The bedroom was dead silent. The butler pushed open the doors and slowly walked in from the darkness, his footsteps deliberately muffled.
After a long mont, he ca to a halt. His gaze fixed upon the Crystal Ball on the nightstand, and he remained silent for a very long ti.
At the exact sa ti, Yagubalu suddenly opened its eyes within the Crystal Ball.
Man and shark stared quietly at each other under the moonlight.
The shark's vertical pupils glowed faintly, reflecting a nearly imperceptible dark blue hue, looking exactly like a fierce beast guarding its master.
Since the butler was neither speaking nor acting, Ji Minghuan had no intention of making Yagubalu do anything either. It would just continue pretending to be a harmless Nobel Shark. Losing its composure was not sothing a noble among sharks should do.
"I have a question... You are on His Highness the Third Prince's side, correct?" the butler finally asked after a long silence.
Yagubalu paused for a mont. Since the butler already knew it was far from normal, there was really no need to keep up the act.
If the butler was siding with the First Prince and the Second Prince, he would certainly know about the attack on the Third Prince last night. Connecting that with the fact that 'this Nobel Shark is not quite normal,' he would easily deduce that Yagubalu had swallowed the werewolf whole to save Xize'er.
The fact that the butler asked this question instead of imdiately attacking proved that he was likely also on the Third Prince's side, and completely unaware of what had transpired the night before.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Yagubalu asked.
The butler lowered his eyes, then raised them again, letting out a long sigh of relief. "Then I can be at ease..."
Yagubalu made a hushing gesture. "Shh... He is sleeping, and Shasha needs to sleep too."
The butler thought for a mont. "Even knowing that it might make you an enemy of the entire world, will you still stand by the Third Prince's side?"
"Of course," Yagubalu replied.
'My main quest is to protect the Third Prince,' it thought. 'What else am I supposed to do besides complete my quest? Have a hundred-ter shark try to eat a two-hundred-ter whale?'
"That's good... Please make sure to protect him well." The butler pondered for a mont before bowing respectfully to the shark in the Crystal Ball. "I am rely the lowest rank of Anecdote Envoy. I can only use so mundane Anecdote Fragnts for daily tasks, and nothing more... But I have watched His Highness the Third Prince grow up since he was a child. I cannot bear to see him die in this cruel and foolish struggle for the throne."
Yagubalu did not respond, simply observing his expression quietly.
"Then I will take my leave," the butler said. He turned to go, but Yagubalu suddenly called out to him.
"Hey, don't be in such a rush to leave."
The butler stopped in his tracks, turning halfway around. "Is there sothing else?"
"If you have the capability, help
find so Anecdote Fragnts. Any type or grade will do. I am not a picky eater," Yagubalu said.
"Is this also to protect the Third Prince?"
"Of course."
"Then I will do my best to help within my abilities."
"Good. Goodbye."
The little shark inside the Crystal Ball could not help but hum cheerfully, thinking to itself that it just gained another feeder.
The butler nodded, stepped out of the bedroom, and closed the doors silently behind him.
"I thought he was just another servant bringing
food and drinks, but he actually turns out to be a good guy?" Yagubalu muttered. "Still, even if he is rotten to the core and is rely feigning compliance to backstab us later, as long as he is willing to bring
Anecdote Fragnts, I can make use of him."
Hearing no more sounds from any direction, leaving only Xize'er's faint snores echoing in the bedroom, Yagubalu slowly closed its eyes within the Crystal Ball.
The next morning, when Yagubalu opened its eyes, it saw nearly twenty Anecdote Fragnts stacked on the nightstand.
Seeing that Xize'er had not yet woken up, it pushed open the lid of the Crystal Ball and manipulated the dark currents to reach out to the fragnts.
Much like a comical and exaggerated scene from a cartoon, the shark's open jaws suddenly expanded drastically. In the next mont, it swallowed all twenty Anecdote Fragnts down its throat, and its gills returned to their normal size.
[Successfully devoured 14 'Universal-grade' Anecdote Fragnts. Triggering the effect of the exclusive cultivation system 'Anomaly Gluttony'. Your true size has increased by 7 ters.]
