Chapter 40 The big black scorpion is about to run away!
"Sir, will that black scorpion bite Brother Xiongxiong?" Jiu asked worriedly, looking up at his little face.
"Don't worry," Chu Xuanyi said softly, "Brother Xiongxiong is so powerful, and he has the Golden Bird to protect him, so he will be fine. Let's go to bed now. When we wake up tomorrow morning, the bad scorpion will be caught."
He carried Ajiu and walked out of the study, but he was praying secretly in his heart, hoping that Xiao Yu's trip would be successful.
At this time, in the secret house in the backyard of the "Bai Xi Lou" in the southern part of the capital.
The lights flickered. A middle-aged man in a dark brocade robe, with a sinister expression, stood by the window, his hands behind his back, gazing out at the dark night. On the back of his left hand, a burn scar shaped like a waning moon was faintly visible in the candlelight.
He is the person in charge of the "Night Owl Alliance" in the capital - "Owl Lord".
He has already received the news that the "Eagle's Nest" has been destroyed.
"Waste!" He cursed under his breath, with a fierce look in his eyes.
"It seems that the plan has to be advanced..." A cold smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
The night is getting deeper.
Inside the Imperial Master's residence, Chu Xuanyi had just instructed the housekeeper to strengthen security while he himself spread out a map of the capital in his study, attempting to deduce other possible hiding places or escape routes for the "Owl Lord" from the confession of the "Sand Snake" and Ah Jiu's sporadic "prophecies."
His eyelids were twitching, and he felt that the night would not be peaceful.
"Knock, knock, knock!" There was a series of rapid knocks on the door, followed by the housekeeper's tearful cry: "Sir! Sir, something bad has happened! Miss Jiu... Miss Jiu is having a nightmare again! She's crying and shouting for you!"
Chu Xuanyi shuddered, and the wolf-hair brush in his hand fell onto the map with a "click", spreading a blob of ink.
He hurried to Ajiu's room and saw the little girl sitting on the bed, her face red from crying. She was holding the cloth tiger tightly in her arms, sobbing and shouting, "Master... Master... Wuuwuwu... The big black scorpion... The big black scorpion is running away!"
Chu Xuanyi quickly stepped forward, took her into his arms, and soothed her softly, "Ah Jiu, don't be afraid. Dreams are always the other way around. The Black Scorpion can't escape."
"It's not a dream! It's real!" Jiu cried breathlessly, pointing his little hand out the window, "It...it crawled into a dark hole! Such a deep hole! In the hole...in the hole there are so many little snakes! Colorful little snakes! They all want to bite Brother Xiongxiong's big golden bird!"
Chu Xuanyi's heart sank suddenly!
A dark cave? A secret passage!
So many little snakes? Are they the "Owl Lord's" assassins, or... a real venomous snake agency?
The target is still the Regent!
"Ajiu, take a closer look. Which direction is that hole in the ground?" Chu Xuanyi forced himself to calm down.
Jiu sniffed, tried to open her tear-red eyes, and pointed southeastward: "Over there... behind the beautiful big house with lots of shiny lanterns... at the entrance to the cave, there's also... there's a lot of smelly, rotten vegetable leaves piled up there!"
Southeast...a beautiful big house with sparkling lanterns...Baixi Tower!
Rotten vegetable leaves...in the kitchen or in the garbage dump!
The "Owl Lord" had indeed left a backup plan! And it was most likely a secret escape route leading out of the city!
Xiao Yu and his men are now storming the front of the Baixi Building and several known side doors. If the "Owl Lord" escapes from this unknown secret passage, the consequences will be disastrous!
"Butler!" Chu Xuanyi immediately shouted.
"I'm here!" The butler came crawling in.
"Prepare your horses immediately! I need to leave the mansion for a while! Also, you personally lead your men to strictly guard all exits within the mansion, especially those remote corner gates in the backyard. Don't let a single fly out, and... don't let a single fly in!" Chu Xuanyi ordered rapidly. He was worried that the "Owl Lord" would make a feint to the east and attack in the west, sending people to the Imperial Master's Mansion to cause trouble, perhaps even targeting Ah Jiu.
"Sir, are you going to look for Brother Xiongxiong?" Jiu stopped crying and asked with tears in her big eyes, looking up at her little face.
"Yes, Master is going to help Brother Xiong catch the evil scorpion!" Chu Xuanyi said as he quickly changed into a neat suit. "Ajiu, wait for me in the mansion and don't run around. Understand?"
"Yeah!" Ah Jiu nodded vigorously. "Master, you should also be careful of those little snakes! They are very poisonous!"
