Secret Road

Gui Yao raised her thin face slightly, and under her long eyelashes, she saw the different expressions of everyone in the room, which could be seen through the masks. She picked up the broken teacup, and when it fell on the table, it made a little bit of tiny sounds.

Are there no extra guards or attendants here?

She couldn't make a decision based on such temptation alone.

Then let’s start talking business.

Lu Qingshan, who was sitting in the upper seat, slowly retracted the scroll, accompanied by the endless gnawing sounds that continued in her ears.

Sudden!

An arrow pierced the window screen and shot into the room.

Gui Yao controlled her subconscious gaze, gripped the chair handle tightly with her right hand, and calmed herself down.

The person closest to the arrow was Lu Qingshan, but when he looked up, he saw that he had no intention of hiding. Instead, he calmly put away the scroll.

"Madam, the information is at the tail of this arrow. If you are willing to make a deal, please step forward and write."

Without a moment's hesitation, Gui Yao bit her lips until they turned pale, and coughed so hard that her already frail body shook as if it was about to fall apart.

She tried to stand up by holding onto the chair, but stumbled and fell backwards. The breathing beside her paused for half a second. The woman sitting to her right saw this and said, "City Lord Lu, why don't you tell Madam to stay here? If something really happens to Madam, we're afraid we won't be able to explain ourselves."

Gui Yao lowered her eyes and looked.

Upon hearing this, Lu Qingshan raised his hand slightly. The secret guard in front of the door stepped forward to hold his arm and gave a look to another secret guard.

So Lu Qingshan sat on the empty chair and took the secret letter off the arrow and placed it on the table.

At the same time, Gui Yao handed over the booklet that had just been in her hand. The secret guard slowly turned to the blank page, ground it, and handed her the pen.

Gui Yao supported herself with her hands and said, "Prefect Lu, what information do I need to pay in exchange for this information?"

"You seem to have forgotten to tell me." She curled her eyes.

Lu Qingshan smiled faintly and said, "Madam, you are joking. I am a businessman and I understand the principle of give and take. This secret letter tonight is my stepping stone to your business. I give it to you."

"If Madam is still willing to continue the transaction."

"I sincerely invite you to visit me with General Ren tomorrow at this time. However... please do not tell General Ren about our deal."

Guiyao tapped the table lightly with her knuckles.

"Why are you so sure I won't tell the secret?"

"Then I'll ask Madam about this cup of tea."

Lu Qingshan's lips curled up, as if he had expected things to go so smoothly. He said to the secret guard beside him: "Go get the antidote."

The secret guard put down his pen.

Walk towards the secret door before the person in the distance.

He took out the pills from the secret compartment in front of everyone, walked back slowly, and presented them to Lu Qingshan.

"A strange poison in the northwest, the cold river snow."

"This poison is colorless and tasteless. Those who take it need an antidote every seven days. If they don't find the antidote, their bodies will heat up and explode, and they will die. The deaths are extremely tragic. I once watched a beautiful woman bleed from all seven orifices, with not a single part of her face intact."

Okay, it's scary.

Gui Yao, tears streaming down her face, feigned shock and said, "How could you be so vicious! I only drank half a sip... I'm sure I'll be fine!"

"Although this poison is soluble in water, it is quite potent. However, even if a common lady just moistens her lips, she will be poisoned."

Lu Qingshan said.

As soon as she finished speaking, Gui Yao noticed the atmosphere around her becoming gloomy. She heard the woman next to her smile, which was tinged with sadness: "I was as cautious as you back then, but even so..."

Guiyao is clear.

The secret letter might be fake, or it was just to trick her into believing it. Everyone else sitting here, no matter how loyal they were, could not escape the poison.

The screen pierced by the arrow reflected the dancing moonlight. Guiyao's fingertips grasped the neatly placed brush. Just as she was about to spin it, she suddenly remembered the warmth of Ren Beixi's palm as he wiped her face.

"In that case, please ask Prefect Lu to hand over to me tonight's intelligence so that I can determine whether General Ren, who met the woman in red tonight, is my husband."

