The Longest Day in Chang'an

Chapter 80: Haichu (21:00-21:59) Part 6

Translator: DragonRider

The captain was infuriated. He stretched out his hand and abruptly grabbed Zhang Xiaojing. Zhang Xiaojing, who didn’t try to dodge, was instantly pressed onto the bronze censer with his face against its uneven surface with patterns, which was very painful.

Elder Ge stood by indifferently. He only agreed to bring Zhang Xiaojing here to have an audience with Shouzhuo Mercenary but didn’t promise that he would keep him safe.

Gripping Zhang Xiaojing’s hair, the captain hit his head onto the censer several times, blood flowing down from his frontal angle. Zhang Xiaojing didn’t resist. When the captain stopped, he said in a terrifyingly calm tone, “Have you heard about the explosion in West Market in the afternoon?”

Stunned, the captain involuntarily loosened his grip. He hadn’t seen the explosion himself but he’d sent some men to make some inquiries. Unfortunately, the blockade had been too tight and his men had failed to get any inside information.

Zhang Xiaojing straightened himself, leaned against the censer and said with a grin, “There are dozens of this kind of explosion brewing up in Chang’an right now, and the only clue is Elder Puzhe. You assassinated the elder, so you will be the scapegoat.”

One of his cheeks was full of marks caused by the bulging patterns on the censer, and the other half was covered in blood, which made him look like a hideous, terrifying cacodemon who had just crawled out of hell.

The captain knitted his eyebrows tightly together. This person’s words were unverified, but he couldn’t ignore them. The reason why Shouzhuo Mercenary survived so many years’ trials and tests was not because they were powerful and ferocious but because they were prudent.

Zhang Xiaojing said, “Originally, I had already convinced the assassin named Seventeen Liu to take me to you, but the caravan was intercepted halfway there. Seventeen Liu was killed on site, which indicated that the opposition planned to cut off the clue to make Shouzhuo Mercenary a scapegoat. The investigation carried out by the authority will only lead to you.”

The captain had heard about this thing as well. The intersection where the attack happened was not far away from Pingkang Fang. Apart from Seventeen Liu, a couple of military officers were also victims.

“So let me ask you this again: who hired Shouzhuo Mercenary to assassinate an elder in Persian Temple?”

The captain answered stiffly, “I don’t know. The contact between clients and the Fire-master had always been one-way. The Fire-master was the only one who knew what the client looked like.”

“No other records?”

After a long silence, the captain answered reluctantly, “The Fire-master kept a secret account book as a precaution, but only I and Fire-master know where this account book is.”

No wonder he hesitated so long before telling him this. If clients knew that Shouzhuo Mercenary secretly kept an account book with detailed information about them, they surely wouldn’t trust them that much any longer.

Zhang Xiaojing said, “I need to read this account book.”

“Why should I let you do that?” said the captain unhappily.

Zhang Xiaojing pointed at Elder Ge and said, “I had a very good chance to leave Chang’an and stay far away from you, but I didn’t take the offer. Instead I came back here to find you guys – do you know why? Because this thing is too big. It’s so big that I’m too concerned to think about my personal gains or losses.”

Elder Ge nodded, indicating that he was telling the truth. Then he curled his lip, suggesting that he scorned his choice.

“It’s the same for you. This thing is too big. It transcends your so-called rules or feelings of gratitude or resentment,” said Zhang Xiaojing. “It’s your call whether to give me the account book or not. But you have to be mentally prepared for the consequences of your choice you’ll have to face.”

After consulting with a couple of his men in a low voice, the captain said, “We’ll let you read the account book, but you have to do it with our presence, and you’re only allowed to read the part we designate.”

Zhang Xiaojing agreed without any hesitation.

The captain had two men tie Zhang Xiaojing up and take him to the bookstore. Elder Ge and most of other Shouzhuo mercenaries waited at the entrance of the alley and were not allowed to approach. At the doorway of the bookstore, the captain signaled Zhang Xiaojing to wait outside. He himself went into the house. After a while, he came out with a reddish brown scroll.

Ugly, small and fairly unobtrusive, this scroll was indeed a good choice as a secret account book.

Holding the scroll, the captain was just about to untie the silk ribbon wrapped around the scroll when suddenly he heard a whoosh coming from above him. He raised his head and a black figure abruptly descended from mid-air and snatched the scroll from his hand in a flash.

At the same time, Zhang Xiaojing let out a cry, freed himself from the ropes and pounced on the black figure. The knot in the rope turned out to be a slip knot which could be undone with a soft pull. Having not expected this, the black figure started drawing back rapidly but the cob wall of the bookstore blocked his retreat.

The black figure had a brainstorm in this urgent situation. Holding the scroll with one hand, he aimed a kick at the uneven surface of the cob wall and surprisingly, with the help of the row of small holes, he managed to narrowly dodged Zhang Xiaojing’s attack, intending to leap onto the top of the wall.

At this moment, with a couple of yells, three or four fishing nets were thrown upwards from both sides. No matter how good the black figure’s lightness skills were, he was unable to escape from these nets overspreading the whole place. He leaped up with a fishing net on his head but was soon dragged down by Shouzhuo mercenaries and thudded onto the ground.

Zhang Xiaojing walked up to the black figure and kicked the scroll off his hand. The scroll instantly scattered and all papers were blank without a single word.

