Blood of Mercury

"What? Hanging?"

Robert asked incredulously: "Committing such a big crime, only to be hanged? When did the law of the White Tower become so relaxed?"

"We don't want to either. It's impossible."

The red-robed wizard standing in front of him spread his hands helplessly.

...he was definitely hiding something on purpose.

Robert narrowed his eyes.

This person's name is Naxi, a family wizard who was born and grew up in the White Tower. This person used to be Robert's senior and one of Robert's friends. After graduating three years ago, he was assigned to work in the Archives Department, responsible for sorting and summarizing the information sent by the Waste Bureau and the Public Security Bureau, and then handing it over to different leaders.

Basically, all the information related to criminals and wanted will pass through Naxi once. If Robert wants to get any official information that is not disclosed for the time being, it is the safest way to go to Naxi.

Robert heard from his classmates that the news about Orlando's execution would be announced in the near future, so he was impatient to go to Naxi to get some inside information.

After all, if it's just "not disclosed for the time being", the level of confidentiality is actually not that high.

But even if the degree of secrecy is not very high, Robert, who has often met with Naxi in private since a long time ago, has been on the blacklist of the Waste Bureau and has been investigated very carefully by the Waste Bureau. Otherwise, the identity of Robert Titan's spy will probably take some time to be discovered.

"In short, that's what happened... If there's nothing else, I'll go first?"

Naxi flashed the red robe on his body, proving that he has important things to do now and has no time to stay.

In fact, just because he knew Robert's identity, Naxi didn't want to contact Robert.

Naxi naturally knew what kind of awkward identity he had. It was because his family was innocent that Naxi got such a job. But even so, after Robert's true identity was investigated, he was still under surveillance by the Waste Bureau for a period of time.

but. Not contacting Robert was not because Naxi was afraid of angering himself.

He was really thinking of Robert, so he would try to avoid contact with Robert.

Naxi knew very well why Robert was temporarily fine. It was because of his status as Prince Titan. Because the information that Robert has obtained from Baita so far has not touched the real taboo, Baita, who thinks that this information is not worth offending the Titan Empire, will turn a blind eye to him.

But the day Robert was exposed to real secrets from Naxi was the day he died.

Naxi knew very well that if Robert continued to contact him, sooner or later something like this would really happen.

But he didn't expect it. You can't hide from your old friend.

According to what Robert knew about Naxi, whenever Naxi wanted to hide something, he would spread his hands unnaturally.

"Wait a minute, Naxi."

Robert softly stopped the red-robed wizard who was about to leave: "This matter is really important to me... Can you tell me why Orlando cannot be executed."

"Are you serious, Robert?"

Naxi turned his head helplessly.

"I beg you..."

Robert lowered his head and pleaded with Naxi in a hoarse voice: "This issue is really important to me, please be sure to tell me."

Naxi looked at Robert's haggard face and couldn't help but startled.

He had never seen Robert so tired until now.

He hesitated. He opened his mouth to Robert.

"The reason is... we have no evidence."

"Because, they have no evidence."

Roland smiled lightly and explained to Esther: "At this time, if I directly announce that I will be put to death at the beginning, it will only make those troublesome people think that the top of the White Tower is trying to hide it - they will only It is believed that the top of the White Tower has indeed obtained the wealth of Orlando, so they want to use Orlando's capital punishment as a pretext to quell the anger of the wizards."

"In this case, if Baita doesn't give me a more 'merciful' execution, but insists on the death penalty, they will only feel guilty because it is the top of Baita, and the truth is as they guessed."

"On the contrary. If I publish it at the beginning, I will be hanged, and people will also be dissatisfied. This kind of dissatisfaction with the top of the White Tower has already taken root in their hearts, but they have never noticed it. Now, as long as they find a The right place. It's about venting them out—say me."

"People are always like this. The more they are angry, dissatisfied, and hated, the more they like to oppose and refute. The inflated vanity brought by opposing authority and refuting the truth is enough to make them forget the previous unhappiness. Only by establishing their authority in this way can they feel that they are alive."

Roland leaned forward and asked Esther to put a black blindfold on himself, and said briskly in a pleasant tone: "—However, this can only prove their superficiality and stupidity."

