Defeat the system! Kiss my little monster!

The soldiers quickly marched away, leaving only the princes and nobles inside the hall whispering amongst themselves.

Because it is unclear who poisoned the place, everyone inside the main hall is restricted from leaving.

Yu Zhuo returned to his seat and turned to look at Qi Mohan. Qi Mohan remained calm and gave Yu Zhuo a nonchalant glance.

"Countess, who do you think poisoned her?" Qi Mohan asked in a low voice, as if it were a casual question.

Yu Zhuo, of course, was not fooled. He said, "How would I know about such things? I'm not familiar with Lin Shuang, and as for Zhou Yanshu... there are many people who dislike him, I can't even count them all."

Qi Mohan raised an eyebrow: "There are indeed many people who dislike the Earl, but there is only one person who wants him dead."

Yu Zhuo paused, lifting his eyelids to see Qi Mohan's gaze flash across the throne above.

"...Are you insane?" Yu Zhuo's voice lowered, he exclaimed in shock, "You dare to doubt His Majesty?"

"I'm just guessing," Qi Mohan laughed, seemingly unmoved. "Let's just discuss the matter at hand."

His tone remained unchanged, showing no sign of offending Tamo. Yu Zhuo had previously heard that Tamo was extremely biased towards Qi Mohan, who had been Tamo's pillar of support since helping him ascend to the throne.

On the other hand, Qi Mohan's attitude towards Tamo... is somewhat puzzling.

Yu Zhuo turned his gaze back to the entrance of the main hall, where two or three soldiers were stationed, but Lin Shuang was nowhere to be seen.

*

Lin Shuang arrested everyone responsible for the celebratory banquet that day. The soldiers in charge of the interrogation acted quickly and presented the results in no time.

"General, these people all insist that there was nothing wrong with the food at the victory celebration banquet. As for the rare fruit, it was indeed the fruit we brought back from the border."

Lin Shuang frowned and asked coldly, "Who are the people who have come into contact with the Thousand Treasure Fruit?"

“The rare fruit is precious, and only the head chef in charge of cooking and the waiter who delivered the food have come into contact with it, but they are both now shirking responsibility and saying that they have nothing to do with this matter.”

Lin Shuang sneered, threw down the documents in his hand, and said, "Continue interrogating these people, and also check the security cameras carefully again!"

After he finished speaking, he pointed to his adjutant behind him and said, "You know medicine, come with me to the kitchen to check."

The adjutant nodded and said, "Yes."

The kitchen was littered with things. Perhaps because the incident happened so suddenly, these people left in a hurry, leaving the vegetables and meat on the table that they hadn't had time to arrange haphazardly.

Lin Shuang strode inside, scanned the kitchen's interior, and inspected each item one by one.

The vegetables and meat were all fine. Given that the poisoning was targeted and there were many people and informants in the kitchen, the probability of the perpetrator directly poisoning the food in the kitchen is still quite low.

However, none of the people who were arrested and interrogated were willing to divulge anything. Lin Shuang even interrogated almost all the servants at the victory banquet, but still couldn't find any suspicious clues.

He could only start the investigation from the very beginning, starting with the kitchen, the most basic place.

Lin Shuang's face was grim. He looked at the ingredients in the kitchen one by one, and finally stopped at a cast iron pot that was still cooking.

The cook didn't turn off the fire when he left; the contents of the iron pot were still simmering slowly, and a rich aroma was already wafting out.

In recent years, Tamer has paid particular attention to maintaining his health. Now 100 years old, he has begun to persistently seek out tonics that can prolong life.

The rare fruit that Lin Shuang brought back from the border is a good example.

He had been stationed on the border for many years, and if it weren't for this rare fruit, Tamo probably would never have remembered them after being fooled by Qi Mohan.

This return was an opportunity that Lin Shuang had waited for for many years, but he never expected that he would encounter such a thing as soon as he returned.

Lin Shuang frowned, still without a clue, and took two steps forward to lift the lid of the iron pot.

The white steam instantly rose up, covering Lin Shuang's face. Lin Shuang smelled the sudden burst of fishy odor from the pot, covered his mouth and nose, and looked over.

There was a skull being boiled inside.

Lin Shuang's body suddenly stiffened, a chill ran down his spine, and he stared at the skull without moving.

bone……

Skull...

The bone pattern of a carp...

Seeing Lin Shuang standing motionless, the adjutant standing behind immediately stepped forward and asked, "General, have you discovered anything...?"

Before he could finish speaking, his body suddenly stiffened. The split in the middle of the skull was facing him, revealing the skeletal structure of a carp. The lines drawn along the edges of the bones were exactly the same as the carp pattern on their clan's skull.

"General! This, this, this..." The adjutant was almost speechless as he looked at the skull in the pot. His eyes were bloodshot and bulging with anger as he stared straight at the skull inside the pot, his muscles trembling uncontrollably.

Lin Shuang tilted his head back, his Adam's apple bobbing twice, and turned his body to the side: "...You check and see if there are any abnormalities inside."

"General!"

"You come and check! Hurry up!"

Lin Shuang's voice suddenly sharpened. He stood still, his expression tense as if nothing had happened: "Hurry up."

Seeing this, the adjutant could only lower his head and walk forward. He examined the thick soup in the pot, which had turned white, and then scanned the inside of the carp skull with an instrument.

"General, there's nothing unusual inside. The soup contains only normal seasonings; it's just a pot of...carp soup."

Lin Shuang clenched his fists so tightly that his fingers trembled, and his fingernails almost dug into the flesh of his palms.

He had long known that Tamo was absurd and eccentric, and that he was not a wise ruler of the merfolk. But Lin Shuang never expected that after years of fighting abroad, Tamo would use this pot of soup as his reward upon his return.

He wanted to prolong his life, so Lin Shuang went to great lengths to obtain the Thousand Treasures Fruit for him.

Tamo can eat fruit, he can eat elixirs, he can eat many delicacies, but how could he eat the skulls of his own people?!

"General... are you alright?"

The adjutant's voice rang in Lin Shuang's ear. Lin Shuang's face had already turned deathly pale without him even noticing. He blinked upon hearing the voice, and said in his usual tone, "...I'm fine."

The adjutant stood still, his gaze shifting between Tie Guo and Lin Shuang: "General, what... should we do now?"

“Since there’s nothing wrong with the soup in this pot, just throw it all away,” Lin Shuang said. “The bones too.”

"But what if His Majesty asks..."

"If he asks, just say I spilled it!" Lin Shuang's voice suddenly turned cold. He said, "If he asks, just answer like that and put all the blame on me."

The adjutant's face immediately changed: "General, you can't do this! It wasn't easy for us to come back this time. If we anger His Majesty again, we might never have another chance to return! Not to mention, Qi Mohan, the Left Envoy, has always been at odds with you and might seize the opportunity to usurp power..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Shuang turned and strode away.