Mrs. Zhong must have entered a state of shock after witnessing such a b.l.o.o.d.y scene.
Lin Mengya knew that she had to rea.s.sure and soothe Mrs. Zhong before she would be able to get anything out of her about what happened.
Perhaps it was Lin Mengya"s tender voice or her gentle touch that brought Mrs. Zhong back to reality from her daze.
While keeping her eyes on the beautiful Princess Yu, who was smiling gently and harmlessly, Mrs. Zhong began narrating the frightening incident with a trembling voice.
"My husband and I were chatting casually in the carriage when suddenly his eyes were opened so wide, and the next moment, I saw blood oozing out of his neck. Thereafter, he ended up like what you saw."
The situation was so bizarre.
Otherwise, Mrs. Zhong would not be trembling fearfully up until this moment.
Lin Mengya gently patted Mrs. Zhong"s shoulder, took over a warm blanket from a maid of the Zhong family and put it around Mrs. Zhong.
"Do you have another horse carriage? Please bring one here so your mistress can ride in it."
By now, the entire Zhong Family was in a frenzied state. Not long after Lin Mengya gave the instructions, a quick-witted servant returned with a decorated horse carriage.
Although this horse carriage was not as s.p.a.cious as the one they were riding earlier, it was better than nothing.
"Please continue to comfort your mistress. As for your master"s body, transport it back to the capital city first, then you can make arrangements for his burial."
The people nodded profusely in agreement. They were agreeable and thankful that Princess Yu had come to help make the necessary arrangements.
"Alright, we should take our leave."
Baisu held on to Lin Mengya as they jumped down from the Zhong"s horse carriage. Stealing a glance at Lord Zhong"s body, Lin Mengya shook her head secretly.
When they returned to their own horse carriage, the three maidservants immediately drew close to them.
"Master, what exactly happened to Lord Zhong"s family?"
Baizhi asked, shrugging her shoulders. To her, it was extremely brutal to behead someone.
"Come over here, Baisu. Look, what"s this?"
Instead of responding to Baizhi"s question, Lin Mengya opened her right fist which she kept tightly closed all this time.
In her palm was a bunch of very thin spider-web like threads.
"This--- this must be the very strong and elastic Ice Silk Thread, which is extremely valuable."
Baisu took over the silk threads from Lin Mengya"s hand. They felt delicate and soft and as she rubbed them between her finger, the silk threads did not feel like they were even there.
"Elastic and strong? If one were to tighten this around someone"s neck, could it sever the head in an instant?"
Suddenly, Lin Mengya recalled that she had heard news about such things happening in modern times.
It was about a biker who was riding pa.s.s a taut fishing line and his head was instantly severed.
Could Lord Zhong have died in the same way?
"Possibly. Nevertheless, the killer must have a wealth of inner strength to do that. But wasn"t Mrs. Zhang the only other person with Lord Zhang in the horse carriage at that time? Unless you"re suspecting---"
Baisu opened her eyes wide in disbelief. How could such a demure and delicate looking Mrs. Zhong be capable of being the murderer?
"It"s not her. On the contrary, that killer must have used a method which we are unaware of. I am going to do a thorough investigation of this matter when we get back. I have a feeling this had to do with Peach Blossom Dock."
Everything that happened smelt fishy and seemed to be part of an evil scheme.
Although they were getting further and further away from Mount Lingju, Lin Mengya could not feel any relief in her heart.
Qinghu had mentioned to her that the killers of Peach Blossom Dock were capable of a kind of invisible skill.
Even if it was not that, given the state of chaos, n.o.body would really pinpoint or recognize any strange-looking person even if they were to come across one.
"Baiji, can you tell the guards to forbid any strange-looking person from approaching our horse carriage? If there"s any message from anyone, the guards can pa.s.s the message to us. If any of you come across a strange guard, you have to find out his ident.i.ty and get someone you know to confirm the ident.i.ty."
They had to resort to such extreme measures at extreme times.
It was enough for them to reach the capital city safely. Once they enter the city, they would have the resources to preserve their lives.
Baiji took a moment to go out to pa.s.s the instruction down before returning to the horse carriage.
Nevertheless, her brows were locked into a deep frown and there was fear in her eyes.
"I heard from the people outside that apart from Lord Zhong, a few other ministers had died unnatural deaths one after another."
"What?"
What on earth was happening? Lin Mengya shuddered in fear as she came to a realization.
What really happened was those killers surrounding the guards at the campground were the real trick to the eyes.
They had used the tactic of distraction that led the imperial guards and the other guards in the other direction. After achieving that, the killers started the a.s.sa.s.sination of their real targets.
"Perk up, lest we fall into the snare of our enemies."
Lin Mengya and her four maidservants gathered close together. Her four maidservants were about the only ones she could trust at this moment.
They headed towards the capital city with fear and trembling.
Along the way, they caught sight of families who had lost their family head to the a.s.sa.s.sination and had stopped by the roadside, wailing and grieving for their loss.
Taking in the sight, Lin Mengya could only sympathize and grieve in her heart with them.
