Chapter 52 This little princess is practically a detective! (Seeking monthly tickets and recommendation votes)

Yan Ziche's plan was simple and brutal.

The next morning, through Chu Chongjin's connections, he openly brought Mu Yu into the palace under the pretext that "His Highness misses the Princess and specially invites her to come to the palace to play."

Accompanying them was Xiao Beichen, who served as their "bodyguard," and his pink wooden armor that made a racket wherever he went.

The group arrived at the Imperial Garden without any hindrance.

Yan Ziche spread out a huge map of the palace city on the stone table.

He obtained this from the Ministry of Works overnight; it contained detailed markings of all the waterways beneath the palace.

"Little Yu'er, do you still remember the 'sleeping water' from yesterday?"

Yan Ziche pointed to the map and patiently guided him.

"Now, we're in the Emperor's grand garden. Listen again, how is the 'water' here different from the water in our garden?"

Mu Yu was wearing her clanging armor.

She walked to the map, stretched out her little hand, and gently pressed it on.

This time, she did not answer immediately.

Her eyes were closed (though they would have been the same if they were open), and her small brows were furrowed tightly.

In her perception, the water veins beneath the palace were far more extensive than those in the princess's residence.

It wasn't a small stream, but a vast network woven from countless rivers.

Most of the rivers flowed quietly and steadily, radiating a pale blue, peaceful glow.

These halos eventually converged at the very center of the palace—the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

There, they merged with an even more powerful, golden "dragon aura".

However……

Within this vast blue network of water, there is a corner that presents a highly discordant scene.

"here……"

Mu Yu's small hand moved slowly across the map, eventually stopping at the area representing the "Cold Palace" and an abandoned old garden.

"The water here... is crying."

Her voice was soft and unease.

Xiao Beichen leaned over to take a look, completely bewildered.

"Crying? How can water cry?"

Yan Ziche's expression turned serious.

"Try to feel it carefully. Why is it crying? And how is it crying?"

Mu Yu tried her best to describe her feelings.

"It...it seems to be tangled up by something, twisted into a knot."

"It wanted to move forward, but it couldn't move and was stuck in a terrible blockage."

"So it cried and cried, and its voice... was black."

The sound of black.

This description gave Xiao Beichen goosebumps.

Yan Ziche understood instantly.

In Mu Yu's Eye of Fortune, black represents "bad luck".

This indicates that the watercourse in question was not simply blocked.

It is dying.

If it is not cleared, this "dead energy" will pollute the entire water network and eventually erode the core "dragon energy"!

This is much more serious than a flood inundating the foundation!

"This is it!"

Yan Ziche's finger tapped heavily on that corner of the map.

He immediately grabbed Xiao Beichen and led Mu Yu straight to the abandoned palace.

This place has been abandoned for decades. The weeds are taller than a person, and there are broken walls and ruins everywhere, creating a desolate scene.

When the head eunuch saw them coming, he thought they were some young masters who had wandered into the wrong place.

When Yan Ziche said he suspected there was a problem with the underground water system, the eunuch's face immediately showed a look of disdain.

"Young Master Yan, are you joking?"

He pinched his pinky finger and said in a sarcastic tone, "The waterways here have been abandoned for fifty years. How could there be a problem?"

"Besides, matters underground are under the jurisdiction of the officials of the Imperial Observatory. Just the other day, the Imperial Preceptor Xuanjizi said he would hold an altar and perform a ritual to appease the earth dragon."

"You brought a little princess here... are you here to play house?"

This eunuch was from Consort De's side, and he often spoke ill of Mu Yu behind her back.

Seeing them run to this godforsaken place now makes me feel like I've found a laughing stock.

Xiao Beichen's face immediately darkened.

He took a step forward, and his tall figure instantly loomed over the eunuch with the pointed mouth and monkey-like face.

"What did you say? Say it again if you dare!"

The young general exuded a murderous aura honed on the battlefield.

The eunuch was so frightened that his legs went weak and he almost knelt on the ground.

"No, he didn't say anything... General, please calm down..."

Yan Ziche stopped the impulsive Xiao Beichen.

It's pointless to get angry with such a petty person.

