Chapter 34 Burned

Everyone rushed out along the prison corridor, grabbing whatever they saw along the way. They snatched water and fire sticks, carried long benches, and dismantled wooden doors. Even the person who had just shouted "I won't go out" touched a stone brick on the ground to give himself courage.

He broke open the cell door and rushed out to the prison yard. In the middle of the yard stood a huge sundial, pitch black, like a beast crouching quietly.

When everyone passed the sundial and looked up, they saw the gate of the prison and were immediately overjoyed.

The four guards at the door heard the noise and asked, "What's going on?" They turned around and saw dozens of female prisoners rushing towards them with sticks and torches raised.

The guard was shocked and turned pale with fear. He shouted, "Quick, close the door! Don't let the prisoner escape!"

With two loud bangs, the two doors of the prison were closed, and the guards drew their swords and stood ready.

Everyone was suddenly a little timid. Looking at the high walls on both sides, they were at a loss. "What should we do? We are trapped in the yard."

Someone excitedly grabbed Xue Qi by the collar and shouted, "You said there was someone waiting outside, where is he?"

Xue Qi was about to speak up and ask everyone to calm down when flames suddenly lit up on the enemy towers on both sides.

Everyone looked up, and the next moment, their eyes widened in horror.

On the enemy tower, soldiers on both sides quickly lined up, raised their bows and arrows, and aimed at them in the yard.

Everyone was terrified and cried out in despair. Some dropped their weapons, knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

"Retreat behind the sundial and put the door panels together to block it. Reinforcements will be here soon." Xue Qi said calmly.

The person lying on the ground begging for mercy wiped away tears and said angrily: "Don't try to deceive us. I think you are going to kill us. Don't listen to her!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a whooshing sound in the air. The soldiers on the west side of the enemy tower were pierced by wolf-tooth arrows and fell to the ground one after another.

Everyone was stunned, not realizing what had happened. The person who had just questioned Xue Qi opened his mouth in disbelief, a look of horror and anger frozen on his face ridiculously.

"Hurry up and step back!" Xue Qi shouted.

Everyone was called back to their senses by her, and they retreated to the side of the sundial, raised the wooden boards in their hands, and put them together to block the sharp arrows that might be shot from the east.

Outside the prison, Zhao Mingyue looked at the soldiers screaming and falling to the ground on the city wall. He put down the bow he was holding, and his right hand began to tremble uncontrollably.

She killed someone.

Even though she was shot from a long distance and didn't feel anything real, she could still imagine the pain of an arrow piercing her heart and her flesh being torn apart.

However, the guards were still waiting for her next order.

She closed her eyes, gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, and barely stopped trembling. She took a deep breath and gently waved to the guards, "Climb the wall and attack the prison."

Behind her, a dozen or so masked men in black looked sharp, nodded, and leaped to the corner of the wall.

Dozens of hooks with ropes flew silently towards the high wall and clamped the gaps in the top of the wall.

As if they had rehearsed countless times, the men in black tightened the ropes in unison and quickly climbed up the wall like ghosts.

He then moved behind the soldier, drew his sword, and stabbed it into his back like lightning. The tip of the sword protruded from his chest, and blood dripped along the blade.

Another group of guards fell.

Zhao Mingyue looked at the remaining people and said, "Let's go to the main gate and pick them up!"

Inside the prison gate, the guards were in chaos. "Hurry up and inform the Minister to mobilize the troops! Someone is breaking into the prison!"

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the door was blown open, with wood chips flying everywhere.

Several men in black jumped in, long swords flashing coldly in their hands, and slashed straight at them.

A few screams were heard, and the guards were immediately knocked to the ground, their heads and bodies separated.

Everyone stared in amazement at what was happening before their eyes.

All the archers on the east and west sides were knocked down, and the gate of the prison was opened to them.

They simply couldn't believe that this dim cell was breached like this.

Who are these men in black? Are they really here to rescue them?

Xue Qi's eyes lit up, and he immediately went up to them and whispered to the leader, "Were you sent by the Queen Mother?"

Zhao Mingyue nodded. "Yes. Are all the sixty-four prisoners here?"

Xue Qi said "hmm", "Let's go quickly!"

At this time, the guards on the city wall jumped down and gathered around Zhao Mingyue.

Zhao Mingyue thought of the plan Liu Shen'ai had told her, looked at them, and ordered, "Set fire to this place."

Then he took all the prisoners and left the prison.

Not long after, a huge fire broke out in the Ministry of Justice prison, and the sky in the middle of the night was burned red, as if it were daytime.

————

At the same time, on a nine-story tower south of the prison, Chi Ling put away the sniper rifle mounted on the window.

Seeing this, Liu Shen Ai said angrily, "Since you are so worried about the heroine, why don't you do it yourself?"

"Worried?" Chi Yan sneered as if she had heard something funny. "I just don't want the plan to go awry."

Liu Shen Ai: "But you've already pulled out your sniper rifle. Isn't that a bit too much? Article 26 of the Cleaner Code states that you must not use weapons that exceed the technological level of the mission world!"

Chi Li leaned against the window, admiring the gorgeous firelight in the distance, looking contented, "I'm useless."

Seeing her nonchalant expression, Liu Shenai became even more enraged. He angrily shouted, "You don't realize the seriousness of the situation at all! Once you fire your gun, the bullet casings left behind will likely alert the people of this world to something amiss. They might even awaken! Aren't you afraid that the Lord God will then send in the cleansers?"

