Chapter 11594 — Defying Law Enforcement

Zhao Feng gave a cold snort and shot back, "Since when did your Night Central Palace start holding law enforcement authority? I've heard a rumor—plenty of people are saying it these days: the Inner Royal Court by day, the Night Central Palace by night. Surely you people aren't actually entertaining that notion?"

Wang Lai choked on his words.

The rumor Zhao Feng invoked was no fabrication. The Night Central Palace had kept a low profile in the past, but over the last year it had expanded at a furious pace, its presence swelling a hundredfold and more.

There was even talk, faint but spreading, of a Night Emperor.

If the argument were allowed to run down that track, he might well end up the target of everyone's arrows today, and then things would turn truly ugly.

Wang Lai had no choice but to summon Zhou Wei.

Zhou Wei understood at once and ordered the silver-armored elites directly under the Rule Supervision Bureau: "Watch them. If anyone so much as stirs, take them down on the spot. Those who resist—kill without mercy!"

The silver-armored elites answered in unison and pressed forward.

Zhao Feng exchanged a glance with Cheng Shuang'er and the others, and their hearts sank as one.

These men represented the Rule Supervision Bureau. The moment open force was used, they could slap the label of rebellion on them outright.

Dongfang Yan was itching to move, but forced herself to hold her impulse in check.

One pull on a single hair moves the whole body—this was not her own affair alone.

The others felt the same.

Seeing this, Wang Lai laughed aloud. "Go on, resist! I'm waiting to admire your heroic bearing. I'll make sure to give you a proper bit of publicity afterward. Hurry up, now—I can hardly wait!"

Zhao Feng gritted her teeth and looked at Zhou Wei. "Think carefully. Do you really want to go through with this? If today's business blows up, do you think a man of your weight can carry the blame?"

Zhou Wei's face was stern. "I act as my duty requires. I ask Miss Zhao to forgive me."

"And one word of advice: I have always acted according to the law, and everything I do is lawful and proper."

"It is you who are the ones here—defying law enforcement is tantamount to rebellion. You would do well to weigh the heft of those words first!"

So saying, he swept his hand, ordering the silver-armored elites to keep pressing forward.

Zhao Feng and the others did not yield a single step, and the two sides were on the verge of collision.

Wang Lai rubbed his hands together in excitement. He had worked it out now: since those people wanted to drag him down, then today he would simply stage a bloody show of force to greet the newcomers!

Apart from Zhao Feng, he would sweep every last one of them up in a single net.

Then he would like to see which other house would dare stick its neck out and cross the Night Central Palace!

The situation was on the brink of spinning beyond control.

At that critical moment, a majestic imperial aura descended out of thin air, and with it Xu Anshan's figure appeared.

Seeing this, Wang Lai stuck the cigar between his teeth and said with contempt, "Born Emperor, is it? Such a low tier—what the hell use is that to me?"

Yet the very next second, Zhou Wei beside him suddenly changed expression.

At the same moment, the whole company of silver-armored experts halted in their tracks and exchanged bewildered glances.

Wang Lai frowned. "What are you standing around for? Get on with it."

Zhou Wei smiled bitterly. "Boss Wang, the rules have changed."

"Huh?"

Wang Lai did not catch on for a moment. "What's changed?"

Zhou Wei lowered his voice. "I just received an order from the Bureau. That new rule issued last night has been abolished. Our enforcement procedure was non-compliant, so everything is void. The Bureau has ordered us all to withdraw."

"Bullshit!"

Wang Lai exploded in fury. "I greased the palms of every last one of your Rule Supervision Bureau's higher-ups long ago, and I've already opened every channel to the six great Princely Houses and to the Son of Heaven's court on high. How could a turn like this possibly happen?"

"Zhou Wei, don't tell me you've lost your nerve and you're spinning me a line?"

Zhou Wei said with a pained look, "It's really not, Boss Wang. I truly received the order. If you don't believe me, ask them—they've all received it too."

Wang Lai, refusing to believe it, had them questioned one after another, and the result proved that Zhou Wei truly was not lying.

The Rule Supervision Bureau had indeed issued the order for them all to withdraw together.

"How is that possible?"

Wang Lai still found it unbelievable.

He had been determined to have the Rule Design Institute, and he had handled the many connections in person. By any reckoning, everything had been watertight.

Even if the new rule were later overturned, that would be a matter for later—there was absolutely no chance that at this very juncture someone would go back on their word, and go back on it en masse at that!

This was sheer fantasy.

It was no exaggeration to say that even if he himself had gone in person to call a halt, there could never have been such efficiency.

Just then, an old voice came from behind him, strange and shrill.

"A Born Emperor, legend has it, carries the Heavenly Constitution in his mouth. He can bypass the level of reality to forcibly unleash an emperor's authority, making the world submit to his personal will."

"Tsk, tsk. Old Monster never believed it before. Today I've had my eyes opened."

"Truly extraordinary."

The crowd turned at the sound, and what met their eyes was a bizarre old man with crimson hair and crimson brows, hideous of countenance, yet with an aura that was utterly terrifying.

Xiang Feng came running at once. "Old Ancestor."

The red-haired elder grunted in acknowledgment and patted his cheek. "Good grandson. So who was it you said you had your eye on? Your old ancestor will get her for you."

Xiang Feng turned and pointed at Dongfang Yan.

The red-haired elder sized her up and nodded with deep satisfaction. "Not bad, not bad at all. She looks like she can bear children. From now on, she is yours."

Even Dongfang Yan, brazen as she had always been, could not help but let her face frost over at that.

Wang Lai, however, was itching with curiosity. "Elder Xiang Zikui, that Innate Emperor you mentioned just now—surely he isn't the one behind all this mischief?"

What he meant, of course, was Xu Anshan, who had only just made his entrance.

Everything had been going smoothly before; the moment Xu Anshan arrived, the whole situation had turned on its head.

To claim there was no connection between the two at all really would not hold water.

But if it truly was as Xiang Zikui said—that Xu Anshan, this Innate Emperor, carried the Mandate of Heaven on his lips, that a single word from him could directly rewrite the rules and regulations of reality itself and make everyone submit—then that was going a bit too far.

Xiang Zikui gave a strange, wheezing laugh. "If it isn't him, then who? You? You people have no idea what an Innate Emperor is really worth."

They truly did not understand.

Dongfang Yan and the others all stared at Xu Anshan in astonishment.

After all this time together, the title of Innate Emperor had seemed to them little more than a fancy label to put on airs with, good for nothing except lending him an elevated aura.

Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined it could have an effect like this!

In truth, it was not only them—even Xu Anshan himself had never before imagined he could accomplish such a thing.

Just like that, the situation on the spot was reversed.

Zhao Feng and Cheng Shuang'er could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The thorniest part of today had been that the other side carried the name of official enforcement from the Inner Royal Court, leaving them no way to confront it head-on.

But now it was the other side's turn to find things thorny.