Chapter 351
Chapter 351
Chapter 351
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 351 – Principal Lan Qi, the Master of Micromanagement
“Ugh…”
Anello gaped in disbelief, tears and saliva streaming down his cheeks, only able to let out a hoarse, pain-choked sound.
The elite guards never stopped their assault — while Anello was unable to dodge, they drove ice spikes precisely into his calves and abdomen. The bone-chilling magic made him feel as if his legs had been sliced clean off, leaving them completely numb.
A pair of large hands forced his head down against the floor while others pounced on him like starving tigers, stabbing ice spikes one after another into his limbs, piercing his shoulders and pants. His dark gray coat was soon soaked with blood, which instantly froze into ice.
The pain lasted only an instant before sensation faded away — but that fleeting cold was enough to draw out Anello’s instinctive screams.
Gradually, his body lost all feeling, the blood drained from his face, leaving it pale as paper. His eyes remained wide open as he watched it all happen, completely unable to resist.
Even if they cut off his limbs at this point, he probably wouldn’t feel anything.
The Snowfield Province Demon King’s Army Elite Guards coolly bound Anello, having completed their mission.
Even if it had been the Son or Daughter of another cardinal bishop, if they had dared to cause trouble in the city and had walked right into a room laced with anti-magic barriers — and were surrounded by well-coordinated warriors — even a peak sixth-rank powerhouse would have no chance of escape.
“You… you…”
Anello lay prone on the ground, struggling to look ahead.
Before him, Viscount Levin Kingston’s expression seemed to have changed — he stood there, coldly gazing down at Anello as though he were a lamb waiting for slaughter.
Numb, chilled, and furious, the weakened Anello still refused to give up.
His voice turned hoarse as he shouted hatefully, “I am Anello! The Son of Annihilation of the Church of Resurrection! Viscount Kingston, do you know what you are doing?!”
He swore that no matter what, he would have this border noble’s entire family executed!
“Oh, the Son of Annihilation? That’s impressive. Go on, I’m listening.”
The Viscount didn’t seem to take Anello’s threats seriously at all. He nodded, as though humoring a furious child throwing a tantrum.
“Viscount Kingston! You’ve committed a grave mistake! This is a crime!! You will be tried by the Empire’s Military Tribunal!!”
Though Anello’s body was severely wounded, his spirit remained unbroken.
He tried every method to threaten Viscount Kingston, but the Viscount only sneered, taking none of it seriously.
“Oh, the Military Tribunal? You actually know about that.”
Viscount Kingston chuckled, and even the elite guards holding Anello down laughed derisively.
A Ghost Gang member still had the gall to talk tough and try to scare them here?
“Are you all insane? Loren is here! Loren is on the Northern Continent!! I must contact Helrom in the Imperial Capital!!”
Anello’s words were now choked by coughs, every shout draining his life force.
Finally, on the verge of mental collapse, Anello realized just how foolish and deranged these Snowfield nobles were.
Here, they might even dare to kill the Emperor himself.
Yet Viscount Kingston’s gaze didn’t waver. His eyes even gleamed with pity — and the same look appeared on the faces of the other elite guards.
The Viscount did not react as Anello had hoped. He studied the bound Anello, shook his head, and laughed softly.
“How ridiculous. A ‘Son of Annihilation’ lying here weeping and begging. You really must have lost your mind.”
The atmosphere in the Governor’s Office grew even stranger and heavier after the Viscount’s words.
It no longer felt like an office — it had become a padded isolation cell in an asylum.
Anello tried to calm his near-breaking emotions, but it was impossible.
His shouting and struggling became the only sound in this “asylum,” locked in a death loop with the Viscount’s cold laughter — the more he tried to prove himself, the more the Viscount saw him as a lunatic.
This left Anello in unprecedented despair.
He could not escape this fate of being misunderstood and mocked. The truths he knew — enough to shake the entire Empire — became meaningless before these Snowfield men.
And then, Anello suddenly realized something.
There was something strange about Viscount Kingston’s gaze, movements, and smile — something he had never seen before.
This province — or more precisely, this Governor’s Mansion — felt entirely disconnected from the outside world. Every detail, every word, every exchange gave him the sense of being in an entirely different reality, as though he had crossed into a parallel nightmare dimension.
Suspended beside the desk, the phone receiver still crackled faintly with static, an eerie echo that chilled Anello’s heart.
“Viscount, it seems everything is proceeding smoothly.”
The voice on the other end spoke again.
“Report to the Governor — a full set of six-tier anti-magic nails has been inserted into the criminal’s body according to specifications.”
Viscount Kingston turned toward the desk as he spoke.
Although there was no one behind the desk, he reported as though to an invisible superior seated there.
In that moment, Anello was finally certain — from the moment he entered the Governor’s Mansion, it had been the person on the other end of that receiver who had been directing every action of these Snowfield Province people.
He simply couldn’t comprehend what kind of sinister mental-control sorcery High Priest Loren had used to make Protos Empire men act with such madness, abandoning all sense of self to serve him!
“Move him five meters to the left, and face him toward the office sofa.”
The receiver’s voice, calm and warm, mixed with the crackling static.
Like a dull blade slowly scraping at Anello’s heart and dignity.
“Yes, sir.”
Viscount Kingston answered.
Several of the elite guards immediately dragged Anello across the floor, placing him before the office sofa.
“Anello, I didn’t expect you to reach my Governor’s Mansion so quickly — I barely had time to come greet you in person.”
The clear, unhurried voice from the receiver echoed through the office, each word delivered with almost gentle politeness.
Anello could hardly bear it.
“But that’s all right.”
As the voice grew more three-dimensional, almost hypnotic, the same words began to overlap with reality — until finally, the Governor’s Office doors opened and two figures entered.
Under the light, the two of them seemed almost haloed, radiant.
Lan Qi’s suit and overcoat swayed slightly as he walked in. His deep eyes seemed to smile, but also to calculate. In his left hand he held the communication device, in the other arm a black kitten whose long tail curled elegantly around his wrist.
He and Sid entered as though returning to their own home, casually taking their seats on the sofa and looking over the subdued Anello lying on the floor.
“Classmate Anello, I believe every meeting is just a reunion after a long separation.”
Anello heard Lan Qi’s calm voice and felt as though plunged into an icy abyss.
He slowly raised his trembling head, meeting those eyes — clear green like the purest spring lake — that had haunted him.
Even though this man now wore a different face and had chestnut hair, his gaze and his voice had never changed.
It was the very man who had once given him a fleeting salvation — and who now once again had become his inescapable nightmare.