Chapter Nineteen: Assassination of Quiescent

  "Alas... the scale of this courtyard can already show the prosperity of the people at the end of the Qing dynasty. Thinking back, when I was in the organization, I heard that someone had calculated the economic losses of the country from the founding of the Republic to the establishment of New China, a mere few decades. At the time when the Qing dynasty was just overthrown, although the Chinese people were poor, they still had other accumulated wealth. The economic losses caused by the domestic warlords' infighting alone were fifteen times that of the foreigners during the Qing dynasty, and Japan's invasion directly caused several times more losses. It can be seen how devastating wars and internal strife are to a country... what a pity... what a tragedy!"

  Lying on the roof of a building opposite the Zhongyitang in the Yi Zhuang, Li Han carefully looked down with his night vision goggles. The exquisite carvings and buildings made him admire and feel deeply moved, but also more determined to end the chaos brought by the Xinhai Revolution as soon as possible with his own strength!

  "But the gunfire has apparently already reached outside the village, and upon careful listening, even the sound of machine guns can be faintly heard! However, why is it that Quan Sheng and the others' figures still cannot be seen? Could it be that they had left Zhongyitang a long time ago?"

  Cautiously crouching on the rooftop, he was still on high alert, recalling the ordeal he had just gone through. His heart was still racing with a lingering sense of unease - it was too dangerous! Perhaps due to the unknown forces that had attacked the village outside, the security within the village had been heightened to an unprecedented level. Along the way, if not for his ability to see in the dark, he would have been discovered at least six or seven times by the hidden guards lurking in every corner of the courtyard. Even on the rooftop where Li Han was hiding, there were several lookouts, including the spot where he was currently hiding, which had originally been occupied by a bandit guard who had been silenced with a single shot from a gun equipped with a silencer after Li Han had snuck up under cover of darkness.

  Although he was somewhat perplexed in his heart, he stared at the Zhongyitang across from him and indeed saw some commotion inside. Although the door was closed and he couldn't see clearly what was happening inside, Li Han guessed that it should be that Kuai Sheng and his gang of horse thieves, so he calmed down and lay quietly on the rooftop, waiting for an opportunity to arise!

  "Damn it, Second Brother! Is there still no news about Knife Scar and Poisonous Tiger?"

  Sitting on his own tiger-skin covered throne, Kui Sheng rubbed a high-quality emerald ring on his hand, with an impatient expression, he asked a middle-aged man who was exposing half of his chest and eating fruit from the table.

  Lao Er was savoring the longan on the table, and when he saw his eldest brother speak up, he immediately spat out the pit in his mouth. "Gui Ye, the scar-faced hand's underling replied that he had personally led the team out half an hour ago, as for where they went, whether or not they fought alongside their brothers against the Lu family soldiers, I don't know! As for that poisonous old tiger, you're not unaware that our village has already...I think this old bug's nicotine addiction is acting up again!"

  Previously, the troops of Lu Jia and Yong had a battle with the knife scarred group in a small forest two miles outside the village. The cavalry sent by Kui Xing was ambushed by Lu Junhao hiding in the forest, and the light machine gun played a great role, sweeping away nearly 40-50 bandits in one round of shooting!

  Although this group of thieves seems united, they are actually a bunch of petty people who constantly fight among themselves. Just the other day, several people saw that the strongest forces in the village, Gui Ye and Knife Scar, had clashed with each other, resulting in losses on both sides. Their minds suddenly became active, and even Liu Heizi, who usually showed enough respect to Gui Sheng, was now delightedly eating melons and waiting to see Gui Sheng's joke.

  "Hmph!"

  Kui Ye is a very astute person, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to keep his subordinates in check for so many years. He can understand what's on the minds of those rascals in this hall without even thinking about it! Dao Ba has always had disagreements with him, and if he were to disappear, it wouldn't be the first time! However, even if Kui Ye had a craving for opium that he needed to satisfy in the county town, did he really need to bring all of his over 100 subordinates along?

  It's strange that he went too far in the Zhao Zhuang affair, swallowing up the Zhao family's property alone, and it's inevitable that his brothers under him would have second thoughts!

  "Sixth Brother, you've gone to a lot of trouble!"

  Although he was not satisfied in his heart, his facial expression did not change at all. Through some people who had escaped and returned earlier, he had already estimated the strength and power of the enemy. The wall of the righteous village was high and strong, even if it were ordinary government troops coming to suppress, it would be difficult for less than three battalions of new army to take down! Not to mention that he had secretly bought several small cannons from the foreigner and placed them inside the village. The two teams of people in the southern suburbs had also received the news, and at this time, they should have set out. Don't look at the dense gunfire outside the village now, not to mention the high wall defense of the righteous village, there were still several teams of people inside the village, waiting for the reinforcements from the southern suburbs to arrive, who would eliminate whom was still a question!

