[Quick Transmigration] Black Lotus Upgrade System - Chapter 5

In the evening, the general’s estate was a scene of song and dance.

If one did not know this was a military general’s residence, they might have mistaken it for some luxurious karaoke lounge.

Muxing held back an eager Yu Xingliang, his tone overflowing with worry: “Lele, do not push yourself.”

Yu Xingliang patted Muxing’s hand reassuringly: “It is fine, don’t worry. I have seen many spy thrillers like this, this won’t stump me.”

Muxing didn’t quite understand what Zheng Lele was talking about, but time was pressing, and he didn’t want to dwell on it: “Lele, remember this. If escaping proves difficult, you must find a way to stall for time and get Fanshenggang isolated. Whenever this scoundrel is in high spirits, if you use shyness or some other excuse, he will definitely dismiss his attendants. Only then will I have a chance to rescue you.”

Trusting Muxing completely, Yu Xingliang smiled and nodded: “Don’t worry, I’m just going in to ask around. Whether I’ll even run into Fanshenggang is uncertain, so don’t scare yourself beforehand.”

With a worried expression, Muxing handed Yu Xingliang a bamboo tube about the thickness of a fountain pen.

“What is this?” Yu Xingliang took it, intending to examine it closely.

“Do not open it!” Muxing stopped him: “This is a signal flare. When you find Xiaotao, or if you want me to take you away, pull it.”

Fascinated, Yu Xingliang fiddled with it: “You even have such high-tech stuff? Haha, this really is just like shooting a movie.”

“Shooting what?”

“Hehe, nothing at all.” Yu Xingliang obediently put the signal flare away.

“Lele, this is no game, you must be extremely careful.”

“All right.” Seeing how worried Muxing was about him, Yu Xingliang felt immensely happy. He reached out and pinched Muxing’s cheek: “I’ll be back very soon, I’m super clever.”

With that, he turned around cheerfully and left, leaving Muxing standing frozen in place.

Yu Xingliang clenched his hands together in delight: Score! Even though there was hair in the way, I still touched Muxing’s face. It was so smooth!

Approaching the general’s estate, a dense stench of alcohol mixed with the scent of rouge was enough to make anyone dizzy.

Enduring the nausea, Yu Xingliang imitated a movie star, swaying seductively as he approached the drunk gate guards.

The two guards on duty today were one tall and one short, both looking somewhat tipsy.

“Big brothers~” Yu Xingliang pinched his waist and smiled sweetly: “Are you two having a great time today?”

The tall guard narrowed his eyes and looked Yu Xingliang over carefully. Probably because Yu Xingliang was wearing a long dress, combined with the alcohol, the tall guard mistook him for a dancer invited to the party.

“Go on inside. The general is happy today marrying his eighth concubine, so there’s plenty in it for you.”

“The eighth concubine?” Yu Xingliang put on a dainty voice: “When did he find an eighth concubine? I hadn’t heard anything about it before.”

The short guard swayed, looking somewhat unstable on his feet: “Why are you asking about that? The general may be a womanizer, but his standards are high! The concubines must be pure maidens. As for you, you’ll just be dancing for the general, nothing more than a plaything.”

Yu Xingliang let out an intentional huff and swayed step by step through the main gates into the estate.

Behind a lush tree directly opposite the main gates, a group of villagers from Langya Village had gathered.

Uncle Dong said happily: “Zheng Lele made it inside successfully!”

The villagers broke into cheers.

Only Muxing kept his eyes lowered, showing not a shred of joy.

In Zheng Lele’s memories of the estate’s layout, there were only two paths: one leading to the main hall, and the other leading to the side room where he had been kept under house arrest.

Following Zheng Lele’s memories, Yu Xingliang quickly located the side room.

Bright red silk fabrics stimulated the nervous system of Zheng Lele’s body. Yu Xingliang rubbed his brow, recovering uncomfortably from the dizziness.

After a careful observation, he noted that this side room was guarded even more strictly than the main gates.

Just as Yu Xingliang was feeling troubled, he happened to look up and see a line of maids carrying trays of fruit and pastries.

It looked like they were heading toward the side room.

Remembering martial arts masters from television dramas, Yu Xingliang figured he only needed to strike the back of the neck of the last maid, causing her to instantly faint. Then, he could seamlessly swap clothes with her.

Hehe, he could successfully sneak in, hide away when the rest of the maids came out, and finally rescue the imprisoned Xiaotao smoothly!

After formulating his plan, feeling full of confidence, Yu Xingliang sprang into action.

However, ideal expectations always differ from reality. When Yu Xingliang crept stealthily behind the last maid, before he could strike, a woman’s intuition made her turn around in advance.

Eyes locked, and the world went quiet.

“I’m sorry,” Yu Xingliang apologized inwardly, deciding to strike first by giving the maid a chop to the neck.

“Ouch!” Who would have thought the maid wouldn’t faint, but instead let out a loud scream.

Panicking, Yu Xingliang wondered why it wasn’t working like in imagination. Was his strength not enough?

“Ouch! Someone’s hitting me!” The maid’s fruit tray dropped to the ground, successfully drawing the attention of everyone present.

Yu Xingliang forced a wry smile: “Television shows really are all fake…”

“Seventh concubine!”

Following the voice, Yu Xingliang saw that the person calling him was the lead maid, who looked to be in her early forties.

In Zheng Lele’s original memories, this woman was the one who delivered meals during his house arrest, and also the person who had summoned Fanshenggang when he tried to escape.

