Looking at the guy whose palm had already been pierced, Lin Yi’s lips curved slightly upward as he kindly reminded:

"Brother, don’t you find anything strange about this situation?

Don’t you want to know why you were stabbed the first time?

This has nothing to do with me at all. If you want to blame someone, blame them instead."

As soon as these words were spoken, his expression immediately changed. Originally twisted from pain, his face turned even more gloomy, and at this moment, the old man clearly knew Lin Yi was trying to sow discord.

He wanted to explain, but didn’t know what to say, as there were indeed many strange things about this situation, making it easy to misunderstand. No matter what he said now, the other side wouldn’t believe it, given that this incident did happen, and he indeed requested it. Nonetheless, he couldn’t stay silent, so he angrily spoke again:

"Boy, I know for sure you’re one of the Third Prince’s men, but I advise you to be kind and stop trying to drive a wedge between me and my subordinates.

Clarify your intentions and tell the full story, and I’ll naturally let you go. If not, don’t blame me for being ruthless.

Even if you’re one of the Third Prince’s men, I certainly won’t be lenient. I’ll make a report before His Majesty, ensuring you pay the price, and not just you—the Third Prince behind you shouldn’t think of escaping responsibility."

At this point, the old man once again assumed Lin Yi was part of the Third Prince’s faction. Such actions could only be taken by the Third Prince’s people, trying to sow discord between him and his subordinates to exploit the situation.

Seeing the old man once again labeling him as the Third Prince’s man, Lin Yi shook his head helplessly and continued speaking:

"Alright, since you think I’m the Third Prince’s man, I won’t say much. How about we play another game, and I’ll reveal the truth to you? Do you dare?"

Upon hearing this, the old man’s face visibly darkened, confirming his suspicion—there was no escape now.

This guy must be one of the Third Prince’s men. And as expected, he was doing all this to sow discord between him and his subordinates, just as he had guessed.

But now, this guy actually mentioned playing the game again, forcing him to furrow his brows.

The previous game had already left him puzzled.

The previous game had already left him puzzled, as although he’d clearly put it in the fourth one, it somehow ended up in the first one, which felt quite strange. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Of course, Lin Yi wasn’t going to tell him that it was all his manipulation.

To Lin Yi, this was all too simple. For others, even if they knew which one contained the dagger, when it was their turn, they’d have to grit their teeth and press down.

But for Lin Yi, he only needed a thought to take the dagger into the System Space and place it where he wanted.

This was why, despite the old man putting the dagger in the fourth bag, it appeared in the first bag.

All of this was done by Lin Yi, thanks to the help of the System Space.

Naturally, Lin Yi wasn’t going to reveal this, because this was the result he wanted.

At this moment, the old man’s face was clearly grim again, and Lin Yi, seeing it, couldn’t help but smirk and continued to ridicule:

"What’s wrong? I heard the old General is afraid of nothing, but now it seems that’s just rumor; you’re really not that extraordinary.

Afraid to handle even such a small matter—it’s truly laughable. How did you even manage to reach the rank of General? Seems there’s quite a bit of nepotism involved.

A cowardly and timid person reaching such position, it must have been through connections.

Haha, let me tell you—I despise people like that the most, those who can’t rise through skill but use connections, only misleading others, putting soldiers under someone like you is a joke, and risking their lives even more, haha."

Though anyone could tell Lin Yi was using provocation tactics, it had to be said that those in the military fell for it easily, and the old man was no exception. Hearing Lin Yi’s words, he flew into a rage, not knowing what line of reasoning he had, disregarded caution and accepted the challenge.

This was actually beyond Lin Yi’s expectations; he hadn’t thought the old man would be so stubborn, aware of his absence yet still going along with it—it truly validated the saying that the military is full of fools.

What Lin Yi didn’t expect next was the old man directly pointed at a nearby junior officer, commanding him:

"You go and face him, this time, I will personally arrange it, I just don’t believe he’ll still come up with tricks."

After speaking, he strode confidently to the row of paper bags, picked up each one, thoroughly checked them, and after ensuring there were no issues, breathed a long sigh of relief.

Perhaps earlier he had been a bit muddle-headed, unclear mentally about where the item was placed, causing the strange occurrence before, but with the lesson learned, he vowed to keep a close eye on the bag with the dagger.

He just didn’t believe it would happen again like before.

However, the General he pointed to turned pale at once, never expecting the old man to act so shamelessly. Though having agreed to it himself, he was now shirking the responsibility onto him—such a disgrace!

He wanted to retort, but seeing the old man’s tense face, he dared not say anything.

After all, the old man was known for being harsh; no one in the army dared defy his orders, knowing there wouldn’t be a good outcome. Even if this time he didn’t strike the dagger due to defiance, he wouldn’t be treated well afterwards.

[To be continued...]