Zhou Zhilu took the small bamboo tube and immersed himself in it, only to hear a strange voice echoing in his mind.
"In mid-May, traces of members of the Bai family were discovered in the Guyuan Forest outside of Southern Xinjiang. They clashed with the local Gu tribe and then withdrew. Three days later, more members of the Bai family appeared to encircle and suppress the Gu tribe."
"In late May, the Gu tribe suddenly launched an attack towards the southern border, but they were completely stopped by the Bai family."
"Early June..."
Each piece of news seemed to be telling how the Bai family fought against the Gu tribe and defended the southern border.
But Zhou Zhilu felt something was wrong. If the wars were really so frequent, there was no reason for the Bai family to not want the support of the court.
Furthermore, at the banquet that day, the Yunjiang prefect, who was being manipulated, refused the Nanzhou governor's request for military assistance...
Zhou Zhilu felt that there must be some unknown secrets hidden outside southern Xinjiang.
At that moment, Zhou Zhilu made up his mind and said, "Now the enemy is also hiding in the dark. Since they can disguise Yunjiang City as nothing unusual, it will be extremely difficult for us to find clues in the city. If we are not careful, we may be discovered by them.
"It seems the Bai family is planning something in Guyuan Forest, and the puppeteers don't seem to want outsiders interfering there, so I plan to go there and investigate."
After hearing this, Chu Kuangren thought for a moment and nodded, "That's true, but the Guyuan Forest is full of dangers, and it's difficult for outsiders to travel freely in it. Therefore, our Anbu doesn't know everything about what's going on in the forest.
"Otherwise... I'll go with you."
Zhou Zhilu raised his hand to reject Chu Kuangren's proposal and explained, "You, Fusu, and Huike all have public identities. If you leave rashly, it will attract attention. In addition, you will need to hand over to the Anbu in Yunjiang City.
"We still need to notify the Fuye Division and the imperial court. We'll see how far we can go. At the very least, we should have the division send more Anbu personnel to investigate Yunjiang City and see how many people have been turned into puppets."
Chu Kuangren nodded to show that he understood. Before Zhou Zhilu left, he handed him a jade slip and said:
"This is a Yingzijian, a relatively rare communication device. You only need to write your message on it, and the corresponding message will appear on my jade slip. If anything happens, please contact me immediately... Be careful on your journey!"
…
Zhou Zhilu was worried that something might happen, so he left Yunjiang City under the cover of night, and the human skin mask of the owner of Fengmen Inn was left with Chu Kuangren.
After finding Yunjiang City, Zhou Zhilu paused, turned and walked towards a forest west of Yunjiang City.
The land here is mostly contracted by some people in the city and used to grow crops such as fruit trees. Uncle Niu, who used to greet Zhou Zhilu often, also planted fruit trees here.
As he got closer, a fishy smell hit him in the face, and Zhou Zhilu, feeling nauseous, had to hold his breath.
When he reached the orchard and looked at the scene before him, Zhou Zhilu murmured, "Sure enough, Uncle Niu has also been turned into a puppet..."
There were only a few fruit trees in the orchard in front of me, and they were all withered. In the open space next to them, there were black shadows.
When I got closer, I saw that these black shadows were actually human limbs, including arms, thighs, and torsos, which were fixed in the soil with wood. From a distance at night, they looked like tree trunks.
"I'm afraid these people have been carrying out the order to plant trees. When the saplings are planted, they plant the people next to them into the soil as if they were saplings..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
