Volume 9 Chapter 42: Reasons and Plans that are Hard to Explain
Under the streams of water released by the wooden fire trucks that rushed over from the nearby streets, the fires around Chaste and Undefiled Inn were quickly suppressed, the fire not allowed to spread further.
However, this was clearly a man-made arson and it wasn't hard to find the perpetrators at all. The criminals all headed towards the city's east.
The reactions of the local officials weren't slow. Quickly appearing on these streets that became even more noisy and chaotic because of the fire, was a group of soldiers led by several Judicial Sector officials and a high ranking military officer.
On a vacant area near the eastern entrance that was normally used to carefully examine large amounts of goods, several hundred city gate guards already surrounded a few dozen individuals, more guards still hurrying over. At the same time, they were originally going to impose a two hour lockdown on the city gates to prevent anyone from entering and leaving.
The military officers from the barracks quickly arrived.
The calm and collected attitude of the dozens of people who were surrounded made the mail-plated middle-aged military officer at the very front of the army frown. A troop that dared create this type of fire out in the open, moreover stop here and remain this cool-headed meant that there were only two possibilities. The first was that they had terrifying strength that allowed them to completely disregard the city's guards, the second was that they had backgrounds that allowed them to remain free of worry.
The moment this middle-aged leader began to order the horse to slow down, preparing to stop outside the city guards' encirclement, he saw a youngster dressed in wide and spacious sleeved clothes concentrate his attention on him.
"Who is the one with the highest authority here?"
The youngster suddenly calmly asked.
"Who are you all?" The middle-aged high ranking military officer stopped, his brows furrowing even tighter.
The youngster didn't reply, only producing a command tile from his sleeves, throwing it to this middle-aged officer from the distance.
The officer accepted this rather heavy golden command tile. With a single glance at the extremely complex design and the layers of dragon patterns that not even the best craftsmen in Sparrow Lord City could reproduce, his expression suddenly changed.
He immediately thought of the situation to the west, roughly guessing this group's objective.
After a momentary sluggishness, he quickly got off the horse. Under the shocked gaze of many people, he waved his hand, having the encirclement widen. Then, he walked up to this youngster's face, giving these people a slight bow of respect.
Lin Xi also gave him a slight bow of respect.
"Do you need me to do anything?"
This middle-aged military officer returned the golden command tile to Lin Xi and then suppressed his voice, respectfully asking.
"We need to set up camp here, arrange for some people to help us stand guard, help us ensure that no one can enter within five hundred steps around us. Transfer the best archers from the army over. Apart from us, don't allow a single bird or beast in." Lin Xi didn't act overly polite. He looked at this middle-aged high ranking military officer and quietly said, "We are searching for an extremely important enemy in the city... from now until tomorrow afternoon, no one can enter or leave through the city, do not let anyone leave Sparrow Lord City."
The middle-aged high ranking military officer nodded without the slightest hesitation.
Even though he knew that locking down the city for a greater half of a day would bring pressure from countless great merchants, right now, he clearly understood who this was, what kind of struggle this was. He knew that even if the Provincial Supervisor was here, they would choose to follow the other party's requests.
"After the fire around Chaste and Undefiled Inn is put out, set up a police cordon, prohibit everyone from entering the flame site. Otherwise, those who enter have a high chance of dying." Lin Xi looked at this middle-aged officer, adding this.
The middle-aged military officer's expression trembled. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"
Lin Xi became quiet for a moment. He looked at An Keyi who was already slowly walking over, quietly saying again, "Impose martial law, prevent anyone in the city from heading to the city's highest point, and collect all Brass Hawkeyes for now. Arrange men in all different high points. If you find anyone who can investigate us, arrest them all without exception."
...
Because they fled from Chaste and Undefiled Inn in a hurry, unable to hide their traces, they could only bring out three carriages.
Lin Xi naturally treated the largest carriage as a place to discuss things.
"Just what exactly happened?"
Gao Yanan stared straight at Lin Xi, asking.
She knew that there was no way Lin Xi knew more than her, so she felt even more that this situation was extremely strange.
"To put it simply, there is an extremely formidable figure under Wenren Cangyue named Gongsun Quan. He is a great master at refining poison. Tonight was precisely the day when he wanted to severely harm our troops in Chaste and Undefiled Inn, not hesitating to kill everyone else inside the inn." Lin Xi looked at her face, concisely and comprehensively explaining, "We discovered the one who launched the attack, but that person has a high chance of being someone under Gongsun Quan, not Gongsun Quan himself."
"Kill everyone in such a huge inn?"
The expression of Gao Yanan who was originally a bit annoyed that Lin Xi hid some things from her immediately became a bit sluggish, her face becoming a bit more deathly pale.
Jiang Xiaoyi, Bian Linghan and Meng Bai also immediately froze up, their faces filled with shock and disbelief.
"How did you find out that Gongsun Quan was going to make a move?" An Keyi looked at Lin Xi as if she was looking at a scroll she couldn't understand no matter how long she stared at it.
