Chapter 209: Killing the King (VI)

The crisis breeding ground that was Hengguangkang had to be rooted out — and it could only be done tonight.

If they didn't do this, then once the city gates opened tomorrow morning, when Zheng Sancai failed to see the Lu brothers return, or sent someone else to find Zheng Zhilong, then no matter the outcome, he would realize at the first moment that disaster had struck.

And from that point on, the news that a certain power had colluded with the authorities to secretly eliminate Zheng Zhilong would quickly be spread by Zheng Sancai. By then, killing wouldn't be fast enough — all the work done by so many comrades in the early stages would have been for nothing.

Fortunately, Zheng Sancai had no circle of friends to mass-message tonight; and given the current one-sided transparency of the situation, he believed he held the initiative: Shui Xiuer's performance had been an impromptu addition, so in his reasoning, the other side would certainly have no time to react, and the message should easily reach Zheng Zhilong.

As long as Zheng Zhilong was unharmed, there was still room to talk.

So tonight was the best opportunity: Zheng Sancai had not yet caught on.

The secret talk between Zheng Huairen and Shui Xiuer had taken place around 11:30 at night. By the time Zheng Huairen rushed to Hengguangkang, prompting Zheng Sancai to send out Lu Da and triggering the firefight at the gate tower, it was already around 1:20 at night.

So when Song Jia finally settled matters with the City Guards and arrived at the Intelligence House, which was only 200 meters in a straight line from Hengguangkang, it was already 2:30 in the dead of night, the Fourth Watch.

Calling the courtyard gate open via Walkie-Talkie, Song Jia and his sole subordinate slipped in without a sound.

To maintain cover in normal times, three brothers made handmade cloth shoes inside this courtyard. The intelligence agent responsible for monitoring was, to outsiders, the one among the three brothers with a bad leg, so he rarely went out.

When Song Jia entered the courtyard, he found that the six members of Group B who had come from the Old Nest were all present. Counting him and his deputy, there were now eight people in the courtyard. After entering the main hall, Song Jia first briefly commended the three-man team that had stuck by the listening devices, then began drinking tea — he had been exhausted tonight, and the Old Man needed rest.

While resting, he had the Group B leader bring out the Hengguangkang Courtyard Map brought from the Old Nest. By the light of a Tactical Flashlight, Song Jia began assigning tasks by headcount.

Twenty minutes later, the rested eight-man assassination squad slipped out of the house without a sound.

The squad first passed the back gate of Hengguangkang. Leaving two men to stake it out, the remaining six quickly rounded to the front gate, then pressed themselves flat against the wall on either side of the door.

Just as Song Jia signaled two subordinates to step up and knock, it never crossed his mind that Bai Yuer, who happened to have returned to the street corner, had once again caught sight of his movements.

"Tap, tap." A soft knock sounded.

"Who is it?" A muffled voice quickly inquired from behind the door.

"A message from the Zheng Family Paper Shop, open up quickly." A local accent, voice lowered, replied.

The gatekeepers had been warned by Zheng Sancai beforehand, so they knew more messengers might come tonight. Thus, the side gate of Hengguangkang was quickly opened.

The moment the door opened, two men in blue caps and shop-assistant garb darted inside.

"Master Zheng returned home at the Second Watch, and now at the Fourth Watch there's another message?" Seeing two people dart in, the two gatekeepers, who had been holding the door panels left and right, were slightly surprised.

"Disaster, disaster! Lu Da was just executed by the authorities at the Nanmen Tower! Quickly, take me to see Master Sancai!"... The two messengers did not answer the question directly, but instead dropped a thunderbolt.

The two gatekeepers, hearing this sudden terrible news, were greatly alarmed. One of them instinctively Turned Around, Intending to lead the men to see Zheng Sancai — in that One Moment, the two lost sight of each other.

And then they died.

Two M9 Bayonets, treated with a blackened surface process, stabbed up into the jaws of the two men respectively. At the same time, the four men outside darted in swiftly, the second in line being Song Jia, gripping a P226 Pistol fitted with a Silencer in both hands.

Once Song Jia and the others darted in, they did not pause for a moment. The lead man rushed to the gatehouse in a few strides and yanked up the bamboo door curtain.

The sudden shift in air current made a candle on the table flicker wildly. The Remaining Zheng family guard inside had already heard the suspicious sounds outside and was Preparing to go out and check. But the moment he stood up, he saw the door curtain pulled open, and then a Monster with a black nose instantly appeared outside the door, raising a piece of Iron and aiming it at him.

Before the man could shout, Song Jia fired three shots in quick succession from less than two Meters away, blowing the opponent's head apart... Suppressing a faint sense of unease, Song Jia then became the vanguard, raising his pistol and Rounding the spirit screen, leading his men in a charge toward the front courtyard.

... Apart from Cao Chuan, no one in this world knew Song Jia's previous profession: poacher. Having spent several years on the African grasslands, Song Jia Without a Doubt had blood on his hands. But execution-style close-range killing like tonight — he had truly never experienced it Before, so Song Jia felt slightly uncomfortable at this moment.

Shaking his head slightly, forcing himself to focus on the present, Song Jia led his five subordinates as they charged into the front courtyard of Hengguangkang — the front gate had already been shut tight, with only one man left there to clean up the aftermath.

