After I Faked My Death, the Dog Emperor Completely Lost His Mind - Chapter 13

Shen Yuheng immediately followed Zhou Yuan out of the hall, hurrying toward the Cold Palace.

Consort Yao had only entered the palace this year, but she had been heavily favored since the start. Because she had made enemies in every corner of the harem, many consorts despised her; however, the Yao family held significant power. With support from both the court and the inner palace, no one dared to show her the slightest disrespect.

To have such a pampered consort injured by Xiao Jin she certainly wouldn’t let him off easily.

But… in the original book, Xiao Jin and Su Cheng only exchanged a few defensive words. Why did he resort to violence this time? Shen Yuheng had a strange feeling. He had assumed Xiao Jin didn’t know Su Cheng yet, but now it seemed the two might have crossed paths long ago.

He didn’t want to overthink it and quickened his pace. Night was falling, and as they drew closer to the Cold Palace, the air grew increasingly heavy with a biting chill. The palace path, hemmed in by crimson walls, was deserted. Even the fallen leaves had piled up, left swept for ages. The locked gates of the surrounding empty halls were coated in thick dust.

The Emperor, Xiao Huai, practiced Buddhism and disliked killing, so the official torture chambers had been closed, but those who sought to inflict pain still found ways.

As they neared the Cold Palace, Shen Yuheng heard the sharp crack of a whip. Both he and Zhou Yuan paused. The whipping was fast and urgent; one could almost envision the youth’s skin tearing apart to reveal bone, yet Xiao Jin didn’t let out a single sound.

Shen Yuheng reached the entrance but was blocked by a young eunuch. It was Xiao Linzi the one who had traded places with Zhou Yuan to abandon Qingzhuo Hall. Now serving Consort Yao, he looked arrogant and showed no intention of yielding to his former master.

Zhou Yuan quickly brought out silver for a bribe. Xiao Linzi didn’t even look at it. He raised his brows and snapped, “Consort Yao ordered me to guard the Cold Palace. No outsiders allowed.”

Shen Yuheng sneered. “I know you don’t want to offend Consort Yao, but do you think you can escape the consequences of offending the Shen family?”

Xiao Linzi fell silent, sizing Shen Yuheng up. Consort Yao’s original name was Gu Lan, the eldest daughter of the Gu family. While the two military officers in the Gu family were currently in the spotlight, their status still paled in comparison to the two generals of the Shen family.

However, he had heard that although the Shens pampered Shen Yuheng, he had severed ties with them upon entering the palace. A paper tiger what was there to fear? Xiao Linzi decided to stand his ground. “I am merely following Consort Yao’s orders. If the Shens take offense, it has nothing to do with me.”

Shen Yuheng’s brow furrowed in disbelief. As they argued, the crack of the whip never ceased.

Suddenly, an anxious voice came from behind. “Consort Shen?”

The voice was naturally thin and weak, and the speaker was panting from running. Shen Yuheng turned to see Su Cheng. He was breathless but, upon hearing the whip, ignored his own exhaustion and ran forward, eyes wide with worry. “Is the Ninth Prince inside?”

Xiao Linzi repeated his “no outsiders” line.

“You are Eunuch Lin, aren’t you?” Su Cheng grabbed his arm, his voice pleading. “I remember you. When you worked in the imperial kitchen, the silver ear soup you made was a favorite among many consorts…” Su Cheng’s eyes were red. He suddenly collapsed to his knees. “Eunuch Lin, I beg of you, let us in.”

Shen Yuheng was startled; neither Xiao Linzi nor Zhou Yuan expected him to kneel. Xiao Linzi couldn’t shake off the hands clutching him and grew flustered. “Attendant Su, you…”

Zhou Yuan seized the opportunity to slip the heavy bag of silver into the eunuch’s robe. “Eunuch Lin, just do us a favor and let us have a look, alright?”

Xiao Linzi looked at the weeping Su Cheng, weighed the silver, and gave a muffled grunt of approval. “Fine. But only for a moment. Get out immediately. Consort Yao wants him locked up for seven days; he’s not getting out before then.”

With the Emperor indifferent and the outside world unaware, locking up a “worthless” prince like Xiao Jin for seven days was considered lenient by Consort Yao’s standards.

“Thank you, Eunuch Lin!” Su Cheng leaned against the wall and turned back. “Consort Shen, let’s go in quickly…”

“I’m not going in.”

Both Su Cheng and Zhou Yuan froze.

