chsdbacks Chapter 26 is coming.
Chapter 26 is coming.
A thousand miles of drifting.
Deep in the lake.
A small boat quietly came to a stop among the reeds. In the swaying moonlight, several figures bobbed on the water, creating ripples.
"You are all experts, and your skills are beyond question. What we need to do now is to gather information about the Cao family's movements and defenses. If we encounter anyone, it's best not to engage in combat. Of course, if the situation allows, you can kill them directly, and you will all be well paid afterwards."
"Huang Qu, you're so long-winded. Your Huang family is usually so arrogant, but now that it's time to resort to such underhanded tactics. You just want that dragon in the lake, right? Why not just rush in and snatch it? Why make us brothers sneak around like this?"
The speaker was named Ji You. The police officers probably had their eyes light up when they saw him. He had been on the wanted list in Xinyu City for three years, with a reward of one hundred taels of silver. His most outrageous act was robbing an official ship, which aroused great anger from the government. He was a true walking hero.
The other three people beside Ji You were named Kou Zhifeng, Li Siqiao, and Chen Ying. The four of them were collectively known as the Blackwater Four Fiends. They were all notorious criminals on the wanted list, with Ji You as their leader. They were all ruthless bandits who could be promoted if they were caught.
Huang Qu coldly said, "The way big families do things is always different from how you bandits do things. Don't try to judge them based on your limited perspective."
Ji You said sarcastically, "Ha, if you're such a powerful family, why would you need bandits like us to do your bidding?"
Huang Qu glanced at him and said coldly, "Once the White Pill takes effect, the entire body's muscles and bones will be corroded by poisonous insects, causing excruciating pain. Since you're willing to work for us, I don't want to hear any complaints or disrespectful remarks. Do you understand?"
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately fell silent.
A look of fear appeared on the faces of this group of ruthless bandits.
Ji You's eyes initially gleamed with a fierce light, but as Huang Qu spoke, that fierce light gradually subsided and eventually disappeared completely.
"Okay, tell me how to proceed."
Huang Qu snorted coldly. If they didn't have some tricks up their sleeves, the Huang family wouldn't dare to secretly hire these bandits to do things they wouldn't be able to do themselves.
This white pill is a poison pill that the Huang family spent nearly ten years refining, inviting many masters of poison to refine it, in order to control certain experts.
These poisons are extremely precious; they are not worth taking for ordinary low-level fighters. The Huang family has spent a lot of money on these pills and antidotes.
The reason for the current situation is that the Huang, Cao and Zhou families have been in a three-way standoff for many years. In particular, the Huang and Cao families suffered heavy losses in their struggle many years ago, which greatly displeased the city's higher-ups, who ordered the two families to stop fighting each other.
Both families were already exhausted, so they had no choice but to back down and sign a non-aggression pact to at least maintain a semblance of stability.
However, the discovery of this water dragon in the lake has finally led the Huang family to decide to break the balance.
"Go in from Widow's Bay, that's the easiest place to infiltrate. Once inside, split up and if you encounter any fishing nets or water barriers, immediately dive underwater to dismantle them. Burn all fishing gear, then dive back and report."
Huang Qu gave instructions.
"That simple?" The thugs were all somewhat taken aback.
Huang Qu smiled and said, "It's that simple. Go quickly."
After saying that, he added, "Be careful! The Cao family's fishing grounds are not without experts. Last time, our Tan Yunyang was killed. The experts in the manor examined him, and the person who killed him was extremely fast!"
Ji You clearly knew Tan Yunyang. After hearing Huang Qu's words, he said indifferently, "Tan Yunyang, the Thunder of Clear Sky? That guy has always been arrogant and ignorant. He deserved to be killed."
Huang Qu felt that these damn gangsters were impossible to communicate with; their banditry was inescapable, and they deserved to be prostitutes for life.
"Alright, go ahead."
With a wave of his hand, several bandits disappeared into the vast waters, not by boat, but by diving directly in.
Huang Qu pondered for a moment, then sneered inwardly.
These bandits were merely bait; Huang Qu was the main force of this squad's reconnaissance tonight.
In the waters of Cao Mansion, there lives a dragon.
This intelligence was only recently obtained by the Huang family. According to the information revealed by their informant, the Cao family will be carrying out the arrest operation in the next two days.
The Huang family took this very seriously.
A dragon!
Even if it only has a little bit of dragon blood, it is still completely different from an ordinary beast!
The Huang family had gone to great lengths to break through the Cao family's blockade, but the Cao family's control over this area of water was extremely tight.
The best course of action now is not to directly attack Cao's fishing grounds, but to break their blockade and let the prey out of the hunting grounds.
To achieve this goal, the Huang family secretly recruited soldiers and horses. Tonight, they were to break through the blockade before the Cao family could make their arrest. Several unofficial teams were to be commanded by Cao's trusted men, along with a small number of Cao's own men disguised and mixed in, so as not to give others a reason to criticize them.
Huang Qu was one of the team leaders among these squads.
The wind was howling all around.
Wait a little longer...
Huang Qu lay hidden in the shadows, waiting quietly.
Before long, shouts came from afar, and faint flames rose on the lake.
Huang Qu remained unhurried, waiting for the patrolling men ahead to be alerted and leave. While waiting, he changed direction and came to another bend in the river.
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"Boss, it seems quite lively over there."
Looking around, Liu Shuisheng saw a torch flickering at the edge of his field of vision on the lake, its light hinting at a sense of turmoil.
Song Shen frowned.
The firelight was strange. His eyesight was even better, and after looking at it for a while, he exclaimed in astonishment, "I'm afraid something bad is about to happen."
"What... what should we do?"
Panic flashed in Zhang Baolu's eyes.
Song Shen withdrew his gaze and said, "What's the rush? We're just on patrol. The guards will handle things later. We just need to make sure we're in the right position."
A quick glance around revealed the bewildered expressions on the faces of his men. Song Shen reiterated in a deep voice, "Our superiors have assigned us to patrol, not provide support. If problems arise, we'll hold them off. If we can't hold them off, we'll retreat and report back. That's the duty of our patrol team, understand?"
The group exchanged glances, their thoughts gradually calming down.
What Song Shen said is indeed the truth.
Panic and reckless actions now are the only way to invite disaster.
A long time passed again.
A commotion arose from Zheng Xiangyong and Han Dang's side next door, and Song Shen's men began whispering among themselves again.
Tonight is going to be a disaster.
Everyone had this feeling; shouts of battle could be heard in the distance, the fighting had begun, and flames were everywhere. Even a fool could tell what had happened tonight.
Song Shen stood with his hand on his sword. "Liu Shuisheng and Zhang Baolu!"
"exist!"
The two agreed.
"You two go check what happened, the rest of you come with me and continue patrolling."
"yes!"
The two sailed away, while Song Shen and the others continued to guard this river bend. Amidst the clamor, this place was surprisingly quiet.
On the other side,
Huang Qu was almost speechless.
"Wait, why are these guys still here?"
There's unrest all around here, so why are these people so persistent?
"Was the intelligence correct?"
Huang Qu sorted through the information in his mind. The intelligence from the spy was that since the cautious Qian Huan left, a kid named Song Shen had taken over patrolling this area.
According to intelligence, this young man surnamed Song is not even eighteen years old and his strength is quite average. Huang Qu chose this place because he wanted to launch a fierce attack on the weakest area.
As a result, this kid was like a piece of chewing gum; while other places were fighting, he stupidly stayed here and guarded the place.
"Damn it, I wanted to sneak in unnoticed, but you guys are asking for it."
Huang Qu sheathed his precious sword and submerged beneath the waves.