Chapter 60: Effortlessly Taking Lives
Fang Shu hung in the downwind position, listening carefully, when suddenly his expression changed.
“How many times has this been? We’ve found this little bitch, why hasn’t Rat Lord given the order to go back yet.”
In the crevice ahead, besides Su Qin Gao’s voice, there were clearly other people’s voices as well.
“Got it, got it, why are you yapping, you fat rat? We’ll keep guarding here.”
“Forget it, forget it, what’s the point of arguing with this beast? Looks like we’ll have to wait until night to go back, to avoid suspicion from returning too early.”
“Sigh, who can we blame but ourselves for being the little ones, not the big shots? Luckily, there’s still some fun to be had here.”
A burst of laughter and cursing rang out, and then the woman’s voice carried by the wind became even more terrified and pained.
Fang Shu listened carefully for a long time and found that inside the rock wall crevice, besides Su Qin Gao, there were two men’s voices.
Moreover, from their conversation, it seemed the big fire in the paper workshop was inseparable from these two lackeys and the Rat Lord they mentioned; this group was likely from Black Tiger Hall.
This made Fang Shu ponder darkly:
“Looks like this Su Qin Gao is indeed colluding with Black Tiger Hall, deliberately setting the fire in the paper workshop.”
As a matter of fact, he had already imagined before leaving town that he might encounter people from Black Tiger Hall in the wilderness, so now that he had, it wasn’t exactly a surprise.
But including Su Qin Gao, there were three people ahead, and he only had two sleepy bugs on hand in total.
“Wait, there’s also that messenger rat.” Fang Shu narrowed his eyes slightly.
He was mulling over whether to make a move and if it was worth it.
This was the wilderness, no rules; once he made a move, it had to be clean and decisive, no room for luck or leaving hidden dangers.
Just as he was thinking, the two men’s shouts came from the rock wall crevice again:
“Get down here for me! You think you can climb up there? If you climb, how am I supposed to do it!”
“Fuck off, you sneaky rat-faced bastard, haven’t you learned your lesson yet!”
Squeak squeak squeak!
Under Fang Shu’s strange gaze, a frantic squeaking like a rat’s cry rang out from the rock wall crevice.
He quickly flipped his body and shrank into a nearby rock crevice, holding his breath even more carefully.
He saw the squeaking ahead grow louder; a black shadow moved—it was the rat that had drilled into the riverbank cave. It was holding a jujube in its mouth, ran out in a panic, then fled back the way it came without looking back.
Because Fang Shu was wearing fox fur and hiding downwind, the rat didn’t notice him at all.
With one less rat in the cave, Fang Shu’s gaze sharpened instantly.
However, he didn’t immediately release the sleepy bugs and go down into the cave; instead, he continued hanging on the riverbank rock wall, patiently waiting.
After a full quarter of an hour, Fang Shu flipped up from the riverbank, first circled nearby and found no other human or beast shadows, then groped back to the riverbank cave area.
He pulled open the fox fur, reached in and scratched around, catching two small white-and-purple flying insects.
Holding the two flying insects, Fang Shu blew toward the riverbank below and thought to himself:
“Go!”
Buzz buzz—the two flying insects hovered in place, circled a few times, then fell unsteadily below the riverbank like they were drunk.
Immediately after, Fang Shu hurried down the bank but didn’t rush into the cave; instead, he continued lying at the downwind spot, listening to the sounds inside.
“Damn it! I’m tired of playing, gonna sleep first.”
A mumbling voice sounded, followed by loud snoring.
Then came a slap of flesh on flesh, and after a woman’s startled cry, another tired voice:
“You sleep, I’ll sleep too; anyway, this little bitch can’t run.”
Two waves of snoring rose and fell from then on.
But Fang Shu still didn’t move; he listened carefully to Su Qin Gao’s voice in the cave.
He found her crying gradually softening into suppressed sobs, accompanied by faint rustling sounds like struggling.
Only then did Fang Shu secretly breathe a sigh of relief: “Time to strike!”
However, he didn’t probe into the cave in fox form; instead, he returned to the bank first, removed the fox fur, then masked his face and head, sprinkled perfume powder all over his body to avoid leaving scents.
He did this because with his current one-tribulation realm, wearing this low-grade fox fur would restrict his own strength.
This fox fur excelled at concealment and disguise, but wasn’t suitable for direct fight and kill now.
To be safe, Fang Shu naturally removed this restraint.
After everything was handled, he cautiously probed into the cave.
Soon, a glow of firelight appeared in his eyes, along with a fishy strange smell wafting from inside the cave.
Probing further, the scene in the cave became clearer to Fang Shu.
Sure enough, only Su Qin Gao and two men were here.
The former was chained like a dog with an iron collar linked to a chain nailed into the rock; her ankles were also shackled, her body covered in wounds, bruises, and purple blotches everywhere.
The latter two had bare chests, one sprawled east, one west, both deep in sleep; with the sleepy bugs not leaving, these two wouldn’t wake easily.
Su Qin Gao trembled as she desperately tried to pull out the iron nail fixed in the rock, her movements anxious.
Unable to pull the nail, she strained against the collar around her neck, choking herself breathless, but still made no progress.
After a frantic struggle, Su Qin Gao suddenly thought of something; her face bold and expectant, she trembled: “Key—yes! The key!”
She crept hesitantly toward the two men lying on the ground, groping their bodies to search for the key.
Seeing the two men not waking, sleeping like the dead, Su Qin Gao’s movements went from cautious to extremely bold. She directly flipped their bodies to search for the key.
But just as her eyes lit up upon finding what seemed like the key, two puffing sounds rang out!
Crimson whip shadows flew in from outside the cave like venomous snakes, swiftly biting into the two men’s necks.
Gush gush! Hot blood immediately sprayed from the two men’s neck wounds, splattering Su Qin Gao all over.
This sudden scene stunned the woman on the spot, unable to react for a moment.
At that moment, Fang Shu finally flipped in from outside the cave.
He held the long tongue sword in one hand, vigilantly scanning around with the other, guarding against any tricks in the cave.
Fortunately, the only surprise was that among the two men whose necks he had pierced, the middle-aged one didn’t faint in his sleep but suddenly opened his eyes with terrified ferocity.
Qi and blood roiled on this man, showing he was no mortal but an immortal cultivator who had entered the Dao, so he woke from the intense pain.
The man’s hand immediately reached for his body, but faster than his hand was Fang Shu’s long tongue sword.
Puff—with a light shake of the tongue sword.
Its tip shot like an arrow straight into the man’s eye socket, piercing the brain and crashing into the inner skull wall before stopping.
The struggling man went limp in the arms, face stiff, the light in his eyes snuffing out like a candle.
After dealing with this one, Fang Shu didn’t stop; he used the long tongue sword to swiftly smash the skull of the younger-looking man nearby.
This one’s bones were hard too but he hadn’t entered the Dao; even his skull was pierced, body convulsing as porridge water sprayed out.
Thus, the two Black Tiger Hall minions both perished in the wilderness, none spared.
Fang Shu immediately let out a secret sigh of relief.