Guiyao blinked.

"What do you mean, madam?" Lu Qingshan frowned slightly.

With a loud bang, Gui Yao was grabbed by the waist by the man in black and walked towards the nearest door. The hidden weapon in her sleeve pierced into the chest of the other man in black with a "swoosh". The speed of the action was unexpected, and the door was slammed shut by Ren Beixi from the outside.

In an instant, countless arrows pierced through the thick screen and pointed directly at everyone in the secret room.

——The sound of arrows breaking through the wind and screams causing chaos.

Gui Yao used one hand to open her covered mouth, and with a complicated expression, she used her hands to tear off Ren Beixi's mask.

"When did you set up the game?"

"It was my fault when we separated. I didn't have time to tell you my plan." Ren Beixi threw the knife in his hand to the ground, turned around and took out the sword he had just hidden from the secret compartment. He heard the screams of pain in the room gradually weakening.

The man's voice was deep: "The secret guards separated you and me, but they never expected that I would be me."

"Yaoyao."

Ren Beixi lowered his eyes and saw Gui Yao who was obviously in a bad mood. He just lowered his eyes and pulled her arm. Seeing that she still ignored him, he had no choice but to press her against the door and rub her with his thin lips.

“Hmm…”

Gui Yao was kissed so hard that she could hardly breathe. She tried to reach the lock of the door with her right hand, but accidentally found it. She screamed and leaned back.

Ren Beixi was also made to stagger half a step by her.

Stepping onto this densely packed arrow tomb, he quickly held her in his arms, his breath falling on her neck, his Adam's apple rolling.

"I think you are really not afraid of being poisoned." Gui Yao was angry.

But she didn't dare look at Ren Beixi with a red face, for fear of seeing the obvious dissatisfaction in his dark eyes.

She was pulled by the hand and looked into the room. Three of the five masked men were shot in vital parts, and one was gasping for breath with an injured arm, and was stabbed in the chest by Ren Beixi coldly.

Gui Yao's gaze fell on the corner. The woman who was sitting next to her at the time was now leaning behind the table that had been shot into a target, still in shock. Under the ghost mask was a bright face.

Gui Yao stopped Ren Beixi, turned around and picked up the antidote left on the ground. She smelled it and found that it was indeed made of a material she had never seen before. She wondered where Lu Qingshan got this poison from the northwest region.

She held up the pills to the man.

"You weren't poisoned?"

By the way, he took out the wet handkerchief that had been hidden in his sleeve for a long time, wrung out the tea inside, and after thinking about it, he still didn't know where to put it, so he stuffed it into the hands of Ren Beixi who was shaking his head.

Ren Beixi put the handkerchief to his nose.

When he looked up, he saw Gui Yao squatting down and handing the antidote to the person under the table.

"Take this antidote and go to the Qiushan Clinic in Beijing. Perhaps they can make an antidote with the same effect."

Gui Yao stood up and was held by Ren Beixi's narrow shoulders as she walked inside. Sure enough, Lu Qingshan was taken away by the secret guard in a hurry and did not close the secret door.

There were obvious bloodstains outside the secret door, and it was impossible to tell whether Lu Qingshan was injured. The further she walked in, the more she smelled, not only the smell of blood. She covered her nose and felt uncomfortable with the smell for the first time.

The single words in my mind slowly began to have specific meanings.

And such specific meaning is even beyond the pronunciations, which means that the number of these things becomes more and more as you go deeper.

This secret passage is very long and empty.

Ren Beixi, perhaps sensing Gui Yao's discomfort, whispered, "The secret passage leads all the way to the outside of Wuhua City. There are secret guards waiting ahead, so we can walk slowly."

He held the sword tightly in his right hand. This secret passage had been explored by the secret guards when he entered the city yesterday, and all the hidden weapons had been dealt with. The further he went in, the quieter it became. There was no candlelight and no circulating air in the secret passage. He hugged Gui Yao tighter.

"Lu Qingshan's poison isn't Han Jiangxue, but a common poison used in the Northern Barbarians' military camp. It's colorless and odorless, but the antidote has a unique herbal smell that's unique to the Northern Barbarians. It's hard to identify without a careful sniff."