He turned to Mu Yu, his voice gentle.

"Little Fisherman, take us to the place where the knot is tied."

"good."

Mu Yu nodded.

She took her first steps, her short legs moving, and began exploring the ruins in her pink armor.

"Ring... Ring..."

The crisp sound of bells echoed in the quiet, deserted garden.

Mu Yu walked very slowly.

As she walked, she tilted her ear to listen.

The further you go in, the clearer the "black" crying becomes.

She could feel the "deathly aura" underground growing stronger and stronger.

The plants here grow in strange shapes and their colors are much darker than elsewhere.

A faint, fishy smell permeated the air.

The head eunuch followed behind, muttering filthy under his breath.

"Playing tricks..."

"A blind man, a big oaf, and a self-important little brat..."

"He really thinks he's someone important..."

Although his voice was soft, everyone present was sharp-eared and sharp-eyed.

Xiao Beichen's fists were clenched so tightly they were cracking.

A layer of frost also settled on Yan Ziche's face.

Just then, Mu Yu, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped.

She stood motionless in a patch of waist-high wormwood.

"Found it."

She said in her sweet, childlike voice.

"Right at my feet."

"It's saying...it hurts..."

All eyes were focused on the spot where she stood.

It looked no different from the surrounding wasteland.

It was just an ordinary patch of weeds and rocks.

The head eunuch curled his lip and sneered.

"Found it? Found what? A nest of mice?"

“Princess, if you’ve had enough fun, you should go back now. This place is unlucky, and I can’t bear the consequences if it offends you.”

He had barely finished speaking.

Mu Yu suddenly raised her head, her unfocused amber eyes looking in his direction.

“There are black lines on your body.”

She spoke clearly, word by word.

"It smells exactly the same as the 'crying' sound from underground."

The eunuch in charge froze on his face.

Yan Ziche and Xiao Beichen exchanged a glance, both seeing wariness in each other's eyes.

Yan Ziche immediately pressed, "Little Yu'er, look closely, what kind of black line is it?"

Mu Yu frowned, carefully "discerning" the details.

"It was very thin, like a strand of hair. It came out of his sleeve and then disappeared into the ground."

"He is...feeding this 'crying' sound."

These words immediately caused the atmosphere at the scene to plummet to freezing point.

The eunuch in charge looked very displeased.

He instinctively took a step back.

"You...you're talking nonsense! You witch!"

He screamed and turned to run away.

"Grab him!" Xiao Beichen roared.

He moved swiftly and appeared behind the eunuch, grabbing his shoulder.

"ah!"

The eunuch let out a scream and was dragged back by Xiao Beichen.

A small bottle wrapped in black cloth fell out of his wide sleeve.

The bottle fell to the ground and cracked.

A black, foul-smelling liquid flowed out and hissed as it seeped into the soil.

And the direction it seeped into was the land beneath Mu Yu's feet.

The truth is self-evident.

This is not a natural disaster at all, but a man-made one!

Someone is deliberately using evil objects to pollute the dragon vein water system of the palace!

Yan Ziche's gaze was as cold as ice.

He glanced at the still-shaken eunuch.

It seems that they weren't trying to cheat people out of the 100,000 taels "appeasement" fee; they were determined to get it.

"Now, we have both witnesses and physical evidence."

Yan Ziche looked coldly at the eunuch.

"But we still don't know exactly how deep underground that 'knot' is."

"We can't exactly dig up the whole garden, can we?"

Xiao Beichen frowned as he spoke.

The project is enormous.

Just when everyone was at a loss.

Mu Yu suddenly spoke again.

She patted her pink armor and then whistled loudly into the air.

The whistle was sharp and thin, with extremely strong penetrating power.

The next second.

A deafening tiger roar echoed from afar.

"Awooo—!"

A massive figure rushed over from the other end of the Imperial Garden at breakneck speed.

It's the Tiger King, the big cat!

It actually managed to sneak into the palace too!

Everyone was startled by the sudden appearance of the tiger.

Only Mu Yu stretched out her little hand, pointed to the ground beneath her feet, and issued the command in a childish voice.

"Big cat!"

"dig!"