Silver Noble

Night Spirit City, inside Meng Chengfei's office at the Sixth Mental Hospital.

He watched his computer monitor, sipping jasmine tea. When a video chat window popped up, the corners of his mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.

A lean man and a voluptuous woman appeared on the screen.

A small bronze mask covered the right half of the man's face. His brows and eyes were narrow, and he bore a distinct resemblance to Andre.

A bronze phoenix pendant hung from the woman's right ear. She had slightly high cheekbones, mildly protruding teeth, and rather mean-looking features.

The moment Han Li saw Meng Chengfei, her expression darkened. Her raspy, sandpaper-like voice filled the office. "Meng Chengfei, that lowborn under your command killed my youngest son! Send that lowborn to Sky City right now so we can deal with him!"

Meng Chengfei remained perfectly composed. "Huh? You said I'm too handsome? You want to divorce your husband and marry me?"

"..."

Han Li hissed, "Meng Chengfei, don't push your luck. Every one of us opposed bringing that test subject into the Dawn Blade. Now something's happened, and it's your responsibility!"

Meng Chengfei picked his ear. "You want to take responsibility for me? That's hardly appropriate. We can discuss it in private. You may be old and ugly, but if you ask, I'll definitely turn you down."

"!!!"

Han Li went berserk, unable to maintain even a shred of elegance.

Beside her, her husband An Lu spoke heavily, his eyes bloodshot. "Meng Chengfei, stop playing dumb. Plenty of surveillance cameras on the street caught my son fighting that lowborn. A life for a life is the simplest solution. Don't let this get ugly."

"Oh?"

"Why do I remember all those cameras being broken?"

Meng Chengfei sneered, his eyes now filled with icy hostility.

"I killed him. Why not take my life in return? I don't mind. I just wonder whether the people up in Sky City would mind."

"Meng Chengfei, the special privileges your superiors gave you don't mean you can do whatever you want. You can't protect him forever," An Lu said sternly.

"Mr. An, I remember you have an older son who's going to the training camp. I don't mind the younger generation settling things themselves. But if you intervene, I'm sure the Dawn Blade won't stand idly by."

An Lu and his wife stiffened.

Though there was some overlap between the Dawn Blade and Sky City's nobility, the Dawn Blade also enjoyed considerable autonomy.

Their commander alone could stand up to the nobles.

An Lu narrowed his eyes, then suddenly said, "There's something I forgot to tell you. Darren has gone missing, but the life monitor on him can no longer detect any signs of life. He's probably dead."

"This has drawn attention from above, and a thorough investigation has begun. Meng Chengfei, who do you think killed him?"

Meng Chengfei frowned slightly.

Darren was that fat bastard from the Ten-Person Council meeting the other day.

Dead?

Who did it?

Though puzzled inwardly, his expression relaxed. "You suspect I killed him? I was at the hospital the whole time. Plenty of people can vouch for me."

"Hmph. Let's hope so."

An Lu snorted and ended the video call.

In the quiet office, Meng Chengfei leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes in thought.

Xu Ye killing Andre was troublesome, but it wasn't a major issue.

Sky City had a hundred Bronze Nobles in total, and their positions were not hereditary. The next generation had to make sufficient contributions before they could inherit them.

Above them were twenty Silver Nobles.

At the very top stood the Five-Person Council.

Given Meng Chengfei's special status, offending a Bronze Noble wasn't much cause for concern.

But...

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

Darren was dead.

The Eternal Church had resurfaced.

Those two developments weighed on his heart like a heavy pall.

The affair involving the Eternal Church ten years ago had implicated Sky City's nobles, other factions, and even the Wasteland.

And someone up above really was targeting Xu Ye. Or was their true objective the secret in Doctor Chen's hands?

He sighed, then his gaze suddenly swept toward the hospital's main entrance.

A bustling crowd had gathered there.

"I almost forgot. There's something big happening today, too." Meng Chengfei's mood instantly brightened.

Back in the park, Xu Ye waited until the specialists arrived and cordoned off the scene before leaving.

He spoke with Alice as he walked along the busy street.

"Alice, what did you find?"

Alice said, "I only saw a few scenes. Andre's father told him to do this, but apparently a Silver Noble authorized it directly. Xu Ye, you might have offended a Silver Noble! From what I heard, that Silver Noble's name is Theodore."

Information about the nobles was confidential.

Even if Xu Ye wanted to investigate, he had nowhere to start.

At least he had a name now.

Heh. A Silver Noble?

I'm a distinguished QQ Yellow Diamond VIP myself!

Xu Ye snarked inwardly.

Still, something puzzled him.

From the perspective of his previous life, Sky City's nobles all seemed to have Western names, while the Dawn Blade had more people with names from Great Xia.

What about the other factions?

An absurd thought surfaced in his mind.

Could this so-called Planet Earth actually be Earth many years in the future?

Had I traveled not to a parallel version of Earth, but hundreds or thousands of years into Earth's future?

Of course, he had no way to verify any of this.

Xu Ye reserved judgment. "It's probably because of what happened in the lab. I don't know what experiments he performed on me, but at least they haven't had any negative effects on me so far."

"But Silver Nobles seem to wield a lot of power."

"I hate nobles, but I have to admit, within Sky City's territory, they can practically do whatever they please."

Alice meowed. "They haven't acted against you directly. They're trying to control you behind the scenes instead. That means there's still something holding them back."

Xu Ye nodded, unable to help sighing.

No matter the era, humanity seemed to keep fighting itself, even in the face of an apocalyptic catastrophe.

Then there was the Eternal Church.

Based on the information he had obtained earlier through [Soul-Seizing], they seemed to possess some kind of drug that could accelerate pollution and mutation.

That was undoubtedly an enormous ticking time bomb.

Since Xu Ye had arrived in this world, every pollution incident apart from the first seemed to have been connected to the Eternal Church.

Xu Ye knew he wasn't strong enough to get involved, but he still needed to plan ahead and improve his strength.

Perhaps he could pass some information to the captain anonymously.

But in a world with sequence talents and Taboo Objects, he had to be extremely cautious.

When Xu Ye reached the Sixth Mental Hospital, he found people everywhere outside the entrance. Without the security guards holding them back and maintaining order, he probably wouldn't have been able to get inside.

Alice asked curiously, "Are they filming something? Let me see. The production is called 'Three Lifetimes, Three Worlds, Escape from Death.'"

Xu Ye froze.

What the hell kind of title was "Escape from Death"?

No wonder they'd chosen a mental hospital to film it.

He was about to head inside when his heart writhed.

[I pushed through the crowd and forced the elevator doors apart with my body before they could close.]

[Inside the elevator, I saw a young woman dressed inconspicuously, with her entire body covered.]

[She pressed the button for the eighth floor, the same floor I was going to.]

[A few seconds later, she questioned me impatiently, then pulled out a handgun and pointed it at me.]

[It turned out she was the production's female lead and had mistaken me for a stalker fan or a paparazzo.]

[I was speechless and a little angry. Three days later, she died on the set.]

[Before she died, she wrote my name in blood.]

[All the evidence pointed to me, and no amount of explaining could clear my name.]

[Public outrage swallowed me whole. With certain nobles fanning the flames, I ended up in prison.]

[I spent the rest of my life in prison. As I lay dying, I wrote "wronged" three times on the wall in blood, using that word to sum up my miserable life.]

[Fortunately, I had signed a heart donation agreement. My heart would shine and serve a purpose in someone else's body, while I was unworthy of possessing it.]

"?"

A question mark slowly appeared over Xu Ye's head.