"Assassin—————!!!"
Accompanied by the roar, Grand General Budd leaped forward, lunging at Fang Zheng, who merely sneered and turned to walk into the building.
"Stop, assassin!!"
At this moment, Grand General Budd was so furious, he flew up like a cannonball, directly crashing into the balcony. However, upon breaking through the door and reaching the corridor, he found nothing but corpses.
"Damn it.........!!"
Seeing this scene, Grand General Budd tightly clenched his hands and roared in anger.
"I’ll definitely kill you!!!"
"Well, that depends if you have the skill to do so."
Standing at the top of the distant tower, listening to the soaring roar, Fang Zheng tugged on his hood.
"I’ve delivered this challenge letter; now, how will you react?"
As Fang Zheng expected, the public death of the Duke of Croatia caused tremendous panic throughout the nobility district of the Imperial City. Before the eyes of the public, in broad daylight, before Grand General Budd, one of the empire’s two pillars, a royal family member, the Duke of Croatia, was killed, and his corpse pushed down. This act was a total disdain and contempt for supreme imperial authority, even being the sharpest threat and challenge to the Emperor!
The Imperial City has completely fallen into panic at this moment.
The opponent dared to openly kill in front of Grand General Budd, indulging without any taboo. More importantly, Budd didn’t even catch the adversary, meaning others residing in the nobility district were equally susceptible to danger!
The nobility couldn’t hold back anymore. Initially, when incidents happened in the outer city, they didn’t particularly care. After all, they thought living in the well-defended inner city nobility district with its high walls would keep the assassins outside, and deaths outside were of no concern to them.
However, the situation is now different; the adversary is audacious, unbridled, and indiscriminate in their killings everywhere. They even suspect the Emperor could be the next target!
Grand General Budd considered this possibility as well; hence he returned to the palace, staying close to the Emperor, as he sees that the assassin genuinely doesn’t care about their identities. If they dared to kill the Duke, then killing an Emperor is nothing big!
The nobility district practically ramped up security to its utmost. Yet, daily, nobles continued to be killed, either in isolation chambers or under heavy protection, or just didn’t wake up the next day. This left the nobility panic-stricken, especially those guilty of wrongdoing, who were so scared they wouldn’t even step outside, hiding at home, leaving their fate to chance.
Some nobles even attempted to disguise themselves and escape the Imperial City———The assassins only operate in the Imperial City, so if they left for their hometown or lands, they thought they’d be safe!
However, although this seemed like a good idea, the reality was that as soon as their carriage left the Imperial City, it contained nothing but corpses.
This further scared the nobility, who dared not exit or enter, not even the ministers who attended court daily, trembling and shrinking, fearing they’d be the next to be killed.
Now the entire functioning of the Imperial City has thoroughly collapsed.
Fang Zheng also knew well the consequence of killing a noble or official meant more than just a death, but also the collapse of their networks and intel systems closely tied to the orders of the Imperial City. It’s not as simple as finding a quick replacement.
Thus the entire Imperial City had become anxious and fearful, causing endless annoyance for Grand General Budd, responsible for its defense, but being helpless as the opponent glanced at him before departing. Budd understood the look.
It implied the Emperor was also a target.
Therefore, Budd dared not leave the Emperor’s side for a second, while watching idly at the enemy’s wrongdoings wasn’t his intention......
"Minister Ernest, perhaps it’s time to bring General Esdeath back!"
At court, a high-ranking official suggested while wiping sweat. They were the ones suffering the most, having to attend daily, unlike the others who could feign illness to skip. They’d had enough of the fear.
Everyone knew Grand General Budd was formidable, but he was alone!
And he usually stayed in the palace. Relying on him was futile compared to relying on General Esdeath.
"No need, just trivial thieves."
However, Minister Ernest, gnawing on a meat bone behind the Emperor, unhesitatingly responded to the suggestion.
"............"
Listening silently, Grand General Budd merely gave him a glance without speaking. Budd knew why Minister Ernest didn’t want General Esdeath back, having heard much about the bribes Ernest received from the nobles of the Kingdom of Lugnica to handle domestic rebellions. Those Lugnica nobles were notably wealthy. Although Budd didn’t know exactly what Ernest received, his demeanor showed it was substantial.
"In fact, General Esdeath has already dispatched three of her trusted lieutenants back to form a unit specifically to hunt these thieves!"
