Chapter Fifty-Four: The Monster Will Devour Them All

Night had fallen, and the city of Florence, which should have gradually returned to its usual calm, was now plunged into chaos. Different sheets of paper were plastered along streets and alleyways, and after reading the news on them, the dark elves spread the word like wildfire.

“The monster is here! Tell everyone—if you don’t, you’re not a true dark elf!”

“There’s a curse on this paper—if you don’t pass it on to six people, your whole family will die! Hurry, spread the word!”

“The monster has really come. I didn’t believe it at first either, but now everyone’s talking about it!”

News of a monster seizing Grand City and heading towards Emerald City spread across Florence with alarming speed. Unwittingly, Lin Lei had poked a gaping hole in the fabric of dark elf society.

Never before had this world seen such a barrage of sensational headlines. With the recent unrest over the change of monarch, the people’s anxiety about their new ruler was palpable. The rumors scrawled on those scraps of paper were like sparks, igniting the tinder of collective unease.

“It’s horrifying! The monster swears to devour every last dark elf!”

“Chilling! Grand City has become a living hell! Pass it on or you’re not a dark elf!”

Eve and the Leopard, using invisibility and stealth, pasted two sheets with terrifying headlines onto a wall, then immediately teleported back inside.

“Your Highness, that ‘living hell’ picture you drew is terrifying!”

Back in the room, Eve saw Lin Lei still writing furiously. She hadn’t expected him to have such a knack for drawing; his illustrations were truly frightening.

“It’s just some cartoons, nothing much!” Lin Lei waved his hand proudly. The effect had exceeded his expectations—those fools had never seen the ‘Shock Department’ of UC, so he wasn’t surprised, but he hadn’t expected so many to believe even the ‘family curse’ lines. They were utterly defenseless—like lambs to the slaughter.

“I’ll keep going!” Lin Lei reached for another sheet from the thick stack beside him, only to discover he was out of paper.

“We’re out of paper, what now?”

“I’ll go find some.” The Leopard volunteered, slipping out to hunt for more.

Eve leafed through the stack of news Lin Lei had already written, puzzled. “Your Highness, why do you keep mentioning the Queen in these?”

Each sheet was different, but almost all pointed to the Queen as the mastermind behind the news, making it seem as though she herself had spread the rumors. But if the new king saw this, he’d be enraged—he’d want nothing more than to kill the Queen.

“Aren’t you trying to save her? By writing this, aren’t you putting her at risk?”

Eve couldn’t understand Lin Lei’s logic. Even if the new king knew the rumors weren’t from the Queen, in such turbulent times, he would never allow her reputation to rise again—most likely, it would only endanger her further.

“News needs a source to appear credible, and the Queen is the ultimate authority,” Lin Lei replied. Without using the Queen’s name, the effect would never be so pronounced.

“But isn’t that hurting her—”

“I never said I wouldn’t hurt her,” Lin Lei replied with a sly smile. “Saving her is one thing, but if I get the chance to bully her a bit, why not take it?” He knew that cunning woman was far from easy prey—this might even be giving her an opening. Besides, if the new king took action, Eve could locate the Queen more quickly.

“Keep a close eye on the new king’s movements,” Lin Lei instructed. Just then, the Leopard returned, carrying a box of paper in its mouth.

“Master, will this be enough?”

“Plenty! Eve, you copy them here; we’ll go post them.”

Lin Lei set Eve to copying the news while he and the Leopard went out to put them up. They were faster posting than Eve was at copying, so eventually Lin Lei had the Leopard fetch papers to paste while he himself took to the streets, pen in hand, scrawling as he went.

“Unbelievable! The Grand Magus was eaten by zombies!”

He was getting addicted to it now. The first few headlines had been awkward, but soon each one grew more eye-catching, each story more explosive than the last.

As soon as he finished one, Lin Lei would teleport to another location and start the next.

“Incredible! The new king covers up monster attacks—Is this the collapse of morality or the distortion of human nature?”

He didn’t bother with invisibility spells, and before long attracted the attention of the dark elf guards, who began chasing him—though of course, they never managed to catch him.

Florence was in utter turmoil. The guards dared not cast large-scale spells for fear of making the chaos worse, and the tangled web of information meant the Chief Astrologer’s prophecies could no longer be implemented smoothly.

The disturbance among the dark elves grew. The guards, unable to coordinate, focused their efforts on stopping the spread of the news and calming the populace.

Some nobles appeared in person, standing in the streets to loudly reassure the panicked citizens.

These were extraordinary times—no noble could afford to ignore the need to display loyalty. The former Queen had been deeply loved by the people, while the new king’s authority had not yet taken root. Though he held the Wheels of the Twin Moons, it would take time before the people obeyed him without question.

“Everyone, remain calm! It’s all lies! Lies! There are no monsters!”

On Florence’s largest boulevard, a venerable prince shouted, “You must trust His Majesty! Don’t listen to the wood elves’ rumors!”

But the dark elves were unconvinced.

“There are pictures—proof! We’ve seen what the monster looks like, and you still deny it!”

“That’s right! How can you prove it’s not true?”

The prince’s heart was heavy. He knew there were indeed monsters in Grand City, though not as many casualties as reported—but he couldn’t say that now. The monsters had truly conquered Grand City, but the elves had lost control of the narrative. If the populace discovered the monsters were real, the chaos would only grow.

“Everyone—there really are no monsters! Don’t believe the rumors, they’re lies spread by the wood elves!” the prince declared again.

The dark elves pressed him: “If it’s a lie, then where is the Grand Magus…?”

“We’ve heard the news—the Grand Magus was killed by the monster!”

“The Grand Magus…” The prince knew this secret couldn’t be kept; many elven mages could sense the Grand Magus’s power returning to the earth.

But this was a chance—to redirect their anger toward the wood elves. “Everyone, stay calm! The Grand Magus wasn’t killed by a monster! He was murdered by the wood elves!”

The street fell silent. The prince thought he’d struck the right note; the wood elves were the dark elves’ mortal enemies, and the people’s attention had shifted.

But the next moment, a barrage of radishes and cabbages pelted him.

“You expect us to believe that?!”

“The Grand Magus enjoys the earth’s protection—how could the wood elves assassinate him on our land?”

“He’s the Grand Magus! Who could possibly kill him?”

“If he was assassinated, then who did it? At least give us a name we’ve heard before!”

“That’s, that’s…” The prince was at a loss. Was he supposed to claim the Grand Magus was slain by a mere youth? No one would believe it.

Seeing the prince stammer, the dark elves were convinced they’d hit the mark. Panic rippled through the streets.

“If the prince can’t answer, the Grand Magus must have been killed by the monster!”

“No one else could kill him—only the monster could slay the Grand Magus!”

“It must be true! The new king is trying to cover everything up—he doesn’t care about protecting us at all!”

The dark elves were terrified. If all these rumors were true, the monster would devour them all.