Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 53 Strange Red Mark

As Zhou Zhao thought to himself, he flicked his wrist, and the bluefish dagger fell into his hand.

Without saying a word, she stabbed straight at Qianmian's neck with lightning speed.

Zhou Zhao learned how to solve cases from a young age, and he knew exactly how to kill someone, how to make them suffer, how long it would take for them to die, and how they would die.

Unlike Zhou Yan, she couldn't learn the gentleman's sword technique; all she learned was how to kill.

Thousand Faces' pupils contracted sharply, as if he had never seen such swift movements before. He was momentarily flustered and moved his body stiffly, barely dodging the dagger. Before he could even feel relieved to have escaped this calamity, he felt a chill on his arm...

Not only was the longsword in his hand snatched away, but his sleeve was also ripped off completely.

With a look of disbelief on his face, Qianmian raised his right arm to cover the bleeding wound on his neck and said to Zhou Zhao, "I lost."

A cheer erupted in front of the Tiandou Village gate.

"Sister Zhao is awesome!" The loudest voice undoubtedly came from Han Dashan.

"Third Master won! Han Dashan, you're not even as good as one of Third Master's toes!" This was said by the others.

Zhou Zhao looked at Qianmian with an inexplicably complicated expression. Life is truly like a play, and it all depends on acting skills! Although she didn't know how high Qianmian's martial arts skills were, someone who could massacre Yaoguang Hall and sit in the position of the head of the seven inner halls was obviously more than that.

They're carrying her in a sedan chair!

As Zhou Zhao was thinking, her gaze suddenly stopped, her breath caught in her throat, and she quickly looked away so as not to attract attention.

On the inside of the right forearm of the thousand-faced man, there was a bright red mark. The mark did not have any legendary shape, such as a dragon or plum blossom. It was just a red dot, about the size of a mung bean.

As she thought about it, she couldn't help but reach out and grasp her right forearm.

In the same place as Qianmian, there is also a red dot that is almost exactly the same.

Zhou Zhao took a deep breath, suppressing the questions in his heart, and smiled at Qianmian, "You lost! From now on, you'll stay by my side. I won't say you'll eat and drink the best food, but you'll be just like the brothers of Tiandou Village. You'll eat meat and drink soup whenever you want."

When she mentioned eating meat and drinking soup, she looked over at the people from Tian Dou.

"Eat meat when there's meat, drink soup when there's soup!" With Han Dashan leading the way, the crowd erupted in another thunderous cheer.

Qianmian watched as Zhou Zhao raised his arm and the crowd responded like a mountain king, and his heart couldn't help but tremble.

He would rather kill all of these people than do such a thing...

How could there be such a high-profile and arrogant spy!

"Let's go!" Qianmian was thinking when he heard Zhou Zhao call him. He quickly followed and lightly jumped off the arena. The area in front of Tiandou Village was still noisy. Zhou Zhao swam through the crowd like a fish and led him into an empty alley.

"The leader of Xuanwu Hall wants to take me as his disciple. You and Ahuang will come with me. Originally, I thought that after defeating Tiannu and Tianxu, Tiandou Village would win without a fight, and Cheng Yuyuan would take control of the situation and make me the hall master. But now it seems that there is something fishy about this old hall master. I still have to meet him."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he looked again at the red dots on Qianmian's arm.

She took a deep breath but didn't ask, because she knew that even if she did, Qianmian might not tell the truth.

Su Changying did not have this red mark on her arm, but she did.

This is incredibly bizarre. Just who is this Thousand Faces?

Qianmian paused, surprised, and said, "Ye Xuan wants to take you as his disciple? Why? He has never taken a disciple before."

Zhou Zhao shook his head. "I don't know, but I'll find out tonight."

……

As night fell, Zhou Zhao led Qianmian and Liu Huang into the Hall Master's residence. Although Xie Laosi, who used to carry the red umbrella, was replaced by Qianmian carrying a feather fan, the situation was not much better; she still lacked prestige.

