A Traitor Sees Betrayal Everywhere-Shoot You Dead

Yi Province was mountainous. Along both sides of the great river, towering mountains often rose sheer from the water, so anyone wishing to go ashore had to climb the cliffs.

The large and small ferry crossings near Yuannan City had all been selected and established long ago, so they were not quite that extreme.

Even so, the banks stood more than ten feet above the water.

The smaller crossings often had sloping approaches or even steps cut into them, making it easier to reach the water and meet incoming boats. The coolies had relatively few passengers and goods to carry, so they could manage the climb up the steps.

The larger crossings, however, served a steady stream of large boats carrying heavy cargo in great quantities. So piles had been driven into the riverbed along the bank and covered with thick wooden planks to make docks.

These large docks had once been bustling places. Coolies worked here as porters, and naturally, others did business around them, putting up bamboo shelters on the docks where they could sleep and rest, and selling them food and water.

Recently, however, the smaller crossings had all been sealed off, and the bamboo shelters near the large docks had been torn down, reduced to low heaps of rubble.

The coolies had all been driven elsewhere. They were allowed back only when large shipments officially sanctioned by Commander Xu arrived.

In the early morning, the only things on the dock were barbed-wire barricades and fortifications piled up from sandbags.

Around two hundred soldiers stood guard there in shifts.

Yuannan City's walls were about four or five li from the dock.

In a grove two or three li from the dock, Chu Tianshu was studying the situation through a monocular.

"Everyone who's awake looks surprisingly alert. They've done a fine job arranging their shifts."

Chu Tianshu said, "The bamboo shelters near the dock used to form a complicated layout, perfect for hiding and sneaking around. Now they've all been torn down."

"If anyone else tried to approach the dock, they'd be spotted from around three hundred meters away."

"If they gritted their teeth and came closer, and something seemed wrong when they were questioned, their only choice would be to charge forward."

"Because if they retreated, there would be several hundred meters of open ground behind them, all within the soldiers' firing range, with no good cover to hide behind."

Little Huo took the monocular and had a look.

"Charging forward would be extremely risky too."

Little Huo said, "Those men have guns, but they also have turtle grenades. They're a kind of flat grenade made by foreigners, with fuses sticking out from the edges like a turtle's head and limbs."

"Once the safety is pulled and the grenade is thrown, it explodes immediately if any one of the fuses is triggered by an impact. On hard ground like the area around the dock, these grenades are much more dangerous than ordinary delayed-action ones."

Little Huo moved the monocular, then suddenly fixed his gaze on one spot.

"Well, well, they've even got a Madsen Machine Gun made in Denmark!"

"Nearly every large crossing we've visited these past few days has equipment of this caliber. How did their regiment get so rich?"

Over the past few days, the group had traveled around Yuannan City with a donkey cart.

The cart carried some furs from Wu Clan Stronghold, making them look like fur traders.

Cai Shanjun sat on the cart with his eyes closed, resting. In a low voice, he said, "Back then, many of the battalions and regiments in Yi Province weren't actually at full strength. When I left, the regiment in Yuannan City should have had only about seven hundred men."

"But judging by the number of soldiers we've seen at the various crossings these past few days, plus the men who must still be stationed in the city, this regiment probably has its full complement of fifteen hundred now, perhaps even more."

Shopkeeper Ma said, "I've heard that these men weren't soldiers selected from among the able-bodied young men of the common people and trained. They were bandits Commander Xu sent people to recruit."

"The weaker little bands of poor peasant bandits had some of their members executed by firing squad, while the rest were sent off to hard labor. Those who were well equipped and fierce in their ways were taken into the ranks."

Little Huo studied the machine gunner and could tell he was probably the highest-ranking soldier stationed at the dock.

He looked to be in his forties. His left eye was cloudy white, probably blind, and his cheeks were fleshy, with a knife scar on his chin. His military cap had been tossed aside, and a plate of beef sat beside the machine gun. Every now and then, he grabbed a slice and tossed it into his mouth.

Little Huo gave a snort. "No wonder he acts like that!"

Chu Tianshu asked, "Including this one, we've now looked over every crossing nearby, big and small. Should we keep waiting for an opportunity, or make our move today?"

Cai Shanjun thought for a moment. "No time like the present. Let's do it today, but wait a little longer."

They were waiting for a car.

Over the past few days, they had discovered that Adjutant Zhou and his companions rode around the area on patrol every day.

Sure enough, after they waited a little over another hour, the black sedan they had seen several times came into view through the monocular.

Several fine horses followed alongside and behind the sedan, their riders all trusted men of Xu and Zhou.

The car and horses turned onto the road ahead and began making their way toward the dock, still about a kilometer away.

Cai Shanjun drew a jade flute from his sleeve and raised it to his lips. His cheeks puffed out slightly; he was clearly blowing into it.

Yet the people around him heard no flute music at all.

Even Chu Tianshu, who cultivated both spellcraft and martial arts, only vaguely sensed that something was amiss. He could not quite say what it was.

Perhaps it was also because he was not Cai Shanjun's target, so things like his sense of danger had not been triggered.

Over at the dock, Wu Bao, who was manning the machine gun, tossed another piece of beef into his mouth.

