Volume 3, Chapter 33 – Defection【23】

Countless traffic incidents have already proved that driving distracted comes with a price.

All of Bai Zhuqing’s attention was glued to the scenery in the rearview mirror, so she wasn’t watching the road ahead. By the time she snapped out of it, she stomped the brakes hard.

Screee—

A shrill screech of friction; the front bumper practically skimmed past the vehicle in front.

Once the car came to a full stop, Bai Zhuqing was still shaken. First she turned back to confirm that Bai Xiang was fine (of course she couldn’t possibly be hurt), and only then did she knit her brows tight and get out to check the situation.

She admitted, she’d nearly caused an accident partly because she’d been distracted—but the main reason was that the car ahead had suddenly stopped.

And this was still on a forest track.

They hadn’t even reached the main road yet. There had to be some sudden development.

“What’s going on?”

Feeling her way forward in the dark, Bai Zhuqing followed the beam of the headlights and peered carefully ahead. In the distance she could just make out a vehicle parked sideways across the middle of the road, blocking it. She had no idea where it had come from.

“Who knows!”

This was the lead scout car at the head of the convoy, with Ma Yue driving and Hu Hu in the passenger seat. Hu Hu replied between clenched teeth, “It just shot out of nowhere… If Senior Brother Ma hadn’t reacted fast, this wave would’ve sent him straight to the next life!”

“Who goes there?”

Bai Zhuqing knew this was her cue to step up. She immediately drew on the presence she’d built these past days as general-affairs lead. “To suddenly block the road like this—have you no sense of courtesy?”

Someone climbed out of the blocking car. Looking closely, she saw it was a man in a suit and tie with a crooked mouth. As soon as he approached, he bowed with clasped hands to Bai Zhuqing. “My apologies, my apologies…”

“It wasn’t deliberate. I was only terrified of missing the right people. I beg your esteemed Dao’s understanding…”

“You know who we are?” Bai Zhuqing frowned.

From the sound of it, he was clearly here specifically for them. And he’d parked sideways on purpose to set up a roadblock halfway down the track. Had he been stopping refugees before this too?

“Allow me to introduce myself.” The man nodded. “I am Wu Teng, second-in-command of the Jingyi Gang.”

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“I’m here on orders from our gang boss, ‘Lian Di.’ He wishes to make contact with ‘Shenming Fairy’ Bai Xiang and see if there’s any chance we might, uh, contribute a little strength to the construction of the new state!”

Black-path defectors?

From that, Bai Zhuqing immediately understood. She’d seen plenty of his type these past few days—most of them mixed in with refugee groups coming to Zhennan, hoping to approach Bai Xiang and pledge their service.

Requests like that weren’t impossible.

After all, Zhennan really was short-handed. Even with black-path gangs, as long as they truthfully confessed the crimes they’d committed, and as long as the extreme elements in the gang were weeded out, the rest could be reorganized and put to work.

Even if they went through formal sentencing, they’d just be exiled to hard labor. If they were going to end up as laborers anyway, there wasn’t much difference.

What these people were after were new opportunities once the Circuit City was built—and most of them were willing to obey assignments.

But this Jingyi Gang…

Bai Zhuqing frowned.

From what she’d heard, the gang’s reputation was anything but good.

“Mr. Wu.” Bai Zhuqing gave a slight nod. “Since you’re here to defect, you should have heard our recruitment rules.”

“Self-examination and self-purging, the worst culprits are executed?” Wu Teng did indeed know the rules, but his own brows furrowed. “Our Jingyi Gang is not some tiny sect or small fry crew. We’ve got more than three thousand brothers total. To apply the old rules to us… that doesn’t seem appropriate, does it?”

“The old rules?” Bai Zhuqing couldn’t help but laugh in anger. “Is Mr. Wu so sure we’ll draft new rules specifically for the Jingyi Gang? Is Mr. Wu here to teach Shenming Sword Dao how to conduct itself?”

“That’s not what I mean. The Jingyi Gang really could provide considerable help to your esteemed Dao.” Wu Teng gave Bai Zhuqing a careful once-over, a faint smile forming on his face. “From what I know, your Dao already employs forces like the ‘Shiyou Gang’ and the ‘Heitan Gang’ to manage the lower levels of your territory. Altogether they’re only three or four hundred people. How can they compare to us?”

