Upon entering the Fengshen Palace, Shen Feng began searching for familiar faces, hoping to uncover the truth by finding anyone he knew. However, he was disappointed. He neither found Chang Jianyi nor Chu Chaoyan. Upon reaching the castle, he also failed to locate Chang Haojie and Zhang Xixi.
Shen Feng moved through the Fengshen Palace at an extremely fast pace but couldn't find any acquaintances. Even his attempt to find Du Xinshi, who resided in the castle, ended in disappointment. Apart from some servants working, there wasn't a single familiar person inside the Fengshen Palace.
"Strange, strange. If they aren't living here, where could they have gone?" Shen Feng pondered in his mind.
Following this, Shen Feng recalled the commotion that had occurred outside the Fengshen Palace earlier. It seemed like someone was attacking the Fengshen Palace, otherwise, there wouldn't be ability users and soldiers guarding it. This point was truly baffling. At such a critical juncture, who would dare to attack such an important place as the Fengshen Palace?
"Where could they have gone? Why can't I find anyone? Right, the basement!" Shen Feng suddenly remembered. That's right, the most hidden place in the Fengshen Palace was the basement. He had hidden there to undergo his sixth evolution.
With this thought, Shen Feng approached the study. He found four or five soldiers guarding the entrance, constantly observing their surroundings. Shen Feng had no choice but to enter through the window. There were also soldiers guarding outside the window. From their posture, Shen Feng knew he had come to the right place!
"It seems I'll have to create a bit of a disturbance to get in!" Shen Feng thought to himself.
Immediately after, Shen Feng unleashed a wind blade, shattering a glass pane in the castle. Although Shen Feng had broken other people's glass before, he now had no choice but to break his own, all to distract the soldiers by the window.
The two soldiers by the window indeed noticed the incident. They immediately took out their walkie-talkies to contact their superiors, then cautiously approached the shattered window, holding their rifles.
Taking advantage of this moment, Shen Feng quickly opened the window and entered the study. He swiftly activated a switch, revealing a passage to the basement behind the bookshelf.
The basement was very dark, with only a few electric lights providing illumination. Shen Feng slowly descended. The basement had three levels, and ordinary people were not qualified to enter it because it was meant for survival.
As Shen Feng reached the first level of the basement, he immediately heard an angry shout: "Who's there? Show your true face!"
Shen Feng turned his head and saw a woman in a bulletproof vest at the end of the corridor, aiming a handgun at him. It appeared to be Du Xinshi. The hand holding the gun was still trembling slightly, clearly indicating her nervousness. She had likely never killed anyone before.
If someone had experience in killing, they would have acted instantly upon discovering an intruder in the basement, firing without hesitation.
"It's me, Sister Du, I'm Shen Feng!" After speaking, Shen Feng removed his mask, revealing his true face.
After removing his mask and revealing his true face, Shen Feng naturally assumed that Du Xinshi would lower her gun and proceeded to walk towards her.
However, Du Xinshi shouted sternly, "Don't come any closer! I know you're a fake, don't try to trick me!"
Hearing this, Shen Feng quickly defended himself, saying, "Sister Du, I am truly Shen Feng, the genuine article. How can you doubt me? Besides, I heard you already killed the imposter? Why are you still suspicious of me?"
Du Xinshi bit her lip, her eyes filled with ferocity, and said, "Don't try to fool me. You scoundrels! Haven't you tormented us enough these past few days? You all see us as a vulnerable family with no man around, so you bully us at will. I'm telling you, even if only women remain, Yuzhou will not yield!"
With that, Du Xinshi gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and fired. She thought, "I've killed someone, I've killed someone!"
But, at that very moment, the gun in Du Xinshi's hand was knocked to the ground with a slap. It turned out that the shot had missed its target, and in her moment of stunned disbelief, she was tightly embraced and immobilized.
Du Xinshi had a heart condition, so she dared not exercise since childhood and had poor physical fitness. Now, being held by Shen Feng, a sixth-tier ability user, she was completely unable to move.
"Let go of me, you beast! I won't rest in peace even as a ghost!" Du Xinshi continued to shout. However, the basement had excellent soundproofing, so her cries for help were of no avail.
Shen Feng held Du Xinshi and said earnestly, "Sister Du, believe me, I am the real Shen Feng. I have proof. I have two scars on my body, one from a gunshot and one from a knife wound. You should remember them, right?"
Hearing this, Du Xinshi suddenly stopped struggling, her face flushed, and said, "How would I know if you have scars on your body?"
"You can't say that. Back when you and Mu Ying played that sting operation on me in Yanjing, we saw each other's true selves!" Shen Feng said seriously.
Upon hearing Shen Feng mention such a private matter, Du Xinshi immediately realized that the person before her was likely the real Shen Feng. After all, very few people knew about this, especially since it involved Mu Ying and much of the information was classified, making it inaccessible to ordinary people.
"Then let go of me, turn around, and take off your pants!" Du Xinshi was still uneasy and prepared to check Shen Feng's birthmark on his backside.
Shen Feng misunderstood and immediately refused sternly, saying, "No, no! I'm not a casual person, how can I let you see? Moreover, I'm Little Long's godfather. If I did something like that with you, I'd become his stepfather!"
"Just do as I say, otherwise how can I believe you're real?" Du Xinshi insisted, refusing to back down.
Helpless, Shen Feng unbuckled his Meteorite Iron longsword and took off his pants. Du Xinshi saw the birthmark and realized he was real. His demeanor also strongly resembled the real Shen Feng.