Chi Li turned her head and glanced at her gently, "Xiao Liu, do you think this is the New World or the Old World?"

Liu Shen'ai was stunned for a moment, then started searching the database. The search results showed that there was no data about this world before them.

Either the main god system did not open up the authority to her, or, "...is this the new territory?"

Chi Li's lips curled slightly, a cold look flashing across her eyes. "The New World is a world completely out of the control of the Lord God. No cleaners will enter."

She turned around, the night wind outside the window blew her clothes, and the firelight made her hair red, making her look like a god.

However, her face was shrouded in darkness, her expression sinister. "Otherwise, you who betrayed the Lord God would have been formatted long ago."

Liu Shen Ai suddenly froze in place, and a sharp explosion sounded in Chi Li's mind.

Fortunately, Chi Qi blocked her in advance.

He walked past Liu Shen'ai with an indifferent expression and went down the stairs.

Liu Shenai looked at the fire outside the window and felt the temperature of his body for the first time, which was hot and cold.

Is it really right to betray the Lord God and take the risk of joining the host's plan?

However, now that her soul has awakened, she really doesn't want to stay in the darkness anymore.

As if unusual data fluctuations were detected, the underlying program began to run automatically, and the Lord God's instructions echoed in his mind.

"Main God Subsystem No. 006, eliminate the awakened ones, execute immediately!"

A brilliant red light flashed between the system's cold gray pupils.

"Refuse to execute!"

————

Zhu Fangfang was sleeping soundly when she suddenly heard the servant's urgent call.

He opened his eyes, feeling extremely angry. He sat up and slapped him in the face. "Do you want to die? Why are you calling me so late at night?"

The servant covered his swollen face with his hands, tears in his eyes, and stammered, "Master, the prison officer from the Ministry of Justice is here... He said... that bandits attacked the prison, and all the female prisoners ran away."

He also knew that reporting this news in the middle of the night would surely incur the master's wrath, but he had the lowest status in the mansion, so it was only he who would be scolded.

Sure enough, when Zhu Fangfang heard this, her face immediately turned pale, "What did you say?!"

He threw back the quilt, got up from the bed, and walked into the lobby without even putting on any clothes.

The warden's face was still stained with blood. Seeing him come out, he slumped to his knees and said, "Sir, something's happened! Over sixty prisoners in the women's prison have been kidnapped! The main prison has also been set on fire!"

When Zhu Fangfang heard this, her knees went weak, she staggered and almost fell to the ground.

He rushed over and grabbed the prison officer's shirt by the chest, "Where's Wu Liang? Did he do what I asked him to do?"

The prison officer was having trouble breathing and gasped, "Wu Liang... Wu Liang should be dead. The fire was so big that the soldiers' bodies were all burnt. No one dared to go in and see!"

"So, Li Jiying is still alive?" Zhu Fangfang's face turned pale. She loosened her grip and then flew into a rage again. "Are you all good-for-nothings? You can't even keep an inmate under guard!"

The prison officer touched the marks on his neck and said carefully, "We've already dispatched the Dali Temple's troops to search the entire city..."

Zhu Fangfang interrupted him harshly, "I don't care what method you use, go and capture Li Jiying first. You must capture her and absolutely cannot let her live!"

"Yes, yes!" the prison officer responded repeatedly and retreated with a bitter look on his face.

————

On the other side, the Prime Minister's Mansion, which should have been asleep, was also brightly lit.

In the study, Li Mian listened with a cold expression as his subordinates reported on the kidnapping of a female prisoner from the Ministry of Justice.

"Who were those people who broke into the prison? Have you found out?"

"The Ministry of Justice is still investigating, but judging by the wolf-tooth arrows used by this group, they appear to be military-exclusive, with all twelve Imperial Guards equipped with them."

Li Mian's expression changed slightly, "The Twelve Imperial Guards? Could it be..." The last two words were blurred, as if even he himself felt that this guess was absurd.

Li Xiaoci said in panic: "Dad, no matter whether it is true or not, the most urgent thing is to find Li Jiying!"

Li Mian nodded in agreement and looked at his men, "Go find Qian Ming. Counting on those soldiers is a waste of time!"

The subordinate was stunned and showed an embarrassment on his face.

Li Mian suddenly had a premonition of something, and his face turned a little ugly. "What's wrong?"

Subordinate: "Sir, Qian Ming went out yesterday morning and hasn't come back since. Didn't you assign him a mission?"

Li Mian was horrified and jumped up from his chair. He shouted, "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier? Quick, send someone to find him!"

Seeing his expression, his subordinate immediately understood what was going on and said with an uneasy look on his face, "And Wang Liu, he's been missing for several days."

Li Mian was even more surprised now. He reached out and slapped him, "Useless! If I don't ask, how long are you going to keep hiding this from me?"

The men immediately knelt down to plead guilty. Li Mian pointed at the door and said, "Get out! If you don't find them, you'll be beheaded!"

The men were terrified and retreated with their backs hunched.

Li Mian turned around, slowly walked back to the chair, and fell into the chair with a thud, his whole body limp.

Li Xiaoci was startled and rushed to see him, "Dad, what's wrong with you?"

Li Mian shook his head and gasped, "It's not good, it's very bad!"