I'm a villain, not a devil

Block 66 is the most luxurious and noble area in the entire imperial capital.

Because it was right next to Huangshan Mountain, most of the people living in Block 66 were high-ranking officials or nobles. If an ordinary wealthy businessman wanted to buy a manor here, he would have to pay at least double the price of his 'neighbors'. But even so, if a manor here occasionally became vacant, it would be immediately bought at a high price.

What is strange in comparison is that the blocks around Block 66 don't even attract many middle-class people. Over time, except for a few wide avenues for gentlemen to travel, the nearby blocks have become a gathering place for the poor.

This is because Block 66 surrounds Huangshan Mountain and as a whole tends to converge upwards and toward the center, so there is no need to worry too much about the sewer system in this area - anyway, the sewage accumulated here will flow into the nearby slums with poor terrain.

Many people living in the nearby slums would occasionally sneer and say: This is the fat money that has flowed down from the mercy of the master.

Even more extreme than these sewer systems are the special estates known as 'Alpine'.

All of these estates are located on the edge of Block 66, not because they want to be close to the civilian area, but because it is easier to start construction on the edge.

The height difference of the terrain was directly transformed into a cliff by artificial means, either by filling the top with soil or digging the bottom. In short, the residents of the slums have to look up to see some of the features of the manor.

All the wastewater and garbage of the high mountain manor will be discharged directly from the cliff into the slums. In order to ensure that they are not disturbed by the poor, those cliffs of more than ten meters or even dozens of meters will be covered with thick steel spikes and caltrops to prevent any daring poor from climbing up the cliffs in the middle of the night and entering the manor to cause trouble.

However, in order to demonstrate his magnanimity and to add more fun to his ordinary aristocratic life, apart from steel spikes and caltrops, no other defensive measures were placed on the cliff.

Yes, these things will hinder people from climbing, but the nobles who own them do not stop people from climbing. In fact, they encourage it.

If someone climbed up, he would either receive generous rewards from the nobles or become a servant in the manor.

The rewards were attractive enough, and the noble servants were even more enviable - in order to ensure a luxurious life and their own dignity, noble masters were mostly very generous when treating their servants - more importantly, compared with other jobs, being a noble servant was really a stable job.

As for dignity?

Most of the poor people would just laugh - you don't think you can live with dignity just because you are an 'ordinary resident of the empire', do you?

Therefore, climbing up the mountain manor has become an opportunity for many people to try their luck.

Of course, those steel spikes and caltrops will never become dull just because they are stained with human blood. A height of dozens of meters is enough to crush a person to pieces.

At this time, there would be nobles sitting in their own high mountain manors, and then watch the poor climbing the cliffs through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows. Every time someone was stabbed to death or fell, they would clap their hands and laugh happily, or open a bottle of red wine that was enough to buy many lives.

It is said that when this trend was at its most prevalent, hundreds of people died in the process of climbing in the imperial capital every day. Some people even built mountain manors that were a hundred meters high and offered huge rewards. Some nobles who could not build them themselves due to shame would go there privately to admire the "beautiful scenery" and then throw some pleasing chips into the prize pool.

It was also that alpine estate that set a peak in the number of climbers - and at the same time, the record for the number of deaths was also broken.

However, the empire prides itself on being civilized and developed, so it can ignore certain phenomena in aristocratic neighborhoods like No. 66, but these alpine manors are really excessive. Therefore, over the years, there have often been calls to demolish all alpine manors.

"How many years have you been shouting?"

Luo Xi, who was walking on the road, suddenly asked.

She and Bai Ye were heading towards the manor of Bai Ye's mother's family, and along the way she was listening to Bai Ye telling the history of this place.

However, after hearing this, Luo Xi couldn't help but ask a question.

Bai Ye did not look back, but continued to walk forward calmly: "It has been about 70 or 80 years, right?"

Luo Xi asked again: "How many buildings were demolished?"