Gui Yao whispered, "Is Lu Qingshan having an affair with Beiman?"

The collection rate of side quests in the mind has increased to 40%.

Unheard of.

If Wuhua City, which is close to the capital, has been controlled by Lu Qingshan and relies on the buying and selling of intelligence as a market, he could easily use the gold and silver of everyone present to exchange for information about An Chao. That would explain why he lured her in so easily today.

"I always feel that this person is brainless." Gui Yao said.

She turned sideways to look at Ren Beixi, and suddenly stopped. The animal sounds in her ears had never been so creepy.

"Nibbling, nibbling, nibbling, nibbling, daddy, nibbling, mommy, brother, sister, nibbling, nibbling, the swaddled baby, nibbling, nibbling."

"What's wrong?" The man stopped.

Gui Yao felt that the voice in her heart was getting closer and closer. Finally, something ran out from the dark road in front of her and walked around her feet.

Gui Yao was rarely stunned for three seconds, and then she let out a short scream. She hugged Ren Beixi and climbed on him, startling the fire starter in the man's hand and causing it to fall to the ground.

Looking down, the mouse was obviously frightened as well, and it fearfully avoided the tinder and went into a hole it could crawl into.

Only then did Gui Yao confirm her guess.

Although she had concluded that the names of side quests would basically contain animal-related content, she really didn't want to solve cases with mice. As a pet doctor in her previous life, she was not afraid of snakes or geckos, but this little thing.

Little thing: "Oh, sorry for scaring people."

No cute rats allowed!

Gui Yao was held in Ren Beixi's arms. Belatedly, she muttered, "Why are there so many rats in Wuhua City? Even if there aren't cats to catch them, it shouldn't be a rat infestation. But there's no evidence of an epidemic in the city... The only thing wrong is the food."

She lowered her eyes slightly.

After a while, he pinched Ren Beixi's chest muscles.

"When I saw Wuhua City distributing food during the day, I felt something was wrong. Why haven't we heard any news of food shortages in Wuhua City? And at night, the streets look completely different, like a play."

Gui Yao looked at Ren Beixi silently.

She knew he was thinking the same thing as she was.

If it's acting.

So is it performed during the day or at night?

Gui Yao clutched her chest and relaxed. She wanted to ask Ren Beixi to put her down, but the man did not agree. He simply carried her light body on his back and said in a deep voice, "Sleep for a while. I'll call you when we get there."

But now she is really suffering.

After walking in the secret passage for nearly half an hour, the rat noises in Gui Yao's ears became more and more frequent and complicated. Ren Beixi saw her covering her ears and just quickened his pace.

The secret passage was pitch black except for the fire lighter held tightly in Guiyao's hand.

Her thoughts, which had been tense all day, gradually became heavy.

Breathing is shallow.

Ren Beixi turned his head, his eyes only fixed on Guiyao's slightly drooping curled eyelashes. The little fan trembled slightly, which was so cute that he wanted to move closer and touch it, but he didn't want to disturb her hard-earned relaxation. In the end, he just took the fire starter from her hand and silently slowed down his pace.

As the long night was about to end, a faint light appeared in the secret passage.

The man sensed the movement of air, and when his eyes could see the surrounding rock walls, he extinguished the fire and grasped the sword in his right hand.

Gui Yao instinctively covered her eyes with her hands and looked a little confused when she woke up.

She jumped off the man, tilted her neck, and innocently let him loosen her black robe.

"Why did you pull it on me?"

"dislike."

"But you only like to wear black." Gui Yao leaned over, stood on tiptoe, and raised her hand to squeeze Ren Beixi's face.

Ren Beixi stared closely at Gui Yao's bright eyes, sheathed his sword, and walked forward, covering her eyes with his left hand. He then placed his right hand beside her slightly red ear and said in a deep voice, "When we get to the capital, go buy Yaoyao some new clothes."

Gui Yao: "...go away."

Now that things have come to this, can we investigate the case first?