AUBTN -Chapter 391 Successfully Leaving the City

Lu Yan sat at the front of the carriage, draped in a loose black rain cape with a wide bamboo hat pulled low over his face.

He let out a cold snort and calmly pulled a heavy bronze Jinyiwei insignia from inside his robes, flashing it before the captain.

His voice was cold and devoid of warmth.

“Open your damn eyes and take a good look. The Jinyiwei are handling a case. We have imperial orders to leave the capital and apprehend a wanted criminal. If you delay us and we miss our deadline, can you afford to take responsibility?”

The captain was startled.

Who had not heard of the Jinyiwei’s fearsome reputation?

Still, he stepped closer and examined the badge. It was indeed genuine.

The official travel document also bore an impeccable seal.

However, because of Shen Jue’s case, strict orders had been issued from above: tonight, everyone leaving the city had to undergo a thorough inspection.

The captain swallowed nervously and said somewhat awkwardly, “My lord, it’s not that I’m deliberately making things difficult for you. It’s just that we’ve received strict orders. The situation tonight is unusual, and every carriage leaving the city must have its curtains lifted for inspection.”

Inside the carriage.

Su He Wan’s fingers suddenly clenched.

Shen Jue was lying on the couch at that very moment, covered in wounds. Although he was dressed in Jinyiwei clothing, his face was far too recognizable. If the soldiers got a clear look at him, everyone in the carriage would die here tonight.

Suddenly, Yu Qing gave her a meaningful glance.

“Wanwan, leave it to me.” Yu Qing muttered in an extremely low voice.

The next second, before the captain outside could even reach for the curtain, an extremely shrill and heart-wrenching woman’s wail suddenly erupted from inside the carriage, tinged with a hint of madness!

“My son——! My poor son, you died such a horrible death——!!”

The voice was so piercing that the captain’s hand jerked violently just as he was about to lift the curtain.

“Waaaaah… Heavens above, why won’t you open your eyes and see our suffering?! Why did you have to send this terrible smallpox upon my poor boy?! He’s only three years old! His entire body is covered in rotting sores, and yellow pus is flowing all over the bed… Waaaaah…”

Yu Qing sobbed while desperately pounding on the carriage walls, her voice filled with boundless despair and hysteria.

Immediately, Su He Wan understood what she was doing and joined in with the act.

“Second Sister! Have you gone mad?! Shut up! Don’t let anyone hear you! Are you trying to get our entire family killed?!”

“The Jinyiwei officer was kind enough to make an exception and allow us to take the boy’s corpse out of the city tonight for burial. If you keep making such a racket and the soldiers see this carriage full of festering sores and pus-filled blood, what if they think an epidemic has broken out?! Then all of us will be burned alive!”

“An… an epidemic? Smallpox? Festering sores? Yellow pus?”

The captain’s face turned deathly pale the moment he heard the words coming from inside the carriage, especially when he heard the two words “smallpox.”

It was as though he had been struck by lightning.

In Great Wei, smallpox and epidemics were things even more terrifying than rebellion.

Once anyone became infected, the entire family could be wiped out, with their homes burned down as punishment through collective liability.

The captain instinctively staggered three steps backward, clamping both hands tightly over his mouth and nose.

“My lord… this, this carriage…”

He looked at Lu Yan, his voice trembling.

Lu Yan’s expression remained utterly unmoved. There was even a trace of disgust and icy indifference on his face as he said calmly,

“I am acting under orders to leave the city and pursue a wanted criminal. At the same time, I am escorting the family of a wealthy merchant afflicted with a severe disease out of the city for quarantine and burial. What is it, Captain? Would you like to go inside personally and inspect that smallpox-ridden corpse?”

“No, no, no! There’s no need! No need!”

The captain was so terrified that his soul nearly flew out of his body. How could he possibly dare lift the curtain now?

He practically wished he could get eight hundred zhang away from the carriage immediately.

“Quick! Open the city gates! Let them through! Hurry!”

Covering his mouth, the captain frantically waved at the gate guards, his voice shrill as a rooster that had just had its tail stepped on.

The heavy, imposing city gates slowly opened through the curtain of rain, revealing the vast, pitch-black world beyond.

“Thank you.”

Lu Yan spat out two cold words before viciously cracking his whip again.

“Hyah——!!”