Since Commander Xu had absorbed them into his ranks, the men who had once been bosses had been given new places in the pecking order.

Wu Bao now ranked sixth and could call the commander Big Brother and Adjutant Zhou Second Brother.

Whether there was any brotherly affection between them was another matter, but Wu Bao genuinely felt that life under them was quite enjoyable.

This time, they had set up defenses at the dock to intercept and kill a major criminal.

Commander Xu had explained the stakes to them, and that Special Envoy Meng had also given his guarantee.

In Wu Bao's heart, it was as though a fire were burning, pouring out black smoke and fierce, oily flames.

There were risks, of course, but if they succeeded, what riches and glory would await him for the rest of his life? They would surely be pleasures he had never even dreamed of in the first half of it!

These past few days, he had truly thrown all his vigor into the task, as though he had returned to being twenty, when he had first barged into a young widow's home and slept with both the widow and her daughter.

Come on! Come on! Come on! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

Jump out already, so I can pump you full of lead!

He also saw the car and several horses approaching from over there, but paid them no mind.

The commander, the adjutant, and the special envoy had been coming over to inspect the place constantly these past few days.

Wu Bao could tell they were anxious too.

But when the car came within three or four hundred meters, Wu Bao's good eye narrowed involuntarily.

Although both were painted black and had large headlights, this car did not look quite like the commander's.

The riders all seemed to be unfamiliar faces too; he did not recognize them.

Worried that his eyes were deceiving him, Wu Bao called over several of the brothers known for their sharp eyesight.

"Is that the commander's car?"

"No, and I've never seen either of the two men sitting in the front."

The brother sounded excited as he answered, tightening his grip on his gun.

A surge of wild joy welled up in Wu Bao's heart as he pulled a photograph from inside his clothes.

"Take a look. Is it this man?"

Special Envoy Meng had handed out the photographs. The handsome, refined man in the picture was their target.

After looking at it, the brothers nodded one after another, excitement on their faces.

Suddenly, one of the brothers farther away shouted, "Why did that car just speed up?"

Wu Bao whipped his head around.

The car really had sped up. The driver must have floored the accelerator.

A second ago, it had still seemed fairly far away. Suddenly it surged forward, its rounded black hood bearing down on them at breakneck speed.

The horses were galloping and neighing too, coming faster and closer.

The roar of the car and the pounding of hooves seemed to strike against their hearts.

A clamor of voices rose around him. All two hundred men assigned to this place could see that those were not the commander's car and horses.

The faces in the car and on horseback were all strangers, and the way they were accelerating so furiously, as though intent on smashing straight into the dock, was definitely not something the commander and his men would do.

Wu Bao's heart pounded hotter and hotter, and he let out a furious roar.

"That's the rebel, the major criminal! Brothers, open fire!"

Even as he shouted, his finger was already pulling the trigger.

The car and horses were only forty or fifty meters away.

Commander Xu's nephew, the driver of the commander's personal car, was at the wheel as usual when he suddenly heard a shout from up ahead.

His heart jolted. Thinking the rebel had jumped out from somewhere, he was just about to turn and look when he suddenly felt the car shudder.

Boom!!!

Three car doors shot outward.

Apart from the driver, three figures flew out like ghosts, pressed close against the doors.

They had not kicked the doors off before moving. Rather, as they burst into motion at full speed, they had knocked the doors off along the way, so the doors were still pinned against their bodies for the moment.

The force of the three men's movements also deformed the car's chassis, denting it downward.

The instant they left the car, fire flashed from the machine gun's muzzle.

The windows of the finely finished black sedan shattered, its window frames were punched through, and its hood was riddled with holes.

Bullets struck metal, throwing off brief, flickering sparks.

The driver's corpse jerked inside the car. The bullets went in through small holes and came out through holes as wide as a bowl, sending bursts of blood spraying.

Before the machine gun had stopped, the rifles all opened fire as well. The riders near the sedan were shot dead on the spot, horses and all.

Wu Bao still had his gun trained on the car and only realized a beat later that three people had escaped from it.

He was just about to swing the muzzle around when he saw a dark figure flash several times amid the rifle flashes and the hail of bullets.

A terrifying surge of force and rushing air came hurtling at him like a boulder flung from a catapult.

In terror, Wu Bao's eyelids drew back, making his eye sockets look larger. His pupils trembled, and his latent potential was unleashed, making his vision clearer.

A massive bluish-black hand, like a slab of iron, came slamming down.

The Madsen Machine Gun's magazine was mounted on top, jutting high into the air like a single horn.

The huge hand struck the magazine, crushing it until it bent and split, then slammed it down against the gun's body.

Before the muzzle could swing around, a single palm strike bent the machine gun sharply in the middle, smashing it through the sandbags and deep into the ground.

A piece of the gun flew off and struck Wu Bao on the forehead.

But before he could cry out in pain, another hand clamped around his throat and lifted him bodily into the air.

It was a man he did not recognize, and his voice was unfamiliar too, but his anger was as terrifying as Commander Xu's when he flew into a rage.

It was as terrifying as being locked in a dark room with dozens of bombs whose safety pins had already been pulled.

"Wu Laoliu, you dare betray me?!"