With this realization, Du Xinshi immediately rushed forward, hugged Shen Feng, and began to cry. While crying, she sobbed, "We all thought you were dead... During the time you were away from Yuzhou, someone... someone bullied us! Little Long and Little Hu were both kidnapped! How... how did you only return now?"
Having confirmed that the person before her was the genuine article, Du Xinshi poured out all her pent-up grievances, crying while hugging Shen Feng. Her tears quickly soaked Shen Feng's back. Shen Feng awkwardly said to Du Xinshi behind him, "Well, I will resolve these matters, but can I put my pants back on first?"
Du Xinshi then wiped away her tears. Upon seeing Shen Feng's appearance, she felt as if she had found her anchor. The hardships of the past few days were heartbreaking to recall, especially the kidnapping of her beloved sons. She had been in a state of panic. Now that Shen Feng had returned, she could finally vent her sorrows.
After Shen Feng put on his pants, he asked, "You mentioned Little Long, I know him; he's my godson. Who is Little Hu?"
"Oh, you don't know about this yet? Little Hu is your biological son, born to Madam Jianyi. Unfortunately, he was kidnapped by bad people over ten days ago. Both children were taken away, and we were threatened. For the safety of the two children, we had no choice but to comply!" Du Xinshi explained.
"Right, right, I have another son. So, both my sons were kidnapped, and you were threatened, which is why you had to agree to Senior Sister marrying Su Liuying! I understand now!" Shen Feng had obtained the crucial information and suddenly understood everything. It made sense why the marriage was so rushed; it was due to threats.
Shen Feng also felt ashamed. He hadn't trusted Senior Sister and had even doubted her loyalty in his heart. Now that the situation was finally clarified, the near misunderstanding was truly disheartening.
Du Xinshi quickly pointed to a room on the side and said, "City Lord, let's go inside and talk. This is my room, it's very safe, no one else will come in!"
Shen Feng quickly followed her inside. After they sat down, Du Xinshi poured Shen Feng some tea and then explained, "Ever since fishermen on the southeastern coast saw your and Yue Hengyi's bodies, we all thought you were dead. Especially after more than a month passed with no news from you, we believed it to be true. With us left as a group of vulnerable women and children in Yuzhou, we naturally became targets for others!"
Shen Feng gave a wry smile and explained, "Little Yue and I really couldn't expose our whereabouts. On our way back, we were first declared fugitives, and then ambushed. Thirteen ability users, all of them masters, attacked us. We managed to escape only after sustaining severe injuries. We spent over a month in Japan, and only after our bodies recovered did we quietly return. However, we were still worried about assassination, so we dared not use our real names!"
Hearing this explanation, Du Xinshi finally understood why Shen Feng had been out of contact for a month, leading everyone to believe the bodies found by the sea were real.
At this moment, Shen Feng continued to ask, "By the way, where did Senior Sister and Chaoyan go? And why don't I see Xixi and Xiaojie?"
Shen Feng was very confused. Since Du Xinshi was hiding in the basement, the others should have been there too. However, that was not the case at all; it seemed Du Xinshi was the only one in the basement.
Du Xinshi was silent for a moment, then sighed, "The two ladies went to get reinforcements. After all, our opponent is the Tianlong Bureau, with over twenty ability users residing in Yuzhou City. Their threat is too great. As for Xixi, she was sent to Chengdu to be with your parents. We had decided that if it came to a mutual destruction, Xixi would survive to seek revenge later. As for Chang Haojie, alas, those two children were kidnapped by him!"
"What?" Shen Feng's eyes widened in shock, completely unable to believe what Du Xinshi had just said, as the content was too explosive. Setting aside the mutual destruction, the fact that Chang Haojie was the one who kidnapped Shen Feng's two sons was something Shen Feng couldn't comprehend.
Chang Haojie had always admired Shen Feng. Although Shen Feng was his brother-in-law in name, he was more like a teacher in practice. It was completely unimaginable that Chang Haojie would do something that betrayed Yuzhou. After all, if Shen Feng were truly dead, Chang Haojie would have the highest chance and be the most accepted successor to the position of City Lord of Yuzhou.
"It's true, we all saw it on the surveillance! Little Long and Little Hu were taken out of the city by Chang Haojie and then disappeared. However, his behavior was rather abnormal. It's possible he's a fake, or perhaps his mind was controlled by someone else," Du Xinshi quickly said.
"It's getting more and more complicated, I'm losing track. Also, where did Senior Sister and the others go to ask for help?" Shen Feng continued to ask.
"They went to Meizhou to ask Wang Aoye for help, and to Yangzhou to find Li Xiangkang. As for your cousin in the Dabie Mountains, it should be these three forces!" Du Xinshi quickly explained.
"That's right, those three are powerful individuals and members of civilian organizations, making them the most likely to offer assistance!" Shen Feng nodded, deeming Senior Sister and Chu Chaoyan's choices reasonable.
Shen Feng frowned and pondered, murmuring to himself, "Now that my identity hasn't been revealed, it seems I need to do something at this moment!"
Shen Feng could not stand by and watch his women go to mutual destruction with the ability users of the Tianlong Bureau. Furthermore, his aversion to the Tianlong Bureau was growing. These scoundrels, calling themselves ability users, were bullying vulnerable women and children, which was completely unmanly! Most importantly, these people had touched Shen Feng's bottom line, making him furious. How dare they lay hands on my family! They are tired of living!