CHAPTER 225: CHAPTER 147: DEATH, NEWCOMER, AND THE LEADER’S WHEREABOUTS

The bedroom was quiet, the butler pushed open the large door and walked slowly from the darkness, his footsteps extremely restrained.

After a while, he stopped, his gaze fixed on the crystal ball on the bedside table, remaining silent for a long time.

At the same time, Yaguba inside the crystal ball suddenly opened his eyes.

The man and shark quietly stared at each other in the moonlight.

The shark’s vertical pupils gleamed, reflecting a faintly visible dark blue hue, like a fierce beast protecting its master.

Since the butler neither spoke nor acted, Ji Minghuan wouldn’t let Yaguba do anything either. Continuing to disguise himself as a harmless Nobel Shark would suffice; panicking would not be a dignified act for a shark of nobility.

"I have a question... You’re on the side of the Third Prince, right?" After being silent for a long time, the butler spoke.

Yaguba was slightly surprised. Since the butler already knew it was unusual, there was no need to pretend anymore.

If the butler sided with the First Prince and the Second Prince, he must be aware of last night’s attack on the Third Prince, and when connecting the dots that "this Nobel Shark is not quite normal," he could deduce that it was Yaguba who devoured the werewolf to save Cezar.

Thus, the butler asked this question rather than acting directly, indicating he was likely on the side of the Third Prince and was unaware of last night’s events.

"What else could it be?" Yaguba asked.

The butler lowered his eyes and then raised them, taking a deep breath, "Then I’m relieved..."

Yaguba made a shushing gesture, "Shh... He’s sleeping, and the shark should sleep too."

The butler thought for a moment, "Even if you know you might be against the world, would you still stand by the Third Prince?"

"Of course," Yaguba said.

It thought that its main task was to protect the Third Prince. Besides doing the task, what else could it do? Have a hundred-meter shark try to eat a two-hundred-meter whale?

"That’s good... Please make sure to protect him," the butler pondered for a moment, and then bowed respectfully toward the shark in the crystal ball, "I am just a low-ranking Anecdote Envoy, only capable of using some everyday Anecdote Fragments, and unable to do anything else... But I’ve watched the Third Prince grow up, and I can’t bear to see him die in this cruel and ignorant royal conflict."

Yaguba did not respond, simply observing his expression quietly.

"Then I shall take my leave," the butler said and turned to leave, but Yaguba suddenly called out to him:

"Hey, don’t be in a hurry to go."

The butler halted and turned halfway, "Is there something else?"

"If you have the ability, bring me some Anecdote Fragments, any type, any level will do; I am not picky," Yaguba said.

"Is this also for protecting the Third Prince?"

"Of course."

"Then I will try to help to the best of my abilities."

"That’s good, goodbye."

The little shark inside the crystal ball couldn’t help but hum happily, thinking that it had gained another caregiver.

The butler nodded and walked out of the bedroom, closing the door silently.

"I thought it was another one to bring me food and drink, but he’s actually a good person?" Yaguba said, "But even if he has malicious intent, only pretending to be a friend planning to bite back, as long as he is willing to bring me Anecdote Fragments, they can be utilized."

When no more sounds came from all directions, and only Cezar’s distant snoring could be heard, Yaguba slowly closed its eyelids inside the crystal ball.

The next morning, when Yaguba opened its eyes, it saw nearly twenty Anecdote Fragments piled up on the bedside table.

Seeing Cezar still asleep, it nudged open the lid of the crystal ball and manipulated the dark currents to approach the fragments.

Like a cartoon with humorous and exaggerated scenes, the shark’s open mouth suddenly expanded at that moment, then it swallowed all twenty Anecdote Fragments into its throat, its gill size returning to normal.

[14 "Universal Level" Anecdote Fragments have been consumed, triggering the special cultivation system "Anecdote Glutton," your actual size increased by 7 meters.]

[6 "Popular Level" Anecdote Fragments have been consumed, triggering the special cultivation system "Anecdote Glutton," your actual size increased by 12 meters.]

[Your real size has increased by a total of 19 meters.]

[Third Body - Eternal Abyss Shark "Yaguba’s" size change: 103 meters → 122 meters.]

After devouring all the fragments, the little shark swirled with black water and returned to the inside of the crystal ball, satisfied, and continued sleeping in the seawater.

However, not long afterward, it was awakened by Cezar’s hurried voice.

"What’s wrong, Cezar?"

Yaguba opened his eyes slowly from within the crystal ball.

He saw Cezar, who was kneeling on the bed, his white hair disheveled, eyes intensely red. His whole body was pale, like a piece of paper that could shatter at any moment.

After speaking for a long time, Cezar couldn’t utter a complete sentence, finally clutching the crystal ball and hysterically crying out, "Why... why, why did brother have to do that?!"

Angry tears streamed from the corners of his eyes, falling on the surface of the crystal ball.

Yaguba tilted its head in confusion, staring at him.

It was said that this morning, Cezar’s butler "Yikar" stole from the royal family’s Anecdote warehouse shortly afterward and then came to the Royal Palace to surrender himself. According to the Royal Court’s rules, the Second Prince executed him on the spot. Most of the royal family witnessed Yikar’s beheading.

After Cezar woke up and searched the castle for half a day without finding Yikar, he finally learned what had happened through the pigeon messenger. Angry, he tried to meet the First Prince and Second Prince, but didn’t find them.

Finally, Cezar returned here, kneeling on the bed like a dog stripped of its backbone, crying to the crystal ball all morning.

After understanding the cause and effect from Cezar’s words, Yaguba speculated that the butler surrendered probably because he didn’t want to become a vulnerability for the Third Prince.

