Lucas Appears

Ling Chu did not stop walking, and the two guards' expressions changed drastically.

"Courting death—"

The man on the left had only drawn his sword halfway when Ling Chu was already in front of him. She grabbed the wrist holding the sword and suddenly exerted force.

Crack.

The sound of bone dislocating had barely rung out when the man did not even have time to scream. Ling Chu's other hand covered his mouth, and her knee slammed viciously into his abdomen.

The guard doubled over like a shrimp, then the back of his head smashed into the wall. He immediately went limp.

At the same time, You Jiali had closed in on the other guard from the side. Before he could cry out, her sleeve blade pierced his throat.

Only a few seconds had passed from their encounter to both guards collapsing.

"Don't kill them yet."

Ling Chu lowered her voice. The two guards were still breathing, and they had yet to figure out what exactly was happening on the third level.

If something really went wrong, these two might still be useful for questioning.

You Jiali pulled over some rope from nearby, dragged the two guards into the shadows beside the stairs, and tied them up. Lingering Wind and Fading Moon casually gave each of them a bottle of sleeping potion.

"They won't wake up for at least two hours."

Ling Chu nodded, and the three of them continued downward.

At the bottom of the short flight of stairs stood a heavy black iron door.

This was clearly not the sort of door used for an ordinary cargo hold. The iron door was over ten centimeters thick, embedded into the ship's hull on all sides, its surface covered in dark-red patterns.

Those patterns connected with one another, forming an