Saying so, Minister Ernest grew excited. The assassins’ actions indeed brought him substantial pressure. Like Fang Zheng anticipated, eliminating a noble or bureaucrat wasn’t just a simple death but resulted in significant disruption. Usually, Ernest relied on others to perform tasks, but now many were dead or too afraid to venture out, leaving him frustrated and trapped.
But fortunately......the nobles from Lugnica provided two excellent aides......heeheehee......
Forming a specialized unit takes time, and during this period, Fang Zheng remained active.
Killing nobles was nothing to him; they were bound to die eventually. Fang Zheng used "Ratziel" to investigate, and those utterly vile were doomed. The less despicable ones might be spared, allowing them to repent in the chill of looming death.
But soon, Fang Zheng discovered, someone else was taking advantage of the chaos.
For instance, right now.
".........A step too late."
Watching the fallen figure on the chair, now completely lifeless, Fang Zheng frowned slightly. Earlier, upon arriving at this floor, Hawkeye informed him the target was seated here, yet now he’s dead?
And he was killed.
Fang Zheng carefully stared at the neck of the fat man with big ears in front of him, observing a clear needle mark on it, as if someone had stabbed something through it, killing him instantly.
Hmm.........
Fang Zheng silently took two steps back and carefully surveyed his surroundings.
It was a locked room, with only a few cats besides the target, and no one else.
Hmm.........
Fang Zheng lowered his head, looked at the cats lying on the ground, thought for a moment, then reached out, grabbed a white cat from the bunch, tucked it into his arms, and turned to leave.
"Meow! Meow!!"
The cat clearly didn’t like being touched, struggling and crying out desperately, but Fang Zheng simply pressed its head down, making the cat quiet immediately. He then carried the white cat from the target’s residence to a nearby forest. There, he lifted the white cat from his embrace and stared at it.
"It was you, wasn’t it?"
"Meow?"
Facing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, the white cat tilted its head curiously, meowed, looking as if to say, "I am just a cute little kitten, I know nothing."
"Hmm, quite the act. Let’s see how well you can keep it up."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng stretched his other hand, feeling down the white cat’s abdomen, from the belly to the legs, then his fingers aimed at the cat’s rear.........
"Meow! Meow! Meow!!!"
The white cat shrieked, and the next moment, a puff of white smoke flashed, and the cat in Fang Zheng’s hand transformed into a girl.
"Pervert, pervert! Put me down right now!"
It was a girl with long orange-red hair, wearing something like headphones, biting a lollipop, dressed in something similar to a school uniform, struggling desperately.
However, Fang Zheng just silently watched her, then extended his right hand to her neck. The next moment, a sharp sleeve sword popped out with a "click," and feeling the cold blade, the girl trembled and stopped struggling.
"Alright, now tell me."
Fang Zheng silently stared at the girl, asking.
"Who are you?"
"I’m Chelsea."
The girl dropped her arms and legs listlessly.
"Are you from the Night Raid?"
"........."
Chelsea nodded, feeling quite frustrated too; she didn’t expect her identity to be uncovered so quickly———alright, she could let that slide, but this man had quite thoroughly groped her just now!
But wait......
"How did you know I turned into a cat?"
Chelsea was puzzled, unable to understand how Fang Zheng found her; she had been quite confident in her transformation, yet she had been discovered so quickly?
"Simple."
Fang Zheng put Chelsea down and glared at her, saying.
"First, I was already prepared to act, so I naturally knew how many people were in the room. Secondly, the room was locked when I entered, making it a locked room scenario; there were no other ways for a human to enter or exit. That meant the murderer had to be in the room, and considering the situation, the killer was either alone or with someone they trusted and saw no threat in."
At this, Fang Zheng looked at Chelsea.
"In such a scenario, it’s typically a woman, possibly a romantic partner of the target. So, it was highly likely the murderer had the ability to disguise as others. I didn’t see anyone else or any other items in the room, so I deduced the killer might have the ability to transform into creatures......although unusual, I happen to know there are many things in this country that defy reason and science...... You possess a Teigu too, don’t you?"
".........Impressive."
After hearing Fang Zheng’s reasoning, Chelsea was left astounded.
"But I still don’t understand how you knew I was the cat?"
This was the part Chelsea couldn’t wrap her mind around. She could attribute the prior judgments to this man’s sharp reasoning, but there had been several cats in the room, so why did he pick her?
Could it have been a guess?
Faced with Chelsea’s questioning, Fang Zheng chuckled.
"I’m not telling."
Then, he continued.

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