Chapter 80: Could It Be That There’s A Child Inside?
After eating and drinking her fill, Lin Xin packed up the empty packaging bags and mineral water bottles, lay down on the lounge chair to sunbathe with her eyes closed to rest, having driven all night yesterday and with the ancient road conditions not being great, she was a bit tired.
While resting, she unexpectedly fell asleep.
Hearing her even breathing, Mo Ziyuan turned his face toward her. Although she had a sickly face that looked thirty-something years old, he still unconsciously became entranced looking at her.
Not knowing how much time passed, a sound of hoofbeats came from the distance. Lin Xin suddenly opened her eyes, and Mo Ziyuan also stood up immediately, stepping toward the room whose rooftop had collapsed.
Lin Xin quickly stowed the lounge chair at the fastest speed, thought for a moment, took out a handheld crossbow and a crossbow bolt and handed them to him. “If the people coming aren’t right, use it to shoot and kill the opponent; it can also serve for your self-defense.”
Mo Ziyuan took them and gave her a deep look. “Be careful and protect yourself.”
Lin Xin nodded, and he concealed his figure into the dilapidated house.
At this time, the hoofbeats had arrived nearby. Lin Xin stood at a place not far from the wall, poised and ready.
A head wearing a helmet popped up over the wall, stunned upon seeing her, then flipped over the wall, followed by a second, a third, up to the last one, the thirteenth, who was also carrying a fairly large basket in his hand.
The two sides stood facing each other, forming a 1v13 situation, observing each other.
After waiting a while, Lin Xin received no signal from Mo Ziyuan.
The last person casually set the basket in his hand down on the ground with a thud. Lin Xin frowned, having an ominous premonition in her heart.
At the same time, a crossbow bolt “whooshed” out from the adjacent room, striking right between the eyebrows of the man who had carried the basket. He didn’t even manage a scream, just glared with wide eyes as he fell unwillingly to the ground with a bloody hole in his brow.
The arrivals were all stunned by this sudden arrow, turning their heads together toward that room. At the same time, Lin Xin moved, swiftly rushing to the group. Her right hand lightly slashed across the neck of the man closest to Mo Ziyuan’s room, and a jet of blood sprayed out. The man incredulously clutched his neck, his eyes bulging out, but he couldn’t escape the fate of death.
Lin Xin repeated the move, slitting the throats of two more people.
At this point, the arrivals finally reacted, and the remaining ten surrounded her tightly.
“Who are you? Where is Mo Ziyuan?” one of them asked.
Lin Xin firmly adhered to the creed that “villains die from talking too much,” said nothing, and went straight into action, harvesting another life with a swing of her hand.
The remaining few’s pupils contracted sharply, tacitly forming an encirclement to trap Lin Xin inside, with four of them charging at her wielding their weapons.
Although they had pushed their speed to the extreme, it wasn’t fast in Lin Xin’s eyes. Her figure flitted nimbly among them, her knife occasionally leaving scars on their bodies. Soon, two had lost their combat power.
Two more joined the fight, and the encirclement shrank somewhat.
Lin Xin’s battle intent surged as she fought one against four without falling behind, soon severing three people’s palms—and all the right hands that held their weapons.
When only the last four combatants remained among the arrivals, someone finally remembered the one who had first shot the cold arrow at them.
“In that room over there.” Having fought together for years, they had developed strong tacit understanding. As soon as he spoke, the others understood, sending one person rushing toward Mo Ziyuan’s room while the remaining three launched a full assault on Lin Xin.
They already knew they couldn’t take down Lin Xin no matter what, and might even be completely wiped out here, so killing the other one would at least be an unexpected gain.
Lin Xin wasn’t worried about Mo Ziyuan’s situation. She had given him a weapon for self-defense and had confidence in his strength. Though he was injured, dealing with one person was more than enough.
As expected, before that person reached the broken house, he was forced back by three consecutive crossbow bolts. Then Mo Ziyuan fired another three-shot burst: one dodged, but the other two—one embedding in the man’s right eye, the other piercing his throat. He fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and went still.
Lin Xin also planned to speed up and end the fight. Just then, she suddenly heard a faint infant’s cry, very weak, coming precisely from that basket casually placed on the ground.
Could it be that there’s a child inside?
Lin Xin thought as she slit the throat of the last person with one knife.
Thirteen people had come in total; eight had had their throats slit by Lin Xin. The remaining five were still alive but had all lost their combat power, lying or sprawled on the ground glaring resentfully at Lin Xin.
Lin Xin ignored them and went straight to the basket, lifting the blue-based white floral cotton cloth covering it to reveal a tiny infant wrapped in pale yellow satin swaddling clothes, crying with its toothless mouth, not knowing if from hunger or discomfort. The cry was as weak as a cat’s meow, but upon seeing her lift the cloth, it cried a bit louder.
Mo Ziyuan also came out from the room. Passing the five survivors, he gave each a crossbow bolt to the head, then walked to Lin Xin’s side to stare at the infant in the basket with her.
“He… he couldn’t be the Imperial Grandson, could he?” Lin Xin asked, pointing at the toothless infant.
Mo Ziyuan picked up the infant, flipped him over by lifting the swaddling, and pointed to a leaf-shaped red birthmark on his butt. “That’s right, it’s him.”
Lin Xin widened her eyes. “The companion you mentioned finding for Lin Nan is him?”
“Cough cough,” Mo Ziyuan coughed embarrassedly twice. “I was thinking that Your Highness the Imperial Grandson is also eight months old. Having Nan Nan watch him grow up would help cultivate feelings, which would be good for Nan Nan in the future.”
“Hmph! That’s premised on your Crown Prince being able to win this game. Otherwise, forget benefits—even preserving his little life would be questionable. I must have lost my mind when I agreed to you back then.” Lin Xin’s voice carried a hint of regret.
“It won’t happen. I will protect you and Nan Nan with my life; I absolutely won’t let anything happen to you.” Mo Ziyuan vowed solemnly.
“Save it! I’ve never entrusted my life to others to protect, especially when that person doesn’t have the ability.” Lin Xin snorted indifferently.
Mo Ziyuan knew he was in the wrong and shrank his neck, holding the Imperial Grandson off to the side. But as the Heir of Dingguo Duke, he naturally carried an air of arrogance that didn’t match his cowering posture, making Lin Xin’s eyes hurt. She quickly looked away.
On the other side was a ground full of corpses. Lin Xin helplessly turned back. “What do we do about this place?”
“No need for us to handle it; someone will naturally clean it up.”
“I mean,” Lin Xin stared at the swaddling in his arms and asked, “are you really sure this is the Imperial Grandson?”
Mo Ziyuan nodded. “I’m sure.”
Lin Xin shrugged. “Alright then, do you want to notify the Crown Prince about what just happened? After all, the ones he sent to deliver his son must be his trusted aides.”
“Wait until nightfall. After dark, I’ll personally go to the Crown Prince’s Mansion.” Mo Ziyuan answered in a deep voice.
Thanks to Dao Ba Hong, Mmy Dang, caroletu, Zhao Jun, Soul on the Run!, Li Xiang for their votes; thanks to caroletu for the tip; thanks to Buluoshuang Aoxue-aB, Xian Yu Yitia, Li Xiang, Ying Jie798 for their monthly tickets. Thank you all for your support, thank you!
