Chapter 28: The Banquet Murder

The Banquet Murder

"Feel it, the blood is still warm. He just died, and I have been with you the whole time. How could I have had the time to kill him?"

"But he died in the room you arranged! You caused all of this!!"

"I..." The male voice sighed heavily and explained, "Fine, even if I did kill him, isn't that a good thing? With him dead, there are no more obstacles between us."

"He could die, but not now! You've ruined everything!"

"Ruined what? Watching Hu Wei, are you hiding something from me again? You've changed lately, you've become so much more like a stranger to me. Have you... set your sights on someone else?"

"NO!"

The woman's voice was gritted through her teeth, but she didn't explain further. Instead, she said anxiously:

"The banquet is about to start. Once everyone knows he's dead, we're finished!"

"Finished? You are the Duchess, the victim. I am a nephew of the Duke with no right of inheritance, just a common guard. At worst, I'll be charged with negligence. How could we be finished?"

"... I... I'm just too anxious. He cannot die like this. The matter of the bill hasn't been concluded, and the citizens of the territory will protest..."

"Watching Hu Wei, that is the Duke's concern. You are only the Duchess!"

"But he is already dead! Dead!"

The Duchess tried hard to suppress her shouting, but it still sounded somewhat hysterical. It seemed the Duke's death was a heavy blow to her.

"So what if he's dead? You possess the right to inherit all his property. Isn't that enough? The Brooks' wealth is enough for us to squander for several lifetimes."

"No... you don't understand. I can inherit the property, but I cannot inherit his title. If this happens, the administrative power of Brooks will be handed back to the Royal Court..."

"What? You still want to be a Duchess?"

"No! I'm just doing this for those... citizens in the town!"

"Watching Hu Wei, you really have changed. Why bother with those mud-legged peasants?"

"You don't understand! Listen, you stay here and don't let anyone in. I'll go find a way! We must ensure the news of his death does not leak out!"

After saying this, the sound of footsteps echoed in the room, and the Duchess walked out anxiously.

Hearing this, Cheng Shi and Bai Fei looked at each other in the cramped space and both let out a sigh of relief.

If this "common guard" was to guard the room, the next step should be to go outside to guard it. This way, they would have a chance to escape from here first.

Unexpectedly, the second after the Duchess slammed the door, the man who called himself a "common guard" had a smirk on his lips and turned his head to look at the wardrobe.

"Sorry to have let you hear a farce, but it doesn't matter. It will be over soon."

He clapped his hands and smiled appreciatively:

"Thank you for killing Brooks. Although I had made arrangements, it clearly wasn't as clean and neat as your methods. I have to say, your concealment ability is also very good, it's just a pity you ran into me."

"Come out. In exchange for you doing me a small favor, I can give you a quick death."

Cheng Shi and Bai Fei looked at each other again, their hearts sinking.

They had been discovered.

"What do we do?" Bai Fei asked silently.

Cheng Shi pondered for a moment and also mouthed: "Can you fight?"

Bai Fei shook her head, but upon remembering that Cheng Shi was only a priest, she nodded again and used her finger to write a number on Cheng Shi's leg.

"1321."

Cheng Shi understood immediately; this was her ladder score.

It was indeed too low.

Those who could still be at this rank half a year after the 【Faith Game】 descended were either surviving by relying on single-player instances or had been muddling through.

Bai Fei's appearance didn't look like either. Cheng Shi really couldn't figure out how she could have such a low score.

Could it be that she failed every time but survived every time?

That was even harder than getting a high score every time!

But regardless, she was a hunter, and her offensive capability was better than his own as a priest.

"Don't panic, take him!"

Cheng Shi spoke silently again, then gently patted Bai Fei's shoulder to signal that he was going to push the door.

Bai Fei was stunned, understood his meaning, and began to count silently in her heart.

"3."

"2."

"1!"

"Boom!"

The two pushed the door open simultaneously. Bai Fei summoned her longbow at the first opportunity, while simultaneously activating her Sensory Hunting talent, stabbing directly into the opponent's Sea of Desire in an attempt to interfere with his actions.

Cheng Shi rolled on the ground for a few turns, casting a healing spell on both of them in advance to ensure sufficient healing margin.

However, after they broke out of the door, they discovered that the guard who had been shouting so fiercely was now standing at the head of the bed, far away, sneering at them.

Sensory Hunting seemed to have hit a hard city wall and was firmly shut out.

"Damn, he has a mental defense skill!"

"Oh? So you are servants of 【Filth and Fall】? Very good. Your methods of killing were too clean and left no aura behind. I was worrying about how to shift the blame onto the refugees. This couldn't be better."

