Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 1
>Chapter Title: Opportunity (2)
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The intruder couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
Even those who had cultivated internal energy would fall into a deep sleep if caught off guard by Sleeping Incense.
For an ordinary person who hadn’t learned any martial arts, just a whiff would send them straight into slumber.
Yet something utterly unexpected had happened.
Everyone in the Golden Prison had fallen asleep, but this kid was wide awake, perfectly fine.
‘What the hell is this guy?’
Just to be sure, he placed his hand on the boy’s abdomen.
He channeled a bit of qi into him.
If the boy had even the slightest internal energy cultivation, there would be a rebound.
But there wasn’t.
‘No rebound.’
He hadn’t cultivated any internal energy at all.
So he really was just an ordinary nobody, like the official had told him earlier that day.
Then why hadn’t the Sleeping Incense worked on him?
‘...This guy?’
On top of that, he didn’t seem scared at all.
Sure, he’d withstood the Sleeping Incense, but a stranger had broken into the Golden Prison and sealed his movements with an acupoint strike.
Yet he was staring right back with unshaken eyes.
Like he was observing him, almost.
‘He’s different.’
He’d heard the kid was a condemned prisoner, but something set him apart from other boys his age.
He gave off an unsettling vibe, like a bad omen.
The intruder hesitated for a moment.
‘Maybe...’
Just then, a voice came from behind him.
“You still haven’t found him?”
Someone stepped into the Golden Prison.
He was masked too, but his build wasn’t large.
No, he was slender and a bit short—clearly not a full-grown adult.
The intruder spoke quietly.
“Young Master, I told you to keep watch outside and...”
“Is that him?”
Before the intruder could finish, the boyish masked figure pointed at him and asked.
It was the disheveled-haired prisoner boy, unable to move from the acupoint strike.
The intruder nodded.
“Yes.”
“I can’t see his face well. Gam Escort, lift his hair.”
He wanted to check the face.
At that, the intruder hesitated briefly before brushing back the hair of the immobilized boy.
A gasp escaped the masked boy.
“Ha...”
The masked boy was genuinely shocked.
The disheveled prisoner boy couldn’t understand why.
Why was the guy who’d sealed him reacting like this?
Then the masked boy removed his own mask.
‘!?’
The prisoner boy’s eyes trembled.
The face beneath the mask.
It was like looking into a mirror—he resembled himself that much.
So identical that you’d believe they were twins.
Even with the hair tidied and subtle differences in their features, if dressed the same, even people who knew him for years might not tell them apart.
“He looks like me?”
“...Almost exactly.”
“Truly... astonishing.”
“I was shocked too when I first saw him.”
“I can see why.”
What were the odds of a total stranger having such a similar face?
Virtually zero.
But the prisoner boy and the now unmasked boy shared the exact same face.
After staring in amazement for a while, the unmasked boy approached and spoke to the prisoner.
“You. You’re the condemned prisoner, right?”
“...”
With his mute acupoint sealed, he couldn’t possibly reply.
The boy signaled to the intruder.
The intruder then struck pressure points on the prisoner boy’s chest.
-Tat tat tat tat tak!
Once done, the boy said,
“You can speak now. You’re the condemned prisoner, right?”
After a brief pause, the prisoner boy answered.
“...Yes.”
His polite response made the boy smirk.
“You know your place well.”
Of course. Even as a condemned man, he was just an ordinary nobody.
In front of martial artists, he was no more than a kitten before a tiger. It would be strange if he wasn’t polite.
The boy crossed his arms and spoke arrogantly.
“I hear they’re executing you the day after tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“What if you got a chance to live a bit longer?”
“...I want to live.”
“Huhu. Yeah, I figured.”
The boy couldn’t hide his satisfaction.
A death-row inmate with no options—who could resist if offered life?
He sneered.
“Chances like this don’t come easy. You’re one lucky bastard, for a condemned prisoner.”
“...Are you giving me that chance?”
