Yinyue wandered along the second-floor corridor of the inn, towards the stairs. The soft light of the lanterns illuminated the inn on both levels. It was early morning, and the sun hadn't risen yet.
Her head swam with giddiness from both the effects of the sedating drug and poor sleep. She steadied herself by taking slow steps while fighting the dizziness. Something buzzed in her ear.
With 01 tucked into bed, her first thought was to check on her men and the inn's workers. She prepared herself for the worst, even though she didn't smell the blood scent or vomit in the room. However, she was no stranger to the multiple ways of killing a group.
The lack of alarm disturbed her. Did Ashina come alone or accompanied by others? She couldn't imagine how he drugged everyone in the inn.
The wooden floor felt too slippery. She stopped and slid the sole of her boot back and forth across the floor.
There was something fine, yet gritty below her souls. Her eyes drifted below, but the lighting was too poor. Nothing could be seen.
She pulled out a small flame stick and flip the cap. With a gentle blow, the flame stick glowed. She squatted down and inspected the floor with what little light the flame stick gave out.
A very fine whitish powder settled on it — finer than sand, almost like dust.
Her hand felt the top wooden railing, and she brought her hand under the dim illumination of the flame stick. Same residue. Someone or several people sprayed the powder over the men without them noticing.
She peered over the wooden railings to see some men littered the floor and tables. The ones on the floor splayed their limbs out like a limp doll. Others on the table, slumped over in an awkward position like drunks after a night of hard drinking. All of them knocked out. With no effort. Where was 02?
Under the half light, nothing moved in the eerie standstill around her. Only of snoring or breathing. No strong scent of blood, much to her relief. Other than the stench of stale alcohol, grease, and fermented food, nothing else smelled out of place.
She didn't even detect Ashina's men. Never mind that. All her men here underwent poison resistance training like her. Yet they succumbed to the sedating powder.
A Dayan saying popped into her head like a warning — a talented person can be trumped by another with a greater talent, like there are more skies above the sky seen.
Ashina had proven to be someone whom she cannot offend. As frustrating as it was to have her authority challenged, she recognised the better player enough to keep out of their way.
Even challenging the Simurg may even be beyond Qisha syndicate's capability. Nothing was safe from his infiltration.
She had no choice but to adhere to his terms of protecting 01.
Screw it.
Yinyue didn't like the feeling, but arrogance will get her nowhere. She needed to call for Hua Dushen or Chiyin when she returned. They knew more about drugs than her.
Besides, the inn would also contact them. She noticed the innkeeper and the attendants on the floor, too. What happened to the hidden guards?
The deep, guttural rattle of a snore escaped one of the sleeping men. She smirked. A clay saucer fell to the floor, creating a rattling. Yawns and men stretching told her that most began stirring from their drugged sleep.
Yinyue heard a loud thud coming from her room. She dashed towards the room and saw 02 staggering around, dazed. He looked up while clutching his head.
"Issssssn't…thiiiiiiiss maaahhh roOomM?" He asked with a visible slur.
His uncoordinated limb movements and disorientation almost caused him to stumble forwards. His hand reached out for the side table in time to send him falling to his knees.
Yinyue grimaced and pointed to his room next door. "Your room is there."
He walked into the silk screen in the opposite direction. A misstep ended up with him falling onto the silk screen, both crashing to the ground. He lifted his head at the sight of a man laying in the canopy bed. 02 glanced at him and then at her with his eyes squinting.
"WhHOo issss ddddaaaat?"
Yinyue rolled her eyes at his clumsy attempt to stand up. She remembered the water in the bath tub behind the wooden screen and walked behind to grab a scoop full of icy water.
She walked towards 02 and poured the ice cold water on his head. His body tensed up once the water hit. He shuddered in his wet, freezing clothes before jumping up and taking a swing with his fist. She slid back, dodging his fist.
"Alert now?" She asked as he stopped himself in time with another squatting turn in time before an unavoidable collision crashing with the wooden screen.
Yinyue guessed that the key to breaking the drug's control was shock. And 02's reaction confirmed her assumption. His clarity returned, together with his coordination and balance.
"WHAT THE—" 02 stopped once he noticed Yinyue's presence. His eyes, now bright and alert, swept through the room, searching for anything unusual.
He froze at the sight of the man lying on the bed. That was 01.
Before he could speak, she said, "Intruders last night. Simurg. They delivered 01 back."
He stared at her, as though trying to comprehend what she just said. "How?"
Then he quickly lowered his head, realizing his loss of decorum in front of the Dayan Grand Prince.
"They knocked all of you out with a powder. You can find it on the floor outside and get me a sample of the powder…as much as you can," she replied while fixing her sleeve, ignoring his indiscretion.
"Can't be. We are —"
"They seem to know what we are immune to." She sighed and threw a glance at the unconscious 01.
From Yinyue's best guess, the Simurg must have used 01 as a test subject to see what they were immune to. He spent almost two days with them.
She inspected 01's wounds earlier. The Simurg looked after him, even cleaning and patching up the multiple slash wounds and two stab wounds. Their technique of doing so was odd.
Some of his wound edges looked dark, giving off a faint burnt smell. Did they burn his wounds? And why?
Her glance fell upon the two vials left on the table. Ashina called them antidotes. Yet, she couldn't detect signs of poisoning from his pulse earlier except for a fast heart beat consistent with blood loss.
"Wake the rest of the men up. Borrow the carriage from the inn. We must return to Yandi fast."
She couldn't stay another night in the Black Mountains. Not with Ashina's warning not to leave 01 here.