Chapter 440

After disembarking from the carriage that only travels within the palace grounds, Leon once again confirmed his previous judgment while gazing at the exterior wall of the sleeping quarters, now clad in a layer of iron plating.

The anomalous item causing these changes is likely somewhere inside the palace, and its location matches his calculations. It’s most probably this very sleeping quarters right before him.

In the squares and streets outside the palace, only living beings like pedestrians and horses were affected. But once inside the inner courtyard, even inanimate objects like walls and buildings started to undergo this “iron-plating.”

The stone-paved road beneath his feet still feels like stone when stepped on, but the dust and dirt on the surface of the stones have inexplicably turned into deep brown rust marks.

The garden in the distance remains lush with greenery, yet it feels oddly lifeless. The leaves no longer sway with the wind, making it seem more like an enormous metal bonsai crafted out of steel rather than a carefully cultivated garden.

But the most drastically changed structure is the sleeping quarters before him.

The originally austere and solemn architecture, rich with historical gravitas, has suddenly become much rounder and frivolous. Large patches of dark red iron sheets have appeared on the pointed roofs, and the tall, delicate windows have become short and stubby, losing their sharp edges. It’s almost unrecognizable.

This bizarre transformation is akin to taking a human hand with clearly defined knuckles, gluing them together with some super-strong adhesive, and then kneading all the flesh and bones into spheres. Every detail exudes an unsettling aura, making it stand out awkwardly against the other buildings around it…

“Leader!”

Just as Leon was patting the head of the Black Goat and checking the palace using his soul vision, Joshua quickly caught up after getting off the carriage, his face full of shock: “What the heck is going on? Why did the palace suddenly change like this?”

You’re asking me? I don’t know either! After glancing back at Joshua, whose cheek still bore the imprint of a slap, Leon replied:

“There must be some anomalous item that was triggered.

I just checked thoroughly, and there doesn’t seem to be any obviously abnormal souls, so whatever caused the palace to change like this likely doesn’t have a ‘user.’ It’s probably an anomalous item that went berserk due to失控.”

“So… what should we do? Should we abort the mission?”

“We can’t abort it.”

Using the Black Goat’s soul vision, Leon spotted Princess Veronica’s restless soul flame flickering in her bedroom. He couldn’t help but let out a small sigh of relief before stepping forward and saying: “The opportunity for you people who possess anomalous items to participate in this coup might only come this one time. If we abort now, achieving the same level of success will be incredibly difficult.

Besides, Princess Veronica is still within the range of this anomalous item. Her ascension to replace the Old King would result in the least damage to the entire kingdom. If anything happens to her, we’ll have to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

If that situation really occurs, even if we succeed in the end, countless lives will be lost, and the entire kingdom will suffer great losses. It might take two or three generations to recover. So, we have no choice but to push forward despite the difficulties.”

“I understand!”

With a determined nod, “Joshua” asked anxiously: “Then, Leader, should we first go protect the princess and ensure she doesn’t get hurt, or should we knock out the captain of the guards and let me control his body to divert the soldiers, allowing our people to break in?”

Should we rescue the princess first or find the captain?

Looking at the princess’s soul flame filled with panic and fear, wildly jumping yet remaining confined to her room without moving an inch, Leon decisively said:

“Let’s do both! We’ll split up. There’s something strange about the princess’s condition, so I need to check it out first to make sure nothing happens to her.

As for Luke, since you’re currently in the prince’s body, the captain won’t suspect you too much. With a premeditated sneak attack, knocking him out shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Alright! Then I’ll go now!”

Upon hearing Leon’s words, “Joshua” nodded. Since they had already reached the entrance of the sleeping quarters, he took a deep breath, mimicking the Freckled Prince’s usual demeanor, walked up to the guard on duty, and haughtily demanded: “Where’s your captain? I need to see him, so take me to him immediately!”

After hearing “Joshua’s” words, the iron-clad soldier blinked, then as if waking from a dream, immediately picked up his ceremonial baton and swung it straight at “Joshua’s” head without hesitation.

No one expected the palace guards to attack the prince, so completely caught off guard, the blow landed squarely on “Joshua’s” head, knocking him down with a thud.

“That’s not… why did you hit him?!?!”

“Your Royal Highness!”

Faced with Leon’s angry questioning, the soldier holding the ceremonial baton hastily saluted, then blinked his glass eyes, looking perplexed as he explained:

“He’s a civilian, and he’s dressed like a criminal. Approaching the sleeping quarters like this means he needs to be driven away!”

That’s clearly Joshua’s body, what nonsense are you spouting? Upon hearing this, Leon couldn’t help but furrow his brow. But just as he was about to say something, he suddenly remembered something.

Luke, who had taken over Joshua’s body, and himself were holders of anomalous items with “taint values,” thus unaffected by the anomaly, maintaining normal human senses and able to distinguish between humans and iron-plated individuals. Even when observing themselves, they appear completely normal in their line of sight. Without touching, they wouldn’t even notice they’ve become iron-plated, and they see each other as normal too.

As for Joshua… Although he doesn’t have an anomalous item, he did visit the Clearing Bureau headquarters once and encountered numerous anomalies. Just from that trip alone, he probably has a taint value of 0.0something, granting him the ability to differentiate between iron-plated individuals and humans.

But the iron-plated soldiers are different.

These ordinary people influenced by the anomalous item, believing themselves to be iron-plated, didn’t show any signs of suspicion when seeing him and Joshua, which means in their eyes, both he and Joshua are also iron-plated.

None of the iron-plated individuals made a mistake, one after another, the content is inside 69 Book Bar, please look!

This mutual observation among iron-plated individuals seems not based on physical form. Their senses and judgment methods lean more towards the soul level, or perhaps related to identity, status, occupation, and such things.

So although Luke has taken over Joshua’s body, in the eyes of the iron-plated guards, he isn’t Prince Joshua but a “civilian criminal approaching the sleeping quarters,” hence the immediate strike without hesitation.

Now this is troublesome…

Looking at Luke, who lost consciousness after being struck and automatically disengaged from Joshua’s soul, Leon couldn’t help but sigh, then pinched Joshua’s philtrum hard.

“Ahh!”

Without realizing it, Joshua screamed loudly and abruptly sat up. Nearby, the iron-plated guard rubbed his eyes and exclaimed in shock:

“Your Highness? You… weren’t you just…”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!”

A scream from above interrupted the guard’s sentence.

An iron-plated doll dressed in a bright red long dress screamed as it fell from the window of the sleeping quarters, landing with a loud thud far away, startling Leon.

“What is that?”

“Reporting to Your Royal Highness.”

After hearing Leon’s question, the iron-plated guard blinked his hollow glass eyeballs and respectfully answered: “If you’re asking who the person who just fell was… that should be the respected Queen Majesty.”

“…”

“Ahhh?”

(The chapter ends here.)