"In short, I truly have no emotional connection with Alt Mercury. Even though his foreign policy when he was family head was relatively conciliatory, maintaining a friendly attitude toward both the Truth Corporation and the Sleepless Night Family... at that time, I had not yet taken control of the Sleepless Night Family."

"However, regardless, it is true that he served as a link between the Mercury family and the Sleepless Night Family... so, if he were to die at the coming-of-age ceremony of my dearest daughter, I would still find it somewhat troublesome."

Lin Yu looked at the serious-faced Sleepless Night Family Head and directly exposed her.

"Oh, so Sleepless Sky Huoxing is now your dearest daughter? Just a moment ago you said your biggest headache was Sleepless Sky Huoxing... shouldn't your dearest daughter be Sleepless Sky Huole?"

The Sleepless Night Family Head leaned back slightly: "You youngsters are so difficult to deal with... don't focus on these details. The important point is, if you kill Alt Mercury, it will undoubtedly make the relationship between the Sleepless Night Family and the Mercury family even more tense, and it will also affect the reputation of the Sleepless Night Family."

"To be honest, if it were any other visiting guest, it might be different... but Alt Mercury alone—he has been employed and living under the names of the Truth Corporation and our Sleepless Night Family for a long time, so he's considered half a member of the Sleepless Night Family."

Lin Yu looked at the Sleepless Night Family Head and spoke calmly: "Anyway, if it's not me, there will be others. After all, someone is paying a very high price for his life."

The Sleepless Night Family Head sighed upon hearing this: "That's normal... to be honest, for other assassination commissions, I can roughly guess which faction is behind them by analyzing the relationships of interests involved. Only Alt Mercury... I can't figure it out."

"Or rather, it's not that I can't figure it out, it's that there are just too many people with motives to do this recently!"

Lin Yu was quite surprised to hear this: "Why would an old man who's been in seclusion for many years suddenly have such high hatred value? Has he been misbehaving recently?"

Admittedly, Alt Mercury was indeed entangled in many karmic causes and effects back in the day—he was once the acting head of the Mercury family, but that was already fifty years ago.

If he were to die because of that, he should have died fifty years ago... even if it dragged on a bit longer, at most it would have been over thirty years ago.

There's no reason that after dragging on for fifty years, today, while celebrating Sleepless Sky Huoxing's birthday, he would suddenly have to die.

Hearing Lin Yu's words, the Sleepless Night Family Head propped her chin and spoke: "Because a new secret has recently been released—a secret from fifty years ago."

"A secret that only I, the head of the Sorenson family, Alt Mercury, and Arlan Mercury, the four of us, knew about."

"Now it has been leaked within a very small circle... currently, it should only be known by the direct and legitimate heirs of the Peerage Nobility families, some heads of Duke families close to the five great noble families, and the directors and highest echelons of the three major corporations..."

"The number of people definitely doesn't exceed fifty—but among these fifty people, at least thirty are now eagerly wanting to kill Alt Mercury."

The Sleepless Night Family Head said this calmly, and Lin Yu raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"So, what kind of secret is it?"

"If A Luo were to ask, I wouldn't tell him, but you... are indeed qualified."

The Sleepless Night Family Head said this and spoke lightly.

"Alt Mercury is the Chosen One of the God of Life. He stepped down from the position of family head, but he couldn't shed the identity of Chosen One... all these years, the supreme alchemy used by Arlan Mercury has been 'borrowed' through a certain secret method."

"And precisely because of the long-term use of this secret method 'borrowing,' Alt Mercury now has only the 'Chosen One' identity but not the power of a Chosen One—do you know what this means?"

Although Lin Yu didn't know, he could guess.

"Sounds like some kind of unguarded treasure." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Yes, killing him would leave the 'God of Life' Chosen One position vacant, and it would be a vacancy not under the control of the Mercury family," the Sleepless Night Family Head said, propping her chin with one hand. "And according to my calculations... since the authority of the 'God of Life' is naturally related to life, this thing is likely directly linked to Alt Mercury's own life—although there's no concrete evidence, just the possibility that killing him might yield a divine artifact related to the 'God of Life' or even the Chosen One identity is enough to make people take the risk."

"Moreover, the reason the five great noble families are the five great noble families, aside from wealth and status, the most important thing is the support of the 'gods.' Although the support of the 'gods' isn't entirely manifested through 'Chosen Ones'... but whether a Peerage Nobility without a Chosen One can still be called a Peerage, or remain among the 'Five Great' families—I'm afraid many people, even if they don't want to become Chosen Ones themselves, would want to use this opportunity to test it out."

As the Sleepless Night Family Head spoke, her own tone even carried a hint of anticipation.

"You saying that, just from the motive, it's hard for me not to suspect you are the employer," Lin Yu said with a smile. "Only... since Alt Mercury is staying here with you, you really have no need to wait until today to make a move."

"I'm just very curious, Your Excellency—since his identity is so important, why let him leave the Mercury family?"

Lin Yu asked seriously.

"Because if he stayed in the Mercury family, then Arlan Mercury's position as family head would have no legitimacy—for Arlan Mercury to secure his position, he must make himself the 'Chosen One.'"

"You are good at 'impersonating' others, you should also understand... whether an impersonation can succeed isn't most crucially about how real the fake is..."

Lin Yu softly added: "But that the real one cannot appear."

"Exactly so, your understanding is quite high."

The Sleepless Night Family Head said approvingly.

"Then why must Arlan Mercury be the family head? Wasn't Alt Mercury doing perfectly fine—moreover, with the natural identity of Chosen One, he couldn't possibly fail to compete with Arlan Mercury, could he!"

"And if he failed after a struggle... then why didn't Arlan Mercury just kill him directly?"

Lin Yu asked curiously.

Hearing Lin Yu's words, the Sleepless Night Family Head showed a look of disdain: "Because both of them are trash."

She spoke without any courtesy.

"Arlan Mercury is not qualified to inherit the Chosen One position, Alt Mercury lacks the drive to lead the Divine Power Group... most importantly, these two are completely failing as nobles!"

"That old lamp Alt actually never wanted to be family head at all, deep down he always thought of himself as an 'acting head'... damn it, truly lacking ambition, completely disgracing the Mercury family's name."

"As for Arlan, he's an even more sniveling weakling. Back then, he actually said something like 'I don't want my elder brother to die'... an incomprehensible waste!"

The Sleepless Night Family Head said unhappily.

"Being Peerage Nobility alongside them is simply a great disgrace... if they hadn't offered a high enough price back then and I keep my promises, I would have slaughtered both of them long ago!"

"Though keeping them around is fine too. Even though the Sleepless Night Family can't swallow them up yet... if the Mercury family is full of such trash, sooner or later, my children and descendants will devour them completely, leaving neither flesh nor blood."