The empty city was destroyed (21)
On the street, Ye Yingying led Zhao Yuxiao through the bustling crowd. Under the blazing sun, the surrounding scenery was not significantly different from when they last came in.
Ye Yingying walked ahead, while Zhao Yuxiao followed silently behind. It was rare for him to be so quiet; normally, he would have seized this rare opportunity to chat with her about Yunyanqiu.
Ye Yingying suddenly stopped and turned to look at Zhao Yuxiao, who was lost in thought.
"Ouch!" Zhao Yuxiao was startled and quickly staggered to his feet. "Miss Ying'er, what happened so suddenly..."
"You seem troubled," Ye Yingying said with certainty. "Is it related to that lion-holding cell?"
“…Yes.” Zhao Yuxiao nodded solemnly. “I’m thinking that what I was carrying in this illusion earlier probably wasn’t a lion at all, but a person…”
"What's there to be upset about?" Ye Yingying asked, puzzled. "Even if they really are buying and selling living people, that's something that's been going on for thousands of years. It's not like you did it."
"I know, but I just..." I just can't convince myself.
Zhao Yuxiao was conflicted. He never imagined that he would experience what it was like to be an accomplice to evil in this way.
"A senior once asked me, 'What should I do if one day I find myself being used and aiding and abetting evil?'"
"What did you reply?"
"I have no idea……"
Ye Yingying curled her lip: "In my opinion, evildoers deserve to die."
"If that's the case, and I've also helped him commit evil, then shouldn't I also die?"
Ye Yingying was somewhat surprised, then she chuckled and said, "If it were me, I would kill all those guys."
Zhao Yuxiao was stunned and didn't react for a moment.
“He took advantage of my ignorance to do evil for him, so I am also a victim.” Ye Yingying’s gaze was calm and her tone was very firm. “They are the ones who deserve to die, not me.”
"It's more satisfying to punish those guys myself than to let others do it for me."
"What do you think, Young Master Zhao?"
When Ye Yingying said this, Zhao Yuxiao felt a sense of both unfamiliarity and familiarity. It was unfamiliar because he had never seen Ye Yingying look so serious and ruthless, and familiar because he felt that Ye Yingying at this moment was somewhat similar to Gu Wusi.
Zhao Yuxiao was startled by his own thoughts and immediately interrupted the wild thoughts in his mind.
“You’re right!” he answered loudly, seemingly trying to cover up the momentary panic in his heart. “I heard it! They said those were to be presented to the Imperial Preceptor!”
"The Imperial Advisor? Isn't that Zhan Yan?" Ye Yingying stroked her chin. "What does he want?"
"I don't know either..." Zhao Yuxiao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the topic being changed.
Since they didn't know, they had to find out even more. Ye Yingying made Zhao Yuxiao recount their previous events in detail, and immediately decided to go to the caravan's location.
“But they’ve already made the deal, will they still stay there?” Zhao Yuxiao asked hesitantly.
Ye Yingying paused, blinked, and asked, "Didn't you realize? We're back to the first day of the celebration."
Inside the inn.
After receiving the key, Wu Yue and Yun Yanqiu didn't rush off to find Zhan Yan. Instead, they went upstairs to their bedroom. After closing the door and confirming that no one had followed them, they began to discuss their plans.
“There’s a problem.” Wu Yue weighed the keychain in her hand and indicated, “She took four keys.”
“If we go back to the first day of the celebration, the shopkeeper doesn’t remember us, and she shouldn’t remember us either.”
"She came in after us, and we didn't even see how many of us there were, but she took four keys."
After Wu Yue's analysis, Yun Yanqiu realized something was wrong and concluded, "She still remembers."
"How could she remember?" Wu Yue wondered.
"It's hard to say," Yun Yanqiu said cautiously. "We know too little about illusions."
Wu Yue frowned seriously, her expression grave. Her intuition told her that this girl Yun was problematic, and possibly even dangerous.
"How about we check it out?"
Just then, there was a knock at the door. The two looked warily at the closed wooden door and heard Yun Yatou's voice from outside: "Excuse me, guests, I was in such a hurry that I used the wrong key. May I open the door for you?"
Yun Yanqiu stepped forward, shielding Wu Yue behind him, and slowly opened the door.
Yun Yatou stood outside the door looking embarrassed. When she saw Yun Yanqiu, she immediately smiled ingratiatingly and said, "I'm so sorry, sir! I accidentally gave you the spare ones too. Those two were meant to be kept by our shop for emergencies."
"If the shopkeeper finds out, I'm sure I'll get a scolding again! Could you please give me back the two extra keys?"
Yun Yanqiu glanced at her, then turned to look at Wu Yue.
Wu Yue glanced at the keys in her hand, smiled, walked to the door, and handed the keychain to Yun Yatou: "Here, take it. Be more careful next time."
"Okay! Thank you, thank you!" Yun Yatou was overjoyed and quickly took the keychain, pulling out the keys from it.
Wu Yue scrutinized her movements and couldn't help but probe, "What's your relationship with the shopkeeper here? Is he your father?"
