Ch173 - Beacon in Troubled Times 23
The a.s.sa.s.sin organization attempted to a.s.sa.s.sinate the prince in public at his birthday party but the plan failed.
Unexpectedly, the Eighth Prince hid a deep secret and he was actually good in martial arts. He could fight against the a.s.sa.s.sin for a long time without falling down. It wasn"t good for them to continue dealing with the prince. However, what if they directly killed the second young lady? It could still destroy the marriage
plan!
The second young lady had never learned martial arts and it was much easier to kill her
After realizing this, Xiao Lou immediately summoned Li Qingzhao and used the flying pigeon to send a message to Long Sen who was still at the prince"s mansion. He should pay close attention to the second young lady"s movements and protect her.
Liu Qiao, Chief Shao and Ye Qi stayed at the prefectural magistrate"s office while Yu Hanjiang took Xiao Lou and Mo Xuemin to the prince"s mansion on fast horses.
The moment they arrived at the door of the prince"s mansion, they saw Long Sen"s anxious expression. He lowered his voice and told them, "By the time I received the flying pigeon"s message, the second young lady had already left the place with the Ninth Princess and Wanyue."
Yu Hanjiang"s face changed. "How long has it been since she left?"
"Around half an hour."
Xiao Lou asked, "Do you know where they went?"
Long Sen replied, "Wanyue wrote me a note before leaving. The Ninth Princess went to buy clothes and let the second young lady accompany her. The prince"s mansion has the door blocked to prevent anyone from going out but this can"t stop the Ninth Princess. They sneaked out the back door!"
Yu Hanjiang, "..."
Sure enough, the reason the Ninth Princess came to Jiangzhou wasn"t just to provide a clue. It was also to cause a disruption at key moments. At present, only Qu Wanyue was following them. If they encountered a.s.sa.s.sins then Teacher Qu might not be able to cope.
Yu Hanjiang immediately made a decision. "Chase them!"
The four people quickly headed to Jiangzhou City on fast horses. However, there were too many people here. How could they find the Ninth Princess and second young lady? The four people quickly searched the entire street selling clothes but didn"t find the whereabouts of the Ninth Princess
Long Sen couldn"t help spitting out, "The Ninth Princess is really troublesome. The prince was almost killed by a.s.sa.s.sins yet she is still restless. She had to take the second young lady out of the house to buy clothes at this time!"
Yu Hanjiang heard this and suddenly said, "it isn"t right."
He glanced over the vast sea of people in the market and soon turned his horse. "Go out of the city!"
The other three were puzzled but everyone was used to listening to Group Leader Yu"s orders. They immediately turned and followed him.
On the way, Long Sen asked nervously, "Shouldn"t we continue to search the market?"
Yu Hanjiang told them, "Purchasing clothes is just misleading. The Ninth Princess is indeed capricious but don"t forget who the second young lady is."
Long Sen and Mo Xuemin were puzzled.
Xiao Lou immediately understood Yu Hanjiang"s meaning and said, "The second young lady is calm and composed. Even if the Ninth Princess didn"t have any brains and wanted to go out at this time, how could the second young lady follow? She can"t inexplicably do this dangerous thing. In addition, the Ninth Princess should be unfamiliar with the prince"s mansion. The second young lady might be the one who thought of going out the back door."
Yu Hanjiang glanced at Xiao Lou with admiration. Every time he had a thought, Xiao Lou could understand it immediately. This type of "Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings" felt really good. He couldn"t help smiling as he spoke to Xiao Lou, "Madam is correct. This matter isn"t in the nature of the Ninth Princess. Rather, it was the second young lady who deliberately led the Ninth Princess out of the prince"s mansion. Under the innocent premise that she is shopping with the princess, the enemy will relax their vigilance."
Old Mo finally reacted. "You mean, the second young lady risked going out of the city to entice the a.s.sa.s.sins to appear?"
Xiao Lou told him, "Based on the second young lady"s intelligence, it isn"t reasonable for her to leave the prince"s mansion after two murders and a public a.s.sa.s.sination attempt if she wasn"t trying to attract the snakes out of the hole."
Yu Hanjiang added, "In addition, the third young lady and Qin Rui, who have the highest martial arts ability, left the prince"s mansion yesterday. At that time, we speculated that the two people were deliberately released from the prince"s mansion by the prince."
Hearing this, Long Sen finally understood.
First, the prince let the third young lady and Qin Rui out of the city to arrange the ambush. Then the second young lady pretended to be pulled out of the palace by the Ninth Princess and went out of the city to play. Once the a.s.sa.s.sins acted, the ambush set up in advance would act and pull the net shut.
Long Sen sighed. "It is worthy of being the Eighth Prince!"
At the same time, he had to admire the shrewdness of Yu and Xiao. In his view, the third young lady and Qin Rui ran away from home while the second young lady was dragged out of the house by the wayward princess...