Although he was speaking, his expression was very cautious. His eyes kept scanning Cheng Shi and his companion, and he sneered:

"Refugee believers of 【Filth and Fall】 infiltrated the Duke's mansion to assassinate him on the eve of the bill's announcement to oppose the Duke's bill. What a reasonable explanation. Now, my suspicion is completely cleared. I really have to thank you."

Cheng Shi's sharp eyes kept scanning the surrounding space and the guard's entire body. Before long, he saw a familiar object on the guard's hand.

A ring!

On his hand, he wore a ring exactly the same as the one in the dwarf's hand!

Cheng Shi hadn't expected things to be such a coincidence. He decisively took the ring out of his bosom and held it in front of him.

At this time, saying more would lead to more mistakes; it was better not to speak and let the opponent guess.

The guard was indeed stunned when he saw the ring in Cheng Shi's hand, and then he laughed incredulously:

"What? I only gave the broker three hundred gold coins. Didn't he say he found a group of dwarves to do this? How come the dwarves actually outsourced this job?

Hahahaha, you guys are really too cute. Who are you? How much did those dwarves pay you?"

Cheng Shi instantly understood the key point; it turned out that those dwarves were arranged by the person opposite to assassinate the Duke.

It was just that they had killed the dwarves and then stumbled upon the Duke's death.

Damn, now there was really no way to explain it.

The opponent clearly didn't intend to let them go just because they were hired killers.

Cheng Shi looked at the laughing guard and replied with a sunken face:

"Thirty gold coins."

"What? Hahahaha, how much did you say?" The guard's laughter became even more unbridled.

"Twenty is fine too."

"?" His smile stalled, and he frowned, seemingly not understanding.

"Let's call it quits!"

As soon as the words fell, Cheng Shi cast "Accelerated Metabolism" directly onto the opponent, targeting the defects in the opponent's legs and feet.

In this way, under accelerated metabolism, the vitality of the opponent's legs would continue to rise, but he would experience a strange sense of lag because the state of his legs and feet was different from before.

Grabbing this moment of lag might provide an opportunity.

Bai Fei clearly understood Cheng Shi's "countdown." The moment the words fell, an arrow carrying the power of 【Filth and Fall】 shot toward the guard.

The two's coordination could be said to be very tacit. The moment the guard's feet went soft, the arrow hit his arm.

The power of Desire's Sinkhole began to grab at his reason like tentacles, tearing at his emotions.

However, the guard was not panicked. Instead, a cold sneer appeared on his lips, and he opened his mouth to say:

"In this place, resistance is forbidden!"

"Hum—"

A wave of holy light spread rapidly with the guard as the center, instantly painting the entire room gold.

The longbow in Bai Fei's hand immediately fell to the ground uncontrollably, and even the arrow on the guard's body fell directly to the ground, making no further sound.

Seeing this, Cheng Shi's pupils shrank, and he secretly thought it was bad.

This was the power of 【Order】!

The person opposite was actually a Law-bringer!

A singer of 【Order】!

How could a singer be a guard in this day and age?

Before Cheng Shi could wrap his head around it, this high-rank Law-bringer opposite had already opened his throat and began to chant.

"The Inquisitor is above, the time for execution has arrived.

Shackles choke the prisoner's wail, leg chains shatter the sinner's arrogance.

They shall be judged here, welcome the baptism of holy fire, and bathe in the glory of the Lord.

Then!

Under the gaze of 【Order】...

Turn into ash paste!"

After each line of lyrics was sung, Cheng Shi could clearly feel his physical state sliding rapidly.

"Silence," "Imprisonment," "Scorching," "Repentance"...

Four negative states were crazily stacked on his body, and the heavy pressure was like substance.

Before long, the two were pressed onto the ground, unable to breathe.

Bai Fei's state was clearly worse than Cheng Shi's. It was as if an invisible giant foot was on her back, stepping her fiercely onto the floor, her entire body and face distorted.

Bright red blood flowed from her seven orifices, and before long, her vision began to blur.

She looked at Cheng Shi, who was equally miserable, without the fear of death, only smiling miserably and apologizing:

"Sorry... Big Brother... I... am too weak..."

But "Silence" affected everyone, and her voice couldn't squeeze out of her throat.

Cheng Shi only saw Bai Fei open her mouth, and then she closed her eyes with a smile.

"Weakness is the original sin, isn't it?"

The guard sneered, drew his long sword, and walked slowly toward Cheng Shi. ===== CHAPTER 29 =====