On the social media platform Xingya Network, trending topics such as #MengShanFramedJinyuqueCorps, #MengShanMassacredGaofengTribe, and #MengShanGenocide hung high at the top of the search charts, shocking the entire nation.

The citizens of Danse had never seen such a storm before; every single trending phrase made their eyelids twitch.

Clicking into the first trending term, the very top post under the topic was a video uploaded by a throwaway account with a default ID name.

The video angle was pointed right at Meng Shan. Even for those who didn’t recognize Meng Shan, a quick online search of his appearance matched it instantly.

【What makes you qualified to pick me up?! You aren’t worthy! You deserve to die just like Zhan Qiming! …】

【If you hadn’t treated me like this, you wouldn’t have died such an ugly death! It’s all your fault, you brought it upon yourselves! …】

【Wanting to rely on racial genes to be superior to others? Keep dreaming! No one can challenge the Meng family’s status! …】

【Evil races should just go extinct! As long as a race’s genes are superior to the Mengyue Tribe, there’s no need for them to exist! …】

【Those people of the Gaofeng Tribe were supposed to die from an infectious disease, but because of you, millions were blown to smithereens. Wei Feng, everything is your fault! …】

【I wish I could kill you a thousand, ten thousand times! You were smart back then, covering for those subordinates, detonating the bomb to blow yourself to pieces. Otherwise, if you fell into my hands, I would have sliced you into 3,600 pieces, chopped you into minced meat, and thrown you into a foul ditch! …】

【The Bijue Tribe will bear the charge of rebels and vanish completely, while my Meng family will rule Danse with an unprecedentedly grand image! Who are you calling pathetic?! …】

Word for word, it sent chills down everyone’s spines.

Countless netizens who watched the video preferred to believe it was AI-generated rather than accept it as real.

The Meng family—a grand aristocratic family standing at the very top of Danse—and Meng Shan—a former general who once held massive power—could actually say such vicious words. Moreover, it was extremely likely that he had already put them into action, perhaps even continuing to do so to this day.

The comment section erupted in an explosive surge of discussion.

“My whole family is shocked!! Are there any experts analyzing if this video is real or fake?!”

“What is Meng Shan saying?! The Meng family wants to massacre all races with superior genes?!”

“Goddamn it, so the Jinyuque Corps went to save people back then, but were framed as rebels by the Meng family?!”

“As a general protecting Danse, to actually massacre his own citizens and force the Jinyuque Corps to bear the stigma for decades—he is utterly unforgivable!”

“Not only framing the Jinyuque Corps, but also massacring the Gaofeng Tribe, secretly harming the Bijue people, and driving them to a dead end! Is Meng Shan even human?!”

“What did he mean by conducting experiments? Isn’t that way too perverted? The Meng family is the thing that least deserves to exist in Danse!”

“Sanctioning the Meng family admits of no delay! Danse doesn’t need such a grand aristocratic family!”

“Stay rational, everyone. Maybe it’s a fake video; the Meng family has made plenty of contributions to Danse!”

In the medical area waiting room.

Li Ji sat back down and instructed Old Liu to project the video directly.

Hearing the first two sentences, Meng Jian knew something was wrong. He roared furiously at Old Liu: “Turn it off! This is slander!”

Old Liu stood slightly behind Li Ji, staring straight ahead, completely ignoring him.

Meng Jian held back a chest full of rage.

This spineless coward used to bow and scrape before him. Now that Li Ji’s wings had grown strong, even he dared to look down his nose at him!

“We don’t know whether it’s real or fake yet, what are you anxious about?”

Li Xiao gestured to a nearby servant, “Serve General Meng some tea—don’t let the elderly gentleman get worked up into a bad state.”

Servant: “Yes.”

How could Meng Jian possibly be in the mood for tea?

Judging from the environment in the video and his father’s clothing, the time of recording was the very night of the birthday banquet.

He immediately remembered that flattened cigarette butt!

It wasn’t that he was overly suspicious, but someone really had snuck into his father’s room that night. Using unknown means, they made his father mistake them for Wei Feng, causing him immense mental stimulation.

Thinking of this, Meng Jian glared at Li Xiao.

To be capable of doing this, the only person he could think of was Li Xiao!

