Chapter 435: The Anomaly Begins
Chapter 435: The Anomaly Begins
"Hurry, hurry! The leader has left the Parliament!"
As Lyon dragged Joshua away from the Parliament Hall, forcing him into the carriage, a middle-aged man with a slight paunch, standing on a bell tower several streets away, lowered his telescope and turned back with a hint of urgency in his voice.
"Is everything ready? What's the situation at the Palace?"
"Almost."
In response to the middle-aged man's inquiry, a bald woman beside him replied, "Although the Director of the Virgin Bureau has entered the Dream Realm, she left two anomalies in the Palace. Luke won't be able to pass her barrier, so we'll have to wait for the leader to arrive and find a way to get him into the Palace."
"What about the others? How are they prepared?"
"Phoebe and I are ready."
An older-looking woman with youthful eyes answered, "Last night, we infiltrated the military camp and erased the messenger's memory at the military academy, replacing it with a set of fake signal flag codes. Now, no matter how the Palace calls for help, the messenger will treat the distress signal as a safety signal. Before the news spreads, the camp won't send any reinforcements."
"Tig is also prepared."
At this moment, a man nearby, also holding a telescope, reported with excitement, "The Loer Archway is on fire! The police department and other patrols have been drawn away by Tig's fire. Even if they realize something is wrong at the Palace, they won't be able to respond quickly."
"This side is also ready. Old Owen has hired several carriages, and they're waiting by the main road. As soon as we start, they'll create a collision."
"I'm good too! We've taken control of several climate towers, and there are no other observation points nearby. The people stationed outside the capital won't detect any unusual activities!"
"Me too! The ambush on Redwood Street is in place. If the nobility's private soldiers move, we can..."
"I'm prepared as well! If anyone evacuates from the Palace, I can..."
Are we all set?
After using the telescope to observe the situation near the Palace and confirming that there were no obvious flaws, the initially speaking middle-aged man couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Since everything is ready, let's signal everyone to prepare! The leader is already on his way to the Palace and should arrive in a few minutes. Once he brings Luke in and ensures the Princess's safety, we'll immediately storm the Palace."
"Also, everyone, stay focused on your tasks. Don't falter at the last moment and make mistakes at this critical time!"
He raised the telescope again, looking at the carriage heading towards the Palace several streets away. The middle-aged man's face turned red with excitement.
"All the opposition members of the Upper House have been captured. As long as we don't make any mistakes, and successfully storm the Palace, our wishes for these many years will finally..."
"Slap!"
As the middle-aged man spoke, a hand suddenly reached out and slapped him hard across the face, then snatched the telescope from him.
"Ouch, what are you doing?"
"The Palace! Look at the Palace!"
Hearing his companion's anxious shout, the middle-aged man's heart sank. He abruptly turned his head to look.
However, the Palace under the sun remained as peaceful as before. There was no sign of a fully armed squad rushing out, nor anyone calling for help.
Aside from the guards on their regular patrol and a few gardeners working on the lawn, everything was the same as when they had last looked, with no differences at all.
"What's going on?"
After looking twice without spotting any issues, the middle-aged man's face showed bewildered expression. However, among the group of rebels on the bell tower, someone else seemed to have noticed something amiss, as gasps of surprise could be heard.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Could there be another attack on the palace?"
"It looks like something's about to happen!"
"What's going on? What's happening at the palace? Where's the problem?"
The stout middle-aged man seemed to be still in the dark, and the bald woman who had just slapped him couldn't help but stomp her feet in anxiety, her eyes full of worry.
"Look at the people! You should be looking at the people!"
People?
Upon the bald woman's reminder, the stout man paused, then quickly squinted and looked towards the palace. Like the others, he gasped in shock.
From a distance, they hadn't noticed anything amiss, but now, squinting closely, they saw that both the patrolling guards and the gardeners working on the lawn had a strange metallic sheen on their bodies.
In addition to this odd sheen, the movements of the guards and gardeners had also become peculiar, as if their complex joints had been simplified by some strange force, making their limbs move mechanically and rigidly, resembling...
...living tin dolls!
Finally realizing what was wrong, the stout man quickly grabbed his telescope and looked towards the palace.
Through the telescope's lens, the people who had just been flesh and blood had actually turned into tin dolls. Their once-human eyes had been replaced by pairs of colorful glass beads.
On their metallic faces, where the mouth should have been, there were now lines extending from the corners of their mouths like a puppet's chin, opening and closing mechanically from time to time, completely transformed into toys.
What shocked the stout man even more was that the range of these tin doll people seemed not to be limited to the palace alone; they were spreading outwards.
First, the guard posts directly outside the palace, then the outer walls and the carriage road, followed by the small square connected to the road, and the bustling street beyond the square.
Like a strange plague spreading, or like drops of ink on a huge white paper with the palace at its center, one by one, flesh-and-blood humans were uncontrollably turning into tin dolls.
Strangely, these people who had inexplicably become tin dolls seemed to be unaware of the change. They continued to act as they had before the transformation, oblivious to the alterations that had occurred to their bodies...
Wait, what?!
As he was shocked by the distant anomaly, the stout man seemed to remember something. He quickly turned his telescope and began searching for Lyon's carriage, hidden by the buildings, all the while anxiously calling out:
"Where's the leader? Where is he?"
Hearing the stout man's shout, the crowd, startled by the palace's anomaly, also reacted. According to their original plan, their leader was supposed to be holding the prince hostage and infiltrating the palace.
However, seeing the palace's bizarre appearance, they realized that their leader wouldn't just infiltrate it; they estimated that as soon as the carriage approached, they would all be turned into tin people!
After frantically searching for a while, they still couldn't find Lyon's carriage. Finally, someone in the crowd came to their senses.
"Signal! Send a signal quickly!"
Upon hearing this, the crowd snapped out of their daze and quickly took out signal flares to warn their leader not to get too close to the palace. But...
"It's too late!"
Pointing at the small square in front of the palace, the bald woman put down her slingshot, her face full of despair.
"The carriage just went in. Our leader is already a tin person!"
(End of Chapter)
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