AUBTN -Chapter 386 Planning the Prison Break

Yu Qing watched the scene before her, and her heart felt as though it were being torn apart.

In this ruthless world of political schemes and power struggles, she had always been something of an actress, surviving by joking around, playing the fool, and pretending to be crazy and clueless.

But now, seeing Su He Wan—the only person she could rely on—reduced to such a desperate state, something inside her completely broke!

“Lu Yan…”

Crying, Yu Qing knelt down as well.

“Lu Yan, I’m begging you too. Please save Shen Jue… He’s Shen the Fox! He can’t die! If he dies, Wanwan won’t be able to survive either. And if Wanwan dies, how am I supposed to live alone in this godforsaken place? Lu Yan, you’re the most capable person I know. You must have a way, right? Hurry and think of something!”

Tears blurred her entire face.

Looking at the three people kneeling before him, Lu Yan let out a helpless sigh.

He stood up and immediately lifted Yu Qing, who was crying so hard she was barely recognizable, from the ground.

Then he bent down and firmly pulled Su He Wan and Zhao Zhou to their feet one after another, leaving them no room to refuse.

“What are you doing?! All of you, get up!”

His words rang out with unwavering force:

“Even if I have to stake my life on it, I, Lu Yan, will save Shen Jue!”

Zhao Zhou’s spirits lifted as well. She wiped the tears from her face and stared intently at Lu Yan.

“Your Highness, have you thought of a plan?” Zhao Zhou asked anxiously.

Lu Yan considerately used his sleeve to wipe away the tear marks on her face. Then he turned toward the door and shouted!

“Bring me the defense map of the capital!”

Chang Lin quickly brought the map and laid it beside the large Eight Immortals table in the center of the room.

Lu Yan walked over and pointed heavily at the map.

“We’ve already reached a dead end through the legitimate channels.”

Lu Yan’s voice was low and composed, carrying an unquestionable authority.

“His Majesty has issued a death edict. The joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices is nothing more than a formality. Since that old bastard Wenxian Zhong dared to make his move in court, he absolutely won’t give Shen Jue any opportunity to overturn his conviction. The Tianji Pavilion is secretly fanning the flames as well. What they want is for Shen Jue to die.”

Su He Wan also walked to the table and looked at the map. Her voice was hoarse.

“So, there’s no way we can enter the Ministry of Justice prison guarded by the Imperial Guards through an imperial decree or the usual prison-visitation procedures.”

“Exactly.”

Lu Yan’s gaze suddenly darkened.

He swept his eyes over the three of them.

“If we can’t force our way in, then we’ll have to outsmart them.”

“We’ll… break into the prison and rescue him!”

The candlelight on the Eight Immortals table suddenly flickered, casting the faces of the few people in the room in alternating light and shadow.

As Lu Yan’s words fell, the room instantly descended into complete silence. The only sounds were their uneven, heavy breaths.

A prison break.

Under the laws of Great Wei, those two words were tantamount to rebellion—a grave crime punishable by the execution of an entire clan.

Su He Wan’s eyelashes trembled as countless historical examples of prison breaks flashed through her mind.

Those who had dared to forcibly seize and rescue heavily imprisoned criminals right under the Emperor’s nose had, nine times out of ten, ended up pierced by countless arrows.

What was more, Shen Jue was being held in the Ministry of Justice’s prison. It was guarded not only by patrol soldiers under the command of the Nine Gates Infantry Commander, but also by Imperial Guards who took turns keeping watch day and night.

The defenses there were so tight that breaking in would be no different from venturing into the lair of a dragon or tiger.

“We’ve already reached a dead end through legitimate channels.” Lu Yan pointed at the spot on the map that had been heavily circled in cinnabar. His voice was low and carried an unquestionable decisiveness.

“The Ministry of Justice prison is jointly guarded by the Three Judicial Offices and the Imperial Guards. During these days leading up to the execution, Wen Xianzhong will undoubtedly send his trusted men to guard it to the death. A frontal assault would be no different from throwing our lives away.”

