Survivors

This was already the third breakfast stall Su Xinghe had eaten at.

Starting from the Great River Gang, he had worked his way closer and closer to Eight-Zhang Street.

He had also gotten a rough account of last night's battle.

Early that morning, the county office had announced that fiends from the Peaceful Heaven Sect had entered the city last night. They had robbed a Brokerage Guild and killed the warehouse guards.

They did not say exactly how many had died, only that the fiends had retreated and the people need not panic.

With that conclusion, Su Xinghe relaxed a little.

After all, they had not come for him. Besides, they should have already gotten what they wanted from the Brokerage Guild; they would not be so brazen as to commit murder in broad daylight.

Veteran's Trade House was gone, and the Great River Gang's remnants probably could not hold their turf in the south of the city either. He could use this chance to plan his escape from the underworld and clean up his name as a martial arts school apprentice.

But there were still two problems.

He had already trained Golden Ape Fist to Inner Tempering, but he still needed to ask the Brokerage Guild about the later Body Tempering and Bone Forging portions.

And the Brokerage Guild knew where his family lived.

Before he knew whether there were any survivors from the Brokerage Guild, he could not rashly jump ship.

If everyone in the Brokerage Guild was dead, then he could consider whether to move house.

Blending into the crowd, Su Xinghe headed toward Eight-Zhang Street.

With the aid of his fate trait, the wound had already begun to scab over. So long as he did not move too strenuously, it was basically impossible to notice.

The moment he entered Eight-Zhang Street, he saw yamen runners setting up checkpoints and patrolling near Veteran's Trade House. Whenever a pedestrian tried to approach, they were immediately shouted at and driven away.

Those who were driven off did not go far. Instead, they gathered in twos and threes at either end of the street and continued watching.

There were many spectators. There were several hundred people at this end of the street alone, blocking more than half of Eight-Zhang Street.

Su Xinghe also mingled among the crowd and looked toward Veteran's Trade House from afar. Dozens of carriages bearing the banners of the Martial Dao Bureau Security Office were parked nearby, while dozens of uniformed constables and yamen runners continuously carried things in and out.

The entire Brokerage Guild building beside them had been reduced to broken walls and crumbling ruins. Even several neighboring shops had suffered considerable damage.

The cleanup was still underway. Charred corpses and goods were constantly being carried out.

Then he looked toward the entrance of the alley that led to the back lane they usually used. It too was now packed with all manner of carriages.

All around stood broad, sharp-eyed Lu Family guards, as well as constables and yamen runners in official robes. Not a single person wore the Brokerage Guild uniform, and he saw no familiar faces from the Great River Gang either.

Deep inside the alley, the Great River Gang warehouse compound had now become ruins.

Su Xinghe silently sighed in his heart,

Lowered his head, and quickly left.

The Great River Gang was gone—or rather, Veteran's Trade House was gone. It was not as though he could not bear to part with it, but he still felt some regret.

If Brother Chun had been more generous back then and let them see the entire Golden Ape Fist manual, there would not have been so much trouble.

And now...

A thought rose from the depths of his heart...

He quietly pressed the banknotes in his clothes. It was enough for him to find a Martial Arts School and start over.

With Inner Tempering-level Golden Ape Fist as his foundation, he should be able to directly learn a complete true martial art.

As for going to the black market, he decided against it after thinking it over.

Leaving aside the fact that wealth should not be flaunted, even if he wanted to buy one, seven hundred taels probably would not be enough.

He was no longer the person who had first arrived in this world, thinking forty taels could buy a true martial art manual. Even if he bought one, it would most likely be something like Ascending Dragon Stance.

Half an hour later,

Su Xinghe walked out of a Martial Arts School in the south of the city.

It turned out that the Registered Disciple slot that a hundred taels of silver could buy only covered the Apprentice Three Realms.

As for the later Body Tempering, Bone Forging, and Grade-Entering stages, paying money alone was not enough. They first had to investigate one's background, and only if there were no problems could one formally take a master.

