Time passed quickly, and before long it was noon. C.C. and Rulu loaded a rge heap of purchases into a cart and made their way to a restaurant near the shopping center for lunch. Suddenly, sirens wailed outside, and a long procession of military vehicles rolled past on the road beyond the restaurant windows.

  Rulu looked out through the gss and saw that some of the vehicles were cargo trucks, while others were armored fighting vehicles loaded with rockets. The column was enormous — it took nearly half an hour for the entire convoy to pass.

  "That many vehicles all at once — something big must have happened." C.C. gazed in the direction of the street, deep in thought.

  "It's probably connected to st night." Rulu said, his mind turning back to the previous night. He had gone to find Prince Suwen to investigate the murder of his mother and sister, only to have his whereabouts exposed and his assassination attempt end in failure. This commotion was most likely triggered by that very incident.

  "What happened st night?" C.C. asked.

  Given C.C.'s unique identity — and the fact that she already knew he was a prince — Rulu told her about his attempt on Prince Suwen's life. After hearing him out, C.C. said, "So all those troops that just passed could well be coming after you, Rulu?"

  "That's possible," Rulu said. "Though they might also be after you, C.C. We can ask around once we're outside."

  After finishing lunch, the two left the restaurant and stepped out onto the street. Rulu looked around and spotted a Sanctuary soldier on patrol nearby. He immediately raised his hand and called out, "Hey, soldier — excuse me!"

  "What is it?" The soldier walked over, eyeing Rulu with a puzzled look.

  Rulu removed his bck-framed gsses, and a strange light flickered in his eyes as he fixed his gaze on the soldier's. "May I ask — has something happened in Blue Sea City? Why were there so many troops moving through here just now?"

  The soldier blinked at Rulu's stare, then broke into a friendly smile and answered directly:

  "Oh, you've asked the right person — I happen to know all about this. Apparently, st night the new Governor, His Highness Prince Suwen, was attacked by an assassin. Although His Highness came out unharmed, he was badly shaken, and General Feihu, who was responsible for protecting him, sustained minor injuries.

  General Feihu suspects st night's assassination attempt is linked to the Rebels. He's issued orders to tighten security across all of Blue Sea City, conduct a city-wide search for all suspicious persons, and mobilize a rge number of troops to unch a full-scale campaign against the Rebel organizations operating outside the city. All those troops you just saw were heading out to suppress the Rebels beyond the city."

  "I see. By the way, have you heard anything about a young woman with green hair?" Rulu asked.

  The soldier thought for a moment, then said, "There's something, though it's not really about the green hair specifically. Word from above is that we're to pay particur attention to young women in Blue Sea City between the ages of seventeen and twenty. If we come across any young woman whose identity can't be verified, we're to detain her immediately, photograph her, and send the photo to General Feihu or Prince Suwen at the earliest opportunity."

  "Understood. Thank you — you can carry on." Rulu said. The soldier turned and walked away around a corner, heading off down another street.

  "Look what you've brought on yourself with st night's little adventure." C.C. emerged from behind a nearby billboard and fell in beside Rulu — she had heard everything the soldier said.

  "It's fine. They probably don't know who the assassin was, or they wouldn't be pointing the finger at the Rebels." Rulu furrowed his brow and said slowly, "Wait — if they're really going to move against the Rebels outside the city, Captain Guan and the others might be in danger. I have to find a way to warn them."

  With that in mind, Rulu found a public telephone booth nearby and dialed the number Captain Guan had given him.

  The call connected. A man's voice came through on the other end: "Hello, this is the Dadong Hotel in Haitian Town. How may I help you?"

  Rulu deliberately roughened his voice and said: "Please pass a message to one of your guests — a guest surnamed Huang. Tell him that many people in Blue Sea City are coming after him, and that he and his companions should flee immediately in the direction away from the city — the sooner the better. If they dey, their lives will be in danger."

  There was silence on the other end for a few seconds, then the man spoke in a low, careful tone: "May I ask who's calling, and what your connection is to the guest named Huang?"

  Rulu said, "Just tell him it's the young Magic-Psionic he met a few days ago. He'll understand."

  "Understood." The man on the other end said this and hung up promptly.

  "What do we do now?" C.C. said.

  "Let's head back first. I'm worried it might not be entirely safe for Nana to be home alone." Rulu said with a look of concern. He and C.C. hurried back, keeping to quiet, deserted back nes as much as possible to avoid the Sanctuary's troops.

  Despite their best efforts to steer clear of soldiers, they were stopped for inspection twice. Each time, Rulu relied on his Spiritual-power to take control of the soldiers and get through.

  Just over two hours ter, once certain they hadn't been followed, Rulu and C.C. returned to the secret house in the cemetery woods. The moment he stepped inside, Rulu sensed something was off — the furniture seemed to have been shifted, and there were scattered footprints on the floor.

  The two went down into the underground room, where they found Nana sitting on the living room sofa. The instant she saw Rulu and C.C. appear, Nana leapt to her feet, fixing them with a startled, frightened look.

  "What happened? What's wrong — did someone come into the house while we were out?!" Rulu saw at once that Nana's expression wasn't right and pressed her immediately.

  Nana said in an armed voice: "Yes — around noon today I heard the doorbell ring, so I went to the monitoring room to check. I saw Uncle Chen and two men who looked like soldiers come into the house. The two soldiers walked all around, as though searching for something — they went through everything."

  "That actually happened. It seems this pce isn't entirely safe after all." Rulu said with a worried look, then turned back to Nana. "This Uncle Chen you mentioned — is that the older man surnamed Chen, the caretaker and person in charge of this cemetery?"

  Nana nodded. "Yes, that's him. I've only met Uncle Chen a handful of times as a child, but I'd never mistake him. He and my father knew each other. They didn't keep in regur contact, but they'd always been on good terms behind the scenes."

  Rulu thought for a moment and said: "I see. Given that Uncle Chen is the caretaker and person in charge of this cemetery, and was privately on good terms with Mayor Qiao, this house was most likely obtained through him on the Mayor's behalf. Uncle Chen almost certainly knows this house has a basement. The fact that he didn't tell the soldiers about it means he was covering for us."

  Nana said: "I thought the same thing. From the monitoring footage, I could see Uncle Chen talking to the two soldiers the whole time, and slipping them a good sum of money. The soldiers had a cursory look around the house without turning much over, found nothing, and then left together with Uncle Chen."

  Hearing this, Rulu let out a breath of relief. "That's good to know. Even if Uncle Chen is aware we're living here, he clearly doesn't mean us any harm. We should still be safe staying here."