  With a sense of reliance in his heart, Kuai Sheng didn't panic and lightly called out to a middle-aged mouse standing beside him who was smoking a water pipe. This person was one of the two hundred-paces-piercing-arrow godly marksmen he had recruited!

  "Alright, let's go this time..."

  The mouse-eyed man smiled and nodded slightly, narrowing his eyes to scan the few people in the hall. Everyone's face was unnatural, either looking down or elsewhere, not daring to meet his gaze. This person had a notorious reputation within the Red Strings, often handling tasks that others found inconvenient, such as occasionally intimidating those who were recently restless. Often, one would wake up to find their queue cut off or their trusted subordinate's head delivered to their bedside.

  Many people in the hall had dealt with him before, but although they hated him in their hearts, they were shocked by his ability to sneak into his hiding place under the watchful eyes of dozens of people, so few people dared to offend him!

  He puffed on his water pipe, gave a slight nod to the people in the house, exchanged a glance with another short and thin old devil opposite him, and slowly walked out without haste.

  He continued to play with the ring on his thumb, seemingly oblivious to the shouting and commotion outside, while his gloomy eyes kept scanning the few people in the great hall, with his attention lingering longest on the empty seat with a scar.

  "It seems like it's time to get rid of this trouble as soon as possible!"

  His body moved slightly, and he didn't know if it was because of his absence. The venomous gaze stopped again at the two empty seats in the hall! Frowning, from about ten minutes ago, he felt a sense of unease and panic in his heart, as if being stared at by some ferocious beast, making him even more uneasy!

  It was this very intuition that had saved him on numerous occasions. The last time he had such a feeling, a family with some connections to the Zhao family had secretly sent in several assassins into the manor. If not for his own good fortune, one of the bullets meant for him would have hit its mark and he wouldn't be alive today, enjoying life as he was!

  He suspected that an assassin might have sneaked in, so he entrusted one of his most trusted men, Old Mouse Eye, to go and investigate.

  But, for some reason, as the mouse he called Sixth Brother pushed open the door, his heart suddenly skipped a beat, and the hairs on the back of his neck even stood up. This feeling... this feeling was one he had only experienced once before, when he was about to be shot... His heart racing with surprise, he was just about to duck for cover...

  "Boom!"

  A low, muffled gunshot, before he could even react, a bullet flying from the rooftop of the Zhongyitang building across the street accurately hit his head that had just been raised, ending his brief life as an evil-doer.

  "Kui Ye! Damn it, there's an assassin..."

  Inside the grand hall, a sudden commotion broke out. The guards who were originally stationed around the Zhongyi Hall were shocked by a sudden gunshot. Who would have thought that in an instant, the leaders of various cavalry units inside the Zhongyi Hall started arguing and shouting at each other!

  Everyone listened carefully, and a group of people suddenly panicked, rushing into the temple to take a look, they were all stunned. In the center of the grand hall, on top of a throne covered with a complete tiger skin, the man who usually gave them orders was already lifeless!

  On his forehead, slightly off-center between his eyebrows, a terrifying blood hole had suddenly appeared! The surrounding tables, chairs, floor, and walls were all splattered with blood and brain matter.

  "It's terrible! Master Gui is dead... Something big has happened!"

  "Open the door! There's an assassin... Quick... Quickly catch the assassin..."

  That team of guards was still standing at the entrance, seemingly frozen in shock, but the several horsemen inside the house had a look of fear on their faces, mixed with another expression that could be described as excitement. The familiar ones exchanged a glance, as if they had reached some sort of tacit understanding, and suddenly burst out shouting loudly!

  Bullseye!

  A hint of nostalgia flashed across his face, and Li Han quickly rolled to one side!

  As expected, he had just moved a little, and the place where he was lying down before made a cracking sound of a gray tile fragment. It was clear that some skilled shooters had found his previous location based on the trajectory! Not long after, several scattered gun muzzles were all aimed at this direction, and they opened fire!

  "Time to call it a day!"

  He didn't even have to dodge, as the place he was hiding in was out of sight anyway, and few bullets could land near him. Moreover, it was dark, and he had been hiding well before, so the several hidden sentries on the rooftops nearby were quietly taken care of by him under the cover of darkness, making him safe for now.

  He nimbly moved along the eaves for a distance, until he came to a large tree near where he had previously discovered. Li Han then stood up and jumped over, climbing down the tree, before running towards the courtyard of the house where Tian Shi had taken him before, which had a secret escape route that he remembered.

  "Hurry up... you go that way... a few others go this way... the rest of you follow me, we must catch that assassin..."

