Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 432 - 431: Don’t Be Afraid

Zhu Yu gained experience and encouragement from her earlier small victory. Seizing the opportunity, she swiftly acted again, using her iron needles to kill the voracious giant rats.

These giant rats seemed to be of an unknown breed, possessing an almost insane craving for blood and meat. Even as their companions were impaled by Zhu Yu’s long iron needles and let out agonizing screams, they paid no attention, focusing only on devouring the corpses of their fellow rats right in front of them.

Zhu Yu felt a cold shiver in her chest, relieved by the rats’ gluttony yet simultaneously unsettled by their ferocity and greed.

After two consecutive successes, Zhu Yu became much more adept at her task. Whether driven by an instinct for survival or fear to the point of numbness, she no longer felt the initial disgust, fear, or repulsion as she killed the rats and grabbed them by their tails.

Holding a few dead rats in her hands, she moved forward. Whenever confronted by a charging rat, she tossed a dead one to temporarily distract them.

By repeatedly using this tactic, she managed to progress halfway. As Zhu Yu believed she could rely on this successful strategy to reach the tunnel’s end and begin the next trial, her plan finally encountered a problem.

This time, instead of the usual few rats, a "wave of rats" came rushing towards her—countless enormous rats crowded together, charging like a massive black wave.

Zhu Yu was startled by the scene. Realizing that this large group of rats was likely attracted by the increasingly intense scent of blood from the corpses of those she had killed along the way, she felt despair.

The result wasn’t ideal, but Zhu Yu had no other choice. Confronted with countless giant rats, she could only hurl the four heavy rat corpses in her hands at the wave, hoping to slow them down and hoping it would still work.

To her relief, the tactic was still effective.

The good news was, many rats turned to gnaw at the corpse.

The bad news was, those distracted rats were just a tiny fraction of the entire swarm.

Most of the giant rats continued their charge. Zhu Yu retrieved all the iron needles from her waistband, clenching them tightly in both hands. As the rats charged her, she swung the needles with all her strength to fend them off.

Some rats were injured, while others dodged. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

But more and more rats recklessly pounced persistently towards her.

Zhu Yu swung her arms desperately, but despite her resistance, the rats mounting onto her became increasingly numerous and heavy, eventually surpassing her body’s tolerable weight and pinning her to the ground.

She could no longer dislodge such a swarm of massive rats and had to switch to a defensive posture. She shielded her head and neck with her arms, avoiding exposing her vital areas to a fatal blow.

Pain from sharp claws and bites crept up her arms and legs, blending with her fear until it overwhelmed her limits of endurance. She switched to shielding her head with one hand while fiercely gripping an iron needle with the other, desperately thrusting it at the giant rats climbing onto her.

"Ah—!" she screamed, as if she was giving everything she had, using her cries to pump herself up.

The pain intensified, attacking her body in relentless waves. As Zhu Yu continued her feverish defense, a chill of sadness crept into her mind, "Could this be where I eventually fall...?"

The chaotic cacophony of the rats’ cries drowned out all other sounds, leaving Zhu Yu unable to hear clearly.

However, amid the noise, she sensed something unusual in the rats’ screams, that amidst the bloodthirsty squeals, chaos mixed with screams of anguish, and something else mingled in that sound, something not belonging to the rats.

The pain sharpened, increasing until something caught her intuitive eye; the number of rats pinning her seemed to be dwindling, their collective weight on her lightening, and the suffocating pressure steadily eased.

Through the gaps between the rats, she seemed to glimpse a figure drawing closer, ever nearer.

The figure approached with increasing proximity, a long sword in hand, cutting down the rats into halves. Blood and flesh splattered onto the figure, but they remained undeterred, pressing forward.

Zhu Yu’s consciousness started to blur. In a haze, she saw a face she thought belonged to Lu Qing appearing, blood-stained and fierce, looking as if it could devour, but somewhere in those eyes lay a deeply hidden terror.

Could this be... what they say about seeing the one who matters most to you at the moment of death?

Such thoughts fluttered amid the dense fog in Zhu Yu’s mind, and then all went blank.

Plunged into endless darkness, she found herself in a state neither bright nor indistinct, a realm of floating and sinking, feeling as though she could be blown to the skies by a gust, yet weighed down by a massive invisible anchor, leaving even minor movements of her limbs unattainable.

Amid this bewildering haze, she revisited images of her life across two lifetimes, scene by scene, and after an indeterminate time, her awareness gradually sharpened. Her eyelids quivered and cracked open with a dry, painful effort.

Before her hung a canopy, the air rich with medicinal fragrances.

Zhu Yu’s heart jolted—had Nanny Shi brought her back to the Little Mountain Building?

Fright filled her mind, her senses flaring back to clarity as she attempted to rise and survey her surroundings, only to feel intense pain coursing through her entire body with each movement.

As Lu Qing entered the room from outside, he saw Zhu Yu, still a bit groggy, struggling mightily to sit up, quickly setting down his items. He stepped forward purposefully, delicately supporting her shoulders to prevent her further exertion.

"Don’t be afraid, it’s me." His voice so soft and gentle it seemed like he feared even a slightly louder tone might scare Zhu Yu’s spirit away, "You’re still injured, you can’t move around, or else all the treatment will go to waste!"

Zhu Yu, hearing Lu Qing’s voice, calmed slightly and then focused on Lu Qing right before her.

He looked somewhat bedraggled, with several not fully healed wounds on his face, thankfully not deep, already scabbed over. His lips lined with stubble, his eyes bloodshot with fatigue.