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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 4: The Escape Plan
"Dong Qin," upon hearing this, couldn't help but exclaim, "Buy the villagers' lives?"
Sister Nine gazed seriously at Dong Qin and said, "Yes, I want to take you away from Tide Mountain, far from all of this."
-
That same night, Ji Zichen and the others were still awake, and Lin Chuyu certainly couldn't sleep either. Black Eyes had indeed kept his word; he treated Lin Chuyu well. In the Purgatory Palace, there were guest rooms on the second floor, and Lin Chuyu was staying in one of them.
Lin Chuyu looked out from the window on the second floor. Below the cliff lay Azure Wave Lake, illuminated by the bright moonlight reflecting off its surface. With a sigh, Lin Chuyu said, "If I could transform into Vermilion Bird Form again, I could fly out of this window right now."
But then she thought again and muttered to herself, "Even if I could escape, where would I go to find Brother Ji? They must have captured me for something related to that ruin; Brother Ji and the others might be rushing here right now."
With this thought, Lin Chuyu steadied her heart and spoke to the bright moon, "I'll just wait here for Brother Ji." But in the next moment, she told herself, "No, I can't just wait for Brother Ji to rescue me. I... I need to find a way to get out myself."
Lin Chuyu approached the door and gently pulled it open a crack. She peeked outside but saw no guards. Gritting her teeth and making up her mind, she pushed the door open and stepped out before closing it behind her.
Outside was a curved corridor lined with rooms on both sides, all dark and silent. Lin Chuyu thought to herself, "They must be asleep. I need to be quiet so as not to wake them."
She tiptoed forward until she reached a corner. Seeing two guards stationed at the exit on either side, their backs turned to her, Lin Chuyu retreated. She reminded herself that if she wanted to get out, she needed to disguise herself. Everyone here wore masks; if she could find one to cover her face, she would have a much better chance of escaping.
But where could she find a mask?
Just as Lin Chuyu was pondering this dilemma, she heard hurried voices behind her. One voice sounded anxious as it said, "Hurry up! It's time for the shift change; if we're late, that big guy might beat us up!"
Another voice responded groggily, "I'm awake. I'm awake. Don't rush me."
The sound of hurried footsteps approached Lin Chuyu's direction. Her heart raced with anxiety; there was an exit ahead but she couldn't go out now. Behind her was a retreat path, but if she stepped back too far, she'd run into those two coming in.
Lin Chuyu heard the sounds drawing closer, her heart racing as if a wild bull were charging at her throat. She noticed a room not far to her left and, uncertain if it belonged to those people, decided to take a gamble on her luck. With no other options, Lin Chuyu pushed the door open and stepped inside.
As she closed the door behind her, two shadows rushed past her towards the exit. Lin Chuyu instinctively breathed a sigh of relief as she avoided detection.
Just as she relaxed, she turned around and nearly screamed in fright. This room belonged to the subordinates of Purgatory Palace, with two rows of beds lined up inside. Each row had five beds, and ten subordinates were fast asleep, completely unaware of Lin Chuyu's presence.
Stunned for a moment, Lin Chuyu's gaze fell upon a table just a few steps away, cluttered with a Flame Mask and a cloak. It was clear that one of the messy subordinates had simply tossed their clothes aside before collapsing into bed. While being untidy was not a good habit, for Lin Chuyu at that moment, it felt like a treasure.
Seeing these two items filled her with joy. She tiptoed over to grab the mask and cloak, putting them on carefully before opening the door to leave.
As she reached the corner, despite her disguise, anxiety gripped her heart. She hesitated at the corner, telling herself, "I can't hesitate any longer; if someone comes by, I'll be exposed."
Encouraging herself, Lin Chuyu took a deep breath and steeled her nerves as she slowly made her way toward the exit.
She was merely scaring herself; the guards outside didn’t even glance in her direction. Not daring to look at them either, Lin Chuyu thought, "Maybe they are just dozing off."
Descending the stairs outside the tower, she found herself in a square that was completely deserted. From where she stood, she could see the main gate tightly shut. Feeling anxious, Lin Chuyu wondered aloud, "How... how am I supposed to get out?"
Going straight up to them was definitely not an option; any question about her voice would surely give her away. Just as Lin Chuyu was at a loss for what to do next, a carriage approached from behind her. The driver wore a Flame Mask as well. Pulling up beside Lin Chuyu, he said, "Oh, it's Courier! What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"
Caught off guard by his inquiry, Lin Chuyu felt completely flustered but knew she couldn't speak. Before she could figure out how to respond, the driver chuckled and said, "What am I asking? Of course you’re not sleeping at this hour! Are you heading to Horn Town to deliver a message?"
At this point, Lin Chuyu had no idea what being a Courier entailed but guessed it involved delivering some kind of information based on the name. She could only nod in response. The driver continued with a smile, "You Couriers work harder than we do! Come on up; I'm heading out to buy some groceries anyway. I'll give you a ride."
With no choice left, Lin Chuyu climbed into the carriage. The driver sat on one side while she took the other as they sat side by side on the front seat. The driver urged the horse forward toward the main gate.
The gatekeeper called out, "Who goes there?"
