Chapter 2406: Exposed

Published Mar 30, 2026, 05:58 AM

“By the way, heroine, since I'm helping you this time, can you answer one of my questions?” Zu An suddenly asked while they were on their way to the Four Way Palace. The Mermaid Queen coldly replied, “You are my captive right now. You should know how a captive should act.” Zu An responded with an ‘oh’. He was feeling a bit frustrated now. He wanted to get some intelligence, and yet this current situation didn’t seem all that convenient an opportunity to do so. Was there any meaning left in continuing to play this character? Just then, the Mermaid Queen continued, “Tell me your question first. Whether or not I’ll reply depends on my mood.” She didn’t know why she said that either. In the end, she figured it could be because she was curious what this cowardly, yet deluded little soldier would ask at a time like this. Zu An then chose his words carefully. “I have a friend who contracted a weird illness and needs to be treated with the Aurora Poison Dragon’s scales. I wonder if the heroine knows where I could find the Aurora Poison Dragon?” The Mermaid Queen gave him a look, her expression seemingly saying, Is that friend actually you? Forget it, I’m not a cruel person and won’t expose your clumsy lie. “The Aurora Poison Dragon is a highly toxic creature. I have never heard of its scales being able to treat anyone,” the Mermaid Queen said coldly. Zu An was happy to hear that. Judging from what she was saying, she seemed to know where the Aurora Poison Dragon was! He had already asked many people after entering the Dragon Palace, but not a single person had even heard its name. He'd briefly wondered whether it even existed. And yet, this assassin had heard of it. It seemed her identity was indeed special. “Even though its powerful poison can harm, it can also be used properly to save someone,” Zu An explained. The Mermaid Queen voiced her surprise as she gave him another look. “I didn’t expect you to know a bit about medicine. That is what a divine physician I met in the past said too.” With her identity, any divine physician she knew would definitely be among the very best in the world. That was why she couldn't help but feel a bit of surprise when she heard this out of the mouth of such an unassuming guard. “Oh, I read that from a fictional novel,” Zu An casually replied. The Mermaid Queen was speechless. He was just a deluded shut-in who's obsessed with fantasy after all. She even wanted to ask him just what kind of fiction he was reading, but that would ruin the cold and merciless act she was trying to show, so she didn’t say anything. “I advise you to give up on the thought. Even though the Aurora Poison Dragon’s scales might really be able to treat some conditions, that’s definitely not something someone of your level can extravagantly hope for,” the Mermaid Queen said coldly. “With your cultivation, just a roar from the Aurora Poison Dragon would kill you. It is also murderous in nature and definitely wouldn’t mind killing an ant like you.” Zu An laughed inwardly. She really did know about it after all! Even though she sounded harsh on the surface, she was actually worried that a little soldier like him would lose his life. It seemsthis assassin’s personality isn’t that bad. “Then if I help you this time, can you tell me where the Aurora Poison Dragon is?” he asked. “I already gave you a clear warning, and yet you still want to throw your life away?” The Mermaid Queen raised her brows. Zu An said with a serious expression, “It's my little sister who obtained this strange illness. I need to go no matter how dangerous it is.” The Mermaid Queen was speechless. She'd thought that the friend was himself, but it was actually his little sister. This guard’s cultivation is so pitifully low and he's so cowardly, and yet he's willing to take such a huge risk for his little sister’s sake. Meanwhile, I was actually mocking him before. I’m ashamed of myself! Her tone became a bit gentler. “Alright. Once you help me deal with tonight’s matter, I will tell you about the Aurora Poison Dragon.” At the same time, she wondered if she could help him get a scale. However, she didn’t have any relations with the Aurora Poison Dragon, and he also had his ruthless reputation… The two of them quickly arrived outside the Four Way Palace. Zu An asked, “Are you not going to change clothes? It’ll be hard for us to go in like this.” The Mermaid Queen gave him a look and replied, “Can you turn around?” “You’re going to change here? Where did you get the clothes you need?” Even though Zu An questioned her, he still turned around. “Keep yapping, do you think I won’t cut off your tongue?” the Mermaid Queen snapped. Zu An was speechless. When she was sure that Zu An had already turned around, the Mermaid Queen made some hand gestures and set up a simple concealment formation around her. She didn’t dare to