Chapter 243

The pregnant woman is not a martial practitioner, and at this moment her heartbeat is almost stopping; infusing Internal Strength requires even greater caution.

If even a little more were added, her pulse might not withstand it, let alone the fetus in her womb, whose heart is even more fragile.

Thus, control over the Internal Strength must be extremely strict.

In just a few seconds, Ning Jinli's forehead began to sweat.

"Mmm…" the pregnant woman gave a soft groan, gradually regained consciousness, and opened her eyes.

Ning Jinli immediately said, "Your baby's head is showing; I'm delivering it for you—push hard!"

Hearing that, the pregnant woman clenched her teeth without a thought and began to strain.

Ning Jinli, fearing she might bite her tongue, shoved a rolled towel into her mouth.

At the same time, the lame strategist, leading the brothers of Black Water Stronghold, had already arrived nearby; from afar he saw the firelight and the vague silhouettes beside it.

The lame one secretly wondered, "Could it be that the assassin has some connection with that man and woman?"

"Otherwise, how could tonight's situation be such a coincidence?"

"First, a mysterious man and woman sneaked into the stronghold; then the second-in-command was pursued to his own gate; and then, oddly, the mysterious couple took him away…"

"Thus, perhaps other assassins have already joined up with that man and woman."

'"Pass the order—listen up!" the lame one, based on his speculation, gritted his teeth and issued the command: "Anyone other than the second-in-command you encounter, kill without mercy!"'

Soon, aside from those on the same boat as the lame one tasked with protecting him, over six hundred others disembarked silently and slipped into the icy current.

They clenched daggers in their teeth and swam toward the marsh flats where the bonfire glow could be seen.

On the flats, inside a crude branch tent.

The girl awoke from unconsciousness, opened her eyes, and saw a man and a woman gathered around the pregnant woman, whose face was contorted in pain and whose mouth was still blocked.

At a glance, it looked exactly like she was being abused!

How could this be allowed?!

She jerked upright with a start, shouting in panic and anger, "What are you doing! Let her go!"

Before her words finished, in desperation she grabbed a wooden stick and slammed it hard into Xiao Qidi's back.

Bang!

The arm-thick wooden stick snapped into two pieces.

Everything happened too fast.

Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi were both focused on delivering the baby and didn't react in time.

That blow changed Xiao Qidi's complexion, but he gritted his teeth and didn't move.

Ning Jinli hurriedly said, "We're delivering the baby! The child is about to come out!"

"Ah? Is… is the baby coming?" the girl exclaimed, bewildered, hastily dropping the half-stick she held, and embarrassed she told Xiao Qidi, "I misunderstood—are you, are you okay?"

Xiao Qidi said coldly, "If your stick had moved up a few more inches, I'd be in trouble."

"Sorry, sorry, please forgive me!" the girl kept apologizing, "I'll make it up to you later."

Having said that, she hurriedly moved closer.

Inadvertently catching sight of the pregnant woman's spread legs, with the fetus's half-exposed head resembling a sticky meatball, she was so frightened her complexion changed.

Being only a teenager, she had never seen such a scene; she quickly moved to Ning Jinli's side and asked timidly, "Is there anything I can help with?"

Ning Jinli said, "Just don't interfere with us; go check on the old person's condition."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

The girl hastily stepped back, checked her own injuries, then woke the old person.

Both were unharmed, and they exchanged a few words in low voices.

Although they didn't know who these two people assisting the pregnant woman in labor were, they seemed not to be bad people.

So they tiptoed over to the pregnant woman's side.

The two were very nervous about the pregnant woman's condition, seeing her face slick with cold sweat in pain; as she strained with all her might, veins bulged on her forehead and neck, and they felt utterly anguished.

"How much of the baby's head has emerged?" Ning Jinli asked.

Xiao Qidi's expression was grave: "Still only a little bit has come out."

Ning Jinli thought to herself, "This is bad; the pregnant woman has already exerted all her strength, yet it's still far short of what childbirth requires."

I can only keep transmitting a trickle of Internal Strength to keep her conscious; I cannot increase the flow, or else both mother and fetus couldn't bear it, making things even more dangerous.

The old man knelt beside her, tears streaming, and said, "Madam… push!"

The girl also spoke: "Madam, the Xing family now has only you and the posthumous child in your womb… you must absolutely be all right; the old marquis, the old marchioness, and General Xing… surely watch over you from heaven, so hold on!"

Hearing those words, tears welled in the pregnant woman's eyes, and suddenly she burst forth with a surge of strength.

