339: Chapter 339 The Mystery of Heze: Conflicting Accounts!

"Alright, I'll talk to Fang Yuan about this later."

Lin Xiao suppressed a smile and steered the topic back on track. "I'm heading to Car 09 to interrogate a few people now. Are you coming?"

Jing Hua stood up immediately. "I will accompany you, Master."

"I want to go too!" Princess Xiyao also put down her coconut and stood up.

But no sooner had she spoken.

Jing Hua raised a hand and pressed down on her shoulder. "Your Highness, you are the Mermaid Princess. Given these extraordinary times, the casualty statistics and distribution of compensation for the Merfolk Tribe require your personal coordination. Do not be so playful as you were before!"

Princess Xiyao looked at Jing Hua, then at Lin Xiao, immediately wearing a wronged expression.

She huffed, turned around, and left.

Watching Princess Xiyao walk away, Lin Xiao remarked casually, "She really shouldn't be so playful anymore. It's time to shoulder the heavy responsibility of the Merfolk Tribe's development!"

Jing Hua shook her head, her tone tinged with helplessness. "That child has been spoiled by Emperor Xi since she was young..."

The group walked through the corridor toward Car 09.

The three adjutants of the Silver-White Train and the five members of the Heze royal family were arranged in the public seating area in the front half of Car 09.

The eight of them were seated around a table.

The three adjutants of the Silver-White Train sat on the left side of the table.

The five members of the Heze royal family sat on the right. Each was dressed in brocade, and their translucent skin emitted a faint blue-white fluorescence under the carriage's overhead lights.

However, there was no sign of royal dignity on their faces now.

Because in front of each of them sat a bowl of strange deep-sea food and a cup of green, viscous liquid that looked like mud.

It was clearly one of Xiao Ba's "specialties."

If it were Yimu, she wouldn't bother with such fancy tricks; she would just take action directly.

The royals clearly hadn't touched a bite; their spoons were gleaming clean.

Only the food in front of Adjutant Li Yitong was less than half gone.

She was looking down, eating in small bites. Her brows furrowed with every swallow, but even so, she refused to stop.

Seeing Lin Xiao's group walk over.

The other two adjutants immediately lowered their heads and began eating the green mush.

Xu Shan and Zhou Jun, who were guarding them, were sitting on two chairs playing cards.

Zhou Jun held three cards in his hand with his usual composure, while Xu Shan frowned, staring at his hand repeatedly, clearly holding a terrible hand.

When they saw Lin Xiao enter, they slapped their cards onto the table and stood up swiftly. "Brother Lin."

Seeing their reaction, Sikong Heng hurriedly stood up as well, his face full of obsequious smiles. Before he could make a sound, Xu Shan pressed a hand onto his shoulder and firmly pushed him back into his chair.

"Behave yourself!"

Sikong Heng's round face turned purple-red. His lips trembled, but in the end, he didn't dare to say anything.

Lin Xiao pulled up a chair, the legs scraping against the floor with a harsh, grating sound.

He sat down directly across from the table, his gaze sweeping over the five translucent faces one by one.

Jiang Wanwan had let go of his arm when they entered Car 09.

She didn't come over to the public seating area but instead walked into the workspace behind the bar with Tian Xiwei, who was holding an account book, and began setting up the signs for the Train Bank and supply vouchers.

Several passengers lingering nearby immediately crowded around. Some clutched newly scavenged cans, wanting to exchange them for stardust, while others carried equipment, asking about purchase prices.

The noisy human voices soon wove a hot wall of noise around the bar.

Fortunately, Jing Hua was there to maintain Order, preventing the situation from spiraling out of control.

Of the four women, only Ranran leaned on the edge of the bar, tilting her head to peer at the public seating area. It took Tian Xiwei pulling her twice to drag her back behind the account book.

Lin Xiao's gaze fell upon the young man who was sitting with such dignified posture.

Sikong Xuanye.

The Second Prince of Heze Kingdom.

Come to think of it, these Heze people weren't wearing hoods or similar attire, so their faces could be seen clearly.

Aside from their somewhat translucent skin and a pair of elf-like ears, they didn't look much different from humans.

Lin Xiao withdrew his gaze and asked, "What exactly happened to your Heze Kingdom?"

Sikong Heng seemed to have been waiting for this question for a long time. He cleared his throat, stood up, folded his hands in front of him, and struck a respectful pose:

"Before speaking of Heze Kingdom, one must first speak of the royal family of Heze Kingdom, surnamed Sikong, heirs to the blood of the Heavenly Emperor Yiqi, ruling over the ten thousand heavens, with a thousand palaces standing upon the clouds..."

Bang.

Lin Xiao slammed his palm onto the tabletop.

The bowls of algae mush on the table jumped simultaneously, and a few drops of green soup splashed onto the table.