The carriage transformed into a gray streak of lightning. Under the terrified and evasive gazes of the soldiers at the city gate, it plunged headlong into the boundless darkness and torrential rain beyond the city walls.

The city gates slowly closed behind them, and the already-dim lights gradually disappeared into the boundless darkness.

The carriage sped along the muddy official road. Its wheels rolled through puddles, splashing mud and water half a zhang into the air.

Inside the carriage.

Yu Qing collapsed onto the floor with a thud, panting heavily as she patted her chest.

“Oh my god… That scared me to death, scared me to death! My acting just now was absolutely good enough to win Best Actress of the Year! Hahahaha…”

Although she was laughing, her slightly trembling legs and the cold sweat beading at her temples still betrayed the fear lingering in her heart.

“Not bad.”

Lu Yan’s steady voice came from outside the carriage curtain. Though his voice remained as cold as ever, there was faintly a trace of tenderness and approval in it—even he himself had not noticed it.

Hearing that, Yu Qing’s heart turned sweet, and most of her lingering fear instantly vanished.

She shamelessly shifted herself closer and leaned against the carriage wall right beside the driver’s seat, as though doing so could give her enough of a sense of security.

On the other side of the carriage, however, Su Hewan had no time to pay attention to anything else.

She knelt beside Shen Jue, carefully wiping the rainwater and blood from his face bit by bit with a clean handkerchief.

Looking at Shen Jue, the hard wall of rationality she had always relied upon completely crumbled at this moment.

Su Hewan gently yet firmly clasped Shen Jue’s broad, scarred hand.

She wanted to use her own body heat to warm the soul that had wandered alone in the darkness for far too long.

“Shen Jue… You cannot die.”

She whispered the words in her heart. For the first time, a blazing and almost crazed light ignited within her eyes.

“If you die, I will turn this entire Great Wei dynasty upside down.”

Perhaps sensing that faint warmth coming from her palm, Shen Jue, who was unconscious, moved his fingers slightly. His brows instinctively furrowed, and an extremely soft, suppressed murmur escaped his lips.

“Wan… Wan…”

Su Hewan’s entire body trembled.

At last, she could no longer hold back her tears. They silently slipped down her cheeks and fell onto their intertwined fingers.

The storm raged beneath a darkened sky, and the road ahead was shrouded in uncertainty.

The carriage traveled for nearly an hour before finally slowing down at a fork in the road.

This was Shilipo, ten li outside the capital.

Beside the desolate ancient post road, the dense forest loomed through the torrential rain like a pack of enormous beasts lying in wait.

“Who goes there?”

Several agile black figures suddenly emerged from the forest, their gleaming blades flashing briefly through the darkness.

“It’s me.”

Lu Yan’s deep voice rang out.

Once they recognized the people in the carriage, the black-clad figures immediately brightened with delight and dropped to one knee in unison.

“Master!”

Immediately afterward, Chang Lin strode out of the forest. He wiped the rain from his face and anxiously asked, “Master, did you succeed? Did you rescue the Governor?”

“We did. He’s in the carriage.”

Lu Yan dismounted, his expression solemn.

“But Shen Jue suffered severe torture. Zhao Zhou stayed behind in his place. Chang Lin, the city could erupt into chaos at any moment. Once dawn comes, Wen Xianzhong and His Majesty will discover the switch. By then, pursuers will be sent after us.”

Chang Lin’s expression turned grim. He cupped his fists and said, “This subordinate understands! The brothers and the Eastern Depot’s death warriors have already left the city in separate groups. The supply points and secret channels for receiving us along the way have all been arranged. Please give your orders, Master!”

Lu Yan turned back and glanced at the carriage swaying faintly in the storm.

Inside, Su Hewan had boldly lifted the carriage curtain. Her calm, sharp gaze pierced through the curtain of rain and landed on the complicated map showing the defensive arrangements and escape routes.

“Don’t take the official road. Take the ancient Lingshan Post Road and head straight for the Grand Canal.”

Su Hewan’s cool voice sounded especially clear amid the rain.

Lu Yan nodded. He mounted his horse once more, gripping the hilt of the blade at his waist as his eyes blazed toward the dark, forbidding road ahead.

“Brothers, move out!”

With Lu Yan’s command, the carriage and the black-clad death warriors transformed into streaks of black lightning, swiftly disappearing into the deep ancient forest road of Shilipo.

That night, torrential rain poured from the heavens.