Chapter 383 People went missing inexplicably

Lu Jiangbei rushed into the icehouse with water dripping down from his body and his ice mask was taken off. He shouted, “Mr. Duan, something happened! Everyone was gone! They… Mr. Duan? Danggui! You…”

Previously, Lu Jiangbei went up to the Baisha Mountain Villa. He didn’t sense anything wrong and just walked toward the pharmacy in a hurry to find the Seven Flowers and Leaves Sinew-reconnecting cream for Duan Xiaolou. However, when he passed the atrium, he noticed the messy footsteps on the white sand and part of the rockery broke. There was also blood on the rubble. Obviously, it was caused by a fight. And when he walked past this place to find books for He Danggui not long ago, he didn’t see any rubble.

Some Imperial Guards took pleasure in fighting and friends often battled with each other so the villa got messy from time to time. That wasn’t anything strange originally but at this time, all of them were injured and tired. Who would fight with others? Judging from the blood on the rubble, the fight was brutal.

Thus, even though he didn’t have much time, Lu Jiangbei still went to check on those “problem children”. Then, he found the doors of their rooms were all open. The chairs and tables in Gao Jue’s and Jiang Yi’s rooms were overturned while others’ rooms were kept tidy. Moreover, no one was seen in those rooms.

Lu Jiangbei felt shocked immediately. Although Lynx was the head of the Baisha Mountain Villa now, Lu Jiangbei, as the oldest person, had warned all the people again and again since the “injured group” of forty of them arrived at the villa the day before yesterday that they should rest well to recuperate these days and no one should leave the villa without his permission. Everyone was asked to lay low and take good care of himself and not to leave his room unless he had to. It was a military order instead of any joke. Thus, no one dared to violate it, which meant they must’ve been abducted! So had the twenty or thirty servants and maids in the villa!

How could that be possible? Lu Jangbei started to calculate the time. From his going to the study to find books to his coming back to find medicine in the pharmacy, only about fifteen minutes had passed and he hadn’t heard any strange sound. The Baisha Mountain Villa covered a vast area and its hollow design enabled sounds to be heard far away. Who would be able to abduct forty Imperial Guards that were martial arts experts without making any noise in only fifteen minutes? Moreover, Gao Jue, Jiang Yi, and Lynx were brilliant and very hard to deal with.

The three of them were almost recovered. Although they had taken turns to promote the blood circulation of He Danggui, that didn’t cost their internal force but drained their energy and tested their self-control. They had been tortured mentally while they were exerting Ba Huang Finger for four or five days on such a beautiful woman that wouldn’t even let them touch her at all at ordinary times. When she was conscious sometimes, she made pleasant groans. Based on the principle of “Hear No Evil”, they had to poke her acupoint to make her unconscious again. This was why they asked to leave because of tiredness one after another… Anyway, around the world, only one or two people could take down Gao Jue, Jiang Yi, and Lynx at the same time within a hundred moves. If they wanted to do it without drawing any attention, that would be impossible.

Who would be so bold that dared to do a sneak attack on people of the Armed Escort in daylight? This place was not far away from the capital. With just three signal arrows, they would be able to dispatch the Left and Right Armed Escorts, Palace Guards, and Scout Camp around the capital. They would block all the land routes and waterways. Where could those men run after abducting Gao Jue and the other people?

Things got more and more intricate. The backstage manipulator had followed them from Yangzhou City to the Yingtian Prefecture in the capital. Was the first prize of the Wulin Assembly indeed that legendary object?

After surveying the scene, Lu Jiangbei hurried to the pharmacy to get the Seven Flowers and Leaves Sinew-reconnecting cream. Although he wanted to send signals immediately and ordered all troops in the capital to save Gao Jue and the other people, he worried more about the two people under the lake now. Mr. Duan looked a bit strange again. He hoped He Danggui wouldn’t get hurt there, or… While thinking this, Lu Jiangbei gathered the energy in his fingers and took off the ice mask.

The only defect of such masks was that after wearing them, people would only be able to use seventy percent of their internal forces. Actually, it shouldn’t be called a defect because the essence of “Calm Face before Ice and Fire” was about slow breath and rest. However, they were facing threats from unknown enemies now. To ensure he could fight at his best, he couldn’t wear the mask to cure his injury anymore.

Then, with the medicine in his hand, Lu Jiangbei jumped into the lake and got drenched because he didn’t want to waste time and internal force to keep himself from water by exerting Qing Tian Gang Qi. He shouted in a distance, “Mr. Duan, something happened! Everyone was gone!”

After he rushed into the icehouse, he was shocked by what he saw. Mr. Duan and He Danggui, they…

Obviously, He Danggui had released her acupoints. Her long hair spread on her shoulders and a loose cloak covered her body. She was holding a dagger in one hand and its sheath in the other. Looking down at Mr. Duan, she sat on his chest and put the glittering blade on his face.

Lu Jiangbei faintly saw her fair skin tightly covered by the gray cloak. He understood what happened after seeing the pieces of clothes around the medicine chest so he immediately persuaded, “Danggui, put down the dagger. We can talk this over! Everyone around us knows Mr. Duan’s love for you. Even though he made a blunder in a thoughtless moment, you don’t have to kill him now. Just put it down and let’s talk peacefully. I can help you. I’ll ask him to marry you, okay?”

He Danggui didn’t move the dagger away from Duan Xiaolou’s face but as soon as Lu Jiangbei entered the icehouse, she was frightened. Her lips quivered and then, she screamed, “Ghost! Ah! Ah!”

