gnovel Chapter 152 Death
Chapter 152 Death
Just as Zhu Ding was about to leave, Li Xiao and the others on the third floor of Dayanlou received a signal and prepared to leave.
An ordinary day, nothing happened, and nothing could have happened.
It's getting late, I should go back to sleep. Lately, quite a few salt merchants have come from Tongzhou, and I seem determined to challenge them. I should conserve my energy and prepare for a showdown.
The waiter arrived quickly; he was a young man who looked quite young, carrying a plate with dried fruit on it.
"No need to see me off," Chen Gong waved his hand and said, "There's no reward money either, take it back the way it came."
Li Xiao was looking at the carriages in the gambling den courtyard when he heard this and turned around. Just as he was about to say something, a ball of lime came flying at him and hit him squarely in the face.
Oh no! Alarm bells rang in Li Xiao's mind. Ignoring the burning pain in his eyes, he subconsciously took two steps back and put his hand on his waist.
Almost simultaneously, a series of chaotic footsteps were heard, followed by muffled groans and cries of pain.
"Bang!" The wooden stick smashed on his head, and Li Xiao couldn't see. He dodged the first blow based on his experience, but he couldn't dodge the second one. He felt dizzy and fell to the ground.
Tie Niu rushed forward, knelt on Li Xiao's back, pulled out a bowstring, and strangled him tightly.
On the other side, Bian Yuanheng, using the alias Wu Song, had already pounced on Chen Gong, the Fourth Bodyguard.
To avoid the lime, Chen Gong had instinctively crouched and rolled on the ground. Just as he was about to get up, a burly man kicked him. "Crack!" Chen Gong's face contorted in pain as he fell backward, his jaw shattered.
Bian Yuanheng was not careless at all. He took two quick steps forward, and with a swift movement of his dagger, he left two more deep cuts on Chen Gong's neck. The battle outside the screen was over.
With a swift movement, Cheng Ji wielded his knife and seized the head of a ruffian.
Shao Shuyi stood at the top of the stairs and fired two arrows in quick succession, hitting another ruffian in the chest and the arrowheads protruding through his back.
Guo Xian and Zeng Yi rushed forward and delivered several more blows to ensure the man was dead.
In an instant, like a rabbit leaping and a falcon swooping, all four perished.
The few remaining diners on the third floor of Dayanlou were dumbfounded.
"Anyone who dares to move will suffer the same fate as this person," Shao Shuyi said, instinctively touching the black cloth covering his face.
The diners had just gotten up when they were so frightened that they sat back down. Some of the more timid ones even burst into tears.
Shao Shuyi glanced at them coldly, then drew his knife and stood guard at the stairwell.
Cheng Jize entered the private room and found that Li Xiao, the Grand Protector, was pinned down by Tie Niu, his eyes bulging, his tongue sticking out, and his fingernails scratching several bloody marks on the floor.
A person who can draw a bow with a force of one stone is not weak; at the very least, he is very strong. Yet, when Tie Niu's entire body was pressed against his back, he was still unable to move and his resistance gradually weakened.
Cheng Ji walked over, and with a swift stroke of his dagger, Li Xiao was dead beyond any doubt.
He didn't have time to glance at the young man in the distance who was using the alias Wu Song before he drew his bow and went to the window.
At that moment, a battle suddenly broke out at the entrance of the gambling den.
The door of the bookstore was opened.
Li Fu, holding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, charged to the front.
Yu Yuan jogged along, then raised his musket and aimed it at the carriage.
Wei Erdi swallowed hard and stuck a scarlet flint into the medicine room.
Behind them, Wang Huadu and his men, each wielding a knife and axe, surged forward.
On the roof of the bookstore, Liang Tai had already climbed up and was nocking an arrow.
"Bang!" The orange-red flames lit up in the darkness, with an alluring glow.
Zhu Ding had just lifted the carriage curtain to see what was going on when he saw a group of masked men rushing towards him. Realizing something was wrong, he instinctively rolled over and fell off the carriage.
The whistling bullet grazed his scalp, eliciting cries of pain from those around him.
Zhu Ding fell to the ground and, without thinking, rolled over and fled into the darkness.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Two arrows came in quick succession.
An arrow flew from the third floor of the Dayan Tower and landed on the carriage shaft, right where Zhu Dingtou had just been peeking out to look.
Another arrow shot from the roof of the bookstore, knocking down a hanger-on.
The third bodyguard was closest to the carriage and, in his carelessness, was knocked to the ground by musket bullets.
In his fading consciousness, the masked men rushed over. The leader lifted the carriage curtain, saw a corpse lying in a pool of blood, paused for a moment, then subconsciously delivered a final blow. He then stepped over the bodies of the three bodyguards and charged into the darkness.
Zhu Ding quickly got up and ran away as fast as he could.
At this moment, his appearance was far from flattering; his hair was disheveled, one of his shoes was missing, and he looked utterly pathetic.
"Whoosh!" Another arrow fell from the sky. Perhaps it was grazed by the sudden night wind, it flew past his body and embedded itself in the bluestone slab, scattering a few sparks.
The footsteps behind them grew more frequent.
Zhu Ding knew that someone was chasing him. The thief had no interest in his men; he only wanted to kill him.
He didn't have time to think about who wanted to harm him; all he wanted now was to escape and save his life.
As he ran, his breathing became more and more rapid, and the pursuers behind him were getting closer and closer.
Fortunately, there was light ahead, and we were not far from the intersection.