Bai Ye did not pause, and his voice was inaudible: "Not a single one has been demolished."

"Heh." Luo Xi smiled.

Neither of them continued talking, but just walked forward.

After a while, they finally saw their destination.

It was a 'mountain manor'.

Bai Ye and Luo Xi stood at the foot of the cliff, which was a hundred meters high. Looking up, they could only see a luxurious golden wall. What was more eye-catching than the wall were the steel spikes and caltrops on the cliff.

Each spike was stained with dark red blood. The sunlight was dim under the evil dome, and the densely packed dark red cliffs were dizzying just by looking at them.

At the very bottom of the cliff is a grayish-white floor.

Bai Ye pointed there and said, "When people fall, they will 'splash'. Over time, something has become a little strange around here. So, the owner of the manor had it renovated and a steel deck was laid."

Luo Xi raised his eyebrows: "Isn't it to make the sound of falling more obvious?"

Bai Ye did not refute, but pointed to the side of the gray-white deck near the cliff and said: "Someone washes this place every night, so blood, brain matter and other things will flow down the sink there."

Luo Xi walked over and took a look. This place had probably been abandoned for a long time. Even the tightly fitted steel plates had many cracks, and there were even some wild grasses and flowers growing at the edge of the sink. However, those plants were crooked and extremely ugly.

"Has it been abandoned for a long time?" Luo Xi asked.

Bai Ye nodded: "Well, didn't you just ask whether the alpine manor has been demolished? All the alpine manors are in good condition, only one has been abandoned, which is here. This is also the highest alpine manor at the beginning."

Luo Xi looked up, then looked down at Bai Ye, with a somewhat strange expression on her face.

"Then why did you bring me here?"

Bai Ye slowly squatted down, she gently touched the gray-white deck covered with dirt and dust, and whispered: "My mother fell to her death here."

The air suddenly became stagnant.

Bai Ye continued to speak, her face expressionless, as if she was just telling a long-lost story.

"Even if someone proposed to demolish the Gaoshan Manor, who wouldn't be powerful if they could build these manors? In addition, the owner of this highest manor was of noble status, so the protest raised at the court meeting ended up with nothing."

"The incident that caused all alpine estates to stop climbing happened more than ten years ago. I was about three years old at that time... should I be three years old?"

She looked up and smiled.

"Here, the climbing activities were being held as usual. People kept falling down, and the people above kept clapping and laughing. Then my mother had an argument with the owner of the manor. She couldn't stand these things, so she came out of the palace to stop them."

"She stood on the edge of the cliff and wanted to say something... maybe she had already said something. Then, because of carelessness, she fell off the cliff."

Silence fermented between the two for a while.

Finally, Luo Xi asked, "After you knew about this, did you ever doubt it? The Queen is of noble status, so she must be surrounded by experts. Ordinary people would fall to their death, but the Queen wouldn't, right?"

Bai Ye shook his head: "I suspected it, but after investigation, it turned out that it was not man-made."

"My father and my mother had a very good relationship. He was extremely sad after my mother passed away. At the same time, like you, he believed that this was a deliberate murder."

"But the final investigation showed that no one pushed my mother at the time, and the experts who followed her did take action - but once those people got close to the edge of the cliff, they found that standing there would make them dizzy, and if they looked down, they would have a strong urge to jump down, not to mention using their superpowers or prosthetics."

"Even the emperor's uncle came to see it. He found that this cliff also produced some kind of 'pollution'. That was the culprit that caused my mother to fall and no one rescued her in time."

Bai Ye stood up, her expression did not change at all, she just gently brushed off the dust on her hands: "To verify, they went to other high mountain manors and found that the cliffs in those places had similar pollution, but not as serious as this place."

"In the end, this is the only way to characterize the matter - the masters who protected my mother were killed in anger, all mountain manors stopped climbing activities and closed the area around the cliff, and the owner of this mountain manor..."

