Just as Rulu was pondering how to sneak into the manor vil, he spotted a young man in the distance wearing a white chef's hat and loose white chef's uniform, slowly pushing a small cart toward the vil.

  "Oh? Looks like he's heading inside that house — perfect, I can make use of him." Rulu fixed his gaze on the young man in white and hatched a pn.

  A few minutes ter, a young man in a white hat, white chef's coat, and white face mask pushed a food cart up to the vil's front gate. One of the guards at the entrance immediately barked at him: "Why are you so te with the food? The Governor Suwen and General Feihu have been waiting for a long time — are you trying to starve them?"

  The young man in white rasped in a low voice, "I'm sorry, the ingredients were a bit difficult to prepare, so it took a little longer."

  The guard said impatiently, "All right, hand everything over to me and I'll take it in."

  The man in white hesitated. "But General Feihu said I was to deliver it to them in person."

  "What? I never heard anything about that," the guard said, puzzled.

  The man in white held the guard's gaze and said, "Think again — maybe General Feihu told you and you just forgot."

  "Oh, right — now I remember, that's how it was." The guard blinked, as if suddenly recalling something. He walked to the vil's front gate, swung it open, and turned back to the man in white: "General Feihu and the Governor are on the second floor. Drop the food off with them and come straight back out — understood?"

  "Got it," the man in white murmured, and pushed the cart inside.

  Once inside, he quickly scanned his surroundings, and once he was sure no one was watching, he wheeled the cart into a secluded corner of the vil. There he stripped off the white coat and hat, and put on a white smiling face mask instead. This man was none other than Rulu, who had disguised himself as a food delivery worker. The real delivery worker had been knocked unconscious by Rulu and hidden in the bushes outside the vil.

  Rulu climbed the staircase in the main hall up to the second floor and moved carefully through the corridor, trying to locate Governor Suwen and General Feihu. The second floor, like the first, was empty and silent. Then, from a room with its door half-ajar, came the sound of a man speaking: "General Feihu, have you found out anything about that assassin?"

  At those words, Rulu's spirits immediately sharpened — he recognized the voice as that of Governor Suwen. To avoid alerting them, Rulu did not approach the room recklessly, but instead hid around a corner some distance away and waited patiently.

  "To answer the Governor, there is still no definite news about the assassin. However, I have already sent more men to investigate, and I believe we will have solid intelligence before long." A deep, gruff voice responded — Rulu recognized it as General Feihu's.

  Governor Suwen's voice replied: "General Feihu, I recall you said much the same thing a few days ago. Yet after all this time, there's still not a single piece of information. Are you taking this matter seriously at all?"

  "Governor, I have been doing my utmost. But the assassin is extremely cunning and has stayed hidden — that's why there's been nothing to report. However, it doesn't matter. In five days we will execute the captured Rebel organization members. When that happens, the assassin will surely make a move, and we'll be able to root him out and capture him in one fell swoop."

  "Let's hope so. As long as the assassin is still at rge, I can't sleep soundly. If what happened st time occurs again, you can consider your career as General finished. Hmph." Governor Suwen's voice carried a cold, menacing edge.

  "I understand. I have already tightened security around the house — that assassin absolutely cannot get in. You may rest easy, Governor."

  "Very well. You may go. I need to prepare for bed."

  "Yes. I will be in the room right next to yours, Governor. If anything happens, press the arm switch and I will be there immediately."

  Shortly after, a door on the second floor opened, and a burly, bald man in uniform stepped out, pulled the door shut behind him, and walked into the adjacent room.

  "Good — the opportunity is here. This time I won't make the same mistake as st time. I won't give you any chance to stay alive." From the shadows, a cold, thin smile crept across Rulu's lips. He drew a pistol from his person, attached a silencer, and crept silently to the door of Governor Suwen's room. He grabbed the handle, turned it gently, and with a soft creak, the door slowly swung open.

  "He didn't even lock the door — you're done for!" Rulu's heart surged with etion. He pushed the door open, slipped swiftly inside, and found a spacious, well-lit room with a rge bed, on which someone y on their side beneath a bnket. Having just heard Governor Suwen's voice, Rulu assumed the figure in the bed was the Governor. He immediately raised his pistol and fired at the person lying there.

  A few soft thuds followed — the figure under the bnket was struck, and several holes appeared in the bedding. But what struck Rulu as odd was that the person on the bed, though hit, remained completely still and made no sound at all, and there was no blood from any of the wounds.

  "Something's wrong — the person in that bed might not be Governor Suwen." A sense of unease crept over Rulu. He swept his hand out, summoning a gust of wind that tore across the bed. The bnket was ripped away, revealing a wooden mannequin underneath. Nearby y a small bck box with a red light blinking on it — and the moment the bnket was thrown off, the blinking began to accelerate rapidly.

  "This is a trap!" The realization struck Rulu like a thunderbolt. He strode out of the room at once, and the instant he crossed the threshold, a tremendous boom erupted — the bck box on the bed exploded violently. The bst wave surged through the doorway and sent Rulu flying seven or eight meters, hurling him to the floor.