Yi Yongning, Zheng Kang’an, and the others were equally shocked by the exposed video.

Not because of the content itself—after all, given their positions, they understood a fair bit about the Meng family’s actions over the years. Especially Zheng Kang’an, who, as an ally, had even participated in some of it.

What surprised them was the existence of such a video, as well as its ability to bypass the Meng family’s interception, get published successfully, reach the top of trending searches, and remain online without being taken down in a short period.

“Targeting an entire race all at once—how ruthless.”

Song Jin watched the video, making sarcastic remarks in a slow tone. “I consider myself ruthless enough, but compared to Meng Shan, I’m still far off. Just how many races do you have in Danse? Are there even enough for him to kill?”

“They wouldn’t kill everyone off,” Qian Can chimed in. “Meng Shan said he only kills the superior races, leaving the foolish and stupid ones to make them easy for the Meng family to control. If he killed everyone, who would he rule over?”

“Don’t compare yourself to scum; you would never raise your hands against your own compatriots,” Li Xiao said, looking toward Meng Jian. “Refusing to work hard to improve oneself, thinking only of framing compatriots to preserve one’s status—letting such a person hold power is a disaster for everyone.”

Qin Le added fuel to the fire: “No wonder Danse’s domestic development has been so slow—turns out all the outstanding talents were killed off by their own people.”

Qian Can: “Even uprooting entire races! Look at the Gaofeng Tribe and the Bijue Tribe—killing them wasn’t enough, they even had to spread rumors calling them terrorists.”

“Shut up!”

Meng Jian’s ears buzzed loudly. “This is obviously fake, it’s a rumor! My father could never say such words, much less do such things!”

Song Jin raised an eyebrow: “Is that so?”

The brief three words, combined with Song Jin’s expression of “seeing through everything and thoroughly despising it,” almost caused Meng Jian’s composure to break.

Before the video even finished playing, Meng Jian lost his composure. In an impulse, he rushed in front of Old Liu to snatch his terminal, thinking only of quickly shutting the video down.

Seeing Meng Jian rushing aggressively toward Li Ji, Yi Yongning and the others abruptly stood up to shout at him.

“Meng Jian, what are you doing?!”

“Don’t act recklessly!”

“Your Majesty, watch out!”

Having lost his sanity, Meng Jian could no longer hear everyone’s alarmed cries, his mind filled only with turning off the video.

Yet before his hand could touch Old Liu, his vision suddenly blurred. His neck was tightly clamped by a hand extending from the side, and in the next moment, he met a pair of eyes filled with killing intent.

Wei Feng blocked the path in front of Old Liu and Li Ji, warning coldly: “Don’t move, or you die.”

Meng Jian’s pupils shrank. In an instant, suppressed by the other party’s aura, fear surged up from his tailbone, making him forget to struggle.

When he snapped back to reality, he realized the person in front of him was merely Li Ji’s guard. Feeling ashamed of himself for fearing a guard, he became even angrier.

“Let go!”

Meng Jian tried to twist free from the guard’s grip.

Wei Feng pinned Meng Jian’s arm behind his back, pressing him down in two or three swift movements so that he knelt in front of Li Ji.

His knees slammed heavily onto the ground, emitting a dull thud.

Yi Yongning and the others felt their scalps go numb, secretly wondering if Meng Jian’s kneecaps had fractured from the impact.

Meng Jian was a military officer by background, yet against Li Ji’s guard, he had no power to resist at all, leaving everyone astounded.

This guard was certainly no simple figure.

Li Xiao and Song Jin took it all in, knowing in their hearts that Wei Feng was already exercising great restraint.

Facing the culprit who murdered countless members of his tribe, it required immense self-control not to snap his neck on the spot.

“Let go of me!” Meng Jian roared. “Your Majesty, are you just going to watch a guard attack me and do nothing?!”

Li Ji hadn’t moved an inch from start to finish. Watching the video, his expression grew increasingly grim.

“Let him go.”

Wei Feng: “He attempted to attack Your Majesty.”

Li Ji said intentionally, “An old man with no ability to resist—could he harm me?”

Wei Feng had no choice but to release him.

Having just suffered a physical attack, Meng Jian was hit with a mental attack from Li Ji, his face turning red with rage.

