Free Web NovelChapter 126: Chapter 125: Old Matters, Gunshot
A few more steps in the direction of the shantytown brought stretches of simple hovels, built from bamboo and wood planks, into view. Beyond them were low, old-fashioned alleyways interspersed with a chaotic jumble of dilapidated buildings covered in thick tar felt—some were warehouses for storing goods, while others were small workshops and factories spewing black smoke.
The moment a snowflake landed, it merged with the mud, coal dust, and filth on the road, freezing into a chilly, hard crust with a foul odor. If one was careless enough to crack this shell, it would instantly dissolve into an even more indescribable slurry.
Four or five men from the Qinglian Gang had scrounged up a large pile of wooden planks and bricks from somewhere. They ran ahead, managing to lay down a makeshift path that was just about passable.
Further in, the signs of human life grew more apparent.
Rickshaw pullers and laborers, thinly clad despite the heavy snow, trudged through the mud to earn a living. Smokers with vacant eyes huddled in corners, and beggars and refugees, wrapped in straw mats, shivered under bridge arches.
From the old buildings on both sides came the intermittent curses of women, the wails of children, and the coughs of the elderly. This was mixed with the unique uproar from smoking dens and gambling halls, and a hoarse tune drifting from either a broken phonograph or the throat of some street performer. All these sounds coalesced, creating a sick yet tenacious "liveliness" that permeated the shantytown.
"Where did we agree to meet?"
Fu Juemin avoided the filth and mud on the road, calmly asking Big Cat, who followed steadily by his side.
"Zhabei Park. It’s just ahead. We’ll be there in a bit."
"Have you investigated their background?"
"They were formerly under the 7th Mixed Brigade of the Southeast Five Provinces Alliance Army. A special reinforced battalion."
Big Cat thought for a moment before replying, "Young Master, have you ever heard of the Broken Bridge Incident in Longting three years ago?"
Fu Juemin lifted his foot over a ditch and said casually, "Tell me about it."
"...Back then, to break through the elite defensive line of the New People’s Central Army, the Southeast Five Provinces Alliance Army planned to force a crossing over Longting Bridge at midnight and strike directly at the Central Army’s headquarters.
The unit secretly ordered to carry out this mission was that very battalion.
The operation was a brutal success, but because the Alliance Army leadership and the Xin Republic’s high command later reached a secret agreement, the entire battle was fought for nothing.
The Alliance Army not only embezzled the massive reward that had been promised to the men of this battalion, but they also turned their cannons around to provide artillery cover for the Central Army, intending to wipe their own men out on the battlefield...
Only sixty-some of them survived. After the war, they refused all offers of recruitment from any faction and have remained in Zhabei ever since."
"Political pawns..."
Fu Juemin clicked his tongue, his voice betraying no emotion.
Big Cat added, "Young Master, do you know who they originally served under?"
"Who?"
"The current Commander-in-Chief of the Jianghai Defense Command, Luo Zhengxiong."
"Oh?"
Fu Juemin raised an eyebrow slightly, but Big Cat continued with a placid expression, "The one who embezzled their reward and gave the order to ’wipe them out with artillery’ was also Luo Zhengxiong."
Hearing this, a complex and strange expression flickered across Fu Juemin’s face.
The Southeast Five Provinces Alliance Army had been the largest "rebel force" to contend with the Xin Republic for control over the south. After the Xin Republic’s Government was established, this force was naturally pacified and incorporated. The five great leaders of the old alliance had almost all become powerful Governors in the new Great Xin Republic.
For instance, Song Lin, who died by Fu Juemin’s hand, was the son of one such leader: Song Zhenyuan, the Governor and Commander of Yangping Province.
Luo Zhengxiong had remained in Shenghai as the commander of the Jianghai Guard Bureau. While he might not have seemed as powerful or autonomous as Song Zhenyuan, his actual standing within the Xin Republic’s Government was by no means lower—it was, in fact, higher.
Fu Juemin hadn’t expected Luo Zhengxiong to have such a dark history.
"Faithless and ruthless... This Luo Zhengxiong is one vicious character."
