"Who's there? Catch him!" The spies followed the direction pointed by Golden Pig and saw a dark face peeking out from behind the roof of a tavern, quietly observing Red Sleeve Alley.
One of the spies suddenly exclaimed, "Is that a person or a ghost?!"
Golden Pig smiled as he gazed at the figure on the rooftop.
"Playing tricks, huh? Surround him!"
The spy bureau had come up empty-handed tonight, and though Golden Pig wore a smile, his heart burned with rage.
There was a traitor from the Jing Dynasty among his ranks, and if the other Zodiacs found out, they would surely laugh at him.
In the next moment, Chen Ji watched helplessly as dozens of spies surrounded the tavern, cutting off all escape routes.
Some spies began climbing the outer walls, but Chen Ji lifted tiles and hurled them down, smashing the heads of those trying to ascend.
Other spies brought two long ladders, attempting to climb to the rooftop.
Chen Ji moved to the ladders, using all his strength to overturn them along with the spies on them.
Every time the spies set up a ladder, he would knock it down.
But there were too many spies, and more ladders kept coming.
The number of climbers increased, and Chen Ji couldn't keep up.
It was only a matter of time before he was overwhelmed.
He felt like he was defending a lone city against an army attacking from all sides.
At that moment, Lin Chaoqing leisurely asked Golden Pig, "Do you need my Troubleshooter Guards to step in? If your spies can't handle him, we can solve your problem. With so many eyes watching, if a mere Jing Dynasty traitor can't be dealt with, it would be a joke to say the Bureau of Rites has no capable men."
Golden Pig smiled and said, "No need for the Troubleshooter Guards to intervene. My spy bureau can handle this."
With that, he removed his light armor and handed it to a subordinate, personally stepping forward to capture Chen Ji.
Chen Ji caught a glimpse of this and thought, "This is bad. If Golden Pig comes up here himself, I'm truly doomed."
He untied the cloth bundle on his back and pulled out two bamboo tubes.
In the next moment, Golden Pig charged toward the tavern, each step covering several meters.
Reaching the building, Golden Pig leaped, his bulky figure soaring effortlessly to the second floor.
Using the wooden railing as a foothold, he propelled himself directly onto the rooftop.
For a high-ranking official like Golden Pig, scaling a multi-story building was as easy as walking on flat ground, far beyond the capabilities of an ordinary person.
However, as soon as he landed on the rooftop, he saw the dark figure holding a fire stick in one hand and a bamboo tube in the other.
The fuse on the tube was already burning.
But Chen Ji didn't throw the tube immediately.
He waited patiently until the fuse was almost burned out before hurling it at Golden Pig, who had just landed on the roof.
"Get down!" Chen Ji lay flat on the rooftop, covering his ears tightly.
Golden Pig, still unsteady on his feet, saw the bamboo tube flying toward him and instinctively tried to kick it away.
But before it reached him, the tube exploded!
With a deafening roar, Golden Pig raised his arms to shield his head as the powerful shockwave sent him flying backward.
The explosion was like a thunderclap, the fiery light illuminating the previously dark sky as if divine wrath had descended, fierce and unyielding.
Outside Red Sleeve Alley, the thunderous explosion echoed far and wide, causing hundreds of guard dogs to bark wildly.
The entire city of Luo seemed to awaken in an instant.
Inside Red Sleeve Alley, patrons and courtesans alike were terrified, their hair standing on end.
Many of them crouched on the ground, screaming in fear.
Even the horses of the Troubleshooter Guards were spooked, rearing up on the cobblestone streets and nearly throwing their riders.
Lin Chaoqing's horse also reared, but he forcefully brought it back under control.
The commander of the Punishment Bureau looked up calmly at the sky, his sharp eyes piercing through the darkness.
Golden Pig, who had just ascended the rooftop, was now flying backward like a kite with its string cut, plummeting from several meters high.
Golden Pig's once elegant robe was now in tatters, his sleeves blown apart, his pants torn, and his entire body looking like a ragged sack.
One of the spies shouted, "Save the boss! Don't let him hit the ground!"
With that, over a dozen spies rushed to where Golden Pig was falling, catching him just before he hit the cobblestones.
Crack! Several spies felt their arms break under Golden Pig's weight, their backs giving out from the strain.
The group collapsed in a heap, but at least Golden Pig didn't crash onto the street.
"Boss?!"
"Boss!"
These spies had served Golden Pig for many years and were as close as brothers.
Regardless of how ruthless Golden Pig was toward the Jing Dynasty traitors, he treated his subordinates well and knew how to win their loyalty.
But now, Golden Pig lay with his eyes closed, his face blackened, and his breathing stopped.
