newbobooks Chapter 366 Don't remember? Then I'll help you remember.
Chapter 366 Don't remember? Then I'll help you remember.
Qin Mu smiled and walked towards him.
The moon-white robe trailed gently on the ground, the steps unhurried, each step touching Zhou Demao's heart.
"You live a more comfortable life than I do."
The moment those words were spoken, Zhou Demao's legs felt as if their bones had been removed, so weak that he could no longer support his body.
He went from sitting slumped to kneeling, his forehead slamming heavily against the bluestone slab with a dull thud.
"Your Majesty..." His voice trembled and broke into pieces, his teeth chattered, and his lips quivered like withered leaves in the cold wind.
He wanted to say "Spare me," he wanted to say "I deserve to die," but the words were stuck in his throat and he couldn't form a complete sentence.
"Your Majesty, spare me... Your Majesty, spare me..."
He repeated those four words over and over, his forehead hitting the ground repeatedly until it was torn and bleeding, blood dripping down his nose and into the cracks of the bluestone slabs.
His face was covered in tears and snot, and his obese body trembled violently, like a piece of pork thrown onto a chopping board, too weak to even struggle.
Qin Mu didn't look at him and walked straight past him.
He walked up the stone steps, entered the main hall, and sat down in the main seat made of rosewood.
The chair still carried Zhou Demao's body heat, and the armrests still bore traces of the sweat from his palms.
Zhou Demao turned around on the ground and crawled towards Qin Mu on his knees.
His knees ripped through his trousers, and blood seeped through the fabric, leaving two dark red streaks on the bluestone slab.
He crawled to Qin Mu's feet, lay down on the ground, and pressed his forehead against the cold gold brick.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me... I deserve to die... I am guilty..." His voice was hoarse and broken, each word as if it were being dug out of his throat.
Qin Mu leaned back in his chair, propped his chin on one hand, and looked down at him.
"Then tell me, what crime have you committed?"
Zhou Demao's mind raced.
He didn't know how much Qin Mu knew, whether the Moon Goddess Cult's affairs had been exposed, or whether the gold, silver, jewels, and the young boys and girls had been investigated.
He could only gamble, gamble that His Majesty had just happened to catch him enjoying himself, and gamble that other things had not yet been exposed.
"Your Majesty, I should not have indulged in pleasure, neglected state affairs, or held lavish banquets in my residence..."
He spoke very quickly, as if reciting a memorized text, listing every minor offense he could think of.
Qin Mu smiled. "That's all?"
Zhou Demao's heart skipped a beat, and cold sweat poured out from his back, soaking through the brocade robe embroidered with peonies.
His mind raced, his lips trembled, and he managed to squeeze out a few more words. "Your Majesty... Your Majesty should not have been lusted by beauty, should not have kept dancers, should not have..."
Qin Mu gently shook his head.
"You certainly know how to find fault with yourself." His voice was soft, with a hint of a smile, but beneath that smile lay a chilling edge.
Zhou Demao's body stiffened.
He lay prostrate on the ground, barely daring to breathe, with only one thought in his mind.
Your Majesty knows, Your Majesty knows everything!
But at this point, he could only pretend that he didn't know.
The crime he committed was too serious: colluding with a cult, trafficking in people, and embezzlement. Any one of these crimes could be enough to execute nine generations of his family.
He dared not admit it at all; if Qin Mu hadn't brought it up, he would never have admitted it himself.
Zhou Demao lay prostrate on the ground, his forehead pressed against the cold crack in the brickwork, his voice trembling just right. "What is Your Majesty saying? This subject...this subject does not understand."
Yun Luan sneered. "You don't know what you've done? How laughable."
Zhou Demao's heart sank completely.
The coldness spread from my chest to every part of my body, as if I had been pressed into an ice cave.
He knew that His Majesty knew everything—the Moon Goddess Cult, the virgin boys and girls, the gold and silver—he knew everything.
His mind raced.
It seems that His Majesty only brought those three women with him this time.
