Bai Qiru stared at the mother-child talisman in her hand and said, "This time the message has turned into a mother-child talisman, indicating a desire for direct contact."

Li Xianghong snorted, "He thinks he can have his way with me?"

Without another word, she cast a spell on the mother-child talisman, sending a questioning message: Who is it?

Meanwhile, Shi Chun was already boiling water and making tea by the stove in the library, glancing at the newly arrived message but ignoring such a tedious question.

Today, guests seemed to arrive at the library unusually early and in unusually large numbers, most not there for reading but due to the city lockdown, seeking a place to chat with various speculations.

Initially, Shi Chun genuinely admired these scholars, but after hearing their remarks too often, he discovered many are not foolish from reading but inherently foolish, and reading more books is useless.

With so many people, the tea served emptied pitcher after pitcher.

Shi Chun noticed Dongliang Ying behind the counter accepting money quite joyfully, and when Shi Chun went to refill her cup, she whispered to him, "Occasionally locking down the city seems not too bad."

Shi Chun smiled at her words, realizing this woman is happy to collect a few small coins, not greedy, while he didn't fancy such small coins at all.

On the other side, Li Xianghong, seeing no response from here, grew somewhat out of control, continuously sending various messages — questioning, threatening, or negotiating.

Shi Chun ignored all of this, having sent the mother-child talisman with a clear purpose, not for chatting. As for her claim to discard the talisman he sent, he scoffed, treating him like a child.

He was certain that given the accuracy of prior secret report disclosures, keeping silent and leaving the other side confused meant they wouldn't discard that talisman — they might even actively consider whether the message had been seen. Even if discarded, eventually, it would be picked up again.

Adults doing serious business, getting hold of a potential evidence channel, could not discard it easily.

He could remain calm, but the usually composed City Lord Li Xianghong was thrown into disarray, dismissively tossing the mother-child talisman down the mountain, refusing to deal with it.

By-stander Bai Qiru's gaze followed the object flying down the mountain, smacked his lips on his cigarette, reminding, "Perhaps there's some inside information revealed to you."

Li Xianghong: "Playing tricks must harbor ill intent. Lord Po Yuan has already personally come, stationed outside the city, if it's unclear, he'll resort to force."

Bai Qiru hesitated to speak; resorting to force is simple, but what about Huang Yingying's life?

As the sun rose and fell, the busy day at the library quickly passed, Shi Chun attending to several guests, subtly observing Fan Wuzhe, discerning no obvious anomalies.

The city in unrest, Dong Wenshu advised his family not to go out unless necessary, which Fan Wuzhe obeyed, not roaming randomly.

Night approached, ushering in dawn with a sense of heaviness.

In the back hall of the inner court, Mei You was placing small flags on a map of Dazhi City.

Once finished, he pointed to the layout with satisfaction, saying, "Personnel have been deployed in a grid over a wide area; if a general target location can be provided, personnel nearby can rush over swiftly and follow the trail."

Holding a mother-child talisman to occasionally contact externally, Lou Xiu said, "They've also somewhat relented, agreeing to exchange items for people. Once we hand over the item, they'll tell us where Huang Yingying is."

To closely cooperate, some previously hidden matters were ultimately revealed to this trusted subordinate.

Mei You hesitated, "Without verifying the authenticity of the item, handing the person over — can we trust them?"

Lou Xiu focused on the map layout, "They know we wouldn't dare use fake items to deceive them, otherwise this transaction is meaningless to us. Whether they are trustworthy is not important; what is crucial is to stabilize them through transaction and prevent suspicion, thereby facilitating our trail-following. Our primary goal remains to uncover the mastermind. Without identifying the opponents, thinking you are secure merely by acquiring Huang Yingying?"

Mei You thought, nodding, "Then how to proceed with the transaction?"

Lou Xiu: "Once the lockdown is lifted, at Si Shi Chou, the east gate, prepare a refined Linju horse, tie a black cloth strip to its tail, place items on the Linju horse, someone will come to ride it away for the transaction. I will arrange people to prepare."