“Shouzhuo Mercenary values credibility the most. How is it possible that they’ve been secretly keeping an account book with detailed information about their clients? If you’d had a tiny bit of trust in them, you wouldn’t have fallen into this trap,” Zhang Xiaojing said sarcastically.

It turned out that all this was a trap they laid.

This black figure had killed the Fire-master first, and then Seventeen Liu. The task his organization had assigned to him must be to cut off all potential clues. But this guy was too fast for them to catch up with, so they had no choice but to wait for him to bite the hook.

As a result, under the mediation of Elder Ge, the captain, who didn’t know whether to believe it or not, cooperated with Zhang Xiaojing and set a trap. They predicted that the black figure would no doubt hide himself nearby waiting for the occasion to arise.

They pretended that there was a secret account book containing clues to the identity of the client. Thus, the black figure was tricked into believing that he must snatch the account book before Zhang Xiaojing got it. Sly as he was, he hadn’t expected that Shouzhuo Mercenary and Zhang Xiaojing, who had become enemies, would join hands and lay an enormous trap for him.

Lanterns were lit all around, shedding a glow over the black figure. This person still bore an old man’s face, but his skintight sackcloth clothes failed to disguise his well-proportioned, muscular body. He was lying prostrate and still beneath the fishing net like a fish that had been dragged ashore for a long time.

The captain walked up to him with an iron hammer in his hand, a piercing look in his eyes. “So this is the killer who murdered the Fire-master?”

“In the flesh.”

The captain aimed a kick at the black figure but there was no reaction. With greater force, he gave him another few kicks in a row. Zhang Xiaojing said blandly, “Don’t kill him yet. I have some questions for him.” The captain raised his hammer high and said, “His mouth is all you need, I suppose?” Then he heavily swung the hammer at the knee of the black figure. Unexpectedly, the man suddenly curled up, slid sideways and dodged this blow in time.

“Deathbed struggle,” the captain smiled wryly and turned his hammer, intending to give another blow.

However, right at this moment, a Shouzhuo mercenary hastily ran inside from the entrance of the alley, yelling, “A great number of soldiers are coming our way!”

“Um? How come they knew about this? Who blew the whistle?” The captain furrowed his brow and looked at Elder Ge, who flung up his hands indicating that he was innocent. Zhang Xiaojing moved his eyes onto the fishing net. It struck him who did this.

This killer had never been merely a killer. He was a man who knew how to make full use of all external conditions. The moment Zhang Xiaojing arrived at this bookstore, this guy managed to trick Shouzhuo mercenaries into misunderstanding Zhang Xiaojing with a series of clever tactics, and then took advantage of the confusion and fled.

This time he played the same old trick again. Before coming here, he had reported to the authorities in advance that Zhang Xiaojing had been hiding in the bookstore. Thus, no matter he succeeded or not, swarms of soldiers would flood into the alley and throw the situation into total confusion.

Zhang Xiaojing was not the only one who had formulated a plan before taking action.

The captain resentfully put away his hammer, bade his subordinates to draw in the net tight and then said, “This guy must come with us.” Zhang Xiaojing’s face fell. “We have a deal, don’t we? You can do whatever you want to him after I get the answer.”

The captain pointed at the entrance of the alley and said, “Maybe you should handle those guys first. Under no circumstances would Shouzhuo Mercenary provide shelter for a wanted man.” Zhang Xiaojing sneered, “‘Return every favor. Repay every debt’ my ass. It turns out that only the latter half is true.” A faintly embarrassed look appeared on the captain’s face, but eventually he merely waved his hand, saying, “Come and seek us out if you manage to escape from the hunt.”

Shouzhuo Mercenary’s foe must be handled by Shouzhuo Mercenary. It was a matter of reputation. But they didn’t want to mess with the government.

For fear that Zhang Xiaojing would try to stop them from taking the man away, the captain blocked his path and urged his subordinates to transfer the assassin. On hearing this, Zhang Xiaojing anxiously said, “Break his legs first!”

But it was too late. A couple of Shouzhuo mercenaries had already opened the fishing net and stooped down to grab the black figure’s limbs. In their opinion, the four of them could definitely handle one man and nothing could go wrong. However, the moment the fishing net was opened, the black figure abruptly shot a spout of green liquid out of his sleeve.

Blindsided, the four people were spattered with the liquid and screeched in unison, their movements slowed down. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the black figure immediately took a flying leap towards the top of the wall, splashing green liquid all around.

Zhang Xiaojing, who had very quick reflexes, stretched out his hand and grabbed his pant leg, droplets of green liquid falling onto his skin giving him burning pains. Due to the pull, the black figure paused in mid-air, and the captain’s hammer had been swung at him. Instead of trying to dodge the blow, the black figure raised his left arm to parry it. The hammer hit his arm hard and broke it with a snap. But the black figure bought himself an opportunity at the expense of this arm of his, with which he violently waved his left hand and splashed some green liquid into the captain’s eyes.

The captain let out an anguished roar, dropped the hammer and started madly rubbing his eyes. Making use of this interval, the black figure took another flying leap and landed on the top of the wall.

When described in words, this series of changes seemed to have taken a long time, but actually they happened in an instant. The black figure was really a tough and callous man. In order to seize the initiative, he actually sacrificed an arm of his. On landing onto the top of the wall, he turned around and looked in the direction of Zhang Xiaojing. A voice as hoarse as the sound of wind blowing past tiles came. “Zhang Xiaojing, I, Fishgut, swear to God I’ll take your life.”

After saying this, with a twitch of his body, he disappeared into the dark night.

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