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A bone-chilling cold pulled Su Ning out of his daze, as if he had suddenly surfaced from deep water.

Startled, I instinctively opened my eyes, only to find not the familiar bedroom ceiling, but antique-style, yet somewhat eerie, architectural beams and pillars.

The air was filled with the smell of stale wood, mixed with a faint... sweet and fishy scent?

"here it is……"

I shook my still-drowsy head, trying to clear my thoughts.

My memory is still stuck on the moment when I was holding Lin Yun and smiling as she slept soundly. How did I end up in this godforsaken place in the blink of an eye?
Before Su Ning could figure it out, a strong sense of unease instantly permeated his entire body like ice water!

That's murderous intent!
Intense, pure, and blood-stained killing intent!
The instincts honed through years of martial arts practice and combat training were fully activated at this moment.

Su Ning's body reacted faster than his brain. Almost reflexively, he used his waist and abdomen to spring up from the cold ground with an extremely nimble flip, his eyes like lightning, instantly locking onto the direction from which the killing intent was coming...

Not far away, an old eunuch with a pale face, no beard, and cloudy but ruthless eyes was letting out a mournful roar like a night owl, his hands frantically clawing at the air.

"You...you little beast! You...you dared to poison me! I...I will tear you to pieces!" Although he was blind, the terrifying aura of a seasoned master, filled with rage, enveloped the entire space like the low pressure before a storm.

Opposite the old eunuch, a thin boy with a bright but panicked look in his eyes held a short dagger and stood back to back with a burly man who was covered in blood but still looked fierce.

"Old turtle, I'm doing this on behalf of Heaven!" The boy spoke toughly, but his slightly trembling voice betrayed his inner fear.

The burly man roared, "Hai Dafu, today I, Mao Shiba, will risk my life to drag you down with me!"

In the blink of an eye, Suning's brain simply couldn't process this overly complex and absurd information.

"Wei Xiaobao? Eunuch Hai? Mao Shiba? Am I watching a TV series?" A jumble of thoughts flashed through my mind, but my body's extreme perception of danger overwhelmed all rational thought.

Although the old eunuch was blind, he exuded the strongest aura of danger; the boy appeared weak, but his eyes were cunning and unpredictable; and the burly man was even more menacing.

"Danger! It must be eliminated!"

A cold voice snapped in Su Ning's mind.

Without a moment to hesitate, just as the three were about to clash again, Su Ning's adrenaline surged and he sprang into action!
However, his movement was like a dragon awakened from its slumber, or a cheetah pouncing on its prey!
With a burst of strength under his feet, tiny cracks appeared on the bluestone pavement. His figure transformed into an arrow released from a bow, heading straight for Hai Dafu, who posed the greatest threat!
Suning's movements are concise, efficient, and without any frills; they are a complete fusion of modern combat and killing techniques.

Although Hai Dafu was blind, his hearing remained. Hearing the ominous wind, he let out a strange cry, crossed his palms, and struck forward with his signature move, "Bone-Melting Palm," a palm strike that was both gentle and vicious, carrying a fishy smell.

However, Suning's speed was too fast, and their angle was even more tricky!
Instead of dodging, Su Ning took a quick, low step to avoid the direct impact of the palm strike. With his right hand, his fingers were like a knife, and with overwhelming force, he precisely stabbed Hai Dafu in the Adam's apple!
"Snap!" A sharp, teeth-grinding sound.

Hai Dafu's forward lunge suddenly froze. His cloudy eyes stared incredulously ahead, a strange "gurgling" sound came from his throat, and then he spat out a mouthful of foul blood mixed with fragments of internal organs. His massive body crashed to the ground like a collapsing mountain, twitched twice, and then fell silent.

All of this happened so fast that Wei Xiaobao and Mao Shiba didn't even see who it was. They only saw a blur before their eyes, and Hai Dafu, who terrified them, was already dead on the spot!
"The old turtle... is dead?" Wei Xiaobao was both surprised and delighted, but more than anything, he was terrified of the mysterious person who had suddenly appeared before him.

