Calamity Messenger

Chapter 121 - 98: Dilemma Resolved

Leaping through the Imperial Palace is actually much simpler than outside.

Outside, people would lift their heads and stay alive, curious to look around, but not those in the Imperial Palace. Whether eunuch or palace maid, the first thing learned upon entering the Palace is to bow their heads, compress their sense of presence to the extreme; it is only when you become just like furniture, seen but unnoticed by the nobility, that you are a qualified palace attendant.

Even if they hear the sound of tiles shifting on the roof, they will not immediately check, instead deliberately turning their heads slowly to look. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. If you don’t see it, it’s not your fault; if you don’t hear it, it’s not your affair; if you didn’t say it, it’s none of your business. These are the survival rules for most of the Imperial Family.

Like the Shangshu Room currently ablaze, everyone is vigorously fetching water to extinguish the flames, but no one dares propose entering to rescue the books and memorials inside. Firefighting is everyone’s duty, but rescuing books is not. Not to mention the dangers of entering the fire scene, what if the books contain things they shouldn’t see? Isn’t that a death wish? But if some important lone copy burns, wouldn’t the Emperor direct his anger towards these palace attendants?

Why take the risk yourself to resolve others’ aftermath?

Tormented by indecision, clinging to luck, stricken with panic, in the end, the palace attendants can only watch as the Ministry of Personnel is completely engulfed; their fate to be decided by the mood of the Emperor and Empress Dowager.

Benefitting from the distance to the Shangshu Room, most palace attendants have run over to fight the fire there, allowing Shang Xinlei to arrive at the bedding storage without alerting anyone. It is already early spring, thinner blankets have replaced the heavy ones, which have all been gathered up. Unless the storage room is inspected, no one opens it normally, hence no one would discover Shang Xinlei’s hidden kerosene barrels here.

Shang Xinlei takes out a fuse, uses her thumb to measure its length, counts out thirty-two thumb-lengths of fuse and ties it to the kerosene barrel, then fetches a small bottle, squeezes a drop of black oil onto her index finger, and lights it with a flint.

Whoosh!

After igniting the fuse, Shang Xinlei immediately presses her fingertip into the wall beside to extinguish it, taking it out to find her fingertip scorched black. Aside from her index finger, both her middle and ring fingers are also burned; even as the Second-Turn Messenger, she cannot heal so fast.

"Doesn’t it hurt?"

Shang Xinlei quickly turns her head, seeing a man dressed in black with a Yellow Dog mask standing at the doorway. The palace lamp casts his long shadow stretching to the end of the storage, reaching Shang Xinlei’s feet.

"I’ve tried burning my finger with flames; it was quite painful," Yan Qing says as he steps forward. "Actually, the Thief’s House has already unlocked our permissions; you could ignite the fuse directly without needing your fingers."

"Are you stupid?"

Seeing Yan Qing look at her with pitying eyes, Shang Xinlei flares up... just for a moment.

Because she realizes Yan Qing is right, she indeed could light the fuse directly. It’s just that tonight is only her second time as an unrestricted thief, so she instinctively followed her old methods, unlike Yan Qing, whose sensitive mind quickly adapts.

"I intend to ignite here to draw the palace attendants’ attention, then seize the chance to loot the Imperial Palace Secret Vault," Shang Xinlei rubs her fingers hard, trying to lessen the burn pain. "You came for the Secret Vault too, right?"

"Why are you explaining when I didn’t ask?" Yan Qing says calmly. "You remind me of a friend; he’s not good at debating, always taking time to organize his thoughts into words. Only when discussing topics he planned beforehand does he respond quickly... Of course, Red Snake, you are quick-witted and articulate, unlike him in that aspect. But your words just now sounded premeditated."

"You said to Black Wolf and White Fox earlier you were going to Wenyuan Pavilion, now tell me you’re heading to the Imperial Palace Secret Vault. Where are you really going?"

Shang Xinlei’s eyes narrow. "You could have gone to complete the mission with Black Wolf and White Fox; why choose to disturb me?"

"Because I suspect you’ll sabotage our tasks," Yan Qing responds nonchalantly. "Like calling in army troops to surround us, capturing all three of us, leaving only you to finish the mission—given Shang Xuanwen is your father."

"Sounds like something Black Wolf or White Fox would do," Shang Xinlei chuckles angrily. "If I really wanted to go against you, you think I’d leave Mouse Monk until now? You think changing a name and shaving a bald head would fool me?"

Indeed recognized, Yan Qing thinks.

But he feels the connection with Mouse Monk is irrelevant, the fault rests entirely on himself. When he mentioned in Thief’s House he had means to steal Shang Xuanwen’s Heaven-Swaying Sword, he knew Mouse Monk was likely to be identified by Shang Xinlei, regardless of lacking the numerical series in their name.

The reason is simple; Mouse Monk got close to Shang Xuanwen’s side on the very day the thief mission was issued! Coupled with his extraordinarily unparalleled combat talent and rescuing Shang Xuanwen from peril, he is practically a tall bald version of Jiang Shi!

Of course, normal folks wouldn’t suspect a stranger right away of being under Yellow Dog’s command. The issue is Yan Qing’s proactive claim of having planted an insider beside Shang Xuanwen. Shang Xinlei only needed one glance to spot the suspicious stranger monk by her father’s side.

Especially since this stranger monk had once tailed her, discussed Qian Gongyu’s circumstances with her.

Shang Xinlei’s patience until unveiling now already counts as commendable endurance on her part.