"First and foremost, the real Zhang Chen in the prison must die as soon as possible. Only by his quick death can I be safer and delay my exposure," a thought flashed through Zhang Chen’s mind.
"You should come back with me now! The Prince has longed for the reunion with your father and you." Zhang Xiaolan looked at Zhang Chen with her eyes.
Zhang Chen hesitated slightly upon hearing this. A hint of anger appeared on his face: "But I want to personally send that Hunter on his way! I have a deep grudge against that Hunter, and if I don’t personally send him on his journey, I won’t be able to resolve this grievance in my heart."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaolan was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said:
"It is somewhat difficult, no matter if it’s the court or the Prince, they both want to use Zhang Chen to find out the source of the exploding power. If they can master it, the Prince’s future endeavors will be easier, and our Prince Pingbian’s Mansion will be more stable in the Northern Land. Since the Hunter is already in our hands, he certainly cannot escape. After we’ve extracted all information from him, it won’t be too late for you to kill him."
Saying this, Zhang Xiaolan looked solemnly at Zhang Chen, her eyes seemingly speaking: "You are now Prince Pingbian’s Crown Prince, and in the Northern Land, there are few things worth your concern. He’s merely a mountain Hunter. Once the secret is uncovered, he can be executed effortlessly. By the way, you’ve been with that mountain Hunter for years, have you noticed any clues about explosions?"
Zhang Chen shook his head upon hearing this: "Not at all! If that Hunter possessed such abilities, how could he have been humiliated by me? I think it’s just a coincidence!"
Hearing this, Zhang Xiaolan didn’t ask further, but said: "Come with me back to the Prince’s Mansion now!"
Upon hearing Zhang Xiaolan’s words, Zhang Chen felt chills on his scalp and was momentarily at a loss, knowing that the time to decide his fate had come.
He now had two choices: The first was to escape immediately. But with such confidential information, Prince Pingbian’s Mansion surely wouldn’t let him go. Moreover, once he escaped, the Prince’s Mansion would sense something amiss, and the real Zhang Xiaohua would be released. Given the enmity between them, Zhang Xiaohua would never let him off.
The second choice was to enter the Prince’s Mansion and assume Zhang Xiaohua’s identity to survive, and kill the real Zhang Xiaohua.
Then secretly kill all who knew the clues, allowing him to naturally take Zhang Xiaohua’s identity and rise to nobility.
However, he was just an impersonator, with numerous flaws. Zhang Xiaolan had a preconceived notion, allowing him to exploit a loophole. Otherwise, a little investigation and verification would expose him. Going to the Prince’s Mansion would be courting death.
But if he didn’t go to the Prince’s Mansion, would he really have a way out?
Stuck in a dilemma, both steps posed challenges!
However, Zhang Chen being Zhang Chen, quickly came up with a plan: "I can’t go to the Prince’s Mansion just yet."
Zhang Xiaolan was puzzled: "Why?"
"Because I need time to adjust. With something so significant, you must give me time to calm down. Besides, these are just your empty words, I can’t simply believe them. I need to wait for Mr. Wuliu to return and personally reassure me—I only trust Mr. Wuliu’s words now." Saying this, Zhang Chen felt his reasoning seemed flimsy, so he spoke cautiously: "Moreover, everything you’ve said is just your own claim. If the person in jail is the real Prince Pingbian while I’m merely a scapegoat you pushed out to distract the Inspection and Supervision Department, wouldn’t I be used by you?"
"In fact, what you said might have another version: Zhang Chen is the real Prince Pingbian’s Crown Prince, always hidden in a mountain village, and I inadvertently moved there, giving you a chance to manipulate. Now Prince Pingbian wants to do something dangerous but feels insecure, fearing Zhang Chen’s identity may not remain hidden, so he deceives me to take the role. As the fake Crown Prince, I’m meant to distract the Inspection and Supervision Department; once Prince Pingbian fails, I’ll be sacrificed to save the real Crown Prince!"
"Because of your unborn child, you want to get ahead in the Prince’s Mansion, disregarding sibling bonds, deliberately cooperating with Prince Pingbian to harm me. Even Mr. Wuliu guiding me to the village and becoming Zhang Chen’s neighbor was part of Prince Pingbian’s Mansion’s plot—to conceal Zhang Chen’s Crown Prince identity and push me out at the critical moment to protect him."
Zhang Chen’s eyes were full of brilliance at this point, staring at Zhang Xiaolan, his voice now compelling: "Unless you execute that ’Zhang Chen’ to prove he’s not the Crown Prince of the Prince Pingbian’s Mansion, I absolutely won’t go to the Prince’s Mansion."
As Zhang Chen spoke, he silently praised himself for his cleverness.
Using retreat as advance, he didn’t believe Zhang Xiaohua could survive!
If Zhang Xiaolan wanted to prove her words true, she would have to kill Zhang Xiaohua!
Once Zhang Xiaohua was dead, he would then approach Mr. Wuliu, and after eliminating Mr. Wuliu, fewer people would know his identity.
The only complication was those villagers; could he possibly slaughter an entire village? He wasn’t that heartless!
But once he entered the Prince’s Mansion, as long as it didn’t raise suspicions and they didn’t investigate, the villagers would have no chance to meet him again, so it wouldn’t be a flaw.
The real headache for Zhang Chen was the literacy problem!
The bookworm Zhang Xiaohua was well-read, while he recognized only a few characters, posing his greatest crisis.
He now had a little way out: After entering the Prince’s Mansion, he would delay as much as possible, asking Fox Spirit to make more explosives, then dig through the large tomb. If he gained enough experience points inside and acquired skills to escape, he might have a chance to evade Prince Pingbian’s Mansion, otherwise... even with mastering Superpower, it wouldn’t be easy to deal with Prince Pingbian’s Mansion, unless he hid in remote mountains forever. But what about his mother and younger sister? How could he persuade them to follow him into the deep mountains to hide?
Even if he mastered Superpower to escape, what about his younger brother and sister, stepmother? They would surely be implicated by an enraged Prince’s Mansion, realizing upon meeting County Magistrate Gou, he lost hope in the world’s government.
Actually, for him, the hardest to settle are his younger brother, sister, and stepmother!
Life is always entangled by various ties.
Listening to Zhang Chen’s argument, Zhang Xiaolan, rather than angered, praised him: "A Crown Prince is indeed a Crown Prince, truly the Prince’s seed, such cunning is admirable. You’re right, without the death of Zhang Chen in prison, you can’t be at ease. Achieving your goal is actually not difficult! The prison’s tortures are something that Hunter surely can’t withstand; once he loses further value, I’ll take you to the prison to personally execute him, fulfilling your wish."
"After you execute that Hunter, come find me!" Zhang Chen turned to leave, but after a few steps, he abruptly paused and looked back at Zhang Xiaolan: "By the way, give me a date. How many days before Zhang Chen is executed?"
He wanted to use retreat as advance, forcing Zhang Xiaolan to quickly execute Zhang Xiaohua, while also not wanting to enter the Prince’s Mansion immediately, still hoping to find a chance outside to eliminate Zhang Xiaohua.
Putting all hope in the Prince’s Mansion and Zhang Xiaolan was idiotic. He now only trusted himself.
"It’s a pity I’m not in the Great River Basin now; if I were, relying on my ability to control all water flows within fifty meters, Prince Pingbian’s Mansion would just be ordinary people, not worth mentioning," Zhang Chen thought to himself.