Chapter 015: Operation Thunderbolt

  The night was dark and mysterious, but the moon, which had been hiding behind thick clouds, slowly emerged, its light growing brighter and illuminating the peaceful and serene streets of Shengdu. A sheet of silvery white light spilled down.

  In ordinary times, Shengdu was not subject to curfew, but now it's wartime and an extraordinary period. Everyone in every household consciously obeyed the orders of the Magistrate of Shengdu and returned home obediently. After all, at this moment, no one had any mood for entertainment anymore. And all of this brought convenience to Qing Xia's actions.

  Shengdu Tianlao, located in a desolate area east of the city. Next to it is the Shengdu Military Camp, with its back against the river, occupying an extremely advantageous geographical position. For Qing Xia, who was used to modern infrared rays, cameras, closed-circuit television monitors and other high-tech anti-intrusion technologies, as well as skyscrapers over 100 meters tall, this ancient metropolis seemed like an unguarded amusement park. The only things that needed to be guarded against were the soldiers on watch and the keen-nosed hunting dogs. All of this seemed child's play.

  Qing Xia crouched under the tall city wall outside the Tianlao, calmly taking out a rope and estimating the height of the wall. Not bad, Chu Li still had some skills, just looking at this wall, there was enough safety factor. In this technologically backward ancient times, few walls were built so high, Qing Xia took a glance and lowered his head, about 15 meters, no problem. The surrounding trees had indeed been cut down for safety, to prevent anyone from sneaking in. Qing Xia's gaze swept to a slightly farther place, where there was a tall pole over 30 meters high, with the Phoenix flag of South Chu hanging on it.

  Qing Xia Mao jumped onto the beam, quickly ran to the side of the beam, stretched out her body. She grabbed the smooth beam with one hand and then agilely climbed up.

  Don't blame the people of South Chu for being careless. Because such a thin beam, basically no one can climb up, let alone the fact that the beam is more than ten meters away from the city wall, ordinary people simply cannot use it to climb over the wall. However, unfortunately, Qing Xia was not among these ordinary people. Suddenly, the slender beam shook violently, and Qing Xia's feet exerted force in an instant. A light and agile figure flew out of the beam and fell towards the city wall. The distance of more than ten meters was covered in an instant. When the black shadow approached the top of the city wall, it suddenly stretched out its hand.

  Agile and silent, Qing Xia crouched on the city wall like a lynx, vigilantly scanning the surroundings. The high wall allowed her to see the entire Tian Lao in an instant, with two dark sentries not far away to her left front, two teams of horsemen patrolling near the main road, and who knows how many hidden outposts in the dense grass ahead. This route was impassable, Qing Xia quickly calculated the position in her mind. She made up her mind, grabbed the rope tied to the beam earlier, and pulled it over the wall, forming a beautiful descending rope ladder. Without this, there would be no foothold, and the 15-meter height would have been enough to leave Qing Xia dead or crippled.

  The loach generally made a quick dash down, and Qing Xia threw the rope up, which fell outside the wall, leaving only one thin thread that was so fine it couldn't be detected by anyone, remaining inside the wall.

  The building of the Tianlao Prison was in a linear shape, with Qing Xia's slender figure leaning against a wall, looking outwards. Only a few guards were seen patrolling at the front gate, and even the windows behind had two armored soldiers standing guard. The strict vigilance everywhere revealed that this place was not ordinary. Qing Xia put away her curiosity and thought to herself, "For now, I'm still on the periphery, it's not suitable to alarm them unnecessarily."

  After carefully observing the surroundings for a while, Qing Xia chose a window on the second floor on the west side. Apparently, the people here thought that was the second floor, which was relatively high, so they didn't send anyone to guard it. However, the height of less than eight meters was too trivial for Qing Xia. She glanced around and suddenly heard from the direction of seven o'clock that a group of guards were rapidly approaching, presumably an ambush in the bushes. Qing Xia frowned, no longer hesitating, her feet suddenly exerted force, and she ran towards the wall, about to crash into it. Just as she was about to hit the wall, Qing Xia lifted her foot and kicked against the wall with great force, her body propelled upward by inertia, leaping high in an instant. In three strides, just as she was losing strength, she stretched out both hands and grabbed onto the windowsill above.

  Qing Xia's body was suspended in mid-air, one pull-up and his head emerged. The window was dark, but it was still possible to judge from the sound that there was no one inside. At this time, the footsteps below had already reached the corner, and with a sudden burst of force, his body suddenly flipped in, while at this moment, several well-trained footsteps had just arrived under the window.

  "Hei, there's no one." a soldier said in a puzzled and hushed tone.

  "Wasn't it just now?" Another voice chimed in.

  The people below searched around the wall and a slightly hoarse voice whispered: "It's really weird, I saw a black shadow flashing on the wall when I was relieving myself just now, but it disappeared. That figure was quite slender, probably a woman."

  "Come on, Hyōe, it's so dark and you can tell if they're women or not?"

  "Of course, I'm quite skilled at this. When it comes to men, my judgment is just so-so, but when it comes to women, I can tell with just one look. This is all thanks to years of practice with your sister-in-law," the man said proudly in a loud voice.

