Chapter 83: Moths to a Flame

Dong Tang didn't turn around, nor did she ask who the person was. She simply looked down and saw the person's black robes, which blended almost seamlessly into the surroundings, and the double-edged swords at their waist.

She's good at pretending to be blind and deaf; the less these lackeys know, the more chances they have of surviving.

Suddenly, Dongtang felt the hands that were holding her loosen. Then, those hands gently landed on her shoulders, the fingertips caressing her protruding spine, and finally resting on her back.

A powerful yet gentle warmth flowed into her body, instantly dispelling the chill from her bones. Dong Tang opened her eyes wide, too afraid to move. She didn't understand what it was, but she couldn't bear to struggle and push it away.

She hadn't felt this way in a long time; it was as if a long-awaited rain had come after a drought, and her depleted body had been revived.

"I didn't have any food with me, just a piece of sweet cake."

The man handed her a piece of brown oil paper from behind. When she opened it, she found a soft, milky-white cake covered in powdered sugar, emitting a sweet and soft aroma.

What if it's poisoned? She'd seen it all before; many masters only needed to hand their servants a cup of tea or a cup of wine, and the servants knew they were about to die.

But... Dongtang swallowed hard, and still tremblingly stretched out her thin, bony fingers to pick up the sweet cake. She hadn't eaten normal food for a very, very long time.

Dongtang tentatively took a bite, intending to check if she would be poisoned before taking another bite. But the sweet taste instantly filled her throat, and her mind went blank. Without thinking, she swallowed the rest in one gulp.

It doesn't matter if she dies after eating it. It's also fine if this is a dream given to her by the ghost messengers before she dies so that they can take her away. This is already much better than the human world she was in.

After waiting for a while, Dongtang found that under the powerful warm current, her consciousness and body gradually became clear. She was certain that she was still in the human world and had not been poisoned.

The person behind him remained silent, a silence that made Dong Tang somewhat uneasy.

What do you need? But even if I were to give up my worthless life, it might not be worth a single piece of your sweet cake...

"I cannot heal the wound on your wrist from the blood draw, as it would be easily exposed. The internal energy I left in your body will warm it and should allow you to withstand a few more blood draws."

The hands left Dong Tang's back, and the man stood up and said.

"But I have to go now, time is running out. If you want to escape, I will try my best to save you. But if you don't want to, just pretend I was never here today, and don't say anything more, let's just consider each other even."

As the black clothes disappeared from sight, Dong Tang hadn't even had time to process what the person had just said before her body moved first. She pounced on the person and hugged him tightly around the waist.

"...What is the date now?"

She had almost forgotten how long she had been trapped here. Dongtang gritted her teeth, opened her eyes, and mustered all her courage to lift her head and look at the person's face.

It was indeed an unfamiliar face, and she was wearing a mask. Dong Tang knew she wasn't from the Eastern Palace. The sword she wore at her waist further suggested she wasn't benevolent either; she must have her own scheme to come to the Eastern Palace's underground.

Dongtang knew she had made a terrible mistake. She had gone from being blind, deaf, and mute to a normal person, but for a servant, this could be fatal.

But……

The moment Dongtang looked into that person's eyes, her heart skipped a beat, as if something flashed across her vision and disappeared in an instant.

In just a fleeting moment, so fast that she didn't even have time to process it, the feeling vanished. But Dongtang was certain she had seen it, and she couldn't bear to let go.

"The 29th day of the twelfth lunar month".

The man looked at her and said softly.

...

On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, after returning from His Majesty's presence, Wei Jingchen told Lin Chengye about the emperor's frailty that she had witnessed firsthand.

This only makes Lin Chengye's guess seem more reliable.

After listening to Lin Chengye's analysis, Wei Jingchen instinctively felt it was impossible, but the words of rebuttal stuck in her throat, and she couldn't refute them at all. She paused for a moment and then said in a mocking tone.

"...If your guess is true, I have to think that Father's illness is not a coincidence."

"Maybe, actually I think it's not impossible." Lin Chengye shrugged, but she didn't delve into the matter further and instead brought up another important matter.

"There is another matter. I now suspect that the Mother Worm is in the Eastern Palace. And its hiding place must be very difficult to find. Do you know when His Highness the Crown Prince has been going out recently?"

"...Can you please stop pushing yourself to the limit?"

Wei Jingchen rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. Lin Chengye did things that were punishable by death if caught. She was terrified that one day, as soon as she stepped into the Prince Su's mansion, someone would come to report that one of her retainers had died in the palace.

But seeing Lin Chengye's expression, which was definitely not a joke, Wei Jingchen tapped his fingers on the table, thought for a moment, and said.

"If I had to say... it would be the 29th of the twelfth lunar month. On that day, I, Crown Prince Wei Jingrui, and Second Prince Wei Jingyu would go to the family temple to offer sacrifices. This has always been our custom."

You have half a day.

...

Because there were many things that only Lin Chengye knew, and the situation was currently too complicated, after careful consideration, she decided to go herself.

On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, the guards at the Eastern Palace were not particularly strict. Some of the elite guards had gone with the Crown Prince, and Lin Chengye easily evaded them. He managed to mentally praise Wei Jingchen for being quite reliable.

Lin Chengye entered through the half-person-high hole that the woman had crawled through earlier. The hole was located behind a thick, ancient tree, in an extremely hidden location, and the exit was covered by a haystack. However, the passage seemed to have been dug according to the height of a specific person, so Lin Chengye could only bend over and squeeze through sideways.

That woman must have left through this place more than once.

As soon as Lin Chengye stepped into the Eastern Palace, the originally faint fragrance suddenly became strong, even more pungent than strong liquor, and the entire Eastern Palace was filled with the heavy, bitter smell of burning myrrh.

