Her long nails had transformed, now gleaming with an inky black luster. She lowered her head, slowly stood up, and silently moved to the side, standing quietly.
Inside the room, everyone's attention was focused on Han Lu and Li Laogui. No one noticed the change in Miss Thirteen's appearance.
"You don't know?" The young Marquis, Dong Fangming, frowned, his face clouding over. He was displeased with this answer, and a sharp, cold glint flashed in his eyes. "If you don't know, what use are you to me?"
"Young Marquis, we truly don't know. We only received orders from our branch to bring back this little girl—I mean, the young princess," Li Laogui hastily explained. "Once we completed the task, the branch promised to reward us with Blood God Pills to help us break through to the Earth Realm. That's why we acted."
At this moment, he felt incredibly bitter. When the branch had issued this task, both of them had been surprised. How could a little girl warrant such a reward? Now it seemed they had fallen into a trap.
"Young Marquis, they probably don't know anything. Leave them to me; they might still be of some use," Su Wu, standing beside Dong Fangming, stepped forward and said.
"Very well. I'll hand them over to you, Commander Su. I hope you can make Blood Shadow Sect understand the consequences of offending our Weeping Blood Marquis Manor," Dong Fangming said in a deep voice, glancing at Su Wu.
"Rest assured, Young Marquis. After this matter is settled, I will give you and the Marquis Manor a satisfactory explanation," Su Wu nodded, waving his hand. His subordinates immediately approached Li Laogui and Han Lu, preparing to take them away.
"Lan'er, let's go thank Miss Thirteen for taking care of you during this time," Dong Fangming said softly to the young princess in his arms.
"Mm-hmm!" Lan'er nodded in his embrace.
Dong Fangming, carrying Lan'er, walked towards Miss Thirteen, who stood to the side. He felt obliged to express his gratitude to Miss Thirteen for sheltering his sister, as befitting a nobleman's etiquette.
"Miss Thirteen, I must thank you for taking care of Lan'er. After today, I will remove your status as an official slave," the young Marquis said softly as he approached Miss Thirteen.
He seemed to understand Miss Thirteen's needs and made the promise directly. However, at that moment...
Miss Thirteen, who had been keeping her head lowered, suddenly looked up. Her eyes were now completely covered by a green light, and her inky black nails shot out like lightning.
The young Marquis sensed something was amiss the instant Miss Thirteen raised her head. But with the young princess in his arms, his first reaction was to activate his protective energy and swiftly retreat.
However, Miss Thirteen, who originally had no martial arts skills, suddenly emanated a green light and moved with incredible speed. Her ink-like nails instantly penetrated the young Marquis's protective energy, piercing his chest. The black substance from her nails then surged into the young Marquis's body.
Su Wu, standing nearby, was also caught off guard by this sudden change. By the time he realized something was wrong, he was a step too late. In a fit of anger, he swiftly drew the long sword at his waist.
As Miss Thirteen delivered that strike, the green light in her eyes vanished, and her expression slightly recovered. Just as she was about to say something—
A flash of silver light swept by. Miss Thirteen's head instantly flew into the air, followed by two more sword strokes that severed her arms. In an instant, blood splattered across the entire room.
"Run!" Sensing an opportunity amidst the chaos, Li Laogui and Han Lu quickly overpowered the two men beside them and leaped out of the building, fleeing into the distance.
At this moment, Su Wu paid no attention to the escaping Han Lu and his companion. Instead, he rushed to the young Marquis's side to check on Dong Fangming's condition.
The young Marquis Dong Fangming's face looked terrible. He was using his internal energy to protect his wounded chest, but the black energy seemed to ignore his protective force, continuously flowing towards his heart meridian.
Whoosh! A man dressed in black suddenly appeared, channeling a stream of energy into the young Marquis's body. He was the secret protector of the young Marquis, but even he hadn't anticipated such a turn of events. As his energy entered the young Marquis's body, Dong Fangming immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood, his breathing becoming rapid. However, the spread of the black energy was somewhat contained.
"Su Wu, quick, help me! Let's join forces to protect the young Marquis's heart meridian. If this poison enters his heart meridian, I fear the young Marquis will die on the spot," the man in black called out to Su Wu.
Su Wu didn't dare delay. He immediately mobilized his internal energy and, together with the man in black, protected the young Marquis's heart meridian. With their combined efforts, they barely managed to halt the spread of the black energy.
"Su Wu, we need to find a place to settle the young Marquis first!" the man in black said, cradling the young Marquis with one arm.
"Let's go to my Su family residence!" Su Wu replied without hesitation, picking up the young princess and quickly departing.
"Lu Hao, go deal with Han Lu and Li Xing. Dead or alive, it doesn't matter!" Su Wu transmitted a message to Lu Hao as they left.
On the roof beam above, a shadowy figure slowly disappeared—it was the ninja Su Hao had sent earlier.
Meanwhile...
Su Hao, who had been monitoring the situation from the rooftop, stared wide-eyed, never expecting things to turn out this way.
"Third Uncle is truly ruthless, showing no mercy to a fair maiden. Three sword strokes to sever head and arms. But it seems the young Marquis is gravely injured. We should leave first!" Su Hao, seeing the situation spiral out of control, quickly retreated.
He waited for the hidden ninja to return and report on the situation inside.
A short while later.
Su Hao returned to the constabulary and entered his room. On his way back, he had greeted Little Liu.
In his room, Su Hao reclined, having been briefed by the hidden ninja about the events that had transpired inside.
"Their plan was aimed at the young Marquis. This likely explains Wang Tong's death. But if these people wanted to kill the young Marquis, I feel it shouldn't have been too difficult. There must be some other reason," Su Hao mused, having solved the mystery of Wang Tong's death but still unclear about the perpetrators' true motives.
[Congratulations, host. You have completed the task of uncovering Wang Tong's cause of death. Reward: 100 check-in points and 1 Bronze Draw Card. Added to your inventory.]
"It's already completed? Looks like my logical reasoning skills are pretty strong, huh?" Su Hao praised himself as he saw the Bronze Draw Card appear in his inventory.
"My hand is getting itchy again!" Su Hao looked at the Bronze Draw Card, his fingers twitching to use it.
"Better wait a bit. Today's luck hasn't been great, so I'll hold onto it for now," Su Hao resisted the urge and closed his inventory.
He had only drawn one ordinary antidote pill today, and drawing again might not yield anything good.
"System, can I recall the lower-rank ninja cards?" Su Hao casually asked. After all, now that his task was complete, he didn't need these three ninjas for the time being. The ninjas had a two-week duration, and he felt it would be a waste, so he inquired on a whim.
[Ninjas recalled. Time frozen! Remaining time: 13 days]
The system immediately recalled the three ninjas around him back into the cards in his inventory.
Opening his inventory again, he noticed a "13 days remaining" prompt beneath the three ninja cards.
"Oh yeah!" Su Hao couldn't help but exclaim.