Chapter 74: A Trip to the Amusement Park, a Latent Crisis

The fourth day of the sixth month of the ninth year of Wude.

Xuanwumen.

He, accompanied by Zhangsun Wuji and Yuchi Jingde, shot his own brother and forced his own father to retreat.

That day, bloodstained water dyed the floor tiles before the palace gates red.

Which inch of Li Shimin's throne was granted by Heaven?

Every inch was fought for with sword and spear by his proud soldiers and fierce generals!

What the hell is Heaven!

Unexpectedly, the first to accept the reality was the current Emperor himself.

Li Shimin suddenly stood up.

The crying stopped abruptly.

The ministers looked up in terror.

Li Shimin strode down the steps to the long table where moon-offering sacrifices were placed.

He drew the horizontal sword at his waist; the blade reflected the desolate moonlight.

Bang!

He struck down with one slash.

The hard redwood table split in two.

Fruit plates, pastries, and incense burners crashed to the ground in a clatter.

"Why cry! Has the sky fallen!"

Wei Zheng knelt on the ground, looking up at the furious monarch: "Your Majesty... there are no gods in the sky; the foundation of our Great Tang..."

"The foundation of the Great Tang is my Xuanjia Army!"

"It is the grain in the storehouses! It is the swords in our hands!"

Li Shimin waved the horizontal sword, pointing directly at the cold moon in the firmament.

"Look clearly; there are no gods in the sky, not even a single blade of grass grows there."

"Heaven cannot protect the Great Tang!"

Li Shimin turned around, his dragon robe fluttering.

His gaze swept over the entire court of civil and military officials, revealing an ambition to devour everything.

"Since there are no gods in the sky, since that moon is merely a barren rock."

Before the great hall, the wind rose and clouds surged.

"Yuan Tiangang! Li Chunfeng!" Li Shimin shouted.

The two Taoist priests scrambled out of the ranks, pressing their foreheads to the ground.

"Your subjects are here!"

Li Shimin threw the horizontal sword before them.

The blade cut into the crack of the bluestone slab, humming with vibration.

"From this night on, abolish all elaborate rituals for sacrificing to Heaven and praying for blessings! I will not support fortune-telling charlatans who only watch star charts!"

Li Shimin pointed his finger at the Sky Screen.

"The Imperial Astronomical Bureau is reorganized effective immediately and renamed the Institute of Astronomy and Physics."

"Yuan Tiangang shall serve as Chief Commissioner, and Li Chunfeng as Deputy Commissioner."

"I will allocate National Treasury funds to you; go calculate the gravity mentioned in the Sky Screen of future generations, and research what a vacuum is."

Li Shimin stepped forward, looking down at the two men: "I want the craftsmen of the Great Tang to study steel and calculate mathematics and physics."

"If one generation fails, try two; if ten generations fail, try a hundred."

"Even if the Great Tang cannot fathom the mysteries within, it must contribute something for future generations!"

Time passed quickly, and soon the long summer vacation arrived.

The "Huanmeng" mega-theme park in the suburbs.

The sunlight was blinding.

The crowd flowed like woven threads.

The music from the float parade echoed over the entire venue.

Huge cartoon mascots were surrounded by the crowd, moving forward slowly.

Lin Xuan held Xiao Sizi's hand, avoided the crowded main thoroughfare, and stopped under a relatively open patch of tree shade.

He knelt on one knee and pulled a pink rubber ring-shaped object from his backpack.

He took Xiao Sizi's left hand and buckled the watch strap onto her wrist.

"What is this?" Xiao Sizi shook her arm, touching the smooth Glass watch face.

Lin Xuan lit up the screen and explained: "A phone watch; used to prevent getting lost in the crowd."

He pinched a protruding red physical button on the right side of the watch face and spoke with emphasis: "Remember, if you encounter danger or someone trying to forcibly take you away, press and hold this button and count to three."

Lin Xuan stared into Xiao Sizi's eyes: "In three seconds, my Mobile Phone will immediately trigger an alarm."

