Chapter 51 Disappearance

Finally, they heard seven drumbeats. The mist on the lake slowly dissipated, and the moonlight covered the surface, giving the whole lake a deathly silence.

Everything disappeared.

As if it had never happened.

The only change was that Tang Shirou was gone.

"It's over." Zuo Jing's tone couldn't help but reveal some disappointment, but it sounded like it was mixed with some emotion beyond disappointment. She turned to An Xuan and the others and said, "Come and see what we... found."

Pushing aside a few bundles of firewood piled in a hidden corner of the wall, An Xuan leaned over. By the moonlight, he saw a person cowering in the corner.

This person was tied hand and foot, with something stuffed in his mouth. Seeing someone approaching, he kept making muffled noises, then moved his body, trying to burrow further inside.

"This is..." Qin Jian looked at the person, a look of confusion in his eyes.

"We caught him just now." Zuo Jing stared at the person and explained, "Not long after you left, this door was suddenly locked. We were discussing how to get out when we heard movement nearby. We followed the sound and caught him."

After speaking, Zuo Jing intentionally glanced at Fatty, saying with a serious face, "If it weren't for this Brother Wang being so nimble, we would have almost let him get away."

An Xuan turned his head to look at Fatty, his eyes scanning Fatty's large frame up and down.

Fatty met his gaze with a very confident look, appearing very impressive and strong.

"Thanks for your trouble, Brother Wang," An Xuan said.

"It's nothing."

"This door... was locked by this guy?" It was You Qi who spoke. He had been frightened by the paper figurine in the sedan chair earlier, and was only just recovering, but his voice sounded particularly unsure.

"It shouldn't be," Xia Meng replied. After she finished speaking, she pointed to the lakeside, which was in the opposite direction from the door, "We found him in the bushes by the lake."

"Did you interrogate him?" After a long while, An Xuan suddenly asked.

Hearing this, Zuo Jing's expression became a little strange, "This person seems... seems to have some mental problems. He doesn't speak, and judging by his appearance, he's been a vagrant for a long time."

"He's a tramp who ran in from outside?" At this moment, Qin Jian also vaguely saw the person's appearance by the light. His clothes were so dirty that he couldn't tell what they looked like, and there were cuts everywhere.

His face was also dark, and he couldn't see his original appearance at all.

"Doesn't seem like it." Shi Liaozhi lowered his voice and said, "Although this house doesn't seem to be heavily guarded, it would never let a tramp sneak in here."

"Besides, didn't you see? When we caught him just now, he was obviously very familiar with the terrain here. If this Brother Wang hadn't jumped up and caught him from the broken wall, he would have gotten away."

Hearing this, An Xuan's face gradually darkened. After a long while, he said, "Whether he has mental problems or not, we'll find out if we try."

He pushed aside the weeds and came to the person. He squatted down, his dark eyes staring at the latter's eyes. "I don't have time to waste with you, so I hope you answer my questions honestly."

He reached out and placed his hand on the person's shoulder, his index and middle fingers slightly bent. The next second, his thumb suddenly exerted force, deeply piercing the softer area above the collarbone.

The sudden pain caused the person to struggle violently, but in front of An Xuan, it was all in vain.

Using torture before asking questions is a common psychological game in interrogation. The benefit of this is that it can greatly reduce the opponent's meaningless resistance and the time spent on possible deceptions.

Large beads of sweat dripped from his forehead, which showed how much pain this person was suffering.

"Enough." It was Fatty who spoke, "You haven't even asked a question, what are you expecting him to say? If it were me, I wouldn't tell you a single word!"

Staring at this person who was in pain and helpless, Fatty hardened his heart and tried not to pity him, but his mind always connected the torture this person was suffering with the fact that he had caught him.

Moreover, this person didn't look very old, about twelve or thirteen years old, still a child.

An Xuan released his hand, then tore off the rag in the mouth of this person who was almost curled up in pain, and asked in a cold voice, "What's your name? What are you doing here?"

"Huff——, huff——" The man leaned weakly against the wall, staring at An Xuan, panting heavily, the fear in his eyes almost solidifying.

"Still not going to talk?" An Xuan narrowed his eyes. He seemed to have already decided that this person was faking it, and then reached out again, wanting to repeat his trick.

But just as he stretched out his hand, it was suddenly grabbed by the person in front of him. Then, he took a fierce bite.

"Ah!"

The person who had been tied up had somehow broken free of the ropes, and then suddenly attacked. After biting An Xuan, he took advantage of the situation and butted him with his head, knocking An Xuan, who was already half-squatting on the ground and unsteady, over.

Then he turned and lunged towards the ground nearby. After scrambling for a few moments, he disappeared.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. By the time the others reacted, the person was gone.

Xia Meng took a few steps and chased after him, finding a hole the size of a dog hole under the broken courtyard wall.

It seemed that the person had escaped from here.

An Xuan grabbed his finger, blood flowing from between his fingers, suggesting that the bite was not light.

His face trembled slightly from the pain, and his eyes looked like he wanted to kill someone.

Fatty looked a little gloating, but seeing An Xuan's face, he didn't dare to show it too obviously.

"How did you let him run away?" Shi Liaozhi immediately became unhappy and shouted at An Xuan, "We caught him with so much effort, what are you doing..."

Before he could say anything more unpleasant, he was persuaded by the others.

Although the arranged play was over, if they continued to make a fuss, who knew what kind of trouble would happen.

It was said that Young Master Huang was performing a play at night, but no one except them had come to show their support in this mansion.

Steward Zhou, the middle-aged woman, the black-faced man, the young maid, and so on, had not come.

More importantly, Master Huang had not come.

The huge mansion was as quiet as if everyone had died.

After calming down, everyone simply cleaned up and immediately returned to where they were staying along the same route. After closing the door, Fatty breathed a sigh of relief.

Although it was just a wing room to stay in, it was a rare comfort at the moment.

After Xia Meng came back, she went directly to the table, poured herself a full glass of water, and then gulped it down, as if this would dilute some of the fear she had accumulated before.

"Leave some for me!" Jiang Cheng stared at her and said.

"Doctor." Seeming to have something he couldn't figure out, Fatty approached Jiang Cheng, but before he could ask, he heard Jiang Cheng's tone suddenly become formal, "Can't figure out why An Xuan let that person go?"