From Ling Yu's tone, it sounded like he was completely sure. Coupled with his experience of living in the underground city of Chi Lamir where fish and meat were mixed since he could remember, everyone felt more and more that his idea was valid. Makes some sense.
Coincidentally, when the owner of the Sparrow Hotel looked through the check-in book in his hand, he discovered that there was a room that had been vacant recently, and this room happened to be located at the end of the corridor on the second floor. There was a window there with no windows. Facing the lively alley, if someone gets dizzy, it will be very convenient to use this window to transfer.
The room is not large, with only one single bed, which just meets the snow rabbit's needs. The donkey-faced boss opened the door. Judging from the messy bed in the room, someone must have lived in this room before.
"Are the hotel rooms cleaned every day?" Ling Yu asked after observing the situation in the room.
"Don't forget that we are just a small hotel, but as long as there are no special requests from guests, we will clean it every day!" The donkey-faced boss answered him proudly.
Xia Qiu suddenly noticed something flashing past her eyes on the floor. She took a closer look and found that it was a small and exquisite pin, so she said: "This is..."
"I recognize this clover-shaped brooch. It does belong to Snow Rabbit. Grandpa Yong asked the craftsmen in the palace to make this brooch for Snow Rabbit on her birthday. It shouldn't be available outside, and there is no It fell off so easily, I guess she probably encountered some unexpected situation." Ouyang Xiaoleng analyzed.
As a result, the hotel owner thought that he was in big trouble. He was so frightened that he almost fell to the ground and shouted: "This is terrible. Is it really my guy who caused the trouble?!"
"Do you know where that guy of yours might be going?" Qianqi asked the donkey-faced boss.
"Well... he usually lives in the store. As for where he goes other than here, I really don't know." The donkey-faced boss replied tremblingly.
"Alas." Seeing that the clue he finally found was broken, Qianqi sighed and said, "It seems that the guy is probably a slave trader, and the Snow Rabbit may have been taken out of the city by him."
"Lingyu, when you dealt with those slave traders before, have you ever heard of where they usually trade?" Ouyang Xiaoleng still looked calm and continued to analyze various possibilities.
"If I had to think about it, the first one would be Miancheng, and then Dongyao and other places." Lingyu said after answering, "But I have a hunch that they won't leave Yongchuan so soon!"
"You mean they are still around here?!" Qian Qi suddenly became energetic again.
"Exactly! We might as well look for clues in the city tonight. If nothing is gained, we can set off to Miancheng and other places early tomorrow morning!" Ling Yu suggested to everyone.
"That's fine!" Ouyang Xiaoleng agreed.
"But I have another idea. What do you think?" Ling Yu rolled his eyes and had a plan in mind.
"What?! Please tell me." Ouyang Xiaoleng turned to him and asked.
"I just said that they may not have left so quickly. I was speculating based on probability, because slave traders like him would never just kidnap one or two girls wherever they go, so they are probably still lurking somewhere in the city. and continue to look for a suitable target. If this is what I think, then Sister Xia and I can pretend to be girls walking alone on the street and lure snakes out of their holes, and you two will be responsible for keeping an eye on us nearby and providing us with Support, what do you think?" After Ling Yu finished speaking his own thoughts, he looked at the other people.
"Isn't it too dangerous to do this? If they accidentally tie up Xia Qiu again, wouldn't that make matters worse?!" Qian Qi couldn't help but worry about Xia Qiu's safety.
"I also feel something is wrong..." Ouyang Xiaoleng was also a little shaken.
"I think this is a good idea. How about we do as Ling Yu said." Xia Qiu agreed to Ling Yu's idea without thinking. She felt that if the snow rabbit was really kidnapped by slave traders, it would be very serious. It was dangerous, and besides, she was probably not the only girl who would be arrested. At this time, no matter what method it was, it was worth trying.
Ouyang Xiaoleng and Qianqi knew that they couldn't defeat Xia Qiu, so the four of them decided to divide into two groups and start taking action. Ouyang Xiaoleng was responsible for protecting Xia Qiu, while Qianqi was responsible for following Lingyu. Lingyu returned to Chenji Palace at a very fast speed and changed into women's clothes, and applied a little makeup, but she immediately turned into a graceful and beautiful girl.
"Don't tell me, your appearance is really deceiving!" Qian Qi looked at him from top to bottom blankly and said. He couldn't help but think of the long period of time when he first met Ling Yu in Chi Le Mir. They all thought that this young man was born as a girl.
"It's hard to give up on natural beauty!" Ling Yu responded to him like a proud peacock with her belly drawn in and her chest raised, her voice becoming very thin.
