Skinwalker Belle – Chapter 454 – Lin Fan’s Death Notebook

Lin Fan and Long Hui walked along the streets of Red Horn City.

“This way, please.” Long Hui bowed as he led the way, afraid of being even half a step too slow.

“How do the quotas for Red Horn City work?” Lin Fan asked.

“The higher-ups require us to send at least ten experts above the fifth rank.” Long Hui said with a grimace. “You saw it yourself just now—even counting me and the few garrison commanders, we can’t scrape together five people. The rest either fled or simply don’t measure up.”

“If you use me to fill the quota, won’t they check into it?”

“How could they possibly check!” Long Hui slapped his chest. “With a seventh-rank master backing us, that carries more weight than a hundred fifth-rankers! The overseer at White Bone Pass won’t just let it slide—they’ll have to commend Red Horn City for responding so promptly.”

“Then that works.”

A pillow arrives just as drowsiness sets in.

Infiltrating White Bone Pass on my own wouldn’t be impossible, but I’d have to expend Mental Strength maintaining my disguise and deal with all sorts of inspections along the way.

Now that my original body is wanted, showing up there would mean getting swarmed from all sides.

But with an official document issued by the Red Horn City lord’s manor, going there is now completely legitimate.

Those fifty Epic-grade Skins I’m missing—this time, they’re as good as secured.

At the entrance to the lord’s manor, Long Hui bellowed at the servants.

“Go! Get the A-grade guest room prepared! Bring the finest meat from the estate! Hurry! Don’t dawdle!”

The servants scrambled off in a flurry.

Long Hui turned to Lin Fan with a smile. “Lady Ning Shuang, it’s a bit humble, but please make do for one night. Tomorrow morning, I’ll personally deliver the lord’s manor certificate to you.”

Lin Fan nodded. “One more thing.”

“Please, speak.”

Rеαd оո КatRеaⅾiոɡСαfe

“Who’s in charge at White Bone Pass right now?”

Long Hui thought for a moment. “Those gathering there now are all scattered troops pulled from various regions. The ones leading should be a few deputy commanders from the First Legion. But I hear the Council of Elders is about to send an elder to personally oversee the campaign.”

“Which elder?”

“That… I’m not sure.” Long Hui lowered his voice. “Matters concerning the Purebloods—we’re hardly qualified to pry into those. Lady Ning Shuang, when you get there, if you run into Pureblood people, it’s best to yield a little. Don’t clash with them head-on. Those folks have very petty hearts.”

“Understood. Go make the preparations.” Lin Fan waved him off.

Long Hui looked as if he’d been granted amnesty, and hurried off at a jog to make arrangements.

Lin Fan walked into the guest room.

A maidservant followed behind, carrying in a large tray bearing a slab of half-roasted beast meat, grease still seeping from it. One glance at the color told her the cooking was mediocre at best.

Lin Fan glanced at it.

“Take it away. I don’t need anyone attending to me.”

The maidservant quickly retreated with the tray and closed the door behind her.

The footsteps faded into the distance, and the room fell quiet.

Lin Fan bent down and slipped off the black cloth shoes from her feet, setting them by the bedpost.

Then the socks.

The white lace-trimmed ankle socks peeled down from her ankles, and she pinched them between her fingers, giving them a little shake.

Back when she wore Long Ning Shuang’s Skin, this had been a major problem.

The Dragon Clan’s sweat glands were absurdly overdeveloped. After half a day of walking, her socks would be soaked enough to wring out water, and the smell was absolutely atrocious.

She’d been utterly disgusted by it back then.

Reaⅾ оո КаtRеаⅾіոɡСαfе

But there was no choice—at the time, she’d had to operate using Long Ning Shuang’s Skin. Disgusted or not, she’d had to endure it.

Not anymore.

The Myriad-Change Witch was her innate ability. The appearance of Long Ning Shuang she conjured was merely a disguise—the core of her body remained her own.

The metabolic system of a Legendary Lifeform had long since evolved to an entirely different dimension—what circulated through their body was nothing but pure Life Aura. Forget body odor; even if intense exertion forced out a bead of sweat, it would smell like…

Lin Fan brought the sock to her nose and sniffed.

