Volume 4: Holy Capital Tribulation Chapter 249 Startup
"Sir," Huo Anu analyzed to Xu Zun, "The curfew outside is so strict, and this group of men in black came so quickly. I guess they must have been lurking nearby for a long time, right? It's a pity that no one was left alive!"
"They..." Xu Zun just remembered something and asked hurriedly, "After they blocked the entrance to the cave, didn't they leave?"
"We didn't make it in time," Hou Zhen said quickly, "After Miss Huo and I escaped, we happened to meet the inner guards who came to support us on the road, so we fought back in time."
"Yes," Huo Anu said, "When we came back, they had already covered up most of the cave entrance. Seeing that there was not enough soil, they threw beams, stones and other debris down there. If we had come a little later, they would have probably run away!"
"Well," Xu Zun nodded, "I can't take care of so much for now. Leave this man to the internal security guards. The rest of you come out with me. This time I really have something important to tell you!"
"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.
Just as Ah Xiu was about to pull the traitor constable out, Xu Zun suddenly remembered something and immediately stopped him.
Then, Xu Zun took out a piece of paper full of marks from his arms and handed it to the man to look at.
"Take a good look at these marks. Do you recognize them?"
"This..." the detective replied, "Looks familiar. When I first joined them, I would make a mark at a fixed place whenever I found any information.
"After I'm done, someone will come to ask for advice, either a beggar or a vendor..."
oh……
Xu Zun immediately realized that this person used the mark when he first joined, and once he passed the probation period, a station could be set up directly near the Shenbu Division.
From this, it can be seen that the intelligence agency of Xuanmen is also very advanced and meticulous. No wonder it has been able to operate for such a long time under the noses of the Internal Guards and the Divine Police Department.
Next, Xu Zun asked him to draw out the previous marks, but found that they were completely different from those on his paper.
It seems that these marks are used for communication between the various departments of Xuanmen. Even if they can be deciphered, they cannot solve the urgent problem.
What Xu Zun is most worried about now is naturally the heavenly tribulation plan that is about to be launched!
A moment later, Xu Zun came outside with several core subordinates.
The temperature rose sharply and the sunlight was dazzling, which made Xu Zun, who had just come out from underground, feel uncomfortable. He then told everyone his speculation.
Everyone was shocked after hearing this, especially Huo Anu.
"I was wondering why I always felt like something was missing. Now that I think about it, those pills are really powerful! If the palace guards took them, the consequences would be disastrous!"
"Your Excellency doesn't know," Ah Xiuzi reminded him hastily, "Whether it's the Jinwu Guard or the Yulin Guard guarding the palace, they are not allowed to eat in the palace."
"Oh?" Xu Zun asked hurriedly, "Then where?"
"They all take turns on the guard duty system. They eat before entering the palace and then return to the barracks to eat after their shift is over."
"It's bad." After hearing this information, Xu Zun was even more shocked, "Isn't this even worse!?
"The pill takes about half an hour to take effect, so I can mix it with food and then have it take effect after entering the palace. Then... then there's no need to take the risk of transporting the pills into the palace?
"So, my previous thinking was wrong. It wasn't the imperial physician Xu Chi, and it might not be the transport envoy...
"Ah Xiu," he asked hurriedly, "do you know when the Jinwu Guards and Yulin Guards will change shifts?"
"It must be noon, I suppose! Oh, my goodness..."
This one sentence shocked everyone.
The large-scale assassination seven days ago also took place at noon.
"At this time..." Hou Zhen clapped his hands fiercely, "I'm afraid they have finished their meal and are preparing to go to the palace to change shifts?"
"Quick," Xu Zun ordered Ah Xiuzai, "Quickly notify all gates of the palace, don't let these people enter the palace!
"Even if I guessed wrong, at most it would be considered disrupting order and lying about military intelligence, but if I guessed right, it would be a huge crisis!"
"Yes, I understand, but..." Ah Xiuzi said in embarrassment, "One is that the palace is so big, I'm afraid we won't be able to notify all the city gates in time; the other is that the palace guards are extraordinary, we don't have enough authority, we have to report to Chief Steward Lin to stop them from changing shifts!"
"It doesn't matter," Xu Zun said, "Just do your best. If it doesn't work, just make trouble on purpose. As long as the palace gate is in chaos, at least those guards who are supposed to go off duty will not leave!"
"Oh..." Ash suddenly realized, "I see, I'll do it right away and have my men go to each city gate!"