"Huh?" Yun was taken aback and waved her hands repeatedly. "No, he just helps me manage the store. I'm young and don't know how to do many things, but he does."
"So you two run the store together?"
I guess so.
"That's interesting. What's your manager's name?"
“Him? He doesn’t like people calling him by his name. I usually call him ‘Manager’.” Yun said, taking off the key and handing it back to Wu Yue. “Thank you, guests! I’m so sorry to have bothered you. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything!”
Wu Yue didn't say anything, but simply took the remaining two pieces of the keychain, smiled at her, and watched her leave.
Afterwards, the two returned to the room. Only then did Wu Yue suppress her smile and say to Yun Yanqiu, "Is it confirmed now?"
"Okay." Yun Yanqiu nodded. "Don't rush to capture her."
"What do you mean?" Wu Yue asked, puzzled. She had already figured out how to tie up and interrogate that girl Yun, but now Yun Yanqiu was telling her not to act rashly.
"She may have problems, but the shopkeeper is innocent."
"Yun Yanqiu, when did you become so nosy?" Wu Yue frowned, quite displeased with his unusual behavior.
"He is Zhao Huai-ren."
Upon hearing this name, Wu Yue was speechless for a moment. She was stunned for a long time before retorting, "Even so, he has already been assimilated by the illusion."
"You can't save him."
Wu Yue spoke bluntly, and Yun Yanqiu understood perfectly well. He lowered his eyes and said solemnly, "I want to try and see if I can awaken him."
Seeing that Yun Yanqiu was so stubborn, Wu Yue didn't want to waste any more words. She sighed and said coldly, "Suit yourself."
"I won't give up if it's not successful by the third day, even if it's just two days."
"Two days is enough." Yun Yanqiu nodded and thanked Wu Yue again.
Wu Yue turned her head, snorted, and walked out of the room.
Yun Yanqiu followed closely behind, and the two left the inn together, silently heading towards the palace.
Back to Ye Yingying's side, Zhao Yuxiao's eyes widened in astonishment upon hearing the news. He slowly looked around, the hustle and bustle of the traffic seeming to be blocked by an invisible barrier, becoming blurry and distant.
An indescribable eeriness seemed to permeate the air, as if the entire world operated under an order shrouded in mist. The boundary between reality and illusion became increasingly blurred in his mind, and a deep unease rose in Zhao Yuxiao's heart.
Just as he was in a state of confusion, Ye Yingying suddenly caught sight of a figure. The person seemed to have noticed her as well, and waved them over, inviting them to come over.
Ye Yingying grabbed Zhao Yuxiao's arm and forcibly pulled him into the alley where the man was.
In the shadows, the boy with his black hair tied up high smiled at them as always and said, "Gentlemen, we meet again."
"Shaoling?!" Zhao Yuxiao exclaimed in surprise, "How could you..."
Before he could finish speaking, Ye Yingying raised her hand to cover Zhao Yuxiao's mouth, signaling him to be quiet, and then said sternly, "Gu Wusi has already said he won't cooperate, so what are you doing here?"
“Aren’t you looking for Zhan Yan? I’ll take you there,” Shao Ling said, patting her chest.
Ye Yingying was unmoved and scrutinized the young man in front of her with a suspicious look again: "Aren't you also looking for magical artifacts? You know where Zhan Yan's residence is, why don't you just go find him? Why waste your time on us?"
"Ah, no, I didn't mean to take it from you..." Shao Ling said hastily, a little flustered. "I really wanted to help you!"
Ye Yingying narrowed her eyes and questioned bluntly, "Does Gu Wusi know that you're currying favor with the enemy outside?"
"I..." Shao Ling was speechless. He lowered his head dejectedly, looking very aggrieved.
Zhao Yuxiao, watching from the side, felt a little sorry for her. He looked at Shaoling, then at Ye Yingying, wanting to say something to ease the tension.
Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of Ye Yingying winking at him. He paused, then winked back twice. Ye Yingying then gestured with her chin toward Shaoling, her blinking suddenly quickening, accompanied by a slight twitch of her eyebrows.
Zhao Yuxiao suddenly realized and immediately said, "Miss Ying'er, since Shaoling is so interested, let's listen to her. It's not too late to make a decision after we've heard everything."
"Zhao Yuxiao, which side are you on?" Ye Yingying shouted at him, pretending to be angry, but she was secretly very satisfied.
After saying that, she pretended to be impatient and pouted, then said to Shaoling, "Forget it, just say what you have to say."
Upon hearing this, Shaoling looked up, flattered and surprised, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
He immediately said, "I was too hasty before, thinking that Sister Gu would soften her attitude after seeing you."
"I didn't expect her to refuse again, but I'll try to persuade her again!"
"Is that all you wanted to say?" Ye Yingying raised an eyebrow in displeasure. This was not what she wanted to hear, so she simply asked, "If you're not going to look for the magic artifact, isn't Gu Wusi going to go either?"
Shaoling shook her head: "She didn't look for it, and we don't want to find the magic artifact either."
"Why?"
"Because the fortune teller no longer needs us to do his work."
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