Chapter 1 The Missing Dancer

When it was time for the dancers to assemble, the merchant’s face turned green upon noticing that Lu Xiaoyao was missing. How could one be gone?

“It’s alright, the Emperor won’t notice one less,” one of the dancers consoled the merchant, seemingly suggesting that their group was sufficient and that the absence of one person wouldn't affect the overall situation.

Lu Gui, watching the dancers cheer the merchant on, felt a pang in his heart.

That was the laxative he had intended to prevent these dancers and the merchant from blindly throwing their lives away. Who knew that while he was out getting some fresh air in the evening, Lu Xiaoyao had eaten it all?

A dozen or so servings of pastries!

A dozen or so servings of that stuff!

He wanted to speak, but he dared not.

After all, what he had done wasn’t exactly honorable.

Originally, the dosage wasn’t much; at most, each person would need a few extra trips to the restroom. But…

Lu Xiaoyao had consumed it all by herself, and Lu Gui wasn’t sure what the outcome would be.

Would his sister simply die from dehydration?

The thought of her dying from diarrhea had Lu Gui already considering how to cheer Lu Xiaoyao up again.

Such an undignified death was bound to be ridiculed by everyone!

…

Meanwhile, Julian, who had met with Lu Gui in the afternoon, looked towards the dancers waiting outside the banquet hall, only to freeze.

Wasn’t there supposed to be a laxative?

Indeed, the medicine in Lu Gui’s hand had been provided by Julian.

According to their plan, few dancers should be present tonight.

But now, why was there such a massive crowd of dancers?

What made his eyelids twitch was that his girlfriend wasn’t among them!

Just then, Lu Gui and Julian’s gazes met in the air unintentionally, and for some unknown reason, both felt a sense of guilt and shifted their gazes away in tacit understanding.

Lu Gui: I didn’t mean to drug Lu Xiaoyao.

Julian: I didn’t expect the medicine to end up with Lu Xiaoyao.

“Hey, what are you looking at?”

Seeing Julian constantly looking outside, and the NPCs behind him being drawn in by Julian’s actions, Mandison reached out and brought Julian back to his senses.

“Ah, nothing, I was just looking at the dancers about to perform…”

Julian subconsciously took a sip of wine and glanced at the tyrant, whose complexion wasn’t good, and whose face remained cold throughout, without touching any food. He mentally assessed the tyrant’s injuries.

It seemed that although the tyrant hadn’t died this time, his injuries were severe.

Julian used his wide sleeves to shield his gaze, turned to look at the Chu Rong soldiers behind him, each looking fierce, but their hands weren’t on their sword hilts.

The atmosphere of the entire banquet seemed much better than when he had played before.

At least the soldiers no longer looked like they were about to kill them at any moment.

But this change wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Julian pondered. If the tyrant had been assassinated before, there would have been heightened security, even if they were hosting a banquet, they would be heavily guarded to prevent any possibility. But tonight…

“Crap.”

Julian’s soft exclamation didn’t escape Mandison’s notice. Mandison turned to look at Julian and whispered, asking what he was doing and if he had discovered anything.

“The insectoid… left behind… should be in Chu Rong…”

Fine beads of sweat had broken out on Julian’s forehead, and he couldn’t help but look towards Lu Gui’s direction, secretly worried. Tonight, wouldn’t they become scapegoats?

Thinking this, Julian felt like he was suffocating, and his gaze drifted towards the tyrant and Mingmei, who was guarding the tyrant.

…

“Julian is looking at us.”

Mingmei was very sensitive to the gazes of others, and so was Mu Chen. He hummed in response, without making any grand gestures.

“He looks nervous…” Mingmei remarked, observing Julian’s behavior. “Seriously, isn’t this not his first time playing this game? Why does he look so overly nervous?”

“Perhaps he thought of something.”

Mu Chen glanced at the drinks and food on the table, but didn’t make a move to touch them.

“Hmm?” Mingmei didn’t have Julian’s perspective and didn’t know what he was worried about, but it was clear that something had happened.

Following Julian’s line of sight, Mingmei couldn’t help but look at the Minister Cui next to her, who still maintained his elegant demeanor.

However, he also didn’t seem to touch the drinks and food on the table.

Was there something wrong with the food?

Mingmei turned her head and looked at the food on the table in front of Mu Chen, and had Guigui activate scanning mode to check Mu Chen’s food.

As a result, [Host, there really is…]

Guigui was equally incredulous about the results.

[What kind of poison is it?]

[Data virus.]

Mingmei: ???

What the hell kind of poison was that?

[This will destroy the character’s game data.] Guigui’s tone suddenly became serious. [Fortunately, Mr. Yan Hui upgraded and protected the student’s gaming pod, otherwise, if the player accidentally consumed this, it would easily seep out of the game and harm the student’s mental strength.]

Mingmei was stunned and quickly asked: [You mean, everyone else’s food has this?]

Upon receiving a confirmation from Guigui, Mingmei was furious. If she had noticed earlier, then the other two wouldn’t have been affected.

Mingmei looked at the majority of the people in the room eating and drinking, Minister Cui and the old man with the braided hair, Gesang, not eating much, which was very obvious.

So obvious that Minister Cui felt Mingmei looking at him and turned to meet her gaze.

Mingmei: “…”

Caught red-handed, Mingmei gave him an awkward smile, and he smiled back before turning back to watch the grassland songs and dances on the stage with a smile on his face.

“I heard that a batch of dancers from the capital were presented here.”

Julian was carefully sizing up the Chu Rong officials across from him, wanting to see if there were any modified insectoid data hidden among them, or any traces left behind by the insectoids. He was startled when he suddenly heard Minister Cui say this.

“Yes, it seems they are scheduled for the grand finale.”

“Not good.”

Minister Cui tapped his finger lightly on the table and said, “That one seems to have a bad complexion and needs rest. A banquet for so long is quite tiring. If they really need to rest and have been enduring it, it would be fine if they finished dancing, otherwise, when His Majesty erupts, they might become a tool for His Majesty to vent his emotions tonight.

Those who can’t endure it will die.”

Minister Cui spoke as if his words had a deeper meaning, as if he was certain that this group of dancers from the capital was likely to cause trouble.

Julian couldn’t respond to that.