Thinking about the number of people Master Nun Jueyuan had forced out of the human trafficker back at the inn, it was clearly more than the dozen or so now seen in the storeroom.
Immediately, Gu Shaoan swept his gaze in a circle around them.
At last, his gaze fell upon the deepest, darkest corner of the warehouse—there stood a separate small room.
The door was made of iron, and it was locked with iron chains and an iron lock.
Gu Shaoan’s eyes lit up.
Just as the others also sensed something wrong and turned their attention to the iron door, Gu Shaoan was already circulating his internal energy, tapping his toes, and in a few swift bounds rushed to the door. He raised his long sword, and with internal energy infused, he instantly severed the chains.
As the sword blade returned to its sword scabbard, he lifted his right hand and placed it on the iron door, pushing lightly.
“Squeak!”
The iron door, rusted, let out a heavy, harsh grinding sound.
As the crack of the door slowly opened, there was none of the filth and stench from outside; instead, a faint lingering scent of powder drifted out.
Just as the gap had only just widened enough for one person to squeeze through, before the outside light could properly enter, Gu Shaoan suddenly felt a faint resistance from the palm pressed against the door.
This resistance was extremely subtle. If not for Gu Shaoan’s five senses now greatly heightened and his mind kept in vigilance, it would have been hard to notice.
“Hiss!”
A minute sound of breaking air, as swift as a viper flicking its tongue, suddenly shrilled.
Before anyone outside could see what was inside, a hidden weapon of unknown material, its tip whittled to an unnaturally sharp point, shot out like a venomous fang from the netherworld, carrying a chilling speed as it flew straight toward Gu Shaoan’s face.
“There is a mechanism!”
Sensing something wrong, Gu Shaoan immediately understood the source of that sudden resistance when he had pushed the door.
Someone inside had clearly set up a mechanism that would be triggered once the door was pushed open to a certain extent.
It came too fast, too sudden, triggered at the instant of opening to strike unprepared.
An ordinary person, no matter how vigilant, would find it almost impossible to evade in the moment when they pushed open the heavy iron door and their attention was inevitably divided.
Moreover, the timing grasp of this sudden ambush was especially precise, landing just as the door was opened a little, before the people outside could see what was within.
If it had been anyone else, at such close range and in such a short span, they would hardly have time even to react.
But Gu Shaoan had always acted cautiously.
Especially when dealing with human traffickers who would stop at nothing, Gu Shaoan was all the more careful.
From the moment he pushed the door, Gu Shaoan had remained on guard.
At the instant the sound of breaking air reached his ears, his left hand, which was gripping the sword scabbard, snapped up almost simultaneously.
With a slight flick of his wrist, the sword scabbard end carried an extremely precise inch-force, whipping up diagonally from below like lightning.
With a crisp “ding,” the sharp hidden weapon was neatly knocked to the ground.
It was actually the tail end of a wooden hairpin, ground to an extremely keen edge.
After deflecting the hidden weapon, Gu Shaoan did not advance but instead stepped back, the wariness on his face growing even heavier.
As expected.
Almost at the very instant Gu Shaoan retreated,
a slim figure burst from the shadows like an enraged leopardess.
Her movement was not a direct frontal charge, but a cunning, low, ground-hugging rush, slipping out along the blind spot at the corner formed by the opened door and wall like a loach.
At the same time, a point of supremely condensed, even more ruthless and decisive icy light, with a shrill whistle that seemed to pierce the air, stabbed once more at the spot where Gu Shaoan had just been standing.
Unfortunately, Gu Shaoan had already shifted three feet away and was not at the doorway, so the person who had suddenly lunged from the shadows naturally struck at empty air.
Seemingly not expecting this move to fail, the attacker’s body abruptly froze at the doorway.
Taking advantage of this brief opening, Gu Shaoan finally saw clearly who had attacked.
It was a young girl.
About eleven years old, dressed in a simple goose-yellow brocade gown.
Her skin was very pale, not ordinary rosy white but a cool porcelain white; her face was a perfectly shaped oval, with smooth and delicate contours.
Though she still carried a trace of childish roundness, the line of her jaw had already begun to reveal a slender, graceful curve, heralding a future of breathtakingly beautiful lines.
Most captivating of all were her eyes.
Long, upturned classic phoenix eyes, as if autumn water flowed within, strikingly beautiful.
Only now, those eyes were overflowing with astonishment.
She seemed still stunned that her attack had failed.
Separated by only three feet outside the door, Gu Shaoan was also somewhat taken aback when he saw the girl’s features clearly.
He had evidently not expected the one who attacked him to be a little girl about the same age as Zhou Zhiruo.
Outside the door, with only three feet between them.
When Gu Shaoan saw the stunningly beautiful face before him, still tinged with bewilderment, even with his usual composure a trace of surprise rose in his heart.
First, she used the wooden hairpin mechanism to attack. If the mechanism worked wonders and injured the enemy, so much the better; if not, it still drew attention and disrupted the mind, followed by a close-quarters ambush exploiting the blind spot to deliver a lethal backstab.
This design was exquisitely clever, pushing psychological tactics and spatial use to the extreme.
If she were not someone meticulous, unflinching in crisis, and ruthlessly decisive, there was no way she could have arranged such a double-layered killing trap in such a desperate situation.
He had thought this chain of killing moves had been set by the human traffickers, never imagining it was devised by a little girl.
“This girl is quite ruthless,”
Gu Shaoan muttered inwardly, his gaze unconsciously sweeping over her face a few extra times.
“Yan’er?”
In this brief and delicate moment of stalemate, a shout filled with ecstasy and disbelief exploded like thunder from behind Gu Shaoan.
The speaker was Yang Tie, who had just hurried to the depths of the warehouse.
Hearing the voice, Yang Yan followed the sound.
When she saw that all-too-familiar resolute face, Yang Yan’s eyes lit up, and the defenses she had built in her heart instantly dispersed.
“Father!”
Her tender voice sounded, carrying some grievance but even more joy.
Yet before the last note of her call had fallen, the bright light in Yang Yan’s eyes withered like a fleeting epiphyllum.
Her frail body could no longer hold out; after a stagger, she fell forward.
At that moment, a handsome face, still clearly bearing traces of youth, entered her fading sight.
Using his shoulder to support Yang Yan’s head, his left arm around her shoulders as he knelt with her, Gu Shaoan placed his right hand on Yang Yan’s wrist.
“Yan’er?”
Seeing Yang Yan faint, Yang Tie, who had rushed over in panic, was shocked. He hurried even faster to crouch before Gu Shaoan and Yang Yan. His rough, big hand wanted to touch Yang Yan, yet he was afraid of accidentally hurting her, completely at a loss.
A few breaths later, Gu Shaoan said, “Escort Yang, do not worry. Miss Yang has only fainted from going days without proper food and rest, coupled with overtaxed spirit.”
“When we get back, I will write a prescription. Have someone fill it, decoct it, and give it to her.”
【Pulse taking precise, proficiency +3, achievement points +】
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