Otherwise, wherever you came from, you could go right back there.

His underworld identity as a Great River Gang member certainly would not withstand such an investigation.

"Could it be that I can only find another gang to join..."

From the south of the city to the west, he asked at five or six Martial Arts Schools along the way. Every single one told him to pay a hundred taels of silver first.

Since Golden Ape Fist could still be trained for a while longer, he planned to go look around the east side of the city tomorrow.

If that did not work, he could only find a gang and start from scratch.

The blazing sun hung overhead, and fewer pedestrians remained on the streets.

As he strolled through an alley in Tongzi Ward, a muffled shout laden with heavy nasal tones came from behind him.

"Blackie!"

He turned around and saw several familiar figures standing at the mouth of an alley behind him.

There were people from his own squad, as well as disciples from other squads.

Su Xinghe's heart skipped a beat.

The Great River Gang had actually tracked him down to the alley by his home!

There was no choice. He could only steel himself and walk over.

"Brother Kui..."

There had been many people at the compound last night, and he had not examined every one of them closely. He did not know whether Lu Kui before him was, like himself, one of the lucky survivors.

But judging by how these people were dressed, that did not seem likely.

"What happened?"

Su Xinghe pretended not to know and probed cautiously.

"The Brokerage Guild had an accident. You should know about that, right?"

"The young gang leader sent me to find you. Hurry up and come with me."

Lu Kui's expression was sterner than Su Xinghe had ever seen. Turning to the others, he said,

"I found my man. I'll be leaving first."

With that, he gave Su Xinghe a meaningful look.

His plan to run away had gone up in smoke, and Su Xinghe could only sigh inwardly.

But it made sense.

He had learned their true martial art, Golden Ape Fist. He had signed a contract with the Brokerage Guild higher-ups and been entered into their records.

From Tongzi Ward in the west of the city, they crossed the Central River and arrived at Eight-Zhang Street. Before reaching the Brokerage Guild, they quickly turned into another narrow alley.

The alley ran deep, stretching from Eight-Zhang Street all the way to Nanzhi Avenue. This was the heart of the southern city, a livelier place than Eight-Zhang Street.

Lu Kui led the way in silence. The two arrived before the gate of an elegant little courtyard deep in the alley.

"Wait here first. I still need to pick up some others."

After speaking in his muffled voice, he turned and headed back toward Eight-Zhang Street.

At that moment, Su Xinghe had already seen what was happening inside the courtyard. They were all Great River Gang disciples wearing the same bewildered expressions as him.

These were likely the people who had not been at the warehouse last night and had luckily escaped disaster.

Among the crowd were the minor leader Zhang Whiskers, the major leader Brother Blade, and several apprentices he had seen at the training ground.

Their expressions were extremely ugly. All of them silently stared at a two-story pavilion within the courtyard. Su Xinghe could faintly hear suppressed sobbing coming from inside.

No one spoke, so he too found a corner and waited quietly. As time passed, more and more people filled the courtyard.

In the end, there were seventy or eighty people gathered there.

There were Great River Gang disciples, Brokerage Guild clerks, and maidservants among them.

In the second-floor sitting room of the pavilion.

Xie Guang stood behind a burly middle-aged man, his head full of silver hair. Yet he no longer carried his former lazy air; he looked utterly disheveled.

"Yingjun, how are your injuries?"

In last night's battle, they had all fought back with their lives on the line. The Martial Warriors among the survivors were almost all wounded.

Zhou Yingjun said nothing, merely shaking his head lightly.

Xie Guang knew that the young gang leader did not want others to worry, so he did not press further.

He only urged him gently.

"The Zhou Family no longer has a Grade-Eight Martial Artist. You should know my condition as well. We must learn to let go of the benefits we should let go of."

"As long as Little Hao is alive, everything can begin again."

"Most of the people have arrived. Do not keep them waiting too long."

"Otherwise, people's hearts will scatter..."

