Star Trace Gate

Chapter 960 The Hard Squat Plan: A Breach of Contract in an Emergency

Beifeng Town, west of the city.

When Ren Ye arrived at the Red Building where the corpses were kept, he was in a dilemma because the entire Red Building area was much larger than he had expected. The main building alone was more than twenty stories high, and there were three courtyards in the front, middle and back, which were about 20,000 square meters.

Before the city fell, the Red Mansion was the largest official market in Beifeng Town, where at least several thousand merchants gathered both inside and outside on ordinary days, and it served tens of thousands of buyers and traders daily. However, since April, Beifeng Town has been shrouded in the shadow of war, so those well-informed and astute merchants wisely dispersed, no longer daring to invest large sums of money, leading to the town's complete decline.

In early May, after the city fell, the monk soldiers occupied the nearly empty Red Building and dragged all the non-committal people from the Divine Court there to slaughter them.

From this point of view alone, the Red Mansion was more like a commercial distribution center in the past, so its area was naturally quite large. Moreover, it would be difficult for Ren Ye and the other two to thoroughly investigate it in a short period of time.

Most importantly, before his beloved concubine left, Ren also sent his good son Shenwa with her to give her an extra helper. Therefore, he is now in dire need of a "young scout" who can effectively conceal his whereabouts and sneak into the Red Mansion to investigate without alerting the enemy.

After the three of them quietly finished checking the area around the Red Mansion, Ah Da, who was clearly a bit dim-witted, said in a muffled voice, "This place is so big. If the three of us take small, shuffling steps like women, how long will it take to find everything? Forget it, you two wait here, I'll go in and take a look by myself..."

Ren frowned upon hearing this, but before he could reprimand him, the quick-witted A'er spoke up first: "Can't you use your brain? The person hiding here is likely a high-level cultivator. They wouldn't be so foolish as to lie in the Red Mansion and hide; they must have used a spatial magic item to hide inside, or they can isolate themselves from the illusions here to completely conceal their whereabouts. If you rush in like this, not only might you not find anyone, but you'll also make them wary and they might run away, or threaten you with Brother Wenping. Then we'll be completely at a disadvantage."

"You think you're so smart?! With your mouth so quick to chatter, what's your plan to get in and investigate?" Ah Da asked disdainfully.

Seeing that the two brothers were about to fight each other, Ren scolded them in a low voice, "Stop arguing. You two wait here. I'll go in and take a look myself."

"Big sister, you don't need to go in yourself. I have a way to investigate this place silently." Ah Er was clearly not immune to good-looking women, and said in a very obsequious manner, "I have a human puppet that can be used for reconnaissance. It is an inanimate magic artifact. It can be easily controlled by attaching a wisp of divine soul to it, and it does not have any spiritual power or aura fluctuations, so it is difficult to be detected."

"Wow, you actually have such an amazing magic weapon?" Ren Ye's eyes lit up immediately: "I didn't misjudge you, you're a capable young man...!"

"Hehe, big sister, you flatter me. I've always wanted to be a craftsman, but unfortunately... I didn't receive this inheritance, so I can only study it on my own in my daily life." Ah Er smiled slightly, then raised his hand and waved, summoning a rabbit-shaped wooden puppet.

This puppet was pieced together from small pieces of wood, and it looked very crudely made with a stiff posture, much like a child's own creation. However, the two rubies set in the rabbit's eyes looked quite extraordinary and rather precious.

"Sister and A-Da, please protect me while I control this thing to enter the Red Chamber." A-Er chose a secluded place, sat cross-legged, and drew out a wisp of his soul, which entered the rabbit-shaped humanoid puppet.

"Squeak, squeak...!"

As soon as the soul was attached, a slight friction sound came from the joints of the wooden rabbit, and then it gradually adapted and ran wildly towards the distant Red Building without making any noise.

Ren was astonished by this sight, thinking to himself, "Damn it, look at this kid. He's clearly not from the artisan lineage, yet he can create such intricate humanoid puppets. On the other hand, Apu, who's hailed as a craftsman genius in the park, can only be fooled into eating fine beef. Sigh, no matter what, the gap in intelligence... is insurmountable."

Little Bad King and A-Da acted as A-Er's protectors and waited patiently.

After a long while, the android returned. Ah Er slowly opened his eyes and said solemnly, "This Red Mansion is filled with rotting corpses, dried blood, and stinking excrement... I looked carefully for a long time, but I didn't find any living creatures or any unusual aura...!"

"Damn it!" Upon hearing this, A-Da immediately cursed, "The three of us ran around all afternoon, only to have it all for nothing?! It's almost dusk, and we haven't even seen a trace of Wenping. How are we going to explain this to Uncle Wang?"

"What's your hurry? I haven't finished yet!" Ah Er suddenly grinned, slowly turned to look at Ren Ye, and said in a very warm tone, "Big sister, I think there's a place that's very strange, and that's the first basement floor of the Red Mansion, on the east side...!"

"The basement level? Is there anything unusual there?!" Ren Ye immediately asked.

"It's very clean there. There's no feces, no rotting corpses, and not much dried blood," Ah Er said, his eyes bright. "Most importantly, there's no trace of any life there!"

Upon hearing this, Ah Da immediately curled his lip and retorted, "If there's no aura, that means there's no one here! How could you possibly sense anything amiss?"

Ah Er looked at him impatiently: "Did you understand? I said there was no aura at all, including yin energy!"

Upon hearing this, Ren was very excited. He subconsciously patted A'er's head and exclaimed sincerely, "Little brother, you are really smart! Very smart!"

"Hehe...!" Ah Er smiled shyly: "It's all thanks to Big Sister's guidance, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to find this Red Mansion."

