In a suburban villa outside the royal city of Pymeshire.
Noriana paced nervously across the room in her white dress, biting her fingernails every few seconds.
A woman dressed like a maid walked inside. Noriana rushed up to her. “How did it go?”
“News came back from Hualan. They found her.”
“Is she dead?!”
“Not yet.”
Noriana shrieked in a harsh voice. “What good is finding her if she isn’t dead? Tell them to kill her right now!”
The maid frowned slightly. “They will do their job. But Madam, are you sure you want to take this risk? If the Emperor finds out what you’re doing behind his back…”
“How can I turn back now?!” Noriana gritted her teeth. “Five years! Why did she have to show up again? Why couldn’t she just die out there? I was only one step away from becoming the Queen. Two more years, and Orpheus would have forgotten her completely!”
The maid reminded her softly, “The Emperor hasn’t seen you in five years, Madam.”
“He still loves me! Otherwise, why would he send men to check on me every month? Why would he care about my health and give me money? He just hasn’t realized the truth yet. Men do that sometimes. They fool themselves into thinking they love someone else. Once that Cecilia is gone, everything will go back to normal.” Noriana said with full confidence.
She loved Emperor Orpheus. What woman wouldn’t want a ruler who stood above tens of thousands? She also believed in her own place in his heart. Even though Orpheus never made her Queen, even when he once looked at her with a half-smile full of mockery and said, Don’t be so greedy, Noriana. You wouldn’t make a good Queen. The people wouldn’t love you.
Aside from the crown, he gave her everything else. Wasn’t that love? Even if he had other women outside, she was the only one brought into the palace grounds. She received the most. Wasn’t that enough proof of her standing? Cecilia was the only obstacle standing in her way. As long as she kicked that stone aside, she won.
The maid remained silent. She saw no point in telling Noriana what was actually happening outside. Rumors had already begun spreading among the public, posted by “sources in the know.” The stories claimed the missing Queen had been found—that she escaped after being kidnapped five years ago, lost her memory, and was taken in by a wealthy woman in Hualan.
The palace had clearly leaked those stories. Emperor Orpheus was laying the groundwork for the Queen’s return. He had never entertained the thought of replacing her. The Emperor had many women over the years, but Queen Cecilia was the only one he ever spent real effort on.
Still, it proved Noriana’s point. Only by killing Queen Cecilia would she—or any other woman—ever get a shot at the throne.
At the exit beneath the cliff in Yunjin Prefecture.
Isaac tensed his body. Lolita reached beneath her dress, pulled out her heavy meat cleaver, and held it ready.
“Take it easy, friends.” Jiang Chaoyu reached out and pressed the shoulder of his eager, video-game-obsessed teammate. His eyes were calm, showing none of the malice typical of a killer, and his voice sounded calm. “Our target is only this lady. You may leave as you please.”
He made a polite hand gesture, signaling his men to part and clear a path.
Battles between Atavists always made a massive mess, especially when cornered beasts fought for their lives. The elite teams from Twelve Zodiac Academy and the four royal guardians from Pymeshire were not far away. The mercenaries had no desire to draw them over and make their mission harder.
Because of who they were, they assumed others operated the same way. Mercenaries cared about money, not loyalty.
Seeing Isaac remain still, Jiang Chaoyu added in a slightly firmer tone, “A wise man yields to circumstances.”
“Exactly. There are plenty of women in the world. No need to throw your life away here,” the red-haired woman said, admiring her freshly manicured nails with fascination.
The two of them clearly stood no chance against ten elite killers.
Isaac seemed to weigh his choices before relaxing his stance. He stood straight. “You’re right. A wise man yields to circumstances. But I want to know one thing. Who hired you?”
“Why do you need to know that?”
“So I can avenge my lover.”
“Isaac?” Lolita looked at him in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry, sweetie. You can see we have no winning odds here. I’ll avenge you later.”
“You bastard! That’s not what you said before! You’re abandoning me now?!” Lolita stomped her feet in rage.
Among the enemies, the purple-haired young man burst into wild laughter. “Hilarious! I love watching lovers turn on each other when danger strikes! Boss, can I tell them who hired us? Our deal didn’t include keeping secrets for the employer anyway.”
“Suit yourself,” Jiang Chaoyu replied. They didn’t care about the employer’s survival. By the time Isaac sought revenge, they would already have their pay in hand.
The purple-haired man blurted out the name. Lolita’s eyes turned blood-red with fury. Noriana! Five years ago, she had dismissed that woman as just another insignificant mistress of Emperor Orpheus. She should have chopped her to pieces with her blade back then!
Having received his answer, Isaac turned his back on Lolita and walked toward the exit cleared by the enemies. He ignored Lolita’s furious screaming behind him.
Isaac stepped through the enemy circle. At that exact moment, Lolita let out a desperate cry, swinging her cleaver toward one of the guards. The move pulled everyone’s attention straight to her.
In that split second, several transparent tentacles shot out from behind Isaac like lightning, whipping across the enemies. Four of them were hit.
At the same time, a tentacle wrapped around Lolita’s waist and pulled her out of the circle. Lolita threw a bunch of knives at Isaac’s feet, and they both ran into the forest as fast as they could.
The teamwork was flawless, swift, and brutal—executed as if they had practiced it a thousand times. In reality, they had never practiced it once. The move relied entirely on absolute trust and unspoken understanding.