"Aren't they going to object. Then I'll give them room to object—"

Esther tied the black eyepatch behind Roland's head, and asked with a chuckle, "Have you considered Robert's idea?"

Unusually, Roland suddenly fell silent.

In the small basement, only the sound of Esther tidying Roland's clothes sounded for a while.

After about a minute, Roland said, "Aster, let me tell you a joke."

"Oh?"

"Once upon a time, there was a rich man who used a cart to transport a lot of treasures. But when he was in the forest, the cart suddenly broke down. At this time, a hunter and a dog happened to pass by here."

Roland said softly: "So, the rich man asked the hunter to help take care of the cart temporarily, and the hunter agreed. The rich man went to find a replacement cart, and the hunter guarded the treasure."

"Until night, the hunter didn't come back. The hunter began to worry about the old mother who was at home alone, so he asked the dog to keep an eye on the car and went home to take care of the old mother."

"After the rich man came back, he saw the hunter's dog watching the cart, so the rich man asked the dog to take back a silver coin as a reward for the hunter."

"So the dog ran home and gave the silver coin to its master."

Having said this, Roland stopped suddenly, turned his head back slightly, and looked at Esther with a half-smile through the black cloth covering his eyes: "Guess what happened next?"

"According to the development of the normal story, it should be the hunter who touched the dog's head and cooked it a delicious meal," Esther tilted his head and analyzed interestingly, "But since you asked me If so, it must not be that simple.”

"If I were to make up the story, it would go something like this—"

Esther thought for a moment, and then continued: "The hunter looked at the silver coins handed over by the dog, and suddenly there was a trace of greed in his heart."

"'If you can come up with a silver coin, you should be able to give a gold coin.' The hunter thought so, and asked the dog to go to the rich man to ask for money. The rich man thought about it, and then readily agreed."

"When the dog got the gold coin back, the hunter hid the gold coin carefully, and then tied a cloth bag to the dog."

"'You let the man fill the bag with gold coins, or you won't come back.' With that said, the hunter let the dog out again, and let the dog find the rich man."

"Faced with such an unreasonable request, the rich man naturally refused. So the dog clung to the rich man's side and never went back. In this way, the man and the dog who escorted the treasure have experienced a lot together and developed feelings for each other. ."

"'Do you want to go back?' Facing the question of the rich man, the dog finally chose to go back to the owner. So the rich man filled the dog's bag with gold coins and let the dog take it as the hunter said. Returning to the master with the gold coins."

When Esther said this, some kind of light flashed inexplicably in his eyes.

However, his voice was not deformed in the slightest.

After a while, Esther continued to speak: "But the gold coins are too heavy. The dog accidentally fell into the trap set by the hunter, and finally climbed up with the bag of gold coins, but its legs He was also lame, injured, and the bag containing the money leaked."

"...Aster?"

"The dog dragged the torn bag like this and limped towards the hunter's house. As it walked forward step by step, the gold coins gradually slipped out of the bag."

Ignoring Roland's question at all, Esther just continued to read: "In the end, the dog did not return to the hunter's house, but died on the road."

"...Is it over? Esther?"

"If it ends, it will be the best."

Esther shook his head~www.wuxiaspot.com~ The smile on his face gradually deformed, and finally turned into a pale and dry face like a mask.

For a moment, he was glad that he put on Roland's blindfold. Let Roland not see his expression at the moment.

After a short pause, Esther said quietly: "One day after that, one day after that, the hunter went out to hunt after the rain."

"Then, the hunter found a familiar bag with a hole on a corpse that had been reduced to bones, and inside it were several dirty gold coins."

"The hunter was overjoyed to see that he was able to pick up money when he went out hunting. The trivial matter of losing a dog was forgotten by him a few years ago."

"The hunter thinks that since there are holes in the bag, there must be gold coins nearby."

"It was very easy. The hunter found a few gold coins near the bag, and he quickly discovered that there were gold coins not far from the gold coins, and all the gold coins pointed to one place."

"So, the hunter just followed the gold coins and found them all the way back." (To be continued.)