  "Alright, it's even more impossible to say that it was a woman. Which woman would be idle enough to run to our prison in the middle of the night? This place, not even a Jianghu knight-errant can get in."

  "Boss, isn't she a female thief?"

  "Damn it!" Heihachi shouted in a loud, rough voice, "You've been listening to too many stories! What's the point of having a female thief like you here? You're just a fool!"

  A group of people walked away with a murmur, and from far away, the little soldier who had previously suspected to be a female thief continued to say: "It can't be a female ghost, right?"

  Qing Xia wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, originally his profession had a special attack, no wonder he was discovered by that man. At this moment, his eyes had adapted to the darkness here, and after observing around, it seemed like a storage room. He stood up and felt his way to the door, opening it lightly, only to see a long corridor outside, with flickering lights and silence. A guard was standing at the corner, leaning on his spear, mouth open wide, with a line of white saliva hanging from his lips, clearly asleep.

  Carefully walking past the guard's side, the guard was having a good dream and didn't notice anything. Qing Xia turned around the corner, another long corridor, all around was dead silence, Qing Xia quickly ran to the end, behind a thick iron door, faintly came the sound of someone speaking softly. At this time, running back to the soldier's place earlier would not make it in time, let alone the two people's conversation behind the door might wake up the guard on duty. Turning around to see a hidden door beside the corridor, quickly approached and reached out to open the door.

  With a burst of force, the door didn't budge, and it was actually locked from the inside? Such locks were rare in this era, and even if they existed, they would be some kind of five-element lock that took a lot of time to open. Seeing the two people behind the door about to enter, Qing Xia couldn't help but tense up. She quickly pulled out a thin iron wire from her hair and inserted it into the keyhole.

  It's done, but it can't be opened!

  At this time, the sound behind the main gate of Xuan Tie was getting louder and louder, but the small hidden door next to it showed no signs of opening. Qing Xia's forehead began to sweat slightly. Suddenly, a mechanical click sounded! The door opened! Qing Xia was overjoyed, and the sound of the door opening also came from the direction of the main gate.

  Helpless, Qing Xia suddenly came up with an idea, one leg fiercely kicked against the big door, while her hands tightened the hidden lock of the small door!

  "What? Why can't I open it?" The person behind the gate asked in a low and puzzled tone.

  "What's going on? You're pushing hard." Another voice said, the tone was low and heavy, with a metallic ring, obviously a seasoned veteran.

  "Ka-chak!" A light sound, at this moment, it sounded like heavenly music to Qing Xia's ears. She quickly opened the small door and slipped inside, while also releasing the large door that was propped against her leg.

  Just as Qing Xia was about to open the small door, a heavy opening sound came from the big gate. Qing Xia didn't even dare to breathe. The person outside spoke in a low voice, "It's probably been a long time, and the door has rusted shut."

  Another person echoed in agreement: "It should be like this, if it weren't for Your Highness's vigilance, we would have sealed off the main gate and taken that unused side door which has been closed for years. Yesterday, those desperate Qi people might have really succeeded."

  Qing Xia was taken aback, could it be that the Qi people had come to Tianlao to rescue someone yesterday but failed. No wonder Chu Li has been busy lately and can't even see his shadow. He must have imprisoned the Qi prince, whose days are also not easy. Just thinking about this, suddenly the footsteps of those two approached, Qing Xia's scalp felt numb, no way, these two guys want to enter this room? It's too unlucky!

  "What? Why can't I open it again?" The person from before said with a puzzled tone, their voice somewhat urgent and flustered.

  "Is it you who took the wrong key?" The padlock was tightly locked with a wire by Qing Xia, and they certainly couldn't open it.

  "That person said with a somewhat depressed tone: 'No way, I didn't take it by mistake.'"

  "Never mind, let's go back and take a look again. Anyway, the meal has been sent over, it will still be smashed to pieces by him, no need to rush at this moment."

  The gate was opened once again, and the two of them walked away. Qing Xia's heart was filled with great joy, for he had discovered that the entrance to the prison where Prince An was being held was actually in this very house. After searching around carefully, he easily found the entrance - a clear underground passageway presented itself before his eyes. Qing Xia fixed the hidden door lock mechanism so that when the two men returned they wouldn't be able to open it and become suspicious, then he descended into the passageway.

  A blast of cold air hit her face. Qing Xia suddenly realized that this passage should lead directly underground, otherwise it wouldn't be so cold. The heavenly prison built by Nan Chou was indeed ingenious, the main gate didn't connect, the side door was also remote and difficult to find, the tall building was just a decoration, the real prison was underground. If not for her good luck today, she might have been fooled by them.

  Having walked over a thousand steps, Qing Xia secretly calculated that it was at least over 10 meters deep. Suddenly, the lights in front of her lit up brightly, and Qing Xia hid in the dimly lit passageway, looking towards a bright corridor, only to feel as if her heart had fallen into an icy abyss. She finally understood why Chu Li had been so cautious - this was where Prince An was being held captive. But wanting to get inside was harder than ascending to heaven.