Xu Xiaodong struggled to catch up with Wang Haitao, threw him to the ground, and put his knees against his back. Wang Haitao was squirming on the ground like a drowning man, and Xu Xiaodong instinctively pulled out his handcuffs. Suddenly, he remembered that this man was not a criminal. He asked Chen Shi, “Do we need to cuff him?”

“You might as well just cuff his feet.”

“That's a good idea...” Then, Xu Xiaodong prepared to shackle his feet.

“Hey, you're not taking me seriously, are you?” Chen Shi quickly stopped him. Xu Xiaodong smiled in embarrassment.

Chen Shi squatted down and said to Wang Haitao, “Don't be afraid, we are not here to hurt you...”

“I don't want to be here! I don't want to be here! General Wang lives there!” Wang Haitao said hysterically.

Hearing this sentence, Chen Shi had basically determined that Wang Haitao was indeed detained here. He said patiently, “It's okay, General Wang is already gone.”

“You are lying! He is here with his two henchmen, Iron Eagle and Silver Wolf. They’re both first-class killers.”

Lin Dongxue said, “Didn’t you say that you time-traveled over here?”

“You don't understand! Iron Eagle and Silver Wolf time-traveled over to hunt me down!”

“How did they come across?”

“Time machine.”

Lin Dongxue almost laughed. “Did you just add that to the script?”

“No, I-” Wang Haitao stopped his words suddenly and looked at Lin Dongxue. At this moment, Chen Shi saw that his false personality was shaken.

Perhaps as long as they pushed him more, his true personality would come out.

But it only lasted for a moment. Wang Haitao quickly rephrased, “The time machine is as described by your modern people's concept of it. In fact, that thing is called world flipping drawers, which is a relic of the ancient civilization. It needs to be driven by 108 horses to reach a certain level of speed, which would allow you to travel through time and space!”

Xu Xiaodong applauded, “It's wonderful!” He got a scornful look from Lin Dongxue.

Chen Shi knew that his self-scripted personality was too strong. He could only follow along at his pace, so he said, “In fact, we are pretty powerful too. I forgot to tell you that my previous life was the first master of the six doors of Yamen[1]. Iron Eagle and Silver Wolf are but simply flecks of dust in my eyes. I can completely protect you.”

Wang Haitao looked at him in surprise as Lin Dongxue also said, “I'm a Long’an heroine, and I'm very powerful.”

Xu Xiaodong thought about it. “I'm the cat-bearing imperial bodyguard[2].”

It seemed that Wang Haitao was convinced. Chen Shi motioned for Xu Xiaodong to let him go. Wang Haitao got up and patted the soil off his body. Chen Shi said, “We’ll go in just for a little look and then we’ll come out. If it boils down to it, we will definitely protect you... Long’an heroine, did you bring the magic weapon?”

Lin Dongxue froze before patting her gun. “Yes, I have a hundred-step soul-breaking gun here. Even people made from iron will be killed by it.”

Wang Haitao nodded comfortingly and pointed at the three of them. “If you don't protect me well, you will be punished.”

“Your Highness, please, this way!”

The three followed him with a smile and came to the front of the broken house. Wang Haitao acted a little scared. He reached for Lin Dongxue's arm, but Chen Shi extended his arm over for him to grab.

Wang Haitao stopped at the door and said, “It's okay here.”

Chen Shi said, “Does General Wang live with Iron Eagle and Silver Wolf here?”

“Yes… Yes.”

“They kidnapped you. Why didn't they kill you?”

“I'm not clear about the evil official's evil intentions. I don’t understand either.”

“What did they do to you?”

“They did... The did... Ah, a headache!” Wang Haitao clutched his head, as if the memory had surfaced then got broken up again.

Lin Dongxue glanced helplessly at Chen Shi, and Chen Shi felt helpless as well. This person couldn't recall anything as soon as he got to the key moments.

Chen Shi pushed Wang Haitao's back and walked inside with him. When they got into the house where Wang Haitao had been imprisoned, he suddenly pushed Wang Haitao in and then closed the door. Wang Haitao was shocked. He slammed the door crazily inside and shouted, “Bold rebel! When I find my father, I will kill you and sentence your family to the nine familial exterminations[3]!”