There were no Imperial Guards, no Dragon Shadow Guards, no massive army.
If this message can be relayed to the Moon Goddess Cult, and the Cult Leader can personally intervene, they might be able to capture His Majesty.
That was a great achievement—no, an immense one.
At that time, he will not only be able to save his life, but also rise to prominence and become a founding hero.
A ruthless glint flashed in Zhou Demao's eyes.
Let's give it a shot.
If you win, you'll enjoy unimaginable wealth and glory for the rest of your life; if you lose, you're going to die anyway, so why not take a gamble?
He began to plan how to get the message out.
Most of the people in the manor have died or been injured, and the rest are huddled in a corner trembling. There is no one they can rely on.
He needed someone, someone who wouldn't be suspected, someone who could escape the eyes of those three women.
His gaze swept silently across the shadows of the pillars and landed on a shivering servant in the corner.
That was his personal servant, named Afu, who was usually responsible for running errands and delivering messages; he was very clever.
Afu was crouching behind the flower bushes, covering his head and trembling all over, but his eyes were secretly glancing this way.
Zhou Demao lowered his eyelids, tucked his right hand into his sleeve, and traced a few lines on his left palm with his fingertips.
That was the code between him and Afu—drawing a circle on the palm of his hand meant "go find the Moon Goddess Cult".
Afu's body trembled slightly, and then he quietly moved back half an inch.
Zhou Demao raised his head, his face once again filled with fear and humility. "Your Majesty, I truly do not know what you are talking about. Although I am fond of pleasure, I am utterly loyal to Great Qin and to Your Majesty, and have absolutely no disloyal intentions."
He spoke with such sincerity that tears and snot welled up again, mingling with the blood from the cut on his forehead, smearing his face.
Qin Mu smiled. "Don't know? No problem, I'll help you remember."
He raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, and gently waved them into the air.
A curtain of light suddenly lit up the night sky, like a mirror suspended in mid-air, with the image in the mirror as clear as the real thing.
A white-clad masked man stood in the center of the hall, while Zhou Demao squatted in front of a box, holding gold ingots, his eyes filled with greed.
"Prefect Zhou, don't forget what my Lady Moon Goddess instructed you to do." The masked man's voice came from the light screen, hoarse yet clear.
Zhou Demao's eyes widened to their limit.
His mouth was open, and a hoarse sound came from his throat. He was frozen in place, as if struck by lightning, unable to move.
He had never seen such a method before.
To reproduce exactly what just happened in the air—this isn't martial arts, it's divine magic.
"This...this..."
His voice cracked into fragments, every word trembling, "Your Majesty, you must have misunderstood! This humble subject... this humble subject actually intended to infiltrate the Moon Goddess Cult first, gain the Moon Goddess's trust, and then report the Moon Goddess Cult's plot to Your Majesty!"
He spoke rapidly, his face streaked with tears and snot, and blood trickling down his nose from his forehead.
Just then, a dull thud came from behind, like a heavy object falling to the ground.
Zhou Demao suddenly turned his head.
Afu was dragged out from the corner of the wall by Yunluan like a chick and thrown into the middle of the yard.
Ah Fu was dazed and confused after the fall, lying on the ground shivering, his crotch already soaked.
Yunluan stood beside him, her hand on the hilt of her sword, her gaze sharp as a knife. "Then do you want to explain again what he's going to do?"
Zhou Demao's last shred of hope was shattered.
His body slumped to the ground like an empty sack, his lips trembling, but he could no longer utter a single word.
Qin Mu leaned back in his chair, looking down at him. "Don't want to talk? That's fine. Maybe you'll want to talk when you see the King of Hell."
Zhou Demao's pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints.
He suddenly fell to the ground, frantically banging his forehead against the bluestone slab until it was bloody and his bones were exposed.
"Your Majesty, spare me! Your Majesty, spare me! I know I was wrong! I dare not do it again! I beg Your Majesty for mercy! I beg Your Majesty—"
Qin Mu raised his right hand and snapped his fingers lightly.