When his assistant came over to help him up, Meng Jian gave him a subtle glance, signaling him to notify the technical department to shut down the live stream and clear the video from the internet.

The assistant nodded slightly, indicating he had already notified those below to get it done.

Just as Meng Jian stood up, 09’s prompt sounded in Li Xiao’s ear.

【The technical department is attempting to shut down the live stream. The system has been hijacked by me.】

Li Xiao: 【Mm, keep an eye on the Xingya platform.】

09: 【Already assisting, but no guarantee Xingya’s people won’t notice me.】

Li Xiao: 【I gave them a heads-up beforehand; don’t worry.】

Just as the video finished playing, the sound of shattering porcelain rang out in the room. An expensive teacup fell to the floor and shattered into pieces, leaving a puddle of water stain on the carpet.

“Guards!”

Li Ji slammed his hand heavily onto the table, furious beyond measure. “Investigate the authenticity and origin of this video immediately and report back to me!”

Old Liu: “Understood!”

Meng Jian added viciously, “Daring to parody the Meng family’s reputation—I will absolutely not spare the person who spread these rumors!”

“What a coincidence.”

Li Xiao picked up the thread, his tone composed. “I won’t spare those who parody the royal family’s reputation and use rumors to cause trouble either.”

Meng Jian kept a dark face: “I will not accept the DNA report from earlier.”

Li Xiao: “Is your opinion important?”

Song Jin asked Li Xiao with curiosity: “If the video is real, Meng Jian is a rebel’s son. Can he still serve as the Sector Commander General?”

“Forget Sector Commander General.”

Li Xiao spoke casually, “If it’s found that Meng Jian participated in this, he won’t even have the chance to return to being a civilian.”

Song Jin nodded: “Indeed. Meng Shan isn’t just committing treason—he has millions of lives on his hands. If this isn’t punished severely, who knows who else might dare to follow suit.”

Saying that, Song Jin looked at Zheng Kang’an: “Right, General Zheng?”

Suddenly being named, Zheng Kang’an, who was already terrified out of his wits, shivered all over and braced himself to nod: “Of course! Zero tolerance for treasonous behavior!”

Yi Yongning and the others listened to Li Xiao and his consort “chatting casually” as if no one else were present, then looked at Meng Jian’s face, which was as black as the bottom of a pot.

Unknowingly, the positions of both sides had completely inverted.

Meng Jian had exposed Li Xiao as being born to a rebel descendant, but now Meng Jian himself was questioned as being a rebel’s son, forced to wait for the video authentication results.

Yi Yongning thought thoughtfully. Judging from Li Xiao and Song Jin’s attitudes, the video was very likely real.

He tapped a few times on his terminal without drawing attention.

Yi Lian, who was maintaining order in the banquet hall, received the signal and immediately ordered his men to secretly surround Lisha Castle.

This was the first time Yan Qing had seen this video.

Even though he already knew about the Meng family’s deeds, seeing Meng Shan’s ugly demeanor—committing every atrocity imaginable without a shred of remorse, even taking pride in it—he couldn’t help but feel angry enough to tear Meng Jian apart with his bare hands.

Noticing Yan Qing’s cold expression, Li Xiao led him to sit in a position angled away from the camera, giving him time to calm down.

Lisha Castle.

Meng Shan had both legs broken. Having been provoked twice by Wei Feng, he dreamt of Wei Feng coming to claim his soul every night, leaving his mental state in terrible shape.

In the evening, after finishing his meal and preparing to rest early, he saw the old butler answer someone’s call. The butler’s face changed drastically, prompting Meng Shan to ask, “What’s wrong now?”

The old butler quickly opened Xingya Network, his face pale white.

Before he could explain, Meng Shan heard his own excited voice. The whole person felt as if struck by lightning, lunging forward like crazy to pull the old butler over and look at the video on the screen.

“No… it’s not real… impossible…”

Why did the things from his dream get turned into a video?

Did Wei Feng really come?!

“To think someone dares to use you as a topic!”

The old butler immediately instructed his subordinates, “Hurry and contact Xingya Network—take down all the videos!”

A anxious voice came from the other end of the call: “We contacted them immediately; we are still communicating.”

The old butler was so angry he practically shouted: “Communicating for what?! Order them to take it down immediately, or bear the consequences!”

Other end of the call: “Yes!”

