Chapter 491 Surveying the Site
All along to her, Long Tianyu was like a formidable character who was able to resolve any problems.
No matter what outrageous things she did, or where she was, Long Tianyu would always appear suddenly to block off any storm for her.
But now that Long Tianyu was in deep danger and she was at a loss of what to do.
Having Ling Ye disguise as Long Tianyu would be a temporary solution to fool the others.
However, Lin Mengya knew very well that this would aggravate Long Tianyu’s precarious situation.
While she could use the excuse that Long Tianyu was not feeling well to get away with it temporarily when they attend the medical compet.i.tion as spectators.
At this moment, she urgently needed to find out the objective of those people abducting Long Tianyu.
At the door, Ling Ye, adorned in the white costume, was frowning as he stepped out of the room.
As she fixed her gaze on the face which resembled Long Tianyu’s, Lin Mengya had a brainwave.
Hongyu once mentioned that those men had kept her alive so that they could deny her ident.i.ty as Prince Anle before the elders of the Pavilion of Herbs.
Nevertheless, this plan was full of loopholes.
There was a slim chance of success.
However, this was the Nation of Lintian after all. Apart from Cousin Chen and Cousin Yu, Long Tianyu was the only other person who could pledge her ident.i.ty.
She finally figured out the reason those men had taken Long Tianyu quietly.
In the absence of Prince Yu, there would be no Princess Yu.
On the contrary, with Prince Yu around, he would be the one to determine who Prince Yu was!
After figuring this out, Lin Mengya calmed herself down as she thought of the reality she was facing.
Given Long Tianyu’s character, however, not to mention that forcing him to deny the ident.i.ty of his wife would not work, he would already try to break free from his captors along the way.
Moreover, those men had tried to abduct her first before proceeding to abduct Long Tianyu.
If these men were from the same gang, their target might not be her after all!
“Night, you’ve come at the right time. I’ve got a question for you. Did those men who attacked you have any special characteristics? For example, something that easily left an impression in you. Some characteristics that would enable you to identify them.”
Seeing how anxious the princess was, Ling Ye did not dare to slight her.
Under Lin Mengya’s anxious gaze, Ling Ye began to describe in detail everything he could recall that he saw.
However, because the incident happened when the sky had darkened, coupled with the fact that it had been rather chaotic, he could not think of any burst seams at this moment.
“Forget it. Let’s go there again. If I guessed correctly, these men wouldn’t dispose of the dead bodies. Give me a minute while I go get Zuo Qiuyu and Liu Xuan.”
Once Lin Mengya finished speaking, she dashed out into the courtyard.
Ling Ye was left looking perplexed. What had come to her mind again?
The horse carriage seemed a little crowded with the presence of Ling Ye and Zuo Qiuyu in it.
Reacting in the same way as Lin Mengya, Zuo Qiuyu was surprised to find that Long Tianyu’s secret bodyguard bore such a close resemblance to him.
His gaze fell on Ling Ye’s face now and then but realized that Ling Ye was not bothered by his gaze, so he began to study the man in front of him openly.
“Are you sure you’re not Long Tianyu’s brother? Are you some illegitimate son? Are you not even his cousin?”
Ling Ye shook his head. He was merely an orphan.
If not for his strong resemblance to the prince, he would not be picked by his teacher who kept him by his side to receive careful instructions.
“That’s enough, stop your scrutiny. There are many look-alikes in the world. Moreover, don’t you understand how the emperors of Dajin were like? Stop imagining such amorous encounters. I’ve asked you to come along so you can take care of Night. It was not meant for you to pry.”
Lin Mengya rolled her eyes at Zuo Qiuyu.
She realized that apart from his interests in medical journals and medicinal herbs, Zuo Qiuyu was also very keen on finding out juicy news.
On the other hand, if Ling Ye was truly Long Tianyu’s brother, she supposed Long Tianyu would never allow Ling Ye to become his secret bodyguard.
That would be a highly dangerous job. Perhaps it would come a time when he would have to leap out to take blows from an enemy’s attack on Long Tianyu.
Judging from how Long Tianyu treated Long Qinghan, it was very unlikely that he would have his own brother take a blow on his behalf.
Liu Xuan had personally taken up the responsibility to stand guard outside in case he needed to give them warnings of dangers.
As expected, they discovered quite many spies on the way. However, they merely followed them from a distance as if they were just onlookers.
Soon, they arrived at the place where Long Tianyu met with the attack the other night.
It was a densely wooded area that was not too extensive but during the day, the shades provided by the trees made it difficult to see into the woods clearly.
Nevertheless, the moment they entered the wooded area, a strong stench of blood came on and Lin Mengya’s brows were gradually raised to form a frown.
The stench was intense. While they had not spotted the dead bodies, they supposed they would not be too far now.
When the horse carriage finally reached the central area of the woods, a pile of dead bodies dressed in black clothing were seen lying there haphazardly.
“Your Highness, Your Highness, we’re here.”
Liu Xuan was crestfallen. He immediately instructed the guards to surround Lin Mengya and the rest as a way of protecting them.
With his sword in his hand, he gently went through the pile of dead bodies in the middle of the woods.
