Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 78 Spending the Night in the Cave
Zhou Zhao listened silently, thinking to himself that these two were really dreaming.

If they were to actually stumble upon her and Su Changying, those two traitors, they would be stuffed into a chamber pot and live a life of sorrow.

Yuheng was clearly not in a good mood, so the two of them didn't dare to linger. They quickly came out of the latrine and ran away rather unsteadily, their footsteps echoing in the empty underground space.

Zhou Zhao made a hand gesture to Su Changying, and the two changed directions, playing "hide-and-seek" with the two patrol teams led by Yuheng and Tianquan in the tunnel.

They searched for half the night, looking at all six stone pillars clearly, but still couldn't find the seventh one.

"This should be the exact center of Tianying Mountain. According to the pattern array, the seventh stone pillar should be here, but this is a pool of blood. I haven't found a place to trigger the mechanism."

The pool of water was dark red, and although it didn't smell of blood, it looked like a pool of blood at first glance, which was very ominous.

Su Changying listened attentively and nodded. "Let's not do anything for tonight. We'll try again when we get back and find a solution."

Zhou Zhao deeply agreed. If they went into the water to investigate, they would inevitably spill "blood" everywhere when they came up, which would alert the enemy. If they didn't resolve all the issues tonight, it would be difficult to get back in later.

Thinking it over, the two tacitly rushed back to the cave entrance they had come from. Su Changying leaped up and stepped on the protrusions on the wall, climbing up the stone wall like a swimming dragon.

Zhou Zhao, without looking up, shot straight to the cave entrance like an arrow released from a bow.

When they were hiding in the bushes, they heard Yuheng tell Tianquan that the token would be used again when they came out to open the door.

Zhou Zhao thought for a moment and looked carefully at the stone wall in front of the door. After a short while, he saw a circular groove on the stone wall.

Zhou Zhao pursed her lips, stared intently for a while, and calmly wiped away the newly flowing nosebleed with a handkerchief.

Her brain was working itself to the bone tonight, leaving her feeling quite dizzy and disoriented.

There are footsteps...

Without hesitation, Zhou Zhao leaped lightly and flew quickly upwards. Su Changying on the stone wall had already reached out to her. When she got close, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms. Then, he turned towards the shadows of the stone wall, and the two of them disappeared into the darkness.

The footsteps circled around the doorway, then turned back and gradually disappeared.

"There's a stone platform here. Lie down and rest for a while. I'll call you when we're ready to leave."

Zhou Zhao looked in the direction Su Changying was pointing, and sure enough, she saw a protruding platform about the width of a person on the leeward side. She rubbed her temples, sat down without hesitation, and lay down.

The moment she lay down, she met Su Changying's deep eyes.

He had sat down without him noticing. Zhou Zhao's head wasn't resting on the hard stone slab, but rather on his warm lap.

There was an indescribable aura emanating from the tip of her nose. Zhou Zhao felt that she might have bled too much, otherwise, why would Su Changying's eyes look so much like stars in the night sky?

When Zhou Zhao came to her senses, she had already covered her face with the embroidered handkerchief stained with nosebleeds, and lay there stiffly, like a corpse about to be taken up the mountain.

Good heavens! This is so embarrassing!
Despite Zhou Zhao's self-proclaimed status as a calm and powerful strategist, she was unworthy of such praise.

As she thought this, her head felt dizzy, and she unconsciously relaxed, feeling sleepy.

Ying means rope.

Su Changying was like the long rope hanging in her room in Chang'an, a source of peace for her. Su Changying looked at the person on his lap who had fallen asleep almost instantly, listening to her steady breathing, and couldn't help but smile. He hesitated for a moment, then gently placed his hand on Zhou Zhao's hair. Her hair was soft and fluffy, making his palm itch, which was not at all like her strong and assertive personality.

This was the first time in his memory that another person had spent the night with him.

Is this the legendary home?
"Zhou Zhao, there are two footsteps. They're coming."

Zhou Zhao rubbed her eyes and jumped up with a somersault. Su Changying was startled by her dangerous move and quickly reached out her hand. Seeing that she landed steadily without falling off the narrow stone platform, she breathed a sigh of relief and casually withdrew her hand.

Zhou Zhao didn't look at him, but instead looked towards the tunnel and listened intently to the footsteps.

"Didn't you say we'd need the token later? Where do we use it?"

Tianquan's voice was quite loud, clearly a deliberate reminder to them, "We could have just stayed here and rested by the wooden pillar, why didn't you tell me? As the hall master, you're being far too petty."

Yuheng snorted, his voice weak and listless, "You're going to pursue this here, isn't that petty? You should think more about how to live to seventy, so you don't die in a couple of days and then come to question me in a dream."

As Zhou Zhao listened, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Yuheng's mouth was indeed quite skillful.

As Yuheng spoke, he pressed his token onto the door. Tianquan, unsure whether Zhou Zhaotong and Su Changying were there, hesitated for a while. Only when Yuheng grew impatient did he press his token onto the door, and it opened immediately.

Yuheng yawned, took off his token, walked out the door, stretched, rubbed his eyes, and headed towards the mountain path.

“Old man Tianquan, take the token and come out immediately, otherwise you won’t be able to get out once the door closes.”

Tianquan watched as two dark figures flashed by and disappeared into the bushes. Only then did he slowly pull out his token and listlessly follow Yuheng away.

Zhou Zhao and Su Changying did not exchange words, but went their separate ways back to their respective courtyards. There, they got up openly and listened to the loud greetings from their brothers in the hall before quietly going to the small house where they had gathered earlier.

As soon as she entered, Zhou Zhao smelled the aroma of flatbread and roasted mutton. She sniffed and saw that Xu Yuan had already thoughtfully set out chopsticks and served rice porridge.

Zhou Zhao gave him an approving look, sat down without ceremony, picked up the pancake and took a bite.

Seeing that she was eating with relish, Xu Yuan couldn't help but smile and was the first to speak, "I've been keeping an eye on the outer twelve villages. In the past few days, quite a few people have been captured by the Dai army. They didn't give any warning before their operation, but they were still ambushed and wiped out in one fell swoop."

"Everyone in the Outer Twelve Halls is now in a state of fear and is busy hunting down internal traitors."

Zhou Zhao listened, feeling a little smug. Of course, he would take them all in one go.

Because she had Cheng Yuyuan pass a message to Zhao Yizhou, saying that no matter how big or small the fish, it was a good fish.

She was not a bloodthirsty person. Unless absolutely necessary, she never thought of taking people's lives casually. It was better for those people to be captured by Zhao Yizhou and sentenced according to the laws of Daqi than to be killed by her or sacrificed by Qin Tianying.

She truly does good deeds and accumulates merit.

Tianquan listened and couldn't help but look at Zhou Zhaotong and Su Changying, "So, what did you two get last night?"

Zhou Zhao gulped down a bowl of porridge, then reached into his sleeve and pulled out three pieces of silk cloth.

She first spread out a larger piece of paper and placed it in the center of the table. "Last night we searched every corner of the entire underground cave. This is a map I drew from memory. These six places are where the mechanism pillars are located, and there are also some places where we can hide. I have marked them one by one."