Chapter 184: Thunder

A flash of lightning split the night sky. The layered rooftops of Anqing City flared bright as day, revealing debris floating in the floodwater pooling in the streets. Then the sky plunged back into darkness. Moments later, a deafening thunderclap crashed down — it felt as if the entire earth was shaking.

Four figures in palm-bark rain capes and bamboo hats waded through the knee-deep floodwater in the street and arrived outside the Ruyi Tower. The lanterns hanging beneath the eaves by the entrance swayed in the wind and rain. The four passed under the lanterns and came to the main door of the Ruyi Tower.

The ground-floor door was already submerged in water, and not a glimmer of light came from within. The leader knocked lightly on the door a few times. After waiting a moment, the door bar inside made a faint sound.

The leader glanced outside. Just then, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the face of Guo Fengyou beneath the bamboo hat.

The door leaf swung gently inward, tracing an arc of ripples through the floodwater, revealing the person who had opened it. He had checked into the Ruyi Tower that afternoon to make it easier to infiltrate and provide support at night. Upon seeing Guo Fengyou, the man pointed toward the center of the main hall.

Guo Fengyou did not rush inside. He leaned in at the doorway and peered in. The main hall, which on any other day would have had a clerk and the Shopkeeper on night duty, was now full of floodwater. One of the clerks had pushed two of the square dining tables together into a makeshift bed and was snoring steadily.

Several long benches had been placed in a line through the water, stretching from the square tables to the staircase — likely a path the clerk used to go between the stairs and his table-bed so he wouldn't soak his trouser legs.

Guo Fengyou glanced back, pointed at the spot beneath his feet to warn the others to mind the door threshold, then lifted his foot and entered the main hall. Once all four were inside, they moved slowly through the hall amid the sound of rain, their movements sending layers of ripples through the floodwater that collided with one another.

"You guard the foot of the stairs." When Guo Fengyou reached the staircase, he removed his rain cape and bamboo hat and gave a word of instruction to the man who had infiltrated ahead of time.

The man nodded and drew a short Japanese sword from his sleeve. Japanese swords were quite popular among traveling merchants throughout the Ming Dynasty — privately owned in enormous numbers — making them the perfect tool for murder and robbery.

Once that man was in position beside the sleeping clerk, Guo Fengyou took the lead up to the second floor. The stairs gave faint creaks. Their dripping trouser legs, shoes, and socks left a trail of wet prints on the steps.

They soon reached the second floor. A corridor ran left and right, guest rooms lining both sides.

Guo Fengyou made a hand signal behind him, telling everyone to move more quietly. The three behind him slowly came up to his side. When they peered ahead, they saw several human shapes lying in the corridor — all seemingly fast asleep.

All four froze on the spot. Their plan had not anticipated this situation in the slightest. Through that serving maid, they had already found out which rooms Liu Xiucai and Fang Yingqian were staying in. That afternoon, pretending to help the infiltrator carry luggage, they had all come to check the door locations. There had definitely been no one here then.

Guo Fengyou thought for a moment and then understood. These people were originally clerks or cooks who slept downstairs and had moved up because the water was rising, or perhaps city residents who had come here specifically to escape the flooding. This was a failure to plan for every contingency. Today, with Anqing flooded everywhere, everyone was seeking out tall buildings or high slopes. On some streets, only a few buildings stood above the water, and some floors had even collapsed from taking in too many neighbors.

"Team leader, what do we do?" One of his men leaned in. "Should we just kill them all?"

Guo Fengyou hesitated. There were four figures on the corridor floor in total, and his side also had four men. They had been through that assassination of the gang boss before, but they could hardly be called seasoned. He had no confidence they could kill all four with a single lethal blow each in the dark. If any of them struggled before dying and alerted the targets or other guests, the loss would outweigh the gain.

He shook his head. "No killing."

His man, slightly nervous, asked, "Should we come back tomorrow?"

Sweat beaded on Guo Fengyou's forehead. His mind raced. Pang Yu's order was that Liu and Fang must be killed tonight. Even if they came back tomorrow, these clerks might still be here.

Just then, the figure directly in front of him suddenly rolled over. Guo Fengyou's whole body went numb. They were all still at the stairway entrance — they hadn't yet moved into position beside those people. Even if they wanted to kill them, it was too late.

The four of them stood completely motionless, watching the figure turn halfway, twitch its legs a few times, and then sink back into deep sleep.

Against the chaotic background noise of the rain, the four remained at the corridor entrance, their breathing all a little ragged.

Guo Fengyou's mind went blank. The hand gripping his sword trembled faintly.

A few flashes of light flickered through the corridor, followed by a booming clap of thunder. Guo Fengyou gave a slight start, then turned to the others. "We proceed."