"despair."
A grayish-white shadow darted out from the shadow of the colonnade.
The Xuan Yin You Ao mother beast landed on all fours, her pale green vertical pupils fixed on Zhou Demao, a low, rolling snort emanating from her throat.
Zhou Demao's pleas for mercy came to an abrupt halt.
He stared wide-eyed at the approaching beast, noticing its gleaming white teeth and the dark red bits of flesh remaining at the corners of its mouth.
He tried desperately to shrink back, kicking his legs wildly on the ground, but his back was already pressed against the table leg, and he couldn't move any further.
"No—! No—! Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Your humble servant—"
The mother beast pounced.
The giant mouth opened and bit Zhou Demao's shoulder.
The sound of bones breaking was particularly clear in the quiet courtyard; with a "crack," it sounded like a withered branch snapping.
Zhou Demao let out a heart-wrenching scream, so shrill it seemed to tear the night sky apart.
His left hand was ripped off from his shoulder, and blood gushed out like a fountain, splattering onto the bluestone slabs and the mother beast's grayish-white fur.
The mother beast flung the severed arm aside and then bit his waist.
Zhou Demao's scream suddenly rose in pitch, then turned into a muffled sob.
His mouth was moving, and he was saying something—perhaps "Spare me," perhaps "Your Majesty," or perhaps just meaningless wailing.
His eyes were fixed on Qin Mu, his pupils filled with extreme fear and regret.
He regretted it. He regretted indulging in pleasure, he regretted colluding with the Moon Goddess Cult, he regretted sending Afu to deliver the message, he regretted it all.
But it was too late for anything.
The mother beast suddenly swung her head, tearing Zhou Demao in two.
Blood and entrails gushed out, spreading a shocking dark red across the bluestone slab.
His upper body was still writhing on the ground, his mouth was opening and closing, his eyes were still open, but his pupils were already dilated.
A few breaths later, those eyes completely lost their light, staring blankly at the dark night sky above.
The mother beast lowered her head and began to tear at the flesh with large bites, the sounds of bones breaking and flesh being ripped apart echoing in the courtyard.
The maids had already fainted from fright, and the remaining guards lay on the ground, not daring to lift their heads.
Qin Mu sat in the main seat, watching the female beast eat, his face expressionless.
Yunluan sheathed her sword and stepped aside.
Zhao Qingxue turned her face away, no longer looking at the pile of flesh and blood.
Jiang Zhaoyue's fingers clenched the hem of her clothes, her knuckles turning white, but she did not look away.
After finishing her meal, the mother beast licked the blood from the corner of her mouth, turned around and walked back to Qin Mu's feet. She gently rubbed her head against his calf, then lay down and closed her eyes to doze off.
In the courtyard, only a pile of corpses and a pool of dark red blood, indistinguishable as to whether it belonged to humans or beasts, remained.
Yun Luan turned around to face Qin Mu, clasping her hands in a fist salute. "Your Majesty, what should we do with the rest of these people?"
Qin Mu leaned back in his chair, his gaze sweeping over the kneeling, trembling figures in the courtyard.
Several guards huddled in a corner, a dozen maids huddled together, and a few servants lay hidden behind the flowers, not daring to lift their heads.
"Kill them all." His voice was soft, as if he were stating something perfectly ordinary. "Pretend they're enemies seeking revenge, and burn them all down."
Yunluan lowered her head. "Yes."
She turned around and drew her sword.
The slender, dark silver sword gleamed with a cold, eerie light under the moonlight.
The guards and servants finally realized what awaited them. Some scrambled to their feet and rushed toward the gate, some knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately, some cried out "Spare us!", and some collapsed on the ground, unable to utter a sound.
But their footsteps couldn't outrun Yunluan's sword.
The sword flashed dozens of times in the courtyard, each strike taking a life.
In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, there wasn't a single person left standing in the courtyard.