My Years in the Jianghu with the Prince: A Time of Unethical Conduct

Chapter 15 Infiltrating the Mountain Stronghold

After a stormy night, the sky was exceptionally clear the next day.

On the muddy dirt road, several strong men were carefully driving two horse-drawn carriages.

One of the vehicles was a truck covered with a thick cloth, from which one could hear clanging sounds, like porcelain.

The other vehicle was a horse-drawn carriage carrying people, its wheels leaving deep ruts in the mud.

The forest was dense and the mountain path was rugged. The group drove the horse-drawn carriage skillfully through the twists and turns, and finally arrived at their destination just before noon.

It was a fairly large mountain stronghold, with two watchtowers standing at the entrance. People had spotted the approaching group early on and sent word.

The heavy wooden door was slowly opened, and a bald man with a scarred face led his men out.

He was shirtless, his hands stained with blood, slowly wiping them while keeping a close eye on the driver ahead.

When they got closer, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse: "Niu Da, you'd better bring back enough stuff this time."

The man he called Niu Da was the leader of the band of mountain bandits from yesterday.

Niu Da was filled with anxiety, his clothes clinging to his back soaked with sweat. He kept licking his lips and stealing glances into the carriage out of the corner of his eye.

The bald, burly man's face immediately darkened when he saw that the man was ignoring him.

Niu Da suddenly realized what was happening, wiped away a bead of sweat, took a deep breath, and forced a smile. "Second Boss, we've pulled off a big one this time!"

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and his subordinates behind him, who had been bowing their heads, pulled back the thick cloth, revealing a cart full of gleaming porcelain that made everyone gasp.

The second-in-command immediately stepped forward, carefully picked one up and examined it closely, his eyes gleaming with greed.

"Excellent, excellent. All top-quality goods! Where did you get them?"

Niu Da said with a hint of pride, "Second Master, it's quite a coincidence. Yesterday, a group of镖局 (security escort agencies) encountered a mudslide, and some died and some were injured. We just happened to pick up the pieces."

The mountains here are high and the soil is loose; mudslides occasionally occur during heavy rains, and many people have died in the past. Therefore, when the second-in-command heard this, he didn't show any doubt and casually asked, "Where is it?"

Niu Da swallowed hard: "It's in that section of Xiaofengpo."

"We also brought back the rest of the people."

Niu Da used his whip to lift the curtain of another carriage, where several ragged, dusty-faced people were lying.

Only after seeing these people did the second-in-command's expression show slight satisfaction.

He gestured to the people on the watchtower to lower their guard and let Niu Da bring the cart in.

He followed behind, then turned and instructed his men, "Take some men and go check on Xiaofengpo and Qiu Wuniang."

The subordinate looked solemnly at the spirited Niu Da standing before him, "You suspect..."

The second-in-command waved his hand impatiently, "Go quickly."

The subordinate dared not say anything more, nodded in agreement, and immediately left with his men.

The carriage traveled for a while, then came to a stop with a thud.

"The boss."

Upon seeing the person in front of him, Niu Da couldn't help but tremble again.

"You brought people back?"

"Yes."

"From a security escort agency?"

"Correct."

"Let them out to play."

Upon hearing this, Niu Da immediately thought, "I knew it."

He dared not disobey and immediately ordered his men to drag everyone out of the car.

A bucket of cold water was poured over her, and Xie Yan opened her eyes as if she had been startled awake.

He was tightly bound and lying on the ground. When he looked up, he saw a huge creature standing in front of him.

That was practically a mountain of flesh.

The leader was covered in thick, fleshy flesh, and his eyes were squeezed so narrowly that only two thin slits could be seen on his face, making it seem like he was having trouble breathing.

Seeing the group slowly waking up, the leader, panting heavily, sat back down on the large stool and casually pointed to a few people.

"Throw all of these in."

Xie Yan happened to be among them.

He was helped up by Niu Da after Niu Da cut the rope, and he could see clearly that a fighting arena had been set up in the open space in front of him, and there were several people covered in wounds in the arena.

Xie Yan and Yu Bai exchanged glances before being pushed inside together.

The leader looked on with satisfaction and said to the people inside, "Listen up, whoever can take down a newcomer, I'll let you go home."

In an instant, everyone who had been in the fighting arena turned to look at Xie Yan and his group, their gazes fierce and eager to attack.

The atmosphere was tense, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of blood.

The moment the arrow was nocked, Xie Yan raised his hand, and several people immediately rushed towards him.

"Ah!"

He ducked and sneezed, narrowly avoiding a blow aimed at the back of his head.

The blow bypassed Xie Yan and struck several attackers who ran in front of him.

"what!"

"You son of a bitch, are you blind?!"

Amidst the shouts and curses, the man with the stick seemed a little embarrassed. He gave a rough apology and then raised the stick again.

Perhaps because she had been drenched in water, Xie Yan sneezed several times in a row, each time making an exaggerated gesture that conveniently redirected the swung stick at the other people.

The man wielding the stick: ...

The others who were innocently attacked: ￥! So they ignored Xie Yan and started fighting each other.

Xie Yan wrung out the water from her clothes and found that everyone else was fighting fiercely, but her area was the only one being ignored.

He stood there for a while, feeling somewhat empty, when suddenly he saw a teenager fall towards him from the fighting crowd.

There are even children here?

Xie Yan was somewhat surprised and reached out to help him up. The next moment, a sharp blade plunged into his abdomen.

The boy was dressed in ill-fitting, tattered clothes, his exposed hands and feet were covered in scars, and his eyes looked at him with a fierce and resentful glint that belied his age.

The next moment it turned into surprise and doubt.

Where no one could see, two fingers firmly gripped the incredibly sharp blade.

"Kid, your acting is terrible."

Xie Yan looked at him with a smile and criticized his acting skills.

The boy tried to pull the dagger back, but couldn't budge it an inch. Seeing Xie Yan raise her hand to grab him, he bit Xie Yan's arm hard.

As it turned out, Xie Yan, who was bullying a child, had already used her internal energy to cover her arm.

The boy nearly broke one of his teeth when he took that bite.

After this incident, he realized that this person was not someone he could afford to offend. He simply dropped the dagger and tried to escape, but he had clearly underestimated Xie Yan's mental state.

Then Xie Yan said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "Kid, watch carefully, this is how you act."

Then he suddenly cried out in pain and slowly collapsed as if in slow motion.

Xie Yan clutched his stomach. The dagger hadn't hurt him, yet blood was seeping out from there without him even realizing it.

The boy stared blankly at the person lying on the ground, his hand trembling as he pointed at him, his voice filled with pain and resentment, "You, you... you actually... pfft!"

Xie Yan coughed up blood and fainted, causing everyone in the room to stop what they were doing.