"Li Xing," Xu Zun ordered, "Go inform Chief Steward Lin and Chief Minister Cai that this is extremely urgent. We must quickly support the palace!"
"yes!"
Li Xing and Ah Xiu immediately jumped on their horses and went their separate ways...
"Ani, Hou Zhen," Xu Zun instructed the two again, "Go and do something more important for me. Carve these marks in conspicuous places around the palace..."
As he said this, he handed the piece of paper covered with Xuanmen symbols to the two of them.
"This..." Ani was puzzled. "Sir, have you figured out the meaning of these symbols?"
"I don't understand," Xu Zun said frankly, "but if the heavenly tribulation is really about to start, I just hope these marks can disturb them!"
"Oh... I understand!" Annie nodded, and immediately followed Hou Zhen's orders.
In fact, the reason why Xu Zun asked Hou Zhen to accompany Annie was not because he did not trust Annie, but because Annie was such a beautiful woman, and if she was not accompanied by the inner guards, it might cause unnecessary trouble.
Besides, Hou Zhen could also order other guards to help, which would achieve twice the result with half the effort.
After everyone left, Xu Zun and Huo Anu jumped on their horses and headed straight for the Inner Guard Palace.
"Sir, sir..." Huo Anu asked on horseback, "Should we go to the palace to take a look at this time?"
"No!" Xu Zun said decisively, "The entire heavenly tribulation event planned by Xuanmen is an extremely large chess game. I must understand every step they take before I can stop them! Go..."
As he spoke, Xu Zun whipped his horse faster, speeding up, and Huo Anu immediately whipped his whip to keep up...
…
At the same time, in the dark underground, Zhao Yu and several detectives from the Divine Detective Department were crawling in an extremely narrow passage.
This seems to be an ancient sewer. The stone bricks on both sides are old and black, showing the age of the past.
As the passage was too narrow, Zhao Yu and the others could not use torches and could only rely on the dim light from the flint to illuminate the way.
In this way, after crawling for an incense stick of time, they finally crawled out of the passage and came to a more spacious space.
Even though it was only the time of a stick of incense, to these people, it seemed like a lifetime ago and they all thought they would never get out again.
After the torches were lit, many collapsed heads of statues appeared before their eyes. Each head was larger than a human, and had hideous and extremely terrifying faces.
Wow...
Several detectives were terrified and thought they had reached the underworld.
At this moment, only Zhao Yu did not show any fear, but instead had a serious expression.
After he lit the torch, he observed the statues for a while, and then decisively signaled the detectives to follow him.
It turned out that after a long period of searching underground, the shrewd Zhao Yu had discovered the way.
Whenever he came to a fork in the road, he would see a kind of damp, black moss.
However, when he touched the moss, he found that it was not real moss, but made of some kind of hemp rope. It was made so realistically that you couldn't tell it at all if you didn't look carefully.
In an instant, Zhao Yu understood everything!
Xu Zun had said before that even if Xuanmen had mastered Cao Ding’s canal map, it would be impossible to find the correct path.
They also need to keep exploring and trying.
Since we are groping and trying, it is impossible not to leave marks for use in next search.
However, once a mark is left, the probability of being discovered will increase dramatically.
Therefore, they had to come up with a signpost that could be recognized by their own people but not discovered by outsiders.
But... Zhao Yu was so smart that even though he had discovered the secret and was extremely excited, he didn't show it at all.
Because he also knew that the people of Xuanmen were very secretive, and he could not guarantee that the few detectives following him were safe.
"Sir, Mr. Zhao..." At this time, a constable couldn't help asking, "We have walked so far. Although we left marks along the way, there are so many forks in the road, it is hard to guarantee that we will remember them wrong!
"Look, should we go back and report to Lord Xu first?"
“Shh…”
Unexpectedly, after Zhao Yu signaled them to be quiet, he suddenly drew the sword from his back!
ah?
The detectives were shocked and shut up, going on alert.
At this moment, Zhao Yu had come to a corner and saw an extremely huge disc in front of him, which seemed to be the base of the statue.
As I walked around the base, I saw something surprising appear before my eyes...
"Ah?" Everyone widened their eyes, took a deep breath, and felt that something was wrong.
But there were all kinds of clothes scattered on the ground, both men's and women's. It was obvious that a large group of people had changed clothes here before.
Moreover, among the clothes, there was even armor that only the palace guards could wear...
…