The female anchor turned into the dean of an ancient academy

Elder Wang did not answer directly, but said meaningfully, "I am old, and I can no longer remember many things. However, I do remember that during the reign of the previous emperor, the location of the sacrifice was changed... That was the year the crown prince was established."

Mr. Wang’s words were like a flash of lightning, cutting through the fog in Cen Jiexiao’s mind.

Could it be that... the change in the location of the sacrifice also indicates that the Great Zhou is about to face a huge crisis?

Cen Jiexiao's heart trembled. She said goodbye to Old Man Wang and hurried to the next house. Then, in less than a day, she visited several prominent families in Linkang Prefecture without stopping. From their fragmentary words, she pieced together a disturbing picture.

The dim, damp dungeon was filled with a sickening smell of blood. The flickering flames cast long shadows on the torture instruments on the walls, adding to the eerie atmosphere. Yu Lan stood in the center of the cell, her gaze sharp as she surveyed the group of vicious assassins before her.

"Tell me, who are you? Why do you want to assassinate Dean Cen?" Yu Lan asked sternly, waving the long whip in her hand like a snake, making a crisp "snap" sound that echoed in the empty dungeon.

One of the assassins was a burly figure with a face covered in flesh. A scar stretched from the corner of his left eye to his chin, giving him a ferocious appearance. He was chained to a cross-shaped wooden stake, yet he held his head high and showed no fear. Hearing Yu Lan's question, he simply sneered and said disdainfully, "Hmph, kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you. If you want to know something, go find out for yourself!"

"You're still so stubborn!" Yu Lan frowned slightly, a hint of anger flashing in her beautiful eyes. She hated people who wouldn't cry until they saw the coffin.

She took a step forward, the long whip in her hand lashing out at the assassin's chest like a venomous snake spitting out its tongue. However, the assassin was already prepared and dodged it suddenly, and the long whip hit the wooden stake heavily, making a dull sound.

"You want to get anything out of me? Dream on!" the assassin said gritting his teeth, his eyes full of provocation.

Yu Lan ignored his provocation and just looked at him coldly. She slowly raised the long whip in her hand, pointed it at his throat, and said in a cold tone: "I'll give you one last chance. Tell me, who sent you here? What is your purpose?"

The assassin looked at the whip tip so close to him, a trace of determination flashed in his eyes. He suddenly laughed up to the sky, his laughter filled with madness and despair, "Want to know? Go to hell and ask the King of Hell!"

Before he could finish his words, his face suddenly turned into one of agony, his hands tightly clutching his throat as if he were about to vomit something. He struggled to get up, but collapsed to the ground powerlessly, foaming at the mouth and his body twitching violently.

Seeing this, Yu Lan suddenly felt an ominous premonition. She hurried forward to check, only to find that the assassin was already dead, with a strange smile lingering on the corner of his mouth, as if mocking her helplessness.

"Oh no, it's poison!" Yu Lan was shocked and quickly ordered people to check the other assassins. It turned out that all the assassins had poison hidden in their mouths. It was obvious that they had prepared it in advance. When they could not bear the torture, they would commit suicide by taking poison to give themselves a quick death.

Yu Lan felt a surge of frustration and powerlessness. The assassins' determination was beyond her imagination. Could there truly be some unspeakable secret hidden behind this, one they would rather die than reveal? Just as she was about to turn and leave this suffocating dungeon, a faint voice, like a pebble dropped into a tranquil lake, shattered the dungeon's dead silence.

The voice was as thin as a mosquito, with a hint of trembling and fear, coming from the depths of the dungeon: "Master...Master...spare my life...I will tell you...I will tell you..."

The sound was like a glimmer of light in the darkness, instantly igniting a spark of hope in Yu Lan's heart. Could there be another survivor? She turned abruptly, her gaze piercing the dark dungeon, trying to find the source of the sound.

In the dungeon, the bodies of assassins who had committed suicide by taking poison lay scattered about, and the air was filled with the sickening smell of blood and the dizzying smell of poison. Yu Lan's gaze finally locked onto a corner, where a thin figure huddled there, shivering like a leaf in the wind.

He huddled in a corner, like a frightened animal in a thunderstorm, seeking shelter in the void. His head was lowered, his tangled hair obscuring his face like weeds, making his expression unclear. But his bony shoulders trembled slightly, and his rapid breathing, like the rumble of a broken bellows, was audible in the silent dungeon. Yu Lan keenly grasped these details. From his trembling body and rapid breathing, she sensed the fear and despair within him—a fear of death, a despair for the unknown.

A hunch welled up in Yu Lan. Could this unassuming assassin hold the key to solving the mystery? She approached with the stealth of a cat, making as little noise as possible, fearing to scare away this sole clue. Her movements were gentle and cautious, as if approaching a wounded bird, afraid to disturb its fragile life.

"Do you want to live?" Yu Lan's voice echoed in the empty dungeon, with a hint of majesty, yet gentleness. She deliberately slowed down her speech, making her voice sound softer, trying to soothe this terrified soul.

The assassin suddenly raised his head, revealing a face filled with terror. He nodded frantically, as if grasping at a last straw, his eyes filled with longing and pleading. What eyes were they? Filled with a desire for life, a fear of death, and a sense of uncertainty about the future.

"I'm telling you, I'm telling you, we're not assassins, we're…" He spoke rapidly, as if he wanted to spill all the secrets he'd been pent up in. However, he stopped abruptly, his voice cut off as if by something, leaving only an uneasy silence.

"What is it?" Yu Lan's heartbeat suddenly accelerated. She had a premonition that the assassin's next words would reveal a shocking secret! An inexplicable sense of tension gripped Yu Lan's heart. She held her breath, waiting for the answer.

"We are..." The assassin took a deep breath, as if gathering his courage. However, at that moment, his pupils suddenly dilated, his eyeballs bulging, and a look of disbelief and horror appeared on his face, as if he had seen something utterly terrifying. His expression froze instantly, as if he had seen a demon from the depths of hell, filled with unspeakable fear.

"Who are you?" Yu Lan's heart rang with alarm, realizing something was up. Just as she was about to step forward, she saw a stream of black blood spurt from the assassin's mouth. His body convulsed violently a few times before he collapsed to the ground, dead. The black blood carried a pungent, fishy odor, like a curse from hell, giving her a chill.

Yu Lan hurried forward to investigate, only to see a silver needle as thin as an ox's hair stuck in the assassin's neck. The tip of the needle glowed with a faint blue light, clearly extremely poisonous! This silver needle silently announced the murderer's coldness and cruelty.

"Who is it?! How could they kill someone and silence them right under my nose?!" Yu Lan suddenly stood up and looked around, only to find that the dungeon was empty. Only the corpse on the ground was still silently telling the horrifying scene that had just happened...