Luck Value

With his face covered, Lu Chen had arrived in Cheng Datou's courtyard.

The snoring could be heard even outside.

Lu Chen walked to the door of the room and was about to slip inside by picking the lock when a faint sound suddenly came from the courtyard gate outside.

Someone was opening the gate!

His scalp instantly went numb.

Why was someone coming at a time like this?

Lu Chen hurriedly darted behind a water jar by the wall of the side room, hiding in the shadows.

The gate closed, and light footsteps sounded.

Lu Chen held his breath, clutching a stone in one hand and a dagger in the other. With his back pressed tightly against the wall, he dared not make a sound.

Closer, closer.

At some point, the snoring in the room seemed to have stopped as well.

Lu Chen's heart sank uncontrollably.

He saw who had come.

It was the middle-aged woman who had been drinking with Cheng Datou.

She had no idea there was another person in the courtyard. She walked straight to the door and knocked.

"Datou, it's me!"

After a while, a voice came from inside, and a light appeared.

Lu Chen tucked himself as far into the shadows as he could and listened to their conversation.

"Sangu, what are you doing here at this hour?"

There was some rustling inside. After a while, the door opened, and Cheng Datou looked at Huang Sangu standing on the doorstep, a little displeased.

"Let's talk inside!"

Huang Sangu's voice was serious as she walked straight into the room.

After the door closed, their voices became much quieter.

Lu Chen was curious too.

Were they about to discuss serious business?

He remembered the mole on Huang Sangu's chin, and with her surname being Huang, could she really be related to Huang Chao?

Had she learned that something had happened to Huang Chao and come to find Cheng Datou?

Lu Chen hesitated for a moment, then decisively crept over to the window, crouched down, and pricked up his ears.

"I just got word that the Flying Eagle Horse Gang intercepted our business. They also sent word demanding a ransom of a thousand taels of silver, and on top of that, they want a ten percent cut every time we transport goods from now on. If we don't agree, they'll wipe us out."

Huang Sangu spoke, and the panic in her voice was audible.

Lu Chen committed the name Flying Eagle Horse Gang to memory.

"The Flying Eagle Horse Gang? Don't they usually operate in Mingde Prefecture to the north? What brought them to our Shanyang Prefecture?" Cheng Datou seemed a little afraid when he heard the name, but he was more puzzled than anything.

Huang Sangu said, "It seems someone killed two of their leaders, and they fled here. What do you think we should do about this? I can't do anything about the gang's business, but surely we can't give them a cut of our own business too?"

Cheng Datou paced around the room in agitation. "The Flying Eagle Horse Gang has thirteen leaders in all. Even the weakest is at the third realm, Organ Refining. They say their eldest brother has reached perfection in Marrow Cleansing and is close to the threshold of Xiantian. Even with two of them dead, our little Green Bamboo Gang can't stand up to them. If they really want to come here and snatch food from our mouths, what can ordinary Copper Skin Realm people like us do?"

He was furious.

Listening outside, Lu Chen's heart pounded.

Organ Refining? Marrow Cleansing? Xiantian? There really was martial strength beyond that of ordinary people here!

Cheng Datou said he was at the Copper Skin Realm... and the third realm was Organ Refining. Could there be realms like Iron Bone and Steel Bone in between? Did that mean Cheng Datou was most likely in the first realm? Sand Lake County Town was remote and sparsely populated, so there shouldn't be anyone too powerful here, and Cheng Datou was only a minor boss. But I still couldn't be careless. Who knew what the Copper Skin Realm was really like!

He grew even more cautious and continued eavesdropping.

"Can we still carry on with our own business, then?" Huang Sangu was also deeply troubled. "You don't think they'll take a fancy to our business, do you?"

"Of course we can! You women have long hair and short wits. Would big shots like them personally go around trafficking children? Maybe we can even make more money off the Flying Eagle Horse Gang from now on!"

The more Cheng Datou thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

Huang Sangu thought about it and felt he had a point.

The Thirteen Heroes of Flying Eagle—no, eleven heroes now—had made something of a name for themselves among the outlaws of Great Qian. They couldn't possibly do dirty work like trafficking people.

It was beneath their station.

And if they wanted to make money, wouldn't they still have to rely on the Green Bamboo Gang?