  "Good..."

  The Zhuangyuan has become extremely noisy, and the sound of gunfire in the courtyard even overwhelmed the sound of the battle in front of the manor, causing Li Han to have to stick close to the wall as he crept forward.

  However, it was also in the conversation of these horse bandits that he finally confirmed that the one he had killed was indeed the leader of the horse bandits, Kuixing. He let out a sigh of relief in his heart, thinking that this could be considered as fulfilling the promise to the old master. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Although it seemed like he had only taken down one horse bandit leader, from the information he had gathered from the scar-faced man and Tian Shi, Li Han was almost certain that this seemingly powerful horse bandit gang was not as invincible as they appeared to be. In fact, Kuixing's private embezzlement of the Zhao family's property had already caused dissatisfaction among the lower-ranking bandits, and it was likely that if they were not afraid of his strength, they would have rebelled against him long ago.

  Can you expect all these horse bandits to be like Guan Yu? Nonsense, once Kui Sheng is dead, the people under him who have been plotting will definitely stand out! At that time, even if Dāo Bā (the one with a scar on his face) wants to integrate these horse bandits, it's estimated that he'll have to go through a tough battle! Plus, there's also Lù Jiā Dà Shào (a young master of the Lu family) around, who is somewhat arrogant but has some skills. I believe these horse bandits won't be able to harm the village for a while!

  "Halt... there's an assassin..."

  Just as he was distracted, a shout suddenly came from the front, Li Han was shocked and immediately knew that he had been discovered!

  "Boom!"

  A bullet hole appeared on the wall beside him, and he let out a sigh of relief as he quickly rolled towards another hiding spot. Fortunately, although those bandits were injured and carrying lanterns, their illuminated area was limited, and his movements were swift, not staying in one place for too long, so he didn't end up with many more wounds on his body!

  "Found an assassin... hurry... at Bamboo Pavilion... come this way..."

  Hearing the shouts of the horse bandits blocking the way, Li Han's face sank, knowing that if they couldn't be quickly eliminated, it would be bad if they were surrounded by the horse bandits! Suddenly, his heart was filled with a fierce determination, and he picked up the AK-47 on his back, firing at the group of horse bandits blocking the way.

  He is not a bloodthirsty person, and when it's not absolutely necessary, he will try to kill as few people as possible! However, if someone threatens his own life, then go die!

  The power of the close-quarters automatic rifle was not comparable to the outdated rifles in the hands of the horse thieves, which were nearly forty years behind. Immediately, several bursts of fire rang out, and a bullet mark appeared on the bulletproof vest on his abdomen, solving the problem of the blocking horse thieves. However, around him, the sound of pursuing footsteps and gunfire grew more urgent!

  "How dare you, where can you escape!"

  Suddenly a loud shout came from behind, it was an old man's voice, but it sounded full of energy. It was the old mouse eye - also known as 'sixth brother' by Kuai Sheng - one of the two gun experts who were recruited by Kuai Sheng and could shoot accurately at a hundred paces!

  The mouse's eyes were furious at this time, he had been following that Kuai Sheng for some years! Although Kuai Sheng was not a good thing, he was afraid of death, and his enemies were many! With this, in peacetime, the two brothers always showed great respect to them. Since they were recruited, their days have become much more comfortable!

  But all of this was shattered tonight! Even later, he might have to prepare to flee in secret, no choice, he is the confidant of Kui Sheng, and his hands are stained with the blood of many generals who had hidden evil intentions under Kui Sheng's command. Now that Kui Sheng is dead, there is no one to protect him, give him power or money, if he doesn't escape with his life, it's uncertain whether he'll still be alive by tomorrow morning!

  However, Lao Shu Yan was a grateful person after all. Before leaving, he wanted to do one last thing for his master, Gui Sheng - take the life of that assassin!

  Taking a deep breath, as the courtyard lights were somewhat dim, although Old Mouse's hands were steady as he held up an old rifle, quickly loading the bullet, but could only roughly aim at the vicinity of the escaping assassin's head.

  "Bang!"

  Gunfire erupts!

  Got it!

  With years of experience in handling guns, Lao Shu's eyes instantly confirmed that this shot was aimed at his head!

  But what happened next made him completely lose his mind. The assassin who was shot in the head, although his body swayed violently for a moment, then stopped for a second, and then quickly opened up distance as if nothing had happened!

  Everyone was stunned at once, this...this person is actually not afraid of bullets, could he be a remnant of the Boxer Rebellion?!

  Because it's auto-uploaded during work hours, and I set the updates for next week in advance, I inevitably overlooked some things, resulting in chapters 18 and 19 having the same content. Thank you to book friend 'foxplex' for pointing this out, thank you!