Chapter 24

Chapter 24

As Xie Licheng said this, he produced a short blade out of nowhere.

He raised the blade, aimed it at the man in the courtyard, and the next instant, it was buried in the man's throat.

The man didn't seem to register what had happened. He instinctively touched his neck, then, eyes wide with terror, clutched it as he crumpled to the ground.

Xie Licheng was a good distance away, and with the poor visibility at night,

a thrown blade was far harder to aim than a bow and arrow. To hit the man's neck with that kind of precision, nailing the carotid artery in one throw, took serious skill.

But from aiming to killing in one blow, Xie Licheng had taken only a few seconds.

He killed with practiced ease—so practiced it seemed like he'd been doing it for over a decade.

Of course, Xie Licheng hadn't actually been killing for over a decade.

It was just that, having lived through the apocalypse, he'd killed countless zombies in his past life and been forced to kill plenty of people too.

Plus, his game world required him to hunt tons of prey to level up, so he'd gotten pretty damn good at fighting and killing.

Watching the man collapse, blood instantly pooling around him,

Gu Zhangyuan clapped both hands over his mouth in shock. Then, remembering this man had come to kill him, he turned away and refused to watch his gruesome end.

A man who'd come to kill him? He wouldn't spare him an ounce of sympathy.

The mole man raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised an ordinary horse slave could be that skilled.

"Brother," he said, sounding intrigued, "you're in the trade too? That was some serious skill. Why not join us and live the good life? Why bust your ass for some pretty boy?"

Xie Licheng didn't want to waste words on men like these—guys who could watch their own comrade die without flinching were the most dangerous and the quickest to betray you.

Since he didn't want to talk to them, he just fed them bullshit.

"I like being a pretty boy's slave. I like kneeling at his feet."

Everyone present had the same look of utter disbelief.

Gu Zhangyuan's face burned with embarrassment. He couldn't believe that even now, this horse slave was still trying to provoke him.

Yuan Qiao and Xuan Cui, on the other hand, were thrilled. Though they also thought the young groom was shameless, they remembered how skilled he was. They didn't care what he was thinking—as long as he was willing to protect their young master.

The group across from them was disgusted by Xie Licheng's perverted words, but remembering how deadly his earlier strike was, they swallowed their disgust and tried to recruit him.

A younger bandit shouted, "Brother! If you like pretty boys, just join us. We'll let you pick any beauty we catch from now on."

The other bandits chimed in, clearly impressed by Xie Licheng's knife work.

"That's right! Why settle for one beauty when you can have them all? If you really like him, we'll take him alive and let you have your fun first. Once you're done, we'll kill him."

"Yeah, let's take him alive. We'll all get a turn, then kill him when we're done."

...

Hearing their filthy talk, Gu Zhangyuan was genuinely scared.

Afraid Xie Licheng might actually be tempted, he quickly reached out and grabbed his hand again.

His hand wasn't small for a boy like him,

but because Xie Licheng's hands were so big, his own looked small and delicate in comparison.

Gu Zhangyuan said, "You can't help them. You can't do this to me."

Xie Licheng turned to look at him, then squeezed the soft hand in his.

Gu Zhangyuan's face was already flushed, but having Xie Licheng grab and squeeze his hand made his whole face even hotter and redder.

He awkwardly pulled his hand back, suddenly not daring to look at Xie Licheng.

Xie Licheng asked, "Have you forgotten what I told you before?"

He'd emphasized many times that he would never betray him, that he would keep him safe.

Xie Licheng said, "Alright, the courtyard should be safe now. Take them and hide in the back."

By then, Yuan Qiao had found two weapons: a small knife and a wooden stick.

She handed the stick to Xuan Cui and said to Xie Licheng, "We... we can help too."

Xie Licheng didn't even glance at her. With utter disdain, he said to her and Xuan Cui, "Don't cause trouble. Stay by your young master's side and don't let anyone near him."

Yuan Qiao nodded quickly and shielded Gu Zhangyuan as they retreated further into the courtyard.

With Gu Zhangyuan no longer at his side, Xie Licheng finally had his hands free.

Hidden by his clothes, he pulled two daggers from his portable world.

