The dinner ended before nine o'clock. As the owner of the castle, the little Duke took King Da Mao, Bu Bo Wang and Eminem to visit his father's collection.
In the study room of the castle, Su Xiao and Finance Minister Walkley sat side by side, with black tea, snacks, etc. placed on the wooden table between them.
Walkley held a cigarette rod between his fingertips. The cigarettes in this world were not filled with tobacco, but the young leaves of a four-season tree.
"Duke Cuculin, you are not here for military expenses, right?"
Walkley tapped the cigarette rod in his hand, and white smoke filled the room.
"Of course, I'm here this time..."
When Su Xiao said this, she stopped and looked at the wooden table beside her. On the side of the wooden table, there was a small transparent nail plate, about the size of a fingernail.
"I came here mainly to investigate the theft of the crown."
"The crown stolen?"
Walkley obviously didn't hear about the theft of the crown. In fact, this was an excuse Su Xiao made up casually.
"You want to know?"
"I'm not interested. I'm getting older, and I'm becoming less and less interested in rights. If you savor it carefully, it's just that. The more things you have, the more you pay. Before I was 30, money was just the thing in my eyes.
Everything, before the age of 50, rights are life, but after the age of 70, I found that rights cannot solve the problem of me having to get up three times every night, it will only make me get up more times."
Walkley shook his head and smiled, as if he was savoring something or regretting something.
"This thing is irrefutable evidence that the thief has been to the Duke's Palace."
Su Xiao picked off the transparent nail plate next to the wooden table. After entering the Duke's manor, he saw this thing not once or twice, but at least a dozen times.
If Su Xiao guessed correctly, this was left by the violator. There was no mental imprint on it, and it was more likely a side effect of using a certain ability.
"This is……"
Walkley looked at the transparent armor on the table and was surprised for a moment.
"Isn't this the husk of Acanthus japonica?"
"Mu Zhanji?"
"The Duke has never heard of this summer fruit?"
Walkley was even more confused, but he soon discovered that after completely losing his support, the husk of the quince tree began to evaporate rapidly. This was a very abnormal situation.
"Lena loves Mu Zhanji very much, but she suffered a severe illness yesterday afternoon and has..."
Walkley did not go on to say that the Lena he was talking about was a distant relative of his who was mainly responsible for the daily purchase of items in the duke's estate. She died suddenly in the bedroom yesterday.
The empire has almost zero tolerance for severe diseases. Once discovered, the body will be burned immediately.
"In other words, she died yesterday afternoon?"
"Yes, it happened very suddenly. Lena is a good girl. It's really a pity."
Walkley sighed. Of course he realized that this matter was not simple, so he immediately got rid of the relationship. The young duke had already withdrawn from the struggle for royal power, so Walkley did not want to get involved in such troublesome matters.
"Yesterday afternoon..."
Of course, Su Xiao would not completely believe what Walkley said, but one thing was very important, that is, he was ambushed last night and encountered a difficult enemy in the Flesh and Flesh Auditorium Baha.
Su Xiao decided to kill Bloomer at noon yesterday, and planned to do it all afternoon or so at night. The assassination went smoothly, but he was ambushed on the way back.
As for Lena of the Duke's Manor, she suffered a severe illness yesterday afternoon. Assuming that she had been replaced by the violator, then she suffered a severe illness yesterday afternoon. It is very likely that the violator changed her target.
Ever since Su Xiao participated in the struggle for royal power, he has been exposed to the sight of violators. This is inevitable.
Lena died of illness yesterday afternoon, and Su Xiao was ambushed in the evening, and the ambushers accurately grasped his return route.
When they were attacked last night, Su Xiao suspected that there was a traitor in Youyu Manor. Now it seems that the violator may have replaced someone in Youyu Manor.
The only thing that doesn't make sense is that if the violator is in Youyu Manor, the hunting function should be activated, but Su Xiao didn't receive any prompt.
Assuming that the offender has a very special ability and can replace the other party without swallowing up the consciousness of the indigenous people, then it becomes one body and two consciousnesses.
Normally, the original consciousness of the indigenous people being replaced would be judged as an intrusion of foreign consciousness energy, rather than a violator.
But when action is needed, the offender will replace the opponent's consciousness and use the opponent's identity and memory to act. In this way, the trap will not be exposed and the hunting function will be avoided to the greatest extent.
Because from the beginning to the end, the offender's identity is not in Youyu Manor, and the other party is more likely to be a substitute or manipulator of consciousness, rather than a complete replacement of an indigenous resident.
A complete replacement is actually easier to handle, but if it is just the storage of consciousness, and the death of the indigenous residents will be caused when the consciousness is stripped, then it will be difficult to handle.
After having a general idea in mind, Su Xiao stopped asking the Finance Minister about the violators. The Finance Minister was also happy with this, and the two began to chat.
At ten o'clock that night, the finance minister and the young duke sent Su Xiao and others to the gate of the manor.
"Duke Cuculin, please come and visit me when you have time."
Judging from the look on the finance minister's face, he and Su Xiao were chatting happily, and they even felt like they had met each other too late.
"certainly."
Su Xiao also smiled, but the moment the two turned their backs, the smiles on their faces disappeared at the same time.
'There's something wrong with this old guy.'
Su Xiao can be sure of one thing, that is, the Minister of Finance is by no means as simple as it seems, but one thing is that the other party should have nothing to do with the violator.
It is even possible that the violator will be kicked out of the Duke's estate by this old guy.
"Bubu, what did you find in the manor?"
"Woof."
Bubuwang threw a wooden box to Su Xiao. The wooden box was almost full of fruit shells from the thorns. I don't know what was special about these fruit shells. They would not dissipate immediately when exposed to the air. But after losing the things to rely on, they would disappear.
It will dissipate very quickly, or in other words, this is related to the ability of the offender. The other party's ability also needs some kind of support. Once the support is lost, it will dissipate quickly.
"What did you find?"
King Da Mao spoke. She spent most of the night searching on the lower three floors of the castle. She gained a lot and found many clues left by the violators.
"nothing."
Su Xiao will not tell the other party that the violator may be in Youyu Manor for the time being. The fewer people who know about this matter, the better. Once the violator is alerted, the other party may flee somewhere.
Moreover, Daimao Wang is not a professional in this field. She entered this world mainly to avoid conflicts between Su Xiao and other contractors. From this point of view, she did a very good job. Not to mention conflicts, Su Xiao even connected other contractors.
I have never seen it before. The Holy City is so big. This cannot be a coincidence.
At the moment, the fish is already beside the hook, just one bite away.
Su Xiao glanced at the core of the world on his wrist. He wanted to prevent the fish from biting off the fishing line and swallowing the bait directly, which would result in blood loss.
That night, Su Xiao returned to Youyu Manor as usual, seemingly just to visit the Minister of Finance.
At 12 o'clock in the evening, Su Xiao gave an order to Wu Fu to find something.
At present, Su Xiao has a lot of power in the empire. It is too wasteful to use this power only to seize power. Therefore, he ordered Wu Fu to search for records about sword skills. Of course, some alchemy materials are also needed. Su Xiao must take the time to improve.
