On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

Imperial Capital, Zhenbei Palace, deep in the dungeon.

The cold, damp, and bloody smell was as thick as a substance, permeating the narrow and depressing space.

The water droplets seeping from the wall slowly slid down the cold stone wall, making a dripping sound, which was particularly clear in the dead silence.

Torches jumped and burned on the iron rings on the wall. The dim light barely dispelled the thick darkness, but cast distorted shadows on the walls covered with stains and dark red spots, swaying like ghosts.

The assassin leader who was hit in the shoulder blade by a musket but luckily survived was stripped of his camouflage uniform, leaving his scarred upper body naked and handcuffed tightly in a "big" shape on the cold rack.

The fine steel shackles dug deep into his thick wrists and ankles, leaving purple-black bruises.

His burly body was covered with crisscrossing whip marks, burn marks from branding irons, and hideous wounds from various torture instruments. His skin and flesh were torn and bleeding, and in some places the bones were visible.

The strong smell of blood mixed with the burnt smell of flesh was nauseating.

He lowered his head, his messy hair covering most of his face. All that could be heard was his heavy and painful breathing, and every breath he took was accompanied by a chest-tearing sound.

Mao Mengji's skinny figure stood in front of the execution rack like an evil ghost demanding his life.

The wound on his shoulder was bandaged hastily, and the blood that seeped out dyed the bandage red, but this did not affect the murderous aura that emanated from him as if it were real.

In his hand he held a specially made short whip with barbs, the tip of which was still dripping with blood.

"Speak!" Mao Mengji's voice was hoarse like sandpaper rubbing against each other, filled with endless murderous intent, "Who sent you?"

The assassin leader suddenly raised his head, revealing a bloody, twisted and hideous face under his messy hair.

His eyes were red as he stared at Mao Mengji, a beast-like growl coming from his throat, but he clenched his teeth and said nothing.

"Hmph!" A fierce light flashed in Mao Mengji's eyes, and his wrist shook violently!

"Snapped!"

The barbed whip hit the assassin leader's chest wound hard!

In an instant, the skin and flesh were torn apart, leaving a trail of blood and flesh!

"Ah——!" The assassin leader let out a shrill howl, his body twitching violently, veins bulging on his forehead, and beads of sweat the size of beans mixed with blood rolled down his face.

"You're so tough!" Mao Mengji sneered, his skinny face distorted by scars. "The new bone-eroding water made by the Burning Thunder Division hasn't even been released yet, so I'll try it on you today!"

He turned and scooped up a scoop of dark green liquid with a pungent, sour smell from a cold iron bucket. The liquid was as thick as oil and had an eerie sheen in the torchlight.

"This thing eats away at your skin and flesh, piercing your bones and leaving you intoxicated," Mao Mengji's voice sounded like it came from the Netherworld. "You'll know how it tastes once you try it!"

He raised his wrist and splashed the dark green liquid onto the bloody wound on the assassin leader's chest!

"Zi la——!"

A terrifying corrosion sound was heard!

Accompanied by a pungent white smoke rising!

The skin and flesh on the assassin leader's chest where he was splashed turned black, festered, and dissolved at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The intense pain far exceeded the sum of all previous tortures!

"Ah - Kill me! Kill me!!!" The assassin leader let out a scream that was not like a human voice, his body twisted and struggled frantically, and the iron chains were pulled with a rattling sound!

His eyeballs bulged out, were bloodshot, and almost burst from his eye sockets!

The severe pain made him completely collapse!

"Speak!" Mao Mengji's voice was icy cold, like a death spell. "If you don't speak, I'll pour a bucket of water on your face!"

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you!!" the assassin leader howled at the top of his lungs, his voice distorted by the pain. "Yes, it was Nan Chu. Nan Chu's Black Water Platform gave us the gold and blueprints to imitate the Burning Sky Thunder."

"Nan Chu?" Mao Mengji's eyes gleamed even more fiercely, "Who else?"

"And," the assassin leader gasped violently, the pain making it almost impossible for him to speak coherently, "these are the brothers from the Qin State's former 'Restoration Army'."

"Former members of the Qin State?" Mao Mengji's pupils shrank suddenly. "Are you from Qin?"

"Yes," the assassin leader cried, his voice hoarse, "We were the Black Dragon Guards, the personal guards of His Majesty Yingji. The Qin State is destroyed, and we are unwilling to accept this, we are unwilling to accept this!!!"

He suddenly raised his head, his red eyes burning with crazy hatred and unwillingness: "You forced His Majesty Yingji to give up his imperial title and become the rubbish King of Qin! Princess Yuhua, a proud daughter of heaven, was forced to marry into the enemy's house as a concubine! This feud is irreconcilable!!"

