“You’re talking nonsense! I didn’t steal any book!” Mu Xueshi shouted loudly, his small mouth wide open. “If I did steal it, I’ll be your grandson!”
As he spoke, he even looked ready to charge at Wu Cai again.
Steward Wang, who had been standing nearby, could not help but interject.
“Young Master, those are words you should not say!”
Wu Cai shot Mu Xueshi a glare. Blood had already begun to drip from his nose, but he ignored it completely and continued in his usual domineering tone.
“Then why did you sneak into the study and hide the book inside your sleeve?”
“Who said I hid it?” Mu Xueshi retorted. “I was collecting it! I saw a good book, so I put it in my sleeve to take back with me. This is my home—if I want to take something, I’ll take it. Do I need to ask you first?”
After saying that, he even turned his face toward the Third Prince, hoping the prince would back him up.
Wu Cai’s face turned green with anger at such ridiculous reasoning. His teeth ground together audibly.
Today he had already been unusually patient. Normally he would never speak so calmly to anyone. If the Third Prince had not been present, he would have cursed long ago.
Who would have thought that after disappearing for a time, Mu Xueshi would return so arrogantly? In the past he had endured bullying without uttering a word, yet now he was like a raging bull, daring to challenge anyone.
“Why are you glaring at me?” Mu Xueshi continued stubbornly, pointing a finger at Wu Cai’s nose.
“Let me tell you—don’t think I’m easy to bully. I don’t care what I was like before. Now I’ve stood up for myself. Don’t think you can keep riding on my head!”
These words nearly drove Wu Cai to tears of rage. His alluring eyes became misty, and he suddenly looked extremely wronged.
He glanced around the room.
No one spoke for him.
No one stepped forward to defend him.
He did not even have a single ally standing beside him.
Biting his lip in silence, Wu Cai turned and began walking out of the study.
“Stop.”
The sudden command froze him mid-step.
The Third Prince had spoken.
Wu Cai’s heart tightened. Turning around, he immediately knelt and bowed respectfully.
“Please instruct me, Your Highness.”
A cold smile curved the Third Prince’s lips.
Somehow, a small golden hook had appeared in his hand.
It was not large, but its sharp tip gleamed coldly.
The moment Wu Cai saw it, his face changed drastically.
He hurriedly crawled toward the Third Prince and began begging for mercy at his feet.
The servants nearby remained completely silent.
Yuwen Tao stared at the hook in the prince’s hand, his expression extremely complicated.
In the entire room—
only Mu Xueshi looked utterly confused.
He had no idea why everyone’s faces had suddenly turned so pale.
Curious, he walked up to the Third Prince, picked up the hook, and examined it.
“What’s this?” he asked.
The Third Prince replied calmly,
“This hook is specially used to punish those who dare raise a hand against you.”
The moment he finished speaking, Wu Cai broke down crying in terror, his entire body trembling as he repeatedly knocked his head against the ground.
Mu Xueshi’s expression slowly changed.
Holding the hook, he looked at the Third Prince uncertainly.
“You’re not planning to… cut him open with this, are you? That’s… that’s way too cruel…”
The Third Prince merely smiled faintly.
At that moment, Yuwen Tao deliberately spoke loudly beside him.
“No, Young Master Xue. It’s not used to cut the skin.”
He continued deliberately,
“It’s inserted into the abdomen. Then the intestines are pulled out through the mouth—one by one.”
Mu Xueshi froze instantly.
Seeing that no one else in the room reacted, he thought he must have misheard.
So he asked Yuwen Tao again.
The answer was exactly the same.
Everyone present showed little emotion—at most a trace of fear.
But there was not the slightest hint of sympathy.
Mu Xueshi’s lips trembled.
“That’s… not necessary, right?”
He turned toward the Third Prince nervously.
“We were just fooling around. I broke those things myself. Please don’t actually do it… I… I’m scared.”
But the Third Prince remained unmoved, staring coldly at Wu Cai kneeling below him.
Seeing that the prince was truly angry, Mu Xueshi quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him aside, away from the crowd.
“Just scare him a little,” Mu Xueshi whispered. “I know you’re standing up for me, but I’m really scared. If you really do that… I’ll have nightmares for days.”
He did not dare say that he also felt some sympathy for Wu Cai.
Instinct told him that the Third Prince did not like him caring too much about others.
Yet the prince’s expression remained icy.
Wu Cai’s earlier arrogance had been unforgivable. Sparing his life already required great restraint from the Third Prince.
If the matter were to end peacefully—
then the man standing here would not be the Third Prince.
“No.”
With that single word, the Third Prince turned and walked toward Wu Cai.
Mu Xueshi panicked.
Forgetting all sense of propriety, he rushed forward and blocked the prince’s path.
Spreading his arms, he hugged the Third Prince tightly and looked up pleadingly.
“Forget it, forget it! If you hurt him, we’ll lose another clue for solving the case. Xi—”
The man who had been so bold earlier now had less than half his former courage.
Just thinking about blood-soaked intestines made goosebumps erupt across Mu Xueshi’s entire body.
Futile Devices Scans 
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