Preying on Their Own!

"I might be back late tonight. Dinner's ready, so don't wait for me."

After collecting his bounty hunter token, Ning Que returned to the inn and spoke to Zhuge Qing.

"All right..."

Zhuge Qing tried to keep her voice as calm as possible, but its slight tremor betrayed her.

Of course, Ning Que knew Zhuge Qing was unsettled.

Even though they had saved her, learning that they were rebels and traitors would inevitably leave her feeling inexplicably frightened.

But Zhuge Qing had made no attempt to escape, and that was already the best answer he could have hoped for.

Though she was afraid, she still did not want to return to the Provincial Governor's residence.

At least Ning Que had shown no sign of wanting to hurt her...

Ning Que smiled at her and left.

Only after she was certain Ning Que had gone did Zhuge Qing's taut nerves slowly relax.

Now, sitting alone in her chair, Zhuge Qing's lovely face took on a complicated expression once more.

A faint radiance seemed to veil her face, lending every frown and smile an unusual charm.

Resting her chin in her hands, she gazed up at the pitch-black night and the bright moon.

She could not understand how the person who had saved her could be a rebel and traitor.

Ning Que's identity as a rebel cast a complicated shadow over his place in her heart.

More precisely, that identity held a strange attraction for her.

She was afraid, yet did not flee; wary, yet wanted to draw closer.

Just then, a fragrant aroma drifted over.

It came from the dinner Ning Que had prepared beforehand.

It was nothing lavish, just steamed buns and rice porridge.

Yet as Zhuge Qing ate, that strange feeling in her heart only grew stronger.

Night fell.

After the previous night's turmoil, tonight was noticeably quieter.

There were far fewer pedestrians on the streets. Only the night watchman carried his lantern about, striking his clapper once every two hours.

Still, dark figures could be faintly seen darting through shadowy corners.

They chatted among themselves as they went.

"Found her yet?"

"No... who knows where that little brat went?"

"Keep looking! As long as she's still in Qingzhou City, we'll find her!"

But one escort hesitated, then could not help bringing something up. "Have you heard? Wei Tianlang, the head of the Blood Wolf Escort Agency, is dead..."

"Not just him. Some skilled fighters from the Black Tiger Escort Agency and the Nine Dragons Escort Agency died too!"

"..."

Those words changed the atmosphere.

Whether it was the head of the Blood Wolf Escort Agency or the skilled fighters from the Black Tiger Escort Agency and the Nine Dragons Escort Agency, none of them had been weak.

Yet they had ended up dead.

"Looks like someone's preying on their own..."

A middle-aged man wearing a headscarf let out a long breath.

He was Lei Qiandong, deputy leader of the Flying Eagle Escorts, one of the Escort Guild's three major escort agencies!

The other escorts sighed repeatedly at his words.

Too many people wanted the Provincial Governor's daughter dead. The competition was too fierce.

The hardest part of this assignment was not finding the Provincial Governor's daughter, but guarding against their fellow escorts...

"Oh, so that man was called Wei Tianlang..."

A voice suddenly rang out.

"Hm?"

"Hiss!"

The speaker seemed determined to shock them with every word. All the escorts, including Lei Qiandong, felt their hearts jolt and sucked in sharp breaths.

To their astonishment, they discovered that an extra person had somehow appeared among their ranks!

Intense fear swept through them. Cold sweat even broke out on some of the escorts' foreheads.

A hand had already pressed down on a saber hilt.

"Wait!"

Lei Qiandong shouted for everyone to stop, then looked at the person at the very rear of the group.

When he saw the bounty hunter token at the man's waist, he immediately breathed a great sigh of relief. "So you're a newcomer. Why didn't you make a sound? I thought I'd seen a ghost!"

The other escorts' gazes fell on the lowest-rank bounty hunter token at Ning Que's waist, and contempt spread across their faces.

"You've only just become a bounty hunter, and you're already trying to take on a job this hard? Quite an appetite you've got, boy!"

"Exactly. You think you can claim the Commandery Princess's head? Aren't you afraid of choking on more than you can swallow?"

"Even if you really killed the Commandery Princess, you'd never get her head to the designated location. Someone would kill you on the way!"

"..."

The other escorts all chimed in, mocking him.

Both escorts and bounty hunters were divided into ranks.

The lowest-rank bounty hunter tokens were wooden. As the number of wanted criminals they captured increased, these were replaced with iron, bronze, silver, and finally the highest rank, gold.

Most of the escorts had bronze tokens, while Lei Qiandong's was silver.

That alone spoke to his strength and his standing as the Flying Eagle Escort Agency's deputy chief!

"Is that so?"

But the corners of Ning Que's mouth rose. Beneath the cover of night, his smile was chilling. "What if my target isn't the Commandery Princess, but all of you?"

"Whoa..."

Once again, his words shocked them. The expressions of Lei Qiandong and every other escort changed instantly.

Recalling Lei Qiandong's earlier remark, they instinctively assumed that Ning Que was another predator targeting his own kind.

For a moment, everyone narrowed their eyes and sized him up.

Once they saw that he was alone, and merely a bounty hunter of the lowest rank, they immediately relaxed.

"Young man, you've only just entered the trade. Trying to prey on your own already will cost you..."

As Lei Qiandong's words fell, all the escorts drew their sabers.

The moonlight was cool as water, blades gleaming and shadows crossing.

Ning Que slashed with his saber, unleashing thirty years of cultivated power.

"Boom..."

Every escort, including Lei Qiandong, spat blood and was sent flying backward.

After struggling a few times, they lay still.

Similar scenes were unfolding all across Qingzhou City.

On Qingzhou Lake, a pleasure boat glided slowly along.

An Asura-like figure wielding a long saber was slaughtering everyone indiscriminately.

"Splash!"

"Splash!"

Figure after figure plunged into the lake.

"Squelch!"

Near the Escort Guild, a great spray of blood splattered across the ground as bodies toppled one after another.

"Rustle, rustle..."

With the sound of footsteps, Qi Shanhe emerged from an alley and wiped the blood from his face.

Finally, there was the Flower Delight House.

A group of escorts had cornered a frail woman.

Looking at her enchanting face and shapely figure, the escorts could barely restrain themselves.

But Mu Yuwei suddenly cast aside her earlier frailty, a cold smile curling at the corners of her mouth.

"Aaagh..."

As screams rang out, blood flowed from the shadows.

The next day, the authorities discovered several escorts' bodies.

Beside each group of bodies, four large characters had been written in blood: They deserved their fate!

The sight chilled everyone to the bone.

An indescribable air of murderous menace hung over all of Qingzhou City.

"Where did you go yesterday?"

Inside the inn.

After waking up, Zhuge Qing saw that Ning Que had returned and could not help asking in surprise.

"I went to take care of a few things."

Ning Que got out of bed and spoke as he looked at Zhuge Qing.

Today was the third and final day.

Barring any surprises, he would have to send Zhuge Qing back this evening...