Chapter 672: The true plan to lure the snake out of its hole (2/2)

“It was the old lady locked up next door to Kong Xi. She said she heard the sound of hidden needles being shot into the air for a few nights. Then I went to inspect Kong Xi’s cell and found this.” Chu Xifeng revealed his fingers, which were wearing a harness used to shoot needles. It was one of the Tang Clan’s assassination weapons–not very strong, but easy to hide.

“What does that prove?” Aunt Ru grew bewildered. “This little thing comes from the needle grinding house, but plenty of Tang Clan disciples carry them around for fun. It’s not strange for Kong Xi to have it too.”

“Would Kong Xi be in the mood to play with this in his cell?” Chu Xifeng challenged back. Aunt Ru grew guarded as she stared at him in silence. Chu Xifeng’s smile became even more mysterious before he revealed a small, balled-up piece of paper. He placed it into the weapon before clicking a switch which shot the paper ball high up in the air.

Now Aunt Ru grew alarmed. Before she could ask for details, Chu Xifeng picked up the ball of paper and opened it up for her to see. There was a row of writing there from Jin Se to Kong Xi, telling him not to worry, and that she’d take good care of Grandmother Kong. Aunt Ru halted in her tracks as cold sweat broke out on her back!

“This hidden weapon was found in the jail cell, while the paper was hidden in one of the air vents. If my guess is right, Jin Se must have shot these papers at Kong Xi from outside his cell. Because she missed her mark, it got stuck on the window.” Chu Xifeng sighed. “Thank goodness that old woman was there. Otherwise, the slip might have remained undiscovered for a decade.”

Now Aunt Ru was restless. She wanted to keep calm, but that was impossible. Her mind grew blank except for a single thought: silence the witness! Before Chu Xifeng found Long Feiye and Tang Zijin to interrogate Jin Se, she’d have to kill the girl herself! Otherwise…

Kong Xi had been an exception, but Jin Se was an exception of an exception! The boy had actually been exchanging secret messages with Jin Se. Now that she’d written such words, it was obvious Kong Xi had told her the truth about everything!

No!

She wouldn’t allow another exception to occur again.

“It’s strange though. We rounded up the suspects on a pretext of assigning them special tasks. How did Jin Se know to find her way to the prisons?” Chu Xifeng mused. Aunt Ru realized the problem when he brought it up as well. But because Chu Xifeng had brought up his doubts, she didn’t suspect him of trickery. The piece of paper was already enough to make her panic, so she had no other thought beyond finding ways to delay Chu Xifeng and buy some time.

After walking a while further, she finally spoke up. “Chu Xifeng, go and pick up Grandmother Kong. We should let her know about this. Comfort her on the way so she doesn’t get too agitated.”

Cold laughter flickered past Chu Xifeng’s eyes before he rejected her offer. “I’m slow of speech and don’t know how to comfort others.”

Aunt Ru rolled her eyes at him. “Then I’ll go.”

“Then I’ll go find esteemed wangfei. As I see it, we’re about to crack this case! Once we ferret out that traitor, heheh…” Chu Xifeng’s expression grew vicious. It only gave Aunt Ru a chill. Fortunately, the man left first, or else she might have bolted right then and there. She exhaled and prepared to send someone to kill the girl, then changed her mind to go herself. No other person would be allowed to know a single detail of this matter again! She had to finish it on her own!

It was important to kill the girl first so the truth could die with her. It didn’t matter whether they suspected her after that. Without proof, Long Feiye and Han Yunxi wouldn’t be able to do anything even if the entire world found her suspicious. Aunt Ru found a detour and entered the prison ward from the back door. She was quite familiar with the cells and easily evaded all guards to arrive in the tiny room holding Jin Se captive. Three stone walls and a set of metal jail bars surrounded the girl on all sides. She was about Kong Xi’s age and currently curled up into a corner, crying softly to herself. She hadn’t even noticed Aunt Ru’s approach.

Aunt Ru’s patience was limited, so she said coldly, “Girl, come over here.”

Startled, Jin Se turned to see Aunt Ru with a face full of confusion before shrinking back into her corner.

“Get over here, do you hear me?!” Aunt Ru was about to lose it.

“Y…you, who are you?” Jin Se cried.

It would be simple enough to kill the girl with a single needle, but Aunt Ru was smart enough to know that she couldn’t use weapons that could leave a clue. She suppressed her own ire and panic to coax, “You’re Jin Se, right. Come here and I’ll tell you how Kong Xi died.”

“Kong Xi died?!” Jin Se exclaimed. She only knew that he’d been assigned a special task to create a secret assassination weapon and thus had to leave for a few days. She had been waiting for him this entire time, resisting the urge to run off and ask Grandmother Kong for details. The old woman had no idea about the relationship between her and Kong Xi, so she dared not take the risk. She could only wait in silence.

But last night, she’d suddenly been taken here. The scary guard had told her to keep talking no matter who came to visit her. Scared to death, she only wondered what kind of crimes she had committed. She never thought Kong Xi would be related to this, but…but the frightful woman had just told her that he…was dead!

Jin Se ran towards the cell door, too busy to worry about her fear. “What did you say? What did you say?!”

Aunt Ru was waiting for this very moment. Her movements were quick and vicious, one hand circling around her neck while the other muffled her lips. Jin Se was terrified and tried to break free, but it was useless. A sinister look rose in Aunt Ru’s eyes as she pressed Jin Se against the bars and squeezed her neck.

Jin Se’s eyes widened. She couldn’t breathe and was about to asphyxiate when a hidden dart came flying at Aunt Ru’s hand! Alarmed, the woman let go and sucked in a breath at the sight of the dart! She turned back and saw…