Chapter Seventy-two: An Unwelcome Guest

  Although it was not yet midnight, the city that had implemented a curfew since nightfall was already quiet. The crescent moon in the sky cast a cold glow, making the already chilly and humid early spring evening even colder. The disguise that was supposed to conceal their identities now seemed like a foolish move, as the tattered clothes fluttered in the wind, and the icy wind poured into the gaps of their worn-out garments, making them feel like they were being drenched with cold water from head to toe. Jiang Zhuang, who had more body fat, was relatively fine, but the other three could only grit their teeth and endure the cold. Their skin turned red from the cold, but no one dared to make a sound, not because their skin had become thick enough to withstand the wind and cold, but because if they showed even a hint of weakness, Jiang Zhuang's massive palm would come crashing down on them.

  The newly erected lighthouse has two powerful searchlights emitting dazzling white light, which can be seen several miles away. Jiang's eyes widened in surprise, thinking to himself that the little devils really have some skills, and it only took them a few days to get the electricity working. If this operation hadn't required avoiding alerting the enemy, he would have loved to sabotage their power generator.

  Fortunately, the city walls were long and winding, and Jiang's party of four easily found a blind spot to stick to the foot of the wall. The four of them relied on the rope to climb up the wall like a nimble cat.

  After falling to the ground, all four of them were blinded for a moment. Fortunately, they weren't in an unfamiliar place. After all, they had been staying in Suzhou County for several months. Although they didn't dare say that they had set foot on every inch of this small county town, they generally knew the layout of the buildings.

  The foot of the city wall was exactly the darkest corner, and even if the patrolling guards walked within one meter of the city wall, no matter how good their eyesight was, they probably couldn't notice a strong man crouching at the foot of the wall. Of course, the devils also understood this reason, so there was a searchlight that was specifically aimed at the foot of the city wall. Seeing the pale and pale light moving quickly towards the four people's landing point, Jiang hastily called out to the four people in a low voice, telling them to stick to the foot of the city wall and rush forward. The four people were wearing rubber shoes, which made their footsteps quiet and quick, unlike the devils' leather boots that creaked on the ground.

  Having left the dangerous area near the wall corner, Jiang and his three companions disappeared into a dense residential area, like four ghosts that had merged into the endless darkness.

  After winding around for a while, Jiang finally arrived at the gate of Wang Xingye's mansion. Unlike other houses in the city that had gates as plain as washed water, the two lanterns in front of Wang's gate were the only ones in the entire city. It seemed that Wang Si was doing very well under the Japanese, and didn't look as desolate as others. On the contrary, he looked like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

  Jiang's eyes lit up, and without another word, he followed the other three soldiers over the wall. Although it was not yet late at night, the courtyard was already dark, with no lights on. Only a vicious dog tied under an osmanthus tree in the courtyard heard the noise and started barking frantically.

  Chiang was greatly startled and hastily whispered to a soldier, "Get rid of that damned dog for me." The soldier who received the order didn't respond, but swiftly ran towards the vicious dog. A black shadow rushed over, and despite being restrained by an iron chain around its neck, the vicious dog fearlessly charged at the shadow. In the darkness, a white light flashed by, and the original loud barking suddenly turned into a strange sound like tearing cloth in the wind. Along with the sound of something falling to the ground, everything returned to silence.

  The ferocious dog's throat had been slashed open by a long and thin knife, blood gushing out like a fountain, filling the air with a pungent smell of dog blood. Its body temperature was slowly fading away, its green-glowing eyes reflecting the image of a sturdy man wiping off the red blood from the blade with his pants. The short steel knife that had taken its life gleamed coldly. The man's head was splattered with dog blood, and he muttered curses under his breath: "Bad luck, bad luck..."

  The warriors who were waiting to settle the evil dog gathered together, and the four of them moved towards the inner courtyard under Jiang's command. Although they had been to Wang's house before, they weren't bored enough to barge into someone else's inner courtyard. The relationship between Jiang and Wang Xingye was not close to that extent.