Sikong Heng's words were cut off abruptly in his throat.

The surrounding passengers turned their heads to look, wearing expressions of watching a show.

Lin Xiao withdrew his palm, slowly reining in his anger, and put on a smile that could be described as gentle.

But this smile made Sikong Heng's spine chill even more than the loud bang just now.

"What I asked was, what exactly happened after Heze was invaded by the Insect Swarm, and why are you on Train Captain Baili Wuchen's Astral Express... Did you understand this time?"

"Wait, invaded by the Insect Swarm?"

Sikong Heng was stunned. The smile that had been plastered on his face hadn't completely faded before it was replaced by confusion.

"We weren't invaded by the Insect Swarm."

He replied, his tone full of surprise.

Hearing this, Lin Xiao frowned slightly.

He stopped looking at Sikong Heng and turned his gaze to the young man who was sitting with such dignified posture.

"You speak."

Sikong Heng hurriedly interrupted with a smile: "His Highness the Prince is unwell and not in a condition to..."

Lin Xiao took the [terminator] from his backpack, and the end of the giant axe thudded heavily onto the floor.

The dull sound of metal striking the floor echoed through the carriage.

"Still didn't understand my words?" Lin Xiao smiled, his eyes icy cold. "Let the Prince speak!"

Sikong Xuanye lifted his eyelids.

A faint smile hung on his lips. His translucent hands lifted from his knees, cupped slightly in front of him, and he bowed his head in a salute.

His movements were more composed and also more arrogant than Sikong Heng's.

"Since you have mentioned the Insect Swarm, you must already have some understanding of the past events of my Heze Kingdom."

His voice was as gentle as jade, and his phrasing was refined and polite, but those eyes, glowing with blue-white fluorescence, held not a shred of humility.

"Although I do not know what your source of information is, what is clear is that the facts are not as you understand them!"

He placed his folded hands back on his knees and said in a calm tone, "Heze becoming the way it is now was not due to any Insect Swarm invasion, but rather a rebellion by the civilians on the ground."

"Those civilians used the teleportation formation of the Qitian Temple to launch a massive attack on the capital."

"The situation was critical at the time. If the late Emperor had not made the decisive choice to activate the teleportation pod to evacuate, I fear the heritage of Heze Kingdom would have been completely wiped out long ago."

Lin Xiao stared into his eyes.

He asked, enunciating every word: "You... haven't seen the mutated Scarab Beetle?"

"Mutated... what is that supposed to mean?" Sikong Xuanye frowned slightly.

From that expression, one could see no guilt, only genuine confusion.

"The Scarab Beetle is a vital industry of our Heze Kingdom and is extremely precious. We entrusted them to the care of those civilians on the ground, but those greedy wretches actually slaughtered all the Scarab Beetles when they launched their rebellion."

Lin Xiao leaned back against the chair.

He didn't continue to press the matter but turned his head to look at Zhou Jun beside him, tapping his fingertips lightly on the edge of the table.

Zhou Jun noticed this subtle movement and leaned in close.

Lin Xiao lowered his voice, his lips barely moving: "Get Yimu."

Zhou Jun nodded, turned, and walked briskly toward the back half of Car 09.

Lin Xiao turned back to look at Sikong Xuanye again.

"You lived in towering palaces upon the clouds, yet you were attacked by a group of ground civilians and ultimately forced to flee... This is truly inconceivable!"

Sikong Xuanye's expression stiffened slightly, but he quickly returned to normal.

He shook his head, his tone tinged with a hint of regret: "It was because there was a traitor within."

"Every year, we promoted civilians from the ground, granting them official positions and salaries, allowing them to enjoy generous treatment, yet in the end, it was these very people who stole the secret techniques of our Heze royal court!"

His tone remained calm, but his words already leaked a certain undisguised coldness. "If we had fought fair and square, how could mere ground rioters shake a thousand-year-old palace? If it weren't for that traitor using our Heze heritage to attack our Heze royal family in return, how could we have..."

"Despicable and shameless!"

A shout of condemnation came from the carriage aisle.

Everyone turned their heads at the same time.

They saw a figure wearing a veil hat and a cloak walking rapidly from the distance.

Their pace was so fast that the hem of the cloak was almost off the ground.

The veil scattered backward in the rushing airflow, revealing a stern jawline.

Seeing the translucent skin emitting blue fluorescence, Sikong Heng's gaze froze.

"Heze people?"

He turned his head sharply to look at the Second Prince beside him, his lips trembling, but he made no sound.

At this moment, the face of Sikong Xuanye, which had always maintained composure and a smile, finally showed something amiss.

An abnormal layer of blue fluorescence rippled across the surface of his translucent skin.

As his consciousness swept over the Heze person running toward them.

A flash of killing intent crossed the eyes of Sikong Xuanye.