Mm.

Fragrant.

A very faint scent, the kind of crisp, clean aroma that followed the first rain after a long dry spell.

“No wonder that bastard Zhou Ming treasures this thing like a precious gem,” Lin Fan muttered to herself, casually tossing the sock onto the edge of the bed.

She glanced down at her own feet.

The cherry-red polish on her toenails had reverted to its natural bare color after the transformation. The skin on the tops of her feet was so pale it carried a faint, jade-like luster. Her toes were slender and evenly proportioned, the curve of each joint elegantly shaped.

Not quite the kind of appearance that could stop people in their tracks like her true form, but by Dragon Spirit Continent standards, it was definitely up to beauty standards.

Lin Fan withdrew her gaze, straightened up, and stripped off the black-and-gold horse-face skirt, lying down on the bed in just her undergarments.

A hard, unyielding wooden plank bed. Covered with a pathetically thin animal-hide mattress, the boards digging painfully into her back.

Compared to that large bed in the Azurewood City lord’s manor, fitted with a Blue Star memory-foam mattress, this was no different from sleeping on a washboard.

“Backwater dump.” Lin Fan rolled over, finding a slightly less uncomfortable position. “I’ll make do for one night.”

Her eyes were closed, but her mind was still racing.

Reαⅾ οո KаtReaⅾingCаfе

White Bone Pass.

The Council of Elders of the Dragon Emperor Hall—at full strength, five elders.

Grand Elder Long Zhan, peak Level Eight. Stationed at the Dragon Emperor Hall, the Dragon Emperor’s most trusted enforcer. No way he’d be easily dispatched.

Second Elder Long Ye, mid Level Eight. He’d gotten a thorough beating in that battle at Border Dragon City—his current state was uncertain.

Third Elder Long Jingtian, dead. Killed by Long Teng’s hand.

Fifth Elder Long Xuan, dead. Killed by Lin Fan’s hand, skin flayed off to boot.

Fourth Elder Long Junshan… From the fragments of Long Xuan’s memories, he’d stopped involving himself in affairs long ago. Semi-retired, keeping his name on the Council roster to coast into old age—he couldn’t even be bothered to attend council meetings most of the time.

Five elders. Two dead, one crippled, one retired.

The only ones who could actually be pulled out to do real work were Long Zhan and Long Ye.

Long Zhan couldn’t leave his post.

So for this supervision mission at White Bone Pass…

Either it was Long Ye. Or Long Junshan getting dragged out of retirement at the last minute to fill the gap.

If it was Long Junshan, then it was just some old man going through the motions.

Someone who didn’t manage affairs wouldn’t take things too seriously either. Easy to slip past.

If it was Long Ye…

Lin Fan opened her eyes, staring at the blackened wooden beam overhead.

Back at Border Dragon City, to sell the death scene of Long Xuan, she’d deliberately used Long Xuan’s body to take that Void-Rending Cannon blast from Long Ye.

The power of that shot—she still remembered it to this day.

Reαd οn KαtRеаⅾіոgСafe

Half her body blown apart, bone fragments and flesh scattering through the air.

Of course, she’d thrown herself into it willingly. The goal was clear—let Long Zhan witness with his own eyes Long Ye “killing” his most beloved sister, planting a murderous intent toward the Second Elder in his heart from that moment on.

The plan had succeeded perfectly. The rift between Long Zhan and Long Ye had grown too wide to ever mend.

But the pain had been real, too.

The Tyrant Talent had transformed that agony into something else—something that nearly made her break character.

Lin Fan had never been a magnanimous person.

Her memory was good.

Good enough that she remembered exactly who, at what time, in what place, and in what manner had made her suffer. All of it recorded.

Not some vague “I remember you owe me.”

It was precise to the second, the angle, and the degree of pain.

The debt for that cannon shot from Long Ye had long been noted down in her little book.

So, Long Ye.

You’d better pray that the one overseeing the battle at White Bone Pass isn’t you.

No, wait.

A slight curve formed at the corner of Lin Fan’s mouth.

You’d better pray that it is you.

That way, she wouldn’t have to make another trip to Dragon Emperor Hall to find you.