This was not the time to be overcome by sympathy or to stand on ceremony and be punctilious.
It was not possible for one person to be the killer of all the dead.
These terrifying killers could possibly be watching Lin Mengya and waiting for her to emerge from her horse carriage, so they could take her life as well.
"Master, are those people really dead?"
Baizhi had been by her side for some time now. There was no doubt that she had witnessed people falling ill and dying.
However, these brutal and tragic deaths were something new to her.
She buried herself in Lin Mengya"s arms, wondering all the while, how the world could be such an evil and terrifying place.
"This is a very realistic depiction of the cruel world we live in."
Lin Mengya said with indifference. Apart from Baisu, the other three had never in their lives witnessed such atrocity involving such bizarre deaths.
Despite each of them being capable, they had been kept safely by Lin Mengya in a protected environment in Liuxin Courtyard.
However, now the circ.u.mstance had changed. If these three wished to go through all the trials and hardships with her, Lin Mengya thought they would have to first grow out of their fear of death.
"I"m not afraid of death. Rather, I"m afraid that no one will take of you, Miss, if I die."
Baizhi had changed the way she addressed Lin Mengya by and started calling her her mistress.
However, the way she addressed her as the miss had yoked them together intimately.
There was a look of determination in Baizhi"s clear eyes as she looked at Lin Mengya. She wanted to convey her resolve to her mistress.
She had neglected Baizhi"s courage all this while.
Lin Mengya patted her cheek but was at a loss for words.
"Neither am I afraid. I belonged to Master the moment I came to the prince"s mansion."
A smile finally broke out on Baiji"s tensed face. All of a sudden, Lin Mengya saw something else emerged from Baiji"s poised manner.
Lastly, Baishao had always been the bold one. By now, she had adapted to the idea of the threat of death and held the mentality to go for broke.
"What is there to be afraid of? Losing my head might just give me a big scar. My life would be all worthwhile if I get to stay by your side, Master."
All three of them had overcome their innermost fear and this really surprised Lin Mengya.
She looked at the three of them with a smile, and somehow in this instant, she felt the courage to face up to those enemies.
"Alright, since all of you are no longer afraid, let"s set up a trap to capture those murderous demons. What do you think?"
Crouching in the horse carriage was totally not Lin Mengya"s style.
The death of those people was both, while dangerous, had also become a deterrent.
In fact, their death could really be part of a plan to make certain people succ.u.mb to whoever was behind all of this.
Unfortunately for them, Lin Mengya was a naturally unyielding character!
"What should we do, Master?"
Not only was the spirited Baizhi perked up, but even the eyes of the usually quiet Baisu were also beaming.
She had seen and experienced a number of extraordinary things when she was following Lin Mengya around.
Now, she would look at the three maidservants who did not know any martial arts with antic.i.p.ation.
She had the feeling that being with this bunch of people, she was going to witness something more dazzling than all that she had ever experienced.
"Baishao and Baiji, you two, together with the guards shall go around openly to the various bereaved households to offer them comfort. The main idea is to find out by questioning them who were the last people seen by the dead. I suspect that the killers are still hiding among their guards. We have to pretend that we are ignorant, thereby attracting their attention."
Baishao and Baiji exchanged looks and shook their head, looking hesitant.
"We don"t have many guards ourselves. If we were to bring some of them with us, wouldn"t we be compromising on your security?"
Lin Mengya smiled mysteriously and pointed to Baisu.
"You should know that she was given to me by Xiaoyu to be my bodyguard, but not many people know about this. All the people think that she is just one of my maidservants."
Lin Mengya"s explanation opened Baishao and Baiji"s eyes immediately.
Indeed, what they took as common and normal to them was not known to other people.
An example would be Qinghu, now even so for Baisu.
"Alright, we understand now. Wait for news of our success. Please protect our mistress, Baisu."
Baisu nodded and she held on tightly to the openings of her sleeves.
Lin Mengya was the only person who knew the two weapons Baisu carried.
One of them was a flexible sword which went around Baisu"s waist like a belt, and the other was a dagger in her sleeve, sprinkled with poison on its blade.
With these weapons, she was capable of attacking and defending any time.
There was no worry that she could not perform her moves even under the constraint of s.p.a.ce within the horse carriage.
"Have you ever come across the martial arts moves of the killers of Peach Blossom Dock?"
Lin Mengya asked Baisu with a soft voice and waited as she pondered for an answer.
"I"ve heard that the skillful killers of Peach Blossom Dock were categorized into four grades, namely the Heaven Grade which is the highest, then Earth Grade, Black Grade, and Yellow Grade, which was the lowest. Based on my skill level, I should be able to defend against a rather highly skilled killer of Heaven Grade."
Baisu"s rational a.n.a.lysis elevated Lin Mengya"s confidence.
Based on her judgment, she was confident that the killers hidden among the guards of the various families were not the tiptop killers.
When she was on her way back in a rush, she heard some guards describing how the ministers died, and the ways by which they were killed were bizarre.
Some were poisoned, others were killed by concealed weapons. In brief, they had all been blindsided.