As the assassins appeared, the guards and relay station overseers stepped forward with their blades drawn. Weapons clashed and the glint of blades flashed alongside the sounds of clashing steel.
The group of assailants in black were unable to gain the upper hand. However, one of the assailants started towards the half-demolished storehouse. When Jing Rong noticed it, he immediately went in pursuit.
The two men exchanged strikes.
After a few rounds, the man in black started to falter and Jing Rong took the opportunity to land a kick on the man’s chest. The assailant’s back slammed forcefully against the wall. Jing Rong did not kill the man immediately. “This prince knew you people would come.”
Eh? The man’s eyes bulged in disbelief, yet he did not utter a single word.
Jing Rong looked at the metal wall and pointed at the hidden passage with his sword. “You guys...must be here to destroy this passage.” Without a single doubt!
The man continued to maintain his silence. Instead, he clutched his chest and began coughing blood.
Jing Rong stepped closer to the assassin. “Your group has already gone against the imperial court by stealing the disaster relief funds. With this attempted assassination, that’s another crime to the list. Now, you plan to destroy this passage to cover up your criminal actions. Today, this prince would like to see just how capable your group really are. ”
Jing Rong’s sword was already resting upon the man’s neck. “Speak, who exactly are you people?”
“Only the dead are fit to know that.”
Eh? That voice was familiar. Jing Rong’s eyes looked towards that man’s left arm, there was only fabric and empty air where the sleeve was. He only has one arm?! This man is...Zhao Huai?
“You’re Zhao Huai?” Jing Rong immediately tore off the assassin’s mask.
The face that was hidden under the mask had a beard and rough features that spoke volumes of the vicissitudes of life that this man had been through and the experiences he had accumulated over the years. It was indeed Zhao Huai!
Zhao Huai’s mouth was full of fresh blood. Despite having a blade across his neck, Zhao Huai did not display a single shred of fear, coldly smiling at Jing Rong in response. “If you want to kill me, do it!”
“Why is it you? How are you related to the disappearance of the relief funds?”
“You know that I’m not afraid of dying.There’s no way you’re getting the information you want from me.”
“Don’t think that I’ll spare your life just like the time at Gaoshan” Jing Rong’s sword flicked upwards slightly, opening a small wound on Zhao Huai’s neck.
Zhao Huai laughed with a bloody mouth. “You best do so or I will definitely kill you in the future.”
The two men made eye contact. There was no fear in Zhao Huai’s eyes, only pure hatred and killing intent. But why would he feel that?
Jing Rong’s wrist tensed up with the intent to kill. However, he could not deal the finishing blow.
Just then, a shadow darted out of nowhere, swiftly kicking away the sword that had been pressed against Zhao Huai’s neck. It then took Zhao Huai and ran outside before leaping onto the roof and vanished.
The men in black outside saw that and ran off as well. The guards intended to follow in pursuit, but an order rang out. “Stop chasing them.”
The guards stopped in their tracks.
Jing Rong stood unmoving for a while. He gazed silently at the corpses that were strewn about in the courtyard for quite some time.
Officer Lin hastily made his way over and was scared witless by the sight of the courtyard. He scurried up to Jing Rong and asked, “Your Highness, a...are you alright?”
He didn’t answer.
“Who even dares to assassinate Your Highness?” Officer Lin was scared out of his mind. Is my life going to be forfeit here!?
First, there was the matter of the hidden passage in the wall and now this assassination attempt. It seems like he won’t be keeping his position for long! And now, there’s even a chance that he may even lose his life along with his job because of this. Officer Lin’s stomach cramped up at the thought.
At this moment, Lang Po had returned. Looking at the chaotic state of the courtyard, he started to ask, “Your Highness, what...”
He was immediately interrupted by Jing Rong. “Did you find anything?”
Lang Po reported. “I found something.”
“Speak!”
“Master Xiao came to Yufu from Shanhuai. No one knew what his previous occupation was. As he had no relatives, there was neither a funeral, nor was there anyone that assisted in his burial. His corpse was directly taken to the morgue. When I went there to inquire, the person keeping watch said that he had buried the corpse. Yet, when I dug up the grave, I found out that there was nothing inside. That man had obviously faked his death.”
“He didn’t die?”
“According to the person safeguarding the morgue, Master Xiao had a scar on his arm.”
“Hm?”
“Coincidentally, I personally noticed that there is also a scar on the hand of the old man that was in the Si Residence.”
The Si Residence! Looks like the case of the missing relief funds was not such a simple matter.
Jing Rong pondered and came to a conclusion. “Which means that the Si Family had already made their preparations even before the relief funds were approved. They had arranged for their men to be involved with the construction of the wall where the hidden passage was built. By sending their own goods to the relay station, they took the opportunity to steal away the relief funds via the passageway every year. Furthermore, the man who had disappeared from the Si Residence did so by making use of a similar mechanism.”
“This matter is definitely caused by the Si Family. Your Highness, we should send guards to take them into custody.”
“This prince has already said that, to catch a thief, one must first find the loot!” How can he make an arrest without any evidence?
Lang Po replied. “But we have no idea where the funds are kept.”
“Right inside the Si Residence’s secret mechanism!”Jing Rong responded. “So long as we are able to figure out how to unlock it, everything will be made clear.”
“But how exactly is this triggered? This barren wall has no switch whatsoever.”
Precisely! It is impossible that the passage would open by itself.
Jing Rong returned to the room with Lang Po in tow. He stood before the wall once more. “Since they had sent men to destroy this wall. It is clear that there must be some mechanism within this wall.”
Lang Po began to press and knock against the wall near the secret passage but was unable to discover anything. “What the hell? The old man who designed this must have had divine skill, he’s even better than the person who had designed all those traps at the Gaoshan Shanzhai.”
Eh! Lang Po recalled. “Judging from the shadows, I could only tell that the old man had blown one of the candles out before taking one of the candles and walking further inside. The light did not suddenly disappear, it just grew dimmer and dimmer, as though… he were still walking. However, the house is really small, it is impossible for the light and shadows to fade away no matter how you walk. ”
“Light?”
Jing Rong thought to himself again before asking. “When the men were tasked with demolishing the wall, did they do anything else?”
“They didn’t do anything strange out of the ordinary. They had just gotten ready their sledgehammers to take down the wall, but the hidden passage had opened by itself even before they even began swinging at it.”
“Something’s not right!” Jing Rong’s brows furrowed into a single line.
“Your Highness, what’s wrong?”
Without explaining, Jing Rong jumped onto the hidden passage and over to the room on the other side. Lang Po hastily followed in pursuit, and found Jing Rong rummaging through the room.
However, nothing out of the ordinary was found. Everything that could be moved had been touched, yet there wasn’t a single object that could have opened the hidden passage.