I'll Give Him a Way to Die

The night outside the window was beautiful.

Taking advantage of the darkness, Liu Xu walked to the corner of the wall, wrote the character "light" in the air with her brush, and flew out of the Liu Residence.

The streets were empty in the darkness. Other than the night watchman's clappers, there was nothing else.

Now and then, the chilling yowls of cats rang out, as though they were mourning the dead.

The Lin Residence was famous throughout Sheng County; there was no need to ask around.

Liu Xu was also from Sheng County, and before long, she arrived at the Lin Residence.

Even at night, red lanterns still hung high outside its main gate.

Two servants stood guard at the entrance, looking ready to keep watch all night.

After observing from a street corner, Liu Xu chose not to enter through the front gate. Instead, she made her way to a secluded stretch of wall.

No one guarded this place, nor did any passersby come through.

Liu Xu took out her brush. After looking around, she wrote another "light" character.

Even dressed in black and with her face covered, her figure was still enough to set hearts racing.

And when she rose into the air, her supple curves gave off an utterly bewitching allure.

In mere moments, Liu Xu had flown into the Lin Residence and landed steadily on the ground.

Then, an awkward scene unfolded.

The moment Liu Xu landed, she heard someone draw a breath.

She shifted her gaze toward the person ahead of her and froze slightly.

Not far away stood someone in ordinary clothes, with both face and head wrapped in cloth, staring right back at her.

The night wind carried a faint chill. The two stared at each other, both falling silent.

Apart from the occasional cat's cry, the surroundings were deathly quiet. Beyond the awkwardness, Liu Xu sensed a trace of danger.

Her gaze fell upon the Mysterious Person's waist, where she saw an ordinary longsword.

A sword?

She had spent the past few days waiting for her teacher's letter and had not paid attention to anything else. But now that she suddenly saw a longsword, she could not help recalling the Nether Blacksmith.

Could this person be the one who killed the Nether Blacksmith and his wife? A thought rose in Liu Xu's heart.

At that moment, the Mysterious Person moved as well.

He paid her no mind whatsoever, chose a path for himself, and silently left.

It was Liu Xu's first time encountering such a situation.

But seeing that the other party was masked as well and clearly not from the Lin Residence, coupled with the special circumstances, she did not bother with him.

Choosing another path, Liu Xu left as well.

At that moment, an eerie tacit understanding formed between them.

—Each would do their own thing, without interfering with the other.

The dim corner of the wall returned to silence.

Xu Bai walked through the Lin Residence, thinking about the woman in black he had just encountered.

How did he know she was a woman?

Nonsense. Her figure, the width of her shoulders, and a certain particularly supple part made it obvious at a glance.

Honestly, he had not seen that coming.

That scene just now had been so awkward, he could have dug out an entire city with his toes.

Fortunately, he knew better and had not lingered.

Taking care of the matter at hand came first. That woman's attire made it obvious she was not from the Lin Residence either, so he would ignore her for now lest a huge mess break out.

There was no way they were going to fight over that little encounter, right?

With that in mind, Xu Bai resumed searching through the Lin Residence.

The Lin Residence was too large. He was looking for Lin Fenghua's room, which made the search rather difficult.

During the search, the two people with the same idea ran into each other several more times.

Yet neither spoke. After each encounter, they left in perfect tacit understanding, as though they had never met.

But their mutual understanding did not last long.

Outside a brightly lit room, Xu Bai looked at the woman in black, and the woman in black looked at him.

At last, unable to hold back, the woman in black asked in a slightly low voice, "Are you here to kill someone too?"

Even though she deliberately made her voice hoarse, two parts of its clarity still showed through.

Xu Bai silently nodded, then affected a hoarse, heavy voice of his own. "You too?"

Liu Xu nodded.

The two fell silent again. It was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.

Damn it, this has gone completely beyond expectations.

At least, from Xu Bai's perspective, this had truly not been part of the plan.

"How about... we do it together?" Xu Bai blurted out a shocking suggestion.

Liu Xu did not know what sort of logic had run through her mind, but she actually nodded instinctively.

She was helpless too. Why had she run into someone at a time like this?

Meeting someone was one thing, but the key was that he had come for the same purpose as her.

Together? Fine, together for now.

Thinking this, Liu Xu rubbed her brow.

—What a headache.

Having temporarily reached an agreement, the two said nothing more and quietly came to a window.

Xu Bai raised his longsword and poked a small hole through the window, then pressed his eye to it.

The room was brightly lit, with many oil lamps burning and illuminating every corner.

Through the small hole, he could see a young man sitting in the room, an unclothed woman in his arms.

The man was fairly good-looking, but from the inside out, he reeked of a spoiled young master. His hand stroked over the woman's body. Either he had already finished, or he had not yet begun.

Liu Xu nudged Xu Bai's shoulder, signaling for him to let her look.

Xu Bai made a gesture asking whether she really wanted to see.

Liu Xu nodded without hesitation.

At a time like this, what was there that she could not look at? Once Xu Bai moved aside, Liu Xu leaned toward the little hole, then immediately pulled her head back and glared fiercely at Xu Bai.

You were the one who insisted on looking, Xu Bai thought.

The two remained outside the window as voices drifted out from within.

"Young Master Lin, I heard the people from the yamen spoke today. Once you recover from your illness, they'll send you to prison."

Judging from the voice, it was the woman speaking.

Lin Fenghua soon replied, "It's all for show. Never mind anything else—how much stuff has my Lin Family given that county magistrate? Besides, if he wants a promotion, he can't do without the Lin Family."

When he spoke of this, Lin Fenghua's tone was full of smugness.

Perhaps those words stirred his interest, because he began prattling on again.

"Sigh, now that you mention it, that little girl was such a pity. You have no idea what she felt like..."

"Hehehe, Young Master Lin, what could a little girl possibly know that I don't..."

Outside the window, Liu Xu clenched her fists, fire blazing in her eyes.

Xu Bai was different. His expression was incomparably grim, like ice that had lain frozen for ten thousand years.

Liu Xu glanced at Xu Bai, lowered her head, and leaned close to him, dropping her voice to the lowest whisper. "Let's go in and kill him."

She truly could not endure it any longer.

After breaking the law, he could still act so wildly arrogant. It was simply treating the laws of the Great Chu Kingdom as nothing.

"Killing him directly is no good. You and I would both leave traces behind," Xu Bai said, likewise leaning close to Liu Xu.

They had both moved close before speaking and lowered their voices, which made Liu Xu somewhat unaccustomed to it.

Upon hearing Xu Bai's words, Liu Xu wanted to say that she was not afraid. If she did it cleanly enough, it would be difficult to trace it back to her.

Even if it were traced back to her, she had people behind her.

But when she thought of the trouble it might bring the academy, she still asked, "Do you have a way to do it without leaving any traces?"

"I'll give him a way to die." Listening to the sounds in the room, Xu Bai revealed a sinister smile.

For some reason, Liu Xu shuddered involuntarily.

It was bone-chilling, as though she had seen countless departed souls rushing toward her.

But...

A way to die? Her interest was suddenly piqued.

What kind of death would it be?