Chapter 309: What Does It Mean

Ying whispered softly beside him, "Hmm… it's started fighting."

Internal strife? Assassin attacking their own?

Shichen blinked bewilderedly; this was unlike any ending he had imagined.

But his mind was still a chaos, and his body was terribly weak, leaving him unable to investigate further.

He tried to adjust his posture, but immediately inhaled a sharp breath. "Sss—!"

An indescribable spot sent a sharp pain, accompanied by a strange… cool, breezy and damp sensation?

He instinctively glanced down, vaguely seeing a hole in the back of his pants and a dark stain.

"What… what's going on?"

His voice was weak, laced with disbelief, "Why does it… hurt so much here? And… it's bleeding?"

The location and feeling of this wound are too bizarre!

It could not be an ordinary impact!

Lin's eyes suddenly darted wildly, her little face flushing, stammering, "M-Maybe when we ran away, we accidentally hit… or got sliced by some fragment… it hit… deeper!"

The last few words sounded as if squeezed out between teeth.

Ying lowered her head, staring at her own shoe tip, her ears turning red, saying nothing.

Shichen, seeing his two daughters' obviously off reactions, became even more certain that something he didn't know had definitely happened.

But now was clearly not the right time to press further.

"Fine…"

He sighed weakly, giving up on the strange wound, "Lin, in the inner pocket of my coat… there's an emerald Healing Gem… take it out, channel magic into it, aim at my… wound."

Saying the word "wound" made his skin feel like it was burning.

Lin, as if granted a pardon, hurried to comply.

She carefully fished a crystal-clear gem, its interior swirling with a green aura, from her father's expensive suit pocket.

She focused, mustering her not‑very‑strong magic, and infused it into the gem.

The gem emitted a warm, gentle emerald glow, enveloping Shichen's wound above his hips.

A cool, soothing sensation arrived; the pain lessened considerably and the bleeding stopped, but the torn pants and some psychological trauma were clearly beyond a single gem's cure.

Shichen felt a bit of strength return, intending to have his daughters help him up and find a safer place to discuss things—

"Oh? Isn't this The King's pitiful Master?"

A voice full of mocking arrogance, which to Shichen sounded like a demon's whisper, came from above the alley entrance.

The three of them jerked their heads upward.

Golden armor still dazzled under the dim alley light; crimson eyes looked down from above, and the corners of the mouth curled into an unabashed grin.

Archer, Gilgamesh, appeared at some point on the edge of a low house roof beside the alley entrance.

"Archer…"

Shichen's heart sank; he barely kept his composure, tried to rise and bow, but Lin and Ying held him down tightly.

The two girls stood before their father as if facing a great enemy, even though their small frames seemed insignificant before the Hero King.

"I didn't expect you were still alive."

Archer stepped on an invisible staircase, slowly descending to the alley floor, arms crossed, surveying the disheveled Shichen and the wary girls, "Looks like your obedient disciple has softened?"

He tilted his head, then immediately dismissed the guess: "No, impossible. The King's insight into people hasn't degraded to that level. Yan Feng Qili that fellow… ha, I know exactly what kind of riffraff he is."

His tone carried a knowing, playful insight.

"Archer, what do you mean by that?"

Shichen forced himself, asking in as steady a voice as possible, though an ominous premonition rose in his heart.

"What do you mean?"

Archer let out a light laugh, the sound full of cruel delight, "It means that letting him kill you was my (the King's) tacit approval, even encouragement. To see what kind of delicious sin could be brewed in that hollow vessel. Pleasure, understand? Unfortunately, he seems to have messed it up, so I have to trouble myself to handle it personally, what a… hassle."

His words, like an Ice Cone, pierced Shichen's last luck.

Disciple betrayal, Servant's tacit approval, even promotion…

All this for that ridiculous "Pleasure"?

The rage of being thoroughly deceived struck him, making his already weak body tremble slightly.

"You…!"

Lin glared at Archer in fury, her tiny fists clenched. Ying also bit her lip, eyes filled with fear and hatred.

"Enough, this boring reunion ends here."

Archer seemed to lose patience; golden ripples began to emanate behind him, blades of swords protruding, locking onto the three in the alley, "Let The King send your family to reunite where they belong."

Lin and Ying's pupils constricted, Shichen closed his eyes in despair.

At this critical moment—

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Unhurried footsteps came from the other end of the alley.

Archer frowned, his crimson eyes glancing over.

A towering figure, its matte black bio‑shell armor covering it, eight differently shaped black blade limbs spread behind, like a silent grim reaper, stepped slowly out of the shadows.

It slightly hunched, its dark‑red visual slit staring at Archer.

"Hm?"

A flash of surprise crossed Archer's eyes, then turned to understanding and a hint of disgust, "Assassin? No… that nauseating insect scent… and this odd structure. Miscellaneous Cultivation, where did this freak come from?"

The insect‑shell Assassin remained silent, its dark‑red gaze locked onto Archer.

"No reply? Boring."

Archer snorted coldly, about to command the treasure vaults to fire simultaneously—

A blade limb behind the Insect Armor Assassin twitched violently!

It suddenly sprang out like a reed!

A bone-long spear, its front end sharp and sheathed in a black carapace, roared with a tearing whistle through the air and, at a speed far exceeding ordinary projectiles, shot straight at Archer's face!

Hmph!

Archer's figure vanished in an instant, leaving only faint Golden Light Particles at the spot.

Poof!

The bone spear drove deep into the wall behind the spot where Archer had just stood, its tail end buzzing with vibration.

Meanwhile, Archer's silhouette appeared atop the only relatively intact streetlamp at the alley entrance.

He stood steadily on it, his crimson eyes gloomily gazing down at the Insect Armor Assassin and the Tohsaka Family.

"How dare you face the king's soldiers with blades… Miscellaneous Cultivation, you already have a path to death."

Behind him, golden ripples like a blooming death flower instantly filled the space above the alley!

Dozens, even hundreds of Noble Phantasms flashing with a cold gleam—daggers, swords, spears, axes, hammers…

From the ripples they slowly emerged, all blades pointing downward, the overwhelming magical pressure making the air seem to solidify.

Yuan Ban Lin and Sakura Matou turned ashen, barely able to breathe.

Shichen also felt utter Despair; under such a dense barrage of Noble Phantasms, the black monster might survive, but the three of them had no chance of survival.

The Insect Armor Assassin also seemed to feel the pressure; its eight blade limbs subtly adjusted their angles, assuming a full defensive stance.

At this tense, on‑the‑brink moment—

Not far away, on the third floor of a certain abandoned building, behind a window without glass.

"Got it, got it! That annoying golden‑glinting guy! And Mr. Tohsaka and Lin and the others! That black one… is the one that just saved me?"

San Yue Qi crouched on the windowsill, only half a head and a pair of powder‑blue eyes exposed, cautiously peering at the alley's situation.

Chang Ye Yue half‑crouched beside her, the Black Umbrella set aside, her crimson eyes likewise watching below.

She had just received a concise command from Black Curtain Lady via the system:

**【Observe. If Archer backs away from here, and San Yue Qi is confident, can reenact "Port Tactics", targeting the hips, striving for precise concealment. Complete.】**

Chang Ye Yue slightly raised an eyebrow.

(Again? The lady's twisted taste… but it is an effective distraction.)