My experience of grinding in another world

Chapter 129 Evacuation
The Prefectural Government Office in the inner city of Nanyang Prefecture.

In the dead of night, the prefectural government office, which should have been asleep, was brightly lit.

Old Ding, who was still half asleep on the flagpole, opened his eyes.

Looking down at his former colleagues, who were pacing back and forth in fear and unease.

In the distance, squads of soldiers, led by their squad leaders, rode out on fast horses, carrying torches.

He had never seen such a lively scene after hanging there for so many days.

Listen carefully, and you can vaguely hear that they seem to be looking for someone.

Zong Tai?

That bastard disappeared?!

what……

……

Main hall of the inner courtyard.

Chao Fang sat at the head of the table with a gloomy expression.

The long table at the party had already been removed.

"Brother, I followed the carriage tracks and found an empty house in the nearby streets."

“There are signs of a struggle inside, as well as several craters made by sticks, which are very likely to be soul-fixing stakes.”

There were drops of blood on the ground; it's unclear whether they belonged to my second brother or someone else.

Chao Fang frowned deeply: "Who exactly is opposing us?"

"Could it be Shangguan Ji?" Jia Xiang hesitated. "After all, he was the top official in Nanyang for twenty years. What if there are any hidden tricks within the city..."

“It’s not him.” Chao Fang shook his head: “Never mind, you should go to Beishi and take a look too.”

"The soul-stabilizing stake finally appeared there."

"Find Zongtai by all means, alive or dead!"

"Yes!" Jia Xiang clasped his hands in a salute, then turned and left.

Chao Fang watched Jia Xiang's departing figure, his fist clenched tightly beneath his sleeve.

"You made this kind of mistake at a crucial moment."

"More trouble than good!" Chao Fang said coldly.

"We need to figure out a way to forge another Soul-Stabilizing Pole..."

……

Taipei was sealed off by Chao Tianwang's army, and they searched every house. The whole night was chaotic.

Chen Mu, however, was not afraid at all.

With the Five Ghosts Bag, they easily dug an underground space five meters below the surface.

Four oil lamps illuminated the cellar brightly.

The Five Ghost Bags transport fresh air from the outside world for rapid replacement.

Light incense to mask the earthy smell.

Use two or three buckets of ice to cool it down.

The dark and stuffy cellar was instantly transformed into a bright and comfortable bedroom.

Then they quietly spread the excavated soil evenly in the surrounding dirt alleys.

Done!

Heshengtang was searched several times, but no one noticed Chen Mu.

He immediately felt relieved, and slept soundly until dawn, ignoring the commotion outside.

……

The next day, Jiejia gave his apprentices the day off early in the morning.

After they left, Chen Mu jumped out of the cellar and went into the kitchen to cook.

At the dinner table, Chen Mu, while eating fried dumplings, asked, "What were those people looking for last night?"

Jie Jia glanced at Chen Mu, "Don't you know what you're looking for?"
“Zong Tai, one of Chao Fang’s twelve Heavenly Generals,” Jie Jia said calmly.

"Finding someone in a place as big as Nanyang Prefecture is like finding a needle in a haystack. It's not going to be easy," Chen Mu said with a feigned sigh and a shake of his head.

"I'm in Taipei," Jiejia said.

Chen Mu's heart skipped a beat.

"Impossible!" The person clearly disappeared in Linhengfang.

Jie Jia looked at Chen Mu meaningfully: "Heh..."

Chen Mu gave an awkward smile and didn't dare to ask any more questions.

"The search will be concentrated in Taipei," Jiejia said, turning his gaze away.

Chen Mu narrowed his eyes.

"Is it that black stick?"

He killed Zongtai last night and ran away with a stick in his hand.

Halfway there, I realized that the stick might be related to the siege by ghosts.

He was afraid that this thing would attract evil spirits, so he almost threw it away.

Thinking it wouldn't hurt, I put it back into the Five Ghosts Bag. I wanted to have it appraised by Jie Jia.

"This even has GPS tracking?" I resisted the urge to immediately take it out and throw it away. I scattered the little paper figures around.

They constantly monitored the area around Heshengtang and fled immediately if any signs of being surrounded were detected.

……

Three days later, in the inner courtyard of the prefectural government office.

"When are we leaving?" Tu Shan bit off a piece of charcoal-grilled pork leg and chewed it heartily.

"Yes, it's time to go." Chao Fang leaned back in his chair, toying with his wine glass with his right hand.

"Without the Soul-Stabilizing Stake, will it affect the search for the Thousand Machine Token?" Tu Shan turned to look at Chao Fang.