Lin Dongxue was frightened. She felt that Chen Shi was too aggressive and wanted to open the door, but Chen Shi motioned for her not to with his hands.

He squeezed his throat and asked, “Who is your father? Is it Lu Qixing?”

“How bold! How dare you call the emperor by his name?!”

“Isn't your surname Nalan? How is your father's surname Lu?”

“I... I...” Wang Haitao at the door seemed to have his brain crash again.

Wang Haitao's father was Old Master Lu. It was not the truth Chen Shi wanted. However, he had already guessed this part.

What he wanted to know was what the goal of X's was, which was greater than the profit he could have gained from kidnapping Wang Haitao. His goal was so large that he would even be willing to kill his accomplices with his own hands.

Chen Shi said darkly, “You will never see your father emperor, because I will become you. From now on, I will be the crown prince and the future emperor!”

Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong looked at Chen Shi with shocked eyes.

Wang Haitao burst into tears. “You... You are destined to die terribly!”

“Hahahaha!” Chen Shi laughed. “You're going to rot here. This throne and its land... Will be named after General Wang!”

“I... I... I’ll find my father, the emperor now and get you your punishment. Your punishment of death. Ow… Pak!” Wang Haitao actually started to simulate strange sound effects.

Chen Shi then opened the door and looked at the door. The three almost laughed because Wang Haitao actually hid his head under the mattress and stuck his butt up like an ostrich.

Chen Shi held his fist and said, “Your servants have come late! Just then General Wang's group came, and we fought hard to fight them back.”

With tears in his eyes, Wang Haitao trembled and said, “If dearest subordinate came a step later, I would have died.”

“Your Majesty, please forgive this servant!”

With the help of Chen Shi, Wang Haitao came out from under the mattress. Sitting on the mattress and rubbing his chest, Chen Shi asked, “Just then, your servant heard General Wang discussing a shocking scheme. He wanted to replace you and become the emperor. Is that possible?”

Wang Haitao looked at him with tears in his eyes, and nodded, “This was a long-calculated scheme! General Wang hunted me all the way just to seize my identity as a prince and usurp my position!”

“Really?” Xu Xiaodong said, slightly surprised.

Chen Shi continued to ask, “How can General Wang win the trust of your father?”

“He... He... Took my blood, cut my hair, and used it to drip the blood to find a relative and lie to my father, the emperor!”

Of course, there was no scientific basis for dripping blood to recognize a relative[4], and that method didn’t require him to cut his hair either. Lin Dongxue already guessed and said, “Paternity test?”

Wang Haitao nodded, “Yes, that!”

“How much blood did they take from you?” Chen Shi continued to ask.

Wang Haitao opened his fingers, counted, and then rolled up his sleeves to show them the needle wounds. There was a very red and large needle wound.

Chen Shi took him outside. Wang Haitao only started feeling safe when he got into the car. Chen Shi said, “Acting is so exhausting.”

“I didn’t know you had so much talent in acting.” Lin Dongxue laughed. “Is the information we just got real? Isn't that too absurd?”

Chen Shi said affirmatively, “Isn’t it more profitable to become a super-rich son rather than kidnapping? It is a lifetime profit, which is worth X’s risk!”

“But... How would he do the paternity test with the blood drawn?”

1. In history, this means that he was extremely good at both government and triad affairs. This position was for someone who was employed by the government but associated themselves with gangs. They walk both the black and white path.

2. The original position was part of the imperial bodyguards of the third rank who were the only people who were allowed their knife with them when facing the king. Xu Xiaodong is making a joke saying he bears a cat instead of a knife.

3. This capital punishment has three parts to it, the criminal’s mum’s side, the criminal’s dad’s side and the criminal’s partner’s side. People used to give birth extremely early, so bear in mind that some parts where they talk about killing the criminal’s great, great grandparents down to the great, great grandchildren make sense. Please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_familial_exterminations for more information. However, the English Wikipedia page is different to that of the information I found in Chinese, which talks about even more people getting killed. Basically, they’re just slaughtering everyone who had even remote connections with the criminal or the criminal’s spouse.

4. Dripping two peoples blood together to see if they conglomerated. If they did, they were considered relatives. https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/21rsfc/a_traditional_paternity_test_in_ancient_china_was/