The morning sunlight streamed into the study through the villa's massive floor-to-ceiling windows, the light and shadow sliced into neat strips by the blinds.
At the long conference table, Baal sat with his legs crossed, his military boots resting on the edge of the table. Chiron sat opposite him, looking down as he flipped through the virtual projections on his optical computer, his glasses reflecting a cold light. Tinia squeezed onto the armrest of the single sofa next to Jiang Lijin, holding a cup of freshly heated milk in his hands.
Jiang Lijin pushed away the cup Tinia offered her. She projected an unsigned data packet into the center of the table.
"The royal underground detention area is holding a batch of failed products," she got straight to the point, her fingers swiping across the light screen. A long list of names leaped into everyone's view. "A-rank, S-rank, and even a few 2S-ranks. The status columns are all marked with spiritual riots, genetic pollution, Zerg infection, or experimental subjects losing control."
The study was quiet for a few seconds.
Even Tinia quieted down, staring intently at the screen.
Jiang Lijin leaned back against her chair. "At the banquet in three days, Graven will create a security breach and release these things. He wants to force me to publicly purify them on a live broadcast across the entire Star Network."
Chiron pushed up his glasses, not asking where the intel came from. "Extreme pressure. Whether you save them or not, the initiative rests with him."
He continued, "If you save them, he can logically collect your spiritual power data, making it easier to capture you later. If you don't, the royal media can paint you as a cold-blooded monster, while simultaneously discrediting your previous purifications on the front lines as fake."
Jiang Lijin sneered, her fingertip tapping on the name of a 2S-rank mutant. "The most fatal part is that these people can't be saved at all. Graven never intended for them to return alive when he releases them. These are ironclad proofs of his illegal live experiments. He wants to destroy the evidence, and drag me down with him while he's at it."
Chiron nodded. "Their genetic chains are already shattered, coupled with a high concentration of Zerg toxins. Even if you drain your spiritual power dry, you can only make them breathe for a few more seconds at most."
Tinia cursed. "That shameless old bastard. Sister, what should we do then? We can't just sit and wait to be scolded. How about I find someone on the dark web to blow up the broadcast signal tower before the banquet?"
Jiang Lijin picked up her water glass and took a sip. "The Empire has been building up hype for half a month. Forcibly cutting it off will only make us look guilty. Since he's set the stage, we'll go up and perform. If he wants to see me save people, I'll save them for him to see."
Baal lowered his legs, his military boots hitting the carpet with a muffled thud.
He stared at her. "Are you crazy? Those people carry highly infectious agents. What if you get too close and suffer a backlash? I disagree."
Jiang Lijin touched the silver stud on her left ear cartilage. "I know what I'm doing."
Those experimental subjects were once interstellar warriors, tortured to this state by Graven, and their value was still being squeezed dry right up until their deaths.
They couldn't be saved, but they had to die with value. She had to use their blood to nail Graven to the pillar of shame.
Jiang Lijin turned her head and asked, "Tinia, can you get your hands on a military-grade micro-holographic recorder?"
Tinia perked up. "How small? I even have nano-grade ones!"
Jiang Lijin said, "Something that can be hidden in a button or a brooch. At the banquet, I'll try to get as close to the experimental subjects as possible. Graven wants a network-wide live broadcast, so we'll give him an uncensored, high-definition close-up."
Chiron stopped what he was doing. "It's too risky. The destructive power of a dying counterattack is uncontrollable. We can think of another way."
"I won't take it head-on," Jiang Lijin raised her right hand.
The wide cuff slid down, revealing a very narrow ring of silver patterns. The patterns seemed to be alive, faintly shimmering on her fair skin, exuding a heart-palpitating sense of power.
Jiang Lijin looked straight at them. "I'm only responsible for luring them close to the camera and blocking the fatal blow. The rest of the public opinion war and data blasting is up to you guys."
Baal stared intently at the silver ring. Relying on his intuition, he was certain that it was absolutely no ordinary ornament; it was more like a seal for some powerful force. He darkened his face and ultimately did not refuse again, only warning her in a hoarse voice, "Don't be reckless. I can't go in, I can only wait for you at the door. If you are in danger, I won't be able to protect you."
Jiang Lijin ignored him and turned to look at Chiron. "Can you get a rapid Zerg infection testing agent from the Academy of Sciences?"
"Yes." Chiron pushed up his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses flickering with dangerous calculation. "I'll disguise it as a spiritual soothing spray and bring it in. As long as the spray touches the experimental subjects, the Zerg toxins will produce an extremely obvious fluorescent reaction in front of the cameras."
"Good." Jiang Lijin stood up and clapped her hands. "We'll play it by ear at the banquet. I'm going to catch up on some sleep; there's a tough battle to fight tonight."
Tinia quickly jumped up to follow her. "Sister, I'll walk you back to your room! I can massage your shoulders to help you relax while I'm at it!"
"Spare me," Jiang Lijin went straight up to the second floor without looking back.
As soon as she closed the door to her room, the system in her mind, Xiao Yi, couldn't wait to pop up.
