My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 17

Chapter 44

That night, Margarita stayed at Yang Hao's house. Perhaps because she was worried that Yang Hao would encounter misfortune if she left, she would sneak over and sleep with him, since he slept on the sofa.

Yang Hao didn't sleep a wink all night. After Margarita finally felt safe and fell into a deep sleep next to him, he quietly sat up, carried her from the floor to the sofa, covered her with a blanket, and glanced at the clock. It was only 11:20 p.m.

Is Miss Koschei asleep? He sighed. He was now in a dead end, but not without a way out. However, before implementing that plan, considering that this [Snake Scale] was still Miss Koschei's private property, he needed to inform her beforehand.

“I still have a way to break this deadlock… even if it’s just for a minute, I can handle it all…” Yang Hao muttered to himself, gently stroking the hair of the sleeping girl who still hadn’t confessed her feelings to him, while tapping away on his phone with the other. “But this might cause losses for the [Serpent Scale] unit. Sigh, after all, it’s her personal property, and I personally prefer that married couples manage their own finances separately… I’ll ask her first.”

He sent the message...and then began to think about his relationship with Margarita.

Even a hint of Margarita's feelings... was too late for Yang Hao. He had waited four years, a full four years...

Why was it only after he had almost agreed on his future with Miss Kosiché that this silly girl was able to muster up the courage?

If only she had come a little earlier...

He sighed, stroking Margarita's gray hair, and knew what he had to do.

...You should politely reject her. After listening to all her thoughts and feelings, politely reject her, offer your blessings for her future, and you can still be best friends.

...Yang Hao waited for Miss Kosiché's reply, while on the other side, Miss Kosiché was in her palace reading the text message Yang Hao had sent.

“My Scales will suffer casualties, but he has to do this to leave Columbia before the state government's people hunt him down? No, not only leave Columbia, but also save the city?” Miss Kosiché murmured thoughtfully to herself. “The casualties of the Scales don’t matter… but what did the ‘consumption’ used to make the secret police evacuate refer to? He can’t order the city lord to commit suicide indefinitely? And the amount of ‘consumption’ depends on the willpower of the controlled? Hmm, even with many limitations, your abilities are still very powerful.”

Miss Koschei had witnessed the entire farce of the evening. Except for the incident in the bathroom, which she didn't know what had happened, she saw everything clearly—when the secret police were about to arrive, Miss Koschei was already planning to order Snakescale to help him. But in the blink of an eye, Yang Hao used his [Puppet Stage] ability to directly make the secret police [voluntarily leave] his house...

This was another new understanding Miss Koschei had of his abilities. But she also realized that Yang Hao's abilities couldn't be used indefinitely; he might need time to recover, or he might need some other means... But that didn't matter. Now Miss Koschei knew that she wouldn't endlessly ask her future husband for help in governing after he came to Ursus. That was it.

Besides that, there's the current situation... In this predicament, he has a way to break the deadlock, instead of asking me to protect them...? And why save that city? His friends... ah, those short-lived friends? It seems my future husband is indeed still a normal person.

Well, Miss Koschich admitted she was very interested, but to prevent him from going too far, she sent out another Serpent Scale unit stationed near the city, which was expected to arrive before 6 a.m. tomorrow.

"Then use it as you see fit. You'll see many more instances of people treating human lives as necessary consumables to be used at will." Miss Kosiché dialed this message into her phone. "But if you can't do that, then my serpent scales will bring you out... Fine. That's it—but that Miss Margarita? Heh, a young blood demon, nothing to fear."

She eagerly sent the text message, waiting for the next day to arrive, wondering what surprise Yang Hao would bring her.

Yang Hao breathed a sigh of relief after receiving Ms. Koschke's reply.

After all, tomorrow he is going to do something unprecedented.

He was to order the Serpent Scales to split into two units first thing tomorrow morning.

A force was dispatched to assassinate the incoming second city lord. If Yang Hao remembered correctly, the second city lord was supposed to be the city lord's deputy. Only after both the city lord and his deputy died in an "accident" within a short period could his plan officially begin.

The other unit was tasked with reaching the control tower in the city center.

There, there is a machine that is not connected to the internet, used to confirm the number of "city lords".

If Yang Hao's guess is correct, he has a place among the candidates for city lord—but there should be nearly dozens of other candidates above him.

He needed the Serpent Scales to kill all the candidates listed above. That way, once the city lord's deputy was dead, the machine would automatically activate. And at that point, he would [naturally] acquire the city lord's title. Although this might only last less than five minutes before the machine detected the problem, it didn't matter.

After obtaining the position of city lord...

He could then use his [Puppet Stage] ability... to control everyone in the city, including the secret police, in the name of the [City Lord].

"...Although it may only be less than five minutes, that's enough time for me to issue the order."

The ability of the [Puppet Stage] allows Yang Hao to forcibly command [everyone] under his name, even those whose names he has usurped. For less than five minutes, he is the city lord, and whatever he says goes. If he wants the city to move south, it cannot move north.

In less than five minutes, he could order the city to move into the heart of Colombia, then command the city's secret police to fight against the state's secret police. If all went well, he might even have time to transfer his assets from the bank...

