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Chu Xiang visited the brothels for several days in a row. When the Western Tang spies reported this to their lord, his face was gloomy.
“He’s at a brothel?” Lan Jue himself didn’t realise that his tone threatened danger.
Yang Feng hesitated a moment, then offered, “Could it be that Sir Chu discovered a useful clue in the brothel?”
“That would need him to soak there for more than a few days?”
When Yang Feng glimpsed his lord’s dark expression, he forcibly swallowed what he was going to say.
“He’s using my money to go to a brothel, and even spent a whole pile of taels on a Peony courtesan?” Lan Jue muttered to himself.
Since he couldn’t find the reason for Lan Jue’s anger, Yang Feng tried to think of a way to calm him down for half a day before admitting that he had no idea.
Before the room could become even more depressing, the spy received Yang Feng’s hint and hurriedly changed the subject. “My Lord, a message came from Western Tang — the young lord has been temporarily imprisoned in his own palace but there is no danger to his life, you can rest assured.”
“Mn.”
Lan Jue nodded, he wasn’t very worried about Lan Nian, that child was as sneaky as a ghost. Even if things went badly, he had confidants within the principality who could help him escape if it came to it. He hadn’t had a good life when younger, so his survival ability was first-rate.
“Keep an eye on him. Remember to report who he meets with and what he’s doing.”
The spy paused for a moment before he reacted, realising that his lord was talking about Chu Xiang.
“I really want to go back sooner,” Lan Jue said.
* * *
Ronghua Street was one of Tianyan’s most bustling night market streets, any random person you saw walking there might be a wealthy businessman. Even the carriages of court officials who passed through here showed much less arrogance than usual.
A white carriage emerged at the head of the street, pulled by pure white horses dripping with gold ornaments and looking gorgeous yet solemn. If an ordinary family used white, they would never be able to match with so much brilliant gold and would instead resemble a funerary procession.
It was a carriage from the Observatory which had just departed the star observation deck and travelled along the upper city’s main road to directly enter Ronghua Street.
However, as they passed by, not a few people muttered to each other that they were either doomsayers or quacks — one month ago, there had been a fiery red dawn, and it was the emperor’s favoured astrologers from the Observatory who declared that this was a sign of the descent of Yinghuo, which heralded chaos in the world, and its flames must be extinguished if there was to be peace. As a result, the red uniformed Iron-Clad Guards took to the streets with their sabres and killed anyone who dared to say the words ‘evil star’ on the spot. The people of the city had been in a panic for a long time and business also dropped significantly.
‘It’s better to let the rebels come to kill these charlatans’ — this was what many people thought.
Throughout the dynasties, many emperors would set up institutions such as an Astronomical Bureau or a Star Gazing Pavilion to study the stars, but there had never been an emperor as obsessed with astrology as the current one. He spent all day looking at stars with his concubines and the court astrologers had an unimaginably high status. It was said that he even had to look at the day’s star chart before holding morning court, to see if it was suitable to go out.
Chu Xiang had no desire to meet the Observatory’s carriage, since he still remembered that he was stamped with ‘evil star’ on his head. Ancient metaphysics was different from the 28th century’s superstitious rituals for gacha game luck. Chu Xiang had no contact with it in the past and wasn’t interested in it either, he wasn’t sure if the astrologers really had some way to deduce heaven’s secrets so he was still a little worried that he would be seen through.
It wasn’t a good thing to hang around brothels, plus Chu Xiang didn’t have this hobby ‘in the past’, so it was very hard for him to see Madam Bai Mo. There were so many nobles already pursuing her, Chu Xiang needed to find another way.
Until he accidentally walked to the night market and saw the snow-white carriage.
Killing intent came from all directions.
Just as the horses and carriage passed in front of him, the slate-paved road suddenly exploded as if someone had stepped on a landmine. The horses were instantly covered in wounds, but the carriage itself was somehow unharmed. The Iron-Clad Guards escorting it all drew out their swords as the crowd burst into screams. From within the throng of people, a few black shadows flew out and engaged with the guards.
The assassins, swift and silent, were well trained. They held a bladed tonfa in each hand which had curvatures resembling feathers, so this type of weapon was called ‘feather fangs’ on the market.1See end of chapter for image example Assassins liked to dip the edges of these feather-like weapons in poison, turning them into venomous serpents coiled in the darkness, ready to strike.
Darkness and chaos were the best protection for assassins, so the lanterns were placed on the ground together and lit to create an area of flickering light.
The Iron-Clad Guards kept the Observatory carriage and astrologers in the center of their protective circle, and as they waved their sabres, it was as if the dark-clothed assassins’ serpentine attacks were hitting a steel wall.
But the stalemate was not to last, because the crowd began to stampede in a panic.
The Guards watched this indifferently. Anyone who was squeezed into the combat area would be caught in their flashing slashes, flesh and blood flew everywhere as their sword flourishes turned crimson red.
Chu Xiang rolled on the ground without any care for his image, so although he was stepped on a few times, he avoided the fate of being turned into mincemeat.
“As expected of the Iron-Clad Guards, you truly are ruthless,” the leader of the assassins sneered.
