Chapter 54 Playing Deaf and Dumb I've been slacking off lately, stabbing...
When Fu Yun heard that Zhi Lan had agreed, he breathed a sigh of relief, finally putting one of his worries to rest.
The person leading the way into the restaurant was Ye Lan, dressed in a silver-black outfit. Her face was pale, and the anxiety between her brows was obvious. Her eyes quickly scanned the entire restaurant lobby.
His gaze only briefly swept over Zhilan and Fuyun before looking away, clearly treating them as unimportant people and failing to recognize the disguised Zhilan and Fuyun.
Perhaps they had their doubts about him and Zhilan, but they generally believed that a cowardly man would never dare to harm someone in broad daylight.
Two women followed behind Ye Lan, dressed in the same black outfit, but with slight differences. Their clothes, wrist guards, and shoulder armor were all pure black, while Ye Lan's wrist guards and shoulder armor were dark silver.
It seems that these two women belong to the same department as Ye Lan, but their ranks are lower than Ye Lan's; they are probably a captain and a lieutenant.
Zhilan had initially stood up intending to talk to Yelan, but seeing that she didn't recognize her, she calmly sat back down on the long bench next to Fujun, seemingly wanting to see how long it would take Yelan to recognize her.
When Fu Yun saw Zhi Lan sit back down at the table, he immediately understood her intention. Without making a sound, he pulled his sleeve down to cover his injured hand.
Zhilan looked up at the street in front of the restaurant, her delicate eyebrows furrowing slightly, a hint of anxiety flashing in her eyes. Why hasn't the doctor arrived yet after so long?
Ye Lan's mind wasn't on the case. She brought the people from the Censorate here not to investigate, but to confirm His Majesty's safety and, incidentally, to assist the Censorate in investigating the deceased's identity.
Ye Lan glanced back at the two women and gestured for them to go upstairs to investigate.
The two women responded and quickly stepped onto the wooden stairs leading to the attic.
Ye Lan glanced at the corpse on the ground and said indifferently, "What are you waiting for? Come in and examine the body."
As her voice faded, five people rushed in through the doorway.
The middle-aged woman walking in front had sharp eyes and a solemn expression; she was clearly the leader of the five-person team. Behind her was a coroner carrying a toolbox, while the other three were ordinary officers on duty, there to help out.
The leader walked directly towards Ye Lan, his expression respectful, yet his tone neither humble nor arrogant as he began to speak.
The other three began searching the lobby and found evidence related to the deceased.
The coroner quickly scanned the lobby of the restaurant, found the body lying on the ground, and hurried over.
She glanced at Fu Yun and Zhi Lan sitting not far from the body, paused for a moment, and asked in surprise, "This is a crime scene, how come there are unrelated people here?"
After a pause, she asked again, "Are you from this restaurant?"
Fu Yun didn't respond, but only glanced at Zhi Lan.
Zhilan remained silent, seemingly not intending to speak with them.
That makes sense; disguising oneself can only change one's appearance, but not one's voice.
As soon as Zhilan opens her mouth, Yelan will be the first to recognize her voice, rendering the previous test meaningless.
Hearing the commotion, Ye Lan and the head of the Censorate turned around to look.
The two looked at each other and walked over one after the other.
Standing beside the corpse, Ye Lan's gaze fell on the wound. Seeing the wound, whose shape and depth were extremely familiar, her expression changed.
Zhilan's gaze sharpened, and she glanced impatiently at the two people at the table, her face as cold as ice, and said, "The Ministry of Justice is handling a case, please excuse us, gentlemen."
Zhilan didn't even glance at Yelan, as if she hadn't heard anything.
Even at such close range, Ye Lan couldn't recognize her master; Zhi Lan was probably already furious.
It's strange, even Ye Lan and the people from the Censorate couldn't tell Zhi Lan's identity, so how did the assassin recognize her?
This only shows that they are not vigilant enough.
Fu Jun naturally kept quiet, lest all his efforts be in vain, and could only silently light a candle for her in his heart.
Seeing that the two of them ignored the people around them, Ye Lan's eyes flashed with coldness, her icy gaze seeming to want to kill.
His brows furrowed as he stared at the two motionless figures, his chilling gaze sweeping over them inch by inch, growing increasingly strange with each passing moment.
A strange sense of familiarity arose in his heart, but the two people looked completely unfamiliar, and he had never seen them before.
There was a corpse lying on the ground from not long ago. These two men showed no fear and sat there calmly drinking tea. This was not the reaction of an ordinary person. Could they be one of those elusive spies?
