Shooting to Kill

Shooting to Kill

Li Yuan had barely stepped into the house when Yan Yu dragged over a long bench and barricaded the door.

She sat on the bench with her back pressed against the door, her little face full of tension and worry.

"Yuan Ge'er, why has Qian San set his sights on you?"

"Most likely because he wants my Hunter Permit."

"Wasn't the Hunter Permit issued by the authorities? How dare they steal it?"

"There's no name written on it. Usually, with the constables keeping watch, they behave themselves a little better. But in times like these, what constable would bother with this kind of thing?"

"What do we do? What do we do?" Yan Yu clasped her hands together, muttering nonstop. "How about we get Uncle Wang next door, then find a few more men? You can go together. That way, Qian San won't dare do anything."

"Other than Uncle Wang, who else is there?"

"Monk Pan," Yan Yu suddenly said.

Li Yuan thought for a moment, then shook his head.

Pulling together a gang to act on his own—and doing it while dragging along families—was no good thing.

Besides being sturdier than most, Uncle Wang was a meek, honest man with no temper, while Monk Pan had no connection to him whatsoever. The three of them together would be nothing more than a rabble. He might as well act alone.

Yan Yu was about to say more when Li Yuan sat beside her, slipped his right arm behind her back, gently hooked it around her soft shoulders, and whispered, "Sister Yan, don't worry about what's outside. Leave it to me."

"How are you going to handle it?"

"I'll go hunting with him."

"Y-you won't end up like Uncle Caihua, will you? Going out and never coming back?"

"I won't, I won't. With such a beautiful Sister Yan waiting at home, how could I bear not to come back?"

Yan Yu blushed and softly said, "Hateful. You're sweet-talking me again," then nestled into his arms, her face still full of sorrow.

Li Yuan raised his head slightly. In the dim room, a calm light flickered in his eyes.

In his previous life, he had slaughtered pigs. At first, he had been a little scared, but after killing enough of them, he stopped feeling anything. Even his gaze had become calm.

Qian San had to die.

If I don't kill him, then I'll have to clash with him head-on. All my strength lies in the bow. If a group of them comes at me, one arrow can only shoot one person. I definitely won't come out ahead.

And if I shoot someone in public, that would be murder. The authorities would certainly arrest me. But if I don't shoot, and they beat me up, there'd be nothing I could do.

If something happens to me, Sister Yan won't come to a good end either.

Then where should I kill him?

Kill him while Qian San goes hunting?

That would be best.

But first, I don't know whether Qian San will go hunting these next few days. Second, I don't know where he hunts.

That's hard to grasp. There are too many variables.

But there's one place Qian San will definitely go—his home.

And when should I kill him?

Today? No. I just had a conflict with Qian San, and then he dies. I might be suspected.

Then wait a couple of days.

No. What if something unexpected happens?

Forget it. I'll keep watch on him. If there's a chance, I'll kill him.

Li Yuan's expression grew ever calmer. This was how he always looked before slaughtering pigs.

That night, a bright moon hung high in the sky, casting enough light over the earth.

The wind outside was not strong, but frost covered the ground, and the world was frozen solid.

Yan Yu had patched the hole in the window during the day. At this moment, creaking sounds came from inside the house.

After a long while.

Yan Yu went limp, sleeping soundly in her man's embrace.

They clung together, the quilt warm and toasty. In this bitter winter, it was like a paradise cut off from darkness and cold.

The only light, warmth, joy, and peace of mind in this chaotic world.

Li Yuan slipped out his arm and softly instructed, "Sister Yan, I'm going to the privy. Stay asleep and don't come out."

But Yan Yu was sleeping deeply. She merely answered as if mumbling in a dream, then turned her warm body and wriggled over to the other side.

Li Yuan lifted a corner of the quilt, quietly got out of bed, swiftly dressed, then grabbed the great bow and quiver from the wall. After a brief thought, he directly added his remaining 20 points to "Intermediate Tracking."

A strange sense of lightness spread through his body, followed by seasoned tracking experience flooding into his mind.

At once, his grasp of the light and shadows around him, concealing his own presence, and locking onto a target all rose to another level.

Li Yuan quietly pushed open the back door, bent low with his bow, and shot out with a whoosh.

He moved astonishingly fast, his footsteps astonishingly light, like a great tiger that had slipped into the village.

In a few swift bursts, he reached the small woods behind his home.

Li Yuan raced onward, the wind howling past his ears.

The winter wind cut like knives, but he paid it no heed, his gaze sweeping back and forth around him.

If anything dangerous appeared, numbers would emerge. That counted as an invisible ability as well.

Little Ink Village at Little Ink Mountain was not large. Overall, it was more like a village; it was only called a "village" to comply with the authorities' standardized naming requirements.

Before long, he arrived at Qian San's home. With a flash, he hid behind a shadowy old tree.

Inside Qian San's home.

Qian San was drinking, talking as he drank about what had happened that day.

A rather attractive woman sat in his lap, smiling as she poured him wine. "Master, you were so impressive today. You didn't even have to lift a hand before Monk Pan got beaten up by those people."

Qian San gave a dark chuckle. "Woman, this is called understanding people's hearts. It's called borrowing momentum. Even if I explained it, you wouldn't understand.

"Once some time passes and I gather all the hunters in Little Ink Village, we'll go hunting in the mountains.

"Then, with meat in my hands, I can do whatever I want in this village."

The woman said, "Pah, gather them all? There are only six hunter households in the village. You've only gotten the Flower Family's Hunter Permit so far. There are still four households left."

Qian San said, "Pour your master some wine. I'll deal with them one by one."

Hooking her arms around his neck, the woman asked, "Master, I heard that in some places, a piece of meat no bigger than a palm is enough to sleep with another man's wife. Is that true?"

Qian San said, "True. Right in the neighboring Zhao Family Village. They do it right in front of the woman's husband, and the husband even stands guard for him."

The woman laughed.

After a long while, the drunken man pushed the woman onto the bed. He had taken off his trousers and was just about to climb on top of her when he suddenly frowned. "Go to sleep first. I'm going out to relieve myself."

Qian San pulled up his trousers, his face flushed as he hummed some unknown tune. Swaying from side to side, he walked out, went more than a hundred meters, stripped off his trousers in front of an open-air latrine pit, and squatted down.

And in the distance—

In a corner he could not see, a dark figure had already begun to creep forward.

The dark figure made almost no sound. Every step was swallowed by the natural sounds around it, leaving no trace for anyone to notice.

Soon, the dark figure reached a spot more than twenty paces from Qian San.

The dark figure glanced at himself. Overall strength: "5–6."

Then he looked at Qian San squatting over the latrine pit. Overall strength: "0–1."

The dark figure held the bow in his left hand while his right swiftly reached for the quiver.

His two fingers were about to pinch an arrow when they suddenly paused, slid downward, and touched a smooth, slippery stone.

Stone Shot, like shooting pellets, was also a basic shooting technique hunters needed to master. It was usually used against small animals, with the aim of stunning them so that their pelts could remain intact and fetch a better price.

Qian San squatted over the latrine pit, bobbing his head. The wine had warmed his body, and he did not feel cold even while squatting outside.

"Three days. I'm giving your mother three days, Yuanzi. Tomorrow, your daddy will come looking for you again. Heh..." Qian San muttered to himself.

Just then, a stone silently crossed more than ten zhang, ripped through the darkness, and shot in from the cold wind, smashing fiercely into Qian San's forehead.

"Aah!!"

A burst of searing pain struck him. At the same time, Qian San felt his body lose balance and topple backward completely beyond his control. With a thud, he fell into the latrine pit and sank beneath it.