She paused noticeably, and finally said, "He was punished, but not long after, the owner of the manor committed suicide in the main hall. His clansmen lost their protection, and my father killed them all afterward."

Luo Xi was puzzled: "Why would the owner of this manor commit suicide?"

Before Bai Ye could speak, another voice came out: "Guilt? I'm afraid that's unlikely."

The two girls turned their heads at the same time and saw that Sean had appeared beside them at some point.

"You're back?!" they both said at the same time, and then turned to look at each other.

They didn't notice that their voices had suddenly become much higher, but they noticed that the other person's voice had changed.

Sean opened his arms as if to hug them both, but Luo Xi and Bai Ye rolled their eyes at him.

Sean had no choice but to give up. He naturally withdrew his hand and walked to the edge of the cliff to look up.

"Tsk tsk tsk, whoever came up with this trick is truly a genius..."

A hint of gloom flashed across Bai Ye's face.

Luo Xi noticed what Sean had just said: "Guilt? Why do you say guilt? Would the imperial nobles who did this have such emotions?"

"Normally speaking, there definitely wouldn't be any, but the identity of the owner of this manor is a little special..." Sean smiled.

Before he could continue, Bai Ye spoke.

There was still no emotion in her voice, and she seemed to be just a cold bystander.

"The original owner of this alpine manor, the one who committed suicide, was me...my mother's father, and my grandfather."

Luo Xi's pupils couldn't help but shrink.

The air was a little cold, and only the man's casual whistle had a funny tone.

Bai Ye glanced at Sean and said, "You knew this a long time ago, right?"

Sean shrugged. "Although all news about this matter has been blocked a long time ago, the commotion back then was really huge, and there are many clues left behind."

Bai Ye pursed his lips and looked up at the manor: "That is the inheritance of my mother's family..."

The atmosphere was a bit awkward, but a jerk like Sean would never let the atmosphere become serious.

He walked over and patted Bai Ye's perky butt in front of Luo Xi.

"Even though the legacy left by your mother's family is what killed your mother, you have always wanted to inherit it - this is a good sign."

Ignoring the different looks from the two girls, Sean said with a smile, "Let go of the influence of emotions and hold on to what you can hold in your hands first. This is the quality that a queen should have."

A gleam of light flashed across Bai Ye's eyes, and she stopped talking about other things and returned to her usual calmness.

"However, Grand Duke Yuantie came to me and told me that he had discovered the truth about my mother's death. They seemed to want to use this to undermine Fourth Brother's current position, although I haven't yet connected the cause and effect of this."

Sean curled his lips and said, "Didn't I want to cooperate with you? I didn't even tell you the truth? That's too insincere."

Bai Ye nodded: "I also feel that there is no sincerity, but the most important thing in business is profit rather than sincerity. At least in their eyes, whether it is from the perspective of profit or emotion, I have no other choice."

"What do they want?"

"I want my current reputation in the military, and I want to return the Security Bureau to my second brother."

Sean rolled his eyes. "Really? This is our stuff. Tsk, your second brother and aunt are both idiots."

"It's stupid, but in a few hours, the third brother will expose the fourth brother. Suddenly it happened again. Don't you want the third brother to stop first?"

Sean smiled casually: "Stop? Bai You is right, why stop? Besides, it doesn't matter if we put in a little more effort."

He turned his head and looked upwards: "Let's go and take a look?"

"it is good."

Sean took the lead and walked in front. The chasms that were difficult for the poor to cross were just ravines that he could easily cross.

However, Sean did not fly up directly. Instead, he walked to the bottom and patted the deck.

The deck made an unpleasant creaking sound, and then began to move as if it were a living thing.

He waved at the two girls, his face full of excitement: "Come on, come on, I've just developed an ability, controlling objects, isn't it awesome?"

The deck rose up on its own, and then crushed the steel spikes and caltrops into iron sheets. The dark red cliff looked like it had been plowed flat by a bulldozer.

The place that was not demolished after the queen's death was destroyed so brutally.