novellaaa Chapter 9 The Hanging Man
Chapter 9 The Hanging Man
"Hmm." Cui Yuan nodded slowly, a fierce glint in his eyes. "Take him down first thing tomorrow morning. Get his secrets out of him, and then..."
He made a throat-slitting gesture, his voice icy, "A secret isn't a secret if too many people know it."
"However, although this kid hasn't cultivated his Qi and blood, I see that his spirit and energy are different lately, so it's best to be careful."
"Come with me to Maigu Hutong to make some arrangements to ensure everything goes perfectly."
"We'll do whatever Brother Cui says!"
......
As night deepened, the moon disappeared behind the clouds.
No. 17, Bingzi, Maigu Hutong.
Inside the main room of the courtyard, a single candle flame cast a dim glow, illuminating two swaying figures.
Cui Yuan and Luo Yue from Shuitou were busy inside the house.
Cui Yuan examined the several thick, tough hemp ropes, pulled on them with both hands to confirm their hardness, and then glanced at Luo Yue not far away with a cold smile.
Luo Yue was setting up tripwires behind the door and rope snares hidden in the shadows, his gaze, with his back to Cui Yuan, flashing a cryptic, sinister smile.
"Check the rope again, make sure it's sturdy. That kid's strength might have increased, don't let him break it," Cui Yuan whispered.
"Don't worry, Brother Cui, this is a tough, oil-soaked beef tendon rope." Luo Yue grinned maliciously. "Tomorrow morning, as soon as he walks in, we'll trip him with the rope, pounce on him, gag him, and tie him up. Clean and efficient."
"Hmm...not bad." Cui Yuan nodded with a smile.
Swish!
Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed past the window.
"Who?!" The two were startled at the same time.
The room was silent, with only the flickering candlelight.
"Meow--"
A drawn-out meow came from outside.
"Damn, that scared me," Luo Yue muttered under his breath.
Cui Yuan also breathed a sigh of relief: "Hurry up and get it done."
Luo Yue responded and continued fiddling with the rope.
Just then—
Bang!
The window, which had been tightly closed, was suddenly flung open with great force, and the icy night wind howled in, instantly extinguishing the tiny candle flame!
The room was plunged into darkness.
"Why is it so windy!" Luo Yue cursed, then groped his way over in the dark and closed the window again.
Then he walked toward the table, preparing to light the candles.
But as soon as he reached the table, his heart skipped a beat without warning, and a chill suddenly shot from his tailbone straight to the top of his head.
Three feet away from the table, a dark figure had silently appeared without anyone noticing!
"Well......"
Luo Yue's mouth opened wide involuntarily, and a scream was about to burst from his throat.
But the next moment!
Suddenly something wrapped around his neck, and before he could utter a sound, he was suspended in mid-air.
"Heh...heh..."
Luo Yue's eyes bulged out, his hands frantically clawing at the thick rope around his neck, his legs kicking wildly, but only emitting faint, suffocating gasps.
"What's going on? Hurry up and light the candles!" Cui Yuan, who was on the other side, urged impatiently after hearing the strange noise.
There was no response.
"Luo Yue?"
Cui Yuan immediately sensed something was wrong, drew the short blade from his waist, swallowed hard, and reached forward.
He hadn't walked more than a few steps when he felt like he had bumped into something.
I touched it, and it felt like...
"leg?"
leg!
An indescribable chill instantly swept over Cui Yuan, and the hairs on his body stood on end in that instant!
At the same time, in the darkness ahead, a pair of eyes slowly lit up.
Om-!
Cui Yuan felt his scalp tingle and his heart almost explode!
"Great...great hero...please spare me..."
He had barely managed to utter half a plea for mercy when another thick rope descended, suddenly looping around his neck and tightening abruptly, the immense pulling force instantly lifting him off the ground!
"Cough... Heh..."
The intense feeling of suffocation overwhelmed everything.
In the darkness, only two figures remained suspended in mid-air, kicking and struggling.
Life was quickly fading away with the faint "hoho" sound.
Until, the room fell into a deathly silence.
Luo Yue's kicking legs stiffened first, then drooped down, and then stopped moving.
After a while, the "hoarse" sound from Cui Yuan's throat also stopped, and his suspended body was left only swaying slightly.
Jiang Qi stood in the darkness, watching silently.
Moonlight shone through the gaps in the clouds, casting long shadows of two hanging figures on the ground through the window.
This was my first time doing something like this, so I had some mixed feelings.
There was no fear, no nausea, and no racing heartbeat as if it were a "first-time murder"; only calm and clear-headedness.
In my past life I lived within order, in this life I struggle at the bottom.
In this world where human life is as cheap as grass, sometimes taking a step back may not lead to a brighter future, but rather to an abyss.
If he doesn't kill, then he'll wait to be killed.
After waiting for about fifteen minutes, until the two bodies were slightly cool and stiffened, Jiang Qi finally made a move.
He first groped around inside the house for a while.
This house must have been uninhabited for a long time; many places are covered in dust, and there's nothing of value there.
Jiang Qi then searched the two men and pulled a heavy money bag from Cui Yuan's pocket. When he emptied it, he found more than eleven taels of silver.
Luo Yue, on the other hand, was poor, with only a few copper coins.
But nearly twelve taels is still a huge sum of money.
It truly proves the saying: "Murderers and arsonists wear golden belts."
After putting away the silver, he looked at the two hanging corpses.
Countless people die in Licheng every day, and the government can't keep up with it. Unless they are important figures, they don't bother to care, so there's no need to destroy the evidence.
Jiang Qi still cleaned up any traces he might have left behind, and placed a crooked stool under their feet to make it look like they had hanged themselves.
Being cautious is definitely the right thing to do.
After doing all this, he left the house and disappeared into the night.
"Meow."
A black cat leaped gracefully over the distant wall, its emerald eyes flashing in the darkness before disappearing.
......
The next day, Sweetwater Lane.
The news of Cui Yuan and Luo Yue's suicides spread, causing a ripple among the neighbors before subsiding back into the daily hustle and bustle of making a living.
Some sighed, some shook their heads and lamented the "unpredictability of life," while many others remained indifferent.
Two people died; it's nothing unusual in this western part of the city.
Let alone ordinary people, even martial arts practitioners die every day.
......
Zhenyuan Martial Arts School, training ground.
Tan Ming moved closer to Jiang Qi, his face filled with fear: "Jiang Qi, do you know, Cui Shuitou and Luo Yue... are dead!"
It was said to be a suicide by hanging; the body was found in a courtyard in Maigu Hutong.
"But it doesn't seem like it. Cui Shuitou is greedy and values his life, and Luo Yue is even more eager to curry favor with him, wanting to live a good life. Why would he be so desperate as to commit suicide? He must have offended someone and been..."
"Things have really been unsettling in the city lately. You know the wealthy Chen family, the one who runs the silk shop, just three streets away from the water shop? I heard they were all wiped out the night before last. More than a dozen people in the house, not a single one survived. It's a tragedy!"
Jiang Qi continued practicing the moves of the Zhenyuan Body Forging Technique without stopping, and upon hearing this, he merely raised his eyes slightly: "Is that so? Then things are indeed not peaceful."
With Cui Yuan dead, the water shop in Sweetwater Lane is now without a water source. It's unclear how the Ironclad Gang will handle this...
Sotaki Well is now the source of [Moonlight Water], and hopefully this won't change much.
However, continuing like this is too passive.
Cui Yuan and Luo Yue's suspicions nearly led to their deaths.
Therefore, the problem of the well must be solved, and it would be best to take charge of the Sukuraki Well.
......