The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 395 - 330, Pluck Them Out One by One (5000 words)_3

The dark clouds above scattered, revealing a corner of the moonlight, which bathed the night like water. The wide carriage curtain was lifted, revealing the four people inside.

Zhao Douan appeared indifferent, as if he were a general overseeing the central army.

Beside him, Gongshu Tianyuan chuckled as he looked at Yun Xi across from him.

The young girl, dressed in prison clothes, cradled a metallic trumpet flower in her hands. At this moment, a faint voice transmitted from the trumpet flower:

"Colonel, we've captured him."

Gongshu Tianyuan beamed and said,

"I told you, this Suppressing Object is called the 'Two-Sound Flower.' If that so-called Divine Monarch keeps one and you take the other, you can hear everything on the other side, yet you still doubted me. I don't care about your other suspicions, but the creations of this priest are always exquisite."

Yun Xi seemed not to hear, looking absent-minded like a puppet on strings.

Her messy-haired but exceptionally pretty melon-seed face bore glistening tears in her eyes as she murmured,

"No... it can't be... you're all deceiving me... and him... It couldn't have been the Second Prince behind the coup... The Grand Tutor wouldn't lie to me..."

She had heard the entire conversation in the room just moments ago.

Qing Niao sighed softly.

Zhao Douan, uninterested in engaging with Yun Xi, stepped down from the carriage. He looked down at Huang Jinrong, who was being held to the ground by the Jinyi Captain's knife, and smiled,

"Next, don't shout, don't cry out. Whatever I ask you, you answer. Do you understand?"

Qian Kerou raised her hand and removed the cloth from the captive's mouth. Huang Jinrong, with eyes filled with fury, glared at Zhao Douan:

"Zhao Gou, you won't die a good death!"

Zhao Douan sighed lightly and, shaking his head, said, "It seems you don't want to live."

He then turned to Gongshu Tianyuan, "May I trouble you again."

"It's a small matter,"

With a wave of his hand, Gongshu Tianyuan lazily got out of the carriage and with his fat hand pulled down a large bamboo tube from behind, banging it on the ground with a "thud."

From within the white smoke, a bewitchingly beautiful fox slowly emerged from the bamboo tube, fixing its gaze upon Huang Jinrong.

The fox fairy!

The Wild Fox God!

At the celebration banquet, Gongshu Tianyuan had once used the Wild God to possess the leader of Prince Jing's spies, forcing him to talk at the expense of the target's life.

"Heh heh—"

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Huang Jinrong's curses abruptly stopped as his eyes glazed over, now possessed by the fox fairy, compliant with any question.

Gongshu Tianyuan casually inquired, "Who is your superior, how do you contact them, and what are the passwords and secret phrases..."

On the carriage, Zhao Douan left the interrogation to his subordinates and pulled out a handkerchief, kindly offering it to Yun Xi. Seeing her in a daze, he passed it to Qing Niao instead,

"Wipe your tears. Hehe, it's okay if you don't want to believe. The night is long, and there's a long line of people waiting for us, right?"

Yun Xi trembled, not saying a word, but pressed her lips together fiercely.

Yet faith in her heart had already cracked open.

The Thousand Faces God, with sleeves draped, watched Huang Jinrong closely from the side, noting down his appearance, preparing to disguise himself as Huang Jinrong later to deceive those above him.

He smacked his lips, curious, "Colonel, why not use the Spiritual Fire to burn this man? It would surely make him turn to our side. Why go through such great lengths to seek the assistance of a priest?"

Zhao Douan calmly looked at him, his expression a mildly mocking smile:

"Those who fear punishment will say anything you want, but if they dare speak, can you trust their words?"

The Thousand Faces God shivered, averting his gaze and lowering his head.

Zhao Douan lightly patted his shoulder, then turned and re-entered the carriage, saying faintly,

"Follow the vine to get to the melon, speed is of the essence in war. What we need to do is move with the utmost swiftness, catching them by surprise before they react, pulling them out, one by one, through these connections. We have no time to waste on interrogation and verifying truth from lies."

Suddenly, Qing Niao mustered the courage to speak, "Will he die?"

Zhao Douan closed his eyes, "Who won't die? He, or the ones you've killed, have never been spared either."

Moments later,

Huang Jinrong, having been drained of valuable intelligence, bled from seven orifices and died on the spot. The fox fairy, having swallowed a soul, showed an unsatisfied desire.

Zhao Douan patted the seat, "Let's go, onto the next one."

"We need to be faster, let's not let that Demon Path escape."

...

...

Kong Hanlin returned home at dusk.

This thin old man with white beard and hair had the arrogance inherent to a principled official.

Even though he had been summoned into the palace that morning and knew that the Demon Path might be coming for him, he had not chosen to hide or seek help.

His routine for the day remained unchanged.

After leaving the palace, he went to the Hanlin Academy as usual to work, reviewed several manuscripts, identified several grammatical errors as well as ambiguities in the Saint's words.

He called over a young Hanlin for a severe critique, ranting about how the scholars of nowadays were getting worse, not matching up to his older generation.

"The world's morality declines day by day!"

"A disgrace to our culture!"

Then he sent the manuscripts back for revision, and slowly went to the government office canteen for lunch, still the usual tofu, pickles, and rice.

Spending yet another afternoon loitering, ignoring the other Hanlins' veiled whispers, he returned home as the dusk settled.

Without mentioning these things to his old wife, after dinner and soaking his feet, Kong Hanlin entered his study to read the sages' texts.

As night deepened, the wind whistled, making the paper on the windows tremble slightly.

Unbeknownst to him, the study door opened and a figure walked in.

It was a woman, around thirty years old, with a plain appearance, not a member of the family, and it was unclear how she had entered.

"Who are you? How dare you disturb my reading!" Kong Hanlin stood up, his gaze confident.

The woman with rough hands and feet did not reply, only smiling as she sat opposite him.

Her bloodshot eyes scanned the pile of sages' texts on the desk, much thicker than usual, and the open rice paper with 'The master does not speak of strange forces or confusion of spirits' written on it.

She smiled faintly:

"Mr. Kong, since you have no fear in your heart, why then do you seek protection from the Saint?"

Kong Hanlin's beard trembled, his eyes flickered with confusion, "Demon Path!"

...

...

(Typo will be corrected later.)