“A mere woman,” the emperor said coldly, without the slightest trace of gratitude. “I only promised to spare her life and make her Imperial Noble Consort after everything was done because I needed her help. Since she became Prince Chu’s wife, she lives and dies with him. If Prince Chu dies, she doesn’t need to live either.”
Just like that, he decided Hua Zhiyun’s fate.
Hua Zhiyun, now bearing the title of Princess Consort Chu, raised an eyebrow.
Bah.
What a scumbag.
Deceiving and exploiting the original owner’s feelings wasn’t enough—he was also a liar who broke every promise he had made.
Thinking of the original Hua Zhiyun biting off her own tongue in despair, dying after her dreams were shattered…
Only she herself had known that heartbreak.
If Hua Zhiyun hadn’t learned the truth, that would have been one thing.
But now that she had…
She never let debts or grudges go unpaid.
Her eyes narrowed.
She draped herself in a black hooded cloak, put on a fox mask, and openly stepped into the guards’ sight.
“Protect His Majesty!”
“Kill the assassin!”
Sabers.
Swords.
Hidden weapons.
Everything flew toward her.
Any ordinary person struck by such an assault would die without question.
The guards looked at Hua Zhiyun as though she were already a corpse.
Not one of them intended to let her leave alive.
Yet…
Just as they were certain she would be cut down…
Every single weapon suddenly reversed direction.
The heavy sabers hacked into their owners.
The swords pierced their wielders’ hearts.
The concealed darts buried themselves in flesh.
Each guard stared in utter disbelief.
The agonizing pain coursing through their bodies told them one undeniable truth—
They had been killed by their own attacks.
Thud…
Thud…
Bodies collapsed into pools of blood one after another.
Their last sound was Hua Zhiyun’s mocking laughter.
Only before death did they realize…
The masked intruder was a woman.
The commotion in the courtyard drew the attention of the two men inside the study.
Grand Secretary Su opened the door.
The first thing he saw was the corpses of his guards.
The second…
Was the slender woman standing calmly among them.
She had disguised herself perfectly.
Her face was completely hidden.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Hua Zhiyun switched on the voice changer she’d found in her dimensional space.
An aged, raspy voice emerged.
“You’ve met your ancestor.”
“Why aren’t you kneeling?”
“Impudent!”
Xiao Lian roared.
Drawing the flexible sword from his waist, he lunged at her.
In a single move, Hua Zhiyun subdued him.
The next moment—
He was trussed up like a tied pig.
Grand Secretary Su possessed no weapon.
Seeing Xiao Lian captured, he grabbed a porcelain vase and tried to smash it over Hua Zhiyun’s head.
Before the vase could reach her—
She merely glanced at him.
The vase instantly rebounded.
Crash!
It smashed into Grand Secretary Su’s own head.
Blood streamed down his forehead.
He collapsed unconscious.
Now Xiao Lian was genuinely afraid.
“Who… who are you?”
“As long as you spare me…”
“I’ll forgive everything you’ve done.”
“You’ll forgive me?”
Hua Zhiyun sneered.
She withdrew a gleaming surgical scalpel from her space.
Its narrow blade shimmered with icy light.
“Dog Emperor.”
“Since you’ve fallen into my hands…”
“Don’t expect to leave with all your parts intact.”
Xiao Lian struggled desperately against his restraints.
“What… what are you going to do?”
“Castrate you.”
A wicked smile spread across Hua Zhiyun’s lips.
For dealing with scumbags…
Nothing beat physical castration.
Xiao Lian froze.
“…”
The next second—
His scream echoed through the night.
“You…”
“…Damn you!”
For Hua Zhiyun…
It was only a minor operation.
She had performed countless castrations.
Experience made perfect.
After all, in the brutal apocalypse she had lived through, surviving as a beautiful woman had never been easy.
Many men had coveted her.
Every one of them had ultimately left behind a pair of “souvenirs.”
Three quick movements.
She didn’t even bother using anesthetic.
Soon, a pair of bloodstained testicles rested neatly on a white porcelain dish.
As a doctor, she still conscientiously stitched up the wound afterward.
She even tied the sutures into a little butterfly knot.
Professionalism mattered.
Xiao Lian stared blankly into space.
His eyes were dead.
His entire world had collapsed.
“…Kill me.”
“No.”
Hua Zhiyun wiped the blood from her scalpel.
“I want you to live a fate worse than death.”
“The operation was a complete success.”
“No need to thank me.”
Realizing exactly what had been removed from him, Xiao Lian flew into a frenzy.
While Hua Zhiyun wasn’t paying attention, he suddenly threw himself at her, intending to kill them both.
Instead…
He completely missed.
His head slammed straight into the nearby ornamental rock.
Bang!
He knocked himself unconscious.
“Well.”
“That saves me the trouble.”
Hua Zhiyun casually kicked over the porcelain dish.
The severed organs rolled into the dirt.
She didn’t even spare them another glance.
She entered the study.
Every sheet of paper.
Every brush.
Every inkstone.
Books.
Letters.
Documents.
Everything vanished into her space.
On the surface it looked like an ordinary study.
