Chapter 143: Defiance of the Royal Family (I)

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

At nightfall, Zhou Huan woke up.

Zhang Yuan had been staying in front of her bed. Seeing that she opened her eyes, Zhang hurriedly said, “Ms. Zhou.”

Zhou Huan blinked. It seemed that she was not sure where she was…

There was only Zhang and a Shadow Guardian in the room. Zhou Yu’er wanted to stay there to wait for Zhou Huan to wake up, but Zhang drove her away, saying that she would affect the treatment of the patient.

Zhou Yu’er didn’t dare to disobey the imperial doctor, so she left. Only Zhang and a Shadow Guardians were staying there. Zhang called Zhou, but she was still confused. Zhang said again, “Ms. Zhou, I’m the imperial doctor. Are you conscious now? How do you feel?”

Seeing Zhou’s eyes couldn’t be focused, Zhang waved his hand in front of her eyes.

Then, Zhou focused her eyes on the doctor.

Zhou opened her mouth. It seemed that she wanted to say something, but she only made some sounds hoarsely as “ah, ah”.

The doctor was surprised. The sequela was that she wouldn’t be able to speak?

That couldn’t be true. It didn’t seem to have anything to do with her voice. But why couldn’t she speak?

“Ms. Zhou, what’s the matter? You can’t speak now?” Zhang asked immediately.

Zhou’s eyes widened and she stared at Zhang. Then, she fainted again.

Zhang hurried to feel her pulse, but didn’t find anything unusual. He also checked her throat and everything was normal…

Why couldn’t she speak? Was it because she was shocked when she rolled down the mountain?

Zhang couldn’t figure it out, so he thought he should go to prepare the medicine first.

Of course, servants were responsible for decocting the herbs. After Zhou went to that house, two young men and two women were sent there to serve her.

After asking the servants to prepare the medicine, Zhang decided to study Zhou’s illness in his room.

Late at night, except for Zhang, who was still thinking about how to treat Zhou, everyone else went to sleep.

After pondering for a long time, Zhang worked out a plan. He yawned and was going to sleep. Just then, he seemed to hear someone screaming.

The sound should have come from the outside of the house, but because it was silent in the deep of the night, Zhang heard the screams faintly.

Zhang frowned and walked out of the room.

A Shadow Guardian landed in front of Zhang.

Zhang recognized him, who was sent by the emperor to protect him.

“What’s going on out there? I heard some screams,” Zhang said.

The Shadow Guardian said, “I also heard that. I already sent someone to have a check.”

Zhang nodded and looked at Zhou Huan’s room.

Zhou’s room was next to his for the sake of convenience.

“Is the person inside alright?” Naturally, Zhang was asking about Zhou.

The Shadow Guardian said, “I have been guarding outside. There’s nothing wrong.”

Zhang still felt a little uneasy. “I’ll go to have a look.”

The Shadow Guardian nodded.

Zhang pushed open the door and found that Zhou was guarded by a servant girl.

The servant girl dozed off at the edge of the bed. Zhou’s face was still pale and there was nothing unusual.

Zhang went to feel her pulse and then frowned slightly.

Why was her blood flowing so unstably?

He felt her pulse carefully again and found that feeling became very faint…

Zhang didn’t think much about it. After all, her life wasn’t in danger.

Zhang put down Zhou’s wrist and then went out of the room with the Shadow Guardian…

When they got outside, the Shadow Guardian who went to investigate came back. “A man was killed… He was a night watchman and his blood was sucked.”

“What?” Zhang was shocked. “His blood was sucked?”

The Shadow Guardian by Zhang’s side was also surprised. “What on earth happened?”

“I didn’t see the murderer. The man was already dead when I arrived there.”

“You went out just after we heard the screams, didn’t you? But you didn’t even see the murderer?” That Shadow Guardian said in surprise. He had confidence in his companion’s ability. So that would only prove that the murderer was an excellent marital artist!

“Well, you didn’t see him…” Zhang frowned and said, “Take me to have a look at the corpse… His blood was sucked… I feel it’s a little strange.”

The two Shadow Guardians didn’t think much and took Zhang there.

The corpse was still at the old place. There was a lantern in the man’s hand, but the wick in it has been put out.

“I put out the wick inside. I’m afraid it would burn,” a Shadow Guardian said.

Zhang nodded. He didn’t have good eyesight, but with the bright moonlight, he could clearly see the dead body.

The body… had become a mummy!

The blood in that body was all gone. It was obviously a mummy!

Zhang knitted his brows. “I heard the screams just now. How did it happen so fast? What kind of person can be so capable to suck the body dry in such a short time…” Zhang said that and it made his hair stand on end.

Soon, they heard a lot of footsteps.

“Officials and soldiers are coming,” a Shadow Guardian said at once.

Zhang frowned. “Let’s go back and don’t run into them.”

So, Zhang and the two Shadow Guardians disappeared soon.

The news that there was a blood-sucking demon in the imperial city quickly spread throughout the city the next day. However, because there was only one victim, not all people were panicky.

Long and Shi woke up in the early morning. They didn’t make love at night, so both of them had a good sleep.

However, Long’s good mood was ruined when he attended the morning meeting.

He heard about the blood-sucking demon in the meeting, which made him feel bad.

After ordering the Ministry of Punishment to participate in the investigation, Long didn’t think much about it.

In his view, it was just an individual case.

Was human blood edible? As a modern man, he knew it wasn’t. It was ridiculous!

So he didn’t believe in the story at all.

There weren’t vampires in the world, were there?

Long was not happy because this matter had a bad influence.

He didn’t think there was a blood-sucking demon, but the common people thought there was!

So, it was better to ask the Ministry of Punishment to solve the case soon.

Hu Qingyuan was responsible for it, since Long had more trust in his ability.

These days, Hu also found an important clue from the First Wangyeh’s case.

The clue pointed directly to Eastern Darkness.

Long had already known Eastern Darkness’ ulterior motive and the new clue that Hu found just further confirmed that.

However, finding out the hidden clue was enough to prove Hu’s ability.