EBE Chapter 1309 Clues
Chapter 1309 Clues
an hour later
Southeast of Brahma, on the banks of the Varanasi River.
The rushing, turbid river water emitted a pungent, fishy stench, and the banks were piled with endless shacks haphazardly constructed from tattered tarpaulins, rotten wood, rusty iron sheets, and plastic sheets.
These are Shiva's tears!
Beneath the glamorous and prosperous surface of India lies its deepest and most stubborn wound. Narrow, muddy alleyways, littered with garbage and sewage, meander like a maze, the air thick with a nauseating stench of excrement, rotting matter, and cheap spices.
People in tattered clothes, with numb or wary eyes, struggle to survive. Children play in sewage, and stray dogs rummage through garbage heaps.
Xiao Ce and Hu Yidao have completely changed their appearance at this moment.
Both men were dressed in coarse cloth jackets so dirty that their original color was unrecognizable and tattered loincloths. Their faces and arms were smeared with mud and soot, their hair was messy and greasy, and their bare feet were covered in mud.
Xiao Ce's imposing demeanor was cleverly concealed, and at this moment he looked like a thin, silent, down-on-his-luck laborer who had suffered from long-term malnutrition.
Hu Yidao, meanwhile, hunched his back, trying to conceal his fierce demeanor, and looked more like a clumsy porter.
They were accompanied by four equally disguised, capable and reserved local Indian spies, all of whom were Hu Yidao's most skilled undercover agents and knew the area like the back of their hand.
A group of people pushed a creaking wooden cart piled with tattered junk, wading through the crowds in the slums, inconspicuous as they went.
Hu Yidao communicated in a low voice with the lead spy in the local dialect, moving quickly and stealthily through the maze-like alleys based on intelligence and sketches.
Xiao Ce lowered his eyelids slightly, seemingly following along numbly, but in reality, all his senses were heightened to the extreme, and his mental power was like invisible tentacles, carefully probing the surrounding environment and atmosphere.
He felt a profound despair, numbness, and the greed and malice lurking in the shadows. The environment here was indeed more suffocating than the Dragon Guardian Ghost City of yesteryear, filled with forgotten suffering.
The Dragon Guardian Ghost City is actually quite different from this place.
The people gathered there all wanted to survive, whether they were those who hadn't left because of their obsession, or those who had been brainwashed.
They all had a strong desire to live...
But the people here are different. Their eyes are more numb, empty...
"Your Highness, it's just behind that corner, the third row, the one closest to the riverbank that's the most dilapidated, the one covered with black tarpaulin."
The lead spy spoke to Hu Yidao in a very low voice, mixed with local dialect.
Hu Yidao nodded calmly and gave the others a look.
The target shack stood alone at the far end of a row of equally dilapidated shacks, right next to the stench-filled riverbank. It looked on the verge of collapse, with a tattered cloth curtain of indeterminate color hanging at the entrance.
Several people pushed a cart, pretending to look for a place to store goods, and slowly approached.
The two spies naturally spread out, blocking any possible escape routes from the sides and rear of the shack.
Hu Yidao and another secret agent approached the door, while Xiao Ce stood slightly behind.
Just as Hu Yidao was about to lift the curtain, a violent cough suddenly came from inside the shack, followed by a muffled thud of something heavy falling to the ground and suppressed groans of pain!
Hu Yidao's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and without further hesitation, he abruptly lifted the curtain!
A pungent medicinal smell and an indescribable, faint yet extremely unsettling chill wafted towards us!
The shack was dimly lit and cramped, with dirty straw mats on the floor.
A middle-aged Indian man, emaciated, sallow-faced, and dressed in a tattered shirt, was curled up on the ground, convulsing in agony, foaming at the corners of his mouth, his eyes unfocused. He was clearly in extreme pain, his life force flickering like a candle in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment. Scattered around him were some cheap herbs and broken bowls.