Meng Shan stared blankly at the screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw top comments for related topics popping up automatically on the page.

“I don’t have the ability to verify if the video is real or fake, but judging from tonight’s situation, I think it’s very likely real. In front of a banquet with foreign officials present, Meng Jian completely ignored His Majesty’s attempts to stop him, knowing it was broadcast across the entire network, yet publicly humiliated the Second Prince. The hilarious part is that it was proven fake afterward. One can imagine how domineering Meng Jian usually acts!”

“Regardless of whether the video is real or fake, Meng Jian despised the royal family and publicly slandered the Second Prince—he must face punishment!”

“When I saw Meng Jian making a huge scene at the banquet, I was so confused. Even if the Meng family is a grand aristocratic family, how could they stand above royal authority? After watching the video, I understand now. The Meng family planned to replace them long ago, relying on the massive power accumulated over the years to walk sideways in Danse, not caring about the royal family at all!”

“The royal family is being bullied so pitifully; His Majesty and the Second Prince need our support! Even fly legs are meat—I don’t believe that by uniting, we can’t stand against certain grand aristocrats!”

“How could this happen…”

Meng Shan roared hoarsely, swatting his hand frantically at the screen to erase the content on it. “How can the Meng family’s reputation tolerate being defiled by you lowborns?! Where is everyone?! Is everyone dead?! Hurry up and delete these!”

The old butler hurriedly held him down: “I’ve already notified them!”

Military District, Meng Family.

Meng Zai was unemployed at home, watching the live stream with a chest full of rage.

Adjutant Lin Xu was sitting on the sofa not far from the office desk, communicating with various parties.

“What?! Xingya refuses to delete it?!”

Lin Xu raised his voice by an octave. “This isn’t a negotiation with them!”

Irritated, Meng Zai extinguished the cigarette he had taken two puffs of, shouting at Lin Xu: “No need for nonsense, send a formal document directly!”

Lin Xu looked anxious: “But the video still needs to be deleted! The impact is too huge!”

This kind of video spread extremely fast to begin with. Coupled with tonight being a royal live broadcast, the base audience numbered in the tens of billions. It was likely that before tonight passed, this matter would spread to every corner of Danse.

The later the clarification came, the deeper the lingering effects of the rumors would be.

People who heard the rumor wouldn’t necessarily follow up on the subsequent clarification. Even if they saw it, they wouldn’t necessarily believe it.

“Have the Corps’ technical department block Xingya Network.”

Meng Zai’s expression turned ruthless. “Let them know this is the consequence of being disobedient!”

Lin Xu quickly assigned the tasks down, but soon received feedback—it couldn’t be blocked at all.

Forget blocking it; even hacking into Xingya’s system presented issues.

Lin Xu reviewed the report materials sent from below, speaking at rapid speed: “Commander, Xingya Network’s defense level is surprisingly high. The technical department probably can’t break through it in a short period.”

“Useless trash!”

Meng Zai swept the files on his desk onto the floor with a swing of his arm. “If you can’t break through, find someone who can!”

Lin Xu accepted with difficulty: “Yes!”

Less than ten minutes after the video was exposed, Meng Zai’s personal account and the Nanming Sector military account released announcements stating they would file lawsuits against those creating rumors, those spreading rumors, and Xingya Network for condoning the spread of rumors.

As numerous military accounts came out to support the Meng family, the situation became even more convoluted and confusing, causing many people to suspect the video might really be fake.

Soon, videos reposted to other platforms were entirely deleted, and even related accounts were completely banned.

Yet no matter how the Meng family and the military called out, the original video on Xingya and all content under the topics remained completely untouched right where they were.

Xingya officials offered no response, but someone noticed that the Xingya CEO’s personal account posted a new update.

The content was brief, consisting of just one line—I wasn’t raised to be scared.

Under the comments—

“As expected, all platforms were threatened; only Xingya is fighting back hard.”

“I declare that from now on, I will only use Xingya!”

“You must never back down! You be responsible for supporting the Second Prince, we’ll be responsible for giving you money!”

“Although I really admire CEO Wu’s courage, what if the video really turns out to be fake? I’m so worried!”

“Everyone, hurry back to the live stream room! The authentication result is out!”

In the medical area waiting room.