“Then how do you plan to get him out through strategy?” Su Hewan forced herself to calm down.

“With the prison guarded so heavily, even sending a single grain of sand inside would require layers of inspection. Let alone bringing a living person out.”

Lu Yan’s gaze fell on Su Hewan’s face.

“Our only chance is the night before the execution. By then, everything will have been settled, and it will also be when everyone’s guard is at its weakest. I’ll use the excuse of delivering a ‘decapitation head’ and personally lead people inside. When the time comes… there must be someone left in the prison to take Shen Jue’s place.”

Take Shen Jue’s place?

Su Hewan’s heart skipped a beat.

Did that mean exchanging one life for another?

“I’ll do it!”

Before the words had even left his mouth, Zhao Zhou stepped forward without the slightest hesitation.

“My life was given to me by the Prince. Without the Commander, I would have frozen to death in the snow ten years ago. Now, it’s time for me to return this life to the Commander!”

Zhao Zhou took a deep breath and turned to Lu Yan, speaking urgently.

“Prince Jing, this subordinate and the Commander are similar in build. As long as I put on the Prince’s clothes, those jailers won’t be able to tell us apart in the dimly lit death prison. As long as I can deceive them for those few hours before the execution, once the Prince has safely left the city, I’ll have no regrets even if I die!”

“No!”

Su Hewan immediately rejected the idea.

“That’s the death prison! Once dawn comes, the Imperial Guards will verify the prisoner’s identity. When they discover that Shen Jue is gone, you’ll die! I cannot save Shen Jue at the cost of an innocent person’s life!”

Su Hewan’s eyes were red.

She had always advocated rationality, believing that in this ancient world, individual lives were nothing more than specks of dust drifting through the vast river of history.

But when these living, breathing people stood before her and faced death with the simplest and most fervent loyalty, her rationality collapsed in an instant.

Life was not a bargaining chip. One life could not simply be exchanged for another!

“Princess, I’m not afraid of death!” Zhao Zhou’s eyes brimmed with tears, his voice hoarse.

“As long as the Prince can live, Zhao Zhou is willing to die ten thousand times over!”

“Wanwan, calm down first and listen to me.” Lu Yan let out a sigh.

He gently explained, “This is only a temporary expedient.”

He turned and pointed toward a hidden waterway behind the Ministry of Justice prison on the map.

“Zhao Zhou only needs to hold out until dawn. Once dawn comes and the imperial court discovers that the prisoner has been switched, Wen Xianzhong’s first reaction definitely won’t be to execute Zhao Zhou immediately. Instead, he’ll seal off the city gates and send heavily armed troops to hunt us down.”

“By then, the capital will be thrown into chaos, and everyone will be mobilized to search the city. The prison’s internal defenses will be left weakened. The contact I’ve arranged inside the prison will take advantage of the chaos to open the iron grating of the hidden waterway. Zhao Zhou, you can then escape through the waterway and meet us at the agreed location outside the city.”

The moment Zhao Zhou heard this, a glimmer of hope immediately ignited in his eyes.

“Rest assured, Your Highness. This subordinate will definitely hold out until then!”

Su Hewan looked at Lu Yan, then at Zhao Zhou. Although she knew that this plan was a narrow escape from death, there was no denying that it was already the only and best solution they had at present that could protect everyone.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to regain her composure.

“Good. Let’s go over the details again. We absolutely cannot afford to make a single mistake.”

Su Hewan closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, her gaze was clear and resolute.

The plan was finalized, yet the atmosphere in the room did not become any lighter.

Because everyone knew that once the prison break succeeded, there would no longer be any place for them in Great Wei.

What awaited them would be an endless pursuit and a life of wandering from place to place as fugitives.

“Who knows what lies ahead of us…”

Su Hewan stared at the map before her. Suddenly, she seemed to think of something. Slowly, she turned her head, her expression complicated as her gaze fell upon Lu Yan and Yu Qing.

“Lu Yan, just now you said… ‘we’?”