"Hiss...yes, and those mercenaries too."

What about the mercenaries? How should we deal with them?

Yang Hao thought about it all night and finally got a clue.

Chapter 45

At 6:2 AM on February 14th, the news of the city lord being shot in the back with an arrow—a suicide—became the top story on the city's morning news. Although citizens were quietly discussing whether this was a typical political event in Colombia, as ordinary citizens, they dared not dwell on it too deeply. After their discussion, they quickly ate breakfast and continued with their work.

Few people realize that after the city lord's suicide, his deputy should have taken over his duties—but where is the city lord's deputy now?

The answer is, he was assassinated.

"This is the first one... How many more goals do we have?"

“Our objective has been achieved. The second team has to deal with more than 10 objectives, and we need to go and help them.”

The Serpent Scales casually tossed the city lord's deputy's head into the toilet, not wasting much time. Following the instructions of their future master, they needed to assassinate more than ten more people to complete their mission. And if they weren't mistaken, after killing all their targets, the only remaining candidate for city lord would be that master.

The Serpent Scales didn't understand why their lord would resort to such a radical method to seize the city lord's position at this crucial moment, but as soldiers, they didn't need to think that far ahead. Silently lying in wait, the first Serpent Scale squad reached the location of the second squad, and the fully-staffed squad was ready to begin their next operation.

But before that, they had to wait for orders, for new orders to come from Yang Hao.

...

Before long, new orders were issued. The Serpent Scales were divided into ten groups, each group targeting a specific objective, and each objective was a candidate city lord.

They exchanged glances and then dispersed at the rendezvous point near the control tower to carry out their missions. Meanwhile, watching as the Serpent Scales split into ten groups on the map and headed towards their respective targets to carry out their assassinations, Yang Hao, who was at home, was also nervously planning his own actions.

"Ten other potential city lords besides myself have been identified as targets... and a Serpent Scale unit is on its way from outside the city? Hmm... I owe Miss Koschei a huge favor..."

Because Margarita was still asleep, Yang Hao spoke very softly. Having not slept all night, he gently patted Margarita's hair while intently planning everything on the map.

He needed to wait until the first Serpent Scale unit completed all the assassinations before ordering them to infiltrate the top of the control tower in the city's core area and activate the offline machine. Alternatively, he could wait until the city lord's deputy's death was reported to the city government, and then have them activate the machine themselves.

If Yang Hao remembered correctly, although that machine was not connected to the internet, it could use some kind of peculiar technology to determine whether a candidate city lord was qualified to participate in the election.

With my intervention, all the candidate city lords died in assassinations, and only I survived. The machine should automatically determine that I will become the next city lord. Of course, the people in the city government are not fools, and they will soon realize the connection between those unfortunate people who died tragically and me.

Then, government officials who realize the possible connection between Yang Hao and the unfortunate assassin will only make one choice: to manually take control of the machine, strip Yang Hao of all his titles and honors, and freeze all his assets.

The machine, when operated manually, would have taken several minutes to modify the commands, stripping Yang Hao of all his honors for obtaining the title of city lord, and depriving him of all the rituals required for his succession as city lord, but it didn't matter.

Yang Hao doesn't need those things. As long as the machine determines that he has become the city lord, then he is the city lord. He could even permanently obtain the position of city lord by using the [Puppet Stage] to force those officials to abandon their duties after becoming the city lord, but this would not benefit him at all. On the contrary, it would disrupt his plans due to the [Rebel Army] that would be caused by doing so.

He only needed a few minutes. In those few minutes, he could move the city, transfer his assets, and order the city's secret police to clash with the state's secret police. As for what would happen if he were stripped of his title afterward? Who cared!

If nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to leave this city today. Sigh, poor Margarita...

"The first one..."

He murmured to himself, realizing that the first candidate for city lord had already been assassinated. This went more smoothly than he had expected, because the Serpent Scales' operation seemed to have encountered little hindrance. The secret police were like paid employees who did nothing but eat and do nothing, doing absolutely nothing at this time.

"the second."

The second candidate for city lord also died quickly. However, this caused some unrest—although Yang Hao admitted that the candidate might have lived near his home, that wasn't a valid reason to have someone die in a car accident on the street, was it?

The loud crash of the car collision outside startled Yang Hao and also triggered an immediate reaction from Margarita. She jumped off the sofa and pulled out a weapon from the direction of the sound.

“Margarita, it’s alright. I’m... securing our escape route.”

"Huh? Sigh..." She was stunned for a while, and after realizing that it was still safe here, she relaxed. She obediently put the weapon in her hand—the crossbow bolt that she had picked up from the table when she jumped up—back in its place.

......

Soon after, the third, fourth, and fifth candidate city lords also met untimely deaths. While Yang Hao was ordering Margarita to wash up [and prepare to leave], the three unfortunate souls who seemed to be having breakfast together were all killed by three groups of snake scales.

But the commotion they caused was just too big. So big that an "Event" popped up in front of Yang Hao's screen.

[Event: Who is carrying out the assassination?]