[Successfully devoured 6 'Common-grade' Anecdote Fragnts. Triggering the effect of the exclusive cultivation system 'Anomaly Gluttony'. Your true size has increased by 12 ters.]
[Your true size has increased by a total of 19 ters.]
[Host Body Three — Eternal Abyss Shark 'Yagubalu' size change: 103 ters → 122 ters.]
After devouring all the fragnts, the little shark wrapped itself in the black currents and returned to the interior of the Crystal Ball. It closed its eyes in deep satisfaction and went back to slumbering in the seawater.
However, it was not long before it was awakened by Xize'er's frantic voice.
"What's wrong, Xize'er?"
Yagubalu slowly opened its eyes within the Crystal Ball.
It saw Xize'er kneeling on the bed, his white hair in complete disarray and his eyes terribly bloodshot. He looked incredibly pale, resembling a fragile sheet of paper that could crumble at any mont.
For a long ti, Xize'er could not form a single complete sentence. Finally, clutching the Crystal Ball, he scread out in hysterical tears, "Why... why?! Why did my brother do this?!"
Tears of sheer devastation rolled down the corners of his eyes, splashing onto the surface of the Crystal Ball.
Yagubalu tilted its head, staring at him with a puzzled expression.
It was said that earlier this morning, shortly after committing theft in the Royal Family's Anecdote storehouse, Xize'er's butler, Ikar, had turned himself in at the palace. In accordance with the royal court's laws, the Second Prince executed him on the spot. The majority of the Royal Family had witnessed the mont Ikar was beheaded.
When Xize'er woke up, he had searched the castle endlessly for Ikar without success, only to eventually learn of the tragedy through a carrier pigeon. Furious, he went to confront the First Prince and the Second Prince, but could not find them anywhere.
In the end, Xize'er returned here, kneeling on his bed like a dog with a broken spine, crying his heart out to the Crystal Ball all morning.
After piecing together the events from Xize'er's choked sobs, Yagubalu surmised that the most likely reason the butler turned himself in was that he did not want to beco a weakness to be used against the Third Prince.
Judging by what the butler had said the previous night, he clearly understood that a war was very likely to erupt within the Royal Family soon. As one of the people closest to Xize'er, if he unfortunately fell into the hands of the First Prince or Second Prince, Xize'er would undoubtedly suffer a massive blow.
But if he was dead, the Third Prince would no longer have to worry about such a vulnerability.
Of course, there might be another reason aside from that. Thinking of this, the shark in the Crystal Ball spoke up. "His death happened for a reason."
"What reason..." Xize'er raised his bloodshot eyes, scrunching his nose like a frantic wolf pup as he asked in a hoarse voice. "Tell , why?"
"Ikar wanted to tell you... that your two brothers are not good people."
Xize'er sobbed, remaining dead silent for a very long ti.
"Your brothers want to kill you... Your butler knew perfectly well that you would never believe it, so in the end, he had no choice but to use his own life as a warning. Otherwise, think about it: before executing your personal butler, why did they not even bother to inform you?"
Yagubalu paused for a mont. "They never respected you, so they naturally would not respect anyone around you."
Xize'er still said nothing. He simply leaned back against the headboard, his head drooping as he stared hollowly out the window.
'This is exactly why I hate these bitterly angsty atmospheres...'
Xize'er remained silent, and Shasha kept quiet as well.
Shasha simply focused on eating. Once it finished, it synchronized its consciousness over to Host Body Two, Xia Pingzhou.
It was already late into the night; the local ti over in Venice was 2:00 AM.
Inside a private booth of a certain tavern, the warm orange light washed downwards, spilling over everyone's faces.
Xia Pingzhou was currently accompanying several mbers of the brigade for drinks. However, while the others drank actual alcohol, he and Ayase Origami were sipping on orange juice.
It was not because he was underage. In his character settings, Xia Pingzhou was nineteen years old, well past the legal drinking age. In fact, he had even taken two small sips of Whiskey that afternoon, trying to put on the act of a mature man.
But after that pathetic display, he realized it was better not to pretend at all.