Chu Xuanyi's heart trembled. Ah Jiu emphasized "very poisonous, very poisonous". It seemed that there really was something poisonous in the secret passage.
He didn't dare delay any longer, and after hurriedly giving his steward a few words, he grabbed his sword, mounted his horse, and galloped off in the direction of the Baixi Tower. The night wind howled, making his robe rustle.
Xiao Yu's Eagle Guards and the elite troops of the royal palace had already breached the outer defenses of the Baixi Tower. Inside, the lights were brightly lit, but the usual singing and dancing were gone. Instead, there were cries of killing and the clanging of weapons.
The resistance of the "Night Owl Alliance" was extremely tenacious, and there were endless traps and hidden weapons in the building, which showed that they had been prepared in advance.
The "Owl Lord" hadn't appeared yet, and Xiao Yu felt something was amiss. Logically, as the leader, he couldn't possibly not show up when such an important stronghold was attacked.
"Your Highness! We found the entrance to a secret passage in the east wing, but it has been blocked by huge rocks!" A captain of the Eagle Guard came to report.
"Keep searching! He must have another way to escape!" Xiao Yu said coldly, his eyes sweeping over the intricate structure of the Baixi Building.
This Baixi Tower is a den of infamy on the surface, but secretly it has probably been transformed into a solid fortress by the "Owl Lord".
At that moment, a palace guard approached, escorting a bloodied leader of the Night Owl Alliance. "Your Highness! We've captured a man alive. He says... he says the 'Owl Lord' left long ago through the secret passage in the backyard! That secret passage... leads to the mass grave outside the city!"
"What?!" Xiao Yu's face changed. "Where is the secret passage in the backyard?"
The little leader was beaten to death. He pointed a trembling hand in a direction: "In... in the dry well... under the woodshed..."
Xiao Yu immediately led his men to the woodshed in the backyard.
Sure enough, under a pile of debris, they found a dry well that looked abandoned long ago. The well mouth was covered with a heavy stone slab, and some rotten vegetable leaves and slop were scattered around, emitting a foul odor.
It coincides with Ajiu’s description!
"Pry it open!" Xiao Yu ordered.
Several strong Eagle Guards immediately stepped forward and took great pains to move the stone slab away, revealing a bottomless black hole. Gusts of cold wind blew out from inside, mixed with a... faint fishy smell.
"Light the torch!"
The torch was thrown down, illuminating the wall of the well. There was indeed a tunnel at the bottom of the well that was only wide enough for one person to pass through. It extended obliquely downward, and no one knew where it led to.
"I will go down and take a look myself!" Xiao Yu said in a deep voice. He couldn't let the "Owl Lord" escape so easily.
"Your Highness, this is not possible!" Several close associates hurriedly advised, "This place is dangerous and uncertain. Let us explore the way ahead!"
Just as they were arguing, a burst of hurried horse hooves sounded from afar, and Chu Xuanyi's figure appeared at the backyard door.
"Your Highness! Wait a minute!" Chu Xuanyi dismounted and quickly stepped forward, a trace of anxiety on his face. "This secret passage... may contain a deadly poison!"
He briefly recounted Ah Jiu's latest "warning" - about "lots and lots of colorful little snakes."
Xiao Yu frowned upon hearing this. Ah Jiu's "prophecies" were always strange, yet surprisingly accurate.
"A colorful little snake..." He looked down at the deep cave entrance, his eyes becoming more serious. "It seems that the 'Owl Lord' has really put a lot of effort into this escape route."
He immediately ordered: "Bring sulfur, realgar and other snake repellents! Also prepare gas masks and antidote pills! Anyone entering the secret passage must be careful and vigilant!"
Chu Xuanyi looked at the cave entrance, feeling a chill in his heart. Although he knew some medical knowledge, he still found it difficult to deal with such a large-scale poison trap.
"Your Highness, since this secret passage is the 'Owl Lord's' last resort, he must have deployed numerous traps and assassins within it," Chu Xuanyi warned. "Do we need a more comprehensive plan?"
Xiao Yu nodded. "Xuan Yi's words make sense. But time waits for no one. The longer the 'Owl Lord' escapes, the more danger the capital will face." He looked at Chu Xuan Yi. "Xuan Yi, are you willing to join me in this 'Snake Cave'?"
Chu Xuanyi took a deep breath and smiled bitterly, "Now that things have come to this, do I have any choice? I just hope... that girl Jiu's 'prophecy' won't have any more terrifying 'follow-up updates' this time."
He was now afraid that Jiu would fall asleep and start crying, "Sir, sir, the scorpion demon has grown wings and flown away." If that happened, he would really vomit blood on the spot.
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