“The three of us will spread out nearby and keep our eyes fixed on the first floor of the Red Building, waiting for things to change.” Ren Ye immediately made a decision: “Quick, spread out, we’ll just wait.”

Ah Da was even more puzzled: "Since you all think there's something strange about the basement, then let's just go in."

"Scatter when I tell you to, then scatter!" Ah Er shouted, jumping up and down. "If we force our way in now, we'll definitely lose the initiative. Forget it... you wouldn't understand even if I told you. From now on, do whatever I tell you to do."

Ah Da subconsciously reached up and touched his forehead, saying with a hint of stubbornness, "You'll suffer if you don't trust my wisdom...!"

The two ignored him, dispersed on their own, and began their hard squatting plan.

……

Outside the town, in the Nanshan Illusion.

After Beifeng Town was occupied, all the soldiers and officers belonging to the Divine Court, except for those who fought to the death, were taken prisoner and taken to Nanshan Mountain outside the city.

To prevent these imprisoned soldiers from causing trouble, four sixth-rank officials from Tianzhao Temple jointly set up a spatial suppression illusion to imprison them. They also had people working on their mindset, hoping that these people could play a role openly or secretly while Dawei Tianlong was plotting to seize the capital.

At the beginning of Hai hour, Wang Anquan, his wife Zhuzhu, and six others including Ruyue and Cheng Yuan, carrying the order and seal of the commander of the Brown Robe Camp, met with the night watch officer stationed outside the Nanshan Illusionary Realm.

This night-duty officer was a trusted lieutenant of the commander of the Brown Robe Battalion, and also a fourth-rank military officer, named Jia Yuan.

He sat in his tent, frowning as he looked at the transfer order and seal written by the commander himself. He felt a sense of disbelief, then looked up at Wang Anquan and asked, "Why are you transferring these captured generals all of a sudden? Besides, I saw the commander this afternoon, but he never mentioned this to me."

Wang Anquan had come in his capacity as the garrison commander, and he made no attempt to conceal his appearance. He maintained a subservient and obsequious demeanor, bowing slightly as he replied, "This is a temporary order from the temple, as there seems to be a major military operation tomorrow morning. I was curious and asked the commander, but his reply was vague… saying it was related to Lord Niu's sudden transfer. Heh, as you know, given my position… I can't ask too many questions."

"Oh." Jia Yuan still frowned, glanced at the transfer order again, and said, "Lord Wang, it's not that I don't believe you, but the matter of guarding the prisoners is of utmost importance. As you have seen, my Brown Robe Battalion of more than a thousand monk soldiers have not left this Nanshan Illusion since entering the city... Therefore, I must verify this transfer order."

Wang Anquan nodded slightly: "Then why don't you try to verify this with the Commander yourself?"

"Alright." Jia Yuan did not refuse, but only replied coldly, then got up and left the barracks, walking into the tent at the back.

Upon seeing this, Ruyue immediately frowned and whispered to Wang Anquan, "This man is so stubborn. Even though the commander has already given the transfer order, he still has to ask questions?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Anquan completely ignored her, cursing inwardly, "Do you all think we're all fools?! This illusionary realm contains thousands of prisoners, many of whom are fourth-rank officials. If we're not careful, it could threaten the safety of the entire Beifeng Town. Jia Yuan may not know what the commander is planning, but he knows very well that if anything happens to Nanshan, he, as the night watch officer, will definitely be executed... After serving as an official for a long time, one must know how to avoid risks. How can I act like you, blindly and recklessly?"

Jia Yuan went to the back tent, took out the jade tablet, and personally sent a message to Qu Acai to inquire about the matter.

Logically, he shouldn't be qualified to possess a spirit jade spies; he should only be able to communicate with his superiors during wartime using ordinary methods. However, his current duty is extremely important, as he is responsible for guarding all the prisoners in the illusion. Therefore, to prevent any accidents from happening, he was exceptionally granted control of a jade spies.

Jia Yuan stood inside the tent and wrote succinctly: "Wang Anquan has arrived and wants to take some prisoners with him. The transfer order and seal are correct, but without your personal permission, I dare not release them."

After about fifteen minutes, Qu Acai, who had been brought under control, cursed Jia Yuan in his heart for being too slick and for forcing him to ask a question, thus putting him in the position of a staunch traitor. At the same time, he gave his reply: "Tianzhao Temple has ordered that he be sent to take away the prisoners. Do not ask any more questions. Just release them."

Jia Yuan frowned, turned and returned to the front tent, tossing a wooden token to Wang Anquan: "Lord Wang, I'm sorry, I have an important mission and can only proceed with caution. Alright, the commander has replied, you can bring your men in with the wooden token that triggered the illusion…!"

"I understand, I understand, thank you for your trouble," Wang Anquan replied with a broad smile.

Jia Yuan looked at him and suddenly asked casually, "Oh, by the way, the transfer order didn't say how many prisoners you were going to take with you, or what their ranks were?"

Wang Anquan glanced briefly at the other party's expression before decisively replying, "Not many, not many. I only took one hundred prisoners, all of whom were of the third rank or above. Heh, I don't know what the temple meant... It's probably still related to Lord Niu's sudden transfer."

"Oh, okay, then go ahead." Jia Yuan waved his hand.

"This is troublesome." Wang Anquan took the wooden token and turned to leave.

"Hiss... Sir, please wait a moment." Jia Yuan blinked, smiling politely as he said, "Oh, once the people are brought out, should I send a few people to protect them along the way? After all, although their spiritual power has been suppressed, there are quite a few people with strong physical bodies among them...!"

Wang Anquan turned to look at him, clasped his hands slightly, and said, "The temple only told me to take the prisoners away, but didn't even say where I was to take them... What do you mean by this...?!"