  After feeling around for a long time, the courtyard was not small and there were many rooms. After searching back and forth, they still couldn't find Wang Xingye's residence. Finally, Jiang Zhuang became impatient and had a soldier sneak into one of the rooms to ask for directions.

  It wasn't long before the warriors sent out returned and whispered to Jiang Zhuang: "The fourth room on the right hand side up front is it."

  "What's wrong with you? You're speaking as if you've lost all your energy." Jiang Zhen asked in a low and discontented tone.

  The soldier hesitated and didn't dare to answer, it turned out that when he sneaked into the room earlier, he thought he could take advantage of the opportunity to eat the young servant girl's tofu, but unexpectedly, he touched a fat old woman who was even fatter than Jiang Zhuang. Without turning on the light, the soldier already felt nauseous and wanted to vomit. After asking the question, he quickly knocked out the fatty and asked Jiang Zhuang how he dared to report the truth, wasn't that going to be a joke for his comrades after dinner?

  Jiang didn't take it too seriously, he was in a hurry to get inside and grab Wang Shouzi. The four black shadows moved swiftly and silently into Wang Xingye's room, while Wang Xingye, who was asleep, knew nothing about it.

  Wang Xingye hadn't had a dream for a long time, but he dreamed that the sky was densely covered with dark clouds and the wind was blowing strongly. He wanted to shout to the people in the courtyard to take in the clothes that were hanging out to dry, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make any sound. The servants seemed oblivious to the fact that it was about to rain, until large drops of rain started falling and hitting his face painfully. He shouted loudly: "Rain is coming, take in the clothes!"

  Wang Xingye, who had just sat up, felt a wet sensation on his face and was hit with a pungent smell that made his head ache. He almost threw up the leftovers from last night's dinner. Before he could vomit, Wang Xingye realized something was off and lifted his head to see a large person standing beside his bed. Startled, Wang Xingye jumped out of bed and bumped his head against the top of the wooden bed frame with a loud thud.

  Rubbing his eyes, under the dim light of the kerosene lamp, Wang Xingye saw that the person in front of him was actually that scoundrel Jiang Dazhuang, the one who had left a deep impression on him. That villain had carried out sack after sack of grain from his warehouse every day, and nine out of ten of his nightmares were related to this man. Wang Xingye's eyes turned white, and he slumped powerlessly onto the bed.

  If it weren't for fear of disturbing the other people in the courtyard, Jiang would probably have burst out laughing by now. Earlier, he had poured all the old yellow wine from the night pot under the bed onto Wang Xingye's face, and that was a real thrill. Originally, Jiang had been seething with anger, but now he couldn't help but laugh too.

  "You, you scoundrel, what are you doing here?" Wang Xingye pointed at Jiang's appearance and shouted, although it was a questioning tone, but the trembling fingers like cramps and the hoarse voice that had become a broken gong had already ruthlessly betrayed Wang Da Lao Ban. This is the most authentic manifestation of being fierce on the outside but weak on the inside.

  "I heard that you've been getting along quite well with the devils these days, our squad leader has been worried about you, so I came to see you..." said Jiang Zhuangpi with a forced smile.

  Wang Xingye suddenly remembered that he had been doing errands for the devils, something he had never thought was wrong before. But today, because of this, he had attracted the attention of the little ghosts from Yanluo Temple. Wang Xingye's body began to tremble uncontrollably, like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, shrinking in the wind. He looked at Jiang Zhuang with a pitiful expression.

  Jiang was extremely pleased with Wang Xingye's performance, of course he wouldn't kill him, what he needed to do was just like You Fei instructed, let Wang Xingye become an insider. This time, he wanted to extract the first valuable piece of intelligence, and of course, he wasn't in a hurry, he had plenty of time to grind this greedy man, not to mention that he could eat and drink well during these days, what's not to be happy about? Jiang burst out laughing, that laughter made Wang Xingye's heart feel more and more uneasy...