Its electronic voice was kept extremely low, yet it carried an excited tremor of someone who just stumbled upon a massive piece of gossip: [Host! Big gossip! Earth-shattering gossip!]
Jiang Lijin paused in her steps and restrained her expression. "Speak."
[The old emperor's illness wasn't caused by a difficult childbirth at all, it's related to Graven! He has been secretly poisoning the old emperor with chronic poison!]
A flash of insight crossed Jiang Lijin's mind, and she immediately understood: [He was afraid that the old emperor would suddenly give birth to a daughter with extremely high spiritual power at that time, and then he, as the heir to the throne, would have no chance at all. But... since he could poison him, why didn't he just kill the emperor and be done with it?]
[I don't know...] Xiao Yi stuttered for a moment. [According to the analysis of human emotional logic, maybe it's... familial affection?]
Jiang Lijin rolled her eyes dramatically and let out a cold laugh. [Familial affection? You're telling me a scumbag like him, who can feed retired military officers to the Zerg, cares about familial affection?]
...
As night fell, the main hall of the Imperial Palace was brilliantly illuminated.
Jiang Lijin wore that minimalist black evening gown, her long hair pinned up, the silver stud on her left ear hidden among her strands of hair. Chiron wore a perfectly tailored solid black suit, his arm slightly bent, allowing her to hold onto it.
Baal and Tinia were stopped outside the hall. The rules of the royal banquet dictated that entourages not on the guest list were strictly forbidden from entering. Baal leaned against the door of the hovercar, staring coldly at the gilded doors, tossing a coin in his hand. Tinia, meanwhile, kept his head down, operating his optical computer rapidly, deploying the Star Network resources of the Yunlan Group.
"Don't stray too far from me," Chiron said in a low voice, his gray eyes sweeping across the hall.
Jiang Lijin nodded.
There were far fewer people in the banquet hall than expected. There was no boisterous symphony, no dance floor filled with fragrant clothes and glamorous shadows. Aside from a few familiar faces of the old imperial nobility, the rest were all wearing uniform attire—they were Graven's trusted aides. Even the imagined scene of seeing her ex-husband with bloodshot eyes of hatred didn't happen, because Rex wasn't there.
The atmosphere was very bizarre, as cold as a morgue.
Jiang Lijin picked up a glass of champagne, her gaze calmly sweeping over her surroundings. The royal inner guards all wore uniform dark gray suits, their helmets pulled down low, obscuring their expressions. She counted them; there were twenty-four standing in this hall alone.
Too many. A dinner party of fewer than forty people, and they need twenty-four inner guards?
She did not stop walking, heading straight to her seat and sitting down. In her peripheral vision, she caught Chiron noticing this detail as well.
Jiang Lijin picked up the crystal glass in front of her, pretending to drink, her eyes looking over the rim at the row of guards.
There was a problem with their stance. Normal inner guards stood at attention in standard military posture, hands behind their backs, looking straight ahead. But among this group, at least seven or eight of them were swaying ever so slightly.
Her heart sank. Graven, that lunatic! He actually put inner guard uniforms on that batch of high-risk experimental subjects and mixed them into the guard detail!
They were not locked up on the third underground level waiting to be released; they were placed right out in the open.
Right in the middle of all the guests!
Damn it, this was far more radical than the intel Tianyan had provided!
Jiang Lijin put down her glass without changing her expression, her fingertips brushing against the top button of her collar. The miniature holographic recorder had already been silently activated.
"His Highness the Second Prince arrives—"
Following the announcement, Graven walked down the spiral staircase from the second floor. He wore an elaborate royal dress uniform, his brown hair combed meticulously, a hypocritical smile hanging on his face.
Jiang Lijin scrutinized him closely, sneering coldly in her heart. At least he looks somewhat presentable.
"Everyone," Graven walked to the center of the hall and raised his glass, "tonight is to celebrate the peace between the Empire and the Federation, and also to welcome our distinguished guest, the only 3S-grade female in the entire interstellar space, Ms. Jiang Lijin."
All eyes instantly focused on Jiang Lijin.
The nobles' gazes varied, some held greed, some scrutiny, and some fear.
Jiang Lijin sat in her seat without even batting an eyelid, let alone touching the glass in front of her.
Despite being publicly snubbed, Graven was not annoyed in the slightest. He flashed a meaningful smile at Jiang Lijin, tilted his head back, and downed the red wine in his glass in one gulp.
Jiang Lijin had originally thought that, given the typical nature of noble banquets, this hypocritical charade would last for at least another half an hour. But she clearly underestimated Graven's level of madness.
He never intended to build up to it at all.
After finishing his drink, Graven held the empty glass and seemed to want to walk in Jiang Lijin's direction. However, just as he took his second step, he tripped extremely "carelessly".
"Crash—"
The delicate glass goblet in his hand smashed hard against the solid marble floor, shattering into pieces with a crisp and piercing sound.
And in the exact same second the glass shattered, chaos erupted!
