After deceiving the villain, I was forced to love him.

The hustle and bustle fades away, and the temperature remains unknown.

She tormented Wang Qingyan for an unknown period of time, just as he said, using all the ruthlessness she had accumulated over a hundred lifetimes, while always leaving him a glimmer of hope.

An Luo Shi, the female doctor, the second-in-command, the third-in-command, Li Si Mei, Bai Li San Niang... She herself, once broken and contemplating suicide, utterly despondent, now lies amidst the countless white bones in this burial forest...

While his memory was still intact, Baili Ce would break a bone for each tragic event he witnessed. As he continued to break the bones, he discovered that 206 bones might not be enough.

However, the number "206" is not absolute, because body shapes vary, and some people may have one or two extra ribs or a piece of spine...

Bai Li Ce touched the wound on Wang Qing Yan's abdomen and pulled at it. By then, he had been tortured to the point of being unrecognizable.

"Wait!"

A reprimand, almost piercing, interrupted Baili Ce, who was about to tear open his skin to find out how many ribs Wang Qingyan had.

Looking in the direction of the sound—

In his lifeless eyes, even the surrounding firelight and the crimson blood on Lu Jian's body turned grayish-white.

"You...came?"

Lu Jian froze, feeling a chill run through him from head to toe.

But being an emperor, he quickly regained his composure, stumbled forward, and seemed to have difficulty even speaking, saying, "He can't just die here like this."

The truth was clear in a single sentence, but seeing that Lu Jiandao was always in his hand and maintained an offensive posture, it was obvious that he was also on guard against her.

"..." Bai Li Ce endured it again and again, until his hair was trembling... Finally, with every cell in his body screaming with joy at killing Lu Jian, he nodded with great difficulty.

Then, suppressing the burgeoning desire, silently repeating "Don't let it control you," "Don't let it control you," I walked to the other side of the sycamore tree and squatted down...

What she didn't know was that the straightforward and fierce killing intent she had just felt almost made the still-shaken Lu Jian strike first.

He adjusted his stance to face Baili Ce, in case she suddenly lost control and slashed at him.

He looked down to observe Wang Qingyan's miserable state, exclaiming how satisfying it was, and even wanted to deliver a couple more blows.

But seeing that his collarbone had been pierced and his eyes had been gouged out, and that there were hardly any healthy bones in his body... he didn't even have a chance to remove a tendon, so he could only treat his own and Song Zhaohe's wounds first.

......

Whether it was luck or just bad luck, the fire burned down the entire island, but it didn't reach the giant sycamore tree in the burial forest.

So when Madam Sun appeared with Lin Yuchuan, they quickly found the group who had been smelling a mixture of burnt and earthy odors all night.

"Your Majesty!" Upon seeing Lu Jian, Lin Yuchuan rushed over to support him, "Your Majesty, I am too late to save you!"

Having spent the entire night without daring to sleep, Lu Jian's face was completely drained of color. After being supported by Lin Yuchuan, he swayed unsteadily and his first words were to order someone to stop Madam Sun, "Don't go near Baili Ce!"

He fainted after saying that...

When Lu Jian woke up a few days later, he looked like he had been disassembled and reassembled, not much better off than Wang Qingyan.

But after drinking the medicine, he asked, "Where is Supervisor Zhang?"

Lin Yuchuan remained silent for a moment, then knelt down to plead guilty, "I beg Your Majesty to punish Zhang Zhang... I have already taken the liberty of sending someone to send him back to his hometown for burial."

Lu remained silent for a long time.

Finally, he rubbed his eyes helplessly and said, "Get up."

Then, waving his hand to dismiss those around him and let Lin Yuchuan move forward, he lowered his voice as if afraid of being overheard, "How is the person?"

He was referring to Baili Ce, of course.

Lin Yuchuan shook his head, his expression even more solemn than before, "I hardly recognize people anymore."

Lu Jian looked ten years older in an instant, his brows furrowed with worry. "Explain yourself more clearly."

"She was extremely bloodthirsty. This morning, Song Zhaohe went to see her, and Physician Luo went to great lengths to reattach her tendons, which were almost severed again..."

"If the young lady hadn't come to her senses in the end, Song Zhaohe would have been a cripple even if he hadn't died."

"Where is Madam Sun? Hasn't she gone to see her?"

Lin Yuchuan shook his head again, "It's no use. That Gu should have been specially made by Wang Qingyan for the young lady. It's completely different from the previous Chaosheng Gu. Not only did none of the previous methods work, but they also made the young lady even more irritable."

"Then let me interrogate him! Interrogate him properly!"

"Just keep that beast hanging on by a thread!"

"A generous reward will be given for every single useful word that is extracted!"

"Yes!" Lin Yuchuan, who was already holding back his anger, immediately wanted to give Wang Qingyan a good scolding!

"Wait a minute"

"Does Your Majesty have any further instructions?"

"Don't make this public."

"Your subject understands." Regardless of what others think, Lin Yuchuan only has admiration for Baili Ce.

Regardless of identity or gender, and regardless of whether His Majesty values ​​them or not.

Just because many of his brothers in the Investigation Division had taken "Jian Yue," he felt that such a good person shouldn't die in such a despicable scheme.

Wang Qingyan, right? The number one aristocratic family in the world, right? Even in death, he'd rather step on others to die?

Alright, he'd like to see how many times the Investigation Division can put up with it.

......

Lu Jian was extremely tired, but he did not rest after Lin Yuchuan left.

The Dragon Armor Army was completely wiped out, and Zhang Shan died saving him... so naturally, all the blame could be placed on Wang Qingyan.

But conscience can't lie, even though he didn't have much of a conscience to begin with.

But what could he do? Was Baili Ce, who was about to escape his suffering but ended up like this, not good enough?

I'll tell you all again that the murderer was He Yao.

Why? Because she lost control.

Why did things get out of control? Because she was only halfway through helping him when, for some reason, she suddenly turned against him and almost sent him to his death.

As a result, Zhang Shan had to sacrifice his life to severely injure He Yao in order to survive.

The reason he was so wary of Baili Ce on the island was because of this.

If Baili Ce hadn't controlled himself back then, or if he had made even the slightest misjudgment, Lin Yuchuan would probably be mourning him right now.

Zhang Shan... Thinking of him, Lu Jian felt another pang of sorrow.

Perhaps he should have called him uncle, but unfortunately, he no longer has the chance.

Looking at the paper and pen on the table, Lu Jian walked over wearily... He had just picked up the pen and written the four characters "May the Empress Dowager be well" when he put it down again.

He then tore it up and replaced it with a secret letter addressed to Jiangzhou.

......

"Heh...heh..." He Yao, who had been washed ashore by the sea, started smashing and hitting things as soon as she woke up.

The intense fragrance of flowers, the raging fire, the monsters tearing at her relentlessly—claws, gaping maws, sticky putrid liquid… there were just too many monsters, so much so that she dared not stop now.

If you can't drive them away, then kill them!

kill!

kill!

Just kill them all!

......

Even when they fought the most powerful monster, He Yao was no match for it and was knocked into the sea, where she drifted to this place.

Is this place...safe?

Upon smelling the floral fragrance wafting through the air again, He Yao suddenly fell silent.

“…” After a while, she walked barefoot on the uneven ground towards a person not far away.