Divorced woman with child travels through time

Chapter 545 Underground Iron Cage

"Shangguan, our restaurant has been operating here for decades, and we have absolutely no connection to Tongliao." The shop owner chuckled, nodding and bowing, hoping they would leave.

"This isn't something you can just dismiss as nothing," Zhang Biao's expression changed, and he roared menacingly, "Men, search them!"

The fierce young men were about to charge straight in, but none of the guests dared to move.

"Hey, wait!" The shop owner, nearing fifty, blocked their way again. Lin Er and Zhang Biao didn't move, and Song Qing walked around him, leading his men inside.

"Sir, could you grant us half an incense stick's time? Searching the shop is fine, but please don't disturb these distinguished guests! Is that alright?"

Lin Er didn't even glance at him, but gave Zhang Biao a wink, "Go!"

"You're probably just stalling for time! I've already surrounded this area; not even a bird will be able to fly out today!" Zhang Biao stepped forward, grabbed his clothes, and glared at him, saying, "Men! Keep an eye on them! Search them!"

"No, you can't!" The old shop owner cried and wailed, trying to stop them but to no avail. His men, under pressure from the soldiers, stood frozen, not daring to move.

A waiter carrying dishes had just come up from the kitchen when he saw this. He immediately put the dishes down in the covered corridor and ran away.

Lin Er, with his sharp eyes, noticed his predicament and guessed he had gone to inform someone. "Quick! That waiter!"

Even faster than him was Song Qing, who walked ahead.

The man in his forties was surprisingly agile. He grabbed the crossbeam of the covered corridor, flipped over, and then gracefully executed a double somersault, kicking the servant's leg and knocking him down. The soldiers who followed rushed forward and pinned him to the ground.

"Let's go!" Song Qing didn't stop walking, and without even glancing at the servant, he led his men straight to the kitchen.

The shop owner looked at all this with despair on his face, tapping his lower back with his fingers, wondering if he should just run away.

Lin Er looked at the crowd in the shop and said loudly, "Everyone, we are here to raid the Liao bandits. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. If anyone wishes to leave, please register here. You must have someone from the same city sign and affix their fingerprint as a joint witness before you can leave!"

As soon as he finished speaking, many people were eager to try it.

“Hehe, Lord Lin, I am a clerk from the Prefectural Office, and this is my colleague Yan Xuejiu. We can testify to each other.”

"Hehe, yes, yes." Two officials who knew Lin Er came over with smiles and signed the document.

Lin Er didn't make things difficult for them and smiled as he saw them off.

Once someone took the lead, many others corroborated this and quietly left. Whether intentional or not, the number of people indeed dwindled.

The shop owner became increasingly nervous.

Suddenly, shouts and curses came from inside: "Where do you think you're going!"

"Sir, I'll go take a look!" Worried that Song Qing might be taken advantage of, Zhang Biao said this and hurriedly left.

"Yes, I'll handle things outside!" Lin Er drew his longsword, exuding a murderous aura.

When he arrived at the kitchen, several servants were already lying dead on the floor, and many soldiers were guarding outside. When they saw him coming, they hurriedly said, "Lord Zhang, the entrance is too small. Only two brothers can go in at a time. Lord Song has taken his men in! He told us to guard here!"

"Okay, I'll go down and take a look!" Zhang Biao walked through the cabinet against the wall and into the damp and musty passage. The passage was low, and one had to duck to pass through. The two of them were a little crowded when they walked side by side, and their bodies were almost touching.

The passage wasn't long; after winding for a few hundred meters, it began to widen and rise until they reached a half-open door. Before the door was even opened, Zhang Biao and the others heard the sounds of fighting.

"You scoundrel!" Zhang Biao kicked open the door and stormed in, the wooden door swaying as if it were about to fall.

They were stunned when they went inside. The space was about the size of the restaurant above, but it contained dozens of iron cage-like cells, in which several disheveled and listless women were imprisoned.

In the middle of the iron cage were rows of chilling torture instruments, still stained with blood. Zhang Biao glanced at them before turning his head away. They were all dark and unsavory instruments, used on women. It seemed this place truly was a den of murderers.

Many women had already died or been injured next to the torture instruments. It was likely that Song Qing and his group had arrived and taken advantage of the situation to enter and shoot them directly with short crossbows.

At this moment, Song Qingzheng stepped on the head of the woman in green with a look of hatred on his face.

Strangely enough, all the women interrogating her were dressed in white, but she was dressed in green, so she must have been different.

"Speak! Who are you? Where did these women come from? Where are they being sent?" Song Qing thought of the inhuman treatment his daughter had also suffered, and he wanted nothing more than to tear the woman in front of him to pieces. He stomped harder and harder, and the woman's mouth immediately broke open, and blood flowed out.

"Mmm... Mmm..." The woman's mouth moved, but no sound came out.

"Old Song! Let her speak! Otherwise, she'll be trampled to death." Zhang Biao rushed over and shoved him aside.

Song Qingsong loosened his legs and turned his face away, not wanting anyone to see the embarrassment on his face.

"Tell me the truth, and I'll give you a quick death!" Zhang Biao grabbed her hair, turned her face up, and slapped her face with the knife. "Speak!"

The woman's delicate face was contorted with rage, her stubborn chin slightly raised. She spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva at him defiantly, "Pah!"

"Damn it!" Song Qing completely lost his patience, turned to the white-clad woman who was still groaning and not yet dead, and stabbed her in the chest with a knife. "Will you talk or not?"

"If you won't talk, just kill me!" The woman in green closed her eyes, looking like she was bravely offering her neck for execution.

"In that case, I'll grant your wish!" Song Qing killed another one.

"Uh!" The woman seemed to be very close to Yu Lüyi. Even as she was about to die, she moved closer to her and grabbed her clothes.

Tears streamed down the woman's face, but she never opened her eyes.

Zhang Biao coldly watched Song Qing kill them one by one. For those women who were being humiliated in the iron cages, these women of the Qinglan Sect died without any injustice.

When Song Qing killed the last one, the woman was trembling with fear, unlike the calm and collected Qinglan disciples.

"Don't kill me, don't kill me! I'm new here, I haven't done anything wrong!" she cried and begged, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing wildly.

Song Qing stopped what he was doing, pointed his sword at her, and said, "Then tell me what you know, whether you've done anything wrong. Those women can testify against you. If someone pleads for you, I can spare your life!"

"Okay, I, I'll tell you everything." The woman looked up and kowtowed, her head breaking, tears and snot streaming down her face.

"Her name is Qinglu! She's in charge here. They bring in a group of women every ten days and then take another group away. I don't know anything else about them."

"You bastard!" Qinglu suddenly sprang up and jumped at her, only to have her head chopped off by Zhang Biao with a single stroke.