He hadn"t expected there to be so many calculations!
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou thought about it, proving they were worthy of being the ones who refreshed the world record in the Hearts room. Their thinking was more flexible than others.
Thinking up to here, Long Sen immediately increased the pace of his horse and rushed out of the city like a thunderbolt.
Outside the city.
The Ninth Princess was tired from walking and rested under a tree. The second young lady smiled and chatted with her.
Qu Wanyue was anxious. She hadn"t expected that after the two girls finished buying clothes, the second young lady said she wanted to leave the city and go to the temple to light an incense stick for her mother. Her mother"s death day was coming soon and the Ninth Princess couldn"t refuse. In addition, the princess also wanted to go around the green hills outside Jiangzhou, so the two of them left Jiangzhou City.
The second young lady took them down a path but they were actually going further and further?
Looking at the deserted surroundings and then the dense forest in front of them...
Qu Wanyue felt that something wasn"t right but she had no way to report to her teammates. She could only leave marks along the way. The Four-way Arrow she got in 2 of Diamonds was very useful. She secretly left arrows on the trees and believed that her teammates would understand as soon as they saw it.
Just then, there was a sharp sound around them. Qu Wanyue was shocked and immediately protected the two girls. "Be careful!"
A group of women dressed in white and wearing hats stabbed at the Ninth Princess and the second young lady with long swords!
The Ninth Princess screamed in horror, "Ah, there are a.s.sa.s.sins, a.s.sa.s.sins!!"
The second young lady looked calm and quickly pulled the Ninth Princess to run into the forest.
Most of Qu Wanyue"s cards were banned. The Chameleon card was available and it would be very easy for her to escape. The problem was that once she escaped and the second young lady and Ninth Princess were killed, they definitely wouldn"t be able to get a perfect clearance in this secret room!
She was thinking about what to do when a man holding a long sword flew over from a distance. The sword in his hand waved several times and blocked the swords of the a.s.sa.s.sins as he whispered, "Go to my rear!"
It was Long Sen. Long Sen"s setting in this world was a royal guard and he knew martial arts. After so many cards were disabled, Long Sen became one of the most powerful among them.
Seeing him standing in front of her, Qu Wanyue finally sighed with relief. She knew her boyfriend. His limbs might be developed but his mind was simple. Long Sen definitely wouldn"t be able to think this far. At most, he would think they were shopping for clothes and would chase them to the city centre.
The fact that Long Sen was here meant that Group Leader Yu and Professor Xiao must know about this. Sure enough, Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou quickly came over using the teleportation card.
Xiao Lou had insufficient fighting power but he had the poisonous powders that Liu Qiao gave him. Yu Hanjiang gently held his waist and brought him over using the teleportation. He sprayed the powder and the effect of the poison was immediate. The group of a.s.sa.s.sins were poisoned. Fog covered their vision and they coughed after covering their mouth and nose.
The second young lady hadn"t expected these people to suddenly come to the rescue. She gazed at them with a complicated expression and continued pulling the princess into the forest.
The poison was spread over a large area. Some of the a.s.sa.s.sins who covered their noses and mouths weren"t affected by the poisonous mist. They immediately used light footwork to fly over and chase behind the princess and the second young lady!
The swords were about to stab their backs when suddenly, the two a.s.sa.s.sins stepped into the air and fell directly into a trap in the forest. The others were also trapped by a net that fell from the sky!
A man and a woman accompanied by a large number of shadow guards came out of the forest and surrounded the a.s.sa.s.sins. It was Qin Rui and the third young lady. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other, thinking: Sure enough.
The third young lady and Qin Rui left the prince"s mansion ahead of time to set up the trap to catch the a.s.sa.s.sins alive. The second young lady took the risk of pretending to accompany the princess to leave the house. Then they came out of the city to lead the snakes out of the hole.
Perhaps the prince and the emperor had long suspected that Jiangzhou had an intelligence organization from an enemy country, which was why the prince was so calm during the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt at his birthday banquet.
If Yu Hanjiang"s reasoning wasn"t quick enough, if they missed some clues and didn"t realize the a.s.sa.s.sins were from the Yan state or if they didn"t realize the second young lady was in danger, they would"ve missed this big show today!
The emperor and the Eighth Prince were also secretly investigating the a.s.sa.s.sin. If Yu Hanjiang"s team didn"t guess the origin of the a.s.sa.s.sins, the prince would"ve caught the a.s.sa.s.sins alive and provided them with more clues. However, the score would definitely be low. It was just as how some people at Maple Forest High School waited for the police to solve the case.
The biggest test of this secret room was to be meticulous in their thinking, to quickly a.n.a.lyze and confirm the correct reasoning and to not miss out on subtle clues and key events.
It was only by keeping up with the rhythm of the prince and detecting the ident.i.ty of the a.s.sa.s.sins ahead of the prince that they could get an S-grade perfect clearance!