Shi Chun lay covered by a blanket, sideways on a makeshift table, feigning sleep, contemplated before pulling out a mother-child talisman and sending a message from under the covers: Jinliang.

Soon, a message from Wu Jinliang arrived, asking: What's up?

Shi Chun: It's decided, exiting from the east gate, will throw A Xun's items into the roadside heart-wrapping grass. Choose a suitable reception location and personally make the trip.

Wu Jinliang expressed skepticism: Is it so simple? Will there be no obstacles?

Shi Chun: If obstacles arise and it's impossible to escape smoothly, exposing identity is fine — at worst, we will fight our way out directly, since we've already acquired the items; no need to stay in this place.

This was their current confidence, possessing a heap of high-level magical treasures, still aiming to repair more superior ones.

Wu Jinliang: The issue is, are you certain the transaction items have what we want?

Shi Chun: As long as there are relics of A Xun, there should be no mistake.

He was very certain of this, firstly, Lou Xiu did not know what he wanted; secondly, Bai Qiru wasn't aware of Lou Xiu's intentions.

If Bai Qiru wanted to confirm the truthfulness of the informant, while not knowing Lou Xiu's desires, he would gather all of A Xun's relics for Lou Xiu.

This was one of the key reasons he reported to Bai Qiru.

Since this Master was confident, Wu Jinliang had no concerns — the two subsequently finalized the relevant details…

After dawn, Shi Chun periodically observed the courtyard from the back door.

Noticing Fan Wuzhe exiting, stretching his arms at the doorway, Shi Chun sidled and came behind the door, pulling out a mother-child talisman taken from Fan Wuzhe which was in contact with Mei You. Just as he was about to send a message to Mei You, he hesitated.

Recalling the identity disparity between Mei You and Fan Wuzhe, considering Fan Wuzhe was at a disadvantage, he refrained, opting instead to pull out the corresponding talisman from Fan Wuzhe's possessions, sending a message directly asking: How's it going?

Promptly, he subtly revealed an eye to observe Fan Wuzhe's reactions.

As expected, Fan Wuzhe halted, startled, then swiftly returned inside and shut the door.

Inside, Fan Wuzhe quickly pulling out the mother-child talisman, checking the contents, was about to respond but immediately sensed something wrong, noticing the message lacked a code, he immediately questioned: Who are you?

Shi Chun cursed back: Damn, who are you then? Code it!

Fan Wuzhe, puzzled and uncertain, dared not say much, sending out a "mountain" symbol for verification.

Upon seeing this, Shi Chun immediately picked up the mother-child talisman retrieved from Fan Wuzhe, marked the shape of a "mountain," then attached "How's it going" and sent it out.

Already making secret preparations atop the city wall, Mei You, detecting the message, quickly walked into the tower, pulling out the mother-child talisman to view the message, seeing the contents and directly cursed: Quit the nonsense, any progress will be informed to you.

The accompanying code was also a "mountain" symbol, though it appeared tilted right.

So Shi Chun directly copied that code, along with a message sent to Fan Wuzhe: You seem deranged, transmitting messages not knowing to include a code? Scared me.

Fan Wuzhe, hidden inside the house, was speechless upon reading, thinking clearly you were the one who forgot to send the code, yet blamed me.

Nonetheless, there was nothing to argue about, as he had no position to reprimand, thus he accepted it, honestly responding: Everything is normal on my end.

Shi Chun communicated: Depart at the end of the Chen hour, arrive at the east gate at Si Shi Chou, find a Linju horse with a black cloth tied to its tail, mount it and exit the city, no one will stop you, keep moving quickly and don't halt, further messages will be sent to you.

Fan Wuzhe, staring at the message, frowned, ignorant of what task was next, seemingly unrelated to the plan, yet he had no choice but to respond: Okay. Depart at the end of the Chen hour, arrive at the east gate at Si Shi Chou, seek a Linju horse with a black cloth tied to its tail.

Shi Chun replied: The student can be taught.

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