197.2 – Nighttime Walk
“Anyway, these night clothes [2] are too conspicuous, aren"t they? To make night clothes completely black, who knows what the ancient people are thinking. They are still okay in such a dark night. But if it was a fairly bright night instead, wouldn"t have I become a humanoid black hole?!”
Xue Qilin murmured in a low voice as she pulled at the clothes awkwardly.
Like she said, she is covered in black.
In order to facilitate the operation, Qi Qiqi got her a set of black night clothes from who knows where. These night clothes are quite tight-fitting and rather easy to move in, but the size is wrong. They are a little big for the pet.i.te Xue Qilin.
Strangely, after she put on the night clothes, Xue Qilin found out that her chest is being constricted by the clothes, making her a little uncomfortable.
— shouldn"t these be the clothes that Little Seven prepared for himself? Xue Qilin suspects this. However, she feels that if she goes to the bottom of this, it will only lead her to a bad end. As such, she swept this speculation to the corner of her mind and paid it no more heed.
“Let"s take a look… at Little Qing"s clan… ”
Xue Qilin rubbed her temples to stimulate her memory. At the same time, she scanned the buildings half immersed in the dark with her gaze.
This area is full of large mansions.
Each mansion takes up a lot of s.p.a.ce, making one wonder how many people would be needed to fill them up.
“Oh, there are patrols!”
Whether in the streets or in the mansions, the la.s.s could see sporadic lights moving. They evidently came from torches held by patrolmen, proving that the area is heavily guarded.
“In fact, it"s really a mess here. Can"t these people have some individuality?”
Although each mansion looks different, but they are mostly subtle differences in pattern. There are no obvious differences in characteristics. As a result, they look almost the same in Xue Qilin"s eyes, making it difficult for her to differentiate each mansion.
After looking back and forth for several times, she stopped at last. With the ancestral statues in the Gong Mansion as a reference point, she finally found its location.
“It was a test of my eyesight…”
Grumbling angrily, Xue Qilin took out a folded drawing from the secret pocket in the waistband.
The drawing has the general layout of the Gong Mansion is roughly depicted. Although it is not very detailed, but it is recognizable.
Xue Qilin"s gaze wandered between the drawing and the Gond Mansion back and forth repeatedly before she finally found the place she is looking for in the Gong Mansion.
It is a small building approximately two stories tall.
According to the information Shui Yun"er obtained from the mysterious underground intelligence organization — “Red Chamber” — Gong Tianqing temporarily resides in that small building. In other words, that is the place Xue Qilin wants to sneak in.
After making sure that there are no mistakes again and again, Xue Qilin began to plan the route in her mind in order to reduce the factor of being discovered.
“Hmm… that"s about it. ”
Xue Qilin, who has roughly completed planning the route, put the drawing back into the hidden pocket, and then took out a talisman from somewhere.
“Dun [3]!”
When Xue Qilin"s voice fell, the talisman between her fingers ignited instantly, and the magic lines on the talisman released weak pale blue light.
However, just in a moment, the light disappeared, and the talisman turned into ashes.
At the same time, Xue Qilin"s pet.i.te figure became blurry like smudged black ink. From afar, she looks like a dark swap, making it hard to see clearly.
Then, she jumped down the tower.
As if falling into a sea of dark, the la.s.s disappeared into the dark.
The wall of the Gong Mansion is not high.
However, the person living behind the wall is one of the symbols of the Hua Dynasty"s military strength.
For many people, the perimeter wall of the Gong Mansion is a “boundary” that guards an inviolable individual. Therefore, except of those reckless and stupid, not many dare to cross it.
However, it is obvious that Xue Qilin is not afraid of the Gong Mansion"s prestige.
One of the Four Guard Great Generals? Heaven Realm master? Who cares! She only knows that Gong Tianqing is inside, that is enough. Even a dragon"s den could not stop her.
As a result —
Xue Qilin didn"t hesitate to cross the “boundary”. Just like a black arrow, she flew across the Gong Mansion"s wall, and then, according to the already planned route, proceeded toward the small building where Gong Tianqing is located.
Either leaping onto roofs and vaulting over walls, proceeding while sticking to walls, or crossing gra.s.s — the la.s.s gave it her all to avoid the patrolmen perfectly.
After bypa.s.sing a corner, the small building deep inside the Gong Mansion finally appeared in front of her.
Just as she wanted to step into the courtyard with the small building, she suddenly felt the breath of a person, and thus quickly hid in the gra.s.s next to her.
“That was close! That person suddenly emerged without warning… ”
Xue Qilin protruded her head from the underbrush to observe the situation outside. Not far away, a man in a black robe just came out of the courtyard.
It may be a misconception, but the la.s.s feels that this man is wrapped with a cold and gloomy air that makes her feel unhappy.
Besides, he has a certain smell.
The smell isn"t heavy, yet is inexplicably pungent.
“What"s with the smell…”
Xue Qilin sniffled and frowned in disgust.
It is the stench of corpses – no, strictly speaking, it is a strange smell that is a mixture of the scent of blood and the stench of rotten corpses.
If the living have the scent of blood and rotten corpse emit a putrid stench, then he, who emits both smells at the same time, is he alive or dead?
During the period when Xue Qilin"s imagination ran wild involuntarily, the man gradually went further away and finally disappeared.
“It"s really unpleasant…”
As she grumbled, Xue Qilin continued to look around.
For the sake of safety, she stayed in the gra.s.s for a while. When she didn"t discover any more movement, she left the gra.s.s and stepped into the courtyard cautiously.
The small building two stories tall is located in the middle of the courtyard and is facing Xue Qilin"s current direction. However, there is a small lake between it and her. If you want to reach the small building, you have to make a detour.
“On the second floor…”
After sensing carefully, Xue Qilin caught the breath of a Human Realm martial pract.i.tioner on the second floor of the small building. The owner of this breath is probably Gong Tianqing.
She quickly scanned the building and finally locked on a half closed window on the second floor. If she remembers correctly, behind this window is the corridor leading to a room.
Let"s just go in from here! After making a decision, she kicked off the ground vigorously and shot towards the small building like a black bolt of lightning. Finally, she knocked open the window and landed in the corridor on the second floor.
Then, her eyes widened.
“Remember, this is your only use.”
When the words reached Xue Qilin"s ears, someone came out of the room.
It is a middle-aged man in luxurious clothes, who has some resemblance with Gong Jing.
There is nowhere to take cover in the corridor. When the man closed the door and turned around, he found Xue Qilin.
Looking at Xue Qilin, who has an awkward expression on her face, in amazement, he opened his mouth wide without saying anything. Xue Qilin doesn"t know how to react momentarily.
[2] – night clothes
[3] – dun (遁) means conceal and escape