The dark, foul-smelling blood flowed more rapidly. Cold sweat beaded on Zhu Yan’s forehead, but she forced herself to remain calm. She made a cross-shaped incision around the arrow and skillfully extracted the arrowhead. She then helped Pan Chi lie on his side to allow the poisoned blood to drain more quickly.
Throughout the procedure, Pan Chi endured the pain silently, biting down on a handkerchief. Only when the blood turned bright red did Zhu Yan have him lie face down and pour medicinal powder onto the wound. Fortunately, the incision Zhu Yan made wasn’t too large. Combined with the effectiveness of Pan Chi’s medicine and the ample amount she applied, the bleeding finally stopped.
Zhu Yan breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly tore a strip of soft fabric from her inner garment and bandaged Pan Chi’s wound. After finishing, Zhu Yan collapsed to the ground, completely drained of energy and gasping for air.
Luckily, there were no Half-Faced Ghosts on the city wall at that moment. Though arrows flew chaotically, none reached them. Otherwise, she and Pan Chi might have perished.
With the poison neutralized and the wound bandaged, some of Pan Chi’s strength returned. He removed the handkerchief from his mouth with his uninjured hand, carefully tucking it into his robe. Turning his head towards Zhu Yan, he remarked, “I didn’t expect you to have medical skills.”
Though Zhu Liunu’s reputation preceded her, seeing was indeed believing. This woman Zhu Yan was truly extraordinary.
Zhu Yan didn’t hide anything and replied matter-of-factly, “This is all experience I gained from years of dissecting corpses, along with what my master diligently taught me.”
The saying “practice makes perfect” wasn’t wrong. It was thanks to her experience in dissecting corpses that her hands didn’t shake.
Hearing Zhu Yan’s explanation, Pan Chi’s mouth twitched. “Well, it proved useful.”
So this girl had treated him as if he were a corpse.
“Indeed. This is just for emergencies. I’m afraid some poison may remain, so you’ll need to consult a proper physician later for a thorough examination. Otherwise, you might develop lasting health issues,” Zhu Yan added.
She wasn’t a trained doctor. Pan Chi’s medicinal powder had only temporarily halted the spread of the poison, barely saving his life for now.
“Mm,” Pan Chi grunted in acknowledgment, then fell silent.
After a brief rest, with her strength somewhat recovered, Zhu Yan took a deep breath. She told Pan Chi to lie still while she crawled up to kneel at the wall’s edge, peering down.
Below the city wall, chaos reigned. At some point, Jing Lin had arrived and was leading the Imperial Guard in rescuing civilians. Constable Sun Tan and his subordinates were locked in a deadly struggle with the Half-Faced Ghosts, all while dodging the relentless arrows Mo Qianzhi kept ordering fired. They were severely hampered. Meanwhile, Shen Du found himself surrounded by a group of Half-Faced Ghosts and Yingzhou City’s garrison troops, unable to break free, yet stubbornly inching towards Mo Qianzhi’s position.
Civilians lay dead or wounded, their agonized wails rising like a hellish chorus.
Zhu Yan’s face darkened. “What exactly is Mo Qianzhi doing? He claims to be ridding the people of evil, yet he orders arrows fired indiscriminately, causing more chaos.”
Those arrows had already injured many of their people.
Pan Chi didn’t respond to her comment. Instead, he inquired about the Half-Faced Ghosts: “Zhu Yan, you were close to that Half-Faced Ghost. Did you notice anything?”
Zhu Yan sat down and shook her head. “I originally thought they might be from the Fire Moth Party, but that person didn’t know Chen Huoe or Lai Luofu, so it seems that’s not the case.”
She paused, then continued, “However, that person’s voice sounded familiar. It was like… like Ji Dafu’s voice. Yes, it sounded just like Ji Dafu.”
As Zhu Yan recalled Ji Dafu, she suddenly seemed to realize something significant. She took out her notebook, flipped through a few pages, and used a charcoal pencil to mark several names. Unable to contain herself, she slapped her forehead.