The driver replied confidently, "It's Old Eight! Open up; I need to stock up!"
The gatekeeper laughed and said, "Old Eight? You don’t need to go stocking up at this hour!"
Old Eight laughed and scolded, "What do you know? Just keep an eye on your door. If I don't leave now, how can I rush back in the morning?"
The gatekeeper waved his hand, signaling the other two guards to open the gate. He added, "Old Eight, you're always the one causing trouble. Every time it's your shift, you love to sneak out in the middle of the night."
By this time, the main gate had fully opened, and Old Eight urged the horses forward, saying, "They are them, and I am me. Fresh ingredients need to be rushed."
As the carriage descended halfway down the hill, it reached a fork in the road. Old Eight stopped the carriage and said, "Alright, I can only take you this far."
Lin Chuyu remained tight-lipped and silent. After getting off the carriage, she nodded at the driver. Although Old Eight felt that Lin Chuyu was not talkative, he couldn't force someone who preferred silence to speak.
Old Eight rode off down the left path while Lin Chuyu watched him disappear. She turned her gaze to the right path and thought, "That was surprisingly easy; I didn't expect to get out so smoothly. But where should I go now?"
---
The next morning, Black Eyes received a report and rushed to Lin Chuyu's room. However, there was no sign of her inside. Black Eyes's eyes flashed with fury as she exclaimed, "What is going on here!"
She turned to question the two guards behind her. "Where is she? Where did she go?"
These two were the guards who had been watching the tower gate last night. One of them stammered nervously, "W-We really didn't see her leave..."
Black Eyes immediately slapped the guard across the face and shouted angrily, "You didn't see her leave! I refuse to believe she could just vanish into thin air! Seal off the tower and search every room thoroughly!"
"Yes!" The two guards hurriedly rushed out to gather more people for a search of the tower.
Standing at the bottom of the stairs outside the tower, Black Eyes remained motionless, gazing up at the towering structure of Purgation Tower.
After some time spent searching inside the tower without results, the two guards returned with pale faces. One of them stuttered, "W-We couldn't find anyone..."
Suppressing her anger, Black Eyes knew that panicking would only make things worse. She fixed her sharp gaze on the guards and said, "You couldn't find anyone? You said you didn't see her leave; if she didn't go out, how could we not find her inside the tower?"
At that moment, a man with an ox nose hurriedly ran in front of Black Eyes, looking flustered. The Ox-Nosed Man said, "Black Eyes, my mask and cloak have been stolen!"
Without the mask to suppress his true form, he revealed his original appearance. "The mask and cloak were stolen?" Black Eyes' expression changed instantly, but then he seemed to realize something. "Did any Courier come out of the tower last night?"
A guard thought for a moment and shouted, "Yes, yes! Around the third watch, a Courier came out of the tower!"
Black Eyes glared at the guard. "Why didn't you stop anyone coming out?"
The guard replied nervously, "A Courier coming out at midnight isn't common, but it's not unheard of either. There have been Couriers delivering messages at night before; we thought..."
Black Eyes' eyes glinted with a sinister light. "You thought?"
The two guards, sensing Black Eyes' murderous intent, immediately knelt down and begged for mercy. "Black Eyes, please spare us this time!"
Black Eyes sneered coldly. "Spare you? Do you even know who you let go? That woman is connected to a fortune! Can your lives compensate for that?"
The guards knelt there, crying out in despair.
"Enough!" Black Eyes shouted. "Get up! Gather people to search Tide Mountain! If you don't bring her back, I'll have your bodies torn apart!"
"Yes, yes! We'll go find her right away!" The two guards felt as if they had been granted a reprieve and hurried down the mountain to search.
At this moment, Black Eyes felt something was off. "This is strange; even if she managed to sneak out of the tower, how did she get past the main gate?"
He turned to one of his subordinates. "Go find the guards who were on duty last night."
The three guards who had been on duty last night had just returned to their quarters for some rest when they were called awake. As they rubbed their sleepy eyes, they complained, "What’s going on? Can't we get some sleep?"
One of the subordinates who came to wake them sneered. "Be quick about it! Want to sleep? Just wait until I report this to Black Eyes; he’ll make sure you get plenty of sleep."
The three of them, upon hearing that Black Eyes had summoned them, were startled awake. They hurriedly jumped out of bed, quickly got dressed, and rushed to the steps in front of the tower.
Standing before Black Eyes in disheveled attire, they felt a sense of restraint. Black Eyes asked coldly, "Who went out at the third watch last night?"
The three quickly recalled the events. One of them said, "Several people went out."
Black Eyes replied, "Which ones? Report them one by one."
"Yes," one responded. "Before the third watch, Sister Nine went out, and just after the third watch had passed, Old Eight also went out."
Black Eyes asked in surprise, "Sister Nine went out at the third watch as well?"
The guard replied, "Yes."
Black Eyes questioned, "What was Sister Nine doing out at that time?"
The guard chuckled and said, "How would I know what Sister Nine was doing? I didn't go with her."
Black Eyes coldly remarked, "Do you find that amusing?"
The guard immediately tightened his expression and said, "No. Not amusing at all."
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