Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 341 - 340: Screams of Agony

Lu Qing was startled, quickly got up, and went to the door with Lu Yan to help Yan Daoxin drag the unconscious talisman inside, then shut the door firmly.

Yan Daoxin took out the pack of golden-tailed cow hair silver needles again and said to Zhu Yu, "You taught me a wonderful trick!"

He then swiftly took out a few needles from the pack and almost imperceptibly inserted them into the fingertips of the talisman.

When each of the brothers had about three or four needles in their fingers, they showed signs of waking up. Once one entire hand was pricked, they gradually awoke. Seeing the others gathered around them, they instantly understood the situation and quickly turned over to kneel on the ground.

"Master... we brothers are useless and couldn’t hold out!" the rune said regretfully. "Please punish us!"

The talisman was even more direct, hitting his own leg in frustration, his face full of anger.

"Let’s not talk about this now, there is definitely something strange about this courtyard," Lu Qing said, knowing that the talisman were loyal and skilled, and certainly not the type like Lu Zhang, who could be easily enchanted and fainted.

"What should we do now?" Lu Yan asked anxiously. For his impatience, it was already quite a feat to have tolerated things up to this point, and now he could barely sit still.

Lu Qing also noticed this. He looked at the others and said, "Since there’s something strange, staying put in the courtyard won’t do us any good. It’s too passive.

Lu Yan, let’s head out together, each in a different direction, walking only along the walls, avoiding detection, and try to get an overview of the internal layout and circumstances of this Immortal Castle from above.

Make sure not to reveal our presence, explore discreetly under the cover of night, and return as soon as possible."

Lu Yan was overjoyed, nodded eagerly, and stood up to stretch his legs to ensure he was fit to move.

Lu Qing then turned to Yan Daoxin and Zhu Yu, saying, "Use the method you just used to wake the talisman to wake Lu Zhang and Yan Wei. The situation is unclear, so it’s best to stay conscious."

"Don’t worry, there’s no problem," Zhu Yu nodded.

Lu Qing’s gaze lingered on her hands for a moment, somewhat reluctantly, but staying conscious was undoubtedly the safest and most prudent choice at the moment, so he resigned himself to it.

"Don’t worry, I’m here! Didn’t the talisman wake up just now? Everything will be fine. Hurry and return quickly!" Yan Daoxin noticed the unspoken concerns of Lu Qing and waved him off.

Lu Qing looked at the talisman again. "You two must be especially vigilant from now on, do not let yourselves be caught off guard again."

"Yes! Master, rest assured, it won’t happen again!" the talisman clasped his fists, spoke in a muffled voice, and made a guarantee.

Lu Qing said no more, discussed the routes with Lu Yan, and the two of them opened the door, stepped out, lightly bounded off a wooden rail, and vanished into the night.

Yan Daoxin hurriedly shut the door again, and he and Zhu Yu used silver needles to prick the fingertips of Lu Zhang and Yan Shu, soon successfully waking them up.

The talisman guarded the door, while the other four sat around the table, ears perked up, fearing they might miss any sounds from outside.

Everything was quiet all around, and the few of them held their breath, waiting for a while, but heard nothing.

"Is anyone feeling sleepy?" Yan Daoxin asked.

Zhu Yu shook her head, and so did Lu Zhang and Yan Shu.

"How about you two?" Yan Daoxin asked the talisman.

They both shook their heads, indicating they were quite awake.

Upon hearing this, Yan Daoxin reached out and pulled out the silver needles from Lu Zhang’s fingertips, causing him to wince. Once the needles were removed, the persistent pain in his fingertips quickly subsided.

He quietly breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at his fingertips.

The needle was so thin that the initial pain was severe, but once removed, there wasn’t even a slight mark, as if it had never been pricked.

He silently marveled, then suddenly swayed and fell towards the table under the watchful eyes of the others, his eyes rolling back.

Yan Daoxin quickly grabbed him by the collar and pulled the nearly unconscious Lu Zhang back up, sticking the needles back into his fingertips. Startled awake by the pain, Lu Zhang seemed scared.

"I... why did I suddenly pass out again?" he asked in bewilderment.

But Yan Daoxin’s gaze fell on his fingertips. "It seems that to stay awake, these silver needles can’t be removed easily!"

For safety, he also stuck silver needles into the fingers of the talisman.

Suddenly, a shrill scream pierced their ears.

Yan Shu jumped up, and Zhu Yu quickly followed.

Indeed, they had heard someone scream the previous night—it wasn’t a hallucination they shared.

The screams rang intermittently, sounding piercingly horrid. Although not far away, neither were they close. The group tried listening from the porch, through the windows, or in other rooms, but they couldn’t determine the direction of the sound.

The scream filtered into their ears from a seemingly close and far distance, ceasing abruptly as they tried to locate its source, never to sound again.

"That person screamed so miserably..." Yan Shu shivered. Though she was Jie, her life had been one of typical Jie moral reckons, "Why did it stop now? Could someone have beaten them to death?"

Lu Yan’s tendency to overrun enemy camps on a whim was something the Jie King didn’t condone and would reprimand, but it still occasionally occurred.

However, the notion of torturing someone to death was something Yan Shu had never heard or seen.

Zhu Yu didn’t know how to respond because they couldn’t even see where the person was, let alone assume what exactly was happening.

Yet this time, they were all fully awake, clearly hearing the screams of a man.

Thinking back to the farmers’ cheerful faces in the fields when they first arrived, the empty gaze of the servants delivering food in the past two days, the familiar scent lingering on the fabrics, their own strange slumbers, and now the screams seeming to echo in their ears, Zhu Yu couldn’t help but shiver.

This mysterious Immortal Castle appeared on the surface like a utopia, hiding untold terrible secrets beneath. The peculiarities were indeed countless.