Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 55 Someone is coming
Without hesitation, Zhou Zhao drew her Green Fish Dagger. With a slight twist of her waist, the sharp blade grazed her belt and plunged directly into the person behind her.

The person behind him loosened their grip on Zhou Zhao slightly due to the pain.

At that moment, without saying a word, Zhou Zhao twisted his bones and tendons, directly grabbing the hand of the person behind him and taking the opportunity to escape.

She took a deep breath and looked closely. She saw that the person opposite her was dressed in black, with a black cloth covering half of his face. Although the room was dimly lit, Zhou Zhao still managed to see the edges of the tattoos peeking out from the edge of his mask.

The masked man's hands trembled, blood suddenly seeped from his abdomen, and his gaze toward Zhou Zhao held a hint of fear.

Without saying a word, he directly struck Zhou Zhao's face with a powerful palm strike, clearly indicating he was an expert in internal martial arts.

In an instant, Zhou Zhao remembered what Qianmian had told her before. He said that there was a master by Ye Xuan's side, a guy with tattoos on his face. That person was a spy planted by the city lord Qin Tianying by Ye Xuan's side, and she should be careful if she encountered him.

It seems this is the one we've encountered!
Zhou Zhao and the tattooed man exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with endless killing intent!
It's clear that both of them are infiltrators, and the current situation is definitely a matter of life or death.

Zhou Zhao wasn't intimidated at all and went straight to meet the attack. Seeing that she didn't dodge the palm strike, the tattooed man chuckled, "You don't know your place! Countless people have died under my palm."

As he spoke, the force of his palm strike reached Zhou Zhao.

Just when he thought he had succeeded, Zhou Zhao did a backflip and kicked the ceiling of the secret room, then pounced down and landed directly behind the tattooed man.

The tattooed man felt a chill run down his spine and jerked his head away, but it was too late!

Zhou Zhao's fair hand landed on his neck, and with a gentle twist, a snap was heard. The tattooed man's shocked eyes instantly lost their light.

Zhou Zhao loosened her grip, and the tattooed man slid to the ground. Her legs also gave way, and she staggered a few times, coughing involuntarily.

The tattooed man had used too much force when he strangled her, and now her throat was burning with pain.

She reached out for support, looked around, and found that it was a secret room. Inside the room were a bed, a chest, and a table. If she smelled carefully, she could smell the aroma of food. Zhou Zhao immediately thought of the food box that Ye Bai had been carrying earlier.

She looked around and noticed specks of light shining from the wall in the direction the passageway led to. Startled, she went closer.

There are several small holes in this wall that are impossible to spot unless you get very close.

Zhou Zhao pressed her face against the wall and looked in that direction. Her pupils contracted sharply as she saw a huge hollow space filled with countless coffins. The scene was even more shocking than the mountain of memorial tablets she had seen earlier.

The holes were too small to see clearly, but Zhou Zhao vaguely sensed that the arrangement of the coffins seemed to have a certain order within the chaos.

In the gap between the coffins, there was a long table, and people were already sitting on both sides of the table.

However, the perspective made it impossible for her to see the complete pattern.

As Zhou Zhao was thinking, he heard a noise behind him. A crack appeared in the secret chamber, and Qianmian squeezed in.

He glanced at the corpse on the ground, then at Zhou Zhao's neck, and said in a low voice, "Someone's back."

Zhou Zhao felt a chill run down his spine. He kicked the corpse under the bed and then shrank back inside. Just as the door to the secret room opened, Qianmian lay down inside as well.

Judging from the footsteps, there are two people.

Zhou Zhao held her breath, cursing inwardly. Could it be that she had tricked too many people during the day, and their curses against her had come true?

Otherwise, why would she be experiencing such bad luck? She became extremely vigilant. Just then, the bed suddenly shook, and dust fell down. Zhou Zhao knew something was wrong and quickly closed her eyes. At that moment, a large hand reached out and covered her face.

Before Zhou Zhao could think any further, the two people in the room had already started talking.

"How is it?" The person sitting on the bed spoke first.

"Master, two have already arrived," he said, pausing for a moment. "Should I really go and call Zhou Zhao at Hai Shi (9-11 PM)? I think that girl is neither righteous nor wicked, and doesn't seem like someone easy to control. She might be a variable."

"Moreover, she has two subordinates. I heard that the one named Ah Huang is her sworn brother. I had someone inquire about him. He is as strong as an ox and had a fight with Zhu Wu in the dilapidated temple outside the city before."

"As for the other one, he's a newcomer today. We don't know what his methods are yet."

Zhou Zhao had just heard this voice not long ago and was certain it belonged to Ye Bai.

Ye Xuan scoffed, "Variables? I've fought on the battlefield for so many years, why would I be afraid of variables? Can you find someone more suitable than her in the Xuanwu Hall?"

"Ye Bai, in the end, you still don't approve of what I did... I thought you would understand."

Ye Bai paused, then said, "General, let us return to our roots..."

Ye Xuan remained silent for a long time.

Zhou Zhao, who was waiting under the bed, became anxious. Her face wasn't covered in dust, but a hand had fallen on it! And next to her lay a corpse with its neck twisted, its eyes wide open, staring intently at her, clearly dying with its eyes wide open.

There was dead silence in the room.

After an unknown amount of time, Ye Xuan stood up and said, "Go and call Zhou Zhao."

As he spoke, without waiting for Ye Bai's reply, he opened the door to the secret room and walked out.

Upon seeing this, Ye Bai immediately followed.

Once the noise subsided, Qianmian and Zhou Zhao exchanged a glance and immediately crawled out from under the bed.

With a quick bend, Qianmian dragged the tattooed man's corpse from under the bed and hoisted it onto her shoulder. Zhou Zhao deftly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away the few drops of blood that had dripped from the tattooed man. Fortunately, the wound she had made wasn't deep, and the bleeding wasn't much.

"I'll go bury the body. You go back before Ye Bai. Don't make any rash moves later. I'll be there to support you from the shadows."

Zhou Zhao nodded, and the two of them left the Hall of Heroes without saying anything more.

"Miss Zhou, the sect leader has returned and invites you to come over for a chat."

Liu Huang, who was sitting facing the wall, was startled and turned around abruptly. He was pondering how to reply when he heard a tired voice behind him, "Sorry, Uncle Bai, please wait a moment, I'll be right out. It's not even Hai Shi yet."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he took off his outer robe, changed into a garment that could cover his neck, and opened the door.

Upon seeing this, Liu Huang immediately put on his bamboo hat and followed behind Zhou Zhao.

Ye Bai glanced at him, his face contorted with a grotesque wound, and grinned broadly. "The hall master invites Miss Zhou to come alone."