Chapter 77 The Scapegoat
Should we go and arrest them now?
Cai Wenyou relayed Hua Shi's words word by word while asking the person beside him.
"No, wait a bit longer, the situation is different from what I expected."
Lin Chengye frowned, his thumbnail digging into his index finger, leaving a half-moon mark.
It seems Huashi was completely unaware of this. Since the one truly involved was Qingshi, there must be another path underground.
Most importantly, the location of the mother beetle has not yet been found, and this is probably only known to Qing Shi. Lin Chengye thought for a moment and then quickly said.
"Let's go back first and pretend we were never here, so as not to alert them. Let's replace the person tracking us with Qing Shi, so that we can find the mother beetle's location."
Qing Shi is of lowly status and certainly not some kind of "ghost" behind the scenes. But she not only wants to catch the ghost, but also destroy the Mother Worm. Only by destroying that thing can this absurd disease in the Thousand Buddha Kingdom be completely ended.
"No, no, I won't come again... This winter, this is the last one..."
Cai Wenyou continued relaying the story, then realized something was wrong, her expression changed, and she gave Lin Chengye a wink.
Then they cannot be let go. Lin Chengye's eyes narrowed. After all, the two of them were the personal maids of the Princess, while she was only a nominal retainer. If she were to arrest them without evidence, it would likely put Wei Jingchen in a dilemma.
After weighing the pros and cons, Lin Chengye didn't delay any longer and started to leave. Cai Wenyou was about to follow when the man flicked his forehead.
This time, she used quite a bit of force, and Cai Wenyou winced in pain, mouthing what she was doing. Lin Chengye, however, had no intention of joking with her, and lowered his voice to speak seriously.
"Okay. You take care of yourself, and if you sense anything is wrong, leave immediately."
...
"It's you..."
She hadn't actually paid much attention to this inconspicuous retainer before, and her impression of Lin Chengye was extremely vague. She tried hard to recall, but all she could remember was that this person was just a smooth talker, like many retainers, relying on their words to please the higher-ups.
"How did you find this place! You... what do you want to do!"
"You know what you're doing, right?"
Lin Chengye raised a finger and put it to her lips. The meatworm in the cage in her hand made a squeaking sound, and Qing Shi's last bit of hope was extinguished. She stared at the cage, staggered forward, but accidentally stepped on her own clothes and fell to the ground.
Lin Chengye's voice was calm, falling from Qing Shi's head, yet each word was like shattered stones that crushed her.
Are you looking for it?
"You...how much do you know...how much do you know..."
Qing Shi struggled and crawled to Lin Chengye's feet, grabbing her clothes. She looked up, her scarlet eyes already filled with despair.
"Sister!" Hua Shi finally came to her senses and ran over in a daze, trying to help Qing Shi up, but was slapped hard by the person and fell to the ground, her back hitting the already narrow tunnel wall.
Hua Shi's left cheek swelled up almost instantly, and blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. She covered it blankly, staring at Qing Shi without saying a word, staring into those extremely unfamiliar eyes.
This time, however, she was met not with a low cackle from Qing Shi, but with a vicious retort.
"None of your business!"
Qing Shi glared fiercely at her younger sister, her eyes fixed on Hua Shi's small figure, tears welling up and almost drowning her out. But she couldn't care less; she knelt down and begged Lin Chengye for mercy.
"My lord, this matter has nothing to do with her, nothing to do with Hua Shi... I beg you, my lord, spare her life..."
"If you tell me where the mother beetle is, take me there."
Lin Chengye squatted down, reached out and pinched Qing Shi's chin, forcing her to look at him.
"As long as you tell me, I will not lay a hand on you two sisters. I can even send you out of Lai Kingdom to a place where no one can interfere, and give you a comfortable life in your next life."
"I..." Qing Shi's body trembled violently, her tears seemed endless, flowing down Lin Chengye's well-defined fingers and wetting her sleeves.
"tell me!"
Lin Chengye suddenly stopped being indifferent and used more force to pry open Qing Shi's chin, pry a black pill out of her mouth and crush it.
“I’ve seen this kind of thing many times before. Don’t even think about suicide. If you dare to die, I’ll kill your sister right here and now.”
Qing Shi closed his eyes in despair.
Why force her so hard? Why put her sister on the scales? She's already an accomplice of the executioner, so why make her disloyal and unjust?
Just as the sharp hairpin was about to touch the bluestone skin, a hand suddenly thrust between them, the hairpin as sharp as a sword, instantly piercing the palm of that hand.
Lin Chengye's expression remained unchanged, as if he hadn't noticed anything. He clenched his fist, crushing the hairpin into powder, which mixed with the blood and dripped down onto the skin beneath Qing Shi's trembling eyes.
"I've said it before, I've seen this kind of tactic far too many times, don't use it again."