“Yeah. A huge one.”
“What is it?”
“Even if it’s just five days, it’s not every day a guy like you gets to live as Mok Kyung-un, the third young master of mighty Timber Sword Manor.”
‘Timber Sword Manor?’
He’d never heard of it.
From the sound of it, some big clan manor.
The boy didn’t know much, but Timber Sword Manor was a venerable martial clan in northern Anhui Province.
With no way of knowing that, one thing was clear.
“You want a body double?”
Mok Kyung-un’s lips curled at the prisoner boy’s question.
“Not stupid, are you? Yeah. Why would I need a worthless condemned prisoner like you? It’s your face I need.”
There was only one reason he’d sought out an identical face.
To use him as a body double.
“...Just be the body double?”
“It’s only five days—what, you expecting some grand adventure? All you have to do is hole up in a annex of the manor and play the part of the young master.”
“I see.”
“Live five days as the young master of a prestigious clan, and in return, you keep your life. How’s that for a deal?”
It made sense.
But the boy wasn’t naive.
A body double took on the risks in place of the real one.
There had to be hidden dangers lurking.
‘A body double...’
Still, opportunities like this didn’t come often.
He’d been racking his brain over how to escape the Golden Prison.
Stay put, and he’d face Carriage Dismemberment—torn limb from limb.
No need to overthink.
“Give me the chance.”
“Hup.”
Mok Kyung-un chuckled softly and gestured.
The masked intruder pulled a small pouch from his bosom.
Curious, the boy asked,
“What’s that?”
“Eat it.”
“...?”
Wondering what he meant, the intruder drew out a black pill from the pouch.
It reeked foully—clearly no medicine.
The intruder brought the pill to the boy’s mouth.
Staring at it, the boy asked,
“...Poison?”
Mok Kyung-un snorted.
“You think I’d trust a condemned prisoner like you just like that?”
“...”
“If you pull off the body double gig without a hitch, I’ll give you the antidote. Hahaha.”
He was eliminating any chance of betrayal from the start.
The intruder pressed the poison pill to his lips and said,
“Open your mouth.”
No choice.
Glaring at the smirking Mok Kyung-un, the boy slowly parted his lips and took the poison pill.
As he chewed and swallowed casually, a glint appeared in the intruder’s eyes.
Most would grimace in agony knowing it was poison, but he munched it down like nothing.
Not even just swallowing it whole.
‘This guy really is different.’
Same face as the young master, but a poisonous breed.
That’s probably how he’d killed so many without martial arts to end up on death row.
‘Good thing we prepared the poison pill in advance.’
Now that he’d swallowed it, he wouldn’t dare run or pull any stunts if he wanted to live.
The boy stopped chewing and opened his mouth wide.
“Swallowed it, Young Master.”
They confirmed nothing was left inside.
The pill was too big to hide in his mouth and fake it.
Satisfied, Mok Kyung-un ordered,
“Release him now.”
“Understood.”
The intruder selected a key from his bundle and unlocked the wooden stocks binding the boy’s wrists and ankles.
‘Whew.’
With his limbs free, the boy felt alive again.
Wooden stocks or not, the inside was iron, crushing his wrists and heavy as hell.
The intruder headed to the Golden Prison entrance and said quietly,
“I’ll lead the way. Stick behind me. Young Master, follow behind him.”
“Got it.”
He’d eaten the poison, so no running, but this was insurance.
With him in front and the young master watching from behind, how could the guy escape?
A condemned prisoner was like a child against martial artists.
“Follow me.”
They were about to exit through the Golden Prison door.
“You! Ack!”
-Crunch! Thud!
Startled by the noise behind, the intruder whipped around.
An unbelievable sight unfolded before him.
Mok Kyung-un’s neck was twisted completely around, his shocked face frozen as he collapsed to the floor.
‘!!!’
It happened so fast the intruder was speechless.
To him, the boy said nonchalantly,
“What now? The body double’s real counterpart just died.”
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