Chapter 440: A Blow
Chapter 440: A Blow
It seems that junior high school geometry still has its uses...
As he stepped off the carriage that could only travel within the inner courtyard of the palace, Lyon looked at the sleeping palace walls, now coated with a layer of iron, and reaffirmed his previous judgment.
The anomaly that caused this change should be inside the palace, and its location is close to what he calculated. It's most likely the sleeping palace right in front of him.
Outside the palace, in the square and on the streets, only "living" beings like pedestrians and horses were affected. But once inside the inner courtyard, even the "dead" structures like the walls and buildings started to undergo the iron transformation.
The stone path beneath his feet still felt like stone when stepped on, but the dust and dirt on the surface had, at some point, turned into deep brown rust stains.
The garden in the distance was still lush and green, but it lacked vitality, and the leaves on the trees no longer swayed in the wind. Compared to the meticulously constructed garden, it now resembled a giant metal bonsai made of steel and iron.
The biggest change was the sleeping palace right in front of him.
The originally simple and solemn architectural style, with its profound historical sense, suddenly became rounder and more frivolous. Large patches of dark red iron appeared on the highest spire, and the tall, slender windows became short, fat, and round, losing their clear edges and almost completely transforming into a different design.
This eerie change was as if someone had taken a human hand with distinct knuckles and glued them together with an incredibly strong adhesive, then kneaded the flesh and bones into a round ball, emitting a bizarre aura that made it stand out awkwardly among the surrounding buildings...
"Leader!"
As Lyon stroked the head of the Black Goat, using his soul vision to inspect the palace, Joshua, who had just alighted from the carriage, quickly caught up and exclaimed in shock:
"How did this happen? Why did the palace suddenly change like this?"
Who am I supposed to ask? I want to know too!
Glancing back at "Joshua," whose face still bore the imprint of a slap, Lyon replied:
"There must be some anomaly that was triggered.
I've carefully examined it, and I didn't see any obvious abnormal souls. So, the thing that caused the palace to change like this is most likely not controlled by a 'user' but is an anomaly that went out of control and is running amok."
"Then... what should we do? Shouldn't we abort the operation?"
"We can't abort."
With the help of the Black Goat's soul vision, Lyon discovered the restless soul flame in the princess's bedroom and couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. He then took a step forward and said:
"This might be the only chance for you guys with anomalies to participate in the coup. If we abort now, it's hard to say when we'll be able to achieve this level of success again.
Also, Princess Veronica is still within the range of this anomaly. Her succession to the throne in place of the old king is the least damaging option for the entire kingdom. If something happens to her, we'll have to prepare for the worst.
If that situation occurs, in the end, even if we succeed, a lot of people will die, and the entire kingdom will be severely weakened. It might take two to three generations to recover, so right now, we can only grit our teeth and push forward."
"I understand!"
After nodding vigorously, "Joshua" asked with a tense expression:
"Leader, should we protect the princess first and ensure she's safe, or should we knock out the captain of the guards first so I can control his body and dismiss the guards, allowing our people to break in?"
Should they rescue the princess first or find the captain of the guards first?
Looking at the princess's soul flame, filled with panic and fear, frantically jumping around but not moving an inch, Lyon made a decisive decision:
"Let's do both!
We'll split up. The situation with the princess is a bit strange, and I need to go check on her and make sure she's safe.
As for you, Luke, you're currently using the prince's body, so the captain of the guards won't be too suspicious of you. With a well-executed ambush, knocking him out shouldn't be too difficult.
"Okay, I'll go over now!"
Upon hearing Lyon's words, Joshua nodded. As they arrived at the entrance of the Imperial Palace, Lyon took a deep breath, imitating the mannerisms of the Freckled Prince. He approached the guards on duty, his face filled with arrogance.
"Where's your captain? I have something to tell him. Take me to him quickly!"
Hearing Joshua's words, the Iron Plate soldier on duty blinked, then, as if suddenly waking from a dream, he raised the ceremonial staff in his hand and struck Joshua on the head.
No one expected that a guard in the Royal Palace would attack a prince. Caught off guard, the blow from the staff hit Joshua squarely on the head, knocking him to the ground with a thud.
"What the hell?!"
Lyon was stunned by the unreasonable strike. He hurriedly pulled Joshua up from the ground and found that he had been knocked unconscious by the blow. Lyon stared at the guard in disbelief.
"Why did you hit him?!"
"Your Highness!"
Facing Lyon's furious questioning, the guard with the ceremonial staff quickly saluted. He blinked his glass eyes and said in confusion:
"He's feet in anger, the Iron Queen stared at the guard in disbelief.
"He's just a commoner, and he's wearing a criminal's attire. He approached the Imperial Palace so rashly!"
This is Joshua's body, what nonsense are you talking about?
Lyon frowned upon hearing this. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly remembered something.
Luke and himself had occupied Joshua's body, and both had 'Imbue Value' as anomaly holders. They were not affected by the anomaly and retained their normal senses, able to distinguish between humans and Iron Plate people.
When examining their bodies, they appeared normal in their own vision. Without touching, they wouldn't even realize they had become Iron Plate people. When looking at each other, they appeared normal as well.
As for Joshua... Although he didn't have an anomaly, he had visited the headquarters of the Purification Bureau and witnessed numerous anomalies. From that experience alone, he likely had an Imbue Value of zero-point-something, gaining the ability to distinguish between Iron Plate people and humans.
But the Iron Plate soldier before them was different.
These ordinary people, influenced by the anomaly and believing themselves to be Iron Plate people, did not show suspicion when seeing them. This proved that in their eyes, Joshua and Lyon were likely also Iron Plate people.
This observation between Iron Plate people seemed not to be based on physical appearance but on a spiritual realm, or perhaps some aspect of their souls, like their status, occupation, or something similar.
So, although Luke occupied Joshua's body, in the eyes of the Iron Plate guard, he was not Joshua the prince, but a 'commoner criminal approaching the Imperial Palace'. Hence, the guard struck him without hesitation.
This was troublesome...
Seeing Luke, who had lost consciousness after the blow and automatically separated from Joshua's soul, Lyon sighed. He reached out and pinched Joshua's body hard.
"Ah!"
Joshua, who had fainted, suddenly sat up with a start. The Iron Plate guard rubbed his eyes and exclaimed in shock:
"Your Highness? But you were just..."
"Ah!!!!!"
A scream from above interrupted the Iron Plate guard's words.
A tin doll, dressed in a long red skirt, fell from the window of the Imperial Palace, screaming as she crashed to the ground in the distance, startling Lyon.
"What is that?"
"Reporting to Your Highness."
Hearing Lyon's question, the Iron Plate guard responded with a bow:
"If you're asking who just fell... It should be Her Majesty the Queen."
"..."
"Ah?"
(End of Chapter)
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