“Wake up, wake up!”
“Mm…” Gu Wangchen felt a mosquito buzzing by his ear and reached out to swat it.
*Slap —*
What a big mosquito. It felt quite soft to the touch.
“Hey, did you do that on purpose to take advantage of me?”
Seeing the palm land on her backside, Sikong Yue’s beautiful face flushed. She quickly grabbed his wrist and spoke fiercely.
‘Strange, why is this mosquito so strong?’
Gu Wangchen tried to pull his hand back, only to find himself pinned by the “mosquito.”
How could this be?
Without a second thought, he exerted force and sat up abruptly.
“Gu, I’m telling you for the last time — get up! Commander Nie is back!”
*Thud!*
A dull collision rang out. Gu Wangchen felt a flash of heat on his head, as if he had hit something soft on the outside but hard on the inside.
?
The pain forced him to open his eyes from his stupor. He looked at Sikong Yue, who was clutching her forehead and glaring at him with her beautiful eyes.
“Hey, Sikong Yue, why did you sneak attack me?” Gu Wangchen asked first.
“Huh? I attacked you?” Sikong Yue’s bright eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re the one who suddenly sat up and slammed into my head, okay?! How is that a sneak attack?”
Gu Wangchen frowned and pondered for a moment. It seemed that was the case, but… ‘You, this overpowered heroine, don’t you understand our current status?’
‘I am the superior, and you are the subordinate.’
He cleared his throat and said in a deep voice, “How bold! I was startled awake from my dreams by the pain. That means you used your head to hit me while I was sleeping!”
Before Sikong Yue could react, Gu Wangchen jumped out of bed and changed the subject. “You just said Commander Nie is back, right?”
“You…” Seeing Gu Wangchen make a false accusation with such righteous confidence, Sikong Yue felt her teeth ache with frustration.
She ground her teeth, forcing down the chest tightness caused by her restrictive breast bindings, and said stiffly, “Yes, Commander Nie is back. That’s why I came to wake you.”
“Mm, good. Thank you for your hard work,” Gu Wangchen said sincerely.
“Eh?”
Sikong Yue looked at Gu Wangchen’s sincere face, momentarily stunned.
‘How did this guy suddenly change his personality and start thanking me?’
“Hey, wait for me!” Before she could think further, she shook her head and hurried after the long-striding Gu Wangchen.
The two of them arrived one after the other at the main hall of the Demon Suppression Division headquarters.
Looking at Nie Ling, who had not slept all night and whose eyes showed fatigue, Gu Wangchen already had a general idea of the situation.
‘This guy probably spent the whole night working for nothing.’
“Commander Nie, what’s the situation? Did you find the black fire oil hidden by the attackers?”
Nie Ling set down the Moon-Slaying Saber at her waist and sighed deeply. She bowed with her hands clasped and said in a drawn-out voice, “Reporting to the Lord… I returned empty-handed after the night.”
Gu Wangchen signaled for everyone to sit down while he took the main seat. He did not scold her, but instead asked kindly, “Commander Nie, are you saying that all five locations you pried out of those attackers’ accomplices were fakes?”
“No, they weren’t accomplices,” Nie Ling looked up at Gu Wangchen. “They were the attackers themselves. For some reason, they didn’t have time to escape and could only hide within the crowd.”
“Mm, more than ten people attacking together, some escaping while others stay behind to distract everyone at the scene. That is a logical course of action,” Gu Wangchen agreed.
“In other words, they were stalling for time,” he concluded.
“Stalling for time?”
“Yes. I already have a general theory regarding the mastermind, so I’ve also figured out their purpose for attacking the Crown Princess.” Gu Wangchen picked up a teacup, took a light sip, and paused.
“I am all ears.” Nie Ling stood up and bowed.
“Tell us, tell us! Gu, didn’t you say you knew last night? Now that everyone is here, hurry up and speak!” Sikong Yue urged as well.
It wasn’t just curiosity; this involved their bet.
If this guy truly deduced the mastermind without relying on the resources or clues of the Capital Guard, then she would be dragged off to work like a beast of burden!
Since her interests were at stake, she was even more nervous than Nie Ling!
Setting down the teacup, Gu Wangchen glanced at the curiosity and… nervousness on the faces of the two women. He asked, “Commander Nie, are you familiar with the Xiao family of Ling City?”
“Of course. That is the Empress Dowager’s maternal clan.” Nie Ling nodded slightly.
“That makes things easier. It goes like this…”
Gu Wangchen briefly explained the cause and effect of how the Xiao family of Ling City had orchestrated the attack using the Anxi soldiers. He only omitted the information that the messenger, Lu Quan, was currently in his hands.
“Are you saying that the Xiao family feared the Crown Princess was gathering strength to deal with them, so they struck first to drag the Empress Dowager into the mess and protect themselves in the chaos?”
“Precisely.”
Nie Ling gripped the hilt of the Moon-Slaying Saber on the table tightly. She said coldly, “Those people… the Empress Dowager has clearly severed ties with them, yet they are still so persistent!”
“Those matters are not your concern,” Gu Wangchen cut her off and continued. “Furthermore, you said the sixth person committed suicide before giving a location, correct?”
“Yes, it was my failure for not prying his mouth open in time,” Nie Ling lowered her head as she replied.
“It doesn’t matter. Since all five locations were fakes… even if he had given a sixth location, it likely would have been fake too.”
Looking at the slightly confused Nie Ling, he explained, “It’s simple. Since their goal was to stall for time, they wouldn’t have left behind anyone who knew the actual hiding spot of the black fire oil.”
“This…” Connecting Gu Wangchen’s reasoning with his earlier explanation, Nie Ling suddenly understood.
If she followed his line of thinking, everything made sense!
Those people had stayed at the scene on purpose specifically to mislead them.
If she had followed her usual methods and slowly interrogated every detail, those people would have happily cooperated. Given the usual investigation speed of the Capital Guard and the Demon Suppression Division, it would have taken at least three days to get results. By then, it would be too late.
And if she realized time was of the essence and questioned them directly, they would give fake locations — or what they thought were real locations — to mislead her.
Thinking of this, Nie Ling’s eyes narrowed, and a chill ran down her spine. She slammed the table, making the legs creak.
“My Lord, as you said, they must be planning the next attack. We must…”
Halfway through her sentence, Nie Ling froze. She realized that although she knew another attack was coming, she didn’t know the target!
Could she really send men to guard every important location in Shengan City?
“It is as Commander Nie says,” Gu Wangchen stood up and looked at the sun outside. “It is already 7:30 AM. We don’t have much time left. A city-wide search or a wide-net defense will definitely not work.”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought about it last night. There aren’t many locations that both the mastermind, the Xiao family, and the executors, the Anxi soldiers, would agree upon — places that would fulfill both their goals after an attack. There are six at most.”
“The Hanlin Academy, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Armory, the Eastern Palace Annex, Wanshou Temple, and… the Anfu Gate at the side of the Imperial City.”
Nie Ling stood up and walked over to Gu Wangchen, her voice rising involuntarily. “Do you mean… we only need to guard these six locations and wait for them to come to us?”
“Yes.”
“Fine,” Nie Ling nodded and turned to head out. “There’s no time to lose. I’ll arrange the men immediately!”
Gu Wangchen patted Sikong Yue’s shoulder and instructed, “Accompany Commander Nie for now.”
Sikong Yue raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“I have something else to take care of. It’s very important.”
“You… fine, just go. I’ll tell Commander Nie.” The words “you aren’t trying to run away, are you?” almost slipped out, but considering his performance just now, she felt he wouldn’t go that far.
“Good. Thank you for your hard work.”