Chapter 996: Just where is Gu Qishao? (1/2)

Who knew that the least of their worries would end up running into trouble?

Xu Donglin didn’t find Gu Qishao all day, nor did the man himself go to seek out Han Yunxi.

“Was he at the inn last night?” Long Feiye asked.

Xu Donglin was in a tough spot. “Your Highness, this subordinate...isn’t sure.”

Xu Donglin was only responsible for security around His Highness and the princess’s room, while the shadow guards in hiding were responsible for Baili Mingxiang’s safety. Nobody had bothered looking after Gu Qishao.

But neither did Gu Qishao need protection! Xu Donglin remembered how His Highness had instructed guards to look after Gu Qishao a long, long time ago. In truth, their jobs were purely to observe and guard against the man as needed, not ensure his safety. Xu Donglin also knew the secret of Gu Qishao’s undying body. Unlike Bai Yanqing and his weakness to Perplexing Butterfly Illusion, Gu Qishao was neigh undefeatable. If he wasn’t willing, who could do anything against him?

Of course, while Xu Donglin and Long Feiye knew Gu Qishao’s secret, Han Yunxi was completely ignorant! In her eyes, Gu Qishao had consummate poison skills and top martial arts, but he couldn’t be considered some formidable expert. At least, he wasn’t capable of defeating Long Feiye even before the latter strengthened up. Neither had he defeated Jun Yixie in a fight in the past.

Anxious, she cried, “He must have ran into some trouble last night! Hurry and search for him! All over the city!”

If he ran into trouble at the justice department building, it would have caused a ruckus. Gu Qishao was no fool, so he’d only make a commotion if he ran into someone he couldn’t defeat in order to attract their attention.

“Either he ran into trouble last night or this morning,” Long Feiye said mildly. “Xu Donglin, search with care.”

Without a single clue, they could only wait for the results of Xu Donglin’s search. Han Yunxi felt sick at heart over their bad luck this time around. She looked towards the roaring inferno and prayed that it’d leave some bones behind. Even a teeny bit would help.

The night drew on, but the fires didn’t die down. Han Yunxi’s group could only return to the inn. After dual cultivating some more, neither she nor Long Feiye went to bed, but stood on the balcony watching the fire and waiting for news of Gu Qishao. Nothing came for the latter, while the former finally abated a bit in the middle of the night. Only a few places were still smoldering. The sole purpose of the justice department was the storage of bodies for 1) those still waiting for burial, 2) those who were too poor to pay for a gravesite, and 3) unresolved murder cases. Each of these situations demanded a temporary storage space for the corpse(s) at the justice department. Thus, many families surrounded the building even in the middle of the night, crying or offering sacrifices to their ancestors to send on the bodies. Still others were waiting for the government to give them an explanation. Long Feiye had long sent people to find officials at the government office and get their stance.

Nothing remained of the building, nor was anything salvaged from its ruins. Actually, the government had given up on putting it out as early as this afternoon. Now they had a few guards stationed around the place to prevent the masses from charging in and causing chaos. The next day, the government would send more people to clean up the place and dig out any bones remaining in the ruins. This was the only source of comfort left to families of the victims.

Soon enough, Xu Donglin came back with a report. “Your Highness, everything’s ready. Once the bones are collected tomorrow, we’ll have a quarter of an hour.”

Cleaning and collecting bones was lowly work, so the government officials wouldn’t do it themselves. The officials had paid money to get the city’s Old Sixth Chai to do the work. He could be considered a chief labor contractor who found low-paid youths to help out. After discovering the news, Xu Donglin bribed the officials to insert two more members into Old Sixth Chai’s crew while swearing the old man to secrecy. Tomorrow, Long Feiye and Han Yunxi would only need to disguise themselves to join the cleanup crew and look around for bones in broad daylight.

With Han Yunxi’s skills, all she had to do was get within range of the ruins to scan it with her detox system. To ensure success, Xu Donglin even gave them 15 minutes to work alone under the excuse of investigating a case. Han Yunxi admired Xu Donglin’s efforts. He had gone so far in only a day and one night and covered all the bases.

“It’s a waste that you’re not spending your days at the yamen offices instead,” Han Yunxi declared.

“Hehe, princess you don’t know, but I’m actually--” Xu Donglin suddenly stopped.

“You what?” Han Yunxi asked.

“Actually, I’m really stupid. It’s only that I’ve learned a few trifling things after following His Highness,” Xu Donglin flattered.

Besides Han Yunxi, there was probably no one else in the world who could successfully flatter Long Feiye into smiling. He simply looked silently at the sea of flames. Han Yunxi wasn’t in the mood to probe, so she asked, “Is there still no news of Gu Qishao?”