"Then how do we break down the doors?" the man asked nervously. If they kicked the doors in as originally planned, they would easily wake the people sleeping in the corridor.

Guo Fengyou looked up for a moment, then said quietly, "Wait for the thunder."

…

The dim corridor was pitch black. All kinds of snoring came from the rooms on either side. Overhead, raindrops hammered the roof tiles with a dense, clattering sound.

In front of the doors of Liu Xiucai and Fang Yingqian, two men stood at each, waiting in silence.

A flash of lightning lit up the land. The light pierced through the gaps in the window paper and the wooden frame, casting bright lines across the corridor.

Guo Fengyou raised his left hand high. The other three stared intently at his gesture. The four of them were like frozen statues — that brief instant felt as long as ten thousand years.

His left hand slashed sharply downward. At each door, the lead man kicked violently at the door leaf.

Boom— The deafening thunder arrived right on cue. The door leaves flew inward, the wooden door bars spinning through the air into the rooms. Guo Fengyou, waiting beside the door, immediately lunged inside.

He already knew the position of the bed frame and went straight for the right side.

The man who had kicked the door swiftly followed him in and pulled the door leaf shut again. Just as the roaring thunder began to weaken, the door next door closed at the same time. The corridor returned to how it had been before, as if nothing had happened.

"You—"

A startled cry came from the vague shape of the bed. Before the call could finish, Guo Fengyou thrust his short Japanese sword toward the source of the sound.

"Ah!" A scream of agony from the bed was swallowed by the trailing rumble of the thunder.

Guo Fengyou threw his weight forward, the Japanese sword sinking deep into the target's body. The target could no longer move now. The target's hands flailed wildly. Guo Fengyou instinctively judged the body's position and clamped his left hand around the target's throat to prevent any louder sound.

The target's legs kicked chaotically, making the bed frame creak and groan. His man pinned down the target's legs. The thrashing lessened. Gurgling sounds came from the target's throat. Both hands clawed wildly at Guo Fengyou's face and body.

Guo Fengyou pulled out his short sword and, in the darkness, stabbed at the target again and again in a frenzy. Warm liquid sprayed out, drenching Guo Fengyou's face and body.

The target's resistance grew weaker and weaker. After a moment, Guo Fengyou stopped, panting. The target was motionless now.

His subordinate behind him said, "No one in the corridor was disturbed."

Guo Fengyou nodded. After climbing off the corpse, he stood at the door and listened to the sounds in the corridor. It was still quiet. He then knocked a few times on the wooden wall of the room.

That wall was Fang Yingqian's room. Soon, a few knocks came back in reply, meaning the two men over there had successfully entered the room. If they could respond with knocks, they must have succeeded as well. This operation seemed to have gone even more smoothly than the last one — clearly, their recent training had been effective.

Together with his subordinate, he dragged the corpse to the window, unlatched the window bolt, and pulled open one half of the window.

A flash of light filled the sky, turning heaven and earth a ghastly white at the same instant.

Guo Fengyou studied the face of the corpse as it was lifted up. Liu Xiucai's detestable face was covered in blood and grime, utterly lifeless now.

"Stage it."

His subordinate acknowledged the order. He laid Liu Xiucai's corpse down, then pulled open the cabinet on the left. He opened the luggage inside on the table, pulled everything out, and flung it all over the floor to make it look like a murder and robbery. At the bottom of the bundle, over a dozen pieces of silver were revealed.

The subordinate raised his eyes and looked at Guo Fengyou.

The room reeked heavily of blood. The blood on Guo Fengyou's face was beginning to congeal — a deeply unpleasant sensation. He studied the scene carefully, then said, "Throw two pieces on the floor. Take the rest."

After the subordinate had gathered the silver, Guo Fengyou knocked on the wall once more. The two of them pulled the door leaf open and stepped into the corridor. The two men from next door also came out.

Guo Fengyou motioned for the three of them to go ahead, intending to bring up the rear himself.

One of the men from the other team came up to him and said in a low voice, "The room was empty. Fang Yingqian wasn't inside."

Guo Fengyou's face twitched. The task Pang Yu had assigned was not fully accomplished. Last time, they had lost a man during the operation. This time, they were one target short again.

His subordinate said quietly, "Should we search for him?"

Guo Fengyou swept his gaze through the corridor. The endless rain hammered the roof tiles. Everything around them was pitch black. Finding a single person at this moment was a near-impossible task — and he was not even very familiar with Fang Yingqian's face.

But if he didn't kill this man, Pang Yu would certainly not be satisfied. Guo Fengyou suddenly felt his mouth go dry, yet his mind was utterly blank.

Right at that moment, the sound of voices suddenly came from a room on the right, followed by the sound of footsteps pacing.