"The Nanchu Blackwater Group has come to us and told us they'll help us restore our kingdom and bring back the princess if we kill Lin Zhen!" the assassin leader screamed, his voice filled with twisted fanaticism. "The princess is the jewel of our Qin State! How can she be humiliated by our enemies? Even if we die, we'll save her from this hell! Kill that bastard Lin Zhen!"

"How dare you!" Mao Mengji was furious. He whipped the assassin leader's face hard with the whip in his hand, and his skin was torn in an instant!

“Ugh!” The assassin leader howled miserably again, still screaming madly: “Kill me! Kill me if you dare! Long live the Qin Kingdom! Long live the princess!”

"Looking for death!" Mao Mengji's eyes were filled with murderous intent. He drew out his sword and was about to chop down!

"stop."

A low and calm voice sounded at the door of the cold dungeon.

The sound was not loud, but it carried an invisible pressure that instantly stopped Mao Mengji's blade in mid-air.

Lin Zhen, dressed in a dark uniform, walked slowly into the dungeon.

His expression was as calm as water, and his deep eyes were like a bottomless cold pool in the dim firelight, sweeping over the bloody and crazy assassin leader on the rack, and the furious Mao Mengji.

"Your Highness!" Mao Mengji quickly put away his knife and bowed.

Lin Zhen walked to the rack and his eyes fell calmly on the assassin leader's face, which was distorted by pain and hatred.

"The Qin State is doomed?" Lin Zhen's voice was low and clear, with a hint of cold sarcasm. "Ying Ji is still the hereditary King of Qin, and the Qin territory is self-governing and taxed for its own use. How can the state be doomed?"

The assassin leader stared at Lin Zhen with his red eyes, making a hoarse sound in his throat but unable to speak.

"Princess Yuhua married into the palace as a consort of peace between two countries, a position of unparalleled nobility." Lin Zhen continued, his voice calm, "How can she be humiliated? How can she be thrown into a fiery pit?"

"You, you're so flattering!" the assassin leader screamed at the top of his lungs. "Qin is no longer Qin, and the princess is no longer free. This is a great shame and humiliation!"

"What a shame and humiliation?" Lin Zhen's lips curled up in a cold arc. "You are colluding with Nan Chu to assassinate me and only then are you asking for humiliation and destruction!"

He stopped looking at the assassin and turned his gaze to Mao Mengji: "Will you record the confession?"

"Your Highness, I have recorded it!" Mao Mengji bowed and handed over a blood-stained confession.

Lin Zhen took it and scanned it quickly. The confession detailed how the Nanchu Heishuitai contacted and funded the Qin State's former "Restoration Army," provided blueprints for replicating the "Fen Tian Lei," planned the assassination, and the assassin's leader's outrageous rhetoric about "restoring the country" and "saving the princess."

"Nanchu Black Water Platform" Lin Zhen's eyes flashed with coldness, "Good, very good."

He put down his confession, his voice calm but chilling: "Where are this beast's accomplices?"

"According to his confession, there are about 300 remnants of the Restoration Army hiding in Chang'an and the Liaodong border." Mao Mengji said.

"Is there a list?" Lin Zhen asked.

"Some strongholds have secret communication codes," Mao Mengjidao said.

"Okay." Lin Zhen nodded, his gaze returning to the assassin leader who lay dying on the rack. "Pass the order."

"exist!"

"First, immediately send a letter by flying eagle to Chang'an, Qin Xiang, and the commander stationed in Qin to wipe out the remnants of the Restoration Army according to the list and the code. All those involved, regardless of leadership or accomplice, will be executed on the spot! All property will be confiscated! All relatives will be exiled three thousand miles away!"

"Secondly, send a copy of the Liao confession and the Nanchu evidence to Hangu Pass by express horseback for Yingji and Princess Yuhua to review personally!"

"Third," Lin Zhen's voice suddenly turned cold, like a thousand-year-old ice. "This beast and the remaining assassins we've captured, a total of seventeen people, will be executed by slow slicing at noon tomorrow in the West Market of the palace! Their bodies will be left exposed for three days! As a warning to others!"

"Yes, sir!" Mao Mengji's eyes flashed with ferocity and he bowed to receive the order.

When the assassin leader on the rack heard the words "death by slow slicing" and "exposed body for three days", his body trembled violently, and the last trace of madness in his eyes was replaced by boundless fear. A desperate hoarse sound came from his throat, and finally his head tilted and he fainted completely.

Lin Zhen no longer looked at the body that looked like mud. He turned around and slowly walked out of the cold and bloody dungeon.

The dim firelight stretched his figure very long, casting it on the filthy wall, like a silent and cold god of death.