Joy of Life: Me, the Second Prince? Summon Yuan Tiangang!

This sudden invasion swept away all of Si Lili's reason like a storm.

Li Chengze's kiss was not gentle; it even carried a punishing, biting, and plundering quality.

The intense aroma of Western Region wine lingered on his lips and teeth, then entered Si Lili's mouth, as if to intoxicate her completely in this abyss.

His eyes, which usually exuded laziness and nonchalance, now burned with a chilling dark fire in the dim candlelight. It was a suppressed rage, a murderous intent born of provocation, and an overbearing arrogance.

"Um... Your Highness..."

Si Lili was almost breathless from the kiss. She tried to turn her head slightly to breathe some fresh air, but Li Chengze's fingers, which were gripping her chin, were like iron clamps, firmly fixing her face and not allowing her to retreat or escape in the slightest.

With his other hand, he wrapped his arms around her slender waist and pulled her tightly against him.

Through the thin, moon-white nightgown, Si Lili could clearly feel the intense heat emanating from Li Chengze's chest, as well as his strong, slightly rapid heartbeat.

Li Chengze also felt the woman's graceful and soft curves in his arms, and her delicate body trembling slightly due to nervousness and passion.

"What? Scared?"

Li Chengze finally loosened his grip on her lips slightly, their warm breaths mingling. He looked down at Si Lili's stunningly beautiful face, flushed from lack of oxygen, a wicked and dangerous smile playing on his lips, his voice terribly hoarse.

Si Lili was panting heavily, her beautiful eyes, like autumn water, glistening with tears as she looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar man before her like a startled fawn.

"Lili...don't be afraid."

Si Lili swallowed hard, forcibly suppressing the pounding excitement and fear in her heart.

She knew that Li Chengze was a volcano about to erupt, and any resistance would only lead to more violent destruction.

She slowly raised her fair, jade-like arms, which, like vines, climbed onto Li Chengze's neck, and pressed her burning cheeks against his chest.

"Now that Lili has entered the Second Prince's residence, she belongs to His Highness in life and in death. If His Highness desires her, Lili... will gladly accept."

Her voice was soft and alluring, with a pitiful tremor, as if she were swearing allegiance or pleading for mercy.

Li Chengze looked down at the gentle woman in his arms, and the gloom in his eyes dissipated slightly, replaced by a satisfied glint.

"very good."

He whispered something, then scooped Si Lili up in his arms.

"Ah!" Si Lili exclaimed, instinctively hugging his neck tightly.

Li Chengze strode towards the bed, his bare feet making no sound as they touched the thick Persian carpet. He tossed Si Lili heavily onto the soft bed, then covered her with his tall frame.

"Sizzle—"

The sharp crack of tearing cloth was particularly jarring in the quiet room.

Li Chengze roughly tore open Si Lili's already thin, moon-white nightgown, exposing large swaths of her fair and delicate skin, as white as mutton fat jade, to the cool air, where it gleamed in the dim candlelight.

Si Lili's body trembled violently, and she subconsciously tried to reach out to cover herself, but Li Chengze grabbed her hands and pressed them high above her head.

"Look at me." Li Chengze's voice was deep and imposing.

Si Lili was forced to meet his gaze. In those deep eyes, there was no longer any disguise, only naked desire and suffocating possessiveness.

"In this capital city, everyone thinks I, Li Chengze, am a meddlesome person who likes to watch the fire from the shore, a pathetic wretch only fit to be a whetstone for the Crown Prince." Li Chengze's fingers slowly slid down Si Lili's slender neck, the icy touch from his fingertips making Si Lili shudder involuntarily. "They scheme against me, test me, and even... dare to touch my people."

The images of the burned outposts and massacred spies reported by Zhao Gao resurfaced in his mind, and the resentment in his heart surged up again.

"But they've all forgotten that the blood of the Li family flows in my veins!"

Li Chengze suddenly leaned down and bit down on Si Lili's delicate collarbone.

"Um……"

Si Lili let out a painful yet strange groan.

She could feel the deep marks Li Chengze's teeth left on her skin; they were his brand.

That night, the candlelight in the west wing flickered for a very long time.

A fierce storm raged, a passionate and unending embrace.