Zheng Lele remembered her name from his mind: Juan Gu.

“Have you been here in the estate all this time?” Juan Gu said cheerfully: “Or could it be that because the general is marrying another concubine, you got jealous and came back?”

Watching Juan Gu’s mocking expression, Yu Xingliang felt a stifled ache in his chest.

“Somebody come here~~” Seeing that Zheng Lele remained as silent and unresponsive as before, Juan Gu rolled her eyes disdainfully: “Quickly escort the eighth concubine inside.”

Yu Xingliang successfully made it into the side room after all, though unlike his imagined sneak-in, he was carried in by force.

The burly guards of the estate tossed Yu Xingliang onto the floor like a sack of trash and locked the door mercilessly.

Awkwardly picking himself up from the floor, Yu Xingliang felt a sharp pain in his knees.

“Why are these people as boorish as the bodyguards Fan Zixi hired!” After groaning in pain for a moment, he suddenly felt someone staring at him. Yu Xingliang turned his head and locked eyes with a pair of bright, almond-shaped eyes.

The young girl was dressed in wedding attire with her hair done up, which looked completely out of place against her youthful, tender face.

“Xiaotao?” Yu Xingliang called out softly to the girl.

The girl was holding a broken piece of porcelain, pointing it at Yu Xingliang like a dagger.

Quickly sitting up to straighten his appearance, Yu Xingliang said, “Xiaotao, don’t be afraid, I am here to save you. I came from Langya Village.”

Whatever word triggered her, Xiaotao lunged forward fiercely, brandishing the broken porcelain shard to slash at Yu Xingliang.

Startled, Yu Xingliang rolled backward and managed to dodge it just in time.

“Xiaotao, don’t get excited, I am here to rescue you!” Yu Xingliang leaped up quickly and grabbed a chair to hold in front of him as a shield.

Xiaotao’s face flushed red with anger as she cursed loudly, “Hypocrite! It’s all fake, everything is completely fake!”

Unsure why Xiaotao was reacting this way, and genuinely afraid she might hurt herself or him, Yu Xingliang mustered his courage and lunged forward to grab the porcelain shard from her hand.

Seeing Yu Xingliang rush toward her, Xiaotao instinctively protected her head, but didn’t expect that the other person had no intention of harming her.

Carefully snatching the porcelain shard away, Yu Xingliang tossed it straight into a corner.

Already cracked, the porcelain shattered into pieces upon colliding with the wall.

Slowly lifting her head with crystal-clear tears hanging on her face, Xiaotao stared blankly at Yu Xingliang:

“I have seen you before.”

Relieved to see Xiaotao calm down, Yu Xingliang asked, “Is that so? Probably back in Langya Village.”

Xiaotao shook her head: “No, it was when the tailor named Zheng brought you to this general’s estate. I saw you. You kept your head down the whole time, looking terrified.”

Yu Xingliang searched carefully through Zheng Lele’s memories, but found no record of having seen Xiaotao.

“So you were already out on external procurement back then?” Yu Xingliang thought for a moment: “That’s not right, didn’t you go out this time in place of Aunt Tao?”

Xiaotao chuckled softly and muttered under her breath, “To think they lied to you like that…”

Not hearing Xiaotao’s words, Yu Xingliang focused on inspecting the room. All the windows were sealed shut, and sturdy guards stood watch outside the main door. Escaping from here seemed practically impossible.

“Juan Gu said she went to find Fanshenggang. We’d better escape before she brings him back.”

“Oh.”

Realizing he had just stated the obvious, Yu Xingliang scratched the back of his head awkwardly: “Xiaotao, we aren’t completely out of hope yet. They couldn’t possibly seal up the entire house with concrete, right? As long as there is a single gap, we still have a chance…”

Mid-sentence, Yu Xingliang caught sight of a rectangular ventilation window near the ceiling and his eyes lit up instantly: “Look! Isn’t hope right there!”

“Xiaotao, look over there, there’s a ventilation opening.”

Following Yu Xingliang’s excited pointing, Xiaotao looked up, then let out a disappointed sigh: “That vent isn’t even the size of your head, we can’t possibly squeeze through there.”

“We might not be able to get through, but my signal flare can!” Happily holding the signal flare up in front of Xiaotao, Yu Xingliang was met with no joy from the girl; instead, her brow furrowed tightly.

Thinking the young girl was just stunned with happiness, Yu Xingliang busied himself pushing a table over and stacking a chair on top to climb up to the vent and deploy the signal flare.

“The person who gave you that signal flare probably didn’t want you to set it off right here,” Xiaotao spoke up suddenly.

Yu Xingliang turned his head: “Huh?”

“This signal flare was given to you by that yellow-haired brat, right?” Xiaotao’s body trembled slightly: “Do you really think he wants to rescue you? Isn’t this just jumping out of one fire pit and into another?”

Confused, Yu Xingliang asked, “What are you talking about? Don’t you want to go back to Aunt Tao, who raised you?”

“I don’t!” Xiaotao answered with absolute certainty: “She is a monster. Everyone in that village is a monster.”

Looking at the signal flare in his hand and then back at Xiaotao, Yu Xingliang asked, “Xiaotao… are you suffering from shock, so you’re…”

“Don’t be a fool, the people in that village are just using you.” Breaking down completely, Xiaotao burst into tears: “The reason I got trapped here in the first place is because Uncle Dong sold me to Fanshenggang!”