The four men hit by the tentacles gasped as their bodies visibly grew younger. Their initial panic turned into joy when they realized they weren’t wounded—they had actually shed several years off their age! Was this an attack? It felt like a reward!
“Damn dog couple! Chase them!” The purple-haired man had also been hit, but he felt no joy at all. He hated scenes of deep devotion more than anything. Roaring in anger, he charged after them.
However, those who had been de-aged quickly ran into trouble. Taking a single wide stride caused their muscles to strain, slowing their pursuit to a crawl.
“I see. Hitting us wasn’t meant to wound us, because that would be difficult. Delaying us was the real goal,” Jiang Chaoyu said calmly as he walked forward. “Atavists have varying lifespans, so adding twenty years to our age wouldn’t do much. Reverting our physical bodies to a younger state, however, strips away our hard-earned body memory and muscle calluses. The sudden change forces our bodies to adapt, dropping our speed.”
“Boss! How can you stand there analyzing things at a time like this?!” One of his men yelled while wincing in pain, pulling a muscle. He felt like he was back in the hellish days of early training. This cursed ability had wiped away years of physical overworks!
“I really wish I had smart, sane subordinates like them,” Jiang Chaoyu sighed. “I wonder if we could recruit them. Anyway, kill the woman first to complete the contract.”
With that, he spoke toward the distant figures of Lolita and Isaac, his voice barely louder than a whisper: “Stop.”
His voice carried a strange magic, spreading outward like an invisible net at the speed of light. It caught up with Isaac and Lolita, swallowing them whole.
Isaac and Lolita froze in place for two full seconds. By the time they broke free, the pursuers had closed half the distance.
“Stop.”
“Come back.”
Command after command echoed through the air. The pursuers drew closer with every step. The invisible net dragged them backward toward hell no matter how fiercely they struggled.
Jiang Chaoyu was one of the ten strongest squad captains in the illegal organization, possessing a ninety percent Atavist purity—a natural disaster on the level of Shi Gang and Qiao Ming. His ability was Spoken Command, a power that forced even animals to obey his spoken words.
The fact that Isaac and Lolita could break free multiple times proved their purity wasn’t far behind his. Unfortunately, both of their capabilities required specific conditions to reach full strength.
Once again, the enemies surrounded them.
Suddenly, Jiang Chaoyu’s brow furrowed. He turned to his men. “They’re here. Go intercept them.”
Inside the royal palace of Pymeshire.
Emperor Orpheus rose from his throne the moment he received word that his scouts had tracked down his wife.
“Do not harm a single hair on her head!” The Emperor’s face turned dark and imposing. “As for that man, kill him. I will not tolerate him living another second in this world.”
A young prince rushed into the hall with a joyful face. “Father! You found Mother?!”
“Soon.” Looking at the child he shared with his wife, Emperor Orpheus’s expression softened slightly.
“Wonderful! Our family can finally be together again!”
“That’s right. I’ve already reached an agreement with Hualan. They will help us smooth over the story. Your mother will return to her throne without a single stain on her name. No one will ever disrupt our family again.”
“What about that man? I want to kill him with my own hands!” The thirteen-year-old boy’s handsome face distorted into a dark, sinister expression identical to his father’s.
“No. He will never have the chance to step foot on this land again.”
High above the mountain forest.
Wind Rider sat on her magic carpet, her expression changing quickly when she saw Lolita and Isaac being attacked in the distance. She sped off at full speed.
Suddenly, a circle of emerald light flared around her. In the next instant, she found herself shifted ten kilometers away into the empty sky.
At the same time, the elite team from Twelve Zodiac Academy and the remaining three royal guardians stopped in their tracks, facing a group of blockaders from the illegal organization.
“Split up,” Jing Pei said firmly. “The target is already in serious danger.”
With flawless coordination, the team divided into pairs and vanished from the spot. As long as one pair broke through the blockade, the target’s survival odds would rise significantly.
The enemies were equally sharp. They quickly formed small teams and intercepted each pair across different parts of the forest.
“The legendary Dragon and the King Insect? Let’s see what you’ve got,” two interceptors said with smirks, showing little respect.
Even if their opponents possessed rare, high-purity genes, they were still just kids—one had awakened less than a year ago, the other less than six months. How could they compare to veterans who fought for a living? Even if Isaac’s ability had stripped a few years of body memory from them, dealing with two brats was more than enough.
Jing Pei blinked and looked at Chu Xusheng beside her. “Can you handle them?”
“I can! I will definitely stop them!” Chu Xusheng stood straight like a soldier taking a solemn oath before his commander. His dreamy, iridescent eyes sparkled brightly.
One of the enemies smacked his lips, scanning Jing Pei’s face with a sleazy smile. “Aren’t you going to fight? You think your little retainer can handle both of us? You look even more pretty in person than on TV. Why don’t you come play with big brother? I’ll make sure you have fun.”
Jing Pei raised an eyebrow. It seemed this fight would end much faster than expected.
“Hey! Shut your mouth!” the other interceptor warned sharply, sensing something wrong.
The sparkling, puppy-like eyes of Chu Xusheng had changed. The warm, peaceful aura he always maintained beside Jing Pei exploded into raw violence. A layer of blood-red swept over his iridescent eyes, and his expression turned demonic as he slowly looked toward the two men.
If Chu Xusheng had seemed like a small insect a second ago, he had now undergone an ultimate evolution, transforming into a giant, horrific venomous spider spreading its fangs.
“How dare you speak such filth to my master… I’ll kill you!”
