The Bait, Part One

2024-07-31

The Bait, Part One

"Everyone is here. Be careful on the road—there must not be any mishaps." A Patrol Captain in charge of the handover brought out a group of shackled prisoners from behind him.

At the same time, he produced the official documents for Liang Chuanshan and the other two to verify.

Though nominally he held the same rank as Liang Chuanshan and the others, with no distinction of superior or subordinate between them, every gesture he made still carried an air of looking down from on high. There was not the slightest trace of courtesy in his words.

This was a common mindset among most officials serving at the General Directorate. Compared to local officials, they always felt themselves a cut above.

Song Changming sized up this Patrol Captain from the General Directorate.

The man was built like a great bear, standing at least over two meters tall!

His features were fierce, especially his eyes, sharp enough that a single glance sent chills down one's spine.

"What powerful Sha Qi!" Song Changming had killed quite a few vicious criminals during his two years at the Patrol Guard Headquarters, yet even he had struggled to cultivate such intense baleful ferocity.

He truly did not know how much blood had stained this man's hands.

"Hm?" Lu Zheng keenly sensed the gaze resting on him and raised his eyes to sweep them over Song Changming.

The reason he took notice of Song Changming was that even Patrol Guards from the General Directorate ordinarily did not dare look at him too much.

Yet after meeting his gaze, this young local Patrol Guard remained calm and unruffled. No matter what, his courage alone was worthy of praise.

Though Lu Zheng thought this, he neither praised nor troubled Song Changming, this young Patrol Guard. Once the handover was complete, he turned and returned to the General Directorate without lingering long.

Liang Chuanshan flipped through the prisoner list he had received, growing more alarmed with every page.

He could not help raising his eyes, only to meet the gazes of Qian Wen and Zhao Dezhi.

All three saw shock in one another's eyes.

Wanted criminals with bounties of ten thousand silver, Great Heroes renowned far and wide in the martial world, elders of noble lineages whose households had been confiscated, and officials who had committed grave crimes...

There were twenty-five major criminals in total, every one of them no small figure.

"Who would have thought that one day, I'd come into contact with criminals of this caliber?"

Compared to these prisoners, even as a Patrol Captain, he was merely an unknown nobody.

Had he encountered any of these figures before they became prisoners, he would not even have dared speak too loudly.

"Damn it, what's there to be afraid of? The past is like drifting clouds and smoke. Now they're nothing more than prisoners awaiting execution!" Liang Chuanshan muttered under his breath.

He put away the list and official documents. The prisoners, shackled and disheveled one by one, were loaded into the great iron cages of the prison carts and bound with thick chains.

No matter what status they had once held, not a shred of nobility remained on them now. All that remained was wretchedness and despair.

"Set out. We're heading back."

The convoy made for Houli Street.

On the way back, Song Changming learned of these prisoners' former identities from Liang Chuanshan, and his heart inexplicably tightened.

"Something about this mission feels off to me. Why did the General Directorate suddenly decide to transfer this batch of prisoners to our Patrol Guard Headquarters for processing?" Song Changming asked, puzzled.

"They said the General Directorate's prison is holding too many major criminals and running short on cells. Similar things have happened before," Liang Chuanshan explained.

"Is that so?" Song Changming said no more after hearing that.

Perhaps that truly was the case.

Only...

Song Changming's gaze swept over the surroundings. The prison-cart convoy passed through street after street, escorted by more than forty Patrol Guards. The procession was quite sizable.

As a result, quite a few commoners stopped along the way to watch, pointing and whispering at the prisoners in the carts.

Logically speaking, no one in this Prefecture City would dare be so audacious as to rob prison carts.

But if someone truly intended to rescue one of the major criminals in those carts, then the journey of transport was undoubtedly when they had the best chance of succeeding.

Surely not... Song Changming thought.

This was supposedly a decision the General Directorate had made on the spur of the moment. But was it truly a decision from above made on the spur of the moment?

"Move aside! Move aside! Don't block the road!" The Patrol Guards at the front sternly dispersed the onlookers who had crowded too close.

After leaving the Jinxiu Street district and just as they were about to return to Houli Street, a beggar was suddenly shoved out of the crowd and fell into the middle of the road, wailing without end.

Almost instinctively, Song Changming clamped his right hand around the hilt at his waist.

"Drag him away. Drag him away." Qian Wen patted the back of a nearby Patrol Guard and pointed at the fallen beggar, speaking impatiently. He did not want the convoy delayed by this.

The Patrol Guard immediately jogged over, intending to drive away the beggar on the ground.

Suddenly, the beggar rolled over, a short blade stabbing out from his hand.

The Patrol Guard had no time to react before the short blade pierced straight through his throat. Blood sprayed forth.

Then the beggar yanked out the Patrol Guard's Side Saber and slashed down another Patrol Guard walking at the very front.

His strikes were vicious and swift. There was not the slightest trace left of his former appearance as a beggar.

"Be on guard!"

"Enemy attack!"

"Murder!"

"Murder!"

In an instant, the Patrol Guards all drew their long sabers. The commoners who had been watching from around them cried out and retreated, and the scene descended into chaos.

Under Qian Wen's lead, the group of Patrol Guards at the front had already lunged at the beggar.

At the same time, several more people burst from the crowd at the rear of the convoy and fell into fierce battle with Zhao Dezhi's Patrol Guard Team.

"They're organized and prepared. They've come for one of the major criminals in the prison carts!" Song Changming realized this, his gaze fixed on the chaotic crowds on either side of the carts.

"Don't panic! Protect the prison carts!" Hearing Song Changming's words, Liang Chuanshan came to his senses and shouted, rallying the Patrol Guards under him, who had already become somewhat at a loss, to hold their positions.

Even as he stabilized the situation, he immediately set off the smoke pellet on his person.

Almost at the same moment, several people rushed out from both sides.

They wore the coarse clothes of ordinary civilians on the outside to deceive the eye, while armor was hidden beneath. As they moved, they put on Tiger-striped Masks to conceal their faces. Every motion flowed in one breath, clearly the result of long preparation.

With a scream, another Patrol Guard on one side was swiftly cut down.

A person wearing a Tiger-striped Mask suddenly leaped more than three meters high, light as a swallow, and landed atop one of the prison carts.

"Brother Liu!" Facing the prison cart, he was about to slash at the chains when a flash of saber light suddenly struck from the side, forcing him to turn his blade to block.

"What tremendous strength!"

His arm went numb, and he was hacked directly off the prison cart.

Song Changming did not pursue him. He merely stood atop the prison cart, saber held crosswise as he watched his opponent.

He had already determined that this group's target was the prisoner beside him.

The prisoner, who had originally hung his head with his hair covering his face, now regained some of his spirit and looked up.

Though his face was smeared with blood, one could still vaguely make out that he was a rather valiant-looking man, no more than thirty years old.

"Brother Liu, catch the saber!" On the other side, another person trying to rob the prison cart flung out a steel saber, attempting to pass it to the man inside.

But Song Changming had long been on guard against the surroundings. He stepped forward and sent the thrown steel saber flying with a kick before it could reach its target.

For a moment, the line of defense he had erected alone was impregnable, leaving those prison-cart robbers gritting their teeth in hatred.

(End of Chapter)