In the darkest corner of the shack, beneath a pile of rubbish, a corner of dark red cloth was conspicuously exposed! Beside it, a black monk's staff, neither gold nor wood, with a cold, crescent-shaped metal band at its top, leaned against the damp mud wall! Even in the dim light, the crescent-shaped metal band faintly shimmered with an eerie luster!
This is it! It matches Amir's description perfectly!
"Grab him! Control him! Watch out!" Hu Yidao shouted in a low voice!
Although this guy doesn't seem like someone capable of resisting.
However, Hu Yidao remained very cautious.
He and another agent pounced on the convulsing man on the ground like cheetahs, quickly pinning his hands behind his back and binding them with the prepared ropes. The man was powerless to resist, only emitting hoarse, bellowing sounds, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, as if his soul had already been ripped away.
The other two spies darted to the corner, cautiously checked the surroundings, and after confirming there were no traps, carefully took out the dark red kasaya and the strangely shaped black staff.
Xiao Ce's gaze immediately locked onto the monk's staff. He slowly stepped forward, ignoring the bound target, and reached out a finger to gently touch the crescent-shaped metal band.
hum!
There's nothing wrong with this staff; it's just an object with the same design as the staff used by Mr. Qianlong.
There's nothing wrong with these things.
"Your Highness?" Hu Yidao asked cautiously as he saw Xiao Ce conducting the examination.
"The items are correct and there are no problems. Take them with you, and... take the person with you too."
Xiao Ce withdrew his hand and gave the order in an icy tone.
His gaze fell once more on the Indian man lying on the ground, his eyes vacant, barely clinging to life. He was clearly just a pathetic puppet and sacrifice, being used and exploited.
"Yes!" Hu Yidao replied, signaling his men to carefully wrap the cassock and staff, and then ordered someone to lift up the dying man.
The group quickly left the shack, which reeked of death and conspiracy. Pushing their carts, they silently merged into the chaotic flow of people in the slum, just as they had entered, and hurriedly retreated towards the royal palace.
Behind them, the "Tears of Shiva" continued to flow silently amidst the murky river and stench, endless suffering. The people were so numb that they didn't even glance at them, as if the harrowing capture had never happened.
After they left, they did not linger outside.
Hu Yidao and his group, escorting the dying substitute and the crucial cassock and staff, moved like ghosts silently through the heavily guarded yet quiet palace gardens, returning to the side hall where Xiao Ce and Yin Pan'er were.
As soon as the palace door was pushed open, a slender yet anxious figure rushed over like a fledgling returning to its nest.
Yin Pan'er's voice trembled uncontrollably, and her gaze swept anxiously over Xiao Ce, as if trying to confirm whether he was unharmed.
"Your Highness, are you alright...?"
Seeing Yin Pan'er's nervous expression, Xiao Ce gave her a bright smile and said, "Of course I'm fine! Look at me, do I look like something's wrong?"
"Besides, you underestimate me..."
Yin Pan'er gave a bitter smile, then said, "Your Highness, although you are very powerful, and everyone praises you as a god, I know... you are ultimately human, and compared to those who are far beyond our comprehension... you are ultimately..."
Yin Pan'er didn't continue speaking. Her hand even subconsciously grabbed Xiao Ce's arm. Only when she felt the familiar, slightly chilly fabric and the firm body temperature coming from it did she breathe a sigh of relief.
Behind her, Little Mudskipper also nervously peeked out, his little hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes, clearly frightened by the agonizing wait and the tense atmosphere.
Xiao Ce gently placed his hand on Yin Pan'er's cold hand, his warm palm conveying a comforting power.
A calm yet reassuring smile appeared on his disguised face, still stained with the grime of the slums, his eyes as steady as a deep pool: "It's nothing, Pan'er, nothing at all. I just went with them for a bit... Actually, it didn't take much effort..."
His gaze swept over the emaciated man, who was being held up by two shrewd secret agents and was almost dragging on the ground, as well as the monk's staff tightly wrapped in dirty cloth and another bundle of cassocks in Hu Yidao's hands.
"We've caught the man and retrieved the goods. Now, it's time to hear his story."
Xiao Ce said to Hu Yidao.
