But what did I know back then?

After meeting Guyu Gege and Siwei Jiejie, I told them about the idea the “Executioner” Jiejie had given me.

As long as we could kill all the “Participants” for two rounds, we would still have one last sliver of hope for liberation.

This might be my last chance to free myself before becoming “The Happy Prince.”

But they told me that was unrealistic.

Right now, there were several thousand family members in the entire family, and we were only three people.

Among those thousands of people, there were even a large number of “Fragrance Bearers” suited for combat and self-preservation. Even if the three of us were all holding machine guns, we might not necessarily be able to kill everyone.

Much less carry out a full extermination for two consecutive cycles, and much less when we didn’t have machine guns.

They said this kind of reshuffling method that killed everyone at once was probably something even Earth-level “Zodiacs” couldn’t accomplish.

According to the classification Guyu Gege provided, all three of us were support-type “Fragrances.” Forget about killing people—if it really came to a fight, even escaping would be a problem. Those people were all living humans. Although they seemed to lack opinions now, when their lives were at stake, they absolutely wouldn’t allow themselves to be slaughtered.

Thus, even the last path the “Executioner” Jiejie had provided was no longer viable.

I had truly become “The Happy Prince.”

Siwei Jiejie told me she was willing to become the swallow, and Guyu Gege would be the sword I held in my hand.

Although Guyu Gege couldn’t be like a real sword helping me conquer in all directions, his very existence was a deterrent.

Many years passed in succession. We were all rushing about for this family and helping every person I could see as much as possible. Although none of us knew how to get out, I only hoped that my family members would live happily.

All the “Jade” everyone earned was kept by themselves and could be stored in the various lockers in the office building. Because there were many rooms and many “Participants,” Guyu Gege arranged for ten people to share one locker. These ten people would supervise each other. Since embezzling “Jade” would be dealt with by family rules, no one dared take this risk.

I always remembered the “Happy Prince” that Jiejie told me about, and I always remembered the “big brother” that Xu Jiahua told me about. These two were the direction of my efforts.

My mind would also often recall that shocking scent from several years ago. It had been about four years since then. Days began to become monotonous. One day, I suddenly discovered that the newspaper crown and short sword Jiejie had folded for me had already begun to yellow.

Before I knew it, I had stayed here for eight years. I felt my sanity was about to have problems.

After I figured out many issues, I truly felt how ridiculous this place was.

What kind of “prison” was this supposed to be?

After capturing a group of people and putting them together, just letting them fend for themselves—was this a “prison”?

Even if it really was a “prison,” I should have been released long ago. So why had no one ever come to release me?

How much longer did I have to stay in this “prison”?

Why did everyone need to rack their brains just to obtain “Fragrance,” yet why could I smell scents the moment I arrived?

I never needed to work hard like others did to obtain this rare ability. In all of “Jade City,” I had never seen anyone else’s ability identify “Fragrances.”

This might be how my entire life would be, right? I had entered a fairy tale. In this world, I was the “hero” loved by everyone, leading my subjects living in dire straits. After ten days, I could return to the real world and see parents and teachers who never needed me.

Was this kind of life truly normal? Were there other people like me in the entire world?

I felt I was really going crazy. Was the path I chose really the right one?

Once, in order to play the role of “The Happy Prince” in my mind, I tried going ten consecutive days without eating anything, distributing my food to all my subjects. In the end, I starved to death on the sixth day.

But I still had no regrets, and I still couldn’t find back the sanity I was about to lose.

After all, my memories would never be lost. Even if I died in the interview room, the result would be the same.

On a certain day about nine years later, a small incident occurred in our “family.” At first, I didn’t pay attention, but thinking back on it later, that was probably the fuse that caused the final disaster.

But even without that fuse, would our “family” not have been destroyed?

A team enthusiastic about participating in various games came to the basement of the office building one evening in high spirits and opened the locker belonging to them.

The locker where they were about to save up fifty-seven thousand six hundred pieces of “Jade” was empty—exactly the same as what had happened to Uncle Wan many years ago.

This matter reached my ears. I didn’t have time to notify Guyu Gege and Siwei Jiejie and immediately got up to check the situation. I thought I could pacify everyone like last time, but unexpectedly, as soon as I entered the basement, someone grabbed me by the collar.

“Damn it…” That man shouted. “Where’s our ‘Jade’?! Why has it disappeared again?!”

Seeing him like this, I was startled. I had never imagined that one day I would be grabbed by the collar and pulled up from the ground.

At this moment, my crown fell to the ground and rolled weakly.

A large crowd of people surrounded the area, but none of them reached out to stop him.

“I… how would I know?” I said with a trembling voice. “Don’t get agitated first. I came to solve the problem…”

“Is there still a problem to solve?!” That person shouted loudly. “Isn’t this already very obvious?! You have the same thoughts as Wan Cai—you’re all coveting our ‘Jade’!!”

“How is that possible?!” I shouted, trying to break free from his fist, but after all, my body was a child’s and I simply didn’t have that much strength. “I’ve been doing everything I can to help you all collect ‘Jade.’ How could I embezzle it at this time?! Not just me, but everyone in this family couldn’t possibly…”

Before I finished speaking, I suddenly froze.

Was I overlooking something?

Was there really no one in this place who would hide that “Jade”?

“Why did you stop talking?” That person called out viciously. “We trust you so much—do you really think you’re a ‘hero’?! You’re just a useless little…”

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly widened his eyes. At this moment, I also witnessed with my own eyes a transparent hole appearing in his chest.

The hand gripping me slowly loosened. He turned his head back in disbelief, and I also took advantage of this moment to turn my head and look. Guyu Gege was holding a transparent object in his hand, stabbing it into the man’s chest.

He had rushed over from somewhere and happened to save me.

The man didn’t have time to say a word and slowly fell to the ground. His several teammates also froze at this moment.

“Have you eaten the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard?” Guyu Gege asked. “Who permitted you to grab the hero by the collar and interrogate him?”

It seemed Siwei Jiejie was right—he was my sword.