"I don't want to tell any lies, but there are some things that even if I truly explain, you all will still feel that it is absurd." Lin Xi looked at An Keyi, Gao Yanan and the others, saying with a bitter smile, "That is why don't ask me why I know... I just do."
Jiang Xiaoyi and Bian Linghan exchanged a bitter smile, the two of them already witnessed many unexplainable things that happened to Lin Xi, which was why in their hearts, they both felt that he had a strange type of intuition.
Meng Bai stared blankly. Only, his entire body continuously released chills, feeling like Lin Xi was looking more and more like an unknown monster.
Gao Yanan thought about a certain conversation that took place between Lin Xi and herself in the academy, her brows furrowing, but didn't ask anything else.
An Keyi clearly became a bit sluggish. She seriously thought for a long time and then suddenly she seemed to have thought through a crucial issue. A hint of brilliance that had never appeared before flashed past her eyes.
"Why did you previously ask me how many people I can poison at once?" She didn't ask about that issue either, instead doing her best to control her emotions, looking at Lin Xi while asking.
"I thought of a way that might be able to draw out Gongsun Quan, this is on the premise that teacher has absolute confidence in me and carries out my orders. I need teacher to immediately poison many people." Lin Xi looked into the depths of An Keyi's eyes, at that trace of radiance hidden within An Keyi's black pupils. He knew that this outwardly bookish, but extremely intelligent female professor might have already associated some things from Principal Zhang with himself. Moreover, Vice Principal Xia always paid close attention to him, so she might have already guessed that he had 'Divine General' talent. However, An Keyi was someone both Vice Principal Xia and himself trusted, so he didn't feel worried, knowing that An Keyi would definitely instead do her best to hide his 'Divine General' status.
"Poisoning everyone in a region as large as Chaste and Undefiled Inn, teacher, can your respected self accomplish this?" Lin Xi then asked seriously.
An Keyi gave Lin Xi a look, suddenly recalling Lin Xi's performance in Green Luan Academy's fire. The very depths of her eyes immediately became a bit brighter, nodding in a manner that was clearly a bit too forceful. "I can."
"What are you preparing to do?" Gao Yanan looked at Lin Xi and said, "You should at least explain this plan a bit clearer, right?"
"I really can't explain it clearly."
Lin Xi looked at Gao Yanan extremely apologetically, saying, "However, I just feel like this Gongsun Quan won't be able to hold back and give us a look... The power of the arrow I released from Little Black yesterday was just too much greater than that of normal soul weapons, he might not be able to hold back the urge to look at Teacher An, or to come and see the archer who fired that arrow. Perhaps he doesn't want to just give up like this and wishes to attack again... maybe he is extremely unresigned, wishing to see just what kind of opponent it is that can foil his plans. Maybe he is unwilling to lose, unwilling to be looked down on by us, he might make another move to remind us that he is still alive... There are always weaknesses in human nature. Regardless of what reason it is, as long as he wishes to come and pay us a visit tomorrow, I have a chance of finding him."
...
Martial law was quickly imposed across the entire city.
Under the atmosphere that suddenly became nervous, all of the merchants and travelers who were only passing by spent a night in this uneasy situation.
When the sun rose, everyone in Sparrow Lord City discovered that all of the city gates were completely closed, passage still restricted.
Many caravans, because they hadn't made any preparations, were caught unprepared, so they immediately began to bustle about because they were about to suffer great losses. They wanted to use all methods possible to leave the city.
However, all of this activity was futile, even the great trading companies even the Provincial Supervisor normally had to give a bit of face to were tactfully refused, not a single man or horse allowed to leave the city.
This left everyone in Sparrow Lord City even more shocked, not knowing just what kind of great criminal was being tracked down.
Meanwhile, everyone in Sparrow Lord City also knew that a group of troops was stationed not far from the city's eastern gate, these troops also the ones rumored to have set fire to Chaste and Undefiled Inn. However, not only were those troops not arrested, they were instead protected. It was rumored that there were even banknotes issued to compensate for Chaste and Undefiled Inn's losses.
In that instant, everyone in Sparrow Lord City couldn't help but begin to guess at this troop's background.
Because they didn't know when they could leave the city again, most people who were in a hurry to leave the city wanted to immediately carry out an inspection and leave. That was why until midday, regardless of whether it was in the city or outside the city, there was a long queue that appeared, stretching out several li.
All of a sudden, a disturbance erupted in this long line.
It was because right at this time, part of this queue that was stopped in the city got too close to the city gate, so the men who guarded the 'arsonist' troops showed signs of pulling back.
Meanwhile, Lin Xi and An Keyi walked out precisely from that strange troop.
"Teacher, please take action, poison everyone within this city gate's line of sight!"
Lin Xi looked at this long queue that was bustling with activity, saying this by An Keyi's ears extremely confidently, using a voice only the two of them could hear to say this.
An Keyi turned around, looking at Lin Xi, "I can set the poison... but there is no way I will have enough antidote..."
"I know." Lin Xi looked at her, nodding seriously. "However, I still want teacher to trust me. Even though this seems extremely absurd... please do it teacher, as soon as possible. Do not let a single person in front of us seize an opportunity to escape."