Chapter 63
“We et again, Mr. Joseph.”
The moonlight shone gently, and under its silvery radiance, raindrops pattered on the windowsill, like a soft nocturne slowly playing.
A figure bathed in the moonlight, with raindrops rolling off the surface of an umbrella.
The invisible rain curtain in the world opened the stage curtain, and the man under the black umbrella seed like a musician walking calmly in the rain, entering the stage composedly at the mont the curtain opened.
“!!!”
Joseph suddenly stepped back, looking at the man on the balcony with uncertainty and surprise.
He instinctively recalled a night over a month ago that also had a faint scent of rain, that piano piece played in the Beiyuan Building. Rembering it now, this mory was tinged with a deep shade of blood.
The culprit was the man before him.
Joseph Houston, a mber of the Imperial Parliant and administrator of the King District, lived in a heavily guarded community, in a villa with over ten floors.
Now, he stood shocked in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the top floor, facing the man on the balcony just a few steps away. The closed glass window gave him no sense of security.
The thick night painted the world before his eyes. The visitor, steeped in the night, leaned casually against the railing, his light golden hair tinged with moisture.
The black long coat fell from his side, and the shadow cast by the black umbrella covered the man’s handso features. His beautiful deep green eyes smiled slightly at Joseph.
This smile was so perfect it seed artificial.
Joseph was dazed for a mont, with an indescribable discomfort welling up in his subconscious.
He had t this man codenad K three tis.
Strictly speaking, it could only be counted as twice.
The first ti, he didn’t even see the man’s face. The most vivid impression was being startled awake at three in the morning in his mistress’s bed by a glass of cold water splashed on his face, the cold and stimulating sensation, and the hard, heart-trembling feeling of a gun muzzle pressed against the back of his head while he was in a daze.
Soone behind him let out a soft laugh.
He still rembered that gentle, elegant voice, like that of a young noble, and the unreasonable words.
“Nice to et you, Mr. Joseph. Pardon my abrupt visit, but I’d like to discuss the ownership of the King District with you.”
The second ti they t, or rather, the first ti he actually saw this face, was on that blood-stained night, at the banquet in the Beiyuan Building.
This mysterious “pianist” left everyone with an unforgettable farewell gift, which made the seed of fear planted in Joseph’s heart quickly germinate and grow rapidly in just a few days.
This fear overwheld everything, all principles and morals, making him start to consider agreeing to the other’s demands, rather than blindly following in the footsteps of Sir Leonardo.
Just when he was about to succumb to fear, the Parliant seized the opportunity of Sir Leonardo’s assassination to strike at the royal family, achieving remarkable results with a thunderous blow.
In this, the sudden assassination case served as the fuse for everything, and one of the important clues used by the Parliant against the royal family naturally played a significant role.
This mysterious assassin, who inadvertently assisted the Parliant, was naturally used by them.
While the royal family wanted to cut this person into a thousand pieces, the Parliant began to consider whether they could further utilize him to deliver an even greater blow to the royal family.
This gave the struggling Joseph a glimpse of opportunity–
A chance to neither betray the Parliant nor violate his principles, while also not having to worry about losing his life for rejecting the mysterious person’s demands. Moreover, he might even receive praise from the Parliant’s higher-ups and possibly climb even higher!
The flas of greed and ambition burned fiercely in his chest, making him throw caution to the wind.
As expected, when the higher-ups in Parliant learned that he actually had a way to find the mysterious assassin and reach an agreent with him, they were all pleasantly surprised.
While the assassination of a marquis certainly damaged the face of the Chenxing Empire, the royal family was also embarrassed. They were just collateral damage.
If this could be used as a starting point to strike a heavy blow against the royal family, Parliant would gain even greater benefits.
This would require the cooperation of that assassin.
If possible, they would love for this killer, whom they had packaged online as a “righteous person serving justice” and “an unnad hero walking in darkness”, to strike again a few more tis, killing more mbers of the royal family and thoroughly disrupting the situation.
After receiving instructions from the Parliant’s higher-ups, Joseph sent ssages through those few dogs in the King District that should have belonged to him but had already been subdued by soone else, attempting to contact their new master.
Before long, this elusive new master indeed appeared before Joseph.
— This was their third eting.
Unlike the previous two tis, this ti they were partners, and Joseph was just a ssenger, while the real mastermind simply couldn’t appear in person.
The agreent they reached was simple.
Parliant would provide K with a list, which would surely contain victims that fit his aesthetics. All he had to do was continue his killings.
In return, Parliant would satisfy his conditions, handing over the underworld of the King District to him, and never interfere with his developnt in the underworld. Moreover, for so ti to co, they would block interference from higher levels and provide so necessary assistance in the process of his power expansion.
— Parliant didn’t care if he grew too powerful. The Chenxing Empire had too many underground forces. Which of those seemingly formidable underground organizations dared to confront the Empire’s rule head-on? And how many of them weren’t just dogs of larger powers?
In Parliant’s eyes, this seemingly unruly partner would ultimately not escape the fate of those underground organizations – either being tad by them or crushed to dust by the Empire’s heavy weapons.
