Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

This kind of ciphering method was called the cutting path method, which was used in ancient military camps.

The lights in ancient barracks weren’t very bright, and the soldiers were mostly dressed the same way. With so many people unfamiliar with each other, they would have to say the password whenever they met. There were many kinds of passwords, and they were different each time, which made it difficult for the enemy to launch a raid.

It was unlikely that foreigners would use the cutting path method, so that meant Miss Dong must have been the one who taught them how to do it.

Zhang Haiyan judged how far he could retreat as he looked at the opponents’ submachine guns.

It was impossible for him to escape under such firepower no matter how good his physical skills were. And looking at the other people’s behavior, he knew that they would shoot without hesitation if he couldn’t answer the question.

He hadn’t yet thought of a way before the guard pretended to fire his gun. “Bang. Bang. Bang.” All the surrounding guards started laughing.

That was when Zhang Haiyan realized that they were just joking.

“That woman’s approach is quite the bluff. Steven, do you have any other thoughts about her?”

Zhang Haiyan didn’t know what to say, so he smiled. “Newspaper and notes.”

“Are you still writing love letters?” The guards laughed uproariously again. “Let me tell you, they’re all just rumors. Asian women aren’t as conservative as you think.”

Zhang Haiyan froze for a moment. Steven looked like a gentleman, so why were these guards discussing these things with him?

He had no choice but to smile as he walked up to the door they were guarding and stuffed the newspaper and notes through the crack under the door.

Because there were so many drawings inside, he had to separate them into two stacks and push them in.

Ok. This means that what Steven said was right. He was just about to leave when the door that he had just pushed the notes through suddenly opened. A big bulky white man walked out of the door and looked down at the newspaper on the floor.

“Steven, what are you doing?”

Zhang Haiyan was stunned for a moment and heard the guards roaring with laughter again, “This kid is so shy and nervous that he even picked the wrong door, Mr. Warner.”

Zhang Haiyan froze and started to break out in cold sweat. Aren’t they guarding Miss Dong’s door?

Mr. Warner didn’t laugh, but picked up the newspaper and the sketches of the faces. His expression changed as he flipped through them. “What are these?” He asked. “Steven would never pick the wrong room.”

Zhang Haiyan had already started walking away quickly when he heard everyone stop laughing. It was only a moment before he heard the sound of the guards raising their guns.

Zhang Haiyan had no choice but to stop. “Steven, don’t leave just yet.” He heard Warner say. “Why did the white swan’s father disappear after swimming in the Mississippi?”

Shit. My cover’s blown.

Zhang Haiyan only had a second, so he made the best decision under the current circumstances. He scratched his own tongue with the blades in his mouth, and then forcefully squeezed out the blood. He coughed and spit out both the blades and the blood.

He then staggered and fell to the ground, letting the blood flow out along the corners of his mouth as he acted like he was having a seizure.

The group of guards was taken aback and looked at each other for a while before they realized what had happened. Then, some of them started walking towards him.

Everyone was shocked upon seeing the blades he had spit out. “What’s this technique?”

Warner pushed through the crowd and then looked down the stairs with a serious look on his face. “Call everyone over. Shoot anyone who comes within ten meters of us.”

Everyone began moving to their own defensive positions. The lead guard opened Steven’s mouth and took a good look. Warner then had him bring Steven to his own room.

Zhang Haiyan was picked up and sent to Warner’s room, where he was placed on the sofa. Zhang Haiyan peeked around and found that the room was full of old drawings. Warner was very cunning and didn’t approach him at all; otherwise, Zhang Haiyan could suddenly get up and subdue him.

He squeezed his tongue so hard that the blood kept flowing. Anyone who saw it would think he was seriously injured.

Warner’s gaze was piercing as he lit a cigar and sat down opposite Zhang Haiyan.

The lead guard came over to inspect the wound and used tweezers to pull the blades out of his mouth. Zhang Haiyan pretended to be in a coma since he would have to tell them why the swan’s father had disappeared if he was awake.

“He won’t die, but it may take a few days before he’s able to talk.” The lead guard said.

Both Warner and the lead guard looked at Zhang Haiyan. Warner continued flipping through the notes.

In addition to the face sketches, the notes also said, “These are the robbers on your ship. You can see if what I’ve said is true once you investigate them.”

“Hudson, did that strange man Steven couldn’t catch say there were robbers on the ship?” It appeared Warner could read Chinese.

The lead guard, whose name was Hudson, nodded. “That’s what the strange man said.”

Warner looked at Zhang Haiyan again. “It seems that Steven was coerced by that person to deliver this letter.”

“But I’ve never seen such a coercion method.”

The two men looked at each other before Warner said, “That woman said that those who want to kill her might change faces. Check him out.”

Hudson swallowed and came to stand beside Zhang Haiyan. He began tugging on Zhang Haiyan’s face while Warner raised the machine gun on the other side and pointed it at Zhang Haiyan’s head.

Zhang Haiyan broke out in a cold sweat and tried to suppress his surprise. It wasn’t that this foreigner was too smart that was so surprising, but that he knew there were such things as human skin masks in the world.

But they couldn’t tear the mask off because Zhang Haiyan’s masks had to be torn off from his collarbone. This was a decision he had made after hearing what Steven had said.

Hudson tugged on his face for a long time, but didn’t succeed.

Warner looked at Zhang Haiyan for a long time before suddenly touching his face and scolding, “Ridiculous. It’s really ridiculous. I can’t believe that I fell for that woman’s nonsense. How could anyone in this world be able to change faces? That woman is really good at bewitching people.”

“Do you think she’s lying to scare us?” Hudson asked

“Asian people like to lie and act all mysterious.” Warner said. “We represent the advanced party. Most of these silly things are all smoke screens. The only thing I believe in now is that she can help me smuggle those ancient works of art. I don’t know what else she’s planning.”

****

Merebear note: Oh ho, we're almost caught up (¬‿¬ ) Thanks for bearing with us (⌒‿⌒)