Due to the special circumstances tonight, a lantern hung before the doors of both the left and right wing rooms in Hengguangkang's front courtyard. The moment the squad charged in, they split into two groups instantly, the division of labor very clear: Song Jia led one group, and the other subordinate wielding a Military Spike and wearing a Night Vision Device led the other.

In the First Moment that followed, both groups shot out the lanterns in front of the wing rooms.

Night was the best friend of the side with advanced technology, so during previous training, the team members had been told: in night combat, you must Be Sure To extinguish the lights at the first moment.

After that, it was simple: Song Jia and the other deputy pushed open the doors of the left and right wing rooms simultaneously.

Duty rooms like these, similar to dormitories, were not bolted at night — the men on duty could come in to rest at any time. So once inside, Song Jia only needed to aim at the head of the bed and fire.

Although the four men in the room were sleeping in their clothes, they could not react correctly in the pitch-dark room — the most badass one merely woke up the instant he heard the Gunshot, then executed a carp-leap off the bed, and then, he died.

The commotion in the other wing room was even less: all three men had their throats slit in their sleep, and no one woke.

After the front courtyard was cleaned up, as per protocol, one man was left behind to cover the rear, and then Song Jia and the remaining four continued their charge into the central courtyard.

The central courtyard had the fewest Enemies: the bulk were in the front and Backyard, while the central courtyard housed the Da Shufang and the warehouse. At the moment, only the Da Shufang still had candlelight, and a burning earthenware basin stood before its door.

Upon entering here, Song Jia temporarily pushed the Low-Light Night Vision Goggles hanging over his right eye up onto his forehead. As the name implied, this type of night vision device worked best only under the faint light of stars and moon. In other conditions — whether pitch-black darkness or a brightly lit room — it was useless.

The Da Shufang where Zheng Sancai was located was now very bright. Not only were several red candles as thick as a child's arm lit, but with the earthenware basin burning letters at the door and a lantern on the porch, there was no need for the night vision device.

Using the bright firelight coming from the courtyard, Song Jia first made a hand signal, directing everyone to the Backyard gate, while he alone raised his pistol and charged into the Da Shufang.

After two "pfft" sounds, a Servant in blue, who had been dozing with his head nodding as he sat on a stool, was killed first. Only then did Zheng Sancai, who was Sitting In behind the desk, screening letters one by one, look up in shock.

Song Jia had no time for superfluous words — when in a perilous situation, chattering endlessly with an opponent was a privilege only a villainous boss could afford. The Old Man was busy to death right now, with Enemies in the Backyard still waiting for him to clean up. So, at the same moment he uttered the words "Zheng Sancai" in Mandarin, he pulled the trigger.

The Zheng family guards' setup in the Backyard was similar to the front courtyard: two men stood watch in the yard, while the rest slept inside the house.

However, the difficulty this time was much higher.

One guard was stationed Near the back gate, which meant Song Jia and his men would have to cross the entire Backyard to attack the two guards at the back gate and in the yard. The risk was huge, because theoretically, the moment they entered the Backyard, the guards would see the newcomers by the lantern's residual light and raise an alarm.

Song Jia definitely did not want the scene to devolve into a cacophony of shouting and killing — the fallout would be too severe. What if some interested party lived Nearby, heard the shouts, and ran to find Zheng Zhilong tomorrow morning? Or if one of these guards in the Backyard managed to escape in the chaos — none of that was acceptable to him.

After thinking it over, Song Jia beckoned a team member over and ordered him to go to the study, change into Zheng Sancai's official's robe, and put on the headscarf properly.

Next, accompanied by a loud, clear cough, "Zheng Sancai" pushed open the central courtyard door with a creak. Hearing the sound, the two guards turned their heads and saw, in the dim, shadowy residual light of the lanterns, their own master standing sideways at the courtyard gate.

The uniquely dressed Zheng Sancai then raised both hands, clapped loudly once, beckoned twice in the guards' direction, then Turned Around and went back into the central courtyard.

Without a trace of suspicion, the two men, driven by habitual thinking, walked over just like that and stepped through the wooden door connecting to the central courtyard.

Bai Yuer was now utterly in despair.

He now regarded the appearance of that Monster as an omen of some impending calamity — akin to the script of the King of Hell sending out the ghostly bailiffs. So when Bai Yuer saw Song Jia and his men charge through the main gate, and the two door panels silently close behind them, he no longer held any hope that the Shopkeeper and staff inside Hengguangkang would meet a good end.

After he had secretly circled Near the back gate of Hengguangkang on trembling legs and patiently observed for One Section of time, sure enough, his premonition proved true: just as the nearby watchman's clappers sounded the Fifth Watch, the back gate of Hengguangkang opened.

A man carrying a lantern walked out.

This man, whom Bai Yuer had never seen before, carried a lantern and swaggeringly ushered two men carrying some kind of chests into the Backyard, and then, they closed the back gate again.

Bai Yuer felt Cold and Shivering. His mind was now crystal clear: as a fish that had slipped through the net, if he continued to stay in Fuzhou City, he feared he would not live out a single day.

After glancing up at the sky, in the next moment, Bai Yuer sprinted with all his might toward the Nanmen — since the Fifth Watch clappers had already sounded, it wouldn't be long before the city gates naturally opened.