Long Sen had just arrived on horseback with the Shadow Guards. Upon hearing Xiao Lou's words, he hurriedly turned around and went outside to fetch two fast horses.
Xiao Lou gave Yu Hanjiang painkillers, but the painkillers could only relieve mild pain. The wound on Yu Hanjiang's back was deep enough to expose the bone, and the scar was 40 centimeters long, almost running across his entire back. Xiao Lou knew that the medicine would be useless, and the cold sweat constantly seeping from Yu Hanjiang's forehead showed that he was enduring extremely intense pain.
Xiao Lou tenderly picked up a white cloth and wiped the sweat from his forehead, asking softly, "Does it hurt a lot? Can you bear it?"
Yu Hanjiang took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "It's okay, let's go."
His wound had become infected, and he had difficulty even standing. Xiao Lou quickly reached out to support him.
Captain Yu is currently seriously injured. If they are attacked at this time and a large number of cards are banned, wouldn't they be forced to surrender?
Thinking of this, Xiao Lou suddenly had an idea.
In the ancient world, many electrical appliances and modern cards are banned, but there are still a few cards in his card holder that can be used. For example, [ Li Qingzhao ]'s second skill "Who Sends a Brocade Letter from the Clouds" is a carrier pigeon that can deliver a letter or transport items to a designated teammate.
People in ancient times also used carrier pigeons to deliver messages, so this card would have been perfectly appropriate to use in ancient times, which is probably why it wasn't banned.
Xiao Lou immediately summoned [ Li Qingzhao ], picked up a piece of paper from the table, and wrote a line with a brush: " Old Han has been attacked. Gather everyone to meet at Herbal Hut in the north of Jiangzhou City. By Yunxiao."
In addition, he also tied the [ Qin Guan ] card to the pigeon.
He released the pigeons out the window, targeting Shao Qingge.
Li Qingzhao's carrier pigeon has a unique feature: once a target is locked, the pigeon can deliver the message regardless of where the target is, without being intercepted along the way. Moreover, it will provide a "message delivered" notification, waking up even if the recipient is sleeping.
He messaged CEO Shao, since CEO Shao could go to Tianxiang Tower to find Ye Qi and also knew Lao Mo's address, so he asked Shao Qingge to call the two people over, so that they could at least help if they encountered danger.
The Shadow Guards led by Long Sen could be used if necessary, but Xiao Lou wasn't entirely comfortable with them being masked. He worried about the possibility of a spy among them, and felt it was more reliable to rely on his own people. Besides, the team needed to meet and analyze the clues in detail before the case occurred.
After arranging everything, Xiao Lou helped Yu Hanjiang out of the courtyard.
Long Sen had already prepared a fast horse, and the two of them helped Yu Hanjiang onto it. To prevent him from falling off, Xiao Lou followed closely behind, mounting the horse and sitting behind Yu Hanjiang. He wrapped his arm around Yu Hanjiang's waist, gently holding him in his arms, and then took the reins.
It was Xiao Lou's first time riding a horse, but his physical memory in this world allowed him to quickly adapt to horseback riding.
He tightened the reins and gave a soft shout: "Giddy up!"
Upon hearing the command, the black steed immediately took off galloping.
On the streets late at night, the clear "clatter" of horses' hooves echoed as they trod the cobblestones.
Xiao Lou and Long Sen rode their horses at top speed towards the outskirts of Jiangzhou City.
Yu Hanjiang was in a daze, only finding Xiao Lou's refreshing scent exceptionally pleasant. Leaning against Xiao Lou, he closed his eyes with peace of mind—he believed that Xiao Lou could definitely help him out of this predicament. He had never trusted anyone so much before.
The excruciating pain and high fever made Yu Hanjiang's consciousness increasingly blurred, and he soon fainted. Xiao Lou noticed that Yu Hanjiang had fallen into a coma, his expression changed, and he immediately urged the horse beneath him to speed up.