"The amusement park security monitoring room will also receive your Coordinate location simultaneously; do you understand?"

Xiao Sizi followed Lin Xuan's finger, touched the red button, and nodded.

Lin Xuan tapped the dial icon on the screen and called his own Mobile Phone.

The Mobile Phone in his pocket began to vibrate.

He answered and turned on the speakerphone.

"Hello, this is Lin Xuan, testing the call."

Lin Xuan's voice came simultaneously from the mobile phone speaker and the watch.

After confirming the equipment was functioning normally, Lin Xuan hung up the phone.

Three meters behind and to the left of the two.

A man wearing a gray Daximao leaned against a trash can.

He looked down, lit a cigarette, and exhaled a smoke ring.

His peripheral vision swept past the gaps in the crowd, over Lin Xuan's profile, while his ears caught that name.

The man reached out and, seemingly casually, scratched his ear.

His fingertip pressed the miniature communicator hidden inside his ear canal. He tapped twice.

The midday temperature continued to climb.

Heat waves shimmered over the asphalt of the Yuleyuan.

A fine layer of sweat beads seeped from Xiao Sizi's nose tip.

She licked her dry lips.

Lin Xuan glanced around, pointing to a blue cold drink cart fifty meters away, printed with an ice cream pattern.

A line ten-plus meters long stretched before the cart.

Lin Xuan pointed to a wooden bench under a sun umbrella beside him.

"I'm going to buy water. Sit here and rest and wait for me. You are not to go anywhere."

"Do not take your eyes off that blue cart."

"I will be in the line. If anyone tries to talk to you, do not respond."

"If anyone makes a move, press the watch."

Xiao Sizi placed both hands on the bench edge and climbed up.

She pressed her legs together and sat upright.

Lin Xuan turned and walked briskly toward the cold drink cart, merging into the end of the queue.

The Daximao man crushed his cigarette butt and strolled unhurriedly into the flow of people on the main thoroughfare.

His figure moved with extreme naturalness, weaving and pausing, until he finally wedged himself into a perfect position.

His body, along with several tall male tourists around him, blocked most of Lin Xuan's view of the bench.

It formed a brief but deadly visual blind spot.

At the other end of the bench, a middle-aged woman sat down.

The woman wore a cheap floral short-sleeved shirt, her hair casually pinned back with a black plastic clip.

On her feet were a pair of soft-soled cloth shoes stained with dust.

She held a cloth eco-bag printed with a chain supermarket logo.

The bag was open, revealing a bunch of green onions and half a white radish.

Her appearance was extremely ordinary, bearing a touch of the hardships of time and the fatigue of years of labor.

Placed in any vegetable market or downstairs in any residential compound, she would be the most unnoticeable neighborhood auntie.

This kind of face naturally carried a layer of disguise that stripped away defenses.

The woman pulled a half-pack of shriveled tissues from her pocket, took one out, and wiped the sweat from her forehead and neck.

She turned her head, looking at Xiao Sizi sitting at the other end of the bench, her gaze kind.

"Little friend, it must be terribly hot, right?"

The woman's tone was gentle, carrying a strong local accent.

Xiao Sizi remembered Lin Xuan's words and stared at the blue cold drink cart ahead.

She did not turn her head, nor did she respond.

The woman was not discouraged; she shifted an inch toward Xiao Sizi.

She lowered her voice, and the kindness on her face instantly shifted to a perfectly timed anxiety and worry.

"You are Lin Xuan's sister, aren't you?" The woman threw out the bait.

Xiao Sizi's eyelashes twitched slightly, and the fingers clutching her skirt hem tightened.

"Oh, I knew it."

The woman slapped her thigh and sighed, "I was your former colleague. My surname is Wang; you can call me Auntie Wang."

"Your brother was just over there in line buying water when he was knocked down by a cart pushed from behind."

The woman pointed to a corner behind the cold drink cart: "His ankle hit the iron frame, he's bleeding a lot, and it hurts so much he can't stand up."

"He was afraid you would get lost here, so he asked me to come quickly and take you over to him."