"You're the clever one! Go back to sleep, then. I'm leaving."

Lu Chen was startled and hurried back behind the water jar.

"Don't leave yet. I'm awake now anyway, so let me have some fun."

"Hmph, you devil!"

Lu Chen's eyes turned icy cold.

He understood now.

Besides the Green Bamboo Gang's business, those two dogs were also trafficking women and children on the side.

Beasts! No, worse than beasts!

Hearing the woman's cooing and the man's lewd words from the room, Lu Chen waited until the sounds grew louder and things heated up, then quietly made his way to the door.

He gently pushed it.

The door was unlocked, and a crack opened.

Crouching down, Lu Chen could see the bedding on the bed moving through the crack.

He had no intention of enjoying the view. Instead, he took out a packet of lime.

He waited.

Even Lu Chen was caught off guard.

Wait, had it even been two minutes?

He heard Datou let out a satisfied gasp inside.

In a flash, Lu Chen shoved the door open and hurled the lime in his hand into Cheng Datou's face.

"What..."

Puff!

The lime burst against his face, filling the air with white powder.

Cheng Datou didn't even have time to scream.

The lime struck his eyes directly, causing searing pain.

His eyes felt as though they were burning.

He clutched them, looking utterly miserable.

Huang Sangu, beneath him, was also covered in lime and inhaled a great deal of powder. Her throat burned fiercely.

"The Flying Eagle Horse Gang is here!"

Lu Chen let out a low roar. Without pausing for an instant, he sent the dagger in his hand shooting straight toward Cheng Datou's neck.

Schlup!

The sharp dagger plunged straight into Cheng Datou's neck, the tremendous force driving its tip through the other side.

Blood immediately poured out.

Cheng Datou's body went rigid. The hands covering his eyes fell limply, and he collapsed with a thud, landing on top of Huang Sangu.

Huang Sangu tried to scream, but Lu Chen's hands moved swiftly. He fired stones in quick succession, striking her temples and throat with a series of thuds.

After repeatedly spending points on upgrades, entries such as "strong and sturdy" and "abundant strength" had given Lu Chen tremendous strength.

At such a short distance, there was no chance of missing.

The stones smashed Huang Sangu's temples inward, shattering the bones. White and red matter could be seen spraying out.

In a few short seconds, the whole room fell silent again.

Lu Chen also heard a notification.

[Through the host's intervention, the fates of Cheng Kui and Huang Sangu have changed]

[Cheng Kui has died, Fate Value +90]

[Huang Sangu has died, Fate Value +50, Luck Value +1]

[Total: 140]

"Luck Value?!" Lu Chen was astonished.

He had never expected Huang Sangu to yield Luck Value.

He had been thinking earlier that the system had mentioned he could use Fate Value and Luck Value to modify entries.

But he had no idea how to obtain Luck Value.

Now he had unexpectedly gained one point.

It was a complete windfall!

I'll study it carefully when I get back! he thought.

With the system's notifications, Lu Chen didn't bother striking again to make sure they were dead. Instead, he closed the door.

He then searched the entire room, trying to find hidden compartments in the bed, walls, floor, and elsewhere.

After searching, he looked at the spoils on the table with great satisfaction.

Eighty taels of silver and five hundred taels in banknotes from the Great Qian Bank.

Besides the money, he had found a piece of clothing that seemed to be a uniform unique to the Green Bamboo Gang, with green bamboo embroidered on it.

There was also a round green token engraved with two sections of bamboo.

After some thought, Lu Chen put both items away.

Most importantly, there was also a book.

"Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique."

"I hit gold!"

The corners of Lu Chen's mouth curled up uncontrollably beneath the black cloth.

He had actually found a secret manual.

After stuffing the silver and the manual into his robes, Lu Chen went over to Cheng Datou and wrapped the dagger in cloth before pulling it out.

Blood spurted from the neck. Fortunately, the cloth blocked it, or it would have splashed all over Lu Chen.

He picked up the stones and retrieved the material he had wrapped the lime in as well.

He left nothing of his behind.

He also used a cloth to sweep away the footprints in the lime, backing out of the room bit by bit before closing the door behind him.

Outside, it was still silent, just like yesterday.

After making sure he had left no traces, Lu Chen climbed over the wall and left, with nothing to do but wait for the town gates to open.