Zhu Yu walked while pondering, indeed, it is quite strange. If this was a group of low-tier mountain bandits, how did they manage to massacre an entire village, staying here under false pretenses, and yet go unnoticed all this time?

She couldn’t figure it out immediately and temporarily set it aside without dwelling on it further.

Because they had arrived at the entrance of that "inn."

Zhu Yu initially thought the firelight she saw the night before belonged to this inn. Now, seeing the small building standing intact without any signs of burning, she felt a slight sense of surprise, but quickly came to her senses.

On further thought, it made sense that there had been no fire.

Since the culprits intended to make people believe that Lu Qing and the others were killed by mountain bandits for their wealth in this remote village, why would they set it on fire and destroy the evidence?

Fu Lu went in first to check, confirmed there was no longer any danger, and not a single survivor was left, then came back to inform Lu Qing.

Hearing his words, Zhu Yu felt reassured, quickly went inside, heading straight to the upstairs room where she and Lu Qing had stayed before. She pushed the door open and rushed in.

The innkeeper lady, along with another mountain bandit posing as Lu Qing, were still lying on the bed. Earlier, they had been drugged and had their limbs dislocated, unable to move, so their positions hadn’t changed much. However, at a glance, they looked just like two bloodied gourds.

Zhu Yu was still wearing the outer robe of the innkeeper lady and, not afraid of getting dirty, took out a leather pouch from her pocket, moved closer, and began examining them carefully with a serious expression.

"These two, one stabbed five times, the other eight times, each strike hitting a fatal spot. It seems they had no intention of leaving us any chance to survive." She said while inspecting, "They were killed in the latter half of the previous night; we saw it from the mountain, and the body temperature and rigor confirm it.

But there’s something odd, the knife wounds on the bodies; the blood hasn’t coagulated, which is unusual. Although I can’t verify it now, I suspect their knives were poisoned."

"No wonder those people left with such confidence, this method is truly vicious!" Rune listened and couldn’t help but curse, gritting his teeth.

The reason they were still alive was that they had timely discovered they were being followed, along with the cleverness and caution of master and mistress.

Otherwise, it might indeed have been the four of them lying dead in the blood.

The decoys don’t deserve sympathy, but thinking about the real targets and goals of those people, Rune couldn’t help but grind his teeth.

Zhu Yu sighed and continued examining the corpses of the two mountain bandits.

Lu Qing watched her thoughtfully, glanced around, then thought for a bit before calling Rune over, whispered a few words, and took the silver whistle from around Zhu Yu’s neck, handing it to Rune.

Rune took it solemnly, nodded, and dashed out like the wind.

"See how many corpses there are in this den, gather them up and handle them later." Lu Qing said to Fu Lu, "We might need to stay here for the next few days. Even though it’s cool now, staying with so many corpses isn’t good, we don’t want an outbreak of any plague."

"Okay, I’ll get right to it!" Fu Lu never questioned Lu Qing’s orders and immediately got to work.

Zhu Yu stood up, losing interest in further examining the two scapegoats before her.

It was clear that their enemies were determined to kill them; there was nothing else worth digging into.

She then went to the room where Rune and Fu Lu had stayed and found similar gruesome scenes — among all the bandits killed along the way, the others died instantly, only these four died tragically, stabbed multiple times with poisoned blades.

After checking both sides, Zhu Yu shifted her attention to other matters and realized only Lu Qing was with her, with Rune and Fu Lu nowhere to be found, feeling somewhat surprised.

"Where did Fu Lu go?" she asked Lu Qing.

"Clearing the corpses in the inn; we’re staying here for a few days," Lu Qing replied.

"Staying here? Is it safe?" Zhu Yu felt a bit concerned.

"This is probably the safest place," Lu Qing nodded. "The four of us are likely considered dead now, and those people won’t follow or search further, thinking we’ve perished.

But those who cautiously tailed us might not be so easily deceived.

We don’t know where those people left, they are in the dark, and we are in the open.

Rushing on the road now would risk revealing we are not dead.

This place was used by them to masquerade as mountain bandits and massacre the village, leaving no one alive.

So long as our movements aren’t exposed, this is the safest place."

After saying this, he stood in the corridor, looked below, "This place is indeed a good spot, leaving it to waste would be a shame, might as well make use of it."

Zhu Yu looked at him, remembering when Lu Qing took the silver whistle from her neck, "Did you send Rune out with a message just now? To whom?"

"Yes," Lu Qing did not deny but kept who he sent it to a mystery, "Within a few days, you will see."

Since Lu Qing said so, Zhu Yu didn’t bother to ask further questions.

Soon after, Rune returned, respectfully returned the silver whistle to Zhu Yu, and then went to help Fu Lu tidy up the inn, ensuring it was not littered with corpses. The kitchen and toilet were usable; he didn’t worry much about the rest.

Although Fu Lu looked rugged, he was meticulous in his work.

The corpses Zhu Yu particularly examined, he left untouched, maintaining their original state, but cleaned up the back courtyard, preparing a relatively secluded room for Lu Qing and Zhu Yu. It was spotless, initially storing some odds and ends, so no one had died there.

This way, from the front entrance, the inn still appeared like its prior massacred state, without showing signs it had been tidied up.

Thus, the four of them settled in temporarily and stayed for three days.