"Just make one more." Chao Fang shook his head: "It's just that it's hard to find a suitable human stake."

"What do you think of me?" Tu Shan asked, eager to try.

Chao Fang chuckled: "I don't want to be attacked by a human stake." "Don't worry, we'll leave tomorrow. First, I'll find you the Thousand Machine Token."

Tu Shan nodded in satisfaction.

……

Heshengtang, next to the dining table.

Chen Mu picked up a piece of the secret-recipe roasted meat and put it in his mouth.

With a gentle bite, the perfectly balanced sweet and salty flavor, along with the soft and chewy texture, bursts in your mouth.

Chen Mu couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

"How is it?" Chen Mu raised an eyebrow at Jie Jia.

“It does taste a bit better.” Jie Jia squinted.

Chen Mu chuckled as the gray wall came into view.

Cooking skill: 56/10000/Tier 3;

Level 3 cooking skills, of course, make it taste even better.

He never deliberately honed his culinary skills; it was all the result of accumulated experience over time.

Chen Mu ate while experiencing the changes in culinary skills.

His Level 3 culinary skills made him more sensitive to flavors, more precise in controlling the heat, and also gave him a detailed understanding of the nutritional components of ingredients.

"I'm not a nutritionist. Knowing this is useless to me."

"However, it seems like it can enhance fasting... um, rice balls."

He is now eating more and more and urgently needs highly nutritious, small-volume foods.

Chen Mu's eyes lit up.

"It seems to be quite useful!"

……

"Chao Tianwang has withdrawn his troops. When are we leaving?" Chen Mu asked.

This morning, Chao Tianwang's men began to gradually leave the city.

Chen Mu also went to see the procession of that King Chao... well, he saw it from afar using a small paper doll.

The core leader, King Chao, and the twelve...eleven Heavenly Generals left the city early.

The rest of the supply and labor teams will leave by tomorrow night at the latest.

Moreover, some people discovered that the evil spirits had disappeared from outside the city three days ago.

Many people have already secretly fled Nanyang.

"No rush," Jie Jia said calmly.

The evil spirits are gone, but there's no guarantee they won't come back. The Ancestral Talisman is selling like hotcakes.

Chen Mu nodded. With the evil spirit gone and Chao Tianwang gone again, what was there for him to be afraid of?

He wouldn't have left if he hadn't felt that Nanyang was unstable.

"It seems the stick's aim wasn't very accurate either." Chen Mu came to his senses at this moment.

"Perhaps the Five Ghosts Bag blocked the detection." Chen Mu realized something.

"Then let it lie in the bag for now."

For the next few days, Chen Mu stayed in Hesheng Hall.

Maintain the Celestial Serpent Breathing Technique daily to improve proficiency.

He slowly flipped through the dozens of books he had tricked out of the prefectural government office.

Especially the book "Understanding Bones and Physiognomy".

The more he looked, the more he felt that the dark-skinned, skinny old man, Xing Laoliu, must have figured something out.

"No wonder he ran away so fast. He's a smart guy."

"Did you notice something amiss when you searched outside Jian'an Gate back then?" Chen Mu chuckled and shook his head.

He's a cunning old fox.

……

With King Chao gone and the evil spirits no longer guarding the city, many people in Nanyang Prefecture began to flee outside the city.

Many people took advantage of this lull to commit crimes.

But just five days later, order was restored in the market.

Because Shangguan Ji has returned.

He was accompanied by 8,000 elite soldiers from the Tangshan Camp.

The ruthless army swiftly took over Nanyang. They methodically quelled the chaos and restored order.

They opened the granaries to distribute grain and issued notices to reassure the civilians.

He reduced taxes for all industries for a year and hired laborers at high prices to repair the inner city.

The city of Nanyang quickly recovered its vitality.

……

Inside a private room on the third floor of Sihailou Restaurant in Fanlou District, Taipei.

Tu Shan devoured a roasted lamb leg, his hands and face covered in oil.

Chao Fang toyed with the wine cup, looking at the red dot on the bright yellow cloth in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh: "It seems it's really gone."

"Let's go quickly." Tu Shan said nonchalantly, "With this time, you could have refined a new one."

"Alright then." Chao Fang nodded helplessly.

"We can only look along the way for suitable towns."

"Where is the human stake?" Tu Shan asked.

"I found a Taoist priest in his forties, at the Wandering Soul Realm, just right."

"What a pity. I was hoping to be a human stake, rise up and successfully kill you," Tu Shan said regretfully. "That's what they say in storybooks. It's so interesting."

"Heh..." Chao Fang's lips curled up, and he chuckled nonchalantly.

(End of this chapter)