One no.

Or not.

This year, Su Shu searched the entire empire, no matter how he investigated, he couldn't find any clues about Ah Xin, it was as if the world had evaporated.

No way.

He couldn't bear it anymore.

Now that the whole empire is wanted for him, and his wanted portrait can be seen everywhere, there is no doubt that Xia Lan is also suffering from loneliness.

In this case, it is better to return to the imperial capital to make a final decision.

Therefore, after giving up the idea of looking for Ah Xin, Su Shu headed in the direction of the imperial capital.

It was not so much uneventful as he was on the way, but rather the atrocities he witnessed along the way, with the severe lack of food, the starvation of countless people dying of hunger, and the inaction of the local territories, which led to the fact that the plague was raging for weeks before it was discovered, and now the mountains of corpses were exterminated by the Empire's incinerating forces, and countless displaced people were reduced to the looting of travelers, and the increasingly rampant danger of attacking all living creatures with increasing impunity.

A village engulfed in flames.

Dead bodies abandoned on the side of the road.

Skeletons abandoned after being eaten by dangerous species.

There are so many terrifying scenes that can be seen everywhere, and this place is only a hundred miles away from the imperial capital, the center of the empire.

But don't worry, as winter falls sharply, all heinous sins will be covered by snow and ice.

The snow is falling harder!

It is foreseeable that a huge snowstorm is coming, and the snow on the ground is already covering the calves at the moment.

This made him wonder what the crumbling empire would have to do next year.

More bitter despair?

I'm afraid that maybe I don't have that chance to see it again.

Unconsciously set a FLAG for himself, but he didn't care, after all, his body had already been frozen to the point of losing consciousness, even if it was the emperor's envoy, it didn't mean that he was not afraid of the cold, judging from the corpses of those dangerous species that were frozen to death, the weather was also a weapon to kill.

According to that vague memory, Su Shu came to the stronghold of the stone fort that had been attacked at night, planning to stay here for one night to avoid the snowstorm.

Not surprisingly, although there are still traps left around to prevent foreign invasions, the abandoned stone fort has long since become very desolate and dilapidated due to its long-term lack of popularity.

He didn't go straight to the stone castle, but went around to the edge of the cliff in the back mountain.

The two tombs that had been standing on the edge of the cliff were missing, and to be precise, they were covered in a thick layer of snow.

The snow was cleared, and the graves of Maine and Lubbo were finally rediscovered.

After all, it was just a temporary tomb for the two of them at the beginning of the night attack, and the corpses were still in the hands of the empire, so it was no wonder that no one had come to clean them here for a long time, presumably Xia Lan had already buried the bodies of the two of them.

After doing this, Su Shu turned around and walked into the stone castle.

Closing the door, the sound of the wind and snow howling violently outside was forcibly blocked, and the world was finally quiet.

He looked up, although the hall was full of cobwebs, cockroaches, rats and some unknown small insects were scurrying around on the ground because of his intrusion, but the furnishings inside were still as familiar as ever, because the night raid had left in a hurry, there were still many daily necessities that had not been taken with them, and even the comb in the drawer of Main's room was still new after wiping off the dust on the surface.

Taking off the cotton robe on his body, Su Shu combed his messy hair in the mirror, the beautiful beauty with black hair and black eyes in the mirror was still so exciting, he really couldn't remember, how long had it been since he had looked in the mirror to take a good look at this face?

However, this face was hated to him, Xia Lan's face.

It's not that he hates Xia Lan himself, but he hates that his filthy soul is attached to Xia Lan's body.

Putting down the comb, Su Shu left Ma Yin's room and went to the next room, which was the room that once belonged to Xia Lan.

“…… Well? ”

As soon as he held the doorknob and opened a crack in the door, Su Shu smelled a foul smell coming from his nose, such a smell was very familiar, and he was used to smelling the corpse stench that would only be emitted after the corpse was decomposed.

Who?

Who died in this room?

Su Shu's originally indifferent face suddenly had a strong curiosity and excitement, how could anyone die in the stone castle that should have been empty and abandoned for a long time? You must know that there are enough traps around the stone castle to kill the first-class dangerous species, and ordinary people who dare to break in after being warned will definitely have no entry or exit, so the wanderers who come in to take refuge can be ruled out first.

"Let me guess who you are......"

Su Shu covered his nose and slowly pushed the door open, the dark room was surprisingly not cluttered as he imagined, but kept it neat before moving away, but there was an extra corpse on the bed that had been rotting for a long time.

It's -

Seeing the faint green object held by the dead corpse in his hand, Su Shu's pupils suddenly tightened, and he subconsciously rushed to the side of the bed with an arrow step, and turned over the body of the dead corpse without being dirty, and saw the shriveled head that was crooked, only to feel a huge roar in his head, and a strong suffocation enveloped his whole body for a moment, so that even his fingers were so stiff that he couldn't move.

Despite the high level of decomposition, he could still recognize the identity of the corpse at a glance when compared to the image in his memory.

This miserable guy......

Isn't that the person I'm looking for?

Ah Xin?!

Actually dead?!

Moreover, the thing that Ah Xin was holding in his hand before he died turned out to be his former Emperor Gu Five-Sighted Universal Observer!

At the beginning, he wondered, how could the observer be lost? Apparently, it was taken away by Ah Xin.

It seems that Ah Xin has been dead for at least two months, and there are no external scars on the outside, as if he died peacefully in his sleep, could it be a sudden illness?

Wrong......

Su Shu frowned, began to carefully examine the corpse, and soon found that there was an abnormal depression in the heart of the corpse, he hesitated for a while, but still pulled out a short sword to peel off the corpse, only to find that the corpse was missing a vital organ......

Heart –

Ah Xin doesn't have a heart?!

No way......

How can a person without a heart live for so long since he died a long time ago?

No matter how Su Shu didn't dare to believe it, but judging from the scene, there was absolutely no possibility of him killing, after all, there was no trace of external destruction in the corpse, and Ah Xin's body structure was 'complete' in a sense, but there was no heart, and this outrageous body structure was as if he was born without a heart.

This guy -

Is it really human?

A deep chill permeated Su Shu's heart, even if he tasted the taste of fear, at this moment he couldn't suppress the creepy feeling that was beyond common sense.

He had a hunch that Ah Xin was killed by someone, and although there was no evidence, it was impossible for humans to be without a heart, so ......

Boom!

Without warning, a violent snow wind hit outside, and the originally closed windows were directly slammed open, and the cold and biting wind mixed with ice and snow blew Su Shu's hair fluttering wildly, and he couldn't help but make his heart feel like falling into an ice cellar.

"Hiss......"

Su Shu faced the blizzard outside, and closed the window with a little difficulty and locked it, and as the scream of the wind and snow disappeared, his mood was barely eased a little.

He turned his head to look at the dead body on the bed, his gaze slowly moving downward, staring at the observer clenched in the dead Ah Xin's hand, and his heart suddenly chuckled, and he vaguely felt that he would soon touch a forbidden area that should not be touched.