Seeing Zhao Chenlu’s projection suddenly appear and speak, Shen Qingming was so frightened it felt as though her heart and soul would shatter. The Qi Blood in her chest surged turbulently, almost making this fifteen-year-old girl experience the sensation of breast swelling prematurely. After a long while, she clutched her chest, painfully questioning.

"How, how did you suddenly appear!?"

Zhao Chenlu’s projection smiled slightly: "Because I had set up a backdoor here long ago."

Shen Qingming immediately turned back to glare at the greasy boss.

Although after Zhao Chenlu’s rounds of sweeps, the intelligence outposts set up by various families in Golden Jade City were more of a formality... nevertheless, they were established following official procedures, symbolizing the Cyan Cloud Li Family’s technical prowess in anti-surveillance and confidentiality. Now, someone had managed to set up a backdoor in their own home without anyone realizing; this was too inept! Clearly, this wasn’t about the Cyan Cloud Li Family’s technical backwardness, but rather corrupt officials stationed at Cyan Cloud colluding with Golden Jade people in dirty behind-the-scenes deals, leading to a flaw in an otherwise impeccable system!

The boss just took one look at Shen Qingming’s sharp gaze, and with a face full of grievance, he wanted to explain his innocence. If he were indeed capable of such backstabbing, he wouldn’t have been kicked from Cyan Cloud City to Golden Jade City so young to make a living losing hair. But before he could speak, he heard Li Wanqing’s warning in his mind: "Just take the blame obediently, you have no sense at all."

Meanwhile, Wang Jiu was closely watching Zhao Chenlu’s projection, asking, "Are you really okay?"

Zhao Chenlu’s smile showed a hint of tension but quickly regained calm composure: "Of course, nothing’s wrong. This is Golden Jade City. I am the City Lord here; how could there be any problems on my own home turf?"

Wang Jiu said, "You’re currently experiencing a coup and have been placed under house arrest. In eight days, a public trial will be held to judge the crimes you’ve committed over the years, mainly involving chaotic relationships."

"Chaotic..." Though Zhao Chenlu’s smile didn’t change, a vein distinctly throbbed at her temple, "Darling, whatever you’ve seen or heard, believe me, it’s all ignorant and shameless slander. The lesson you taught me back then is etched deeply in my soul, never to be forgotten in this lifetime. How could I repeat the same mistakes?"

Pausing, Zhao Chenlu said, "Darling, don’t worry about the coup. I can handle it alone without any issues... These kinds of things, I’ve encountered them countless times since taking charge of Golden Jade City."

Wang Jiu scrutinized Zhao Chenlu’s increasingly blurry projection image and asked, "But your current state is very bad. Your Primordial Spirit is dim, True Essence is stagnant. Judging by the projection effect, it seems you’re suppressed by the Golden Jade Seventeen-Link Lock, barely able to maintain even a simple Projection Immortal Technique."

"No, I’m in great condition." Zhao Chenlu refuted, "With my skills, how could I be suppressed by a bunch of trash? I personally designed and set up the Golden Jade Seventeen-Link Lock; how could it possibly suppress me? Darling, everything is under my control; you really don’t need to worry about me."

Wang Jiu pondered for a moment and said, "Your pupils are different colors, your speech rate has decreased by 12%, and the projection frame rate is lacking. No matter how you look at it, you’re suppressed by the Seventeen-Link Lock."

"Acting, it’s all acting!" Zhao Chenlu’s voice became slightly sharp, "What you’re seeing now is just my disguise; I’ve used advanced makeup techniques to fake the effect of being suppressed by the Seventeen-Link Lock!"

Wang Jiu was even more puzzled: "Why would you do such a thing?"

Zhao Chenlu said, "Because... well, as the ancient saying goes, a woman dresses for those she loves. Those coup idiots are laughably foolish, so I made an exception to put on some makeup for them."

After these words, the entire basement fell silent.

Wang Jiu remained silent for a long time, then nodded: "I see..."

"That’s not the case at all!" Shen Qingming finally couldn’t hold back, "Do you think we’re idiots? You’re clearly just being overly arrogant and got caught off guard, but refuse to admit it!"

Zhao Chenlu sneered, "Naïve and laughable, just like a descendant of Shen Kaishan, always so simple-minded!"

Shen Qingming retorted, "Even with a simple mind, I can see that you’re done for! If we don’t save you, you’ll just wait to be impeached!"

"You’re self-righteous! Do you believe I won’t jump out right now and write ’brainless’ on your face!"

Shen Qingming coldly laughed, "Go ahead, write it if you can! If you can write it on, I’ll never wipe it off in my life!"

Zhao Chenlu retracted her smile, saying coldly, "Fine, I’ll teach the ignorant descendant on behalf of your ancestor."

As she spoke, a chilling aura transmitted through the projection path into the basement. Shen Qingming shivered all over, feeling as if the image before her had come alive, no longer facing a mere projection, but Zhao Chenlu herself!

In a split second, Shen Qingming’s confidence was severely shaken; could it be that her opponent was indeed just playing around, mocking the coup plotters of Golden Jade City?

The next moment, Zhao Chenlu slightly raised her right hand, extending her index finger like a pen point, pointing it toward Shen Qingming’s forehead...

"No!"

The girl screamed, rolling backward, shielding her face with her arms like a shield, extremely anxious and uneasy.