The leader turned out to be a woman, but the Guards did not waver; they used their bodies as shields as, with a sharp order, the assassins all switched to crossbows and fired at short range. It was impossible for the Guards’ defence to have no gaps. Crossbow bolts slammed into the carriage and the horses, causing them to scream and rear up.
A Guard turned and slashed down, opening a huge gash on the horse’s neck and making blood spray everywhere.
“Murder, murder–!”
“Please spare my life, sir please, I have nothing to do with it!”
A large amount of blood flew through the air, causing more panicked shrieks for mercy. Street stalls were thrown into disorder while people pushed and shoved to escape, but Ronghua Street had been filled with people coming and going — people outside didn’t know what happened inside, which resulted in a huge crowd crush and multiple injuries.
Chu Xiang rolled to the foot of a wall where a flower girl was already huddled. Her lips were split and her flowers were also crushed.
A lantern seller on the street suddenly tossed a lantern up into the air, which then fell straight down onto the carriage. A Guard flew up to intercept, but the instant that his sabre touched it, there was a boom and he became engulfed in fire. He had already turned into a bonfire when he landed again. As he flailed uncontrollably, he spread flames all around him and implicated many people.
The other Guards turned around and one of them quickly dispatched their comrade. Then more lit lanterns were thrown at them, and at the same time, the assassins leapt in.
Light glinted off blades. The assassins neither dodged nor retreated and used their own bodies to greet it. The Iron-Clad Guards were shocked, but could not pull out their sabres from where they were stuck within the assassin’s flesh and bones.
An assassin disguised as a limping old woman flipped over the bloody river towards the carriage with strangely agile movements. Neither his thick makeup nor his silver wig could conceal the fanatical fire in his eyes. He had thick ropes of explosives tied around him, and within half a second of slithering into the carriage, there was a muffled bang.
Carriages belonging to the Observatory were very sturdy and were even soundproof. The sound of the explosion was very small, and the carriage only rocked a little.
The Guards didn’t even turn around, they only focused on cutting the assassins into strings.
–The people inside are fakes, Chu Xiang secretly concluded. From the way the Guards were utterly unfazed, no matter who the assassins had intended to kill, the ones currently inside the carriage could only be stand-ins.
The assassin leader, seeming as if she also realised this, blew a whistle to signal a retreat.
Then Chu Xiang reflexively raised his hand in a block and pain came from his waist. He had successfully grabbed the dagger which the flower girl was clutching, but his physical condition was so weak that it still pierced his flesh.
Chu Xiang quickly scanned the wound — red blood, clean blade. Fortunately, it wasn’t poisoned.
But in the next second he backed away with all his strength, pulling away from the flower girl. The girl, taking off her disguise, pulled out a dagger from within her flower basket with murderous intent in her eyes. She had obviously been targeting him from the start.
Is there no end to this! Chu Xiang complained to himself.
“An assassin slipped through the net!” he shouted.
However, his voice mixed into the existing noise and wasn’t taken seriously by the Guards. He couldn’t just rush over there either, they were killing without distinguishing friend or foe and could even easily kill their own people, he wouldn’t receive any help from them.
So Chu Xiang ran away without another word.
He used one hand to keep pressure on his wound, and the other to desperately push obstacles into his path behind him. The street was full of panicked people, he would definitely die if he ran there, so Chu Xiang instead plunged into a small alleyway.
This was far from the first time Chu Xiang had been hunted down. The fleet referred to this kind of decapitation operation against captains as ‘a self-guided escape & kill group tour’ — no captain was weak, their solo combat abilities even exceeded that of the average special forces soldier. Any mothership captain was a trump card on the battlefield, the best among them could turn the tide with a single person alone.
As the captain of Longque, he had been dispatched on covert missions as well. Once, when they captured the relay station of a smuggling group, he infiltrated alone and killed their leader within the command tower. Chu Xiang didn’t like to use thermal weapons and always used an energy sword when carrying out assassinations. Although his AI complained to him countless times that he looked like ‘one of those people running around with glowing tubes from the old Star Wars movies’, the close combat model energy sword designated as Silver Empress III was indeed his sidearm as someone with the rank of captain.
Chu Xiang subconsciously reached backwards as he sprinted, and of course he touched only air.
At the next intersection he chose a path at random, only to come to a dead end within a few dozen metres. The female assassin chasing him pounced. Chu Xiang captured the right moment to dodge, once again rolling awkwardly, before turning and continuing his escape.
It would be great if I had an AI, he couldn’t help but think. Longque’s central AI would be able to scan the entire district’s terrain and show him the most suitable route to take, and there would be absolutely no chance for him to run into a dead end.
But at this moment, Chu Xiang could only rely on his pathetic body to avoid the elite assassin behind him.
This wasn’t the Grand Princess’ assassin, he concluded firmly, because her assassins didn’t have this level of skill.
The blade swiped at his back several times and cut his sleeve open.
Author:
Lan Jue: This lord needs a little black room, the allusion of a golden canary isn’t bad.
Chu Xiang: No! I can still fight!
Translator:
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- 1See end of chapter for image example
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