“Zhou Yuan, give him the medicine from Imperial Physician Xu.” Zhou Yuan handed over the package of wound ointment. It was the same one the physician had prescribed for Shen Yuheng; in his haste, he had brought his own supply.

Su Cheng looked terrified and hesitant to accept it, but after several urgings from Shen Yuheng, he finally took it with trembling hands. Compared to his own empty hands, Shen Yuheng’s high-quality medicine was a godsend. Even Shen Yuheng found this version of Su Cheng to be endearing and pitiable.

He turned away. “Zhou Yuan, let’s go.”

Inside the pitch-black room, the whipping continued. The executioner seemed tireless, repeatedly lashing out with the iron-tipped whip.

Suddenly, a dark shadow slipped into the room. His name was Cheng Xiao, a death-soldier. His eyes scanned the room and settled on the young prince in the center.

Xiao Jin was leaning against a broken wooden chair, dressed in his white mourning attire. The edges of his robes were stained with a dark, unidentified crimson. His expression was as cold and indifferent as stagnant water, yet he still carried a regal air. His presence made the already eerie Cold Palace feel like an ice cellar.

Stranger still was the scene before him: a young eunuch with a broken arm was awkwardly lashing at the wall with an iron whip. Beside him, a woman in lavish consort’s clothing was kneeling on the floor, repeatedly slamming her head against the wall until blood flowed freely.

It was obvious their brains had been hollowed out by parasitic “Gu” insects, leaving nothing but a dark, festering mess. Cheng Xiao looked away, not daring to stare.

“Your Highness.” He knelt and reported, “The matter is settled. The Liu and Luo families of the capital are willing to serve you. With their help, infiltrating the various ministries is a certainty.”

Xiao Jin didn’t answer, but Cheng Xiao knew he had heard. Not wanting to linger, Cheng Xiao leaped toward the window. He was loyal to Xiao Jin, yet he feared him most. He could never understand how a youth who had spent years wandering the dead lands outside the border had learned such terrifying arts without a teacher.

Suddenly, there were two crisp knocks on the door. Cheng Xiao instantly vanished into the shadows.

The knocks repeated, followed by a soft, gentle call: “Ninth Prince?”

It was a voice Xiao Jin found familiar. His gaze softened slightly as he looked toward the door. With a flick of his finger, the whipping eunuch stopped and moved his lips like a puppet: “Consort Yao ordered me to discipline the Ninth Prince. No trespassing.”

“I… I am just worried about his safety,” Su Cheng’s voice was filled with concern. “I brought some medicine. May I come in and apply it for him?”

“Enough,” the puppet-eunuch said tonelessly. “When today’s discipline is over, I will give it to him.”

“Did his back get injured? If he can’t reach it…”

Xiao Jin’s knuckle twitched. The eunuch’s voice became deep and terrifying: “I said, enough.”

The person outside fell silent. Su Cheng didn’t know why, but the eunuch’s voice sounded cold and cruel, like a superior look down on him. He placed the medicine by the door and stepped back.

But another voice came from inside.

“Did you… come alone?”

The eunuch’s tone was now eerie and low, like snake scales slithering through the night. Though the voice was different, Su Cheng felt an odd sensation that the person speaking was someone he had met. Before he could think, he whispered, “Yes.”

Silence returned to the dark hall. After Su Cheng’s footsteps faded, Xiao Jin let out a long breath, his finger tapping on the broken armrest.

The eunuch standing before him suddenly knit his brows in agony; his features twisted and shriveled, and he collapsed, screaming as blood leaked from his eyes. Consort Yao also suddenly “snapped out of it.” Seeing the dead eunuch and the indifferent Xiao Jin, she fell to the floor in terror.

“Someone! Help Xiao Jin is a murderer “

As she tried to crawl toward the door, Xiao Jin’s brow furrowed. Seconds later, silence returned to the hall.

If Shen Yuheng saw these two hollowed-out husks, would he scream too? Would he fear me? Xiao Jin didn’t have the answer.

That night, he was uncharacteristically patient, waiting for a long time… but no second person ever crossed the threshold of the Cold Palace.

Cheng Xiao returned to report that the lights in Qingzhuo Hall had already been extinguished. A cold smile played on Xiao Jin’s lips, terrifying even the veteran death-soldier.

“Mother Consort… Mother Consort…”

He repeated the words mockingly, yet they seemed to pull him into a vortex. He wanted to crush Shen Yuheng into a state of absolute hatred, yet he could no longer distinguish whose voice it was that had repeatedly whispered “Mother is here” while he was burning with fever.