Chapter 320: The Mystery of the Underground Palace

When He Yuzhu returned to the foot of the mountain, he saw Tian Dan pacing back and forth anxiously.

"Why were you gone so long?"

He Yuzhu caught his breath and replied, "This temple is truly too large, with rooms everywhere. After my detailed inspection, I discovered that this is indeed the stronghold of Officer You. I even found several guns inside the belly of the Buddha statue in the main hall."

Tian Dan pondered for a moment and said, "Besides the guns, what other evidence proves this is Officer You's lair?"

"I captured two people, and I'm bringing them back right now." After saying this, he quickly ran behind a large rock and released those two young monks from his space.

He Yuzhu carried one in each hand, walking back as if he were holding little chickens.

"Great, I'll go interrogate them right now," Tian Dan said.

He Yuzhu asked, "Dan, you don't intend to stay here tonight, do you? It's a desolate mountain wilderness; you'll surely freeze."

Tian Dan smiled, "I have already sent people to find two reliable local families nearby. A few people will stay here to keep watch tonight, and the others will return to the village with me to stay."

The locals were very hospitable; the *kang* in the room was burning warm, and they had even specially prepared a fire basin.

He Yuzhu sat down by the edge of the *kang* and said to Tian Dan, "Sister, I'm too tired these past two days; don't come to me for the interrogation of the prisoners."

Tian Dan pursed her lips and smiled, "Others are getting married, yet you're the one exhausted?"

Upon hearing this, He Yuzhu immediately cried foul, "Dan, if you're going to say that, you must reimburse me. You know that I paid for those 30 banquet tables. Later, Zhao Yingzi said I ruined her wedding and demanded five million from me. Adding it all up, it's nine million five hundred thousand. You must reimburse me for this money! I did it all to catch secret agents!"

"I don't have any money; go ask your Sister Liu for reimbursement!" Tian Dan turned and left.

"She won't talk to me now!" He Yuzhu said.

"That's your business!"

He Yuzhu shouted behind her, "You can't keep making me pay out of my own pocket!"

Early the next morning, He Yuzhu was woken up.

Tian Dan stood at the doorway urging, "Get up quickly, we are moving out immediately."

He Yuzhu walked out of the room and looked toward the outside of the village; it was a sea of black heads. He couldn't help but click his tongue, "Sister, isn't it just catching twenty people? You've brought over a thousand people; isn't this formation a bit too much?"

Tian Dan's expression was stern as she shook her head, "Too much? The temple originally had over five hundred monks, and today is the fifth day of the month; there are countless pilgrims burning incense. If the secret agents mix into the crowd, how will you distinguish who is who?"

He Yuzhu nodded in realization, "There are so many pilgrims today; why not change the date?"

"We cannot delay any longer," Tian Dan said with a grave tone. "They lost two people, so they must already be suspicious. If it weren't for the patrol reporting that no one had left, I would have suspected they had already escaped."

"It was my thinking that was too simple; I shouldn't have captured those two people," He Yuzhu felt some regret for alerting the enemy.

"Capturing them was actually quite useful. The intelligence obtained is that this Officer You was once the junior martial brother of Abbot Huiming. Later, unwilling to be a monk, he joined the army and subsequently joined the Military Statistics Bureau. When Beiping was peacefully liberated, he infiltrated back into the temple. Abbot Huiming thought he had truly seen through the vanity of the world and took him in. Those twenty-plus people are the Apprentices he took in; they are actually all secret agents."

"Then how do you plan to capture them today?" He Yuzhu asked.

"I have already coordinated with my superiors. Today, the organization has already sent people into the temple to conduct political study. Later, I will have the army enter and surround the dining hall to interrogate them one by one. You keep a close watch for me; absolutely do not let another hostage situation like the one at the Siheyuan happen again," Tian Dan instructed solemnly.

"Don't worry, Sister, that kind of thing will never happen again."

When the army surrounded the dining hall, the monks inside did not show any panic.

