding here. I believe...!"

Thump!

Just then, the young eunuch on the bed lifted the crimson bedding. His right foot inadvertently kicked the bed frame with a dull thud, drawing everyone's attention.

"You clumsy servant...!" An older eunuch turned to scold him.

"Huh?"

The young eunuch froze where he lay on the bed. He stared curiously beneath the bedding, where a soft, fleshy worm he could not identify slowly uncurled its body.

Er Leng whipped around, a powerful killing intent suddenly radiating from him.

Shing!

The Famous Blade Invite the Moon was drawn from its handmade leather sheath, and Er Leng shouted, "Don't...!"

Pfft!

The fleshy worm on the bed emitted an eerie black glow and shot upward like a bullet, plunging straight between the young eunuch's eyebrows.

Everything happened too quickly for anyone to react. From the corridor, Ren Ye saw only a brilliant flash of black light before the young eunuch toppled backward off the bed.

"Aah!!!"

An agonized scream followed. The young eunuch clutched his forehead, his body convulsing as he rolled across the floor. "That... that insect egg burrowed into my skull... Your Highness, save... save me...!"

The other three eunuchs reacted first. Without thinking, they started toward him.

"Don't move!" Er Leng rushed through the doorway to stop them.

Ren Ye and Lian'er followed close behind. Ren Ye stared at the young eunuch in horror. "Er Leng, save him!"

"I can't! Your Highness, don't come closer!" Er Leng shielded Ren Ye, every muscle taut. Holding his saber in one hand, he fixed his eyes on the young eunuch on the floor, seemingly ready to stake his life on a desperate fight.

"Aah!! Help... help...!"

The young eunuch clutched his forehead, his body already twisting out of shape. He struggled desperately, pleading in a shrill voice.

"It... it hurts... pfft!"

He suddenly rolled over and braced himself on all fours. As he roared, a jet of black flame burst from his mouth.

The sight stunned Ren Ye completely. Though he stood far away, he could feel the searing heat of those black flames. Even the stone floor began to smoke.

Boom!

Flames erupted from the crown of the young eunuch's head, distorting his silhouette. In less than two breaths, black fire engulfed his entire body, burning him from the inside out.

Everyone immediately retreated outside the chamber. Terrified, they watched with wide eyes, unable to do anything to help.

About ten breaths later, the black flames dwindled and finally went out.

The young eunuch, who had been so lively and cautious moments before, had left behind only a few bone fragments and a foul stench drifting through the chamber.

In just over a dozen breaths, he had been burned alive, burned to nothing.

Ren Ye stared blankly at the human-shaped scorch mark and fragments of bone on the floor, a chill creeping up the back of his neck.

During his career, he had seen countless corpses and horrific crime scenes. Compared with ordinary people, his tolerance was nothing short of monstrous. Yet at that moment, all he felt was lingering terror and dread!

Had he not habitually tied three hairs across the chamber doors, he would have been the one getting onto that bed. Caught completely unprepared, he knew he could not have dealt with that "fleshy worm"...

The delicate-featured young eunuch had effectively taken a fatal blow in his place.

Merely imagining it made Ren Ye's scalp prickle and his legs feel as heavy as lead.

"Your... Your Highness!" Er Leng pushed hard against Ren Ye's shoulder and called loudly.

Ren Ye slowly came back to himself. As his mind cleared, he asked almost instinctively, "Someone wants to kill me?"

Er Leng was surprised that his master had not wet himself in fright. In his experience, Zhu Zigui should have suffered a complete emotional breakdown by now.

"Please wait, Your Highness. I'll go inside and examine it." With that, Er Leng entered again, saber in hand.

He circled the scorch marks and used the tip of Invite the Moon to scrape at the debris on the floor. At last, his gaze settled on the charred, elongated husk of a fleshy worm.

"Your Highness, I was born in the Southern Border and have witnessed many strange, unfathomable things." Er Leng turned and cupped his fist. "If I'm not mistaken, this worm belongs to a long-lost gu technique from the Southern Border called the Soul-Control Gu."

Ren Ye's greatest strength was his formidable emotional control. Though lingering fear gripped him, it did not interfere with his thinking. "Gu? What does this gu do?"

"The Soul-Control Gu comes in two parts. The male gu imprisons the soul, and the female gu pulls the strings." Er Leng recalled what he knew and answered, "If successfully implanted in an ordinary person, it turns them into a corpse puppet under someone else's complete control. If I'm right, that worm was the male gu."

Ren Ye froze for a moment, then immediately grasped the crux of the matter. "You mean someone wanted to control me with this gu?! Then why did the young eunuch burn up after it entered him?"

"Everyone's three spiritual souls and seven corporeal souls are unique. These Gu Insects were specially refined for Your Highness, so Little Xu naturally couldn't withstand them." Er Leng reported honestly, "These Gu Insects can only be used once. If they enter the wrong host, they burn themselves up."

Ren Ye remained silent for a long time. "What would have happened if it had entered me?"

Er Leng raised his head slightly, his lips moving.

"Tell me the truth."

"You would have become a corpse puppet, your soul imprisoned. The day the gu left you, you would have met the same fate as Little Xu," Er Leng answered with his head lowered.

Bastard!

Ren Ye cursed inwardly. Who could be so vicious?

There are ten other players inside this Star Gate, and on my very first night here, a worm nearly burrowed into my head... Could the two be connected?

Tap, tap...

Hurried footsteps sounded in the corridor. Quite a few servants who had heard the young eunuch's screams were heading toward the bedchamber.

Ren Ye turned at the sound and immediately instructed Lian'er, "Stop them. Tell them Little Xu made a mistake while helping me bathe and change, and I sentenced him to a beating. Hurry. Nothing that happened tonight can get out."

"Yes!"

Lian'er answered and hurried away.

After pondering for a while, Er Leng bent toward Ren Ye and asked, "Your Highness, someone in the residence can control gu. It's difficult to guard against. I don't think you can stay in the bedchamber anymore."

Ren Ye looked at him sharply. "No. The person controlling the gu is nowhere near as frightening as the traitor."

"Hm?" Er Leng froze.

"The bedchamber is in the inner courtyard, a considerable distance from the residence's other courtyards." Ren Ye spoke with deliberate emphasis. "I was only at the princess consort's place for an hour. Have you considered who could enter my bedchamber so easily, plant the gu, and leave just as easily? Would they even have enough time?"

"You mean...?"

"There's a traitor. Or rather... the person controlling this gu is right here beside me," Ren Ye declared with near-absolute certainty.

In a side room within a certain courtyard of Prince Huai's Residence.

"Squeak, squeak...!"

Inside a plain wooden box, a fleshy worm writhed restlessly, emitting mournful cries.

Beneath the lamplight, a woman's eyes widened as a black line appeared along the worm's body, then suddenly snapped.

"?!"

The woman rose to her feet in disbelief.

Bang!

After the black line broke, the worm suddenly burst, turning into powder that dispersed in the air.

The female gu pulled the strings and carried no deadly poison.

Yet the woman stood utterly dumbfounded.

A cold, clear voice sounded in her ears, and her face gradually turned purplish red.

[Gu implantation failed. Current mission two has ended. You will receive a penalty.]

[Friendly reminder: Dear player, please treasure every mission opportunity. Use your brain more. Use your brain more...]