As he spoke, Xie Guang looked toward the stairway.

"Steward Zhou Chun, have you finished counting everyone?"

Zhou Chun, his face steeped in grief, appeared at the stairway. He stepped forward twice, stood before the two men, and bowed.

"Elder Xie, the count is complete. I also went to the Public Security Office to verify the bodies."

Xie Guang let out a long sigh. "Speak. I can take it!"

"There were one hundred and fifty-five people at the Brokerage Guild last night. One hundred and thirty-one in the front compound, twenty-four in the rear. Aside from the few of us, not one survived..."

Zhou Chun lowered his head, his voice filled with grief and indignation.

Their Brokerage Guild was finished...

Upon hearing this, even Xie Guang, steadfast as he was, could not stop old tears from streaming down his face.

There was no need to look at the list, because he had personally confirmed every important person at the scene.

The old shopkeeper, several old associates, the gang leader's wife and children, as well as the Martial Warriors they had supported at great expense.

One sneak attack last night had wiped out ninety percent of Veteran's Trade House's fighting strength.

Fortunately, someone had raised the alarm, and they had rushed to the rescue in time. That was how they had managed to save the severely wounded young master Zhou Hao.

But to prevent another assassination attempt, they had found someone to impersonate Zhou Hao's corpse and announced to the public that he had died in the battle.

They had also scattered the surviving family members and female relatives who had been outside, hiding them in different places.

"Have you found out why this happened?"

Even now, they still did not understand why their Brokerage Guild had been attacked. They could only speculate that Zhou Hao's talent had been exposed.

Someone wanted to curb Veteran's Trade House's growth and strangle a genius while he was still weak.

Because the other side seemed to have come solely to kill. In the end, one great fire had burned every building to ash. Other than the few corpses they had killed, it seemed they had taken nothing at all.

Zhou Chun shook his head.

He only handled internal affairs.

"Did the Public Security Office say who did it?"

"The Peaceful Heaven Sect..."

At that moment, Zhou Yingjun, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly roared hoarsely.

"Peaceful Heaven Sect my ass! It was definitely the Lu Family!"

"Watch your tongue!"

Zhou Yingjun knew he had misspoken as well.

He took a deep breath and eased the grief and fury in his heart. His gaze shifted out the window, toward Eight-Zhang Street.

The Lu Family was powerful. Without direct evidence, they did not even have a way to bring a complaint.

But did the Zhou Family truly no longer have a Grade-Eight Martial Artist?

Feeling that faint thread of inner force within his dantian, a chill surfaced in his eyes. If he had not always concealed his Grade-Eight strength, he would not have escaped last night either.

But now was not the time to reveal it.

"Did the Bandit Suppression Bureau catch the thieves?"

Zhou Chun shook his head helplessly.

"The other side came prepared. Many of the bodies were taken away. With the addition of that great fire, let alone evidence, even everything in the house was burned clean. The Public Security Office patrolmen are all ordinary people; they simply cannot catch up to those thieves."

"The county office did not deploy the Bandit Suppression Bureau?"

The Security Office consisted of musket squads responsible for patrolling the city. Only a few of its officers were Grade-Entering martial artists.

There had been Grade-Eight Martial Artists fighting at the trade house last night. By all rights, the Bandit Suppression Bureau, which was made entirely of martial artists, should have handled it.

"They deployed, but they still have not returned from outside the city."

Though they had expected it, disappointment and helplessness still rose in all three of their hearts. The Bandit Suppression Bureau's greatest task was dealing with the Peaceful Heaven Sect, so it was often outside the city.

Their Brokerage Guild had no grudge against the Peaceful Heaven Sect.

The ones who had acted were most likely the Lu Family. What use was there in chasing people outside the city?

Xie Guang gave Zhou Chun a meaningful look.

"Go wait at the Bandit Suppression Bureau. If there is any news, send word back immediately."

After saying that, he patted Zhou Yingjun on the shoulder.

"Let us go downstairs. We will proceed as we discussed."