The two horses galloped like lightning, leaving Jiangzhou City in the blink of an eye, and headed towards the valley along the winding path outside the city.
Xiao Lou found Herbal Hut based on his memory.
It was already past midnight, and the entire Herbal Hut was very quiet. The few thatched huts were pitch black, clearly indicating that the owners were already asleep.
Xiao Lou helped Yu Hanjiang off his horse and then asked Long Sen to knock on the door.
Long Sen was frantic, almost pounding on the wooden door: "Xiao Liu, Xiao Liu, are you there?! Open the door!"
The man's anxious voice echoed through the valley, startling the birds in the trees.
Candlelight quickly filled the room, and a moment later, a young woman in a dark green long robe opened the door, her face cold—it was indeed Liu Qiao. Upon seeing Long Sen, she widened her eyes in surprise: "Brother Long? What's going on?"
Immediately afterward, Xiao Lou, dressed in women's clothing, helped Yu Hanjiang walk over.
Liu Qiao wasn't surprised that Xiao Lou was dressed as a woman. In the storyline, she was the medicine boy adopted by Xiao Lou's mother. She knew everything about Yu Hanjiang's pursuit of Xiao Lou, and she even attended their wedding.
Her dreams over the past two days have reminded her of everything from the past.
Upon seeing Xiao Lou in women's clothing, she was the only teammate who didn't drop her jaw. Instead, she calmly said, "Come in quickly."
Everyone helped Yu Hanjiang into the house. Liu Qiao closed the door behind him and asked softly, "Lord Yu, are you injured?"
Xiao Lou helped Yu Hanjiang to the bedside and let him lean against the headboard. Looking at Liu Qiao, he calmly said, "He's not only injured, but also poisoned. Someone came to assassinate the prefect just now. The sword was coated with poison. The assassin said he was poisoned with Soul-Severing Powder. Have you heard of this poison?"
"Soul-Severing Powder?" Liu Qiao immediately walked over and said, "Let me see the wound."
Xiao Lou made Yu Hanjiang lie face down on the bed, lifted his clothes, and unwrapped the white bandage—revealing a 40-centimeter-long wound on Yu Hanjiang's back that had begun to fester.
It became infected and large areas of the surrounding skin turned bluish-black from poisoning.
As a forensic doctor, Xiao Lou had seen countless horrific wounds, but seeing these scars on Yu Hanjiang's body caused his heart to clench with pain. He clenched his fists gently, trying his best to remain calm.
Long Sen cursed under his breath, "Damn, this poison is terrifying! Little Liu, can you cure it?"
Liu Qiao took out a medical book from his pocket: "The book my master left me does mention the Soul-Severing Powder. I can make the antidote."
Xiao Lou asked, "Do you have all the medicinal herbs here? If you're missing anything, I'll go buy it."
Liu Qiao said, "Don't worry, Herbal Hut has a full range of rare medicinal herbs. Wait a moment, I'll go and prepare the medicine."
She turned and went to the pharmacy next door, picked up a scale, and quickly dispensed the medicine according to the instructions in the book.
She could now identify all those miscellaneous medicinal herbs. Clearly, Liu Qiao hadn't been idle these past two days. After accepting the role of "medicine apprentice," she immediately studied the book her master had left her and memorized the names and locations of all the medicinal herbs in the prescriptions.
Xiao Lou finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "Thank goodness Xiao Liu didn't let me down at the crucial moment." This girl is also a student of Traditional Chinese Medicine in real life; she's smart, quick-witted, and calm under pressure. Adding her to Spade 4 was definitely the right decision.
Liu Qiao quickly prepared the medicine according to the prescription and simmered it over a low flame in a medicine pot for a while. She poured out the dregs, let the soup cool, and brought it over in a large bowl, saying, "This is for external application; it needs to be applied evenly to the wound. There's also medicine for internal use; I'll go and prepare that later."
Xiao Lou nodded: "Okay, leave it to me."