Guo Fengyou waved a hand, signaling his three subordinates to withdraw. They returned the way they had come, taking the man who had been covering the ground floor with them as they left.

After walking out of Ruyi Tower, the group donned their rain capes and bamboo hats and hurried east through the standing water into an alley. Guo Fengyou walked at the very back.

Once past the alley entrance, he removed his bamboo hat. The pouring rain drenched his head. He scrubbed his face hard with his hand, and the clotted blood washed away with the rainwater.

Guo Fengyou turned his head to look at the lanterns in front of Ruyi Tower. After a few ragged breaths, he turned away and vanished into the pitch-black alley.

……

In the barracks area on the east side of the Anqing Garrison Battalion, the rain still fell in torrents. Two soldiers in rain capes stood ramrod straight at the camp gate.

The Garrison Battalion was situated on a slope, slightly higher than the surrounding area. The barracks foundations had also been built up, so although there was some standing water outside, it did not affect living inside the buildings.

The rooms within the camp were all quiet; every soldier was sound asleep. Only from the window of one building on the north side did a faint glimmer of light seep out.

The window was covered with black cloth. Inside the room, smoke swirled thickly. Two or three people were smoking from water pipes, and Wu Dacai could not help but cough twice.

A dice cup cut through the air above the table and slammed onto its surface with a smack. The dice inside clattered twice.

"Place your bets! Place your bets!"

The five or six people around the table all fished out silver. Some even produced newly saved Sticker Tickets.

Jiao Guozha pointed a finger at Wu Dacai. "Hurry up and bet."

Wu Dacai hesitated for a moment and said, "I have no silver on me. I've already lost three mace today."

A Team Leader from the Sixth Bureau beside him said, "Brother Wu, just play along for fun. It's rare that our Jiao of the Central Army is in the mood."

Jiao Guozha slammed the table. "The hell are you on about with three mace of silver? If you've got no silver, you've still got Sticker Tickets. What, you saving them to buy a concubine or something?"

The others nearby also urged him on. Wu Dacai glanced around sheepishly. These people were all from the Sixth Bureau, Team Leaders and soldiers alike, including the Centurion and his Personal Soldiers. Apart from the Centurion, who was from Tongcheng, most were canal workers from Wharf. Before enlisting, these men had often gathered to gamble.

Everyone in the army knew that Jiao Guozha was Pang Yu's sworn elder brother. The Sixth Bureau Centurion wanted to curry favor with Jiao Guozha. Jiao Guozha had held a few gambling sessions in his barracks quarters before, though the intervals between them were usually quite long; after all, everyone was exhausted after training.

It just so happened that with the heavy rain these past few days, the daily drill time was very short. Everyone's Mental Spirit was high in the evening, so they had come together for this gambling session, and for the first time, they had called Wu Dacai over too.

"S-sir... gambling in the army is punishable by beheading."

One Team Leader, his foot propped on a stool, said, "It's not beheading, is it? It's clearly the military rod."

"Gambling outside camp is punished by the military rod. Those who run gambling sessions within the army are beheaded." Wu Dacai's voice trembled slightly. "I remember it clearly."

The Sixth Bureau Centurion let out a booming laugh and said, "Brother Wu, take a look around. This is Sir Jiao's residence. He is Sir Pang's elder brother. Who else in this camp would dare investigate?"

The others all chimed in agreement. Jiao Guozha stared hard at Wu Dacai.

Wu Dacai was so unnerved by the stare that his heart pounded with fear. He fumbled inside his shirt for a long time before finally pulling out a one-tael Sticker Ticket and placing it on the table. "Two mace on Small."

Only then did the others let him be. Although Wu Dacai breathed a sigh of relief, he immediately began to worry about that Sticker Ticket. The two mace of silver he had bet was a year's worth of interest on his Monthly Pay.

Jiao Guozha held the dice cup down and looked at everyone. "If you ask me, my second brother is far more skilled at running a gambling den than at being a General Officer. All that stuff inside — the Roulette, the Mahjong Cards — they're all fun things."

That Team Leader laughed. "When will Jiao of the Central Army take us to Bai Shun Tang to have some fun?"

"If it keeps raining in a few days, I'll take you all." Jiao Guozha shook the dice cup. "Enough talk, opening!"

The dice cup left the table. Before anyone could get a clear look, the main door burst open with a loud bang.

A group of fully armed Personal Soldiers rushed into the room and forced everyone around the gambling table to the ground.

Wu Dacai's head was pressed against the table. His eyes widened in terror as he saw the scene he had dreaded most.

Pang Yu appeared in the doorway. He swept his gaze around the room and, with a Cold Expression, opened his mouth and said, "Seize them!"