The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 84

Head Constable Xing stood helplessly in the middle of the crowd.

At that moment, he sincerely envied the fish-patterned uniforms of the Jingning Guard.

The residents packed around him so tightly that not even water could pass. Off to one side, Lu Jianxing merely stood with his arms around his saber. One look from him was enough to keep everyone away.

At last, Head Constable Xing could bear no more.

“All of you, shut the hell up!”

His shout silenced the crowd.

He was about to speak when a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Old Xing!”

Irritated, Head Constable Xing shrugged it off.

The hand immediately returned to his shoulder.

“Old Xing!” The call was louder this time.

The voice sounded familiar.

Head Constable Xing turned and saw his superior standing behind him.

“What in the world is happening?”

Head Constable Xing looked at his ill-tempered superior, then at the residents still hounding him from the front.

He felt close to collapse.

Inside Jiahui Ward, all four gates had been shut.

Zhao Li stood beside the railing of the fire watchtower, looking toward the Yang household in the distance.

The longer she watched, the more alarmed she became.

Black-red corpse miasma rose throughout a radius of four hundred meters around Yang Jian’s home.

Corpse miasma came from bones not yet rotted away.

On this scale, there could be only one explanation.

Every nearby resident had fallen into Zhang E’s mouth.

Zhao Li’s heart sped up, and delayed fear washed through her.

According to Yang Jian, the couple had received the black cocoon only half a month ago.

Yet in that short period, it had caused destruction on this scale.

Fortunately, Head Constable Xing had been conscientious enough to remember the strange report.

If he had dismissed Yang Jian as hysterical, what terrible consequences would follow when the young monsters hatched in several more days?

No.

Zhao Li shook her head.

Judging by Yang Jian’s condition today, they did not need several more days.

If he had gone berserk in the street and consumed enough blood and flesh, the eggs in his abdomen would have hatched there and begun hunting for food.

How many living people would have ended in their mouths?

Thud, thud, thud.

Rapid footsteps climbed the stairs.

Zhao Li turned at once. “How did it go?”

Zheng Lian was slightly breathless. “We have evacuated as many people as possible from the area around Yang Jian’s home.”

Zhao Li was about to ask whether anyone had been missed when an argument sounded below the watchtower.

“Shen Yan! Treacherous villain! You have no respect for law or authority. How dare you empty an entire ward without cause?”

A young man’s voice rang out in condemnation.

It sounded familiar to Zhao Li, though she could not immediately place it.

Then she heard Lu Zhao answer, “Your Highness Prince Rui, the Jingning Guard is conducting official business. Please do not make matters difficult for this subordinate.”

“You traitorous villains consume Great Jing’s salary yet never think of serving the nation. You are tools of corrupt ministers and the Eunuch Faction. Get out of my way!”

After the curse came a sharp slap.

Zhao Li snatched up the long saber lying nearby and raced downstairs like the wind, Zheng Lian close behind.

A young man in a python robe stood within a protective circle of guards.

Lu Zhao faced him, head knocked to one side. Redness spread across one dark cheek.

He straightened his head without expression and remained planted in the road like a nail, refusing to clear the path toward the watchtower.

He clasped his hands.

“Your Highness Prince Rui, please do not make matters difficult for this subordinate.”

His refusal to yield infuriated Prince Rui, the emperor’s favored youngest son.

The prince raised his hand and slapped Lu Zhao again with the back of it.

Lu Zhao took the blow without resistance. He clenched his teeth, turned his face forward, and repeated loudly, “Your Highness Prince Rui, please do not make matters difficult for this subordinate.”

Prince Rui was about to advance again when a long saber flew from the fire watchtower.

It passed beside Lu Zhao’s ear and shot straight toward the prince.

Prince Rui had no time to react.

His guards changed expression, but Lu Zhao moved faster than any of them.

Hearing the wind, he turned, saw the saber, and went pale.

There was no time to draw his own blade and intercept it.

Lu Zhao reached out with both bare hands.

Drip.

Crimson blood struck the ground.

His hands trembled as they closed around the edge.

Two wounds deep enough to reveal bone split his palms and fingers.

“A-Li!”

Lu Zhao reached the approaching Zhao Li and put a hand on her shoulder, leaving a bloody print.

“You dropped your saber by accident.”

He extended his blood-soaked hands and returned the weapon.

Then he shook his head.

His eyes pleaded with her.

Some humiliations had to be endured, no matter how unwillingly.

He had a wife, children, family, and friends.

The man before them was the emperor’s own son.

Zhao Li looked into Lu Zhao’s eyes, bit her lip, and lowered her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“Zhao Li?” Prince Rui’s furious voice sounded beside them. “You rebellious, unfilial wretch. Were you attempting to assassinate this prince?”

Zhao Li took a deep breath and smiled.

“Of course not. I was so happy to see Your Highness that my hand slipped and I dropped my saber.”

Her shameless grin left Prince Rui stunned for a moment.

Then his rage flared.

“Nonsense! You still dare argue?”

He signaled the men around him.

“Seize her.”

A dark-skinned guard led several others forward.

Lu Zhao’s and Zheng Lian’s expressions changed. They stepped in front of Zhao Li.

Prince Rui’s guards surrounded them.

Seeing the situation turn dangerous, Zheng Lian hurriedly pulled a bronze whistle from his utility belt and raised it to his lips.

Lu Zhao gripped Zhao Li’s wrist and shielded her behind him.

Four or five powerful guards rushed forward and snatched the whistle from Zheng Lian’s hand.

The dark-skinned guard kicked him viciously in the side.

Zheng Lian staggered several steps and struck the wall.

The guard was plainly a skilled fighter. Thick calluses covered both palms.

He looked down at Zheng Lian, who clutched his side and retched, gave a cold laugh, and stepped forward.

At that instant, a crossbow bolt tore through the air like a silver thread.

The guard’s expression changed.

He barely managed to twist aside, but the bolt still carved a strip of flesh from his chest.

Thunderous hoofbeats approached.

Two enormous hooves struck the blue stone road.

A magnificent horse reared with a shriek.

Its forelegs lashed out, one hoof smashing into the guard’s forehead and the other into his chest.

Several muffled cracks sounded.

Half the man’s skull collapsed. Red and white matter burst outward like fireworks.

No one knew how many bones broke in his chest as one hoof pinned him beneath it.

Everything had happened too quickly.

One moment, the two sides confronted each other. The next, Prince Rui’s trusted guard was dead.

Before the prince could react, a backlit shadow loomed over him.

“Your Highness Prince Rui, what were you planning to do to the Thousand-Household Commander under my command?”

The familiar voice made Prince Rui’s teeth ache.

He jerked his head up at the man looking down from horseback.

“Shen Yan, you go too far!”

“Oh? Do I?”

Expressionless, Shen Yan guided his horse forward and made it step several more times on the guard’s corpse.

Only then did he seem to notice the body under its hooves.

He said carelessly, “Your Highness Prince Rui, why did you fail to clear away your subordinate’s corpse? It nearly injured my horse’s hoof.”

Shen Yan rubbed the thumb ring on his right hand, looking as relaxed as if he had merely crushed an ant.

Behind him, his mounted guards arrived one after another.