172: Chapter 172 Lance, Unable to Defend Himself

First Prince Spike was sitting in his study, sipping tea to calm his mood while contemplating what to do next. So much gold, silver, and jewelry could not have vanished overnight. The servants and guards in his mansion were all trustworthy people; they wouldn't do such a thing. Who could possibly move such a large fortune away silently?

"Report, Your Highness, the items have been found! They are in Lord Lance's room!" Just as Spike was racking his brain, a Deer-headed Beastman rushed in, shouting loudly.

"What?" Spike's eyes widened upon hearing this; he couldn't believe his ears.

"Your Highness, the treasure was discovered inside Lord Lance's room!" The Deer-headed Beastman repeated loudly once more.

"Hmph, let's go take a look!" Spike snorted coldly and led the Deer-headed Beastman out of the study. On the way, he was still calculating: this Lance knew the situation in his mansion well and possessed the skill of creating clones, allowing one person to do the work of dozens. It was indeed possible for him to move the treasure without needing help from others.

Spike arrived at Lance's room. The moment Lance saw Spike, he immediately knelt on the ground and explained loudly, "Your Highness, First Prince, I have been wronged! I truly do not know where these things came from. I just opened my eyes this morning and saw these two chests of jewels on the table. Immediately after, the Deer-headed Beastman walked in. I am truly innocent!"

"Are you saying these jewels grew legs and ran over here while you were sleeping?" Spike stared intently at Lance, asking word by word.

"Th-this, I really don't know! Someone must be framing me! First Prince, Your Highness, you must believe me!" Lance was sweating profusely, waving his hands repeatedly in denial.

"Hmph, you still dare to argue? Were you muddled from sleep? Did you send out your clones in a dream to move the treasure to another location, then bring these two chests to your own room, and then recall your clones? Do you think there's no possibility of that?" The First Prince Spike said dismissively, his eyelids drooping.

"Th-this might be possible, but I really didn't do it! I swear, these clones cannot act independently, nor would they steal Your Highness, the First Prince's, treasure!" Lance trembled uncontrollably, sweat dripping onto his clothes and soaking his entire outfit.

"If the clones couldn't act independently, that means you did it intentionally! Hmph, hmph, come! Arrest him! Lock him in the dungeon and torture him severely until we find out where the treasure is!" The First Prince Spike shouted through gritted teeth, his eyes filled with rage.

"Yes!" Several Deer-headed Beastmen grabbed Lance and prepared to drag him away.

Lance, being dragged across the ground, struggled desperately, begging for mercy, "First Prince, Your Highness, I really didn't steal your treasure, ah!"

The enraged First Prince Spike went to Changle Residence to drink heavily by himself. (Ever since the poisoning incident, Wei He and the others had left Changle Residence, and it had reopened for business!) His mind kept turning over one question: why would Lance steal his treasure? As he was thinking, he saw Lance swaggering down the street, shuttling back and forth between various shops.

The First Prince Spike thought he was seeing things and observed the street carefully. He discovered there was more than one Lance playing on the street, eating and having fun, with happy smiles on their faces.

"Could the one left in the mansion actually be a clone, and his real body left the Prince's Mansion long ago?" The First Prince Spike muttered in disbelief, holding his wine cup and looking at everything.

Suspicious, he immediately went to the street, only to find that Lance had already vanished from sight. He immediately returned to the Prince's Mansion and went to the dungeon.

"First Prince, Your Highness, you've finally come! I am innocent, Your Highness, you must believe me! Let me out quickly! I will definitely help you find the lost treasure!" Lance, already covered in blood, shouted excitedly upon seeing Spike arrive.

"Hmph, hmph, what? Do you, a clone, feel pain too? Huh! Do you really want to return to your real body, huh!" Without preamble, the First Prince Spike punched Lance in the abdomen. Lance let out a sound and nearly threw up his dinner from the night before.

"First Prince, Your Highness, what clone? This is my real body! I didn't send any clones out! What's wrong with you?" Lance looked at the First Prince Spike with an innocent expression, his heart filled with confusion and bewilderment.

"Hmph, stop pretending, Lance! I just saw many of your clones on the street! How long do you think you can keep deceiving me, huh?" The First Prince Spike stared fixedly at Lance, as if trying to see right through him.

"What? Impossible! I didn't send any clones out at all! First Prince, Your Highness, did you missee, or was it a hallucination? This is absolutely impossible!" Upon hearing the First Prince Spike's words, Lance's face instantly turned pale, and his body began to tremble slightly.

"Still refusing to admit it? Still refusing to tell the truth? Hmph, keep beating him! Apply the most severe torture to him again! I don't believe he won't talk!" The First Prince Spike roared in anger. The surrounding Deer-headed Beastmen all lowered their heads fearfully, not daring to look at him.

"No!" Lance shouted in despair. He absolutely could not have imagined that the two chests of jewels in his room were placed there by Huang Yichen. Huang Yichen, who possessed the Earth Supernatural Ability, could silently use his Earth Evasion skill to enter his room and leave just as silently, leaving the ground perfectly flat.

And the Lance clones the First Prince Spike saw on the street were actually many Spies urgently deployed by Wei He, disguised as Lance, moving around randomly on the street to attract the First Prince Spike's attention.

None of this was something Spike or Lance could have possibly imagined, given their level of understanding. They could not comprehend the power of red alert technology at all.

In the backyard of the Sixth Prince Blant, Wei He, Huang Yichen, and Blant were happily drinking wine and watching the fish swim freely in the lake.

"Hahahaha! That Lance is still being tortured in the dungeon! I estimate that after a while longer, even if he doesn't die, he'll go mad! Hahahaha!" Wei He laughed heartily while raising his wine cup.

"That Lance is merely a retainer in Big Brother's mansion. Big Brother has three thousand retainers under him; a mere Lance is nothing and won't cause any trouble for Big Brother!" Blant explained rather dampening the mood.

"Don't say that. A thousand-mile dike can collapse from an ant's nest. Under Commander's wise decision, I believe they will soon start killing each other. By then, you can just wait to reap the fisherman's profit. The King's position will definitely be yours!" Huang Yichen picked up a wine cup, downed it, and slowly comforted Blant.

"Of course, I trust Commander, but since we've torn faces with Big Brother, I believe he will retaliate against us soon. I'm afraid we won't even live long enough to see them kill each other!" Blant said with a worried expression.

"Don't worry. His batch of treasures is enough for him to deal with for quite a while. Besides, do you think I would only cause him one problem? Ah, hahahaha!" Wei He smiled slowly.