It looked like a penniless swindler had just grabbed two ghosts to fill the space.

“Miss Zhou, this courtyard was specially prepared for you by the head of the hall. If there is anything inappropriate, please let me know. I am the steward of the manor, you can call me Ye Bai. The head of the hall has gone into the inner city and will not return until Hai Shi (9-11 PM).

"He asked you to have dinner first. I didn't know what you liked, so I prepared some food accordingly."

The butler, named Ye Bai, looked to be in his fifties with gray hair. He had a hideous scar on his face that stretched from his left ear to his right chin. Although the wound had healed over the years, it still looked as if the skin had been torn open.

Zhou Zhao could tell at a glance that this was definitely not something that could be caused by ordinary weapons.

Nine times out of ten, the weapon was poisoned, and to save his life, he cut off the poisoned, rotten flesh.

He always had a wide grin when he spoke, and under the lamplight, he looked terrifying, like a demon that had just crawled out of the underworld.

He exuded a heavy killing intent, though he tried to conceal it, Zhou Zhao could still sense that this man was definitely a veteran of the battlefield. He must be one of Ye Xuan's former subordinates.

Zhou Zhao looked at him and smiled at Ye Bai, "Uncle Bai, thank you for your trouble."

Seeing that she showed no fear, Ye Bai's smile faded slightly. He nodded, said nothing more, and stepped aside. Two maids entered carrying trays, placing roasted mutton, a plate of amaranth, a basket of steamed buns, and a small pot of wine on the table.

“Miss Zhou, you may go anywhere else in this mansion, but there are two places you should be careful in. One is the main courtyard of the hall master, which you must not trespass on; the other is the Hall of Heroes.”

"When the Master returns at Hai Shi (9-11 PM), he may wish to see the young lady. In that case, this old servant shall take his leave."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over Qianmian and Liu Huang, then he withdrew.

As soon as he left, the entire courtyard fell silent.

Liu Huang immediately took out silver needles and started stabbing the food on the table, while Qianmian was tapping and banging around, walking and stopping intermittently.

Zhou Zhao, however, threw down his bundle and sat down at the table with an air of nonchalance. "Come and eat! The mutton won't taste good if it gets cold. This mutton looks very tender, and it's sprinkled with a lot of spices from the Western Regions. It would be a shame not to eat it."

Liu Huang withdrew the silver needles and uttered two words, "Not poisonous."

Qianmian also turned his head, "There is no secret room, and no one is hiding there."

After the two finished speaking, they found that Zhou Zhao was already enjoying a small sip of wine and a bite of meat with great relish. "No rush, let's eat and drink our fill first. Otherwise, why do you think I came at this exact time? The food that Granny Zhang made was really not oily at all."

"Didn't Uncle Bai say twice before that the hall master would look for me at Hai Shi (9-11 PM)? We just need to wait."

A thousand faces remained silent; Liu Huang was mute.

The three of them finished their meal in an awkward atmosphere, and only after the dishes were cleared away did they each find a corner to stay in.

Qianmian sat by the window, tapping his arm idly with his fingers. Liu Huang faced the corner of the wall, gesturing and muttering something unintelligible. Only Zhou Zhao lay on the bed, fast asleep.

Qianmian heard the person inside gradually calming their breathing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the person was naked and not covered with a thin blanket.

Thinking this, he stood up and tiptoed towards the bed. When he was about five steps away from the bed, he saw a large knife held horizontally in front of him. Liu Huang, who had been sitting in the corner facing the wall, seemed to have eyes in the back of his head and followed him.

He was still wearing a straw hat and didn't dare to look up, but he stubbornly stood in front of Zhou Zhao, refusing to give an inch.

Qianmian raised his hand, glanced at the thin blanket on the bed with a complicated expression, indicating that he meant no harm, but Liu Huang still did not lower his sword.

Just then, Zhou Zhao, who was on the bed, sat up abruptly. She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

Liu Huang immediately sheathed his knife and stood obediently to the side.

"What are you all doing gathered around my bed? It's already past midnight!"