Chapter 24: Danger

Chapter 24 Danger

The leading Hu man, with a thick, full beard, spoke in stiff, broken Central Plains dialect as he introduced the performance to the packed audience.

"His name is Babagai, my good child. Three years ago I found him by Lake Qibul and raised him. Babagai accompanied us to the Central Plains and has performed many times. We kept heading deeper in and finally made it to the capital. We feel greatly honored." He pressed his right palm to his chest and gave a slight bow.

Chen Shuoan took a closer look—sure enough, they were all tall and sturdy, even the women in the troupe were built like tanks.

Qin Zhonglian leaned in to get a better look, his brow furrowing just barely. "By the look of their builds, they're all trained fighters. The women included."

Li Wei let out a shocked gasp. "Does their whole tribe train in martial arts?"

Zheng Yuanzhi thought for a moment. "From what I know, that's not the case. These people probably aren't who they say they are."

Hearing that, Chen Shuoan turned serious too, pointing at the black bear on stage. "I think something's wrong with it."

"Its steps are unsteady, its front legs trembling and weak—it's probably been starving for days," Qin Zhonglian said in a low voice, his eyes growing sharper with caution.

"What? Then aren't we all just bear food?" Zhang Chenggong exclaimed in alarm.

"It's not just common folks here—there are plenty of nobles and officials too. If this beast goes crazy, the casualties would be massive. This area is under Inspector Song's watch today—I'll send someone to tip him off." Qin Zhonglian opened the door and called a Qin family guard upstairs to pass along the order.

Zheng Yuanzhi still wasn't convinced. "Why not feed the beast properly before bringing it on stage? This is extremely dangerous."

As someone who'd transmigrated into a novel, Chen Shuoan had bold thoughts, and he couldn't help recalling content from later in the original story.

Back then, Yuan Qi was firmly seated as Crown Prince, head over heels for Su Qingwan.

But then the Northern Di raised an army and invaded, pushing from Ningguta all the way to Cangzhou in just a month.

Chen Shuoan had only read it as a novel for fun, never imagining he'd end up here himself, facing disasters both natural and man-made. His feelings were a mess in that moment.

Besides, the Xiongnu had pushed deep into the heart of Great Rong in just a month—clearly the country was already rotten to the core and barely holding on by then.

He was living in a country being eaten away from the inside.

Could today's events be the start of something disastrous?

Chen Shuoan got goosebumps, wanting to cry but no tears coming.

Nice. Made it through another day.

Thankfully, the performance went on halfway without anything going wrong.

The initial excitement wore off, leaving only a suffocating sense of dread. They had to stay on guard in case these people pulled something, and their sense of duty kept Chen Shuoan and the others glued to their spot. The whole afternoon was pure torture.

Chen Shuoan started getting drowsy from all the waiting. The weather was scorching, and the room felt like a steam oven, making him sleepy.

He couldn't take it anymore and let his eyes close for a second.

All of a sudden, the crowd downstairs erupted in screams.

The deafening screams went on and on without stopping.

The black bear had eaten a person!

Qin Zhonglian gritted his teeth, grabbed his sword, and bolted downstairs.

Chen Shuoan's scalp prickled. He stood up and saw the courtyard jam-packed with people. At the edge of the stage lay a young man with a huge hole torn in his belly. The massive black bear sniffed at him, then slammed its bloody paw down on the man's face. Its heavy breath sprayed down, and the man's hair seemed to writhe desperately like it was alive.

Even from this far away, Chen Shuoan could almost hear the man's skull crack.

He was already dead.

His left hand clutched his belly, pale fingers trying to hold in the organs spilling out, staining his light clothes bright red.

The bear was eating his face.

The bear's swift movements seemed to slow to a crawl in Chen Shuoan's eyes—muscle fibers stretching and tearing, mixed with gushing blood, snapping back against the bear's face, making it look like a demon clawing its way out of the eighteenth level of hell.

The man's right hand stretched out stiffly—a plea for help.

No one helped him. Everyone was too busy saving their own skin.

Screaming, running, their survival instincts driving them to shriek in terror.

Chen Shuoan shook all over, his stomach cramping hard like he was about to puke.

There were way too many people, all crammed against the locked doors, reaching out, clawing at each other, fighting to get out first.

Chen Shuoan clamped his hand over his mouth and nose, but the smell of blood just wouldn't go away. A cold tear slipped from the corner of his eye, and he sobbed silently with his mouth wide open.

Through blurry tears, he spotted those unusually tall figures in the crowd.

They were shoving against the crowd, seemingly heading for the back courtyard.

Chen Shuoan threw open the door, not bothering to wipe the tears off his face, and grabbed Zheng Yuanzhi and the others who were about to rush down too. "They're making a run for it! Follow me!"

Everyone knew exactly who "they" meant.

They grabbed their weapons and followed Chen Shuoan downstairs at a run.

Luckily, everyone was jammed up in the front courtyard. As they came down in force, they spotted the Hu people hurrying toward the back.

Zheng Yuanzhi gritted his teeth in fury and roared, "Stop right there!"

The second the words left his mouth, he swung his sword at the Hu man lagging behind.

The man, mid-run, spun around and raised his arm to block, catching Zheng Yuanzhi's blade head-on.

In an instant, his hand curled into a fist, slipped past Zheng Yuanzhi's open chest, and struck with brutal force.

The blow left Zheng Yuanzhi's chest throbbing and his nose bleeding.

The Hu man sneered savagely. "You Central Plains weakling."

Li Wei's eyes went red. He charged in recklessly, trading blows with the man until both of them were beat up.

Everyone hacked at the Hu people, dead set on leaving their bones in the Central Plains—making sure they never made it home.

Not a single one of them was worth a damn!

Chen Shuoan fought with bloodshot eyes. No technique, just pure brute force against his opponents. He took several heavy hits in the exchange, a strong metallic taste rising in his throat.

Someone grabbed him by the neck, slammed him to the ground, and started pounding his stomach. Chen Shuoan curled up in pain, clenching his jaw, using his body to trap the man's fist so he couldn't pull it out or hit again.

The man let out a weird laugh and muttered something—sounded like a dirty word. He hauled Chen Shuoan up off the ground with one hand and drove a long kick into his ribs.

Chen Shuoan cried out in pain, his strength gone as he let go, vomiting a mouthful of blood. Mixed with the dust and scrapes on his face, he looked like some harmless jungle herbivore that had run into disaster.

The Hu man was clearly excited, stomping hard on Chen Shuoan's hand and grinding it repeatedly.

Gritty stones scraped the tender palm, breaking through the skin barrier, piercing into his flesh and merging with it.

"Enough! Geser! We need to leave now!"

The leader with the big beard sternly stopped him, looking anxiously at Chen Shuoan and the others sprawled limply on the ground, saying, "This time, the Commandant will not show us mercy!"

Geser kicked fiercely at Chen Shuoan, who was trying to crawl up and grab his boot, and snarled viciously, "If Geser makes it back alive, he will pledge himself to the Wise King of the Left!"

Urgent shouts to rein in horses rang out from beyond the door, and the big-bearded man's expression changed.

Then came a loud crash from outside, and the gold-trimmed iron door was smashed open with brute force.

The one leading seemed to be a young man, and the man beside him pulled an official document from his robe and shouted loudly.

"Xie Qingfeng, Deputy Chief of the Court of Judicial Review, has come with the Sixth Prince to pass judgment on this case!"