However, Wei Xiaobao reacted quickly, immediately adopting a fawning expression and bowing, saying, "This hero has excellent skills! Thank you for your help in killing this old turtle, acting on behalf of Heaven..."

Before he could even utter the word "Tao," Su Ning's icy gaze had already turned to him.

In Su Ning's mind, which was currently dominated by his killing instinct, this boy seemed harmless, but his clever eyes and the act of poisoning him just now indicated that he was by no means a good person and was also a huge destabilizing factor.

Moreover, Wei Xiaobao's expression changed, and he preemptively attacked him.

"Watch out!" Seeing Su Ning's hostile gaze, Mao Shiba shouted and, ignoring his injuries, swung his fist, as big as a vinegar pot, with a strong wind as it smashed towards Su Ning's face.

Mao's Eighteen Fists are fierce and powerful, a standard martial arts style, and their power is terrifying.

Unfortunately, he encountered a completely different combat system.

Su Ning turned his head to avoid the punch, his left hand flashed out and accurately grabbed Mao Shiba's wrist, pulling him down while his right knee slammed into Mao's chest and abdomen like a cannonball!
"Ugh!" Mao Shiba's massive body suddenly arched, his eyes bulging, and he vomited a mouthful of blood mixed with gastric juices.

Su Ning showed no mercy, twisting his wrist sharply against the joint while simultaneously slamming his elbow like a battle axe into the back of the man's head.

"Crack!" Another chilling sound of bone breaking.

Mao Shiba Lian couldn't even let out a scream before collapsing to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, his breath instantly fading away, clearly indicating that he was not going to survive.

In the blink of an eye, two top experts were killed!
Wei Xiaobao was so frightened that the dagger in his hand clattered to the ground.

He reacted incredibly quickly, collapsing to his knees with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly, and begging for mercy in a rapid-fire manner: "Hero! Good man! Grandfather! Spare my life! I am Wei Xiaobao, just an insignificant little eunuch, without a single penny on me. Please, have mercy and let me go! I... I can serve you like a slave, I know many secrets of the palace, I can help you..."

While begging for mercy, Wei Xiaobao secretly glanced at Su Ning, trying to find out his weaknesses or needs.

This rhetoric had always worked wonders for him, and now he was putting it into full force, his voice choked with tears, appearing incredibly sincere and pitiful.

However, Su Ning's mind was filled with a great sense of crisis and the excitement after the killing. In his eyes, Wei Xiaobao's resourceful performance only made him seem more cunning and treacherous, and that he would cause endless trouble in the future.

Especially the furtive glances he gave Su Ning made her feel that this boy had ulterior motives.

"Shut up!"

Su Ning gave a low shout, his voice sounding somewhat hoarse from tension.

He took a step forward, and in Wei Xiaobao's terrified and desperate gaze, his right hand gripped Wei Xiaobao's delicate neck like an iron clamp.

“Hero…please…” Wei Xiaobao kicked his legs wildly, his hands futilely trying to pry open Su Ning’s fingers. His face turned from red to green, his eyes filled with fear of death and deep confusion.

Wei Xiaobao couldn't understand why this suddenly appearing evil star would not even let him finish speaking before attacking this "poor man" so viciously.

"Crack!"

A slight cracking sound brought an end to all the struggles and pleas.

Wei Xiaobao's head tilted limply to one side, and the light in his eyes quickly dimmed.

The world suddenly became quiet.

All that remained was the strong smell of blood and three still-warm corpses.

No! There are four corpses! The other one belongs to that eunuch, Xiao Guizi.

The murderous aura that had fueled Su Ning's actions vanished abruptly, the extreme excitement receded like a tide, and the cold reality pierced his mind like countless fine needles.

What did I... do?
Su Ning released his grip in a daze, looked at Wei Xiaobao's limp body, and then glanced around...

Hai Dafu with a shattered throat, Mao Shiba with a broken spine, and Wei Xiaobao with a twisted neck...

