<h4>Chapter 1504: Chapter 1504: Escape</h4>
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Ian Jorden dragged his exhausted body, put on that mask, and stumbled back to the City Lord’s Mansion.
"As long as you’re okay."
Inside the council hall, Isabe Warm saw Ian return alive, and her heart, which had been suspended in anxiety, finally settled.
She had been waiting!
Finally, it was not in vain.
"You didn’t die." Ian walked into the council hall of the City Lord’s Mansion, nced at Isabe Warm, then picked up the teapot without hesitation. Ignoring whether the tea inside was cold or hot, he tilted it directly to his mouth and drank inrge gulps.
He was incredibly thirsty.
After sprinting all the way back, his strength waspletely drained.
"Hah!"
Ian threw the teapot on the ground, wiped his mouth, and panted heavily: "If the Sacred Lord hadn’t appeared at the right time, I’d already be a corpse by now. That damned Devlin schemed against us again."
After speaking, he slumped into a chair, staring straight at the ceiling.
"The Sacred Lord saw through Devlin’s conspiracy and sent a Sealing Pulse expert to save me." Isabe Warm had a bitter smile on her face, along with a tinge of helplessness: "I feel like my heart is in turmoil."
"If it wasn’t for the Sacred Lord and the conflict within his memories, I wouldn’t have been able to escape. If I were caught, what would I do? Would I reveal everything we intended to do, or bear the stigma of a traitor and keep silent, waiting for you to clear my name?" Ian sighed, his gaze sweeping across all the decorations in the City Lord’s Mansion.
It was likely he could never return in this lifetime.
His identity was already exposed, and there were still unfinished ns to carry out.
Going back to Swimming City—who knew how many years that would take.
"You seem mncholic." Isabe Warm regained her cold expression: "If you’re waiting for me to vindicate you, it’s highly likely we’d both die under false usations. Devlin’s schemes are far too precise. If it weren’t for the Sacred Lord, I’d already be a corpse."
Andrew’s appearance had caught everyone off guard.
Thankfully, enor Wood stepped in to save the day.
"You said there was a Sealing Pulse expert?" Ian finally reacted.
The ferocious battle inside the VIP chamber at Night City had left himpletely shaken. Even now, his heart trembled with lingering fear!
First, he faced death. After surviving by a hair’s breadth, he was confronted with interrogation and suspicion.
Thankfully.
He managed to escape.
He fled back to the City Lord’s Mansion.
So much that he hadn’t clearly heard Isabe Warm’s words, only btedly realizing the phrase "Sealing Pulse expert!"
Sealing Pulse!
That was Devlin’s faction!
A Sealing Pulse expert?
The Sacred Lord?
Weren’t these two like water and fire?
"Exactly! If the Sacred Lord hadn’t sent the Sealing Pulse expert, I’d already be dead at Andrew’s spear, bing his stepping stone to ascend as Pendleton’s Alliance Hierarch." Isabe Warm nodded, then suddenly furrowed her brows, saying: "But that Sealing Pulse expert seemed to have mentioned something that enraged Andrew greatly."
"Sealing Pulse? Why would the Sealing Pulse help you? Hasn’t Devlin’s Sealing Pulse nearly dwindled to extinction?"
Ian was stunned.
This waspletely unimaginable.
"That Sealing Pulse expert seems to have a grudge against Devlin. I had my doubts too, but when I asked him about Devlin, he imed he was here to ’clean house.’" Isabe Warm was puzzled, unable to fathom why there would be in-fighting among the Sealing Pulse members.
"He mentioned two things. The cause of Pendleton’s Alliance Hierarch’s death was Andrew killing him after I left. The other thing concerns the Sacred Lord’s memory being altered." Isabe Warm shared everything she knew with Ian.
She did this to prevent unexpected situations where someone else would need to pick up their mission.
"I too hinted at it today. It was precisely thisment that inadvertently saved me. The Sacred Lord’s mind started experiencing conflict between two memories, nearly causing him to faint." Ian had told Julius Reed about the altered memory, fully prepared for being caught and remaining silent, or even dying under false usations.
Some things simply couldn’t be revealed to the Sacred Lord before they werepleted.
"Are you saying you’ve confirmed the Sacred Lord’s memory has truly been altered?"
The theory about the Sacred Lord’s memory alteration was something Ian and Isabe Warm had deduced after four years of analysis.
Of course, spection didn’t guarantee truth.
In Night City, the reason Ian mentioned it was to warn Julius Reed.
If it wasn’t true, that would be ideal.
But if the memory had indeed been altered, the Sacred Lord would undoubtedly seek the truth upon hearing this.
Now, with Isabe Warm speaking so confidently, had she gained some new information?
"Exactly, that Sealing Pulse expert said that to alter a memory, all it takes is cooperation from the Night faction. By putting on a mask and reenacting the desired memory authentically, the alteration can be executed." Isabe Warm’s mind was racing with thoughts.
"So it seems the Sacred Lord’s memory truly was altered. Otherwise, he wouldn’t suffer from constant headaches." Recalling Julius Reed’s agony and tormented state, Ian felt rity dawning.
"Is there a way to reverse it?" he pressed.
Since the memory alteration was confirmed, there ought to be a solution!
Isabe Warm froze, her expression turning bitter.
Having narrowly escaped death herself, she had forgotten to ask the Sealing Pulse expert how to undo the altered memory.
But Isabe Warm thought too much.
If enor Wood knew the solution, he would have acted long ago.
His quick departure was to avoid being asked questions he couldn’t answer.
Thus, he vanished instantly after dropping the bombshell that shocked Isabe Warm.
Silently taking his credit.
"Wait!" Ian pped his forehead abruptly, somewhat dazed.
The night’s events felt like a lifetime ago, and his reactions were slow.
"I received news that the Royal Pulse Grand Steward, the youngest, is leading the Royal Pulse faction toward Swimming City. As for their purpose, I suspect it’s aimed at you." Ian’s face turned serious.
This was a thorny issue.
The Royal Pulse had previously held back due to an agreement between both sides.
Now, with the Sacred Lord in Swimming City, the Royal Pulse was likely infuriated.
Their rush toward Swimming City was likely to demand a reckoning.
"Royal Pulse?"
Isabe Warm furrowed her brows, clearly surprised.
With their identities exposed, the two needed to leave the City Lord’s Mansion immediately. The Royal Pulse’s overwhelming momentum at such a moment could only spell deliberate trouble.
"We must leave at once, or once the Sacred Lord arrives at the City Lord’s Mansion, neither of us will be able to escape!" Ian still remembered the anxious feeling in his chest when he knelt before the Sacred Lord.
"Before we go, I want to ask the Royal Pulse for a favor." Isabe Warm drew the dagger from her waist and engraved a line of small words onto the table.
Then she leaned almostpletely against the ground, carving bold letters with sweeping motions of the de!
’For the Royal Pulse Grand Steward, personally reviewed by the youngest!’
"Let’s go!"
After finishing, Isabe Warm didn’t hesitate for a moment and walked straight out of the room.
"The secret of the wall..." Ian gazed at that wall, thinking of the one inside the tomb behind it—the person in that coffin.
"No one will discover it. We must enter the Azure Emperor’s ancient tomb and retrieve that item!" Isabe Warm’s tone carried a steadfast resolve!
This time, she wouldn’t allow herself to fail again!
For the Sacred Lord’s trust in her!
For her own innocence!
To prove that she was the most capable among the four!
"Let’s hope we can find a solution before disaster strikes." Ian walked out of the room, taking onest nce at the wall.
He strode away!