Pfft!
A torrent of scalding blood shot into the air.
As the blood sprayed, Cheng Zhiwei pulled the trigger hard.
The instant the bolt left the string, the figure seemed to sway slightly, leaving her unable to tell whether she had hit him.
She saw only Li Chunfeng's head soar into the air and roll to the ground. Then his headless body swayed twice and crashed down.
After completing that earth-shattering kill, the dark figure did not pause for a moment. He turned and raced toward the darkness in the distance.
At the same time, Cheng Ming could hold on no longer. He fell heavily to the ground, blood gushing from his throat like a spring. His clouded eyes looked in his granddaughter's direction, and he seemed to want to say something, but could only make a rattling sound.
Cheng Zhiwei's eyes turned completely red.
She and Cheng Ming had depended on each other since she was little. He was not only her grandfather, but also her master, and the only family she had in this world.
And now that family member had died before her eyes.
Heart-rending pain and towering hatred swallowed all her reason in an instant.
She did not even go over to see her grandfather one last time. Instead, she chased recklessly in the direction where the figure had disappeared.
Cheng Zhiwei was fast as well. She pushed everything she had learned since childhood to its very limit.
She knew better than anyone that once she lost him, finding him again in the vast capital would be nearly impossible.
But the figure was simply too fast, too slippery.
Several times, Cheng Zhiwei thought she was about to lose him, but just as despair rose in her heart, the figure would flash past a short distance ahead, as though deliberately keeping her on the hook.
Rage and hatred made her overlook the strangeness of it for the time being. She simply put her head down and pursued him relentlessly.
One ahead of the other, the two soon raced out of Duke Anguo's Residence, where flames soared into the sky, crossed the bustling streets, and headed south.
The surroundings grew increasingly desolate. Grand mansions gave way to low, humble homes. Finally, even the clusters of homes vanished, replaced by stretches of haphazardly built shantytowns that looked like enormous scars.
This was the most impoverished corner of the capital. There was not a single decent lantern, only heavy darkness that would not dissolve.
By the time Cheng Zhiwei reached this remote place, the figure that had flickered in and out of sight ahead finally vanished altogether.
She stopped abruptly and pressed her back against a crumbling earthen wall, her chest heaving as she greedily drew in the cold air.
A deathly silence surrounded her. Only her long, rapid breaths echoed in the darkness.
Cheng Zhiwei soon realized she had fallen into a trap.
Her opponent had probably lured her deliberately, drawing her step by step from the duke's residence to this remote place.
But she was not afraid. Instead, she suddenly spoke. "Since you have the ability to kill, why don't you dare show yourself?"
Her voice echoed through the open shantytown, but there was no response.
Cheng Zhiwei was not discouraged. She knew he had to be nearby, so she continued, "Everyone in the jianghu says what a great hero you, the Moon-Treading Great Thief, are, robbing the rich to help the poor and carrying out justice on heaven's behalf. But as I see it..."
She sneered. "You're a bloodthirsty executioner, a coward who doesn't even dare show his face!"
She turned all the fury and grief in her heart into vicious words, shouting them out again and again.
Only when her voice began to grow hoarse from cursing did an exceptionally faint sneer finally come from the deathly silent darkness.
The laugh seemed to come from close to the ground, drifting and shifting so that its exact location was impossible to pin down.
"Are you very angry?"
A slightly hoarse yet remarkably calm voice rang out.
Cheng Zhiwei froze.
"The one who died was your grandfather, wasn't he?" The voice in the darkness continued, without the slightest trace of emotion.
"Was he very important to you? Is that why you're so angry?"
Every word was like a heavy hammer, smashing into Cheng Zhiwei's heart.
"That's right!" She ground her teeth, the taste of blood spreading through her mouth. "You killed my grandfather with your own hands. I, Cheng Zhiwei, swear to heaven that I will bring you to justice!"
"Heh heh..."
Another soft chuckle came from the darkness. He did not respond directly to her threat, but asked her a question instead.
