Chapter 843: 440 A Single Blow

It seems middle school geometry still has its value…

After disembarking from the carriage that only operates within the Wang Gong's inner court, Li Ang stared at the palace walls now sheathed in iron plating and confirmed his earlier judgment once more.

The anomalous object responsible for this change must be inside the Wang Gong, and its location matches what I calculated—most likely the very palace before me.

Outside the Wang Gong, in the square and streets, only living things like pedestrians and horses were affected; but now, inside the inner court, even inanimate structures like the city walls have begun to rust over.

The stone pavement beneath my feet still feels like stone, but the dust and dirt on its surface had, at some point, turned into deep brown rust stains.

The garden in the distance still brims with greenery, yet it feels strangely lifeless—the leaves on the treetops no longer sway in the wind; rather than a meticulously maintained garden, it resembles a massive metal bonsai cast in iron and steel.

But the greatest change is before me—the palace itself.

Once a stately, solemn structure steeped in ancient history, it now appears rounded and frivolous; large patches of dark red iron plating have been added to its highest spire, and the tall, elegant windows have become short, squat, and rounded, losing all sharp edges, almost entirely transformed into something else.

This bizarre transformation is like taking a human hand with distinct fingers and gluing them together with an unimaginably strong adhesive, then crushing all flesh and bone into a single round ball—everywhere it exudes strangeness, standing out grotesquely against the surrounding buildings…

"Leader!"

As Li Ang stroked the black goat's head and scanned the palace with his soul vision, Joshua hurried up after disembarking, his face filled with awe:

"What the hell happened? Why has the palace suddenly turned like this?"

Who the hell am I supposed to ask? I want to know too!

Glancing back at Joshua's face still bearing the imprint of a palm print, Li Ang replied:

"Something anomalous must have been triggered.

I carefully scanned everything just now and saw no obviously abnormal souls—so the thing causing the palace to change likely has no user. It's an anomalous object that went out of control and ran rampant."

"Then… what do we do? Do we abort the operation?"

"We cannot abort."

Using the black goat's soul vision, Li Ang spotted the Princess's soul flame—flickering wildly—inside her bedroom. He exhaled slightly in relief, then stepped forward:

"The chance for those of you with anomalous objects to join the coup is likely only this once. If we abort now, achieving this level of infiltration again may be impossible.

Also, Princess Veronika is still within the range of this anomalous object. Her ascending the throne in place of the old king is the outcome with the least damage to the entire kingdom. If anything happens to her, we'll have to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

If that happens, even if we ultimately succeed, an enormous number of people will die, the kingdom will be crippled, and it may take two or three generations to recover. So right now, we have no choice but to press forward."

"I understand!"

Nodding firmly, "Joshua" asked nervously:

"Then, Leader—should we first protect the Princess to ensure her safety, or first knock out the Captain of the Guard so I can take control of his body and redirect the soldiers, letting our people in?"

Save the Princess first—or find the Captain of the Guard first?

Looking at the Princess's soul flame—wildly flickering with panic and terror, yet never leaving the room, not moving an inch—Li Ang declared decisively:

"Do both at once!

We split up. The Princess's situation is strange—I must go check on her first and make sure she doesn't come to harm.

As for you, Luke—you're currently in the Prince's body. The Captain of the Guard won't be overly wary of you. Under deliberate surprise, knocking him out won't be difficult."

"Got it! I'm on my way!"

Hearing Li Ang's words, "Joshua" nodded. By then, they had reached the palace entrance. He took a deep breath, mimicking the Freckled Prince's usual demeanor, and approached the guarding soldiers with an arrogant air:

"Where's your Captain? I need to speak with him—take me to him right away!"

Upon hearing "Joshua's" words, the iron-plated soldier blinked, then as if waking from a dream, raised his ceremonial staff and swung it straight at "Joshua's" head with a dull thud.

No one expected palace guards to attack the Prince. Caught completely off guard, the blow landed squarely on "Joshua's" skull, knocking him flat with a thump.

What the fuck?!?!

Dazed by this utterly senseless blow, Li Ang immediately yanked "Joshua" up from the ground—found him unconscious from the strike—and stared in disbelief at the soldier.

"What the hell are you doing hitting him?!?!"

"Your Highness!"

Facing Li Ang's angry accusation, the soldier with the ceremonial staff hastily saluted, then blinked his glass eyes, his iron face filled with confusion:

"He's a commoner—and wearing criminal attire. Approaching the palace so brazenly? He must be driven out!"

That's Joshua's body! What are you talking about?!

Li Ang frowned at this, but just as he was about to speak, something suddenly clicked.

Luke, possessing Joshua's body, and I ourselves are anomalous object holders with "contamination levels"—so we're unaffected in perception, retaining normal human senses, able to distinguish humans from iron-people.

Even when looking at my own body, I appear completely normal; unless I touch myself, I wouldn't even realize I've become iron-plated. We see each other as normal too.

As for Joshua… he has no anomalous object, but he did visit the Clearance Bureau's headquarters and saw countless anomalous objects. Just that trip alone likely left him with a fraction of a contamination level—he too gained the ability to tell humans apart from iron-people.

But the iron-plated soldier before us is different.

These ordinary people, influenced by the anomaly and believing themselves to be iron-people, showed no suspicion when looking at me—meaning, in their eyes, both I and Joshua must also appear as iron-people.

And this mutual observation among iron-people doesn't seem based on physical form. Their perception and judgment appear to lean toward the soul level—or identity, status, occupation, and such.

So even though Luke occupies Joshua's body, to the iron-plated guard, he isn't Prince Joshua—he's merely "a common criminal approaching the palace"—hence the instinctive swing of the staff.

This is a problem…

Watching Luke, now unconscious and detached from Joshua's soul after taking the blow, Li Ang sighed, then pinched Joshua's philtrum hard.

"Ah!"

Letting out an involuntary cry, the unconscious Joshua sat bolt upright. The iron-plated soldier beside him rubbed his eyes, then stared in shock:

"Your Highness? You… you were just…!"

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

A scream from above cut off the soldier's words.

A red-dressed iron doll shrieked as it tumbled from the palace window, crashing heavily to the ground far away—startling Li Ang.

"What the hell was that?"

"Your Highness,"

Hearing Li Ang's question, the iron-plated soldier blinked his hollow glass eyes, then replied respectfully:

"If you're asking about the person who just fell… it must be Her Majesty, the Queen."

"…"

"Huh?"