A brutal and inhumane assassination and purge operation is underway in a Colombian city, targeting the position of city lord. This operation will determine your life or death; only success is acceptable, failure is not an option.

But the city's secret police won't sit idly by. They're not paid to do nothing. Although they haven't figured out who's behind this, they'll stop you at all costs.

"grass!"

"it is good!"

】

"grass!"

Yang Hao subconsciously followed one of the two options that popped up in the incident and made the exact same cry. Soon, with a worried look on his face, he saw the bitter consequences of alarming the city.

The assassination attempt on the sixth candidate for city lord—a police chief—failed. Their attempt caused chaos at the police station, and in desperation, they chose to perish together with the candidate in an explosion in the police station's highest office.

In response to this incident, the city's secret police have already begun their operation. They are not the kind of people who do paid chores, nor are they a match for the Snake Scales, but they have a numerical advantage. Once they get in touch with the state government personnel, Yang Hao will truly be doomed.

Chapter 46

I can't let the secret police interfere with my survival!

With this in mind, Yang Hao ordered the first five groups of Snake Scales, who had already completed their orders and were on their way to the rendezvous point, to assist the remaining three groups in the assassination.

Meanwhile, the second Serpent Scale unit also slipped in through the city's checkpoints. Considering that the first Serpent Scale unit could complete their work on their own, Yang Hao decided after a moment's thought to have the second Serpent Scale unit stand by near his home. This was partly to guard against the arrival of the secret police, and partly to ensure that, in an emergency, he and Margarita could at least be escorted out of the city.

"Yang Hao...it's not safe here."

While Yang Hao anxiously awaited good news from the first Serpent Scale unit regarding the assassination, Margarita, who had already prepared to leave the city, returned to the living room and brought him bread to eat. She sat down beside him with a frown and said, "I seem to have used my prophetic abilities to foresee something terrible."

"what happened?"

"...Secret police will arrive in half an hour. They are fully armed...they are the state government's secret police."

This is definitely not good news. But why did the state government's secret police come? Didn't I just spend all my political points to get them to leave for two days?

Faced with Yang Hao's confused look, Margarita remained silent for a moment before shaking her head and saying, "...It's not the unit you chased away yesterday... This unit, the medals I saw are different... It seems to be a unit from another state."

"...Interstate enforcement?"

"...Um."

This is troublesome. It turns out the troops that have arrived aren't from Louisiana, but from another state?

Cross-state law enforcement is a major taboo under Colombian law! What are people from another state planning to do here? Oh well.

The two state government secret forces are definitely in competition, so if they're so keen to pour Fanta and Sprite into the pool that already contains Pepsi and Coca-Cola, then let them do it.

Anyway, they'll be the ones who suffer in the end. With that thought in mind, Yang Hao grabbed the bread Margarita offered and stuffed it into his mouth to fill his stomach.

......

[Event: Concerns from Assekhan]

A prominent figure in Assack has clearly been in some kind of rivalry with Lord K of Louisiana. Now, discovering Lord K's unusual interest in you, and harboring the ambition to possess you for political gain, Assack has sent two secret police units to the city.

"Fuck you." Two Arsène State secret police officers entered the city, causing a 10% drop in city stability and a -150 relationship between Louisiana and Arsène. The secret police are now hostile to both states.

"Fuck it?!"

"Huh?! Yang, Yang Hao?"

He was eating when he suddenly witnessed this terrible event. Although Margarita's prophecy had given him some peace of mind, Yang Hao still couldn't vent his anger without yelling it out.

What do you mean by "some kind of competition"? What do you mean by "special attention" to me? Am I your personal property or your spoils? Whether it's that K or that big shot from Assack, why are you manipulating me without my consent?!

Why couldn't we just live our lives peacefully from the start?! Especially you, K, you're practically the culprit who made my life so miserable! I just wanted a peaceful life, and you're pushing me to the top—what are you really after?!

...Indeed, to live comfortably, one must sit in a high enough position.

Yang Hao took two deep breaths, and just as he was about to be blinded by anger, Margarita hugged him and gently comforted him while using her not-so-full but firm breasts to calm him down from his dizzy state.

"...Are you alright?"

Seeing Yang Hao's complexion return to normal, Margarita breathed a sigh of relief. She released his hand, sat up straight again, and muttered softly, "I rarely see you like this... What's wrong?"

“...A big shot from another continent sent his troops in for my head.” Yang Hao sighed, grabbing Margarita’s wrist as she stood up as if ready to fight the approaching secret police to the death. “Margarita, stay here. We have to wait.”

"but--"

"...Miss Kosiché's private guard will protect us."

"..."

Her body stiffened, and after a while, knowing this wasn't the time to be impulsive, she nodded, stiffly sat back down, and once again lost her composure in her gaze towards Yang Hao, just like the night before.

...However, Yang Hao didn't have time to provide Margarita with psychological counseling or do much else right now. After offering some comfort, he could only continue to devote his energy to this major event that concerned his and Margarita's lives, as well as the safety of their friends' families, and he was unable to extricate himself from it.

That's why he failed to notice what changes were happening in Margarita's mind.

Chapter 47