He took the medicine bowl from Liu Qiao, picked up a clean brush, gently dipped it in the medicine, and carefully applied it to the wound on Yu Hanjiang's back... Wound disinfection is a basic skill for medical students, but Xiao Lou found that his hands were trembling uncontrollably. The wound was too terrible, with the skin and flesh turned outwards, and the ribs were almost visible.
Xiao Lou took a deep breath, steadied her fingers, and carefully applied the medicine to Yu Hanjiang.
Long Sen, unable to help, could only stand by and watch. He noticed that Professor Xiao had a layer of cold sweat on his forehead and an extremely serious expression.
The person, who was usually gentle and cheerful, was now pale and looked as if he were about to kill someone.
Long Sen didn't dare to disturb him, so he simply turned around to look at Liu Qiao.
A moment later, Liu Qiao finished preparing the internal medicine. Xiao Lou carefully applied the medicine to the entire wound and crushed the pills that Liu Qiao had brought to feed Yu Hanjiang.
Yu Hanjiang remained unresponsive, and Xiao Lou asked worriedly, "When will he wake up?"
Liu Qiao said, "It should be ready in about an hour."
Xiao Lou nodded, her eyes filled with heartache as she looked at Yu Hanjiang: "I'll stay here and watch over him."
Liu Qiao and Long Sen exchanged a glance, neither daring to say a word.
Just then, the sound of an arrow whistling through the air rang out outside. An arrow pierced through the window frame and struck a pillar inside the room. Xiao Lou's expression changed: "It must be an assassin coming for us."
Not long after the first arrow was fired, countless arrows rained down on Herbal Hut, completely surrounding it!
A hail of arrows rained down into the room. Liu Qiao, quick-witted and agile, pulled a screen over to shield everyone: "Watch out!"
With a few swift swishes, several poisoned arrows struck the screen.
Xiao Lou clenched her fists nervously.
Yu Hanjiang lay on the bed, the strongest member of their team was unconscious. If they could not survive this assassination, how would they face the even more difficult Spade survival chamber?
If force is limited, then we can only outsmart them.
Xiao Lou quickly calmed down and tried to communicate with Shao Qingge using Telepathic Connection: " CEO Shao, can you hear me?"
A familiar voice echoed in his mind: "Okay, I received your message by carrier pigeon. Xiao Ye and Lao Mo are on their way to Herbal Hut. What happened?"
Xiao Lou explained simply, " Captain Yu was poisoned, so we asked Liu Qiao for help to detoxify him, but then a group of assassins came knocking on our door."
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Shao Qingge immediately said, "Xiao Ye's teleportation card still works. The three of us traveled quickly and have already reached the valley you mentioned. I saw many men in black shooting arrows at the thatched hut... You wouldn't happen to be inside, would you?!"
Xiao Lou smiled wryly: "That's right, we're surrounded."
Shao Qingge was silent for a moment: "What should we do? Lao Mo and Ye Qi's control cards have both been disabled."
Xiao Lou pondered for a moment—currently, movement-type cards are usable, including Long Sen's Long Jump Master, Ye Qi's Teleportation card, and Liu Qiao's Light as a Swallow. Invisibility Cloak and Chameleon are also usable, but invisibility and color change only alter the visual effect, not disappear into thin air. Outside, there's a dense rain of arrows; even if you go invisible, you could still be riddled with arrows.
His gaze swept over the medicine jar on the ground, pierced by an arrow, and suddenly his eyes lit up: "Use poison."
Liu Qiao realized, "That's right. I have a lot of highly poisonous powder here. As long as I can get out, I can take care of them."
"We'll coordinate from the inside and the outside." Xiao Lou said to Shao Qingge via Telepathic Connection: "Have Xiao Ye and Lao Mo carry the planks and have the teleportation card fly over to attract their attention. On our side, we need to have Liu Qiao go out from the rain of arrows and poison those people."