From the moment Li Ji issued the order to receiving feedback from the Intelligence Bureau, less than ten minutes had passed in total.

Viewers in the live room clamored, waiting for the report to be made public, yet Li Ji closed it directly after reading it.

Neither the viewers nor Yi Yongning and the others could read anything from Li Ji’s expression.

“Tonight’s matter ends here. Meng Jian’s slander of the royal family will be handed over to the Investigation Bureau to handle—punish him however he should be punished.”

Saying that, Li Ji gestured to Old Liu, signaling him to deliver closing remarks to the live stream room.

All viewers couldn’t believe it.

They were actually planning to end it just like that? At least let them die with a clear understanding!

Noticing Li Ji’s subtle expression, Meng Jian called out to stop Old Liu: “Since it has been authenticated, why not make the results public?”

Li Xiao picked up the thread: “Do you really want to make it public?”

Meng Jian’s expression froze for a moment, feeling hesitant inside.

Having suffered from these two brothers’ acting, he couldn’t be sure if they were still acting right now. But he had to say so, otherwise he would look guilty, making it even harder to salvage the Meng family’s face.

Meng Jian: “Please make it public immediately, Your Majesty, to clear my father’s and the Meng family’s names!”

Song Jin chuckled softly: “You really aren’t afraid of death, are you?”

Meng Jian: “Standing upright and acting properly, there is nothing to fear.”

“I originally wanted to leave your father some face.”

Li Ji gestured, signaling Old Liu to project the authentication results.

The reporting materials were very detailed, using various technical means to identify whether the video was edited, synthesized, or forged. All results were completely consistent—confirming the video was an authentic recording with no editing traces whatsoever.

The moment the result was published, the entire network erupted into an uproar.

The live chat went blank for a few seconds before exploding into a frenzy. This time, it was filled entirely with words condemning the Meng family and Meng Shan. Most of the language was so foul it was censored, leaving a screen full of asterisks.

“Impossible!” Meng Jian’s eyelids twitched violently. “My father couldn’t possibly say those words!”

Li Ji looked over coldly: “I didn’t believe it either, but the facts stand right before our eyes. How do you explain this?!”

Meng Jian gritted his back teeth, secretly furious that he had fallen into the same pit twice!

“I will find a professional team later to authenticate the video’s authenticity.”

“No need.”

Li Ji issued an order to Yi Yongning, “Meng Shan is suspected of murdering Zhan Qiming, massacring the Gaofeng Tribe and the Jinyuque Corps, and conducting illegal human experiments on the Bijue Tribe. Bring him back immediately for interrogation!”

Yi Yongning stood up and accepted: “Understood!”

Meng Jian’s face shifted drastically: “My father is injured and bedridden; I’m afraid he can’t cooperate.”

Yi Yongning picked up the thread, his tone light: “Don’t worry, we have as many stretcher robots as needed. We won’t drop the old gentleman.”

Meng Jian: “If anything goes wrong, will you take responsibility?!”

Yi Yongning: “Can’t take responsibility.”

Meng Jian wanted to speak further, but Li Xiao interrupted him, looking at the Investigation Bureau Major to ask, “What are you waiting for? His Majesty has issued the order, why haven’t you taken the man away?”

The Major’s face shifted slightly. Leading his subordinates over to Meng Jian, he hesitated for a moment before pulling out handcuffs to bind Meng Jian’s hands, escorting him outside.

How had Meng Jian ever suffered such humiliation? Before leaving, he glared heavily at Li Xiao, his tone heavy: “I have evidence of your treason in my hands. You can fool people for a moment, but you can’t fool them for a lifetime.”

Li Xiao didn’t even look at him: “At your age, read less gossip news—it easily leads to brain damage.”

“Pfft… Hahaha…”

Qian Can had a low laugh threshold and hurriedly covered his mouth.

The live chat was dominated by a screen full of “Hahahahaha.”

Meng Jian’s expression was exceedingly ugly. Gritting his teeth, he turned and strode away.

Once Meng Jian left, Zheng Kang’an shivered all over.

Once the Meng family was gone, the royal family’s next target would be the Zheng family.

What on earth should he do to preserve the Zheng family?

At the same time, at Lisha Castle.

Meng Shan was throwing a hysterical temper tantrum when a red light suddenly flashed outside the window, making him pause abruptly.

