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墨書 Inktalez
Chu Xiruo had already seen everything in the darkness, but she was not Mei Shuang. No matter how clever Mei Shuang was, she did not understand the dangers of the martial world. It was somewhat puzzling that such a powerful opponent could be dealt with so easily by Mei Shuang.
Mei Shuang did not understand the properties of the drug and feared that Nangong Mo Yi would wake up soon. After wandering around the cave for a while, she decided to untie the belt from Nangong Mo Yi's waist and bind his hands behind his back.
Once she had done all this, she felt relieved. After waiting for a while without seeing Chu Xiruo, she grew a bit anxious and raised her voice slightly, "Miss Chu, are you there? We should leave here as soon as possible."
Chu Xiruo weighed her options and finally jumped down from the rock wall to stand in front of Mei Shuang. "Are you sure you succeeded?"
Mei Shuang replied, "I used both packets given by Zhengyi's Mother; it should be enough."
Chu Xiruo crouched down to check Nangong Mo Yi's breathing, then handed Mei Shuang a rope. "This will be safer."
Mei Shuang was overjoyed. As she took the rope, she said, "You finally came! That's great..."
Watching Mei Shuang clumsily tie up Nangong Mo Yi like a dumpling, Chu Xiruo couldn't help but intervene. "Your basic skills are lacking."
After several attempts at tying him up, even Mei Shuang gave a thumbs-up and chuckled, "Hehe, actually, I learned this before, but in front of a master, I'm still a bit lacking..."
Mei Shuang's shameless excuse made Chu Xiruo find her somewhat endearingly straightforward.
Perhaps it was this kind of candor that made her unforgettable?
Chu Xiruo gazed into those black-and-white eyes before her and momentarily lost her focus. She heard Mei Shuang ask, "Why are you here?"
Chu Xiruo coldly replied, "For him."
"Him?" Mei Shuang also felt a bit dazed. This 'him' needed no further explanation; although her heart felt complicated, it warmed for an instant. "Is he okay?"
Chu Xiruo naturally knew that Mei Shuang had misunderstood; this 'him' was not the same as the one she thought of. She did not want to explain. "Not good..."
“......”
“We should hurry and leave; this place is not safe,” Chu Xiruo decisively said as she looked around.
As they reached the cave entrance, they heard the sounds of fighting coming from behind.
Chu Xiruo pulled Mei Shuang to hide in the shadows, where they occasionally heard cries from deep within the cave, “Hurry! Run this way!”
“This way! Quickly!”
Why did that panicked voice sound so familiar?
After confirming she hadn’t misheard, Mei Shuang excitedly said to Chu Xiruo, “It’s Zhengyi's Mother; they’ve come too.”
“Don’t move!” Chu Xiruo ordered quietly. “Didn’t you hear something chasing them?”
Chu Xiruo peeked out, using the moonlight to see several people retreating while fighting inside the cave. Behind them were several Dragon Pythons that were closing in.
When Mei Shuang leaned out, she saw a Dragon Python’s tail sweep away a long sword from one person’s hand. With a sudden lift of its head, that person was sent flying like a broken kite, crashing into sharp rocks and bleeding profusely. The Dragon Python then moved forward, opening its massive mouth and swallowing the person whole.
It dawned on her what Nangong Mo Yi had meant about these Dragon Pythons hunting for food; they were here to kill them.
Mei Shuang felt a wave of fear and nausea wash over her. Suddenly, she spotted a small figure and widened her eyes in shock. “Zheng Yi?”
Zheng Yi heard Mei Shuang’s voice and joyfully shouted back, “Sister!”
“Everyone, come over! This way!”
Upon hearing her call, those people immediately retreated towards Mei Shuang.
Chu Xiruo quickly came up with an idea, pulling a Firestarter from her pack. After igniting it, she threw it towards the Dragon Python behind them, temporarily halting their pursuit, allowing the group to escape into the cave.
The small space felt cramped as the group entered. Mei Shuang, disregarding the bloodied individuals around her, rushed to Zheng Yi and exclaimed, "Zheng Yi, what are you doing here? It's so dangerous; how could you come?"
Zheng Yi winced as Mei Shuang hugged him tightly, causing him pain. "Ouch, sister..."
Mei Shuang noticed the sticky liquid on Zheng Yi's arm and gasped, "You're hurt!"
"I... I'm fine... just got scraped by a rock."
Mei Shuang tore off a piece of her sleeve to bandage Zheng Yi's injury before looking around at the others, all of whom were injured and in dire straits.
Lady Aida was also hurt but felt relieved to see Mei Shuang unharmed.
"How did you all get up here?" Mei Shuang asked them.
Lord Lu surveyed his remaining men; in the blink of an eye, only five or six were left out of dozens. Heartbroken and dazed by the loss, he felt overwhelmed by the situation.
After briefly explaining their predicament with the Dragon Python in front and pursuers behind, Lady Aida said, "Thanks to Zheng Yi leading us up here..."
Mei Shuang felt both pained and frustrated. "How could you bring a child up here? It's too dangerous!"
"Without Zheng Yi, we wouldn't have made it at all." Lady Aida had been struck by a Dragon Python's tail; though it was just a glancing blow, it felt like a whip. She sprinkled some pain-relieving powder on her wound and gritted her teeth against the pain.
"People have already been incapacitated; we must leave here before dawn," Chu Xiruo said as she glanced outside. The Dragon Pythons had lost their target and seemed eager to follow them but were hindered by the rugged rocks, clearly at a loss.