This was definitely not just a simple liking for the scent of myrrh. Lin Chengye quickly realized that burning myrrh in this way had completely destroyed its bitter yet refreshing meaning as an incense.

It's more like using extreme bitterness to mask other aromas.

Lin Chengye took several deep breaths, trying to discern the bitterness in the air. But the more he concentrated, the more the bitterness accumulated in his nasal cavity, rendering his sense of smell useless.

Living in this kind of environment all day long, even a porcelain vase would probably be permeated with this smell.

Lin Chengye was somewhat annoyed that he had almost been blown up in the underground of Yongfo Temple, and that the fleshworm had also died. If that thing were still there, the process would have been much simpler.

If one trick doesn't work, try another. Lin Chengye didn't hesitate. The next moment, she held her breath, lightly touched the ground with her toes, and flipped onto the roof without even making a sound.

Lin Chengye's lightness skill is now quite proficient. If it were simply a matter of escaping, she would even be confident of escaping from someone with the eighth level of internal energy.

Lin Chengye found a secluded spot overlooking the entire East Palace, where he blended into the shadow cast by the eaves.

The exposure of the ghost disease is like a stone thrown into a lake. His Highness the Crown Prince must be afraid that the Mother Corruptor will be discovered. As the ripples spread, they will inevitably cause changes and cannot remain silent.

A cup of tea, a stick of incense, an hour... Lin Chengye stood almost like a stone statue, completely still.

Suddenly, those dark eyes slowly moved, sharp as a hawk locking onto its prey.

The dying prey, oblivious to the impending danger, continues to chatter incessantly.

"Bad luck, bad luck..."

A tall, thin man and a short, stout man carried a tattered straw mat, one in front and one behind. The tall, thin man kept cursing, while the short, stout man sighed and echoed him.

"Yeah, we're going down underground soon. It's even colder and scarier there, no less so than the King of Hell's palace."

Long hair and a bluish-purple arm were partially visible from one side of the straw mat. A nearly severed wound stretched across the wrist, with only the skin and flesh still connecting it.

The blood of the person on the straw mat had not yet dried up; with each step, a drop would fall, forming a blood trail that stretched from the Crown Prince's bedchamber all the way to a dry well in the secluded backyard.

The two men tossed the straw mat containing the woman into the dry well as if it were trash. Then, the short, stout servant skillfully took a white cloth bag from his robes, lit it, and threw it into the well as well.

Soon after, thick smoke rose from the dry well, and a strong, bitter smell masked the sweet, metallic scent of blood.

The tall, thin man covered his nose in disgust and coughed heavily twice.

"Come on, we still need to deliver food to that one underground... don't let her starve to death..."

The short, stout man urged them on, while the tall, thin man scoffed, saying that the woman would either starve or freeze to death sooner or later. The two then hurried back to the Crown Prince's bedchamber.

Unaware that someone had appeared behind them like a ghost the moment they turned around, following them all the way and watching them open the hidden door behind the bookshelf in the Crown Prince's bedroom and enter that cold underground world.

The entire conversation was overheard by the hawks lurking in the darkness. The tall, thin man screamed wildly: "So Your Highness killed her and drank her blood!"

Hidden in the shadows, Lin Chengye's icy face suddenly contorted into a ferocious expression. Her eyes shrank, her fists clenched, and her nails dug deep into her flesh.

"...and if a mother beetle is implanted in a human body, it must drink blood and be fed every day."

Cai Wenyou's words were still fresh in his mind, and in an instant Lin Chengye understood.

His Highness the Crown Prince directly implanted the Mother Beetle into his own body!

Damn it, damn it. So the Mother Worm wasn't hiding anywhere in the Eastern Palace. Lin Chengye tasted the overflowing blood in her mouth; her only chance to destroy the Mother Worm instantly became slim again. What was she going to do now…?

Lin Chengye gripped the sword at her waist tightly, her knuckles turning white. For a fleeting moment, she was consumed by rage, almost wanting to rush into the palace without a care in the world, kill the Crown Prince, kill…

But she couldn't. Lin Chengye slumped down and released his grip on the sword.

Lin Chengye watched the two people leave, then saw the woman who had been treated as "food" suddenly clutch her own neck, her expression one of extreme pain. She hesitated for a moment, then reached out and grasped the wrist, which was also covered in festering wounds from repeated cuts.

The woman was quiet and intelligent, knowing she shouldn't look or ask, which relieved Lin Chengye. She couldn't leave any traces, so she couldn't leave any clothes for the woman to warm herself; she could only use her internal energy.

Seeing that the woman's spirits were gradually improving, Lin Chengye realized that the morning would soon be over, so he stood up and prepared to leave in a hurry.

...

"The thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month."

The woman, who had her arms tightly wrapped around his waist, suddenly spoke, her voice hoarse. Lin Chengye was taken aback. She knelt down, her eyes dim.

"His Highness the Crown Prince will attend a banquet on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, from dusk until dawn on New Year's Day."

“I have served His Highness the Crown Prince since I was a child. And there is another layer below this underground... there are other secrets hidden there, and I know how to open them.”

"Will you hurt me?"

Lin Chengye looked into the woman's eyes and said softly.

"This is the first time we've met, and I don't really know you well."

"……I won't."

Dong Tang's throat bobbed, her voice trembling but without hesitation. She suddenly remembered that she had just said she wasn't familiar with Dong Li, yet Dong Li had died for her, and now, she had decided in an instant to abandon everything for the young man in front of her.

Dong Tang braced herself against the cold ground and slammed her head down. Lin Chengye caught her and tried to help her up.

But Dongtang still kowtowed three times and prostrated himself on the ground.

"I beg... no, I implore you, sir, to believe me."

Author's Note: The phrase "like a moth drawn to a flame" perfectly describes this chapter.