Shao Qingge relayed Xiao Lou's instructions to Lao Mo, and Mo Xuemin exclaimed, "My plank is 5 meters long and 2 meters wide. The three of us can carry the plank while walking, and we can use it as a'shield'... Professor Xiao's idea is brilliant!"
Ye Qi said, " Didn't CEO Shao copy a teleportation card? The three of us can use it separately, together..."
The operation is difficult to carry out.
Shao Qingge nodded: "Old Mo will use the teleportation card to pick up Liu Qiao, and the two of us will provide cover."
He simultaneously relayed this information to Xiao Lou, who confirmed: "Three seconds to go, move out!"
Everyone silently counted to three in their minds at the same time.
Those men in black were probably wary of traps inside the thatched hut, so they didn't dare to go in and just kept firing arrows from the outside.
Arrows rained down from all directions, turning the thatched hut into a pincushion.
The men in black even started a fire, trying to burn the thatched hut to ashes.
Left with no other choice, Xiao Lou and the other three people inside the room flipped the bed over and hid under it.
Just then, Ye Qi and Shao Qingge suddenly carried a wooden plank the size of a wall and teleported through the crowd!
The men in black who were shooting arrows were stunned.
To them, the wooden plank floated and moved with lightning speed, as if it were being carried by an unseen ghost.
Scarface, the leader, frowned: "Set it on fire!"
Ye Qi quickly moved the wooden planks to the doorway to block the rain of arrows. Although Lao Mo's solid wood floor was very wide, the enemy had actually lit fire on the tips of the arrows. Seeing that the planks were about to catch fire, Ye Qi was terrified and hurriedly shouted into the house, "I'll cover you, come out quickly!"
The next moment, Ye Qi felt a gust of wind pass by his ear, leaving a faint medicinal fragrance.
It's the effect of Invisibility Cloak.
Wearing an invisibility cloak, Liu Qiao used his Lightness Skill Card to glide through the treetops and circle behind the people—
She nimbly leaped from treetop to treetop, rapidly spraying poison with her hands. A vast expanse of green poisonous mist quickly spread around them, and in the blink of an eye, the group of people dropped their weapons, unconscious from the poison within minutes!
Liu Qiao counted them; there were twenty people. She flew back into the house and said to Xiao Lou, "They're all unconscious. They don't look like they've come to seek revenge. I remember my master saying that your father's enemies were masters of poison?"
Xiao Lou nodded: "They're probably after Captain Yu; a group of people want to assassinate him."
Ye Qi's face turned deathly pale with fright. He couldn't help but complain, "Damn it, is this a heart room or a Spade Secret Room? Can't we even solve a case properly?! They made me pretend to be a top courtesan, and then sent a bunch of assassins to kill us???"
Liu Qiao and Long Sen both turned to look at him: "And who is this?"
Ye Qi's eyes widened: "Me!"
Shao Qingge chuckled and said, "She's Miss Ye from our Tianxiang Tower."
Liu Qiao: "..."
Long Sen: "..."
He was dressed in a pale yellow gauze dress, looking very ladylike. The lighting was so dim that the two of them almost didn't recognize him.
Although both were dressed as women, Professor Xiao, in her moon-white robe, was elegant and gentle, making her somewhat more acceptable. Ye Qi, however, with his flamboyant courtesan style, was truly an eyesore. Everyone looked at him with pity, and Ye Qi angrily retorted, "What are you looking at? What's wrong with wearing women's clothes? I didn't want to either!"
Liu Qiao replied indifferently, "Oh."
Long Sen suppressed a laugh and turned his head away: "Ahem, the house is about to burn down, let's hurry and get Professor Xiao and Captain Yu out."
The thatched hut was on fire, the raging flames illuminating the dark night, and the interior was filled with smoke.
Xiao Lou covered his mouth and nose, and with the help of his teammates, helped Yu Hanjiang out. The thatched hut behind them collapsed with a crash. Seeing that no one was injured, Xiao Lou breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The house is burned down. Let's go to the cave over there and have a good talk about the next plan."
****