There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game
Chapter 882: 730: Delaying Time

Chapter 882: Chapter 730: Delaying Time

After Xu Shuo transmitted the message, he turned his head to look.

He saw Catalina once again sprawled on the steps of the temple, dozing off.

This elf had lost all sense of vigilance by now.

Languid as if she could never get enough sleep, her head tilted resting on her arm as she napped, the tip of an elf ear concealed under her cap peeked out, with the fine white fuzz trembling slightly.

Then it seemed like something dawned on her.

Catalina, having just caught a bit of rest, opened her bleary eyes and looked ahead.

Upon seeing the youth standing in front of her, Catalina pushed herself up, rubbing her eyes as she spoke, “You finished that quickly? What are we going to do next?”

But Xu Shuo merely tilted his head and examined her up and down without responding.

Catalina felt puzzled once she was fully awake.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, perplexed.

“Your reaction seems much calmer than before after learning that your predecessor, the Executor of Dawn, had intermingled with humans,” Xu Shuo finally spoke.

Upon hearing this, Catalina’s mouth twitched: “What else should I do? Would you be satisfied only if I collapsed in a furious fit?”

Xu Shuo chuckled: “Wouldn’t that be interesting?”

Catalina immediately glared at him, secretly grinding her teeth, and walked past him to leave.

But after a few steps,

She had to stop, aggrieved.

Then she turned around and asked resentfully, “Where are we going?!”

…

In fact, there was no need to go anywhere.

After waiting in the castle for several moments, the Order of the Sun Knights that had gone to support the Gate of Palas returned.

Before this, Xu Shuo kept an eye on Zuo Fang’s team status, and seeing that there was no ‘red name’, he knew things had probably gone smoothly.

So smoothly that it was somewhat disappointing.

After all, no ‘red name’ meant no formidable enemies had launched a sneak attack on him, which also meant this operation didn’t snag many big fish.

So when Zuo Fang returned, his brow was also furrowed with heavy concerns.

“How’s the situation?”

Xu Shuo sat leisurely atop the Papal Throne in the Underground Temple, asking as soon as he saw Zuo Fang return.

Glancing at the youth, who appeared self-assured even while loafing about, and then surveying the Underground Temple to confirm no one else was there except for one elf, Zuo Fang grew too lazy to wring any performance value out of Catalina.

He casually sat down on the steps and then said, “We can be sure that from start to finish, Wald XVIII was never present at the Coronation Ceremony, and he likely left the Royal Capital last night. And do you know…”

Zuo Fang deliberately paused at this point.

But realizing the youth showed no interest in probing further,

He reluctantly continued on his own, “After the Holy Court army suppressed the chaos in the Royal Capital and began to sort out the city, they discovered that the combined forces of the Imperial Guard and the City Defense Forces didn’t even total ten thousand men.”

Xu Shuo narrowed his eyes: “An empty city.”

“Exactly!”

Zuo Fang slapped his thigh in irritation: “That bastard deliberately left us an empty city! For this, he even kept the entire Varo Royal Family behind. Now I believe last night’s rebellion was an intentional smokescreen they set up, all to make us believe that the Imperial Army was still in the city!”

It was precisely because there were so few enemies, and their disorganized management, that the Holy Court swiftly occupied the entire grand Royal Capital within a mere half an hour.

The plan went so smoothly it was completely different from their original intention.

According to the prior deployment,

The Holy Court army that surged out of the Constantinople Traveling Palace was indeed meant to catch the Royal Capital off guard, but its main purpose was to rendezvous with the Order of the Sun Knights and the Pope of Light inside the city.

The presence of the Order of the Sun Knights was to attempt an assassination of Wald XVIII and, by extension, to destroy the Varo Royal Family.

There was also a covert Holy Court army outside the city.

Regardless of whether the plan succeeded or not, it would have collaborated internally and externally to help the Order of the Sun Knights withdraw from the Royal Capital, awaiting the arrival of the Silver Shield Legion to crush the entire Imperial Army in one fell swoop.

And now…

The Holy See of Light has outright occupied the Royal Capital.

But King Wald XVIII is nowhere to be found, with only the royal descendants and nobility left in the Royal Capital.

In the real world, they might have been useful.

But here, they are nothing but cannon fodder.

King Wald XVIII even abandoned his own sister, who shares the same special bloodline with him.

Of course, after abandoning Lady Hexi and Jelante, Xu Shuo guessed that King Wald XVIII might not be aware of their true identities and origins.

Or maybe he is aware.

But he doesn’t think they can be of any use.

Because for King Wald XVIII, it is not necessary to be emotionally invested in their existence, and it does not matter if the world discovers he is a Mixed-blood Elf.

After all, he is the ruler of this empire.

He has spent decades building his own support.

But the people only see the splendor in front of the King.

…

After Zuo Fang said that sentence.

Catalina, who was beside him, seemed to have realized something and suddenly expressed her doubt: “Eh? Wasn’t the rebellion last night orchestrated by the Holy See of Light itself?”

As her words fell.

Zuo Fang paused for a moment, then looked towards Xu Shuo.

Xu Shuo indifferently said: “We wanted to test their strength with this, and it just so happened that they wanted to test us, so it worked out perfectly.”

Then Prince Lier gloriously sacrificed himself.

Just as Zuo Fang was about to say something, a slight noise came from the entrance of the Underground Temple, and Zuo Fang, who was still sitting on the steps, immediately stood up solemnly.

It was a Sun Knight who arrived.

Zuo Fang stepped forward and took the letter from the other’s hand.

After the Sun Knight left, Zuo Fang did not hand the letter to Xu Shuo, but opened it himself to take a look first.

However, after reading the information, his expression became even more somber.

“The two major military zones previously stationed around the Royal Capital are also vacant now. Judging from the traces left behind, they must have retreated urgently last night,” Zuo Fang frowned deeply.

“It’s not that easy for hundreds of thousands of troops to retreat quietly overnight, and the Radiant Star Knight Order, which arrived first in the past few nights, also went to scout the military zone, although they did not go deep,” Xu Shuo said upon hearing this.

Although not explicitly stated, by saying so.

Zuo Fang had already understood.

It’s likely that the Imperial Army had already withdrawn from the Royal Capital when the Holy Court’s army entered the Eastern Continent, leaving only half the force behind to deceive observers.

This behavior.

Resembles the tactics of the Silver Shield Legion when they travel.

Sending a group of Silver Shield soldiers from the Irracks City-State into the Eastern Continent was meant to confuse the eyes of the Royal Capital and to secretly infiltrate the real Silver Shield Legion from the Rheine City-State.

Unexpectedly, now it turns out that both sides had used the same methods to switch things up.

Zuo Fang suddenly said: “Wait, King Wald XVIII went to great lengths to summon you to the Royal Capital, instigated the conflict between the empire and the Holy Court, and then left you with this deserted city. What exactly does he want to do?”

As he spoke.

He was actually already considering the implications.

And just as Zuo Fang was about to catch a glimpse of the motive, a voice already came from above.

“To buy time.”

…

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