These daggers were even shorter than the one he'd used earlier.

Seeing this, the bandits across from them understood what Xie Licheng meant.

The mole man raised his big saber. "Since you don't know what's good for you, don't blame us for being merciless. Listen up, everyone—not a single soul in this estate survives!"

The bandits immediately started shouting.

"No survivors!"

"Kill them all!!"

Their ferocity was terrifying, so much so that the house guards who'd rushed over from the Gu family suddenly didn't dare come forward to protect Gu Zhangyuan.

But even if they didn't dare protect him, the bandits had no intention of letting them go.

Two of the guards, cowards at heart, turned and ran at the sight of the situation.

Seeing this, the bandits immediately sent three men chasing after them.

Besides those three, a dozen more went to kill everyone else in the estate.

Originally, they'd planned to coordinate with the steward to slip them poison, which would've made the killing far easier and quieter.

But now the poison had not been administered, and their plan had been ruined by Xie Licheng. Killing everyone would prove somewhat troublesome.

After all, the estate employed a number of hired laborers, and Gu Zhangyuan had brought along a dozen or so house guards.

With over fifty men on their side, their overall advantage was not particularly overwhelming.

Xie Licheng watched the bandits charging at him, smiling as he glanced at the Mole Man hiding in the distance.

The Mole Man noticed Xie Licheng looking at him and was afraid Xie Licheng would kill him too, just like he'd killed that other guy.

While Xie Licheng was busy with the guys in front of him, he quickly grabbed his bow and arrows, figuring he'd take him out from a distance.

But after taking forever to aim, he realized Xie Licheng wasn't just quick—he kept using his own men as shields.

He watched Xie Licheng cleanly slit two guys' throats, and just like that, two more brothers dropped.

Getting antsy, he let an arrow fly in a hurry.

In his panic, the arrow ended up hitting one of his own guys.

The Mole Man was pissed and humiliated. He said to a lean man behind him, "Third Brother, get over there and kill him yourself!"

The guy they called Third Brother looked about thirty, maybe a little over.

He was skinny, with sunken eyes and a cold stare.

He nodded at the Mole Man's order, pulled out two blades, and headed that way.

Figuring Xie Licheng cared a lot about that young master, the Mole Man decided to climb the side wall and grab him.

Once he got his hands on him, he'd force him to give up.

Still smarting from the humiliation, he planned to gouge the guy's eyes out with his own hands.

While he was scrambling up the wall, one of the bandits suddenly screamed in terror.

"Third Chief!!"

What happened?

What happened to Third Brother?

Halfway up the wall, the Mole Man turned and saw that Third Brother—who'd been in one piece just a second ago—had already had an arm chopped off by that horse slave.

The Mole Man was in shock and scrambled to get back down.

But when he spotted Gu Zhangyuan in the courtyard, he gritted his teeth and jumped in anyway.

Xuan Cui spotted him first and quickly warned Gu Zhangyuan and Yuan Qiao, "Someone's coming in!"

Gu Zhangyuan looked over right away, and when he saw it was the bandit leader, he yanked the hairpin from his hair and clutched it tight.

Yuan Qiao gripped his little knife and bluffed, "Stay back, or I won't go easy on you!"

The Mole Man let out a big laugh. Thinking about how many brothers he'd lost today and how that groom had taken Third Brother's arm, he ground his teeth in rage.

They'd all pay with blood today, and he might as well start with these two little servants.

As he got closer, Xuan Cui chucked her wooden stick at him as hard as she could.

But to her shock, he sliced right through the stick with his knife like it was nothing.

Yuan Qiao didn't have time to think—he just steeled himself and charged with his knife.

If he didn't move now, the Mole Man's blade would hit Xuan Cui.

He'd grown up with Xuan Cui—they weren't blood siblings, but they were as close as any brother and sister.

So in his panic, he didn't think twice—he just had to protect her.

The Mole Man didn't even give him a second look and sent him flying with one kick.

The Mole Man was a bandit, used to a life of robbing and looting.

Even the Gu family's house guards were no match for a guy like him.

Yuan Qiao and Xuan Cui were just ordinary folks—a young man and a young woman.