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From the butler’s words last night, it could be heard that he also understood that a war might erupt within the royal family soon, and as one of Cezar’s closest people, if he unfortunately fell into the hands of the First Prince and Second Prince, Cezar might be greatly affected.

But if he dies, then the Third Prince wouldn’t have these worries.

Of course, there might be another reason. Thinking of this, the shark within the Crystal Ball spoke:

"His death has a reason."

"What reason..." Cezar raised his bloodshot eyes, wrinkling his nose like a frenzied little wolf, his voice hoarse as he asked, "Tell me, why?"

"Yikar wants to tell you... your two brothers are not good people."

Cezar sobbed, remaining silent for a long time without speaking.

"Your brother wants to kill you... your butler knew very well that you wouldn’t believe this, so in the end he had no choice but to use his own life to remind you. Otherwise, think about it, why didn’t they even notify you before executing your butler?"

Yaguba paused: "They didn’t care about you at all, so they wouldn’t care about the people around you either."

Cezar still didn’t speak, just sat down leaning against the headboard, his head lowered, his gaze empty as he stared out the window.

That’s why I said, I hate the atmosphere of deep-seated resentment the most...

Cezar said nothing, and so did Shark.

Shark just kept eating, and after finishing, synchronized his consciousness to the Second Body Xia Pingzhou.

.....

.....

The night was already deep, local time in Venice was two in the morning.

In a private room of a tavern, the orange-yellow light spread across everyone’s face.

Xia Pingzhou was accompanying a few members of the brigade drinking. Though while others drank alcohol, he and Ayase Origami drank orange juice.

It wasn’t because they were underage. In the character setting, Xia Pingzhou was 19 years old, already old enough to drink. In fact, he had tried a bit of whiskey earlier in the afternoon, wanting to pretend to be a mature man.

But pretending like that wasn’t as good as not pretending at all.

In the tavern private room, Andrew sat there gulping down alcohol while mumbling about his past with Lan Duoduo. Apparently, he was the one who recommended Lan Duoduo to the group leader, and he had the best relationship with Lan Duoduo, so he felt the deepest guilt and pain after Lan Duoduo’s death.

Xia Pingzhou felt Ayase Origami might have similar feelings, as Oda Takashige was also recommended to the group by Ayase Origami, so he turned to look at the young lady.

Ayase Origami just lowered her eyes, silently staring at a small wild cat ornament Xia Pingzhou had bought for her at the gift shop.

If it were any other day, Andrew’s incessant chatter would have prompted everyone to tell him to shut up. But this night, no one stopped him. The deeper Andrew sank into intoxication, the more he talked, with no sign of stopping.

The Bloodline also seemed to have a good relationship with Lan Duoduo. She held her girlish face and listened quietly and casually.

This hundred-year-old woman rarely showed such a calm and reserved side, like she was under some silent spell.

After a while, someone pushed open the room door and entered. It was a girl wearing a black and white school uniform.

Clearly, she was the brigade’s number 2, "Jack the Ripper." Behind the Ripper was a stranger’s silhouette.

Xia Pingzhou raised an eyebrow, looking up from the glass. What came into view was a man wearing a monocle, looking about thirty years old.

The man’s complexion was as pale as if he’d been a vampire away from sunlight for a long time, yet his face seemed kind and intellectual. His long white hair was tied into a ponytail. At this moment, the man was wearing a pair of white gloves and a white trench coat.

As with his hair and skin tone, everything about this man seemed pale.

"You all haven’t drunk yourselves brain-dead, have you?"

The Ripper spoke calmly, hugging her shoulders and scanning the room. At this point, everyone’s gaze was focused on the man in the trench coat.

Andrew hiccupped alcoholically, asking haltingly: "Th-this is the new member?"

"Pleased to meet you." The man slightly nodded, speaking in fluent English, "I’m the new number 5, Bernardo Edward."

Bai Tanlang’s left eye fixedly stared at the man, hugging his shoulders and pondering: "Anecdote Envoy ’Black Death,’ is that correct?"

"That’s right." Bernardo nodded, a faint smile on his face.

Xia Pingzhou quietly examined Bernardo’s face, thinking this is the person who made the King contract Black Death?

He originally thought Bernardo would either be fierce and intimidating or madly arrogant, at least looking like a sinister and vicious guy. Unexpectedly, this person’s appearance seemed more like a mild-mannered, knowledgeable elder.

The Bloodline leaned back, pressing her long back against the sofa, her crimson eyes curiously studying the newcomer: "This is the new member?"

It seemed everyone was surprised by this "Black Death Fragment Holder’s" appearance. Who would have expected such a menacing name to belong to someone calm and scholarly, a total contrast.

Ayase Origami only glanced before dropping her gaze to continue reading her collection of haikus.

Bernardo clasped his hands behind his back, turning to look around: "Is the group leader not here? I’ve always wanted to meet him."

"The group leader is in China." The Ripper sat down.

"China?" Bernardo repeated.

Xia Pingzhou also raised his eyebrows, thinking the group leader is actually in China. That would be convenient if I could let the Black Cocoon find him.

"Yes, the group leader is in Li Jing, saying he wants to see another new group member." The Ripper picked up Ayase Origami’s glass, taking a sip of the remaining orange juice.

The Bloodline sipped some wine, licking her lips while looking at the silent Bernardo: "No one knows what the group leader is thinking, and few can even find him."

"If you want to meet him, just wait until the next mission starts." Bai Tanlang said.

Li Jing, another new group member? Xia Pingzhou thought, the group leader’s new member wouldn’t be my Number One Body, would it?

So he lifted his head, expressionless as he asked: "The new group member you’re talking about, wouldn’t that be the ’Black Cocoon’?"