“Everyone in the Shiyou Gang who took part in serious crimes has already been punished; those with lesser offenses are working them off with hard labor,” Bai Zhuqing said coldly. “If the Jingyi Gang wants to join Zhennan, then it follows the same rules.”

“And who are you?” Wu Teng finally lost his patience. “You’re just a little girl. You think you can decide this?”

He exhaled sharply and jabbed a finger toward the vehicles behind. “I know Dao Lord Bai is in this convoy. You can’t make this call. Hurry up and invite Dao Lord Bai out here to discuss things with me properly.”

He dared talk to Little Senior Sister like that?

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Hu Hu’s eyes went wide in shock.

He glanced at Ma Yue. But Ma Yue was watching Little Senior Sister instead… Was he expecting her to do something?

“…Get lost.”

Bai Zhuqing’s chest rose and fell, and at last she squeezed out that single word.

Wu Teng’s expression changed at once. “What did you say?”

Bai Zhuqing nodded. “I told you to get lost.”

“Before I change my mind.”

“Heh…” Wu Teng actually laughed from anger. “Little girl, you may not understand what we’re capable of…”

“Loan-sharking, drug-peddling, brothel rackets, organ trafficking.” Bai Zhuqing cut him off. “From what I’ve heard, your range of business is quite broad.”

Wu Teng nodded. “Then you—”

“Zhennan really is short on people.”

With her lashes lowered, the girl’s gaze swept over the crooked-mouthed man’s face.

“But…”

Swish—

Before the word had fully fallen, the wooden sword on Bai Zhuqing’s back flashed free of its sheath. Before anyone could react, she thrust it straight into Wu Teng’s eye socket, the tip punching out through the back of his skull.

“Ah!”

With a harsh shout, the girl kept driving power into her hands, twisting the hilt, forcing the entire skull to crack open. Red and white matter splattered across the ground. Only then did she stop, panting, and roar, “But that doesn’t mean scum and trash get to come in!”

With a dull thud, Wu Teng’s corpse toppled to the ground.

Quite a few dojo disciples came running at the noise, Lian Feng among them. Seeing this scene, they all froze for a moment.

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This…

Little Senior Sister had suddenly become this ruthless and decisive.

They weren’t quite used to it.

“I gave him a chance,” Bai Zhuqing snorted. “If he insists on seeking death, he has no one to blame.”

“Lian Feng!”

“Huh? …I’m here?”

“Grab a few people and move that corpse… and that junk heap of a car out of the way!”

Waa…

Hu Hu, who’d watched the entire thing from inside the car, now had stars shining in his eyes as he looked at Bai Zhuqing.

“So cool!”

“I declare that from today on, Little Senior Sister is my idol too!”

Ma Yue, off to the side, also let out a quiet breath.

He’d seen more than Hu Hu had, and he was very satisfied with how decisively Bai Zhuqing had made her choice—and with how she’d even “forced herself” to do the deed personally.

There would only be more and more people in the Zhennan Circuit, and more and more disciples in the dojo.

Ma Yue didn’t reject newcomers, but in the end his heart still leaned toward the first batch of inner disciples.

He felt that if Bai Zhuqing wanted to solidify her current position, she absolutely had to have the resolve to be ruthless.

Luckily, she had it.

“Ah!”

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Meanwhile, Bai Zhuqing had already fled back into the car. The moment she dropped into her seat, she wrapped her arms around herself and started to tremble.

Brain matter!

Nothing but blood!

So disgusting!

Killing someone was one thing; how you killed them was another.

She’d meant to copy Xiang’er-jie’s style… but she’d almost lost her composure. What a backfire!

Bai Zhuqing was already regretting it. She felt she really shouldn’t have done it herself—she should’ve let Ma Yue and the others handle it!

Rustle…

Just as she was spiraling from the shock, she suddenly felt something quietly burrow into her arms.

When she turned her head, she saw that at some point Bai Xiang had moved into the front passenger seat. She was curled up sideways, leaning against the seat, her pair of black-stockinged feet stretched across and resting on Bai Zhuqing’s thighs, nudging into her arms again.

“Nicely done.”

Looking up, Bai Xiang’s expression was deeply pleased.

“As a reward, you can hold them for the rest of the way.”

Oh…

Bai Zhuqing stopped freaking out on the spot.

She suddenly regretted killing Wu Teng in one go with a single thrust.

She really should’ve asked one more question first—about where their boss was right now.