Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 84 You Have an Inside Man
Zhou Zhao closed his eyes, recalling the scene in the water just now.

Every scene she had just witnessed underwater replayed vividly in her mind. When she sank into the deep water and used the coffin nails to impale Qin Tianying, she felt the water flowing beneath her feet.

The water at the bottom is running water.

Moreover, the blood pool that could conceal the enormous, towering, and ground-level mechanical pillar was far deeper than she had anticipated.

When the poison is dripped down, it's like a drop of water falling into the ocean; it's instantly neutralized by nature, and the toxicity becomes almost imperceptible.

As Zhou Zhao pondered, her breathing grew weaker and weaker. She could clearly sense that someone was lurking in the shadows, spying on her from within the cave.

His eyes were like those of a rat in a sewer, making one feel utterly disgusted.

Only after that gaze disappeared and the surroundings returned to calm did Zhou Zhao suddenly open her eyes. Her face was ashen, and the wound on her shoulder throbbed with excruciating pain. But now was not the time to faint.

As Zhou Zhao pondered this, she looked up at her wrist, biting her lip and trying to rotate it.

Her clean, white hand was immediately bound by an iron ring about an inch wide, leaving bloody marks. But Zhou Zhao seemed oblivious to the pain and continued to turn it. If Qin Tianying were there, she would be surprised to find that between the back of her hand and the iron ring, there was a black coffin nail.

The head of the coffin nail got stuck right on Zhou Zhao's wrist and the iron ring.

As it desperately spun forward, the coffin nail gradually fell and slipped out from between the wrist and the shackles.

Just as it fell out completely, Zhou Zhao tilted his head and bit down on the fallen coffin nail with his teeth.

Her wrists were now surrounded by blood, the front of which was worn raw by the iron shackles, and her back was also cut by the coffin nail heads, leaving her covered in blood. Zhou Zhao's face grew increasingly pale, but she did not cry out in pain at all; instead, she couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips into a smile.

Earlier, she felt her feet being locked in the water by iron rings, which were adjusted to fit her ankles according to their thickness.

She immediately calmed down. Rather than letting Qin Tianying forcibly restrain her, she decided to go with the flow and use the coffin nails to "thicken" her wrists so that her hands could be pulled out of the iron rings after the nails fell off.

She thought about it, pulled her hand back, rubbed it a couple of times, and sure enough, she pulled it out of the iron ring.

With one hand free, the rest was easy. Zhou Zhao removed the coffin nails and hid them in his sleeve pocket. Then, with a sideways movement, he pulled out the coffin nails from his other hand, freeing both hands.

Next came the remaining foot.

After all that effort, only the first locked foot remained untied.

Zhou Zhao thought for a moment, then scratched the iron handcuffs with a coffin nail. Seeing that there wasn't even a scratch, he sighed softly.

She regretted not having Ah Huang's strength; otherwise, squeezing this thing would be as easy as squeezing a melon.

However, Zhou Zhao did not lose heart. She held onto the stone pillar with one hand, turned around suddenly, and used her locked foot as the pivot to turn around so that she was facing the entire mechanism pillar and began to examine it carefully.

This mechanism pillar is made of the same material as the other six.

However, the combination of the mechanism fragments was completely different. Zhou Zhao carefully examined them and immediately discovered the "vital point" closest to her. If this one was destroyed, the entire circle of mechanisms around it would be rendered useless.

She frowned as she thought about it.

She couldn't destroy the mechanism on her own, but the coffin nails couldn't leave any marks. How could she leave a mark so that Su Changying and the others could easily deal with it when they came to rescue her?

As Zhou Zhao pondered, his gaze fell upon his bloodied wrist.

A glint of joy flashed in her eyes, and without hesitation, she wiped away a handful of still-wet blood and smeared it on the mechanism.

Then came the next piece... Zhou Zhao searched piece by piece like this. The cave was dark and gloomy. She didn't know how much time had passed. She searched and rested several times before she finally smeared blood on all the "vital points" within her reach.

somebody is coming!

Zhou Zhao's ears twitched, and she vaguely heard footsteps. She suddenly flipped over and flipped back over with lightning speed, stuffing both hands and one foot back into the iron shackles and closing her eyes.

The orderly footsteps approached from afar, paused slightly when they reached her, and then swaggered away.

Zhou Zhao frowned as she watched the neatly dressed red robes disappear into the distance, and Tian Quan followed at the very back of the procession. She licked her dry lips. Was it already evening?
As she was thinking, her ears twitched, and she heard another almost imperceptible sound of footsteps.

Zhou Zhao's heart skipped a beat, and he looked in the direction of the sound. Sure enough, he saw Su Changying's incredibly handsome face hidden in the shadows.

This time he was wearing a red hooded cloak, almost identical to the Night Watchman's robe.

Zhou Zhao's eyes lit up, and she immediately looked up at the top of the cave. The door to Qin Tianying's bedroom was tightly closed, and she did not sense any prying.

"Quickly, puncture the blood-stained areas on the mechanism pillar."

Su Changying flashed and was already in front of Zhou Zhao. He didn't say anything, but gently reached out and wiped the blood from the corner of Zhou Zhao's mouth.

"Drink some water first, and I'll apply some medicine for you. Ah Huang is fine. Qin Tianying is currently hosting a banquet for the artificers and won't be here for the time being. I'll rescue you and then I'll send you and Ah Huang away from Tianying City."

As he spoke, he picked up the water pouch at his waist, uncorked it, and prepared to feed Zhou Zhao.

His eyes were bloodshot, and they swept over Zhou Zhao's mouth, shoulder, and wrist, his gaze growing increasingly deep, like the calm sea before a storm.

Zhou Zhao pulled his hand out of the feigned sling, snatched the water pouch, and gulped down a large mouthful. "I'm fine. I can still beat ten strong men to death. Qin Tianying didn't search me. I applied wound medicine to myself, and the bleeding has stopped."

"I'm really hungry, did you bring any food?"

Su Changying stared blankly at Zhou Zhao's hand, which he controlled with ease.

He mechanically pulled a meat pie from his pocket and stuffed it into Zhou Zhao's hand.

"What are you waiting for? If I weren't so strong, I would have already smashed this pillar. Hurry up."

Su Changying came to his senses and circled the pillar. Seeing the bloodstains on it, his eyes reddened slightly. Without pausing, he followed Zhou Zhao's instructions and poked the bloodstained fragments one by one until they fell into the pillar.

After finishing everything, he immediately returned to Zhou Zhao and began chopping at the iron handcuffs with his head down.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried to cut, the iron shackles seemed to be rooted to Zhou Zhao's feet, remaining completely still.

While eating the meat pie, Zhou Zhao observed the surrounding movements. "Don't waste your energy. Qin Tianying must have considered that he would be trapping people like us who are highly skilled in martial arts, so these iron shackles are impossible to cut."

As soon as she finished speaking, a familiar voice came from not far away, "Sure enough, I guessed it. There is an inside agent of yours in Tianying City."

Zhou Zhao's pupils suddenly contracted. It seemed that Su Changying would have a hard time leaving now. Thinking this, she looked at the blood pool, gestured to Su Changying a couple of times, and said in a low voice, "Living water."

Su Changying instantly understood, and like a fish, she dove into the water and sank instantly.

Zhou Zhao raised his hand and flung the remaining half of the meat pie onto a protrusion in the stone wall. Before the person could appear, he stuck his hands and feet inside.

Suddenly, Qin Tianying's incredibly aged face appeared at the dark cave entrance. He smiled sinisterly, looking like a demon.