Chapter 444= Internal Strife
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Su Ying pulled off the hairpin on her head and dashed over, hitting squarely the hand that was holding the sword.
“Argh!”
The other party’s palm was pierced right through by the hairpin. He turned his head and his eyes widened when he saw Su Ying. He turned around and tried to escape through the window, but with a flash, Su Ying’s body darted forward and she quickly grabbed his leg and yanked his whole body back!
“Argh!”
The man gave a muffled grunt as he crashed heavily to the ground. He tried to get up, but Su Ying stomped on his back and turned to look at Zhou Qing. “You guys are in cahoots?”
Zhou Qing looked at the man on the ground, then at Su Ying, and didn’t reply
for a while.
Su Ying pulled the man up by his lapels and dragged him into another room.
Countless thoughts flashed through the man’s mind as he looked at Su Ying. It was as if he was weighing something.
“Who are you?” Su Ying asked bluntly.
“And who are you?” the man asked in return.
Su Ying scrutinized him from head to toe. “Are you with them?”
The man didn’t say anything, so Su Ying simply proceeded to tie him up before returning to Zhou Qing’s room.
Upon seeing Su Ying return, Zhou Qing’s entire body tensed up.
Su Ying pulled a stool over to the table in front of her. There seemed to be a hint of sympathy in her eyes. “Who would have known that before the people of the Jin State came to arrest you, you guys already have your own internal
strife.”
Zhou Qing stared at Su Ying in astonishment, amazed by her sharp perception.
“What did that person say to you guys after he came?”
Zhou Qing pursed her lips and didn’t answer.
“Did he ask you for the military defense formation map or did he just try to kill
you without saying anything?”
Zhou Qing still refused to say anything.
Su Ying wasn’t in a hurry, and only said faintly, “What I can tell you with certainty is that the military defense formation map is in my hands now.”
Zhou Qing gritted her teeth. “I knew you were the one who took it. Who exactly are you?”
Su Ying frowned slightly and replied, “Someone who came to the Jin State to look for the Chu State’s Empress.”
A trace of shock flashed across Zhou Qing’s eyes. “What? You are from the Chu State?”
Su Ying nodded and took out a token with a dragon motif. “You should be familiar with this token.”
Zhou Qing looked at the token and was even more shocked. She was naturally familiar with it. This was a secret token unique to the members of the Chu State’s Imperial Family. Ordinary people could not simply come into contact with it readily.
“Are you really sent by the Emperor to look for the Empress?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Then what about the Empress? Have you found the Empress?”
Su Ying said faintly, “You shouldn’t be asking about this.”
Zhou Qing was skeptical. Even though Su Ying had the token, she felt that Su
Ying wasn’t completely trustworthy.
Su Ying knew that Zhou Qing wouldn’t trust her easily, but this would at least make her lower her guard.
“That person just now wanted to kill you guys.
Zhou Qing frowned and struggled inwardly for a while before saying, “He knows that the military defense formation map has disappeared and said that we didn’t do our job well. So he wanted to execute us on the spot.”
Now that Su Ying had revealed her identity, Zhou ding still didn’t completely believe her. Instead, she revealed this much to test her as she wanted to know what Su Ying would do next.
Su Ying recalled that back then, when she had gone out to battle and her comrades had been captured by the enemy, the first thing they did when they found them was to rescue them and not silence them.
A normal person wouldn’t attack his comrades for no reason.
After receiving this information, Su Ying returned to the other room.
When the man heard Su Ying enter, he looked at her warily.
“I’ll ask you three questions. If you answer truthfully, I’ll let you go.
“I won’t say anything. You don’t have to waste your time!” the man said stubbornly.
Su Ying gave a sneer. “It’s not up to you.”
Su Ying took out a silver needle from her body and came up to the man. The man looked at the silver needle glinting in the light and his body shuddered slightly, but he still stubbornly held on.
Su Ying went around to his back and stabbed the silver needle into his neck.
The man’s body instantly stiffened. Then, a strange feeling swept through his entire body. His vision gradually blurred, and his eyes became covered with blood-red veins.
“Spare… spare my… life…” The man almost couldn’t say anything. It was as if someone had blown air into his body. Even his brain felt so swollen that his entire body tensed up.
Anyone who could become a spy had experienced all kinds of torture. However, this kind of torture that seemed completely painless, but could make one s soul leave one’s body, almost took his life.
“Speak. Who are you working for!”
The man’s expression was ferocious, and the veins on his forehead and neck were bulging out. “Chu State’s… ruler. I… I’m from the Chu State… Argh!
Before the man could finish his sentence, the swelling on his body became even more intense. The blood vessels on his body felt as if they would burst at any moment.
“I’ll give you one last chance to tell the truth. Who exactly are you working for?” The man’s expression became more and more ferocious. “Spare… spare my life…
I… I… Ugh!” Before he could finish his sentence, he spat out a mouthful of black blood, and his head lolled to the side before he stopped breathing.
Su Ying reached out and pulled out the silver needle. She pulled his mouth open and saw that his mouth was full of black blood. He died of poisoning.
Su Ying’s face clouded over.
She got up and walked out of the room to untie Zhou Qing and her comrade.
“Do you guys hide poison on your bodies that you can use to kill yourself at any time?”
Zhou Qing shook her head. “No, we’re not death warriors. We don’t hide poison on our bodies.”
“But that earlier person died of poisoning during my interrogation.
Zhou Qing felt downright bewildered. She walked into the room next door and saw the man who was no longer breathing.
She went up to check and confirmed that Su Ying hadn’t lied to her. This person really died of poisoning.
“What position does this person hold among you guys? What is he usually responsible for?”
Zhou Qing’s expression was a little unsightly as she answered, “He’s our deputy manager.” He was the second-in-command in charge of espionage activities in the Jin State. All the news they sent back to the Chu State had to go through this guy, except for the message that she was forced to send back by Su Ying yesterday.
If the second-in-command harbored ill intentions, it would definitely be a catastrophic disaster for them.
If he had defected to the Jin State, then all their deployments in the Jin State would be revoked. This was the worst-case scenario.
The other possibility was that he was bribed by someone in the Chu State who had the intention of rebelling. By making use of the spies in the Jin State, he sent the information that had been uncovered back to the other party for their use in case of emergency.
“In this world, as long as one has committed something, there will definitely be traces left behind. Now, I’m not sure if there’s anything wrong with your manager. Since this guy is your deputy manager, you should know what he usually does and where he stays, right?”
Zhou Qing nodded. She was the assistant to the deputy manager previously. Although she didn’t know everything, she still knew some things. “I know a little.”
“Then you should start from the places you know and see if there are any suspicious areas.”
“Yes, I’ll go check now.”
Just as Zhou Qing was about to turn around and leave, she realized that something was wrong. She turned around and stared at Su Ying in astonishment. Why did this order come out of Su Ying’s mouth so naturally?
More importantly, why was she obeying Su Ying instinctively?
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