Chapter 435

“Hurry! The leader has already left the parliament!”

As Leon was dragging Joshua away from the parliamentary hall and shoving him into a carriage, on a clock tower several streets away, a middle-aged man of somewhat portly build put down his telescope and turned around, asking anxiously: “Are all preparations done? What’s the situation at the royal palace?”

“There’s still a bit more to go.”

In response to the middle-aged man’s inquiry, a bald woman replied:

“The director of the Virgo Subdivision went to the Dream Realm but left two Anomalous Items in the palace. Luke can’t get past her traps, so we still need to wait for the leader to come up with a way to bring him inside.”

“What about the others? How are their preparations coming along?”

“I’m ready with Phoebe.”

An aged-looking woman with youthful eyes answered: “Last night, we infiltrated the barracks, wiped part of the memory of the orderlies at the military academy, and implanted fake flag codes.

No matter how the palace requests reinforcements, the orderlies in the barracks will interpret the distress signal as an all-clear. Before the commotion spreads completely, no one from the barracks should come to support.”

“Tiger is also ready.”

At this point, a man nearby who was also holding a telescope reported excitedly: “The Lother Arcade is already on fire. All the Public Security Bureau personnel and other patrols have been lured over by Tiger’s fire. Even if they discover something’s wrong at the palace, it’ll take them some time to get here.”

“This side is also good. Old Owen has hired several carriages, waiting by the main road. Once we start, they’ll crash immediately.”

“My side is fine too! Several climate towers have been occupied, there are no other observation points nearby, people stationed outside the Capital City definitely won’t notice any anomalies!”

“Me too! We’re lying in ambush on Redwood Street. If noble private armies move out, we can stop them anytime…”

“I’m also prepared! If anyone evacuates from the royal palace, I can immediately…”

Is everyone almost ready?

After checking the situation near the royal palace with the telescope and confirming there were no obvious flaws, the first middle-aged man couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief.

“Since everything’s ready, send the signal and prepare everyone!

The leader is heading to the palace now, he should arrive in a few minutes. Once he sneaks Luke into the palace and ensures the princess’s safety, attack the palace immediately!”

“And remember, keep an eye on your own tasks. We’re at the final stage; don’t mess up now!”

Raising the telescope again, looking toward the carriage that was heading toward the palace several streets away, the stout middle-aged man’s face flushed red as he excitedly said:

“All the opposing faction members in the Upper House have already been captured. As long as nothing goes wrong here and we successfully breach the palace, our dream of many years will be…”

“Slap!”

Before the stout middle-aged man finished speaking, a hand suddenly reached out and slapped him hard across the face, then snatched the telescope from him.

“Ouch, what did you do that for?”

“The Palace! Look at the palace!”

The palace? Could someone inside the palace have discovered us? Upon hearing his companion’s panicked shout, the stout middle-aged man felt a chill run through him. He quickly turned his head to look.

But under the sunlight, the palace remained eerily quiet, with neither a fully armed squad of soldiers rushing out nor anyone crying for help.

Apart from the guards patrolling as usual and a few gardeners working on the lawn, everything looked exactly the same as before, without any difference.

After looking twice and still not finding anything amiss, the stout middle-aged man’s face showed confusion. But among the group of rebels on the bell tower, someone seemed to have noticed something was off, and gasps of shock followed one after another.

“How did this happen?!”

“Could someone else be planning to attack the palace?”

“It seems like trouble is coming!”

“What’s going on? What’s wrong with the palace? Where’s the problem?”

Realizing the stout middle-aged man hadn’t understood yet, the bald woman who had slapped him earlier stomped her foot impatiently and urged anxiously: “People! Just look at the people!”

People? After hearing the bald woman’s reminder, the stout middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, then squinted and looked toward the palace. Immediately, like everyone else, he sharply sucked in a breath.

He hadn’t noticed anything unusual at a casual glance, but upon carefully examining with squinted eyes, every single guard patrolling and gardener working on the lawn had a strange metallic sheen on their bodies.

Besides the odd metallic gleam, the movements of the guards and gardeners had become peculiar, as if their complex joints had been simplified strangely, making their actions mechanical and stiff—like…

Not a single detail missed! Like living tin dolls! Finally realizing something was wrong, the stout middle-aged man quickly grabbed back his telescope and looked toward the palace.

Through the telescope, those people who just moments ago had flesh and blood had actually turned into tin dolls, their human eyes replaced by pairs of colored glass beads.

On the metallic faces, where the mouths originally were, lines were pulled down from the corners of their lips, resembling puppet chins, occasionally opening and closing mechanically, having completely transformed into toy-like figures.

What made the stout middle-aged man even more terrified was that the range these tin doll humans appeared in didn’t seem limited to just around the palace—it was rapidly spreading outward.

First, the sentry posts directly outside the palace, then the outer walls and highways beyond, then a small square connected to the highway, and finally the bustling streets outside the square.

It was like some strange plague spreading or ink dropped onto a large piece of white paper centered around the palace, one person after another with flesh and blood uncontrollably turning into tin dolls.

And those inexplicably transformed tin dolls seemed completely unaware, continuing to do their previous tasks as if nothing had changed…

Wait?! While being shocked by the distant anomaly, the stout middle-aged man suddenly remembered something and hurriedly turned around with the telescope, starting to search for the carriage carrying Leon under the cover of buildings, calling out anxiously while searching: “Where’s the leader? Where’s the leader gone?”

Hearing the stout middle-aged man’s cry, the rebel group startled by the palace anomaly also snapped back to reality. According to the original plan, their leader was currently holding the prince hostage, preparing to sneak into the palace as an insider.

However, judging by the current eerie state of the palace, their leader wouldn’t even make it inside. As soon as the carriage approached, they’d likely be transformed into tin dolls too!

After frantically searching for a circle and still not finding Leon’s carriage, someone among the rebels finally realized.

“Send a signal! Quickly send a signal!”

Upon hearing his words, everyone instantly woke up and hastily took out signal flares, intending to warn their leader not to approach the palace right now. However…

“It’s too late! It’s already too late!”

Pointing to the small square in front of the palace, the bald woman put down her slingshot and wailed:

“The carriage just entered. Our leader is already a tin doll now!”

(The chapter ends here)