In the tavern booth, Andrew sat there pouring alcohol down his throat while rambling endlessly about his past mories with Lan Duo Duo. It seed he had been the one to recomnd Lan Duo Duo to the Leader to join the brigade. They had also been the closest, so after her death, he was the one who felt the deepest guilt and the most agonizing heartache.
Xia Pingzhou figured Ayase Origami likely felt the sa way, considering that Oda Takikage had also been recomnded to join by her. Thus, he turned his head to glance at the young miss.
Ayase Origami simply kept her eyes lowered, staring silently at a little stray cat keychain that Xia Pingzhou had bought for her at a gift shop.
If it had been any other day, everyone would have told Andrew to shut up ages ago for rambling on like this. But tonight, no one said a word to stop him. The drunker Andrew got, the more he talked, showing absolutely no sign of stopping.
Blood Progenitor's relationship with Lan Duo Duo also seed to have been quite good. Resting her youthful-looking face in her hands, she listened quietly and absentmindedly.
It was extrely rare for this hundred-year-old woman to display such a quiet and reserved side, as if soone had cast a silencing spell over her.
Not long after, soone pushed open the door and stepped into the booth. It was a young girl dressed in a black-and-white School Uniform.
It was unmistakably mber No. 2 of the brigade, Jack the Ripper. Right now, a shadowy, unfamiliar figure was following right behind her.
Xia Pingzhou raised his eyebrows slightly, looking up from his glass. Entering his line of sight was a man wearing a monocle, looking to be in his thirties.
The man's skin was as pale as a Vampire who had not seen the sun in ages, yet his features exuded a gentle, intellectual aura. His long white hair was tied back into a ponytail. He was currently wearing a pair of white gloves and a sharp white trench coat.
Just like his hair and his skin, everything about this man seed entirely devoid of color.
"Don't tell
you've all drank yourselves into complete idiocy?"
Jack the Ripper asked calmly, crossing her arms and sweeping her gaze across the room. At this mont, everyone's eyes were focused squarely on the man in the trench coat.
Andrew let out a drunken hiccup and asked haltingly, "Is... is this the newcor?"
"A pleasure to et you all," the man said with a slight nod, speaking in fluent English. "I am the new No. 5, Bernardo Edward."
White Wolf stared at the man with his left eye, crossing his arms as he murmured, "The Anecdote Envoy 'Black Death', right?"
"That is correct," Bernardo nodded, a faint smile hanging on his face.
Xia Pingzhou quietly studied Bernardo's face. 'So this is the person who infected the King with the Black Death?' he thought.
He had assud that Bernardo would either look like a vicious demon or a raving lunatic. At the very least, he should have looked like a sinister, ruthless villain. He never expected the man to actually resemble an easygoing, highly intellectual elder.
Blood Progenitor leaned back, resting her slender back against the sofa. She raised her crimson eyes, examining the man with genuine curiosity. "So this is the newcor?"
It seed everyone was surprised by the appearance of this 'Black Death Fragnt Holder'. Who would have thought that soone with such a terrifying title would actually turn out to be such an elegant, refined gentleman in reality? The contrast was striking.
Ayase Origami rely glanced at him before lowering her eyes again to continue reading her Haiku Collection.
Bernardo clasped his hands behind his back and turned his head to look around. "Is the Leader not here? I have been looking forward to eting him."
"The Leader is in China," Jack the Ripper said, taking a seat.
"China?" Bernardo repeated.
Xia Pingzhou raised his eyebrows. 'The Leader is actually in China? If I can have Black Cocoon track him down, things will be much easier,' he thought.
"Yes, the Leader is in Lijing. He said he was going to et another new mber." Jack the Ripper picked up Ayase Origami's glass and took a sip of the remaining orange juice.
Blood Progenitor took a sip of Red Wine, licking her lips as she looked at the silent Bernardo. "No one ever knows what the Leader is thinking, and very few people can actually find him."
"If you want to see him, just wait until our next operation begins," White Wolf said.
'Lijing? Another new mber?' Xia Pingzhou thought. 'Could the new mber the Leader is talking about be my Host Body One?'
Thus, he lifted his head and asked with an entirely expressionless face, "This other new mber you all are talking about... it couldn't happen to be 'Black Cocoon', could it?"
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