১৫৩তম অধ্যায়: আত্মপ্রকাশ

nie wenquan stumbled, and after regaining his footing, he suddenly flew into a rage. shoving du ruo aside, he shouted boldly, "audacious! if you dare obstruct this commander once more, i will have you beaten to death on the spot!"
du ruo had never been shoved with such force before. she staggered backward, lost her balance, and fell hard onto the ground, her bottom aching as if her tailbone had snapped.
however, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a figure flashing swiftly past nearby. ignoring the pain, she scrambled up in a hurry, cupped her fists at nie wenquan, and said, "commander nie, offense taken! i won't delay you any longer!"
seeing her willingly step aside, nie wenquan ceased to entangle with her. with a blank expression, he turned around and walked back. the two heavy gates slammed shut behind him with a dull thud.
du ruo heaved a slight sigh of relief. when she turned around, she still felt a lingering pain in her bruised backside, but daring not to waste any time, she limped toward the direction where the figure had vanished. after walking a short distance, she was suddenly grabbed by someone and hauled into a nearby alley.
the person who pulled du ruo in was naturally ye yuanzhou. dragging her over, he noticed her strange expression and soon realized that her posture was completely off.
"what is the matter?" he quickly looked her up and down from head to toe. "did nie wenquan use physical force against you?!"
du ruo hurriedly grabbed his arm, fearing that in a fit of anger he might rush back to confront nie wenquan, as this clearly deviated from their current plan.
"i simply took a fall, nothing is the matter at all. where is the grand preceptor?" discovering that ye yuanzhou was all by himself, du ruo could not help feeling puzzled. "did you fail to find him, or did you find him, but the guards were too strict to effect a rescue?"
"neither." restrained by du ruo's questioning and seeing that she indeed seemed unharmed, with no sign of a physical altercation, ye yuanzhou felt slightly more at ease. "i found yuwen que, and i could have figured out a way to rescue him, but he refused to leave."
"refused to leave?!" du ruo stared in wide-eyed astonishment.
"yes, he said that the gu worms lack adaptability. generally speaking, individuals invaded by gu worms tend to become irritable and hot-tempered, acting completely erratically. furthermore, it is impossible for gu worms to act arbitrarily on their own accord without being stimulated.
he has not yet figured out who the worm-master manipulating the gu worms and controlling the puppets is, so he cannot leave just yet. i had no other choice but to slip out quickly, lest i alert the people inside."
after addressing the matter of yuwen que's safety, he turned to du ruo and said, "there is another situation that might be more optimistic than we feared.
you saw nie wenquan just now; he is unquestionably abnormal. however, the soldiers under his command are mostly normal, much like that centurion.
most of these men take orders from nie wenquan, and even though they know something is amiss with him, they still dare not raise any objections.
if a conflict truly breaks out, with me holding the rank of senior light chariot captain, those men should not blindly follow nie wenquan down a disastrous path."
this was indeed good news. hearing this, du ruo breathed a massive sigh of relief. upon second thought, she hurriedly asked ye yuanzhou, "when you saw the grand preceptor inside, did you mention the centurion's condition to him?
just now, when i looked at commander nie wenquan, he was the spitting image of the centurion—something is definitely wrong with him!"
"i mentioned it to him. precisely because of this, he refused to leave. if not for this, yuwen que might not have been able to confirm that someone is indeed here manipulating gu worms to create mischief.
he said that since you disturbed those silver needles earlier, triggering a violent reaction from the gu worms inside the centurion's body, the worm-master must have noticed it. as a result, the adversary is bound to take some action.
he told us to guard the centurion closely and prevent any accidents, while he uses this opportunity to find out what is truly going on."
yuwen que had always been deeply resourceful. since he had already made this decision, and ye yuanzhou had left the cell without a second thought, it meant yuwen que's plan sounded sound to ye yuanzhou as well.
other than autopsy and investigating cases, du ruo was not proficient in anything else. since both experts had made their decision, she had no choice but to defer to them.
the two returned to the centurion's house. the centurion had been securely bound by ye yuanzhou with his pressure points sealed. at the moment, aside from the faint rise and fall of his abdomen proving he was still alive, at first glance he looked no different from a corpse.
by nightfall, the centurion, who had remained motionless for a long time, suddenly opened his hollow eyes and began frantically trying to move his body, struggling to break free from his restraints.
even though his pressure points were sealed, one could still see him desperately trying to shake off his bonds. because he could not control this physical vessel, the veins on his forehead bulged, and the blood vessels on his neck swelled outward.
watching him like that, du ruo felt a pang of fear, worrying whether this would harm the innocent centurion.
fortunately, after struggling for half the night—whether from sheer exhaustion or realizing it was all in vain—the centurion finally went still, his head drooping as though he had passed out completely.
mindful of yuwen que's instructions, ye yuanzhou dared not leave the centurion's side for even half a step, and naturally could not leave him in the care of clueless junior soldiers while he went off to sleep. he had no choice but to tell du ruo to rest first, while he remained behind to keep watch.
du ruo refused as well. regarding the matter of gu infestation, when she first read about it in her grandfather's surviving manuscripts, she had found it utterly bizarre, let alone witnessing it with her own eyes now.
fearing she might miss any crucial moment, she refused to budge an inch.
having endured through most of the night, as dawn began to break in the east and day was about to crack, a figure suddenly slipped through the door of the firewood room, startling both du ruo and ye yuanzhou.
startled, ye yuanzhou leaped to his feet. looking closely, he saw that the person walking in was none other than yuwen que, who had refused to leave with him the previous day.
du ruo stared in astonishment at yuwen que walking in from outside: "gr-grand preceptor?! how did you get out?"
"in a mere commander's household, did you expect him to be able to keep me locked up?" yuwen que replied casually, indifferent. he reached out and pointed at the man who hung his head insensibly, bound in heavy chains: "is this the centurion?"
"yes, it is him." du ruo hurriedly nodded.
yuwen que stepped forward, rummaged through and inspected him casually, then turned his head to ye yuanzhou and said, "go get me some raw chicken meat, and remember to marinate it in sesame oil!"
"are you hungry?" ye yuanzhou asked, somewhat bewildered by yuwen que's strange request. "if you are hungry, i can have them bring you something to eat first to tide you over.
did nie wenquan lock you up and starve you?"
"i am not that unprincipled about food," yuwen que waved a hand. "i said i want what i want, stop chattering so much and go prepare it quickly!"