These three... seem to be characters from "The Deer and the Cauldron"? I just... killed them?
Just like that... so easily?

Time travel? Or is it a dream?

A tremendous sense of absurdity and intense fear swept over Suning like a tsunami, instantly shattering his psychological defenses.

Looking down at his hands, he could still feel the sensation of his neck being severed and the warmth of the blood on them.

“Hai Dafu… Bone-Melting Palm… Wei Xiaobao… Mao Shiba…” Su Ning unconsciously murmured these names, each word like a heavy hammer hitting his heart.

"I killed the protagonist? I killed Wei Xiaobao, the protagonist of 'The Deer and the Cauldron'?!"

A strong wave of dizziness washed over Su Ning, making her feel like the world was spinning and her stomach was churning. She staggered back a few steps, leaning against the cold wall, gasping for breath, her forehead instantly covered in cold sweat.

Looking at the scene before him, which resembled a painting of hell, he was completely stunned and filled with immense panic.

"What the hell is going on?! What should I do next?!"

In the empty and blood-soaked palace, only his heavy breathing and the four gradually cooling corpses remained, silently recounting the absurd and bloody changes that had just occurred, which had completely altered a certain timeline.

……

The chilling fear receded like the tide, replaced by an almost numb clarity.

Su Ning pinched his thigh hard; the intense pain clearly told him...

This isn't a dream; I really have time-traveled again, and I've already made a huge mess of things!

“Wei Xiaobao, Hai Dafu, Mao Shiba… and that Xiao Guizi who was killed by Wei Xiaobao at the very beginning…” Su Ning’s gaze swept over the four corpses lying haphazardly on the ground, and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily. “My start… is simply a nightmare level on hell difficulty!”

Force yourself to calm down.

The most urgent task is to dispose of these bodies!

In this strictly disciplined inner palace, if someone were to discover the horrific state of the place, he wouldn't have enough lives to spare.

"The body must be destroyed to cover up the crime!" Once this thought arose, he immediately thought of his own spatial world.

This is the benefit that comes from traversing countless worlds. With a thought, his consciousness touched upon a space that was roughly boundless.

First, he walked quickly to the palace gate and carefully bolted it to ensure that no one would break in for a short time.

Then, taking a deep breath, he began to move the body.

Hai Dafu was heavy, Wei Xiaobao and Xiao Guizi were relatively light, and Mao Shiba was the most robust.

Despite the strong smell of blood and the physical discomfort from touching the corpses, he dragged the four bodies together one by one and locked them in place with his mind.

"receive!"

Without a sound, the four corpses on the ground, along with the bloodstains they had splattered, the traces of the fight, and even items that might reveal clues, such as Wei Xiaobao's dropped dagger and Hai Dafu's scattered medicine bottles, were all collected into that strange space.

Only some barely noticeable dust marks remained, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Phew..." After doing all this, Su Ning let out a long sigh of relief, but her mood did not relax.

A faint smell of blood still lingered in the air. He quickly found the window and opened it, letting the night breeze in to dispel the last vestiges of unease.

Next is the issue of identity.

Su Ning quickly ran to the side room where Xiao Guizi had lived before his death, rummaged through the chests and cabinets, and found a set of eunuch clothes that were slightly old but still clean.

Despite feeling awkward, Su Ning quickly took off his modern clothes, put on the gray-blue eunuch robe, and donned the iconic eunuch hat.

Furthermore, by using materials from the spatial world to disguise themselves, they can quickly transform into a living person.

Looking at her unfamiliar face and ancient costume in the bronze mirror, Su Ning felt a strong sense of absurdity.

“From now on, I am ‘Little Guizi’... at least for now.” Su Ning looked in the mirror, trying to imitate the slightly hunched, meek demeanor of eunuchs in movies and TV dramas from his memory.

……

Just as Su Ning had finished tidying his clothes and was preparing to sneak out to investigate the situation and find a way out of the palace, a series of slightly hurried footsteps approached from afar, accompanied by a hushed call, and rang out outside the silent palace gardens.

