Chapter 197 - 197: Jianghu! (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The sun set in the west, and the lights in the city lit up.
Near Youji Street in the East Market, the residents were all low-level peddlers and laborers. The street was relatively old, and there were all kinds of stalls along the street. In the alleys, there were gambling dens and hidden brothels.
Although the brothels were cheap, their grade was too low in the capital. Even at the peak of business at night, there were not many people on the old street. Only some sounds came from the brothels and gambling dens.
There was a house behind the gambling alley. The door was tightly shut, and there was some mud on the stone doorstep. At night, almost no one entered this place.
The house was very quiet inside. The few men in charge of digging the tunnel during the day used hot water to clean the oil stains from the dissolving oil in the house.
The door to the main room was closed. Xu Bailin was sitting on a chair and tapping the armrest with his fingers. His expression wasn’t very good.
Cao Aning was pacing back and forth in front of him.
Cao Aning had grown up in the palace and had been taught by Eunuch Cao. In the past, he had always been calm and composed.
But after experiencing a series of incomprehensible strange events, he could no longer suppress his tense emotions. He revealed a hysterical side and whispered, “When I ran into him in the morgue, I already thought he had god-like predictions. He ambushed us while we were fleeing for our lives. 1 figured that he appeared so soon because he had a lot of informers. But how did he find the Prince of Wu’s mansion without any evidence?
“Even if he found the mansion, he didn’t find any clues. How did he find the tunnel? It’s fine if he found the tunnel, but how can he be evenly matched with the former Fist Chief? If he had the ability, why did he let me escape the first time…?”
It was only today that Cao Aning and Xu Bailin confirmed from the white-robed old man that the person who had infiltrated the Prince of Wu’s mansion yesterday and defeated Nangong Shaofeng with a single move was really this haunting King of Hell.
Ye Jingtang’s movements over the past few days could be said to be so bizarre that there was no way to explain it. Not only was Cao Aning confused, but Xu Bailin also felt that he had seen a ghost.
They believed that they hadn’t leaked any information. After the incident at the morgue, in order to prevent anything from happening, they didn’t dare to move much in the capital. They only secretly went to Broad Crossing.
But in the end, after they didn’t see Ye Jingtang for a few days, he went straight to the employer behind them and almost caught them red-handed in the tunnel.
That wasn’t ail. At first, Ye Jingtang only had a slight upper hand against Cao Aning and had clearly been weaker than Xu Bailin. It had only been a few days since they last met, but Ye Jingtang had beaten Nangong Shaofeng with one palm. The former Fist Chief had gone to block the way and had been stunned by two punches. Wasn’t this ridiculous?
Xu Bailin thought for a moment. “Since Ye Jingtang was able to kill Zhou Huaili, his martial arts skills must be extraordinary. He might be hiding his skills usually. As predicting things like a god… Could there be a traitor on our side who’s informing him?”
Cao Aning shook his head. “The people below are all working hard. Only the few of us and His Highness know the entire plan. It’s impossible for His Highness to disclose these matters. The former Fist Chief only went to the tunnel today. He didn’t know the exact location before…”
At this point, Cao Aning paused and looked at Xu Bailin. Xu Bailin had been involved from the beginning to the end. The first time he encountered Ye Jingtang, he had been provoked by him, causing the officials to capture a member alive…
?!
Xu Bailin’s expression froze for a moment before anger appeared on his face. He slapped the armrest. “Are you suspecting that 1 informed the government? If I weren’t so skilled, I would have been hacked to death by Ye Jingtang on the street last time. How could that be fake?”
“The skills Ye Jingtang displayed today are above yours. The last time he fought with you, he clearly held back…”
“If you hadn’t been blocked by Ye Jingtang in the morgue, causing him to follow you, would I have fought against Ye Jingtang? Explain first how you escaped from the morgue!”
Cao Aning thought about it and agreed. He knew more than Xu Bailin. If the Prince of Wu had a spy, then this person was most likely him…
Xu Bailin was already paranoid due to Ye Jingtang, so he didn’t care about Cao Aning’s suspicion and said, “If the spy were your or me, Ye Jingtang wouldn’t have come from the other end of the tunnel today to alert the enemy. Now that the dissolving oil has been poured, we have to hide it well today and tomorrow. If anything goes wrong again and we fail, we will lose everything.”
Cao Aning couldn’t figure out how Ye Jingtang was tracking him. He felt that if he stayed here, he might still be found, so he said, “You and I will hide separately and meet up tomorrow night. If anything happens, escape alone. Don’t escape back to the base rashly, lest Ye Jingtang follows the clues and wipes us out.”
Xu Bailin nodded. After some consideration, he thought of something and said angrily, “Ye Jingtang can already fight the former Fist Chief alone. Is Jun Mountain Terrace dead? I’ve already sent them the news, but there’s been no movement for so long…”
Cao Aning thought for a moment. “We wanted to kill him with a borrowed knife, but we didn’t say that his martial arts skills were so high. Jun Mountain Terrace may not have felt the pressure and is thinking of ways to do it secretly…”
“No matter how secretly you operate, there will always be some splashes. If Ye Jingtang finishes dealing with us, by the time Jun Mountain Terrace comes, it will be too late. Wasn’t this giving Jun Mountain Terrace the news for nothing…”
“It’s too late to talk about this now. Let’s get back to work.”
Xu Bailin felt that Jun Mountain Terrace couldn’t even understand the seriousness of raising a tiger to cause trouble. He felt that they really didn’t live up to the reputation of a top rich and powerful family. But since there was no movement from Jun Mountain Terrace, there was nothing they could do. He stopped speaking and left the house with his bar mace wrapped in yellow cloth.
Cao Aning paced around the room with his hands behind his back, looking at his loyal subordinates outside the door. For some reason, everyone looked like a traitor.
But it wasn’t convenient to check his subordinates one by one. It might disappoint and discourage them. He thought for a moment and prepared to ask the five subordinates in the courtyard to disperse and hide on their own. They would meet again tomorrow.
But as soon as Cao Aning walked out of the door, he heard the sound of buildings collapsing and metal colliding from the buildings outside.
Clatter!
Ding, ding, ding!
Cao Aning’s expression changed drastically. He knew that this haunting ghost from Black Office had come looking for him again. He couldn’t even think of rescuing his people.. He immediately flew into the depths of the building complex…
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