Shen Guannan's knees buckled, and he knelt down. He held the oil-paper package above his head, his hands trembling slightly. " Snow Empress, this is the original draft of the secret letter that Meng Qi forged back then. I've kept it hidden for ten years, and I'm handing it to you today. I dare not ask for your forgiveness, I only beg you to use this to nail Meng Qi's crime to the spot, and give those three hundred-plus lives an explanation."
Snow Empress looked down at him. Shen Guannan's hair was mostly white, and although he wasn't old, his back was hunched badly. Kneeling on the ground, he looked like an old shrimp curled up in a ball. She remembered the young man from the Spirit Vein Bureau who always hid behind the crowd, and she remembered that bag of chestnuts. She reached out and took the oil paper package, opened it, and glanced inside. There was a stack of yellowed pages, and she recognized the dense handwriting on them. It was the handwriting of Liu Chengze, the clerk from the Spirit Vein Bureau, the "traitor" from back then.
"Is Liu Chengze still alive?" she asked.
Shen Guannan shook his head. "He died of illness three years ago in the mortuary in the north of the city. Before he died, he asked someone to pass this manuscript to me, saying that he was sorry to the Spirit Vein Bureau and to you."
Snow Empress rewrapped the oil paper package and handed it to Mu Canglan. "Keep it safe. Take it to the Court of Judicial Review first thing tomorrow morning and present it as evidence in court." She looked down at Shen Guannan, who was still kneeling on the ground. "Get up. I don't forgive you. You could have done more back then. But since you've brought the package today, this debt is settled. Stop running your fortune-telling stall and become a clerk at the Court of Judicial Review. Pei Jichuan is fair enough; he'll give you a job."
Shen Guannan kowtowed before standing up, his eyes red-rimmed but without tears. Mu Canglan led him out, leaving Snow Empress alone in the room again. She sat back down at the table, her gaze falling on the direction where Yin Wujou fast asleep in the inner room.
Just then, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came from outside the window, growing louder as it approached, stopping at the alleyway outside the safe house. Snow Empress instantly became alert, reaching into her sleeve to catch a poisoned needle. Immediately afterward, a familiar voice rang out from outside. "Miss Snow Empress! Vice Minister Pei sent me to deliver a message: something has happened at Jia Ku!"
It was Captain Zhao from the Imperial Guard. Snow Empress quickly opened the door, and Commandant Zhao stood outside, covered in sweat and dust on his armor, clearly having rushed over on horseback.
" The Spiritual Power center of the armory has been activated ahead of schedule!" Commandant Zhao gasped for breath. " Vice Minister Pei originally planned to take craftsmen to dismantle the center this afternoon, but just after dawn, all the Puppet Armor in the armory suddenly lit up. Two of them even moved, raising their arms and knocking away any approaching yamen runners. Vice Minister Pei urgently dispatched the Imperial Guard to seal off the armory, but the Puppet Armor are still moving slowly. He's afraid they won't last until the Dali Court of Judicial Review sends in array masters."
Snow Empress's face darkened. The central control had activated ahead of schedule; there was only one possibility: someone had received control commands from the outside. Liu Yanzhao had already been arrested, and Zhou Jing was imprisoned. Who else could control the armory? A name flashed through her mind.
" Meng Qi." She turned and went back into the room, drawing her sword from under her pillow. "He knows the location of the armory and how to activate the central control system. He's under house arrest, but there must be spies working for him."
Yin Wujou had already been awakened and rushed out of the inner room, his face still bearing the marks of the pillow and mat. "I'll go with you."
Snow Empress glanced at him but did not refuse. " Commandant Zhao, go back and tell Vice Minister Pei to withdraw the people outside the armory to a hundred paces away. Don't engage in a direct confrontation. The Puppet Armor will only passively defend without clear instructions and will not actively pursue. Yin Wujou and I will enter the armory through the ventilation shaft and directly destroy the central control."
