Translator: Myuu Editor: Myuu
The people around Yan Liqiang were all the escorts from the escort agency, except for Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng. When they saw those people drawing their weapons, everyone also reflexively drew the swords and sabers they carried with an audible whoosh.
The atmosphere immediately turned hostile. There were about twenty men in the other party, nearly twice the size of Yan Liqiang’s party that had entered the city.
A bald, bearded man with slanted eyes and freckles all over his face came forward from the crowd. “Where are you from, my friends? Right now, Jinling City is a big piece of cake that is up for anyone to take. Our brothers here are merely looking for some money to spend, we have no intention of stopping anyone. Are you guys here to stir up some trouble?” he said fiercely, baring his yellow teeth at Yan Liqiang and the rest.
Yan Liqiang gave a cursory glance at the people standing across from them. There were about twenty of them, ranging from twenty to forty years old. All of them were dressed in fine silk and jewels. However, their ill-fitting clothes made it obvious that the items had been picked up from somewhere else instead. Many of them were adorned in necklaces and all kinds of gold and silver jewelry. Without even looking at them, Yan Liqiang could already smell the stench of rats on these people. These homeless night crawlers must have miraculously survived the disaster last night and were prowling the city for money while celebrating right now.
Neither Wang Hui nor the other escorts from the Four Seas Escort Agency spoke. At a time like this, their gazes were naturally on Yan Liqiang.
Yan Liqiang expressionlessly looked at the bunch of thugs from Jinling City in front of him. “We are only passing by here to find someone. Let’s mind our own business and avoid any misunderstandings. Now, if you will excuse us, we need to get over to the other side.”
The man who spoke to Yan Liqiang looked up and down at him along with the warbow on his back. Yan Liqiang didn’t put his bow down as he remained unperturbed. The formidable temperaments of Wang Hui and the rest, trained over their years at the escort agency, were intimidating enough to make him feel a little apprehensive. After a few seconds of consideration, that man waved his hand and retreated a few steps with the others. Although they gave way, they were still holding onto their weapons as they cautiously watched Yan Liqiang and the rest with slight hostility in their eyes.
Yan Liqiang cast a glance at them and took his first step. Wang Hui and the rest followed him while still holding onto their weapons. Both parties cautiously brushed past each other, not letting their guards down or putting their weapons away until Yan Liqiang and his party had walked several meters out.
Prior to entering the city, Yan Liqiang had found a warbow and a quiver of arrows at the depot. The warbow belonged to one of the escorts from the agency who never returned after going out last night. His weapons were still undamaged underneath a pile of rubble, so Yan Liqiang picked it up for himself. The warbow was only an ordinary three-picul bow. Although it was nothing compared to the five-picul Horned Python Bow Yan Liqiang used before, it was decent enough for him to kill someone a hundred or two hundred meters away. With a warbow on his back, the confidence to face any danger immediately returned to Yan Liqiang. So far, neither the escorts from the agency nor Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng were aware that Yan Liqiang was a skillful archer because Yan Liqiang had never used a warbow in front of them.
“I didn’t expect anyone in Jinling City to be raking in wealth from the dead in broad daylight without anyone stopping them…” Wang Hui told Yan Liqiang with a grave expression.
“This is only the first day, so the situation may be even more chaotic. We shouldn’t stay too long — let’s leave as soon as possible…” Yan Liqiang told everyone, and they nodded in agreement.
No one would have known if they hadn’t gone to the city. As soon as they entered the city, everyone realized that the situation in Jinling City was just as Yan Liqiang had expected. The bureaucracy had ceased functioning, soldiers were nowhere in sight, and chaos was everywhere. People were already taking advantage of the situation. Signs of disorder were already rearing their ugly heads.
Yan Liqiang and the rest made it past countless ruins and arrived at their destination under Wang Hui’s lead, surrounded by heartbroken cries and anguished wails.
The marketplace had been reduced to shambles. Not even a soul was in sight, save for the various broken shop signs that still recounted the liveliness of the place. The group found a collapsed grain shop and started clearing away the rubble. It didn’t take them very long to clear out the broken door, windows, pillars, and brick fragments. After clearing most of the stuff, the group found the stocks of the grain shop.
They found food, then more than ten jin of salt among the ruins of a salt shop at the side. Each of them carried a sack of rice weighing about thirty kilograms and prepared to return to the depot outside the city.
It had barely been ten minutes since they left the marketplace when they suddenly heard a voice from one of the ruins they were passing by.
“Help… Help…!”
The voice came from behind a nearby broken wall and it sounded like a lady.
“Everyone, put the sacks down first. We’ll go take a look together…” Yan Liqiang frowned. He put down the sack of rice he was carrying and ran toward the rubble. Wang Hui and the rest exchanged glances, then hurriedly followed behind Yan Liqiang.
Although Yan Liqiang had long convinced himself to steel his heart at times like these, he simply couldn’t ignore a lady’s cry for help and decided to check things out.
Yan Liqiang’s footsteps were swift. Before he even reached behind the broken wall and rubble, he heard what sounded like countless footsteps and a bunch of laughing men. While running, Yan Liqiang took out the bow he carried on his back.
Crossing the broken wall and debris, he saw seven or eight men surrounding a lady who was curled up on the floor in a rock garden behind the collapsed house. They were laughing gleefully. The lady’s clothes had been torn, revealing her fair, delicate shoulders which were pinned on the ground. The men surrounding her were laughing lasciviously while running their hands all over the lady’s face and body.
“Ohohoho, this missy’s skin is really soft…”
“She has a really beautiful face too, what a chick! I saw her a few days ago going in and out from the Zheng Residence. I heard that her clan is in straitened circumstances so she came to Jinling City to rely on her relatives. Little did I expect her to be lucky enough to actually still be alive…”
“STOP! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?” Yan Liqiang bellowed from several dozens of meters away.
The men who surrounded the lady turned their heads around. Coincidentally, they turned out to be the bunch of thugs that Yan Liqiang and the rest ran into earlier…
“We meet again, brat! Are you deliberately looking for trouble with us?” The bald thug with slanted eyes turned around and drew his blade once again. He shot a glare at Yan Liqiang. “F*ck off, or else I’ll…”
Before he could even finish his threat, an arrow went past his mouth and pierced the back of his head…