Xiao Qidi widened his eyes and said, "It moved! The baby's head is showing even more!"

Seeing this, Ning Jinli hurriedly had the old man and the girl lean close to the pregnant woman's ear, took her hand, and kept talking to her.

Finally, after a muffled roar from the pregnant woman, her body, tensed to the limit, suddenly went limp; her mouth opened, and the towel she had bitten through slipped out slowly.

"Madam! Madam!" the girl and the old man cried in terror.

"It's out… it's out!" Xiao Qidi's shoulders trembled as he slowly lifted from between the pregnant woman's legs a sticky, bloody newborn.

The old man instantly burst into tears, unable to stop crying.

The girl shouted loudly, "Madam, did you hear? The baby is out! Don't fall asleep!"

"Child… child…" the woman whispered, her eyes half-closed, her breath like a thread.

Ning Jinli continued to use Internal Strength to sustain her breath, and with her astonishing willpower she avoided losing consciousness.

"Wait… Qidi! Why isn't the baby crying?" Ning Jinli sensed something wrong.

Xiao Qidi froze for a moment, then lowered his gaze to the infant in his arms.

This child was entirely purplish-red, not only not crying, but not moving at all.

"Quick! Pat him!" the old man came to his senses, hurriedly reminding, "I heard the midwife say that for a newborn baby, if it doesn't cry, you need to pat its buttocks; if it still doesn't cry, then pat its feet upside down."

Xiao Qidi did as instructed without a word.

Following the method, after a few slaps the baby twitched slightly but still made no sound.

Everyone's hearts turned cold.

Ning Jinli's mind raced, "Let me try!"

Xiao Qidi immediately handed the baby to her.

Ning Jinli took the baby and realized it was unusually large and heavy, clearly a size bigger than a normal newborn; to be born under these circumstances was truly a miracle.

She tried to open the baby's mouth and found it filled with mud-like mucus.

Sure enough, her guess was correct.

When the baby's head emerged, because the mother had been soaking in muddy water, a little mud and amniotic fluid also entered its mouth and nose, forming mucus that lodged in its throat.

Ning Jinli unhesitatingly sucked the mucus out with her mouth.

After quickly spitting it out, she turned the baby over, gently patted its back, and simultaneously infused a finer internal strength.

The baby coughed a few times, then let out a loud wail!

The skin that had turned purplish-black also returned to normal.

Xiao Qidi, the girl, and the old man all felt relieved at that moment, their extreme tension easing, and they nearly collapsed to the ground.

Ning Jinli quickly cut the umbilical cord with the tools from the medical kit, wiped the baby clean, wrapped it in a towel, and gently placed it in the woman's arms.

"My child... my child..." the woman wept tears like rain.

Ning Jinli checked the woman's pulse; although faint, it had already steadied.

She let out a long breath, knelt, and bowed three times to the heavens, "Thank the heavens for protecting mother and child..."

"Is it a boy? Heaven has eyes! Let the Xing family not die out!" the old man beside them exclaimed excitedly, also kowtowing loudly.

From what the old man and the girl had said, it was clear this mother and child came from a high-status family—the woman's parents-in-law were the marquis and marchioness, and her husband was a general.

Moreover, this place is within the marshlands.

Surname Xing... the general of the marquis's residence...

Putting these pieces of information together, something flashed through Ning Jinli's mind.

But there's no time to ponder now; we still need to properly settle the mother-daughter pair, the girl, and the old man.

If we helped deliver the baby and then abandoned them, tossing them into the rivers and marshes where water bandits roam, they surely wouldn't survive three days.

Whoosh—

A faint sound of water flow arose around this small beach.

Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi both keenly sensed the abnormality; it sounded as if something had emerged from the water, not like normal water flow.

"You two, look after the mother and child, stay inside the tent and don't come out."

Ning Jinli gave the girl and old man a brief instruction, then she and Xiao Qidi left the tent and quickly used more branches and grass to conceal the tent as much as possible.

The tent was nothing more than a simple frame of branches and leaves they'd thrown together—small and inconspicuous.

The girl, the old man, and the woman who had just given birth huddled together, jointly protecting the baby.

The baby also seemed to sense the danger instinctively and did not cry again.

"Could it be... assassins have come after us?" the woman whispered, trembling, her voice full of fear.

She herself wasn't afraid of dying, but she feared the newborn would lose its life.

"Don't be afraid," the girl softly reassured, "No matter what, I will protect you."

The old man also spoke: "Young lady... if assassins really have come, I will surely fight them to the death, drawing their attention to buy time; please... you must preserve the Xing family's sole bloodline."