Commandant Zhao accepted the order and rode off. Snow Empress and Yin Wujou exited through the back door of the safe house, taking a shortcut through alleys towards the Xuan Abyss Workshop in the west of the city. On the way, Yin Wujou tightened his belt as he ran, unable to resist asking, "How did Meng Qi manage to get the order in? Wasn't he under house arrest?"
"A secret message." Snow Empress continued walking. "The ventilation shafts in the armory lead directly to the ground, allowing us to slip rolled-up instruction slips into them from the outside. As long as his informants know the location of the ventilation shafts, they can drop the instructions in at night. The central control units of those Puppet Armor won't execute the instructions immediately after receiving them; there will be a delay. This is probably a security mechanism set up by Liu Yanzhao to prevent accidental activation. But once the delay is over, they will act according to the instructions. The question now is, what instructions did Meng Qi give them?"
Yin Wujou's heart sank. "If it means 'kill everyone in the armory'..."
"That's troublesome." Snow Empress's voice was cold. "Those yamen runners and Imperial Guard have no experience dealing with Puppet Armor. Pei Jichuan is capable, but he has no cultivators under his command."
When the two arrived at the outskirts of Xuan Abyss Workshop, they could see a wisp of black smoke rising from the direction of the armory. The Imperial Guard had already set up three lines of defense around the workshop. Pei Jichuan stood inside the first line of defense, facing the armory with a furrowed brow. He saw Snow Empress and Yin Wujou approaching and quickly went to meet them.
"Two of the main armors moved, severely injuring two constables." Pei Jichuan's face was grim. "The rest didn't move, but the central alarm clock's flashing frequency increased, as if they were on standby. I mobilized the Imperial Guard's archers, but ordinary arrows were completely ineffective against the Xuantie plates."
Without wasting words, Snow Empress asked directly, "Where is the ventilation vent located?"
Pei Jichuan pointed to the north side of the armory. "There's an old locust tree outside that wall, its canopy directly facing the armory's ventilation opening. But we've tried it; the opening is over three zhang (approximately 10 meters) above the ground, and only wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways."
Snow Empress estimated the distance, then turned to Yin Wujou and said, "You go in through the ventilation shaft. I'll go in through the main entrance and draw the puppets' attention."
Yin Wujou frowned. "The main gate is too dangerous."
" The Puppet Armor aren't very fast." Snow Empress had already drawn her sword, its blade gleaming coldly in the sunlight. " Liu Yanzhao's design has flaws; their joints take time to move. As long as I keep moving, I can restrain them. Once you're inside, go directly to the central hub. There's a Spiritual Power lock under the central platform; use this to open it." She pulled a copper talisman from her sleeve and handed it to Yin Wujou. "This is a universal talisman used by the Spirit Vein Bureau to open Spiritual Power seals back then. Mu Canglan found it among his old belongings; it should still work."
Yin Wujou took the talisman and took a deep breath. "Be careful."
Snow Empress didn't look at him again, turned around and walked towards the main gate of the armory. Yin Wujou gritted his teeth and went around to the old locust tree on the north side. The tree canopy was indeed directly opposite a semi-circular ventilation opening, more than three zhang above the ground. He untied a thin rope from his waist, with an iron hook tied to the end of the rope, swung it up and hooked it onto the edge of the ventilation opening, then climbed up the tree trunk with his hands and feet, swung from the tree canopy to the bottom of the ventilation opening, and squeezed in sideways.
The ventilation shaft was narrower than he had imagined, forcing him to incline forward little by little, his body twisted sideways. The metal walls scraped against his shoulders and back, causing a burning pain. After about seven or eight steps, the space opened up before him, and he landed in the domed mezzanine of the armory. Looking down from the maintenance ladder in the mezzanine, the entire armory was laid out before him. Two rows of Puppet Armor stood silently before the iron frames, their chest centers flickering. Sure enough, the arms of the main armor on the central pedestal were slowly rising and falling, the joints emitting a dull, grinding sound.