Chapter 497: Escape

After gnawing a chicken clean, He Biandan seemed to have sized up the situation and sensed the benefits of joining the Bandit Gang. So he picked up a bucket of wine and began weaving through the crowd, pouring drinks for all the seniors and playing the eager helper.

Seeing how quick-witted this kid was, the seniors rewarded him with another bowl of Lunch Meat.

This pink Lunch Meat could be stored for a long time, tasted great, and was ready to eat. In the seventeenth century, with its poor transport and lack of refrigeration, it became an essential travel item for Ming People the moment it hit the market.

Its only drawback was that no one could tell what animal this meat was made from.

In fact, this civilian Lunch Meat can in white tinplate had contents completely different from the green military cans. The civilian version was a knockoff hodgepodge, concocted from fish meat, soy protein, and a little pork — somewhat reminiscent of the artificial meat pet food of later generations.

Fortunately, in the seventeenth century, no one demanded ingredient lists on packaging, so the Transmigrators could still bluff their way through for a while.

After eating the meat, He Biandan bustled about with even more zeal. The drinking session continued like this until nightfall. Over a hundred water bandits drank with wild abandon, not only emptying the captured iron casks of erguotou but also bringing out and finishing off their own stored wine.

By this point, it was time to wrap things up, so He Biandan was locked alone in a small room for the night — newcomers always had to "tough out" the first few days. Although most of the Bandit Gang were dead drunk, someone still carried out the standard procedures.

As for Shopkeeper Wu and his group, they remained locked in the stockade, with only a few vegetable balls tossed in to keep them barely alive.

In the dead of night, all was silent.

Apart from the chirping of cicadas and croaking of frogs, there was not the slightest human sound in Ghost Head Hollow. The moon above seemed less bright than the night before, occasionally veiled by dark clouds, leaving everything in pitch-black darkness.

Just then, a slight disturbance arose within the bandit lair: from behind the house where He Biandan was locked, a faint creaking sound emerged, as if something was being cut. After a while, the wooden window on the back wall was gently pushed open. The next moment, He Biandan, a sharp ox-horn Knife clenched in his teeth, laboriously climbed out through the narrow wooden window.

Most of the structures in the Bandit Gang's place were dilapidated wooden huts roofed with thatch. So, truly wanting to get out was no challenge for a strong young man. Besides, while doing chores earlier, this man had secretly stashed a short knife on his person.

After silently climbing out the back window, He Biandan hid in a corner, poked his head out, and carefully observed for a while.

Just as he had seen earlier through the door crack, the four sentry posts in the east, south, west, and north were manned by four staggering, half-drunk men.

Now He Biandan felt confident. So he waited patiently a little longer, and finally, after a bank of dark clouds passed, the moonlight and starlight above were blotted out.

The next moment, He Biandan, short blade in hand, darted stealthily along the corners of the house toward his target.

Killing — he was not afraid of it. No one who survived at the bottom rung of seventeenth-century Guangzhou society had clean hands. Previously, He Biandan had not only splattered an opponent's brain matter in a brawl but had also been hired to clear away rotting corpses during a plague. So now, his knife-hand was perfectly steady, carrying no psychological or physiological burden for what was about to happen.

After rounding the last pile of debris, He Biandan hunched his back, stepped as lightly as possible to avoid making noise, and crept silently behind the sentry post at the eastern corner.

Then he heard faint snoring: the night watchman was sitting on a square stone at that moment, leaning back against a wooden post, already fast asleep.

He Biandan no longer hesitated. In the darkness, he suddenly rose to his full height, one hand reaching from behind to clamp tightly over the man's mouth and nose, while the knife in his other hand followed instantly, slashing across.

The next moment, blood sprayed continuously from the night watchman's neck with a hissing sound. He Biandan forcefully wrenched back the head, sealing the mouth and nose, controlling the man's death throes. Five seconds later, the man stopped moving.

Gently leaning the corpse at hand against the pillar, balancing it to keep the posture, He Biandan did not pause for a moment. Hunched over again, he darted toward the next sentry post.

It was simply Lao Qi's Bandit Gang's bad luck tonight. In this period of the third year of Chongzhen's reign, the social order of the Ming State was already in a slow collapse. Farmer uprisings erupted everywhere, bandits swarmed in all directions, and the authorities had absolutely no spare capacity to deal with bandits who occupied advantageous terrain and came and went as they pleased.

So Lao Qi's Bandit Gang had been living more and more comfortably, having long neglected to raise their "alert level," and tonight, He Biandan exploited that gap.

Following the same pattern, He Biandan successively took out two more night watchmen. It was only with the last one that a slight hitch occurred: just as He Biandan darted behind the man, he discovered the fellow suddenly stood up, then Turned Around and came face-to-face with him.

He Biandan froze in shock. Just as he prepared to pounce and grapple, he noticed the man, head lowered and staggering, muttering something as he veered off to the side... Looking again, this gentleman, after a few steps, actually pulled down his pants and began to piss.

In that case, no need for courtesy. He Biandan still struck from behind with one blade, finishing the man off on the spot.

After this, he turned around and arrived outside the stockade holding the hostages. With a creak, he pulled open the door and darted inside.

The people in the stockade had barely touched water or food all day, and on top of their fear, they were now all curled up on the ground, asleep. Once inside, He Biandan said nothing, simply and stealthily shaking Shopkeeper Wu awake.

The groggy Shopkeeper Wu had just woken when he found his mouth covered. Then, by the moonlight, he made out He Biandan's face.

The two stared at each other for a moment. Seeing that Shopkeeper Wu was now fully awake, He Biandan whispered in his ear: "Shopkeeper, don't make a sound. I've come to save you."

After saying this, he turned around and crouched down. With a surge of strength in both arms, he hoisted the skinny Shopkeeper Wu onto his back. Then He Biandan made his way all the way to the riverbank, chose the outermost Sampan, untied the mooring rope, and the two secretly climbed aboard.

The next moment, the bamboo pole dipped gently into the water, and the Sampan slid out without a sound, threading into the waterway like a fish.

At that very moment, a groggy water bandit also arrived at a sentry post. In the darkness, he reached out and clapped the chest of a comrade who appeared to be sleeping with his head down: "Lao Mo, shift change."

The next moment, Lao Mo collapsed at the touch. By the moonlight, the bandit coming on shift saw the sticky palmful of blood on his own hand. After freezing for a few seconds, this gentleman let out a piercing shriek: "Get over here! Some bastard's snuck in!"

He Biandan had calculated everything, but the one thing he hadn't counted on was that the Bandit Gang also changed shifts at night. Though he couldn't be blamed — if he could have stayed one more night here, he probably would have figured out the shift-change pattern.

Despite most people being dead drunk, such a frantic howl in the quiet night still roused quite a few water bandits.

The next moment, men wielding knives and axes began charging out of the huts and Tents one after another. Very quickly, the water bandits figured out exactly what had happened.

PS: Work has been busy lately, plus family matters at home, so updates will be unstable for a while. I hope you all understand!