Si Lili is like a lone boat struggling to stay afloat in a stormy sea, passively enduring his repeated assaults, sinking and losing herself in pain and extreme pleasure.

She completely forgot her dual identity as a spy for Northern Qi and Luo Wang, forgot her relatives far away in Northern Qi, and even forgot who she was.

She completely forgot her dual identity as a spy for Northern Qi and Luo Wang, forgot her relatives far away in Northern Qi, and even forgot who she was.

In her world, there was only this man before her, who was like a demon god, and only the fervor and fear he brought her.

After an unknown amount of time, the wind stopped and the rain ceased.

The room was filled with a rich and decadent atmosphere.

Li Chengze leaned against the headboard, his chest rising and falling slightly. His previously tense expression had completely relaxed, and he had returned to his languid posture.

His hand rested casually outside the brocade quilt, his fingers long, strong, and well-defined.

Si Lili, like a kitten with its bones removed, lay limply on his chest, her long, flowing hair cascading down and covering most of her smooth back.

Her face was still flushed, a trace of tears clung to the corner of her eye, and her breathing was shallow and even.

"Your Highness..."

Si Lili shifted slightly, her voice so hoarse she could barely make a sound.

She extended a slender finger and unconsciously drew circles on Li Chengze's chest.

"What? Still not enough?" Li Chengze looked down at her, a wicked smile playing on his lips, and reached out to pinch the tip of her pert nose.

"Your Highness is teasing Lili again," Si Lili said coquettishly, then her eyes became somewhat complicated as she asked softly, "Your Highness seems to be in a very bad mood tonight... Has something happened?"

She knew she shouldn't ask, but after that deep, soul-searching conversation, she subconsciously considered herself an appendage of this man, and couldn't help but want to care for him and understand him.

Li Chengze toyed with a strand of Si Lili's hair, his gaze lingering on the dark night sky outside the window.

"Tonight, someone set fire to Kyoto and burned some of my little trinkets."

"Burned His Highness's things?" Si Lili was startled and looked up abruptly. "In this capital, who would dare to do such a thing?"

"Who?" Li Chengze sneered. "In this capital city, who else could have silently eliminated over a hundred of my men overnight, besides Chen Pingping's old black dog's Investigation Bureau?"

Si Lili gasped.

"Then... what does Your Highness intend to do?" Si Lili asked him worriedly.

"What to do?" A chilling murderous intent flashed in Li Chengze's eyes. His fingers tightened suddenly, gripping the strand of hair in his palm. "Since they like playing with fire, then I'll let them know what it means to get burned. My men, Li Chengze's men, aren't so easy to kill."

……

While Li Chengze was venting his anger and making a scene in the West Wing, a storm was brewing in the shadows of the capital at an extremely terrifying speed.

South of the city, in front of the ruins of Tianhua Residence.

The fire had been extinguished by the city patrol, but the air was filled with the acrid smell of burning and the nauseating stench of blood. Amidst the ruins, several charred and twisted corpses could be vaguely seen.

The officers and soldiers of the city patrol had already withdrawn, leaving only a few yamen runners to set up a cordon around the area.

In a dark alley not far away, a ghostly black figure stood silently.

It was Zhao Gao.

He wore a loose black robe, making him seem to blend into the night.

That pale, effeminate face was expressionless, but its narrow eyes gleamed with a cold, venomous light, like those of a poisonous snake.

"Such a clean technique."

Zhao Gao slowly stepped out of the shadows and strolled into the ruins as if taking a leisurely walk.

The guards seemed not to see him at all, letting him cross the cordon.

He crouched down and examined a charred corpse closely.

Although the fire destroyed most of the traces, for a top-notch spy chief like Zhao Gao, who had been tempered in countless life-and-death battles, no flaw could be hidden.

He extended his black-gloved fingers and gently scraped along the corpse's throat, then sniffed his fingers.

"No poisoning, a fatal blow. The incision was smooth, as thin as a cicada's wing..."

Zhao Gao stood up and scanned the surrounding ruins. Suddenly, his gaze fixed on a half-burnt pillar.

He walked over and, through a crack in a pillar, pinched out an extremely small metal fragment that was almost fused with the charcoal.