"Since you're angry over the loss of your own family, let me ask you: the maids Li Chunfeng tortured to death, the passersby he rode down and killed, the common women he seized by force and claimed for himself-shouldn't their families be even angrier?"
This...
Cheng Zhiwei had never expected him to say that. For a moment, the question left her speechless.
But she reacted quickly. The conviction in her heart allowed her to find a rebuttal at once. "That's different. Even if Li Chunfeng's crimes were monstrous, it wasn't your place to judge him. The law would determine his crimes!"
"The law?"
The voice in the darkness gave a laugh, full of undisguised mockery and disdain.
"That sounds so very high-minded, but I doubt even you believe it yourself."
"Miss Cheng, do you think you're especially righteous? A champion defending justice and truth, while I'm a thug who breaks the law with martial might?"
"Perhaps, in your heart, you feel a tiny bit of sympathy for what those common people at the bottom suffer, but that's all it is: sympathy. Deep down, you still look down on them, don't you? That's why you use this so-called 'law' to brush them off and bind them, forcing them to learn to swallow their humiliation even after being bullied and insulted!"
That string of words was like a series of sharp blades, stabbing precisely into the deepest part of Cheng Zhiwei's heart.
Her heart shook violently, and for an instant, she was dazed.
But the sight of her grandfather's tragic death immediately appeared before her eyes, crushing that flicker of doubt completely.
No matter what, she would never let this person go!
"That sounds somewhat reasonable." Cheng Zhiwei deliberately softened her tone, as though she had been persuaded. "But what couldn't have been settled by sitting down and talking it over? Why did it have to come to this?"
At the same time, she quietly adjusted her breathing and calmed her mind, trying to discern the direction of the voice. The repeating crossbow in her hand had already risen silently, aimed in its general direction.
Almost!
She felt she was just about to pinpoint the voice's location!
"Sit down and talk it over?" The voice in the darkness held a trace of amusement. "Now that Li Chunfeng is dead and your grandfather is dead too, you know it's time to sit down and talk."
"But what about before? When those innocent people died tragic deaths, where were you so-called champions of justice?"
"I don't know why you think that way." Cheng Zhiwei's voice suddenly grew firm and loud to conceal her intention to pull the trigger.
"But rules are rules, and the law is the law. No one is allowed to question them! If everyone were like you, deciding who lives and dies according to their own likes and dislikes, wouldn't the world fall into chaos?"
"Do you think the world isn't chaotic enough already?"
The voice in the darkness paused, as if sighing.
"That's right. After all, people like you have been high above everyone else since birth, dressed in fine silk and fed on delicacies. How could you possibly see the heaps of white bones beneath this peaceful, prosperous age, or hear the cries of blood and tears amid all the singing and dancing?"
"So, Miss Cheng..."
"Put away that condescending sympathy of yours."
"You're not upholding the law. You're merely... aiding a tyrant in his evil!"
Now!
Cheng Zhiwei finally pinpointed his position, in the shadow of the broken-down house ahead and to her left.
Without the slightest hesitation, she moved to pull the trigger!
But just then, she suddenly heard a faint breath behind her.
The hairs all over Cheng Zhiwei's body stood on end. She instinctively tried to turn and strike back, but it was too late.
In an instant, she felt a sharp chill at her neck. Then all the strength in her body seemed to be drawn away.
The mechanical repeating crossbow clattered to the ground. Using the last of her strength, she clamped her hands over the slight but fatal wound in her neck and turned around with difficulty.
Then she saw him.
He was an exceedingly young man, with refined, handsome features and eyes as cold as autumn water.
In his hand, he held a small knife as thin as a cicada's wing.
A drop of blood slowly ran down its tip and fell into the dust.
This was the first time she had seen the Moon-Treading Great Thief's true face.
And... the last.
Actually, this part was supposed to end on a cliffhanger, but after thinking it over, I decided against it, to give everyone a good reading experience. The chapters I've written lately have all run a little long, which is actually quite unfavorable during a new book's early release period. But it couldn't be helped. To make sure my esteemed readers enjoyed themselves, this was all I could do. Here, Moonlight shamelessly asks everyone once again to keep reading and supporting the book.