Chapter 230: The Survivors

No!

Jiu Yu’s eyes widened in horror.

Explosives!

It was explosives.

“Please, let nothing happen… nothing must happen…” he murmured desperately.

Jiu Yu rushed toward the Imperial Ancestral Hall.

The sight before him was one of utter devastation.

Shards of glazed tiles were scattered across the ground.

The doors of the Imperial Ancestral Hall were tightly shut.

Guards were working together, prying the doors open.

“Your Majesty? Can you hear us?”

“Is anyone inside?”

The response was a chilling silence.

Fear and despair appeared on everyone’s faces.

They had watched with their own eyes as the Empress Dowager, the Empress, the Emperor Consort, Su Wan, the princes and princesses, along with the civil and military officials, all entered the hall.

As the ceremony began, the doors to the hall suddenly shut. Before anyone could react, a deafening explosion echoed, followed by the acrid stench of saltpeter filling the air.

With such a powerful blast, it was clear that the chances of survival were slim to none.

Even if anyone had miraculously survived, they would likely be gravely injured, missing limbs or worse.

Jiu Yu rushed forward to join the others in prying the door open.

He silently prayed that nothing had happened to Su Wan.

Young Lady Fan, her legs weak with fear, grabbed hold of a guard and asked sharply, her gaze cold and piercing, “Has anyone inside made it out yet?”

“No… no one has come out. They’re all still inside. When the explosion happened, we heard screams,” the guard stammered, his face pale as he trembled. “We need to pry the doors open as quickly as possible to see how many… what the situation is.”

Young Lady Fan understood the unspoken words: to see how many people were still alive inside.

“Prepare tools to break the doors down!” Young Lady Fan, regaining her composure, began giving orders. “Are all the imperial doctors inside? Go to the Imperial Medical Bureau and bring anyone who understands medicine here immediately!”

The guards, as if finding their anchor, quickly mobilized to gather tools and head to the Imperial Medical Bureau to bring back anyone knowledgeable in medicine.

Before long, they returned with tools used for breaching gates and began ramming the hall doors, blow after blow.

“Crack——”

The door bolt broke.

The hall doors swung open.

Jiu Yu, his face tense, was the first to charge into the smoke-filled hall. The thick, swirling smoke obscured everything inside, but the overpowering scent of blood was unmistakable.

Young Lady Fan followed closely behind, the acrid smell of saltpeter stinging her nose and mouth, making it hard to breathe or even open her eyes.

“Your Majesty.”

“Young Lady Su.”

Jiu Yu and Young Lady Fan groped their way inside, their steps hesitant in the dense smoke. Jiu Yu’s foot struck something on the ground, and his body froze. From the feel of it, he could tell it was someone’s leg.

His heart sank to the depths of despair, and hope all but faded.

There was no response from anyone within the hall. The ground was littered with bodies, motionless and—

Jiu Yu’s chest tightened with unbearable sorrow. Had he ultimately arrived too late?

He refused to believe that Su Wan could die so easily.

She was always so confident, her brows raised with a lively spirit, as if no one in the world could harm her.

Jiu Yu couldn’t believe that someone like her had been blown to pieces here.

“Su Wan! Su Wan, can you hear me?” Jiu Yu called out as he moved further inside, his voice trembling slightly. “Su Wan, answer me if you can hear me. Gu Huaizhi is still waiting for you in Great Zhou, you won’t let anything happen to yourself, will you?”

“Come out! Please, come out!” Jiu Yu shouted as he moved deeper inside, the indescribable sense of dread growing stronger and stronger, gripping his heart. His voice suddenly rose, tinged with the raw emotion of someone on the verge of losing control. “It’s safe now! You can come out, no need to hide anymore!”

Jiu Yu’s steps abruptly halted. Through the thin white mist floating in the air, he saw Su Wan standing quietly beside a curtain. His eyes instantly reddened, and the tightly wound string in his heart finally loosened.

“I’m fine,” Su Wan said softly, noticing Jiu Yu’s pale face. He seemed breathless, as though the events before him had stolen the air from his lungs. His gaze was fixed on her, terror in his eyes gradually replaced by relief and ease. The corner of her mouth twitched slightly. “Why did you come into the palace?”

From outside came the sound of chaotic footsteps and the clinking of armor and swords. Jiu Yu turned his head toward the noise, and his pupils suddenly contracting.