"Forged from high-quality steel and tempered with a trace amount of anesthetic, this is... a fragment of a repeating crossbow bolt unique to the Forensic Institute's three locations."

Zhao Gao held the fragment between his fingers, a cruel sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

The forensic institute was indeed very clean, and the fire was put on very timely, almost erasing all clues.

"Chen Pingping, Shadow... Very good, you have successfully angered His Highness and also angered the Luo Wang."

Zhao Gao put the fragment into his pocket, and with a flicker, he disappeared from the spot.

Half an hour later.

Thirty miles outside Kyoto, there is a secluded manor called "Lone Goose Manor".

On the surface, this manor was the retirement home of a retired official, with its gates usually kept closed and rarely interacting with the outside world.

But in reality, this is the largest secret intelligence hub of the Investigation Bureau on the outskirts of Kyoto, and also an important training camp for the Sixth Bureau assassins.

Inside and outside the manor, there were numerous sentries and traps.

It was already past midnight, and the manor was deathly silent.

Suddenly, a night wind blew by, and several sentries from the Detective Agency who were lying in ambush on the outer edge of the manor fell straight down from the trees without even having time to utter a groan.

Each of them had a thin, yet incredibly strong, red thread inserted into their throat.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of ghostly black figures, under the cover of night, silently scaled the high walls of the manor.

These shadowy figures are all elite assassins from the Net.

Unlike the Imperial Censorate's attack on Tianhua Residence, which involved breaking down the gates, they quickly infiltrated every corner of the manor, like mercury spilling onto the ground.

The killing unfolded silently.

The assassins of the Net were skilled in various assassination techniques. They bypassed all the alarm mechanisms in the manor and reaped lives like the Grim Reaper.

A detective from the Bureau of Investigation was slit in his sleep without realizing it; a patrolling guard was stabbed in the heart by a sharp blade the instant he turned a corner; even the carrier pigeons kept in the backyard to deliver intelligence had their necks snapped silently.

This was a one-sided massacre, an artistic assassination extravaganza.

In the secret chamber beneath the manor.

The deputy chief of the Sixth Division of the Censorate, who was in charge of this transit station, was sitting at his desk, reading through a secret report that had just arrived from Kyoto by candlelight.

The secret report contained only a few words: "The three targets, including Tianhua Residence, have been eliminated; there were no survivors."

A satisfied smile appeared on Leng Feng's lips.

He personally planned this operation, employing six of the most elite assassins, aiming for a fatal blow without leaving a trace.

"What kind of net is this? It's nothing but a bunch of cowardly rats hiding their heads and tails, daring to show off their skills in front of the Censorate." Leng Feng snorted coldly and lit the secret report on the candle flame.

Just then, a very faint noise came from outside the door of the secret room.

Leng Feng's smile froze instantly; his intuition, honed from years of walking the line between life and death, made the hairs on his body stand on end.

"Who?!"

He suddenly drew his sword from his waist, shouted sharply, and stared intently at the heavy iron door.

no answer.

The air seemed to freeze, a deathly silence descended.

Cold sweat trickled down Leng Feng's hand as he gripped the knife. This secret chamber was located deep underground, heavily guarded; it was impossible for anyone to sneak in silently.

Unless... all the guards outside are dead!

The moment the thought crossed Leng Feng's mind, his heart clenched.

"Click".

With an extremely faint metallic click, the incredibly sturdy iron door, which could only be opened from the inside, slowly slid open to both sides.

Outside the door stood a tall and sinister figure.

Zhao Gao.

He was still wearing that long black robe, and his face was covered by a half-mask, revealing only a pair of eyes filled with mockery and cruelty. Behind him stood six swordsmen wielding strangely shaped longswords—the Six Sword Slaves, top-tier assassins of the Luo Wang organization!

"Who...who are you people?!" Leng Feng's pupils shrank sharply, and the knuckles of his fingers gripping the knife turned white from the force. He could clearly feel the terrifying killing intent emanating from the seven people in front of him, which was almost tangible, making it difficult for him to breathe.

"Leng Feng, Deputy Chief Investigator of the Sixth Division of the Forensic Science Bureau," Zhao Gao said slowly, his voice sharp and grating, like the friction of metal, causing extreme discomfort. "Your Highness wants your life."