Fu Juemin couldn’t help but sigh. "You’ve certainly found a ’fine’ bunch for me. Aren’t you afraid that if Luo Zhengxiong learns of this, he’ll hold it against me forever?"
But Big Cat replied impassively, "You needn’t worry, Young Master.
These men have refused Luo Zhengxiong’s recruitment offers several times, yet they insist on hanging around Zhabei. It’s hard to say if they’re looking for a chance at revenge or just trying to be a thorn in his side.
Luo Zhengxiong has tried to find a pretext to send troops into Zhabei to eliminate them on several occasions, but they’ve always eluded him...
If he knew you were hiring them for a suicide mission, I’m afraid he’d be too busy thanking Young Master Xie to do anything else."
Faced with Big Cat’s trademark deadpan humor, Fu Juemin shook his head and chuckled.
Still, after hearing Big Cat’s story, Fu Juemin couldn’t help but feel his curiosity and interest in these men piqued. ’What kind of people could give even Luo Zhengxiong, the commander of the Jianghai Guard Bureau, such a headache?’
As they spoke, the surrounding scene quietly changed.
Kitty, who had been leading the way, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"Something’s wrong."
Kitty said in a low rumble.
"What’s wrong?"
Fu Juemin asked, but Kitty just shook his head, unable to articulate what it was. He simply scanned the surroundings with the wariness of a wild animal.
Fu Juemin frowned and looked around. Gradually, he too felt that something was off.
They had reached a relatively flat stretch of road, but a cluster of temporary wooden shacks and junk piled haphazardly by the roadside made the once-spacious path feel crowded and narrow.
Flanking them were rows of silent, old tenement buildings, and from a nearby alley came the occasional low thrum of machinery.
About a dozen meters away from Fu Juemin, a woman with an ashen face squatted before a frozen public water tap, mechanically beating the clothes in her hands.
Snowflakes drifted down. The woman’s fingers were frozen bright red. An old jacket of an indeterminate color was being pounded out of shape by the Wooden Hammer in her hands, but she seemed completely oblivious.
The surroundings had grown strangely quiet; the earlier din had faded. The doors and windows on both sides were shut tight. Only a few men who looked like Smokers were squatting under the eaves, their vacant eyes watching the snow.
"Young Master."
Big Cat, holding the umbrella, suddenly stepped in front of Fu Juemin and said in a flat tone, "Fall back."
Even the accompanying Qinglian Gang members sensed something was wrong, and the group began to fall back.
Just then, several gray shadows shot out from in front of and behind them. The woman at the water tap leaped to her feet, pulling a heavy, black pistol from her clothes. She aimed it straight at Fu Juemin and pulled the trigger—
"BANG!—"
The gunshot shattered the air, tearing through the curtain of snow.
Windows in the dilapidated buildings on both sides flew open, and more gun barrels poked out.
Bullets rained down like a torrential storm. The black umbrella Big Cat held up was instantly shredded. A few Qinglian Gang men were hit and fell with short, agonized cries, while others immediately drew their own guns to return fire.
And under the cover of the gunfire, more figures in shabby gray jackets, brandishing long knives, surged forward from all directions like a murky gray tide!
.....
「Meanwhile, deep within Zhabei, inside a damp and crude hovel.」
A bonfire crackled, illuminating the silent figures of seven or eight wiry, formidable men.
Skewered over the fire they sat around, some sort of wild animal—it was hard to tell if it was a rabbit or a rat—was roasting, its fat dripping and sizzling.
A man of about forty, a hideous burn scar stretching from his left brow bone to his jaw, gripped a short knife and stared silently into the dancing flames. Outside the hovel, the faint sound of gunfire drifted in on the wind.
Suddenly, the tar-felt flap serving as a door was thrown open. A man walked in quickly, leaned close to the scarred man, and reported in a low voice.
"...That group from the Qinglian Gang, the ones who arranged to do business with us... they’ve been cornered by Yan the Ninth and his men in the Sheep Market...
We took their deposit. Should we...?"
The man didn’t look up, his eyes reflecting the orange-red flames.
After a long moment, he plunged his knife into the roasting meat before him. He began to slice it slowly, his voice hoarse as he spoke.
"Let’s see if they survive Yan the Ninth first."
"Yes, sir."
