But that Greedy Wolf was simply too arrogant, and a ferocious look twisted his features. He roared, "By order of the Gang Leader, I ask you all to join forces and put this beast down!"
The moment his voice fell, Gu Nanzhi appeared on a high, bluestone wall nearby, her arms crossed and a strange expression on her face.
"By order of the Gang Leader?"
She kicked a bundle down from beside her feet and said coolly, "Which leader are you referring to? Take your pick."
The bundle landed on the ground and came undone, revealing three gruesome heads.
Mountain-Smashing Dragon, Sea-Covering Dragon, and Overseas Dragon—whose face was pierced clean through by a sword. Not one was missing. All of them lay on the ground.
In an instant, the atmosphere in the entire courtyard turned bizarre.
Bai Feng’s pupils shrank. He suddenly felt as if he were suffocating.
Gu Nanzhi was the Black Water County Captain. Every gang member knew of her methods. Terrifying as she was, in a real fight, she couldn’t have killed a single one of the leaders on her own.
Let alone all three of them!
Never mind just her as the County Captain; the entire Government Office combined didn’t have that kind of power.
Otherwise, how could Black Water City still tolerate the existence of their gang?
Besides, her appearing here now clearly meant she had returned with Lin Shu.
The answer, then, was obvious.
Yan Jin’s usual cold demeanor had vanished. Her mouth was slightly agape as she stared blankly at the ground.
She didn’t look at the heads of the other two leaders, her eyes fixed intently on Cheng Yi’s.
After discovering the secret of the Awakening Pills, she had come to see this Overseas Dragon as the mastermind controlling the life and death of the entire city.
That was why she had specifically gone to warn Lin Shu.
She never imagined that just two days after her warning, Cheng Yi’s head would be so bizarrely presented before her.
The expressions of the Tigers changed drastically, and the dozen or so Fierce Wolves instinctively took a step back.
They should have been furious, should have been shouting accusations that Greedy Wolf had colluded with the Government.
But after a long, dead silence, the men slowly recovered from their shock. They exchanged glances, and each saw the raw terror in the others’ eyes.
Even the most senior Tiger felt his legs begin to give way.
The three leaders were all gone.
It didn’t matter how it was done.
The sky above the Black Water Gang... had completely fallen.
Dong Cheng had been hiding in the crowd, a short dagger concealed in his sleeve, ready to strike at any moment and see if he could take out one of the old wolves.
Now, the dagger in his hand fell to the ground with a CLANG.
The young wolf’s face was numb. He suddenly recalled his earlier, sarcastic thought.
’They’re really dead. They’re fucking dead! After Master Lin met with the Gang Leader, all three leaders ended up completely wiped out!’
The sound of the falling dagger snapped everyone back to reality.
"We pay our respects to the Gang Leader!"
The Tigers and the pack of wolves shuddered violently, then prostrated themselves on the ground as one, bowing in full submission toward the slender figure on the chair.
The savage aura within the Old Woodshed completely disintegrated, replaced by endless fear.
It was less an act of proclaiming him the new Gang Leader and more a desperate plea for forgiveness.
Mr. and Mrs. Cheng were stunned into statues by this bizarre scene.
In this small Woodshed, the County Captain—representing the strongest power of the Government Office—stood quietly like a bodyguard. Meanwhile, the Black Water Gang, rulers of the city’s other half, were all kneeling before the hem of his simple robes.
With his nonchalant posture, the young man had shown them what it truly meant... to have complete control over both the underworld and the authorities.
What was even more absurd, however, was that Lin Shu seemed completely uninterested in any of it.
He casually cast his gaze around.
A cruel wolf’s howl abruptly echoed in the minds of nearly everyone present.
The Fierce Wolves and Tigers prostrating on the ground seemed to see a red moon. A moment later, they realized their eyeballs were being coated in blood.
DRIP! DRIP!
Sticky, crimson fluid began to ooze from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths, quickly soaking their faces before seeping into the dirt beneath them.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
A continuous series of thuds echoed as the twenty-some men who had just been shouting "We pay our respects to the Gang Leader"—including the four Tributors—all became corpses with hideous expressions frozen on their faces.
They lay deathly still on the ground, fronted by the three forlorn heads.
Faced with this hellish scene,
Mr. and Mrs. Cheng’s faces went slack, then quickly twisted in near-madness as they erupted in piercing shrieks. "AHHH!!!"
Bai Feng stumbled backward until his back hit the wall.
He frantically rubbed his face and neck, as if trying to confirm he was still alive.
Forget the others; even Gu Nanzhi and Yan Jin, two Immortal Sect Disciples, were stunned.
Only Chang Yi gripped his long saber tightly. He remembered Brother Lin’s teaching: ’If you draw your blade, you must strike...’ ’But where am I supposed to strike now?’
"You’re not going to give me the whole story, are you?"
Lin Shu sat quietly, leaning back in the large mahogany chair. He shifted his gaze to the full-figured young woman. "I want to ask you a question."
"Benefactor..."
Miss Yun looked around in a daze. She had already prepared herself for death, unwilling to be the cause of another innocent’s demise as she had been ten years ago.
But her benefactor had just barged in, silent and unseen.
"I just want to ask, do you think the life of a lowly maid like yourself is comparable to the young master of the Chang Family, or more precious than the young miss of the Cheng Family?"
Lin Shu had rarely spoken so bluntly and harshly since leaving Cyan Willow Lane.
"It’s comparable to neither..." Miss Yun lowered her head, a subconscious act of self-deprecation.
But she quickly understood.
’Since one life could not atone for it, my parents were doomed to die whether I returned or not.’
’The murderers were the Cheng Family—everything else was just sophistry!’
"Figured it out?" Lin Shu raised an eyebrow slightly, then glanced at Chang Yi’s right hand and said flatly, "The saber is right there."
"Huh?"
Before Chang Yi could react, he saw Miss Yun suddenly spring up from behind him.
Amidst the sudden ring of steel, like a sparrow’s cry, she snatched the long saber from his grasp and strode with quick, steady steps toward the huddled forms of Mr. and Mrs. Cheng.
"Give me back my parents’ lives!"
Miss Yun gripped the hilt, facing their terrified expressions and noisy pleas for mercy.
Without the slightest hesitation, she resolutely swung the long saber.
SCHLICK!
Two heads flew high into the air.
A wave of hot blood sprayed across her pretty face, making her eyes seem all the brighter.
Miss Yun’s breathing, which had seemed ragged, grew steady and deep as beads of blood rolled off the edge of the blade.
"Tsk."
Gu Nanzhi subconsciously averted her gaze.
’First, Yi draws his saber, which is unlike him, and now this meek little maid has turned into... this.’
’How on earth does Lin Shu manage to make everyone around him gradually become an echo of himself?’
’Enough,’ she thought, pushing aside her complex feelings and looking toward the side room below.
’Now that this business is finished, I can finally meet that member of the Immortal Family!’

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