Just as Lian Youming and the Eighth Master were about to fight,
Elsewhere on the train, a girl was cautiously watching the carriage Lian Youming was in, stealing glances at the bandits guarding its doors.
It was none other than Zhao Xiaozhi.
She should have gotten off in Tianjin, but earlier, sensing that something seemed wrong with Lian Youming's situation, she had followed him almost despite herself. She had been especially surprised when she saw someone jump off the train-from the very last carriage, no less.
Only after Zhao Xiaozhi looked through the glass in the door and saw that figure inside, sweeping through his enemies with broad, powerful movements, did she sit back down as though in a dream, her eyes filled with disbelief and utter shock.
But as her pretty eyes moved, the girl suddenly spotted someone coming out of the carriage-a man with a drooping mustache.
Inside the carriage.
"Let's finish this early. Once I've dealt with you, I can still get back to Tianjin for some morning tea before dawn."
The Eighth Master rolled up his sleeves, grinning without restraint.
Lian Youming smiled too. "You're full of hot air."
Then he lifted his chin toward the bandits outside the carriage. "What, aren't they coming in?"
"It's not easy being the boss," the Eighth Master said evenly. "Who knows whether any of them are someone else's spies? I don't want word of the treasure I'm about to get leaking to anyone else. Besides, you've shown all your tricks, but you haven't seen mine yet. If I kept hiding behind my men against a youngster at the end of his tether, how would I keep them in line afterward?"
"A piece of filth like you, who treats human lives like dirt, actually cares about rules?"
Lian