Therefore, K’s growth and expansion would ultimately benefit Parliant, as if developing power for Parliant. Perhaps soday in the future, when Parliant needed it, it could play an even greater role.
— Parliant wanted to obtain the supre power of this country and beco the overt ruler. The other party in this cooperation aid to devour everything in the darkness of this country, becoming the uncrowned king in the shadows.
— The forr was restricted by systems and rules, with many things they couldn’t conveniently do and needed others to handle. The latter, though unconstrained, could certainly root and develop in this country at a faster pace with Parliant’s help. They could help each other and benefit mutually.
As the interdiary who indirectly facilitated this cooperation, even if he just passed on a ssage, Joseph gained trendous benefits.
Even if these benefits hadn’t materialized yet, at least his na was now known to the bigwigs in Parliant’s upper echelons. This was an opportunity that others could hardly aspire to!
Thinking of this, looking at the “opportunity creator” standing before him, Joseph, with mixed feelings, moved the muscles of his mouth, suppressing the instinctive fear response, then pulled open the floor-to-ceiling window and strode forward.
He put on a fake but enthusiastic smile.
“So it’s Mr. K who has co. The entire Parliant is very grateful to you. Those above even asked
to convey their thanks to you on their behalf.”
The man leaning against the railing didn’t move, just slightly raised the black umbrella in his hand, tilting the umbrella surface to reveal his complete features. He spoke thoughtfully:
“Oh? It seems you’ve achieved a great victory?”
The turbulent undercurrents of the Chenxing Empire occurred in places invisible to ordinary people. The general public could only see the constantly changing public opinion on the internet, the various scandals of royal family mbers being continuously exposed, those intentionally or unintentionally ntioned past mistakes made by the emperor, and even many old stories from the past being dug up by “insiders”, including various stupid things the emperor had done that ordinary citizens were unaware of. This might allow so clever people to deduce traces of the power struggle behind the scenes.
Those slightly more sensitive might notice that recently, so past events of the Glorious Revolution were frequently ntioned, such as suddenly popular historical dramas, related songs at special art performances, historical forums reviewing the past, citizens discussing several great events and revolutions in the history of the Chenxing Empire… Such things, one after another, garnered plenty of attention.
ntioning the Glorious Revolution naturally led to discussions about the feudal and corrupt imperial royal family of that ti. Connecting this to the recent scandals of the royal family and the emperor’s unreliable decisions, it was easy to stir up public sentint.
In short, if there were a favorability indicator, one would see the Chenxing Empire’s citizens’ approval of the royal family continuously declining.
But this was only the surface level that ordinary people could see.
The Chenxing Empire’s royal family, which held a portion of power, couldn’t be overthrown rely by public opinion attacks. The stirred-up sentint was just the first breach created by Parliant.
The deeper-level confrontations were difficult for ordinary people to know about.
Even K didn’t have channels to know so many inside stories.
Therefore, his curious question gave Joseph a rare sense of superiority.
It wasn’t that Joseph’s character wasn’t stable enough, but the psychological shadow K had left on him earlier was too heavy, almost leaving an image of an omnipotent demon lord in his heart. Now, suddenly realizing that this seemingly all-powerful, omnipotent person also had things he didn’t know, and was asking him for information, Joseph’s mood, which had been suppressed by fear all along, inevitably lifted a bit.
He replied in a very pleased tone. “Mr. K’s guess is correct. This ti, we really made His Majesty suffer a big loss. If the Cabinet hadn’t suddenly intervened, we could have achieved an even greater victory.”
Joseph didn’t care about expressing his true thoughts in front of K, his tone full of mockery and playfulness. “Those so-called bigwigs, with empty titles of emperor and nobles, are still arrogant about their noble bloodlines, not knowing that this world has long changed. As people who have made greater contributions to the Chenxing Empire, as representatives of the vast majority of Chenxing Empire’s citizens, we naturally have more right to control this country than they do!”
The only response was the patter of rain.
The man leaning against the railing maintained his previous posture, his expression unmoved.
His reaction seed to show no interest in this topic, causing Joseph to lose interest greatly.
However, Joseph brought up another topic. “Our Emperor has always been like this. After the Glorious Revolution, he didn’t hesitate to drag the entire country into the quagmire of world war, threatening the destruction of the Chenxing Empire, ruining the perfect victory of the Glorious Revolution, just to barely hold onto a bit of power.”
“Now, he’s playing the sa trick again, actually attempting to cooperate with the Yao Country people, not hesitating to let them interfere in our Chenxing Empire’s internal affairs, just to suppress Parliant’s montum — This Emperor hasn’t thought about what would happen if the despicable Yao Country people took this opportunity to propose conditions to cut up the Chenxing Empire’s interests… No, just giving the Yao Country people a chance to interfere in our internal affairs, they would have countless ways to make the Chenxing Empire suffer unbearable losses!”
At this point, even a dirty politician like Joseph, whose own background was not clean or honest, showed strong contempt for the Emperor’s “selling out the country” behavior.