"But because I already know that you are actually a male, so..." Qian Qi curled his lips and hesitated.
"So what?!" Ling Yu rolled his eyes at him and asked.
"So it's a bit disgusting!" Qian Qi said and stuck out his tongue at him.
The two teams walked in opposite directions on the streets of the royal city. Although it was already very late, Xia Qiu was not too afraid because he was sure that Ouyang Xiaoleng was behind him. After leaving the shopping street, the further we walked, the more desolate it became. Except for my slender shadow under the street lamp, there was no one on the street.
Xia Qiu sympathized with Snow Rabbit's experience, but she also understood that sympathy alone was not enough to heal the scars in Snow Rabbit's heart. If she were Snow Rabbit, she probably wouldn't want anyone to treat her with sympathy. Look at her with eyes. At this time, perhaps what they can do for her is to trust her as before, and stay with her to give her strength.
Xia Qiu's memories of her mother were limited to photos. Her smile was quiet and pale, frozen in those small images, as if all her vitality had been taken away. No one would specifically mention her mother's affairs to her, perhaps because they were worried that she would feel sad because of it, and she would not deliberately ask.
But deep down in her heart, she still missed her. She could not imagine how terrible it would be to learn that her mother killed her father, but Snow Rabbit, who was similar to her age, had to face such a problem.
Thinking like this, she expected those who kidnapped the Snow Rabbit to show up soon. Unknowingly, her pace quickened, and she accidentally wandered into a fork in the road. Ouyang Xiaoleng felt that he had lost track of her in just the blink of an eye. By the time he found the fork in the road, she had disappeared.
"Xia Qiu..." He called her loudly, but got no response.
About the same time he realized that he had walked into an unfamiliar fork in the road, Xia Qiu knew clearly that he had been stunned by something. The smell of the powder was very fragrant, like the aroma of a flower, but the medicinal effect was not. It was so strong that she was unable to resist.
When she woke up again, her first reaction was to feel difficulty breathing, and then there was a sultry heat surrounding her. She soon found herself in a sack, with rags stuffed in her mouth, and her hands and feet tied tightly.
"Alas, even though the hotel was not burned down, we still gained something!"
"This... is a human, right?! This is the first time I've seen it..."
"In short, things are rare and expensive, so I guess they can be sold for a good price!"
"Didn't you say...that thing before?"
"Haha, I know you can't forget it. Tell me, which one do you like?"
"This is my first time seeing a human being, otherwise..."
While the two were talking, Xia Qiu quietly called out the plum blade to disconnect the rope tied to his wrist. Then she waited for the man to untie the sack and stabbed forward. The plum blade in her hand just hit the chest of the slave trader who had previously been hanging around the Sparrow Hotel as a clerk.
"ah!"
After screaming hoarsely, the slave trader she stabbed fell down facing her, and the sack she was wearing also completely fell off at the same time. She had just nimbly dodged the lifeless slave trader when another man slashed at her with the dagger in his hand.
She raised her feet that were still tied up and kicked the other person hard on the abdomen. Then she took off the rope on her feet, jumped up, and put the knife horizontally against his neck.
"Woman, have mercy on me!" The slave trader, who was afraid of the weak and afraid of the strong, begged her loudly for mercy.
"Spare you?!" Xia Qiu looked back at the sacks piled up behind him and said, "Let all these people go first!"
"Okay!" Although the man was tall and strong, he was not very courageous. He responded and untied all the piled sacks, and cut the ropes binding the girls' hands and feet one after another.
Xia Qiu recognized Snow Rabbit who was still unconscious at a glance, and quickly called out: "Xue Tu, can you hear me?"
"Sister Xia Qiu!" Xue Tu slowly opened his eyes and suddenly started crying after seeing Xia Qiu.
"Don't be afraid, Xiao Leng and the others will be here soon." Xia Qiu comforted Snow Rabbit by stroking her hair.
The slave trader wanted to take the opportunity to escape. Unexpectedly, before he took two steps, Xia Qiu's plum blade blocked his back.
"Want to run?!" Xia Qiu yelled loudly.
"No, you must be careful, Heroine! The sword has no eyesight. We are just looking for money, and we have never killed anyone!" the slave trader begged her.
Xia Qiu didn't pay attention to him, but looked around at the slave trader's lair. This should be a warehouse, with a lot of wooden boxes piled next to it. The pile of straw behind him is probably the slave trader's temporary bed. The six girls who were previously put in sacks look like they haven't had a drop of water in a few days. .
"Is there water?" she asked the slave trader.
"Yes!" The slave trader nodded.
"Give them some water!" Xia Qiu pointed at the six girls on the ground and ordered him.