Lin Chengye took a deep breath. She could hardly contain her anger. The image of Lou Sanbai's painful death flashed before her eyes again. Everyone on this land lived in such agony.
Suddenly, she felt a deep hatred for the words "loyalty" and "righteousness," and for this man's stubbornness despite kneeling before her. Lin Chengye growled.
"Is it the eldest princess? Is it her?"
Qing Shi suddenly laughed eerily, neither nodding nor answering. She lowered her hands, ceasing her struggle. She looked into Lin Chengye's eyes and forced a bitter smile, her pale lips uttering four words.
"Thank you, I'm sorry."
Suddenly she turned her head, looked deeply at Huashi, and mouthed something.
"sorry."
"Lin Chengye! No, run!"
Cai Wenyou's shout suddenly rang out, echoing on the deep walls. She pounded her cane rapidly as she stumbled out, her forehead covered in cold sweat.
Lin Chengye's scalp tingled instantly, and an ominous premonition gripped her heart. She immediately released her grip on the bluestone, picked up Cai Wenyou in her arms as fast as she could, and rushed towards the tunnel.
Only five or six breaths had passed, a mere instant. A tremendous explosion resounded from behind, and the entire tunnel shook violently, like an earthquake. Debris and clods of earth rained down from above. Lin Chengye had only run a few steps when she turned back. The tremors roared from the depths of the tunnel, raising dust like waves, and boulders tumbled down, instantly engulfing the figures of the bluestone and pebbles.
"This place, this place is about to collapse."
Tears welled up in Cai Wenyou's eyes as she clutched Lin Chengye's shirt tightly. Perhaps the despair of impending death was too overwhelming, for she began to sob and stammer.
"I...I don't want to die."
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid."
Lin Chengye buried Cai Wenyou's head even tighter in his arms, letting the rubble fall on him. She was trying her best to run away, but the explosions continued, one after another, chasing after them and refusing to let go.
She remembered the way she came, but the collapse had blocked some of the side paths. Lin Chengye had to run into other places, and new scars appeared on his body before they had healed, and soon he was covered in blood.
Dead end.
Lin Chengye walked past another fork in the road and then suddenly stopped. Her body went cold as she looked at the blocked road ahead. Just as she was about to turn around, the person in her arms suddenly shouted.
"Don't!"
Lin Chengye quickly withdrew the step he had just taken, and a huge boulder crashed down where he had just stood, blocking all their paths of advance and retreat.
It seemed that fate had decreed to take her life. Lin Chengye gave a bitter smile. She squatted down, placed Cai Wenyou on the ground, and still held the umbrella tightly against her own body.
She suddenly remembered that she should ask Lou Sanbai what her fate was. Would she die like this?
Cai Wenyou understood her meaning and suddenly began to struggle violently. However, Lin Chengye was far stronger than her and she couldn't break free from his grasp. She wailed, feeling utterly powerless for the first time.
"Don't do this... I don't want to die, but I don't want to live like this either. That's not what I meant, Lin Chengye..."
"I'm sorry to have dragged you into this." Lin Chengye was somewhat delirious, his vision blurred by blood, but he managed to say it with difficulty.
"If you live, please apologize to my godmother for me."
"Ahem, and... Bian Yi, tell her not to attack the capital in a fit of anger. Tell her to go back to Jiangjin..."
"You'd better stay alive and tell her yourself."
Suddenly, the boulder blocking the way was cut into several pieces and rolled down to the ground with a crash, tearing a path to survival through the collapsing tunnel.
A detached voice reached Lin Chengye's ears, just like always.
The shadowy figure was like a snake, and the dagger transformed into a butterfly.
"Young Alliance Leader, your subordinate is late."
"you……"
Suddenly, everything went black before Lin Chengye's eyes, and he lost consciousness completely.
...
"It's so noisy."
A languid voice came from behind the golden curtains. The princess glanced at the distant Treasure Hall and yawned.
Now she was all alone in the palace, cold and desolate. Suddenly she reached for the axe at her feet and threw it casually. With a crack, the axe cleaved the wooden door in two.
The winter wind swept into the palace, lifting the curtains and revealing the princess's displeasure. She picked up a wine cup from the table and gently swirled it.
"Ah Ye... Ah Ye... You're really amazing! Jing Chen has gained a great help now."
The eldest princess murmured. For the first time, a different expression appeared on her face; she seemed somewhat confused, but mostly impatient and deeply cold.
She was clearly smiling, but the anger in her eyes seemed to ignite the name "Ah Ye" that she was repeating, burning it to ashes.
"But who are you? Why have I never heard of you before, and why did you insist on barging into this mess?"
"A coincidence..."
Author's note: I'm very happy to be able to write an extra chapter on my day off.
Although I've been writing this book alone for so long and hardly anyone has read it, I still hope I can persevere and finish it.
Go for it, Zuoyao! (What are you saying? [pill])
But wouldn't it be a bit annoying if the writer kept rambling on and on?
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