The girl said: "Even if assassins come, they might not necessarily find us; I also feel that the two young men and women who rescued us are not ordinary people—I can't say much about the woman, but the man... just his physique and aura are enough to intimidate, and when I hit him with a staff, the staff broke, yet he was unharmed."

While the three were discussing.

Outside the tent, Xiao Qidi and Ning Jinli walked to the edge of the beach, coldly staring at the water surface that reflected faint ripples.

The night was deep, thick fog surrounding.

The two people behind them, the jumping bonfire was the sole light source, its illumination very limited.

"Don't hide, come out!" Xiao Qidi shouted loudly.

The words had just fallen.

Splosh—splosh—

One after another, splashing sounds rose.

Countless silhouettes leapt out of the water in quick succession.

Ning Jinli's eyes widened gradually, "Hiss... so many? Probably over a hundred? Do these water bandits have an irreconcilable grudge with General Xing's family? They won't even spare a pregnant woman, coming to exterminate the root!"

"I think there are more than a hundred," Xiao Qidi said, turning and kicking a leg toward the bonfire.

A large amount of burning branches and sticks he kicked into the air then fell like scattered flowers from a heavenly maiden.

The flickering firelight revealed even more figures emerging from the water.

Xiao Qidi frowned, "Roughly estimated, not a thousand but around six or seven hundred people."

Ning Jinli felt a jolt in her heart.

As the saying goes, enough ants can kill an elephant.

Moreover, this is the water bandits' turf, giving them an absolute home-field advantage.

Just relying on her and Xiao Qidi, it would be hard to cope.

Ning Jinli quickly calculated; for now, the safest option is definitely to flee.

Once the Time-Space Gate opens, taking that mother-child, girl, and old man to flee, those water bandits would dig three feet deep throughout Black Water Bay and still not find anyone.

However, that would mean abandoning the small base in the delta forest behind.

These days the special forces members have been busy day and night, just so they can start collecting Moth Wing Grass as soon as possible.

The small base has already taken shape, the equipment is all set up, and it looks like they can use it as a center to build a collection point—unexpectedly, this situation arose.

"Sigh..." Ning Jinli let out a soft sigh, "It seems the conflict is unavoidable; we can only wipe out these water bandits who have delivered themselves to our door."

Xiao Qidi said lightly, "Fortunately, the monkey troop also told us the location of the water bandits' lair, so we can wipe them out in one go."

Ning Jinli pondered briefly.

If she really wanted to go all out, she just needed to get a few machine guns for the special forces members, and the several hundred water bandits about to attack would have no chance of survival.

Then, by using that helicopter to fly over the water bandits' lair, they could easily eradicate them completely.

Moreover, exterminating the water bandits counts as carrying out heaven's will and removing harm for the people.

"Well... then let's do that," Ning Jinli said, "but before that, I want to hear the water bandits explain why they want to exterminate those few people."

Her idea is not without reason.

After all, one cannot simply listen to only one side of those few people's story; they need to incorporate the water bandits' testimony as reference.

What if the so-called Punishment General's family are not good people either?

One must not let their guard down just because among them there is a woman who just gave birth, an old man, a young girl, and they claim to have the background of a Marquis Manor General.

At this moment, water bandits began to come ashore.

Ning Jinli cleared her throat and said, "Ahem! I'm asking, who is your leader?"

Swish—

A sound of breaking air.

A cold gleam flashed.

In response, a flying dart.

Ning Jinli swiftly sidestepped to avoid it, frowning as she said, "You attack without even talking?"

Swish swish swish!

The water bandits threw out even more flying darts.

Xiao Qidi and Ning Jinli could only dodge.

The water bandits who had come ashore seized the opportunity to rush forward, wielding pointed knives to surround the two.

"Heh, not bad." Xiao Qidi gave a cold chuckle, seized the moment and threw out his punches; with a few thuds, several water bandits were sent flying into the water.

Ning Jinli was not to be outdone, she raised her palm and unleashed a flurry of slaps.

Several water bandits were knocked out on the spot by her, eyes rolling white and foaming at the mouth as they collapsed.

However, more water bandits kept coming ashore, surging toward the two like a tide.

The few people inside the tent heard the intense fighting outside and thought that too many pursuers had arrived, their hearts leaping to their throats.

The woman shoved the child into the girl's arms, suppressing her sobs as she instructed:

"Hurry up and take him, sneak out from behind this tent…… perhaps you might still escape with your lives…… in the next life, I will be an ox or a horse to repay you……"