I am the villain in the book

A substitution of the crown prince.

From the first knock at the door to pulling Xu Sui Sui into the side room to change clothes.

This was the only possible solution Li Zi Mu could think of in the short span of a few dozen breaths.

Undoubtedly, this move involved a great deal of gambling.

After all, Lü Hongji had definitely seen Xu Sui Sui's portrait, and she didn't resemble the latter very closely.

But besides this, Li Zi Mu really couldn't think of any other way to save Xu Sui Sui.

So she could only gamble.

And judging from the current situation, she had actually won the bet.

In a short hundred breaths, she had transformed from a commoner into the female emperor, and this was accomplished even though the enemy knew what the latter looked like.

At first glance, this seems a bit unbelievable, but in reality, it's not too exaggerated.

In this era, there's no photography technology, and portraits are more or less subject to the "distortions" of the painter's subjective factors.

In addition, the two are about the same height, have similar figures, and haven't cultivated. To put it bluntly, the difference between the two isn't enough for a stranger to distinguish at a glance.

Most importantly, Li Zi Mu made good use of people's inherent tendency to be influenced by first impressions.

Imagine if you were Lü Hongji, knowing that Xu Sui Sui was in the side room, and you saw a woman dressed in imperial robes, whose words and actions all had the demeanor of a female emperor, would you suspect that she was someone else in disguise?

Obviously, except for a very few people, most people wouldn't have such a "baffling" doubt.

And that's why Tang Chen and Shen Ran are so surprised now.

Because they also didn't expect it.

...

Staring wide-eyed and breathing rapidly at Li Zi Mu, Tang Chen couldn't even feel the intense pain all over his body.

He wasn't stupid and naturally understood Li Zi Mu's purpose in doing this.

But he also understood the cost involved.

After all, Li Zi Mu was not Xu Sui Sui, and her identity would be discovered by Lü Hongji sooner or later.

And when that time came, Li Zi Mu's fate would only be death.

Or even worse than death.

His eyes gradually became pained. Undoubtedly, Tang Chen definitely didn't want Li Zi Mu to suffer even the slightest harm.

But how could he expose this "deception"?

After all, once he spoke, it would be abandoning the overall situation.

He clenched his teeth tightly, his hands clenched into fists.

Tang Chen's heart was extremely conflicted, and an unprecedented sense of powerlessness filled his body.

At the same time, Lü Hongji, who had been silent for a moment, spoke again:

"Lord Feng, I've given you enough face, so shouldn't you also fulfill what you just said?"

"That's natural."

Without looking at Tang Chen and Shen Ran, Li Zi Mu calmly looked at Lü Hongji and nodded slightly: "This palace will go with you..."

The golden skirt swayed slightly, and as she spoke, Li Zi Mu had already started walking towards the door.

In fact, she had the ability to delay a little longer.

However, she didn't do so.

Because the sooner she left, the lower the possibility of her being exposed, and the safer Xu Sui Sui would be accordingly.

Therefore, Li Zi Mu didn't say a word of nonsense at this time and quickly walked close to Lü Hongji.

But at this moment, the latter frowned and took half a step back.

"Wait!"

...

The surrounding air instantly became frozen, and these two words made Li Zi Mu's heartstrings tighten.

But fortunately, Lü Hongji didn't notice anything.

He just gave a black-clothed man a wink and then said to Li Zi Mu in a deep voice:

"Lord Feng, I am a cautious person. Let's search your body first."

"Pardon me."

A body search.

This action wasn't a problem. Li Zi Mu's heartstrings gradually relaxed.

However, she still pretended to glance at the black-clothed man with a look of disgust and shouted in a low voice:

"Since this palace has said that she will go with you, she will not break her word!"

"Hehe, Lord Feng, let's search anyway."

Lü Hongji shook his head unmoved: "Otherwise, I won't feel at ease."

"You!"

Staring at Lü Hongji, Li Zi Mu's chest rose and fell violently, as if she had suffered some great humiliation.

Of course, she was still acting now. The purpose was naturally to maintain the female emperor's "persona."

However, this scene fell into Tang Chen's eyes and gave him a different feeling.

His eyes gradually turned red, and his body trembled slightly.

Watching the black-clothed man approach Li Zi Mu step by step, Tang Chen suddenly closed his eyes at a certain moment.

And when he opened his eyes again, the dark-skinned Mo Leopard appeared beside him in Shen Ran's horrified gaze.

His fingers trembled. At this time, the horror in Shen Ran's eyes was even more intense than when he had just seen Li Zi Mu.

However, Tang Chen no longer cared what he thought, just stared at the black-clothed man who was about to search Li Zi Mu's body, and then suddenly bit the tip of his tongue.

In an instant, blood gushed from the corner of his mouth, mixing with the blood he had just spat out due to his injuries.

As for the black-clothed man who was being stared at by him...

His body suddenly stiffened, like a puppet with a broken string, or as if he had suddenly lost his soul.

The black-clothed man suddenly stood still in full view, then slowly turned around with empty eyes, drew out the saber from his waist, and aimed it at Lü Hongji...

Mind Sight, Mind Reading.

This was Wei Changtian's known "Heavenly Dao Divine Power" of Tang Chen.

However, the latter had a move that he had never shown in front of Wei Changtian until now.

And this move was actually the most exaggerated ability given to Tang Chen by the Mo Leopard, called "Mind Control."

Mind Control, as the name suggests, its function is naturally to control others.

This effect sounded awesome, let alone seeing it with your own eyes.

Therefore, when everyone watched the black-clothed man turn the tip of his knife and prepare to slash at Lü Hongji, they all widened their eyes in disbelief at first.

However, in the next second, the other three black-clothed men who suddenly came back to their senses immediately flashed to Lü Hongji's side, already preparing to kill this companion who had suddenly betrayed them for some unknown reason.

But before they could act, Lü Hongji waved his hand first.

"Wait a minute."

With a soft shout, Lü Hongji, in the slightly nervous gazes of the four, did not retreat but advanced, directly walking to the black-clothed man who was like a walking corpse.

Then, he stood there, motionless, watching the long knife slowly falling little by little...

To be honest, in this scene, those who didn't know would have thought it was a slow-motion scene in a movie.

After all, the speed of the long knife was too slow. At this rate, let alone hurting Lü Hongji, it was hard to say whether it could cut off the latter's hair.

And the facts were indeed so.

After a few breaths, just as the long knife finally landed on Lü Hongji's shoulder, it didn't even cut through the latter's clothes.

A candle in the corner that was about to burn out flickered, as if making a final struggle.

"Hmph."

Snorting coldly, Lü Hongji casually slapped away the long knife and turned to look at Tang Chen, who was paralyzed on the ground.

At some point, two lines of blood tears had flowed from the latter's eyes, setting off his pale face.

But Tang Chen was still staring at the black-clothed man with his bloodshot eyes, even though his aura was weakening at an extremely fast rate.

Obviously, "Mind Control" was not without limitations.

And what Tang Chen was doing now had undoubtedly exceeded this limit...

The secret room was silent for a time, with only the joints of the controlled black-clothed man still creaking slightly, and the dripping sound of blood falling to the ground.

No longer looking at Tang Chen, who was still struggling in vain like a candle flame, Lü Hongji suddenly turned to look at Li Zi Mu and smiled in the most mocking tone:

"Lord Feng."

"Your assassin is a bit interesting."