Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 390 You Killed Zhou Yan

Upon hearing this, Grand Commandant Huo sighed deeply.

The way he looked at Zhou Zhao was as if he were looking at a monster.

"I didn't expect you to even know this."

The Gong family has done me a great favor, and I have always protected them. During the "Stairway to Heaven" incident, Gong Ling nearly died a tragic death. To prevent a recurrence, I placed secret guards around him to monitor their every move.

He went to the Zhou family to help Zhou Yan build a mechanism tower. During the surveillance, the secret guards discovered that your brother was exceptionally talented and had been working on deciphering mechanisms for a period of time.

That mechanism tower was extraordinary; I suspect he deduced it from its mechanisms while researching how to decipher the Six Paths Heavenly Book.

As he spoke, Commandant Huo couldn't help but express his jealousy and resentment.

"How could that hypocrite Zhou Buhai have two such capable offspring? Heaven must be blind."

As he spoke, he looked at Su Changying again, and then, thinking of Huo Du, Huo Yu, and Huo Ting in his own family, he was overcome with grief.

Heaven is blind.

That foolish Marquis of Lu, blinded by his concubine, actually had such a capable son as Su Changying.

“My brother…” Zhou Zhao took a deep breath.

Su Changying gently patted her back.

Commander Huo pursed his lips and sighed softly, "We chose to meet at Shanming Villa because it was not yet fully completed, and there were no guests or servants there. It was a completely secluded place. I did not expect that so many people would show up on that day."

Zhou Zhao listened, clenching his fists.

"My original plan was to win over Princess Changyang. If she was willing to choose the Third Prince, I would kill Zhang Ran to silence her. If she was unwilling, I would force her to give me the imperial edict and then hand her over to Zhang Ran as previously agreed."

Princess Changyang will disappear, and her will will fall into my hands.

But I arrived too late. Li Huaishan had already killed the princess and nailed her to the bookshelf with coffin nails; there was no way to save her. I originally wanted to leave quietly, but just then I saw Su Changying and Zhou Yan rush out of the library's basement.

Su Changying distracted Li Huaishan, and Zhou Yan ran to Princess Changyang's side to check on her.

The princess is dead; the only one capable of deciphering the celestial scripture is Zhou Yan.

As Zhou Zhao listened to Grand Commandant Huo's words, her heart clenched, for this was almost exactly what she had predicted.

Zhou Yan did indeed emerge from the underground vault, then re-enter it before being murdered.

"Did you know that the Six Paths Heavenly Book is made of blank bamboo slips?" Zhou Zhao asked.

Commander Huo nodded. "I know. I was present when His Majesty gave the Six Paths Heavenly Book to the princess, but I couldn't tell which volume it was. I had no choice but to kill Zhou Yan; he was too clever, even though I was masked and standing behind him at the time."

But I knew he could easily deduce my identity from my subtle movements.

When Huo Taiwei recalled that day, he realized that his martial arts skills were far superior to Zhou Yan's.

Even though he was the hunter, he had a feeling that he was being watched.

Zhou Yan had the ability to find him by his voice, his habit of pausing, the calluses and scars on his hands, or even the nicks and scratches on his sword.

In short, it was a suffocating, all-pervasive suffocation.

From the moment he entered, he knew that Zhou Yan had to die.

Zhou Yan didn't see him, but his whole body was covered in eyes.

Zhou Zhao looked at Commander Huo with red eyes, "Of course he can."

He can surely guess that you are not with Li Huaishan, and that you are the reason Princess Changyang suddenly appeared at Shanming Villa. The princess will either become your ally or be imprisoned by Zhang Ran; either way, you are in an invincible position.

So you didn't really disguise yourself properly, and you might even have gone in plain clothes, right?

Commander Huo looked away. "After we went down into the underground garage, we hadn't gone far when we heard Fan Lishen shouting... I was worried about running into you, so after killing Zhou Yan, I left immediately."

Zhou Zhao recalled that day, when lightning flashed and thunder roared.

Zhou Yan and Su Changying hadn't come out yet, so they went in to greet them. Fan Lishen ran and called out their names.

She never imagined that she would witness such a scene, or that she would be forever separated from her brother.

"What did my brother say to you before he died?"

Zhou Zhao's voice trembled slightly as she felt the large, burning hand on her back.

Su Changying hadn't said a word from the beginning, but had been silently supporting her.

Commander Huo shook his head. "No, the few words he said were just him testing the waters, but it was too short for him to say anything."

Zhou Zhao stared intently at Commander Huo, "You will die a horrible death."

Commander Huo was silent for a moment, then said, "Now you have avenged him."

Zhou Zhao took a deep breath. "After my brother died, the suspicious bamboo slips around him were taken to the Court of Justice as evidence. Why didn't you steal them?"

Grand Commandant Huo shook his head. "I know His Majesty has been waiting, just waiting for someone to come and walk into his trap."

He paused, then continued, "And even if I got it, there's nothing I can do; I simply can't unravel it. Since I can't unravel it, it's just a useless blank bamboo slip."

He never expected that the first person to be able to solve this problem would be a member of the Zhou family, and the second person would also be a member of the Zhou family.

Thinking this way, Grand Commandant Huo couldn't help but feel jealous and resentful again.

What virtue or ability does Zhou Buhai possess?

He doesn't seem very smart either.

"Then why did you appear at the Princess's residence this time, when His Majesty..."

Zhou Zhao was halfway through her sentence when she suddenly looked at Grand Commandant Huo... If he hadn't shown up, it wouldn't have been easy for her and Su Changying to find him.

They will likely reinvestigate Zhang Ran, find clues about him, and then investigate further.

However, after four years of silently serving His Majesty, Grand Commandant Huo set his sights on the imperial edict once again.

Grand Commandant Huo was unaware of how many times he had been amazed by Zhou Zhao's keen insight that evening. "Just as you thought, His Majesty's days are numbered. I'm once again standing at a crossroads."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhao shook his head. "No, you were already the Third Prince's man four years ago, weren't you? Gong Ling is skilled in micro-carving. He usually carves things like seals, but his masterpiece was a pair of large bronze lions for the Third Prince's residence."

You value Gong Ling highly, hoping to leverage the Third Prince's favor to allow Gong Ling to retire gracefully from the Imperial Household Department.

You all lie low, waiting for the right opportunity.

Commander Huo raised an eyebrow. "That's not wrong either."

He chuckled bitterly as he spoke, "But your and Su Changying's martial arts skills are much higher than I expected. Not only were you discovered, but your coffin nails also happened to break the bronze lion's tail. I had no choice but to kill Gong Huan and take the bronze lion seal that Gong Ling had prepared."

I immediately sensed something was wrong, knowing you would soon find out about me, and that's how what happened next came about.

Zhou Zhao looked at Grand Commandant Huo and asked, "Where is the Third Prince? Does he want to stay out of this?"

(End of this chapter)