Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

This kind of ciphering method was called the cutting path method, which was used in ancient military camps.

The lights in ancient barracks weren’t very bright, and the soldiers were mostly dressed the same way. With so many people unfamiliar with each other, they would have to say the password whenever they met. There were many kinds of passwords, and they were different each time, which made it difficult for the enemy to launch a raid.

It was unlikely that foreigners would use the cutting path method, so that meant Miss Dong must have been the one who taught them how to do it.

Zhang Haiyan judged how far he could retreat as he looked at the opponents’ submachine guns.

It was impossible for him to escape under such firepower no matter how good his physical skills were. And looking at the other people's behavior, he knew that they would shoot without hesitation if he couldn’t answer the question.

It was a simple, but very effective defensive measure. This Miss Dong was truly a ruthless character. It was only the first round, but he had underestimated the enemy once again.

Zhang Haiyan only had a second, so he made the best decision under the current circumstances. He scratched his own tongue with the blades in his mouth, and then forcefully squeezed out the blood. He coughed and spit out both the blades and the blood.

He then staggered and fell to the ground, letting the blood flow out along the corners of his mouth as he acted like he was having a seizure.

The group of guards was taken aback. They looked at each other for a while before they realized what had happened and all stood up.

Everyone was shocked to see that his mouth was full of blades. “What is this technique?” All the guards pulled the bolts on their guns.

The leading guard said, “Notify Mr. Warner.” As his subordinates immediately moved to obey, he continued, “Shoot anyone who approaches us more than ten meters.”

Everyone began moving to their own defensive positions. The leading guard looked serious as he glanced down at Steven. A deputy next to him asked, “Should we call the ship’s doctor over? In this situation, Steven shouldn’t be able to save himself.”

The leading guard touched Zhang Haiyan’s neck and asked softly, “Did you swallow any blades?”

Zhang Haiyan nodded, trying to act like the pain from having his tongue cut and swallowing blades was sending him into shock. Like this, he hoped he could be sent to the infirmary so that he could find a chance to run away.

The guard thought for a while, sighed, and then said, “You can’t call the ship’s doctor. He’s bait. He was sent here after his tongue was cut. If we call a ship’s doctor to come here, their people will definitely be mixed in among them. If we send him over to the infirmary, those escorting him are likely to get ambushed on the way over.”

Zhang Haiyan was stunned for a moment, and said to himself, big brother, what are you getting at? It’s completely wrong.

But the others were immediately persuaded and placed their hands on Zhang Haiyan, as if they were saying goodbye. The leading guard said to Zhang Haiyan, “Don't worry, brother. God will bless you. I will personally send you to rest in peace later.”

“Wait—wait a minute, I—”

The guards ignored him and started to move, while the so-called “notify Warner” person was knocking on the next door over.

The door opened, and more Americans walked out carrying carbines. Those Americans knocked on more doors, and then the corridor was suddenly full of Americans.

Zhang Haiyan broke out in cold sweat and thought to himself, I’ve made a fool of myself. No wonder those killers couldn’t make it here. The guards didn’t even try to assassinate people. The woman knew that someone was going to kill her, so she dug a trench here.

He was picked up, sent to a room, and placed on the sofa. Zhang Haiyan peeked around and found that the room was full of old drawings. He wondered what the owner’s job was.

He squeezed his tongue so hard that the blood kept flowing. Anyone who saw it would think he was dying. At this moment, he saw a fat white man coming out of the back room.

Even though Zhang Haiyan called him fat, he had seen a lot of people and knew that this wasn’t puffiness. If anything, this person was very burly so his little bit of fat made him look very big.

The man had a long beard, and was wearing what appeared to be made-to-order suspenders and a suit.

The leading guard lit a cigar for him and said, “Mr. Warner, he’s a goner.”

Don’t fucking jump to conclusions, dumbass. Zhang Haiyan thought angrily.

Warner took the cigar with piercing eyes, sat opposite Zhang Haiyan, and then said, “Steven, do you know what you should do now? Tell me what happened.”

“Help me.” Zhang Haiyan pretended to be weak. “A man with blades in his mouth had godlike skills and attacked me.”

Zhang Haiyan originally wanted to say, “He wants me to bring a message to Miss Dong. I’m not allowed to say anything until I get to see her in person.” But he thought about it and felt that it would be too dangerous if he took more risks in the current situation. If he died, Zhang Haixia wouldn’t be able to survive, either.

Get out of this situation first.

He changed his mind and said, “He wants to negotiate with you guys. I can take you to the designated place. He said he’ll find a way to keep me alive as long as I take you there.”

“Where is it?”

“Mr. Warner, he said that I must abide by the agreement and take you there. I dare not disobey him.” Zhang Haiyan stared at Warner’s eyes.

Warner thought for a while and said to the leading guard, “Hudson, did Mr. Steven just say ‘negotiate with you guys’ in that sentence? Mr. Steven has worked with us for many years. Grammatically, he should’ve said ‘negotiate with us’ after all, right?”

Zhang Haiyan broke out in a cold sweat all over and tried to suppress his surprise. It wasn’t that this foreigner was too smart, but that his way of thinking was really surprising.

Warner was looking for flaws in Zhang Haiyan’s language, but there was something particular about the way he tried to find flaws. People who said things like this knew about human skin masks.

This foreigner knew that there were such things as human skin masks in the world and was wondering if he was really Steven.

“I’m just repeating what the other party said,” Zhang Haiyan stalled.

Warner looked at Zhang Haiyan, touched his face suddenly, and then scolded, “Ridiculous. It’s really ridiculous. I can't believe that I fell for that woman’s nonsense. How could anyone in this world be able to change faces? That woman is really good at bewitching people.”

Hudson said, “Do you think she’s lying to scare us?”

“Asian people like to lie and act all mysterious.” Warner said. “We represent the advanced party. Most of these silly things are all smoke screens. Now I only believe in the thing she’s shown us since it validates the research I’ve conducted over many years. That building is located somewhere underground in Xiamen.”