But beneath it…
Lay another secret underground vault.
Opening the hidden entrance, Hua Zhiyun descended.
Inside were chest after chest of gold, silver, jewels, priceless antiques, paintings, and calligraphy.
Then she saw something particularly interesting.
A dragon robe.
A solid gold dragon throne.
Another dragon robe embroidered with golden thread.
Judging by the size…
It had clearly been made for Grand Secretary Su.
“So…”
“You dreamed of becoming emperor too.”
She didn’t hesitate.
The throne.
The dragon robes.
Into her space they went.
Gold was gold.
If nothing else, it could always be melted down later.
Compared with exposing Grand Secretary Su’s treason…
The gold felt much more practical.
After leaving the study, she stepped right over the unconscious Dog Emperor’s body and walked openly out of the Su residence.
Not long afterward…
The main branch of the Su family discovered every item in their treasury had disappeared.
Panic spread through the household.
Servants rushed to report the matter to Grand Secretary Su.
When they reached the study…
Their terrified screams echoed throughout the estate.
Grand Secretary Su was finally revived.
Seeing Xiao Lian lying in a pool of blood, he rushed over in alarm, paying no attention to what he stepped on.
“Your Majesty!”
“Wake up, Your Majesty!”
Xiao Lian slowly regained consciousness.
His head hurt.
His lower body hurt even more.
He immediately realized…
It hadn’t been a nightmare.
Then he saw it.
The mangled remains of what had been crushed beneath Grand Secretary Su’s foot.
He nearly fainted again.
“Men!”
“Hunt down the assassin!”
“I’ll skin the bastard alive!”
He had never fathered a son.
Now…
He never would.
His family line had been cut off forever.
What ruthless cruelty.
Grand Secretary Su had barely ordered a full investigation when people from every courtyard came rushing in to complain.
Only then did he realize something was terribly wrong.
He hurried into his study.
It had been emptied.
Even his beloved red sandalwood writing desk had vanished.
The antique display cabinet…
Even the cabinet itself was gone.
He staggered down into the underground vault.
The instant he looked inside…
His knees gave way.
It was empty.
Completely empty.
Then he remembered.
He still had another hidden vault beneath the rear garden.
A cunning rabbit has three burrows.
He had prepared several escape routes.
After sending the emperor away, he hurried to the second vault.
One look—
He nearly suffered a stroke.
Empty.
Everything…
Gone.
Meanwhile, cries filled the estate.
Every wife lamented the disappearance of her dowry.
Some were so devastated they nearly hanged themselves or jumped into the river.
The emperor secretly returned to the palace by carriage.
Inside sat a trembling imperial physician.
In his hands rested the one severed testicle that hadn’t been crushed.
The physician knelt, wishing only for death.
“This humble servant is incompetent…”
Xiao Lian’s face turned several shades of green before he finally suppressed his towering rage.
“If a single word about my… condition…”
“…ever leaks out…”
“…your entire family will be buried with you.”
The physician shivered violently.
“I would never dare, Your Majesty.”
Heavens preserve us…
The emperor has become a eunuch.
After Xiao Lian returned to the palace…
Report after report flooded in.
“The national treasury has been completely looted!”
“The imperial private treasury is empty!”
“The Empress is missing!”
“Fengyi Palace has been stripped bare—even the floor tiles are gone!”
“Every consort’s private treasury has been emptied!”
“And…”
“Even the Imperial Kitchen has been cleaned out.”
Xiao Lian rubbed his temples.
His vision darkened.
Who?
Who possessed such terrifying ability…
…to empty the entire imperial palace in a single night?
After a long silence, he finally spoke.
“Investigate.”
“Leave no stone unturned.”
Then he thought of the woman from the Su family.
His fists slowly clenched.
“As for the Empress…”
“I want to see her whether she’s alive…”
“…or dead.”
At that very moment…
The unconscious Empress had been dumped inside a dilapidated City God Temple.
The place was packed with beggars.
Old.
Young.
Every one of them filthy and reeking.
Su Wanmei had once arranged for condemned prisoners to violate the original Hua Zhiyun.
So now…
Hua Zhiyun intended to return the favor.
She tossed several pieces of broken silver onto the ground.
The beggars, who had been cursing after being startled awake, instantly changed expressions upon seeing the money.
Smiling obsequiously, they asked,
“What are your orders, my lord?”
Still using the voice changer to conceal her identity, Hua Zhiyun pointed at Su Wanmei.
Her head had been shaved into an ugly half-bald style.
A basin of cold water splashed over her.
She woke with a gasp.
“Take good care of her.”
“Make sure she is… completely satisfied.”
The beggars’ eyes lit up.
One after another, they loosened the ropes around their ragged trousers.
Lewd smiles spread across their filthy faces.
“We’ve actually got a stroke of luck like this?”
Su Wanmei finally regained full consciousness.
“Don’t come any closer!”
“How dare you!”
“Do you know who I am?”
“I am the Empress!”
“Take your filthy hands off me!”
“If any of you dares touch me…”
“…I’ll have every one of you executed!”
“Ahhh—!”
“Your Majesty!”
“Save me!”
“Your Majesty…!”