A middle-aged Beta rushed into the room, reporting anxiously: “Master, the Yi family army has surrounded us!”

Meng Shan paused for a moment before reacting: “What?!”

The old butler knew things were bad, immediately arranging to relocate Meng Shan.

Meng Shan: “Let them come!”

The old butler advised earnestly, “Your injuries haven’t healed yet. If you fall into their hands, who knows how you’ll be treated. It’s better to hide for a while and wait until the storm passes.”

By the time the old butler finally persuaded him down, they were already surrounded by military vehicles and fighter jets on duty.

Just as Meng Shan was about to move onto a stretcher with the butler’s help, the room door was burst open. A group of fully armed soldiers rushed in, pointing machine guns at him.

“Don’t move! Raise your hands above your head!”

Meng Shan was both shocked and enraged. Slipping his hand, he fell straight off the bed.

Less than half an hour after the live stream ended, the Tianjiang Sector military account released a new update, stating they had secured the suspect, Meng Shan.

The comment section looked like a celebration, beyond festive.

Inside the palace.

The farewell banquet could no longer continue. Li Ji arranged for everyone to return to their residences, planning to host another banquet the following noon to compensate the Shengya Empire officials and exchange students.

Yan Qing and the other instructors led the students back to the annex first.

Li Xiao accompanied Li Ji, and after seeing off the Shengya diplomats, they went to the study for a private talk.

Song Jin hadn’t managed to catch the last batch of desserts, so Li Ji set up a side meal for him. Upon returning to the main hall, he sent Old Liu to bring the desserts over.

Thinking of the materials Yan Qing provided tonight, Li Xiao couldn’t help asking an extra question: “Was Instructor Yan’s academic record material arranged by someone you hired back then?”

At the mention of Yan Qing, Li Ji fell silent for a moment: “No, it’s all real.”

Song Jin: “So Instructor Yan’s actual time of entering the palace was after graduating at age twenty-four?”

Seeing Li Ji remain silent, Old Liu explained with hesitation, “Yan Qing indeed entered the palace at age eighteen. It was the former Queen who arranged for him to attend Imperial Capital University; he was only in the palace on weekends or holidays.”

Song Jin was puzzled: “He entered the palace at eighteen—was it because his education level was too low that it was arranged like this? Did other attendants do the same?”

“Extremely rare; he was considered a special exception.”

Old Liu sighed softly, as if recalling something. “Back then, Her Majesty the Queen was grooming him as the supervisor of the main hall.”

Seeing that Li Ji’s expression looked somewhat off, Li Xiao asked again, “Then what was Meng Jian talking about when he claimed he was suspected of harming Father and Mother?”

Old Liu didn’t dare answer this question.

Li Xiao waited for a moment before Li Ji finally spoke, though not to answer that question.

Li Ji: “Do you know what’s going on with Jin Heng?”

Seeing he was unwilling to answer, Li Xiao didn’t push: “It seems he was threatened by Meng Jian. The person has been detained; it won’t be too late to investigate tomorrow.”

Song Jin added a line: “Gao Wanxin’s reaction was quite interesting too.”

Li Xiao nodded: “He repeatedly urged Jin Heng to go back; he might know something about my origin as well.”

Wei Feng, listening to them start discussing Gao Wanxin, couldn’t help bringing up: “Those few from the Investigation Bureau clearly belong to Meng Jian. Letting them take Meng Jian away—how could they possibly keep him locked up?”

“For now, it’s the only way.”

Li Ji said in a deep voice, “Meng Tu is still at the border. Even if Meng Jian is locked up, going to war remains unavoidable.”

Li Xiao: “The Meng family won’t surrender without a fight; they have no way back. But before war breaks out, we can drain the enemy’s troop scale and minimize the scale of war.”

Song Jin ate his dessert, adding with a bright smile: “Ruining the Meng family’s reputation is far more valuable than chopping them down with a single blade. If that old guy named Meng dares to break out of prison, wouldn’t that be an added crime? It happens to make it convenient for us to find excuses to deal with him. We didn’t have enough evidence in hand to begin with—if he doesn’t take the initiative to add some, how will that do?”

Wei Feng: “…”

As expected of a family, they’re all dark to the core.