Thinking of this, Ye Lan's face turned ashen as she reached for her sword hilt, her eyes revealing wariness, and her voice was as cold as ice: "Who are you? Was this man's death your doing?"
Fu Yun glanced at Zhi Lan beside him without making a sound. She shook her head slightly and pointed to her throat, signaling him to be quiet.
He blinked to indicate that he understood.
Zhilan looked at Ye Lan, who was on guard, pointed to her ear, then to her throat, and shook her head, indicating that he could neither hear nor speak.
He then glanced at Fu Yun, pointed to his ear, then to his throat, and finally to his eyes, gently waving his index finger to indicate that he was a deaf-mute person who was both dark-skinned and blind.
Fu Yun: "..." This is a bit too far-fetched.
Why do I have this feeling that Zhilan is digging a hole for herself?
Fortunately, his position was diagonally opposite the restaurant entrance, so he didn't need to deliberately turn his head to look. He could just move his eyes slightly and get a general idea out of the corner of his eye.
Since he hadn't moved much and maintained the same single action and expression, Zhilan's words weren't entirely unbelievable.
Of course, Ye Lan wouldn't believe Zhi Lan's words so easily. She picked up her sword and quickly walked to the two of them, looking at Fu Yun, who was expressionless and had a blank look in his eyes.
"Clang!" The sound of a sword being drawn was heard as Ye Lan drew her longsword from her waist.
Fu Jun's heart skipped a beat, but she showed no sign of it on her face, diligently playing the role of a blind person.
Ye Lan pointed the sword tip at Fu Yun's eyes and slowly moved it forward until the sword tip was only an inch away from Fu Yun's eyelashes. She then stopped and drew circles around him with the sword tip to test Fu Yun's reaction.
Fu Jun remained calm, his pupils showing no reaction.
Ye Lan withdrew her sword, seemingly believing it.
Fu Yun secretly breathed a sigh of relief; she had finally passed the test.
Just as Fu Yun relaxed his guard, a flash of silver light suddenly appeared before his eyes, and the sharp tip of the sword pointed straight at his brow, stopping only when it was inches away. The blade gleamed with a chilling silver light.
Fu Jun was so shocked that he froze on the spot, forgetting even to roll his eyes.
Fortunately, Fu Yun's mind always works quickly. When her body was about to dodge, she managed to suppress the natural protective mechanism that her body would normally react with her strong willpower.
He returned to his original state almost instantly, and Ye Lan didn't even have time to catch his slight abnormal reaction before it was quietly covered up by him.
Even Zhilan was so shocked by what she just witnessed that she felt a chill run down her spine and almost couldn't help but step in to stop it.
Seeing that Fu Jun was unharmed, she slowly exhaled.
After the initial shock, a surge of rage erupted from her. Her sharp gaze shot towards Ye Lan, as if a blade had struck her heart, making her heart pound wildly and giving her an urge to submit.
Ye Lan broke out in a cold sweat, feeling her whole body stiffen and unable to move for a moment.
To this day, only a single glance from His Majesty has given her the terrifying feeling of being in an ice cellar, her blood frozen solid.
A thought flashed through Ye Lan's mind, and she looked at Zhi Lan again, her gaze landing on the table under her feet. Sure enough, she saw the sword hilt that looked all too familiar.
Ye Lan's heart trembled violently, and only two words echoed in her mind: "It's over."
She suddenly knelt on one knee, her face showing shame: "My lord, I was blind and failed to recognize you in time. Please punish me."
Upon hearing this, the others were stunned and stood there dumbfounded. Then they hurriedly ran over and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Master."
Zhilan glanced at everyone present without any expression and said calmly, "This person is hiding in this restaurant and intends to assassinate me. You all need to find out her identity as soon as possible. I want to know how she recognized me."
The head of the Ministry of Justice bowed and replied, "Your humble servant obeys."
Zhilan waved her hand, signaling her to continue investigating the case.
The officers of the Judicial Department respectfully rose and returned to their respective posts.
Zhilan then turned her gaze to Ye Lan and said coldly, "You've been slacking off lately. Even the assassins have outshone you. Are you tired of being the commander?"
Ye Lan's expression changed drastically. He immediately knelt down and prostrated himself on the ground, saying, "This subordinate knows his mistake, this subordinate is incompetent, this subordinate dares not, please punish me, Master."
Zhilan: "Tell me! Why have you been so worried and absent-minded lately? Where has your mind been?"
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