“We were wrong from the start. We’ve been led by the nose this whole time.”
Pan Chi was startled. Mustering his strength, he sat up and leaned against the wall. “What do you mean?”
“Since entering Gannan Circuit and arriving in Yingzhou City, we’ve been walking into someone else’s trap.”
For a moment, Zhu Yan wasn’t sure how to explain to Pan Chi. Ostensibly, she and Shen Du had come to investigate the Half-Faced Ghosts’ man-eating incidents, but in reality, they each had their missions.
Yet upon reaching Yingzhou City, the Half-Faced Ghosts kept creating deadly incidents, diverting their attention and forcing them to set aside their original tasks.
Looking back now, the holes in their approach were glaringly obvious.
Not knowing the full story, Pan Chi couldn’t analyze the situation. He could only press for more information: “A trap? Set by whom? Zhu Yan, you need to explain more clearly.”
But Zhu Yan couldn’t disclose everything. She simply put away her charcoal pencil and notebook, cast several glances at Mo Qianzhi, and then looked toward Shen Du with evident concern.
Seeing her evasiveness, Pan Chi realized there must be secrets he wasn’t privy to. Though he had no interest in prying into others’ privacy, this involved his safety. He still hoped Zhu Yan would be forthright.
“Could it be that… Governor Mo is involved in something nefarious?”
Zhu Yan’s eyes flickered momentarily before quickly returning to normal. Pan Chi, ever observant, caught this and deduced: “Your trip to Yingzhou City… it’s related to Governor Mo, isn’t it?”
Zhu Yan didn’t seem surprised that Pan Chi had guessed. Pan Chi was no fool, after all. After careful consideration, she decided there was no need to keep their missions secret from him any longer.
With this in mind, Zhu Yan briefly explained her task of investigating whether Mo Qianzhi harbored ulterior motives, and Shen Du’s mission to thoroughly investigate the Fire Moth Party’s members.
She concluded, “But ever since Shen Du and I entered Yingzhou, the Half-Faced Ghosts have been causing constant disturbances. It’s as if they’re doing it deliberately to divert our attention. And truthfully, they’ve succeeded.”
From the headless corpse to the missing bride case, they had focused solely on catching the culprit. They had become so fixated on the “Half-Faced Ghosts eating people” that they forgot to approach the situation from other angles.
Despite Jing Lin’s repeated attempts to gather information in Mo Qianzhi’s study, he found nothing. If Mo Qianzhi truly had nothing to hide, it could only mean that he had received a warning and prepared accordingly.
The seemingly unrelated Mo Qianzhi and the Fire Moth Party were, in fact, intricately connected behind the scenes. Considering Mo Qianzhi’s relationship with Shen Du, how could Zhu Yan believe otherwise?
Moreover, Shen Du must have sensed something amiss by now. Mo Qianzhi’s arrow barrage, ostensibly aimed at killing the Half-Faced Ghosts, begged the question: who was he trying to kill? Mo Qianzhi likely knew the answer all too well.
Having laid bare her thoughts, Pan Chi wasn’t particularly surprised. He recounted the circumstances that had drawn him into this affair:
“I had also sensed something was off. When Ji Dafu approached me, his stated intention was to clear his brother-in-law Li Kairui’s name. But that wasn’t the truth. He seemed unconcerned about identifying Li Kaishang’s real killer, instead going to great lengths to cast suspicion on Liu Zongyuan. Liu Zongyuan was probably the scapegoat he had prepared.
“Furthermore, when I deliberately mentioned the Half-Faced Ghosts in his presence, he appeared somewhat flustered but not afraid. Ji Dafu’s slip-ups weren’t limited to these instances. That day in the underground gambling den, the incense altar and rituals he set up were quite strange.”
They had begun to suspect him and were about to confront him when the Half-Faced Ghosts led them here instead.
If Ji Dafu was indeed one of the Half-Faced Ghosts, then today’s events must have been premeditated—nothing more than another elaborate scheme.