“Oh, I almost forgot to ntion, the reason why the Chenxing Empire got involved is related to a cross-border arrest warrant.”
The topic seed to naturally co to this point. Joseph put away the intense emotions he had just shown and looked at the person in front of him. “The person they want to arrest is you, Mr. K.”
“All this… seems to be related to a serial murder case in the Chenxing Empire.”
eting Joseph’s inquiring gaze, the man who hadn’t said much laughed lightly. “Oh, that matter…What surprising persistence, I thought they had forgotten about it.”
Although he said it was surprising, his tone was calm, quite indifferent, with an air of nonchalance.
This almost choked Joseph’s carefully prepared emotions. He coughed lightly, then said in a righteous tone. “The Yao Country people attempted to enter our country to arrest Mr. K, and our Emperor actually didn’t hesitate to reach an agreent with them to pressure Parliant. Fortunately, Parliant withstood the pressure and refused this unreasonable demand!”
“— Mr. K is an important friend of Parliant. This ti Parliant’s great victory, you have a share in the credit. We absolutely won’t allow, and it’s impossible for us to hand over our friend!”
Joseph’s tone was righteous, and combined with his serious face, it was indeed easy to believe.
Unfortunately, the only audience present didn’t cooperate with his performance, just nodding lightly. “I see.” As for whether he believed it or not, that was another matter.
Joseph felt the conversation couldn’t continue.
He simply threw out his purpose, getting straight to the point. “Mr. K probably doesn’t know, several mbers of Parliant have expressed their admiration for you, asking
to convey it to you on their behalf. If Mr. K is willing, we can establish a new relationship, having a more intimate friendship.”
Joseph tactfully extended an olive branch.
“K” certainly understood.
After all, this purpose was glaringly obvious.
First, he explained the results of Parliant’s great victory this ti, even the emperor could only retreat step by step, being played like a puppet, this was to show off their strength;
Then, he explained Yao Country’s relentless pursuit of him, not to ntion the deep hatred of the Chenxing Empire’s royal family towards him, only Parliant could protect him under the pressure from the Chenxing Empire’s royal family and Yao Country, this was both a crisis and a threat, while also demonstrating Parliant’s great strength and human touch;
Finally, he pointed out the admiration of Parliant’s higher-ups for him, subtly extending a recruitnt offer.
This series of combined tactics, if “K” were truly just an ordinary employee of the Shadow Council, would likely have moved him to bow down on the spot and accept the recruitnt offer.
Then, he might have beco Parliant’s pawn within the Shadow Council, an underground force. Even if the Shadow Council continued to expand and develop, it would always be under Parliant’s control, preventing it from growing out of control.
Of course, it’s possible that Parliant didn’t even take a small organization like the Shadow Council seriously. The reason for recruiting him might simply be because they valued his skills, wanting to find a useful blade.
Whichever it was, he wasn’t interested.
Although agreeing to the recruitnt and becoming a double agent seed like an interesting approach, such an idea belonged to Bai Yi or the Puppet Master, not the rebellious K — his willingness to join the Shadow Council wasn’t out of being convinced, but because he wanted to rise to power himself.
Given K’s character, he naturally wouldn’t agree to Parliant’s recruitnt.
“— A more intimate relationship?”
The man pushed himself off the railing, standing steadily on the balcony, looking at the expectant Joseph.
His smile was impeccable.
“One is Parliant, which openly dominates the Chenxing Empire, the other is the Shadow Council, which secretly dominates the dark world. Between dawn and reflection, there is naturally an intimate relationship.”
“— I look forward to that day’s arrival.”
Joseph: ???
At this mont, his face was full of question marks, probably thinking: What Shadow Council? What obscure organization dares to compare itself to Parliant, truly believing there will be a day when both sides can be ntioned in the sa breath, equally dividing the world?
“K” didn’t care what he thought and continued, “I ca today just to remind you to rember to keep your promise.”
As for other matters, he wasn’t interested.
Joseph was stunned, not yet having reacted.
The man’s deep green pupils seed to beco even more profound for a mont, but his smile remained gentle. “The King District is already my territory. It seems you’ve left so garbage there, so I took the liberty of cleaning it up for you.”
Joseph’s pupils contracted sharply.
Parliant had been treating the other party as a re tool from beginning to end. Even though they had agreed to cooperate, they couldn’t resist doing so underhanded things. But the implication of these words was that their planted personnel had been dealt with?
This evening, first being ruthlessly rejected, and now being warned like this, anger rose in his heart, and he couldn’t help but frown heavily. “You!”
The man gave him a light glance.
The aura of death seed to hover around him. Those bloody scenes from before suddenly flooded back into his mind, and Joseph instantly deflated like a punctured balloon.
He moved his lips.
“You… take care…”
“Well then, until next ti, Mr. Joseph.”
…No, let there not be a next ti. I never want to et you again in this lifeti.
Amidst Joseph’s enthusiastic fake smile, “K” politely bade farewell, then turned and leapt down from the balcony.
The night was deep, and his figure disappeared into the rain.
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