Let the Bullets Fly: Gunshots in the Dead of Night!
Just after midnight
Zhang Muzhi was asleep while his three brothers paced around, eager to see whether the townspeople had taken the silver.
Just then, gunshots suddenly rang out beyond the city!
The shots sounded especially loud in the dead of night, carrying clearly across all of E City.
Zhang Muzhi immediately got up and hurried to the roof, looking into the distance.
While Zhang Muzhi was climbing onto the roof, another string of gunshots rang out outside.
Seeing his big brother spring into action, Second Brother hurried after him. He asked in confusion, "Big Brother, those shots sound like they're coming from where Huang Silang lives."
Zhang Muzhi looked back and said, "Go check whether the silver is still there!"
Third Brother quickly ran over to check and soon returned. "It's all gone!"
Hearing this, Second Brother said excitedly, "Did the townspeople take the money to kill Huang Silang?"
Zhang Muzhi frowned and said gravely, "Impossible. It definitely wasn't the townspeople!"
Third Brother asked in confusion, "But the money's gone!"
Zhang Muzhi was confused, too. If the townspeople had come to collect the money, they would have done it in the second half of the night. But it was only the first half, and the money had already been taken.
He said uncertainly, "Could we have run into someone in the same line of work?"
"Let's go take a look!"
As soon as Zhang Muzhi finished speaking, he headed out. His three brothers hurried after him. By then, a fine drizzle had started falling outside.
The four of them each carried an umbrella. In the rainy darkness, they looked like four ghosts.
The atmosphere was grim and seemed to foreshadow that the four of them might never return.
But