The spies were overcome with grief.
"Cough, cough, cough... What are you crying for? I'm not dead yet," Golden Pig slowly opened his eyes and sat up, looking bewildered.
"What the hell kind of gunpowder is this? It's way more powerful than anything our craftsmen have made!"
Earlier, when Golden Pig saw the bamboo tube and the fuse, he had mentally prepared himself.
He guessed the tube contained gunpowder and that he would be injured if it exploded.
But he never expected the explosion to be so much more powerful than he had imagined.
This stuff was nothing like the gunpowder he had seen before!
Golden Pig looked down at his tattered clothes, his body burning with pain, his bones feeling like they had been shattered, and his internal organs seemingly displaced.
If not for his high cultivation level, he would have been killed on the spot.
Strange, could it be that someone in the craftsmen bureau had developed something new and secretly sold it to the Jing Dynasty traitors?
This is bad.
If the Jing Dynasty gets their hands on this, the Ning Dynasty is in grave danger!
Golden Pig struggled to his feet.
"Quick, quick, catch that man! If he escapes under my watch, how can I face the Grand Chancellor?"
But when he looked up again, Chen Ji was nowhere to be seen.
He had already jumped to another rooftop and fled.
Lin Chaoqing glanced at him from his horse.
"Golden Pig, you've survived a great calamity, so good fortune must follow. But next time, if you're not absolutely sure, don't come to Mengjin Camp to mobilize my Troubleshooter Guards. Return to camp!"
...
...
Red Sleeve Alley fell silent.
Golden Pig sent half of his spies to track the black-clad, black-faced man... but deep down, he knew it would be difficult to find him.
He led his trusted subordinates to the tavern's backyard, silently observing the bodies of six of his men lying in the courtyard.
"All killed by blade wounds... West Wind, you're the best with knives. Examine them," Golden Pig said expressionlessly.
The spy named West Wind knelt down, silently apologizing to his fallen comrades before stripping off their clothes.
The spy brought water to clean the wounds and carefully inspected them.
"The killer used a short blade. The cuts are unusual, not very sharp, and it doesn't seem like a weapon designed for killing..."
"What kind of blade was it?"
"Boss, there are too many types of blades. It seems like the assassin just grabbed whatever was at hand. But his technique is extremely precise and ruthless, targeting vital points with deadly accuracy. This is the work of a seasoned blade master. Without years of rigorous training, it's impossible to be this efficient."
"Moreover, the killer was very cautious. He knew that a single stab wouldn't always kill instantly, so he made sure to deliver multiple strikes to ensure death."
The spy gasped.
"What a ruthless mind."
Golden Pig frowned as he surveyed the area, his eyes falling on the broken spy blades scattered on the ground.
"Huh? Why are all these blades broken?!"
The examining spy stood up and looked, shocked to find that out of the six blades in the courtyard, five were broken.
He picked up one of the broken blade pieces and matched it with its hilt.
As he pieced them together, everyone could see a clear notch where the blade had been severed.
The spy was incredulous.
"Boss, these blades were cut in a single strike. The long blades used by our spy bureau are made of hundred-fold steel. How could someone with just a short blade break them so easily?"
Golden Pig looked at the spy.
"Have you ever seen such blade techniques before?"
The spy shook his head.
"No, could it be Liang Gou'er?"
Golden Pig scoffed.
"It's not Liang Gou'er. If he were here, he wouldn't bother breaking their blades. Besides, Liang Gou'er's spine was shattered. He wouldn't dare cross our spy bureau... So who could it be? Such a skilled blade master can't have just appeared out of thin air."
He stood in the quiet courtyard, scanning the bloodstains and corpses.
The killer had taken down six spies single-handedly, so he must be a high-ranking official.
But Golden Pig had seen many officials, and few had such refined blade skills.
Wait, wasn't there a short-blade specialist in the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Bureau?
Earlier, when Precious Monkey led a team to capture him in Jinling, the man killed over a dozen of their men before jumping into the Qinhuai River to escape.
At that time, he had used a short blade!
Golden Pig's body burned with pain, countless shards of metal embedded in his skin.
Every step was agony, his bones feeling like they had been disassembled.
Logically, he should seek medical attention immediately.
But the thought of such powerful gunpowder falling into the hands of the Jing Dynasty traitors, who would use it against the Ning Dynasty's border troops, made him disregard his injuries.
Golden Pig growled, "West Wind, take my token and go to the Luo City Garrison. Tell them to seal all city gates. East Wind, intercept the Troubleshooter Guards and order them to the docks. No ships are to leave for the next three days!"
He said grimly, "Find him. Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground and turn Luo City upside down, we must find that man!"
(End of Chapter)