If he could escape to the streets and get to the vicinity of the academy, he might be able to shake off his pursuers. This was his only thought and his only chance. However, he quickly slowed his pace.
Six or seven people poured out of the restaurant famous for its crab meat buns, rushed to the intersection of the two roads, and blocked the alley entrance. "Hero, let's talk this out... uh..." Zhu Ding lost his balance and fell to his knees, an arrow stuck in his back.
Gao Daqiang strode over, raised his ring-bladed sword, and slashed down with force.
"Pfft!" Zhu Ding, whose neck was still attached to one side, fell backward to the ground, blood gushing out like a fountain.
Gao Daqiang looked ahead.
The battle was far from over. Zhu Ding's five bodyguards, agile and nimble, leaped and bounded, putting up a stubborn resistance under the cover of two henchmen. Seeing that someone on their side had been wounded, the remaining men, enraged, increased their strength and pressed forward, cursing as they attacked.
Unexpectedly, one of the hangers-on wielded an axe, which flew towards the person rushing towards him with lightning speed.
This move caught everyone off guard. Chen Si, the boatman, was already wounded and slowed down, so he was directly hit in the face by the flying axe, screaming as he fell to the ground. Jiang Sanbao and Su Shuisheng rushed over.
"Bang!" A burst of fire erupted as the bullet flew out.
The Fifth Guard, who had just injured another person, was hit by two bullets and flew backward.
The superb martial arts skills he had honed over a decade and earned unanimous praise from everyone were rendered laughable, like a circus act, amidst the deafening roar of muskets.
After the death of the Five Protectors, the last two henchmen lost their courage and were quickly overwhelmed by Wang Huadu and his men, who hacked them to pieces.
After killing everyone, Wang Huadu looked at the gambling den's entrance and hesitated for a moment.
But he ultimately decided to strictly adhere to the pre-established plan and avoid any unforeseen complications.
"Retreat!" he called out, disappearing into the darkness.
The crowd helped the two injured people up and quickly followed.
The area around the gambling den fell silent for a moment, and the stench of blood drifted far away on the night wind.
The entire battle was intense and bloody, but it actually didn't last long.
When Shao Shuyi and his group of nearly twenty killed Zhu Ding and his five henchmen, and then helped the wounded and carried away the bodies of their fallen comrades, there was only a slight reaction outside.
After much effort, the manager and staff of Dayanlou Restaurant, with the help of the diners, finally managed to untie the ropes. They then hurriedly left and headed towards the prefectural government office. There were hardly any pedestrians on the street. The few who heard the loud rumbling sound behind Dayanlou Restaurant looked puzzled, not understanding what the sound was.
However, upon seeing the masked men wielding knives and guns at the intersection, coupled with the faint screams carried on the wind, they were immediately terrified, their faces turning ashen. They quickened their pace and left—not only fearing that the thieves might accidentally slash them, but also fearing that the authorities might wrongly accuse them of being accomplices.
The most tragic thing was the pair of wild mandarin ducks on Xuegong Bridge.
The scholar had seduced some young lady, luring her to a secret rendezvous at night. The two were whispering sweet nothings to each other on the bridge when a group of masked men rushed in with knives, their bodies reeking of blood.
The scholar was so frightened that he pushed the young lady to the ground and ran away.
The young lady knelt on the ground, staring blankly at the masked man.
She seemed not to have reacted yet, or perhaps her brain was overloaded, and for a moment she didn't understand what had happened.
Fortunately, the masked people did not go onto the bridge, but went directly down to the riverbank, where they were helped into the cabin by the boatmen.
Once the first boat was full, the boatmen used bamboo poles to propel it toward the middle of the river, while masked men at the stern helped to row.
The second boat quickly filled with people, and with a low shout from the boatman, the small, covered boat swayed away from the riverbank, chasing after the first boat. The two boats, one after the other, soon disappeared into the dark river.
Inside the gambling den, at the eye of the storm, an eerie silence had fallen.
Zhu Ding was dead, the five bodyguards were dead, and the five hangers-on were dead. At this time, only two or three of the most timid ruffians remained in the gambling den. They immediately found a place to hide and trembled with fear.
Deep within the mansion, Deputy Commander Han De and Prefect Zhu Daocun were engrossed in their battle, oblivious to everything else.
The waiter from Dayanlou went to the prefectural government to report the incident, but encountered a patrol of constables on the way.
Upon hearing this, the team leader was shocked and hesitated for a long time. In the end, he did not dare to back down and mustered his courage to let his companion lead the way.
After rushing all the way, we finally arrived at the gambling den.
The squad leader, holding a torch, surveyed the chaotic scene and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately ordered the road to be blocked off, forbidding anyone from approaching. Then, he selected five or six able-bodied men to accompany him inside.
"Bang!" When the door was kicked open, Zhu Daocun, who was naked, was at the crucial moment.
The woman beneath him, who had been meek and submissive, now burst into tears: "Help! Help! I am the wife of the patrol inspector of Guabu in Zhenzhou. I was coveted by Zhu Daocun, who colluded with bandits to kidnap me here and forcibly rape me. Waaah, I don't want to live anymore!"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Daocun swayed, his eyes wide with disbelief, and his lower body went limp at an astonishing speed, utterly devoid of energy. The foreman and constables at the door exchanged bewildered glances.
The woman turned her head and was dumbfounded to see that it wasn't someone she knew, but a group of government officials.
The shift leader slowly came to his senses, inwardly sighing at his bad luck. He was covering for a sick colleague on patrol, and then this happened—wasn't that a terrible situation?