make it too complicated, since they were right outside the Four Way Palace. If magic that was too powerful were to be used out here, it would end up drawing the attention of the guards and the monsters inside the Dragon Palace. As for the little guard in front of me, with his pitiful cultivation, there's no way he could see through my concealment formation. Zu An didn’t really want to peep on her either, but he couldn't really do anything about his divine sense naturally being released. Even if he didn’t turn around, he could still ‘see’ what was happening behind him. As for that simple and crude concealment method, how could it stop the prying of his divine sense? However, it wasn’t that he wanted to see her change clothes, but rather that he was curious about what she really looked like so he could maybe get some more information. That’s it? She made it seem as if she really was going to change clothes. The female assassin didn’t actually take off her clothes. Instead, she spun around within the formation, and her outfit quickly changed from that of a palace maid to that of a guard. “Huh?” Zu An remembered that Shang Hongyu also seemed to have been able to change her clothing at will before. This female assassin’s style of changing clothes was very similar to how Shang Hongyu had changed before. Was she a member of the Mermaid race? His surprise wasn’t completely unreasonable. After all, since she was an assassin who had infiltrated the Dragon Palace, it would have been more likely for her to represent a force from outside the Ocean races. The Mermaid race had always been on good terms with the Dragon race, so why would he assume that the assassin came from them? If she really was from the Mermaid race, however, didn’t that mean this woman was Shang Hongyu and Shang Liuyu’s ancient ancestor? When he realized that, Zu An’s expression immediately became really strange. Whenever he thought of the words 'ancient ancestor', he would think of some old and gray-haired person, or someone who only had bones left. It was really hard for him to associate those two words with this youthful young lady in front of him. “Alright, you can now bring me inside according to the loopholes you were talking about just now.” The Mermaid Queen had already changed her outfit, and she was also wearing a guard helmet on her head that completely covered her beautiful hair. Zu An was speechless. He'd just been talking nonsense before. What loopholes were there? But with how things were, he could only brace himself and continue. If it came down to that, he'd just use a bit of force to deal with those guards. He hoped she wouldn’t be able to tell if he did. The two of them began to move according to the ‘loopholes’ in the defense that Zu An described before. However, he was soon stunned, because there really were loopholes in the security. The Mermaid Queen was overjoyed. “Kid, you might not have many other skills, but your observation skills aren’t that bad!” She grabbed Zu An’s collar when the guards were changing shifts and leaped over the outermost wall. Zu An was speechless. He was usually the one who carried others while flying, butt today, he was the one who had his collar grabbed before being taken for a flight. The feeling really was quite different. Afterward, his expression became stranger and stranger, because the security layout he'd randomly made up was actually 80-90% correct. But it wasn’t that unusual either. He'd come up with something according to the imperial palace defenses he was familiar with, so the strategies were all legitimate. Even though it was randomly made up, it was actually the same as what the generals here had come up with. The two of them snuck through the Four Way Palace. But the further they got, the tighter the security became. It became almost impossible to sneak around. And sure enough, when the two of them advanced a bit further, they ran straight into a group of patrolling guards, with no way of avoiding them at all. But the Mermaid Queen was already prepared for that. She walked forward with Zu An behind her and faced them with her chest held high. Either way, they were dressed in the exact same uniforms. The team leader on the other side raised their hand to gesture for them to halt. “Password?” Zu An immediately cried out ‘not good!’ inwardly. Sure enough, after everything had gone so smoothly before, the Mermaid Queen already trusted him. Even though she was a bit embarrassed, she still braced herself and shouted with full confidence, “The Mermaid Queen is the most beautiful!” The guards had a look of shock on their faces, and looked at each other in dismay. They reflexively replied, “The Mermaid Queen is the most beautiful… Wait, that’s not the password!” One of the guards finally reacted and raised his blade. He pursed his lips to release an alert whistle.

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