Chapter 107: The Sudden Fish Tide

Immediately following was a sharp pain in his chest and abdomen; the brat opposite him had thrown at least three punches in half a breath! These three punches all landed on his diaphragm, and the fatty felt his vision go black, unable to draw in a breath.

He Lingchuan, not yet satisfied, flew up and kicked, landing squarely on his vital spot.

The agonizing sorrow made the fatty immediately clutch his crotch and collapse to the ground, his whole body twitching. In the face of such intense pain, the foul stench seemed not so terrifying anymore.

The personal guard was also sharp; fearing he would collapse like a falling mountain or a toppling jade pillar and make a loud noise that would attract the attention of people outside, he immediately used his hands to support him and pressed him to the ground.

Sweat poured like rain down the fatty's oily face, but he just couldn't make a sound.

He Lingchuan pulled a silk-entwined rope from his storage ring and quickly bound his hands tightly.

This type was used by the city garrison to hold suspects; it was light, flexible, and elastic. He Lingchuan not only kept it in his storage ring but had also specifically learned the corresponding knot-tying method before setting out, so he tied him up in a flash.

By the time the fatty came to his senses and wanted to struggle free, the more he struggled, the tighter he was bound.

His mouth was still stuffed with a piece of flatbread, so he couldn't call for reinforcements outside the room. Furthermore, that playboy second-generation ancestor pulled out a dagger and held it to his neck: "Struggle again, and I'll cut your ears off before gouging out your eyes!"

The captive quieted down a lot.

He Lingchuan gave the personal guard a look, and the latter went to patrol the premises, returning shortly after to say: "There are two people outside the courtyard; they asked me what the commotion was just now, and I said the young master had too much to drink... They didn't grow suspicious."

He Lingchuan kicked the captive on the ground: "It seems your combat power is decent; others are very at ease with you." Presumably, with this fatty in the room to hold down the fort, the bandits didn't think much of it, believing the fatty could handle He Lingchuan plus two guards.

So, his choice not to engage in direct hand-to-hand combat with the fatty was correct; the sounds of a struggle would have invited trouble, not to mention whether he could win—this guy looked like a desperado at first glance, and his counter-attacking strength wouldn't be weak.

Regardless, he and the Zhu family finally had a chance to speak directly. He Lingchuan let out a breath, searched Wang Pangzi's body, took all the valuable items, and didn't forget to strip that black thorn ring from his hand.

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He Yue and Ceng Feixiong left the lodgings of the Prefect and his wife and headed toward the lake.

He Chunhua had already laid out the situation for Ceng Feixiong, and the latter was now going to gather men and make secret preparations. "Why has the Second Young Master come out too? It's dangerous outside."

By the lake, there were groups of two or three, all bandits.

After He Chunhua's warning, Ceng Feixiong now looked at everyone as if they were bandits.

He Yue was unconvinced: "My brother just came out, why did no one say he was in danger?"

He was also followed by two personal guards behind him.

"Uh..." The Eldest Young Master looked very capable of taking care of himself, unlike the Second Young Master who was so delicate.

He Yue waved his hand: "Don't mind it, just a joke. I can't always stay with my parents; it will arouse suspicion. I won't go too far from you either."

At ten-something years old, it was the age of hyperactivity; for a young man like him to always hide in his parents' room without coming out was too unnatural.

At this moment, several villagers walked by, so the two stopped talking.

Walking all the way to the lake like this, they heard the sound of splashing water.

He Yue looked into the lake and couldn't help but laugh: "I hope this isn't the villagers' water source."

This section of the Xianlinghu was relatively narrow, and the wetlands cut it into a secondary pool with a very gentle slope; the water surface was originally clean and calm, with only a few fallen leaves, but at this moment, four or five soldiers were splashing in the water, laughing and making a ruckus.

In October, the chill in the deep mountains was particularly heavy, but this troop had been trekking for a long time, and a quick rub of their bodies produced a thick layer of grime, so seeing the clear lake water was truly irresistible. Besides, the men were all strong and sturdy; what was wrong with taking a cold bath? Mao Tao was among them. Although he was a sand bandit by origin, this man was good at socializing and had seemingly blended in with the other soldiers. Seeing He Yue and Ceng Feixiong walk over, he called out an invitation: "Second Young Master, Boss, hurry down! It's too comfortable here; there are little fish in the water that peck at you, it's both itchy and refreshing!"

As he spoke, he pursed his lips, imitating the fish's sucking motion.

Others laughed and mimicked him, and for a time, strange noises filled the lake.

He Yue asked curiously: "Do the fish eat people?"

Heishuicheng had streams and seasonal small rivers, but no such boundless large lake.

"No broken skin, no bleeding, no pain." Mao Tao quickly scooped a small fish the size of a finger from the water, "Look, it seems they only eat dead skin."

"Alright, everyone get up; what does it look like to be gathering and making noise?" Ceng Feixiong was heavy-hearted and didn't want to waste more time with them.

But just as he finished speaking, Mao Tao suddenly hissed: "Everyone be quiet, listen!"

Others were about to mock him, but Ceng Feixiong's expression changed, and he raised his voice: "Shut up!"

Now everyone was quiet, and so He Yue also heard the strange sound.

Hissing and rustling, it sounded quite familiar, like the sound of blowing sand.

Mao Tao pointed to the open lake surface not far away: "It's coming from there!"

Not only that, the sound went from far to near, from small to large, and it was actually coming toward the shore.

Now everyone could see that the water surface looked like it was boiling, and a wave of white foam was rushing over.

Ceng Feixiong's expression also changed, and he shouted: "All of you, crawl out!"

Unfortunately, he was a step too slow.

Only two soldiers had crawled up when the white wave arrived.

First, two palm-sized fish jumped out of the water and hit Mao Tao in the face, stunning him.

Immediately after, five, then ten more fish jumped into the secondary pool.

Then twenty, thirty...

One hundred, one thousand...

The fish jumped into the secondary pool and, not yet satisfied, scrambled desperately onto the shore.

Only then did everyone see clearly that the white wave on the lake surface was clearly countless schools of fish jumping frantically! Several soldiers couldn't attend to the top while guarding the bottom and were poked by the flying fish until they yelped.

The fish that flopped in were of all sizes and species, from as small as a pinky finger to as large as seven or eight feet.

The others laughed: "Extra meal, tonight's late-night snack is here!"

There was an eight-foot-long big fish that flopped onto the sloped bank and couldn't go any further, struggling in the mud and sand, splashing everyone with muddy water from head to toe. The soldiers were not alarmed but delighted: "Is this a fish king? Enough for dozens of people to eat."

On the shore and in the water, there were live fish flopping everywhere; it looked like there were at least one or two thousand catties.

Villagers and soldiers not far away heard the noise and rushed over to watch, but only the soldiers went into the water or approached the shore to catch fish; the villagers all watched the excitement from the sidelines, keeping at least four or five zhang away from the water surface.

He Yue keenly noticed this point, and his heart stirred: Could there be some danger behind this? He suddenly remembered what was recorded in the blood letter, the broken water spirit tablet.

This kind of crazy fish tide was obviously abnormal; could it be related to it?

He shouted loudly: "Come up, stop catching them!"

Just at this moment, a person passed through the tall grass, rushed down the slope to the lake shore, jumped into the water with a thud, and sank to the bottom, disappearing.

(End of chapter)