Looking at the man on the ground, barely breathing and with unfocused eyes, Yin Pan'er asked with some confusion, "This person is...is...Mr. Qianlong?"
Xiao Ce gave a wry smile, then said, "It should be said that he was someone impersonating Mr. Qianlong..."
Yin Pan'er nodded, remaining silent...
Hu Yidao immediately ordered his men: "Wake him up, don't let him die!"
One of the agents quickly stepped forward and pinched the double's philtrum, while another brought a bowl of cold water and splashed it on the double's face without hesitation.
"Cough cough...uh..."
The man on the ground coughed violently, his body convulsing in pain, his sallow face flushed with a sickly redness from suffocation.
He opened his cloudy eyes in a daze, and when he saw the desolate surroundings and the completely different demeanor of Xiao Ce and Hu Yidao in front of him, his cloudy eyes were instantly filled with immense fear.
He tried to struggle, but he didn't even have the strength to move a finger; he could only make a weak, gurgling sound, like a broken bellows.
Xiao Ce walked to the chair next to him and sat down. He didn't ask any questions immediately, but calmly scrutinized him with his deep and sharp eyes.
An invisible pressure, like a cold tide, slowly spread, making the already terrified Stand tremble even more.
Hu Yidao stepped forward, his tall figure casting an oppressive shadow. He shouted in a harsh voice in his native Indian language, his voice like muffled thunder: "Speak! Who gave you permission to impersonate a monk and take that letter and staff to see the Commander-in-Chief?! Don't hide a single word!"
Terrified by Hu Yidao's murderous aura, the stand-in man was almost powerless to resist. He spoke haltingly, his voice weak and hoarse, "I...I don't know...I don't know who he is...a...an Indian...he...he found me...by the river..."
He gasped for breath, trying to recall: "He...he was wearing a straw hat...covering most of his face...I couldn't see his features...I only...I only remember his chin...it seemed...it seemed a little pointed...his voice...was very deep..."
"However, his Sanskrit isn't very fluent?!"
Hearing this, Xiao Ce couldn't help but interject, "Isn't it standard? Then why are you sure he's an Indian?"
The man said, "Because...because..."
Hu Yidao said sternly, "Don't try any tricks! I know you're not long for this world, but I can make you wish you were dead every single day of the rest of your life!..."
Clearly, Hu Yidao's voice, which sounded like it came from the depths of hell, frightened the man.
Moreover, this man is just an ordinary person facing certain death; how could he withstand such fright?
The man's expression immediately turned ugly.
"He paid me to say that..."
“He…he gave me money…” A glint of instinctive greed flashed in the man’s eyes, quickly overwhelmed by fear: “A lot of money…silver coins…shiny…he said…as long as I…wear this red dress he gave me…take…take this stick…go to the palace…and…take that letter wrapped in yellow cloth…to the most honored lady…and then…say nothing…just drop it down and leave…that…that’s all…”
He coughed violently, foaming at the corners of his mouth again: "I...I was so hungry...I'm...I'm dying...I need money...to buy medicine...to buy food...so I...agreed..."
"He told me that even if I got caught and anyone asked, I should just insist that I was from India..."
Xiao Ce listened quietly, his eyes slightly narrowed. It was clear that the person was not from India.
However... is it possible that the person behind this is deliberately saying the same thing to him? After all, this guy seems like he'd spill everything if you scared him.
If that's the case... then that person must be from India, and the broken Sanskrit was intentional, just to mislead others...
After thinking about this, Xiao Ce nodded with absolute certainty: "Yes! That must be it..."
Hu Yidao, oblivious to Xiao Ce standing to the side, continued to ask:
"My Lord General... what did she say to you after she saw the letter? What did she do?"
The stand-in man struggled to recall: "That...distinguished lady...she...she read the letter...her face...turned...very pale...her hands...her hands were trembling..."
He mimicked the scene, his eyes still showing the fear he had felt at Eva's reaction: "She...she suddenly stood up...and asked me...asked me...who sent me? Who...who gave me the letter? What...what did they look like?"