After ensuring that there was no one in ambush, he ordered some men to accompany Lin Mengya to come forward.
“The dead bodies had softened and the cadaveric ecchymosis had spread all over the bodies. It looks like these men had died last night. Let’s do a count on how many bodies there are.”
Lin Mengya instructed as she squatted down to go through the corpses.
Ling Ye and Zuo Qiuyu were by now very used to Lin Mengya’s perverted action that they no longer found it strange.
Only Liu Xuan, who was seeing this for the first time, was taken by surprise.
If he were to find out that Lin Mengya had scored distinction for all her anatomy modules, would his eyes be popping out?
After their men counted the number of corpses, they moved the bodies and left them right in front of Lin Mengya.
She studied the external of each dead body carefully and did not leave any details out.
“Your Highness, perhaps some evidence would be lost if we keep moving the bodies.”
Liu Xuan commented, sounding a little unhappy. However, after shooting a glance at him, Lin Mengya said, “This was not the place where the killing happened. All these bodies had been transported here from somewhere else. Moreover, every detail here had been committed to my memory.”
Lin Mengya was not bragging or lying. With the help of the Sheng Nung system, she would even be able to conjure the image of a fly in her mind.
The image conjured would be well-defined and colored.
“What do you mean when you say this was not the crime scene?”
Liu Xuan was finding it difficult to understand the Princess Anle before him. In terms of investigating an incident, Liu Xuan was fit to be called an expert.
From the look of the state of the trees and plants all around, it was evident that there had been some fighting that went on here.
“This area wasn’t as well-hidden as desired. Moreover, by looking at the marks on the trees, I can tell that these were not left behind accidentally as a result of fighting. Give me a sword right now, Lord Liu, and cooperate with my cousin.”
Zuo Qiuyu first looked helplessly at Lin Mengya, then his gaze went to Liu Xuan, who appeared to be in a sneer.
Unfortunately, at this moment, he had no choice but to suffer in silence.
“In a minute, you will pretend to chase after him to attack him. He will try to dodge and let’s see what kind of mark you’ll make on the tree after you strike.”
Lin Mengya stood by like an onlooker as she shot an encouragingly look at Zuo Qiuyu.
However, Liu Xuan appeared to be overly serious.
The moment Lin Mengya cried out the cue to begin, with a long sword in his hand, Liu Xuan wielded the sword at Zuo Qiuyu’s neck.
In an attempt to make this as realistic as possible (as per Lin Mengya’s request), Zuo Qiuyu had worked with all his might.
Amidst wild shrieks and howls, the two men finally completed the mission Lin Mengya entrusted them.
“How you have taken the attacks seriously!”
Zuo Qiuyu almost wanted to cry when he saw how Liu Xuan made a show of force, but he could only take it silently.
“It was the princess’s idea.”
Liu Xuan coolly wiped down the steel sword in his hand. He had managed a clean strike.
“Stop arguing and come over to have a look. Liu Xuan had attempted to strike Zuo Qiuyu’s head so the mark left behind was deeper. Moreover, his strike had come down diagonally from above and was supposed to land on the lower portion of Cousin Yu’s neck. Have a look at these marks left behind by those men. Not only where they shallow, but they were also lower down. Lord Liu, will you please make a few haphazard cuts on the trees.”
Liu Xuan nodded and casually wielded his sword to strike the tree next to an unsuspecting Zuo Qiuyu.
Just as they expected, the marks made by the sword were lower down.
This had to be someone acting out of habit. If one was not trying to wield the sword to kill someone, it was only natural that his arm was extended and flexed freely.
In addition, the steel sword was rather weighty and so the marks made by it would be lower down.
Initially, they had thought that these marks were made by accident, but they were actually made intentionally through some deliberate arrangement.
As the pale Zuo Qiuyu cried out for revenge, Lin Mengya walked up to Ling Ye.
Her watery eyes gazed up at Ling Ye’s pale countenance with puzzlement.
“Night, are you certain that this was the very place you encountered the attack?”
Ling Ye’s expression was terrible, nevertheless, he nodded in response.
Based on his memory, this was indeed the place where the attack happened.
However, even without Lin Mengya reminding her, he felt that this place was rather unfamiliar and strange.
“Are you very sure that this was the very place you encounter the ambush? Think carefully, did you kill all these men here?”
While Lin Mengya looked severe, Ling Ye also began to frown deeply.
The memories of the night before came welling up within him.
It was right. He had accompanied the prince to walk out of the town into this woods, then… then…
“Ling Ye, get your real memory back!”
As Lin Mengya’s called out with her feminine voice, Ling Ye suddenly felt that everything became clear.
All of a sudden, he spotted a burst seam in last night’s chaotic scene.
Thereafter, the seam opened up further, and finally, the scene from last night finally cracked open completely.
His real memory had emerged from the deep part of his mind. Finally, he was able to discern the real memory from the false.
“Yes… we actually met with the attack when we were in the house of a man called Zhu Qiyun! Someone flashed a mirror at me, and when I looked into the mirror, I was immobilized!”
Holding his head with his hands in agony, Ling Ye finally managed to recall and speak the truth.