行尸走肉第3季

As the girls entered his room, Ryan furrowed his brow, seeing the distraught looks on the four girl's faces.

"What happened?"

Emily ran over to Ryan and grabbed him tightly, burying her face in his chest. "Ryan…"

Lightly stroking her hair, Ryan looked at Grace, raising his eyebrows. "Are you healed?"

The blue veins Ryan had been expecting to see weren't present, but that didn't mean she looked healthy.

Sunken cheeks and puffy eyes made her look like she hadn't slept in days and had been crying nonstop.

Emily stared up at him from his chest, saying, "It's her village…"

"What about Wakana Village?" Ryan asked, looking at Grace.

"It's gone. It's gone. They are all dead!" Grace cried, started sobbing uncontrollably, and flung herself onto Ryan's bed.

Ryan looked at the three girls. "You better tell me what's going on."

"I'll start," Emily said as she glanced at Lizzy and Izzy.

"So our search for Grace led us to Wakana Village. We went into the village and thought something was strange."

"Why?" Ryan asked.

"Because there were cultivators, but the village looked very poor."

Emily continued, "We didn't find Grace in the village, so we stopped investigating and waited outside the village, hoping Grace would show up. She did, but she showed up with two travelers, an old lady and someone who lived in the village."

Izzy cut in, "When we first saw Grace, we were surprised because she didn't look bad. She told us that the old lady had given her some tea which cured her."

Emily continued, "We found that very strange. Why would some random old lady have a tea that cured the Grand Empress' poison?"

"By the time we figured that out, the old lady was gone. We raced to the village knowing something might be wrong…"

Grace howled, "My Mother, my people, all dead!"

Izzy continued, "Ryan, it was awful. The villagers were hacked to pieces, disemboweled, blood everywhere."

'It was, however, very skillfully done,' Izzy added in her mind.

"By the time we found Emily's mom, she only had a few minutes to live."

Ryan's folded his hands across his chest as he stared without emotion. "What did she say?"

Lizzy finally spoke. "She told Emily we could only trust the Duchess Vanroth and the Frost General. She also said that only the Grand Empress had real power in the human empire, not the Empress. Then, finally, she told Grace that the Grand Empress has somehow been repressing the men on Ravier."

Ryan's eyebrows rose, "Repressing men?"

'I must save their defective members…'

Lizzy waved her hand in the air, "Whatever, that's not the most important thing."

Ryan cocked his head, 'Have I been repressed though? If I have, I would love to see what I am like when I'm not repressed!'

Lizzy continued, rolling her eyes at Ryan. "I know exactly what you are thinking, but right now isn't the time. Apparently, the Grand Empress has her sights set on the Dawn Pavillion…"

Izzy cut her off, her voice up an octave, and she bounced on her toes, "She's enacted a secret project she calls 'subject one.' And…"

"Everything will happen at the wedding," all three girls said in unison.

'The Dawn Pavilion… the same as my vision,' Ryan thought.

"Why the wedding?" Ryan asked.

The three girls shook their heads and raised their shoulders.

"We don't know," answered Emily.

Ryan looked at the three girls, "Was it the old lady who killed everyone in the village?

Grace sobbed. "Yes, the old lady cured me, then killed everyone I love. I led her to my village," she wailed, "it was my life for all of theirs." Emily rolled herself up in the blankets and continued to sob.

Emily said in a low voice, "Ryan, it was a rebel village. At least that's what Grace's mother said."

Ryan looked at Grace, confused.

Lizzy said, "We don't think Grace knew anything about the rebel movement or what her mother did. That's why she was sent away to school and why she's still alive."

Ryan asked, "So you think the Grand Empress slaughtered the village because they were rebels?"

"Yes," answered Lizzy, "We're pretty sure the Grand Empress poisoned Grace, then cured Grace to manipulate her so that the Grand Empress could find the location of Wakana Village."

"So now we have to find out what the Grand Empress' plans are for the wedding and what exactly is this 'project one.' Ryan looked lost in thought.

The girls nodded in agreement as they all looked toward the sobbing Grace.

===

​ Ryan headed out of his dorm room, filled with vigor now that he at least had some answers.

'Hopefully, this meeting with Mara will shed further light on this plot for the Dawn Pavilion.'

As Ryan headed off campus after getting permission, he decided to test his new bloodline to see if he could detect anyone following him.

Pretending to sit on a bench, Ryan fell into his meditative state, sensing every molecule within a 50m range.

'Sure enough,' Ryan thought as two people entered his domain.

Focusing on the two figures, he could sense that they were B-Ranked cultivators. 'My bloodline even enhances my energy vision,' Ryan thought, surprised that he could perceive someone two ranks higher than himself.

Deciding it was for the best that he allowed them to suspect he didn't know of their presence, Ryan got off the bench and continued toward the location Mara had given him.

After walking a few more minutes, Ryan was greeted by a luxurious mansion surrounded by high walls and a gate stationed by not one, not two, but three C-Ranked cultivators.

"Halt!" the cultivator closest to Ryan shouted, pointing their spear towards Ryan.

Ryan raised his eyebrow. "Is this how you greet your Young Master's guests?"

The guard's smug smile faltered as she said, "You're here for Lady Frost?"

"I call her Mara, but I bet she calls you dog." Then, striding toward the gate, Ryan walked past the baffled guard, who didn't dare touch the man who so confidently talked down a high-ranking cultivator.

Entering the premises, Ryan stopped for a second and sat on the ground. 'I know I look weird, but I need to know if those people from the military are going to follow me.'

The three guards, who had just watched an arrogant man stroll past them, about lost their minds when he suddenly dropped to the ground in a meditative pose.

"What do you think Lady Frost's guest is doing?" the first guard asked.

"He's probably preparing to meet our lady. She isn't exactly the easiest person to get along with."

"I bet he's pissing his pants. Seems like the type of man to do it anyway," the first guard said, trying to get over the humiliation of Ryan saying Mara called her a dog.

Rising from the ground, Ryan turned to look at the first guard and turned on his aura.

'Although I probably can't beat you in a fight, that doesn't mean I can't win in other ways.'

Focusing his pleasure aura on the first guard exclusively, Ryan started to walk toward her.

"You know Mara isn't the only one who calls you a mutt."

"People call you a bitch in the heat behind your back all the time. You just don't hear it."

As Ryan was talking, the guard started to squirm under Ryan's aura as she felt a tingling sensation in her nether regions.

'What is happening to me?' the guard thought. 'I'm usually only this horny when I get stepped on by the General!'

"'Just a bitch in heat,' they say. 'Nothing but a bitch in heat,'" As Ryan got close to the guard, his breath started to tickle the guard's neck, making her hairs stand to attention.

Starting to whimper from the mixture of pleasure, humiliation, and shame, the guard's gaze stuck to the floor as she muttered, "I-I didn't mean-"

"I don't care what you meant. Now drop to your knees and-"

Before Ryan could finish his statement, he heard, "Please come inside, Mr. Dire."