Lu Jiangbei was scared by her voice and slowly realized that the “ghost” she said might be him. It was because after people took off the ice masks named “Calm Face before Ice and Fire”, dark red vine patterns would show on their faces and take half a day to relieve. The number of them varied from ten to fifty depending on people’s constitution and injury. With the patterns on their faces, people did look scary, especially when they were seen by acquaintances who still remembered their previous looks. Compared with what they looked like in the memory, people would only be frightened by their current appearances, so it was reasonable for them to scream in panic.

But He Danggui wasn’t an ordinary woman. Lu Jiangbei also felt incredible that she would be scared like that. Then, he guessed maybe it was because the effect of Duan Xiaolou’s manipulating her mind before was still not eliminated. Thus, she looked utterly different from the calm way she usually was. It was new and interesting for Lu Jiangbei to see her screaming and he thought she was cuter now. However, he also knew she was dangerous given that she wasn’t calm anymore and the dagger she held was just right on Duan Xiaolou’s face.

Duan Xiaolou just lay still there and seemed to acquiesce in whatever she wanted to do, which convinced Lu Jiangbei more that something bad did happen and Duan Xiaolou felt rueful so he allowed He Danggui to kill himself. However, Lu Jiangbei would never let her do that so he came up and persuaded her, “Danggui, don’t be scared. I’m Lu Jiangbei, your uncle. My face will recover tomorrow so don’t be frightened. Listen, put down the dagger and I will ask Mr. Duan to marry you and give you a happy life. I will also help you negotiate with his mother. How could you kill your future husband just because you lost your virginity and felt furious? He’s a third-grade marquis assigned by the emperor and an important member of the court. If you killed him, you would have to pay with your life. Think twice, please!”

As he was saying this, he approached the two of them slowly and intended to grab the dagger in a proper moment to save Duan Xiaolou, but after he was standing next to them, he found He Danggui wasn’t “cutting” Duan Xiaolou’s face but trying to remove the mask on his face with the dagger and its sheath. The silver sheath was even worn because of her continuous scratches!

Lu Jiangbei asked in surprise, “What are you doing? Do you want his mask? But you can’t wear Calm Face before Ice and Fire! Or do you want to see his face? Don’t do it. He will look just like me if you take off his mask. It will scare you.”

He Danggui insisted, “No, Master… Uncle, please take off his mask now. I saw something wrong with his face. We must take it off to treat him.”

Lu Jiangbei took a closer look and saw a red spot between his eyebrows below the mask. Then, he asked He Danggui to move away and wanted to take off Duan Xiaolou’s mask by gathering energy in his fingers. In this process, he glanced at the clothes on her chest. Fortunately, they hadn’t been broken so he sighed in relief secretly in his heart.

After Duan Xiaolou’s mask was taken off, He Danggui and Lu Jiangbei exclaimed in confusion together. “Uh?”

Lu Jiangbei felt strange because the dark red vine patterns were inevitable when people took off Calm Face before Ice and Fire. They were blood lines that still didn’t fade after the treatment. However, there were no signs of them on Duan Xiaolou’s face now. He still looked handsome and his eyes were closed tightly. It seemed he was in a coma. Lu Jiangbei suddenly thought, “Was Duan Xiaolou already… dead since there was no vine pattern on his face?” He exclaimed and put fingers under Duan Xiaolou’s nose to feel his breathing which was still as steady as usual.

However, He Danggui felt strange because she did see a cinnabar mole between Duan Xiaolou’s eyebrows under the transparent ice mask before. That looked just the same as the mole on her left wrist which, meanwhile, suddenly disappeared. Otherwise, after his mask was taken off, the mole was nowhere to find. Why? She turned her head to look at Lu Jiangbei and asked, “You saw it just now, didn’t you? There was a red mole between his eyebrows. Why did it disappear after you took off his mask? Is it…” She hesitated, “Is that mole a living thing? Did it get into his brain?”

“Eh?” Lu Jiangbei looked at He Danggui in confusion and asked, “What? The mole is a living thing? How would it be possible? Why did you say that?”

He Danggui’s lips moved but she didn’t know how to explain such a weird thing. Qi Xuanyu made an unmovable red mole on her wrist but it moved to the place between Duan Xiaolou’s eyebrows after he kissed it. Then, they looked for it after taking off his mask and it was gone. Now, the red spot that was recognized as a cinnabar mole was no longer on her wrist. If she told Lu Jiangbei about it, he would definitely misunderstand that Duan Xiaolou and she had had sex. However, they didn’t… Why did the mole suddenly disappear?

Seeing He Danggui being hesitant, Lu Jiangbei sighed and continued, “Danggui, something happened in the Baisha Mountain Villa. Everyone went missing in a short time and I didn’t see any dead body, either. Now I have to deal with it. Mr. Duan’s internal injury still hasn’t been cured and he didn’t sleep at all these five days. He may just pass out because of tiredness now. The medicine for him is here.” He put a little medicine bottle on He Danggui’s palm and pleaded, “He always treats you well. Please don’t hurt him no matter what mistake he has made because sometimes he didn’t mean to do it. I can’t explain it clearly to you for now. Now, please help me take care of him. When everything is settled, I will help you with what you want to do and make a match between you and the man you want to marry.”

He Danggui asked in surprise, “Are you leaving him to me? You already knew I was related to the ‘traitors’. Why don’t you arrest me right now?”

Lu Jiangbei ran out of the door of the icehouse immediately while saying, “I’ll arrest you when I’m back. Take good care of him and be careful.” He left more hastily this time. He Danggui felt speechless and thought about his words for a while. Then, she looked at Duan Xiaolou’s sleeping face and her eyes were suddenly filled with gentleness and love.