"Little Gui Zi! Little Gui Zi! Come out quickly!"

"Grandpa Gui, good news has arrived! Don't stay in the cat's room!"

They are the Wen brothers!
Suning's heart jumped into his throat.

I'm really afraid of what's coming!
Su Ning's mind raced as he recalled the relationship and dialogue style between the Wen brothers and Xiao Guizi in the original novel.

He knew that Xiao Guizi seemed to have a slight stutter and often gambled with the Wen brothers.

Don't hide! Hiding will only arouse suspicion.

We must deal with it, and we must deal with it like "Little Gui Zi" did!
Su Ning took a deep breath, trying to calm her wildly beating heart. She forced a calm expression onto her face, slightly hunched her back, and walked quickly to the courtyard gate, gently pulling open the bolt.

Standing outside the door were two young men dressed as eunuchs, with smiles on their faces; they were the brothers Wen Youfang and Wen Youdao.

"Oh...oh, it's...it's Brother Wen, Second Brother Wen..." Su Ning imitated a stutter, deliberately speaking haltingly and lowering his voice, which had a high-pitched quality characteristic of eunuchs, "Is there...is there something you need from me?"

Wen Youfang was an impatient man. He grabbed Su Ning's arm and laughed, "What else could it be? Same place, we're one short for mahjong, just waiting for you! Today I'm going to win back all the money you lost last few times!"

Wen Youdao chimed in, "That's right, isn't Grandpa Hai out of the room right now? Perfect timing, let's hurry back!"

Su Ning's heart skipped a beat. Following their words, she put on a perfectly timed expression of embarrassment and a hint of "you know what I mean," and stammered, "My...my two brothers have come at an inopportune time. My...my father-in-law...he...he went out this afternoon, without saying...without saying where he went or when he'd be back. I...I have to stay here and watch over him. What if...what if he comes back and can't find me? If he...if he blames me, I...I can't bear the consequences!"

As Su Ning spoke, he secretly observed the Wen brothers' reactions.

The two exchanged a glance, both showing a hint of disappointment, but neither suspected anything.

Wen Youfang clicked her tongue: "Hai Laogong is so elusive, what a downer!"

Wen Youdao, being cautious, patted Su Ning on the shoulder: "Alright! Xiao Guizi, work is more important. Let's reschedule for another day. Be smart, Hai Laogong has a strange temper, don't provoke him."

"Yes...yes, thank you for the advice, Second Brother." Su Ning quickly nodded and bowed, feigning gratitude. "When...when Father-in-law returns and things calm down, I...I'll treat you both to a good time!"

"Haha, it's settled then!" The Wen brothers, unsuspecting, teased "Little Gui" a few more times about how his stuttering seemed to have gotten worse, and then left arm in arm.

Watching the two figures disappear into the distance until they completely vanished around the corner of the palace wall, Su Ning finally relaxed, a cold sweat breaking out on her back.

I gently closed the door of the Imperial Kitchen, leaning against the cold door panel, my heart still pounding.

"Thank goodness... I managed to get away with it." Su Ning muttered to himself.

We barely made it through the first hurdle.

With his fragmented memories of the original work, quick-thinking imitation, and the aid of his spatial abilities, he temporarily cleaned up the scene and took over Xiao Guizi's identity.

However, Su Ning knew that the inner palace was fraught with danger, and Hai Dafu's disappearance would inevitably arouse suspicion sooner or later. As an imposter eunuch, he was walking on thin ice.

"I can't stay in the palace any longer!" A firm thought rose in his mind. "I must find a way out as soon as possible and leave this place of trouble!"

Su Ning composed himself, straightened his eunuch robes, took a deep breath of the cool night air, and carefully opened the courtyard gate. Like a real, humble eunuch, he bowed his head and blended into the deep twilight and intricate alleyways of the Forbidden City.

The road ahead is destined to be fraught with peril.

...(End of chapter)