Tian Dan walked up to Abbot Huiming and handed over a portrait, "Abbot, this person is a Nationalist secret agent. We have come to capture him today; we hope for your cooperation."

Abbot Huiming raised his eyes to look at the portrait and said calmly, "I am afraid they have already run away."

"What? Why did they run?" Tian Dan pressed.

"If not for the owner telling me today, I would not have known that Junior Brother Yuanzhi was a secret agent. Half a month ago, he took a group of Apprentices to go out as itinerant monks. I didn't expect them to return after only half a month. I felt something was wrong and questioned him closely, but he refused to say anything. Last night he discovered two Apprentices were missing, and this morning he and those Apprentices of his were all gone..."

"What else do you know?" Tian Dan asked.

Abbot Huiming pointed to a young monk, "These are all things he told me!"

Tian Dan looked at the young monk who was not very old, "How did you discover it?"

The young monk replied timidly, "There were four of us living in the meditation room. One junior brother discovered that the other two junior brothers hadn't returned at night, so he went to find Junior Martial Uncle Yuanzhi, but he didn't return all night either. I went to report to the Abbot this morning, and when we counted the heads, we, we discovered they..."

Upon hearing this, He Yuzhu knew they had come in vain today. But there were patrols on the only path out of the mountain; how could they have escaped? Perhaps they were still hiding in the temple.

He walked to Tian Dan's side and whispered, "Dan, this temple is said to have nine hundred and ninety-nine and a half rooms... perhaps there is a secret chamber or a tunnel leading outside."

Tian Dan pondered for a moment, "I will immediately withdraw the army from the mountain and block the intersections. You must be very careful yourself."

He Yuzhu nodded, walked out of the dining hall, and immediately activated the Scanning System.

He first went to the main hall, seeing many pilgrims kowtowing and over ten monks maintaining order.

He scanned the main hall and it showed that the monks there were not secret agents. He immediately walked out of the main hall, turned into the inner courtyard, and inspected carefully.

Time passed slowly, and the continuous use of the Scanning System consumed a great deal of He Yuzhu's mental energy. Soon, he felt dizzy and could barely hold on.

There was no other way; He Yuzhu could only find a place where no one was, flashed into his space, and slept for an hour to recover his energy.

He continued to search the remaining half of the temple, looking through every meditation room and hall, large and small, but found no trace of the secret agents.

Since there were no secret chambers in the rooms of the temple, he would go to the Talin side to take a look. That was where he captured the secret agents yesterday; perhaps there would be more gains. As He Yuzhu was walking through the Talin, he suddenly scanned and discovered that the underground palace beneath one of the pagodas was exceptionally spacious.

He looked left and right to see no one, then quickly entered the pagoda. The Scanning System showed a hidden door on one of the walls.

He Yuzhu felt around carefully and finally found the mechanism. He pulled hard on a stone slab, and the door to the underground palace slowly opened.

He sniffed; there was no musty smell in the air, but rather a dampness—this indicated that someone had entered recently.

He turned on his flashlight and carefully descended along the slippery stone steps.

After walking about a hundred steps, a stone door appeared before his eyes.

The stone door was left ajar. He Yuzhu pushed it open gently, and the view before him suddenly opened up; it was a huge natural rock cave.

The sound of dripping water came from the top of the cave, and there were trickling streams on the ground.

He Yuzhu distinguished the direction and discovered that this water flow was likely connected to the "Longtan" in the temple.

He held his flashlight and groped his way forward along the rock cave.

The terrain gradually rose; it seemed this rock cave led to the mountain above.

After walking another two or three *li*, there was unexpectedly no path ahead.

"Could it be that those secret agents didn't escape from here?" He Yuzhu felt suspicious.

He observed carefully to the left and right, and after searching for a long time, he suddenly discovered that a section of the rock wall was exceptionally smooth.

Leaning in to look closely, there were many tiny protrusions on the stone wall, and one could climb to the top by following these bumps.

At the top of the cave, there was a narrow hole that only allowed one person to pass through.

"Finally found a clue, let's see where you spies can run to now?" He Yuzhu said excitedly.