Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

233. Multi-Pronged Operation

Translator: Bryan

Owing to the arson attack last night, the Turkish encampment was very quiet. Teams of soldiers could be seen patrolling from time to time. The security was tighter than usual. The five sect members, naturally, split up. They were here to gather intelligence, and spliting up would give them a better chance of getting more information.

Luo Ling had changed into a revealing outfit which made her look coquettish. She hid on a tree near the front gate of the encampment, staring in that direction. After waiting for quite a while, she saw a group of people and a carriage heading towards the encampment. They would soon arrive at the front gate. Luo Ling felt a sense of relief. It seemed that the message she had traded for was true.

“We’re almost there. Tonight we’ll be able to have some fun,” a man said aloud, pointing at the encampment ahead. “Let’s have a break. These girls in here are quite frail. We must not tire them out, or the officers will be displeased.”

Another man nodded. “I’ve checked this batch of girls. They’re all quite hot. I’m positive we’ll get a good price. I don’t know why, but I heard that the troops have been stationed here for quite some time. I wonder if they’ll be able to recover Sanyuan City.”

“That’s above our pay grade. I don’t know who will sit on the throne in the end, but I’m sure it won’t be any of us. All we have to do is sell these wenches and make some money. Anything else has nothing to do with us.” With that the two of them parked the carriage by the roadside, and then one of them went to relieve himself behind the bush, whistling.

“You girls should stop weeping and make yourselves presentable. If the officers find you unpleasing to the eye, they’ll make your life hell.” A man lifted the curtains of the carriage to let all the girls come out. Luo Ling cocked an eye at them and found that their hands were all tied with a rope.

They didn’t stand a cat in hell’s chance of escaping. However, though their hands were tied together, they could still walk around. The man seemed to be pretty good at doing business. He actually pulled a whole lot of cosmetic products from his bag and placed them in front of the girls. “Hurry. Don’t waste any time. We’ll set off soon.”

The man knew that the girls were unlikely to make trouble for him. Even if they fled, they would soon be caught, given that they were in the middle of nowhere, and that they couldn’t possibly outrun a horse. Therefore, the man lowered his guard, walked up to a boulder, sat on it, took out some field rations and began to eat, humming a tune.

Luo Ling took the opportunity and leaped off the tree without warning. Her movements were swift and light. Like a cat, she landed soundlessly. She sneaked up on the girls, pulled out her bell and gently jingled it beside the girls’ ears.

All the girls’ eyes became unfocused almost instantaneously. Luo Ling quickly untied the last girl, pulled her to the roadside and said to her, “The effect of the sound of this bell will wear off in twenty four hours. I want you to keep going north during the twenty four hours. Do not stop for any reason!”

After hearing her words, the girl turned around and walked north. There was a man standing guard right ahead. Luo Ling abruptly knocked the man out, dragged him to the roadside and covered him with bundles of straw. No matter what, she needed to help them make it through this first. Having been brought to this place, these girls wouldn’t be able to survive anyway. There was nothing she could do about it.

Then she quickly returned to the other girls and said to them, “Put on some make-up. Hurry. All of you are to act obediently. My name is Si Fang. You all know me.” All the girls looked at Luo Ling, bobbed their heads and pick up the cosmetic products to make themselves up.

Luo Ling paled visibly, big beads of sweat oozing out of her brow. The bell was her family heirloom, but the more people she used to control, the more energy it would cost her. If it weren’t for the dire situation, she wouldn’t have resorted to this.

She only hoped all her efforts would pay off, that it’d be useful to the crown prince and Du Chuxuan. If that was the case, everything she had done would be worthwhile. She clenched her teeth, pretending to be fine. She also quickly made herself up with those cheap cosmetic products. As long as she infiltrated into the encampment, the rest would be easy.

Before long, the two guards had their fill and returned to the carriage. Seeing that the girls were all meek and obedient, they were pleased and didn’t check their faces carefully. They believed that the ropes tying their hands were very difficult to untie and that they had nothing to worry about.

Without another glance at the girls, they shooed the girls into the carriage and then hurried towards the encampment. Now Luo Ling had finished half of her task. On the other side, Luo Wu, with his unique skills, seemed to have become invisible. Even the soldiers walking past him didn’t notice his existence.

He followed a team of men into the Turkish encampment. Before coming in, he and his companions had clarified their respective tasks. The others were supposed to check out the lay of the land in this encampment, and they might even ascertain the reason why Du Chuxuan and Luo Er had been imprisoned.

Luo We’s task was to find out where the two of them were imprisoned. Of all the five people, he was the only one who could do that. Therefore, this task was very important, for if he died, the other four would die as well. Even if any of the other four set out to perform the same task, they wouldn’t be able to achieve half of what he could achieve.

“Did you hear about what happened last night?” When passing a tent, Luo Wu overhear a voice coming from inside. He instantly slunk to the side of the tent. The wall of the tent quivered as he pressed his ear against it, and the people inside were alarmed.

A man walked out, glanced around and, having checked that there was nobody around, was relieved. “Keep your voice down. We’re lucky that the First Prince allowed us to get in here. Almost everybody in this encampment works for the Second Prince. If he finds out we bad-mouthed him behind his back, we’d probably be beheaded.”

“Why are you afraid of him? Once we get the job done, we’ll be in the First Prince’s good books, and when we do, everybody in this encampment will be obedient to us, let alone the Second Prince.”

“Leaving everything else aside, do you think we should report the incident last night to the First Prince?”

“Which one are you referring to? The loss of those winter clothes or the person the Second Prince kept in his tent?”