They lived like half-masters, never having known real hardship.

They'd never been through anything like this. Yuan Qiao got knocked out cold by that kick.

Gu Zhangyuan was worried about Yuan Qiao, but he wasn't about to let himself get caught either.

He wasn't stupid. The guy was going through all this trouble to grab him, probably to use him as leverage against the horse slave and the rest.

The Gu family's guards had some skill, and with that tough horse slave around, the bandits wouldn't take them down easy.

To keep from getting caught, Gu Zhangyuan grabbed Xuan Cui and made a break for the room.

But what he didn't count on was another way into the courtyard.

Because as he dragged Xuan Cui along, he suddenly spotted another guy coming in from nearby.

The guy was dressed like the other bandits and had a bloody blade in his hand.

The second he laid eyes on Gu Zhangyuan and Xuan Cui, his eyes lit up and he charged at them, knife raised.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Gu Zhangyuan clutched his hairpin, not knowing what to do.

Then, a plump martial arts matron suddenly came charging out of a corner.

She threw herself at the bandit with the knife and tackled him to the ground.

Pinning him down with her weight, she yelled at Gu Zhangyuan, "Young master, run, run!"

Gu Zhangyuan saw the Mole Man heading for the matron, so he let go of Xuan Cui and grabbed the knife Yuan Qiao had dropped.

Xuan Cui saw what he was doing and knew exactly what he had in mind.

Scared out of her wits, she still pulled out a hairpin to protect her master and rushed up behind the Mole Man, stabbing him with it.

It wouldn't kill him, but she went in recklessly just to draw his attention.

Stabbed, the Mole Man spun around, grabbed her, and slapped her hard across the face.

Mole Man: "You bitch, still coming at me? Once I'm done here, I'll make you wish you were dead."

With that, he yanked Xuan Cui and kicked her square in the gut.

Since he thought Xuan Cui was pretty—good for selling or keeping around for fun—he didn't just kill her on the spot.

He wanted to knock her out and drag her off once everything was done.

And that greed was exactly what gave Gu Zhangyuan his chance.

Gu Zhangyuan rushed over and stabbed him in the neck from behind with the knife.

He didn't know much about killing, and the little knife was too short to kill him outright.

Mole Man let go of Xuan Cui at once and spun around with a savage look to grab him.

Gu Zhangyuan was very, very close to him, and even though Gu Zhangyuan reacted quickly, he was still caught when he tried to flee.

Mole Man grabbed Gu Zhangyuan by the hair and raised his hand to slap him, just like he'd done to Xuan Cui.

He raised his hand and snarled, "Bitch, bitch, I'll fucking kill you!"

Gu Zhangyuan saw the huge palm about to swing down at him, still struggling and trying to fight back.

He wouldn't accept it. He wouldn't accept it.

He could kill him. He definitely could!

Just as he was straining to fight back, he suddenly heard the horse slave's familiar voice.

"Don't move!"

Gu Zhangyuan immediately froze, closing his eyes without thinking.

Then he heard a scream, and something warm splattered all over him.

Gu Zhangyuan was scared. Really scared.

He figured it was blood and wanted to open his eyes without thinking.

Then he heard the horse slave tell him again, "Don't open your eyes."

He stayed obedient and kept his eyes closed.

A moment later, he heard footsteps getting closer, and then someone scooped him up off the ground.

Xie Licheng took off his coat and wiped the blood off him.

"Sorry, there was someone outside who was a bit of a pain. You got scared."

Honestly, even Xie Licheng was surprised when he ran into that guy.

His strength wasn't all that impressive, but he had plenty of experience in a fight.

It was the first time an ordinary person had ever given him this much trouble.

Luckily, nothing major went wrong in the end—Gu Zhangyuan just got a little roughed up.

Gu Zhangyuan slowly opened his eyes. They were beautiful, and even with tears in them, they still sparkled brilliantly.

Gu Zhangyuan asked, "Is it... safe out there now?"

Xie Licheng glanced at the body on the ground. "Safe or not, it doesn't matter anymore."

Because he'd already killed their leader, and that so-called Third Chief had his head chopped off too. The rest were just a bunch of nobodies.