"Hmph, all bark and no bite." Zhao Chenlu let out a scornful sneer, retracting her fingertip.

Shen Qingming, still startled, touched her face, then uneasily took out a small mirror to check. Her face was smooth as jade; there was no writing at all!

"I wrote with Soul Script; everyone else can see it except you."

"What!?" Shen Qingming was shocked once more, hastily turning to those around her for confirmation but didn’t want them to see any writing on her face. Immediately, she was conflicted, unable to advance or retreat.

"...Qingming, don’t worry, she doesn’t have the strength to write on your face; it’s just a scare tactic."

Next to her, Li Wanqing sighed, patted Shen Qingming’s shoulder, and then looked toward Zhao Chenlu’s projection.

"Thanks to Little Sister Qingming for diverting their attention. I just had a better look... You were indeed suppressed, right? Although I don’t understand this Golden Jade Seventeen-Link Lock, when Little Sister Qingming believed it was real and retreated, your face clearly showed a relieved expression!"

Zhao Chenlu glanced at Li Wanqing with some surprise and then said, "Yeah, discovering that Kaishan’s descendants are as silly as he was puts my mind at ease. His bloodline has truly been passed down well; none of his descendants suffered the tragedy of being cuckolded and replaced by impostors."

"..." Facing Zhao Chenlu’s impeccable argument, Li Wanqing chose to smile without responding.

On the other side, Wang Jiu felt like he had returned to the Jiuzhou Era. It used to be like this back then; Zhao Chenlu was always bickering nonstop with people around her. Her biggest rival was undoubtedly Shang Lanfei. They argued countless times, each having their victories and defeats. Then there were innocents like Shen Kaishan and Li Jiulong. In short, as long as Mr. Zhao was around, the ears would never rest.

But at the same time, Wang Jiu knew if Zhao Chenlu kept arguing like this, it would never end, possibly until dawn, and from her current state, she probably couldn’t hold on much longer.

So Wang Jiu got straight to the point: "Where are you now? I’ll come and get you."

"I’m fine..."

Wang Jiu ignored her protest and reiterated, "Location."

"I really..."

"Hmm, if we analyze the structure of this Projection Technique, the flow of True Essence should be on the western side of the City Lord’s Mansion, concealed by the Triple Illusion Realm. Combining the characteristics of the Earth Vein Spiritual Power here to analyze the Illusion Attribute..."

"Dear, no need to worry about me."

"First layer analysis complete, it’s permafrost..."

"I... alright, I admit I may have been a bit overconfident, but the situation is still under my control. The Seventeen-Link Lock is real but not that hard to break. Although it’s difficult to escape using my own power, having a small ally outside the array can easily break the lock."

Wang Jiu nodded: "Indeed, the Seventeen-Link Lock is vulnerable externally, the outside flaws do exist—so normally there is an independent defense line set outside. Can your people breach the outer defenses?"

"Of course," Zhao Chenlu smiled, "In fact, she’s the designer and maker of the outer defenses, my true confidant, Jiang Xue."

Hearing this name, the others had no reaction, but the greasy shop owner frowned: "I feel like I’ve seen that name somewhere."

Zhao Chenlu said, "Not surprising, she uses the identity of the Vice President of the Golden Jade City’s Array Research Association outside. She often publishes research results and is a bit famous in the industry—but in fact, under my training, her real skills are ten times better than what others know..."

"No, I’m just a breakfast vendor. How would I follow anything about the Array Research Association? I saw this name on some recent manuscripts, hold on a moment..."

The shop owner then bent down, searched the desk for a while, and pulled out a filthy piece of scrap paper.

Shen Qingming asked, "What’s this?"

"It was found along with those previous manuscripts... Seems to be a list of core members like Zhao Hongwu and others."

"Why didn’t you give us something this important?!"

The shop owner looked frightened, "Be-because these scraps were dug out from the garbage heap at the Golden Jade City’s document office. A few were soaked in soup, too dirty, so..."

Shen Qingming was amazed by this greasy middle-aged man’s logic and grabbed the paper in her hand, then... 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"What the heck is this, durian tofu snail soup?!"

At that moment, the girl almost wanted to chop off her hand, but the matter’s urgency made her endure the discomfort and read the text aloud.

Since it was a draft, a considerable part was utterly destroyed beyond recovery, the intact part read: "Zhao Hongwu, Zhao Hongwen, Zhao Lingbo, Jiang Xue..."

When Jiang Xue’s name appeared alongside the three, Zhao Chenlu’s face turned very grim, remaining silent.

"Looks like you’ve really ended up isolated this time," Shen Qingming sympathetically said to Zhao Chenlu.

Zhao Chenlu snorted, looking sympathetically at Shen Qingming’s hand holding the paper.

The girl immediately threw the paper on the ground: "It’s not like I can’t wash my hands! And you’re still in the mood to joke about me? You’re in trouble yourself!"

Zhao Chenlu said, "Perhaps, but no matter what trouble I face, there’s at least one person who will never betray or abandon me and will come to save me regardless of the danger."

Shen Qingming sneered: "Is that so? Boss, later you can go dig through the document office’s garbage pile to see if there’s a new list that’ll surprise her."

Yet the next moment, her expression changed as she realized whom Zhao Chenlu was referring to.

Zhao Chenlu sweetly smiled at Wang Jiu, "Darling, I’m waiting for you here."