Now that they had found each other, the next step was to find a way out. However, they were surrounded by sheer cliffs. Even though Chu Xiruo possessed the Flying Tiger Claw, it was impossible for the injured to descend safely.
Suddenly, a dull sound echoed from deeper inside the cave, followed by another loud noise.
The sound of "thud thud thud" continued incessantly. Chu Xiruo peeked out and exclaimed, "Oh no, those Dragon Pythons are actually crashing into the rocks of the cave!"
Everyone was stunned. "Could it be that they want to collapse our hiding place?"
Someone nearby snorted, "Do they really think this is an impenetrable fortress? This is hard rock; how could they possibly shake it?"
After a pause, Chu Xiruo's face slightly changed color, and her voice trembled a bit. "They... are actually coordinating their attacks?"
Before she finished speaking, a loud, muffled sound echoed as if the ground was shaking. They felt a slight tremor beneath their feet, and sand began to trickle down from the gaps in the rocks above them.
Panic set in among the group.
With such intelligence, how could they be mere animals? They were clearly acting like humans!
Then, with another dull thud, more sand fell down densely. One person exclaimed in panic, "Aren't they afraid of collapsing this cave and burying themselves along with us?"
"They may be clever, but they are still beasts. Right now, all they think about is revenge—how to eliminate those who harmed them. They probably aren't considering anything else. Our position is precarious; if this continues, the rock wall we are gathered by might indeed collapse before the cave does."
Chu Xiruo's words made everyone present turn pale and tremble inside.
Looking down at the bottomless abyss beneath them, if what Chu Xiruo said came true, it would be better to die fighting than to wait for death here.
"Rather than waiting to die here, we should go in and fight for our lives; perhaps there’s still a glimmer of hope." One person brandished a knife and was about to charge inside.
Mei Shuang stopped him. "Everyone, please calm down and think of another way."
Chu Xiruo looked at Mei Shuang. Although she was also pale with fear, she seemed more composed. She thought to herself, let’s see what you can come up with.
Mei Shuang felt a mess in her heart; at this moment, she had no real plan. She only spoke to comfort everyone; it was better than collapsing before reaching their limit. She felt that she had this kind of luck—every time in a critical moment, inspiration would strike her.
This time was no exception.
Because, the Nangong Mo Yi who had been lying on the ground had suddenly disappeared without anyone noticing.
This was a shocking turn of events; a living person who had been **bewitched** had vanished right before their eyes. Mei Shuang was taken aback, while Chu Xiruo, though startled, quickly realized that Mei Shuang was not reliable in her actions.
"This is truly the end," Chu Xiruo sighed softly.
"What now?" Lord Lu could hardly bear such pessimistic talk. Just moments ago, Mei Shuang had tried to lift everyone's spirits, yet here was this person spreading despair and confusion.
"All caught in one net..." Chu Xiruo replied irritably.
Only then did Mei Shuang come to a sudden realization.
It turned out that Nangong Mo Yi had been pretending to be unconscious, waiting for their people to come up so he could catch them all at once.
Their current situation was indeed like fish in a barrel.
"We've been tricked! What a cunning fox!" Mei Shuang couldn't help but curse.
Understanding the situation, Lord Lu let out a long sigh. "The situation is dire..."
Mei Shuang shouted towards the cave entrance, "Nangong Mo Yi, come out!"
Sure enough, not long after, the figure of Nangong Mo Yi appeared at the cave entrance. The silver mask reflected the cold light of the moon, and he stood there arrogantly, looking over at them with a sneer. "Ah, Miss Mei Shuang, while your **influence** is quite substantial, it is regrettable that you have underestimated my abilities. Heh heh, I did say your luck was good to have so many come to rescue you. Unfortunately, they probably won't see the rising sun..."
Mei Shuang decided not to hide any longer and stepped out from within. "Nangong Mo Yi, can you stop those Dragon Pythons first? How about we make a deal?"
"Oh?" Nangong Mo Yi fixed his gaze on Mei Shuang, suddenly throwing his head back in laughter. "Oh, Miss Mei Shuang, I truly admire you; you always have an excuse at critical moments. Moreover, you can't even protect yourself—what do you have to offer in this deal?"
Mei Shuang stared at him, enunciating each word, "The thing you want."
Nangong Mo Yi examined Mei Shuang seriously this time and scoffed, "Could it be that Miss Mei Shuang has seen it?"
"No, not only have I seen it, but I also know where it is..." Mei Shuang replied firmly.
Lord Lu grew anxious upon hearing this. He had caught snippets of the conversation between Nangong Mo Yi and Mei Shuang and understood that the pretender Zhao Prince's intention was merely to find the so-called Founding Ancestor's token to use it against the court, even to commit treason and overthrow it.
As a court official, how could he tolerate this?
Now that he heard Mei Shuang actually knew about this item, he became even more agitated. "Absolutely not! Regardless of whether there is a Founding Ancestor's token or not, you must not fall for his tricks! His lair is already surrounded; he won't have many good days left! Perhaps by dawn, the Emperor's men will arrive!"
Nangong Mo Yi was furious and was about to take action when Mei Shuang said, "I only have one condition: let them go! This matter has nothing to do with them!"
"That's easy for you to say. If you let them go, what will you do if you end up with nothing?"
"You are right. The parchment is indeed hidden inside the Founding Ancestor's statue. It rolled out when the statue was damaged during the collapse of the Underground Palace. Without the guidance of that parchment, we wouldn't have been able to escape from the Underground Palace."
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