Chapter 36: Small in Size, Big on Tricks

Child-snatchers, a pack of beasts who specialize in kidnapping and selling children!

No, they're not even fit to be called beasts!

Whoosh~

Chen Mu's figure flickered; he shot into the alley, rounded a bend, and saw the man clutching the little girl, pulling out a sack, ready to stuff her in.

"Put her down!"

Chen Mu barked low, the Spirit Serpent Step unfolding as he blasted forward at top speed.

The instant the shout reached the man's ears, Chen Mu was already in front of him.

Thud~

A palm strike shot out.

Full force!

Hearing the shout, the man had just raised his head when his chest buckled with pain; his whole body left the ground and flew backward, slamming into the wall with a heavy crash, caving in a dent with cracks spidering along the edges.

The man's eyes went wide, fresh blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, his limp body sliding slowly downward, the caved-in chest no longer rising and falling.

Killed with a single palm strike!

【Corpse detected. Loot?】

"Yes!"

Card in hand.

Chen Mu pulled his gaze back, crouched down, picked up the sleeping girl, turned, and left.

Killing a child trafficker stirred no feeling at all.

But running into one did give Chen Mu an idea.

The child-snatchers as a group deserved to die a thousand deaths.

Unlike gangs, they had no fixed territory; children throughout the outer city, even the inner city, were all their targets.

Any child alone on the street, they'd dare to snatch on the spot.

Killing them carried no burden of conscience!

……

Carrying the girl back at a slow walk, Chen Mu began to think.

Suddenly his steps halted; setting the girl down, he said, "If you're awake, stop pretending to sleep."

"……"

The girl, who had had her eyes closed, opened them and giggled, "Hehe, how'd you know I was awake?"

"Right, my name's Long Tutu. What's yours?"

"Chen Mu."

Patting the girl's head, Chen Mu asked softly, "Long Tutu, did you get separated from your parents? Or…"

"I came out to play on my own."

Long Tutu tilted her head up and said brightly, "Old Chen, don't let my size fool me—I'm actually really powerful. That guy just now drugged me, but I only felt dizzy for a second, then I pretended to pass out to see where he was taking me. Once we got there, I'd have killed him right then and there!"

Huh~

Is that something a five- or six-year-old would say?

Chen Mu studied Long Tutu and noticed that though the clothes on this child looked ordinary on the surface, the fabric was clearly different—very finely made.

Anyone who could wear clothes like this came from no ordinary family.

"Really powerful? How powerful exactly?" Chen Mu asked as he walked.

"Thud!"

Long Tutu kicked the wall; a sound rang out, and a tiny footprint was instantly branded into it.

Chen Mu, "……"

The little one had some skill!

That footprint couldn't have been left without the strength of a third-layer acquired-stage cultivator.

No wonder she dared to run out alone and wander around.

"Not bad."

Chen Mu nodded, "But being alone is still too dangerous. Where's your home? I'll take you back."

"Thanks, Old Chen!"

Long Tutu raised a hand lazily, "The sky's not even dark yet—going back now is too early. Old Chen, where are you headed? Anything fun? I'll go with you!"

"I'm going to watch someone get beheaded."

Chen Mu smiled, "Don't you not like watching people get their heads chopped off?"

"It's pretty boring."

Long Tutu mimicked Chen Mu's manner, hands clasped behind her back, head tilted up as she walked and talked, "But when there's nothing better to do, going to watch isn't bad either. Speaking of which, Old Chen, you really like watching people get their heads chopped off?"

"Not really, just joining the crowd… by the way, do you call everyone else like that too? Old Li, Old Wang, Old Zhou?" Chen Mu couldn't help turning his head to glance at Long Tutu.

This little one, though small, had plenty of nerve—not only unafraid but completely at ease, speaking in a tone that was every inch an adult's.

"That's not it."

Long Tutu shook her head, "Only my friends get called that. People who aren't friends, I just call them whatever."

"……"

Chen Mu was speechless.

Confirmed—small in size, big on tricks!

Wonder which great clan in the inner city she came from?

The surname Long is not a common one.

……

The two walked and talked as they made their way back to the street, heading for the market crossroads.

By the time they arrived, an execution ground had already been set up at the market crossroads, with soldiers guarding the center and layer upon layer of onlookers gathered around the outside.

Chen Mu stood in a corner of the outer ring, with Long Tutu sitting on his shoulder.

"Old Chen, do you think anyone will raid the execution ground later?"

Long Tutu wasn't clutching Chen Mu's head with her arms; she simply sat there, yet steady as Mount Tai.

"……They wouldn't, would they?"

Chen Mu was startled at the words, then seemed to recall something and asked, "These prisoners have some background? Do you know their origins?"

"They're all members of the Swallow Gate."

Long Tutu said softly, "Swallow Gate is a sect in the neighboring Huaiyang Prefecture. They were doing fine originally, but no one knows what madness came over them—they ambushed and killed an Assistant Prefect who had come to take up his post. Killing an official is outright treason, so the Zhenwu Bureau investigated and arrested them."

"But Swallow Gate has a lot of people, and the ones being beheaded today are only a small portion. What's different is that the sect master of Swallow Gate is among them as well."

"……The Swallow Gate master?" Chen Mu's gaze shifted, and he said quietly, "The sect master is being beheaded—could those who escaped come out to raid the execution ground?"

"It's only a possibility." Long Tutu smiled. "I'm not sure either whether they'll come out."

"Even so, your information is still very well-informed." Chen Mu chuckled lightly.

"Not bad, I suppose." Long Tutu didn't show false modesty either, nodding in acknowledgment.

Chen Mu was left speechless.

The little one talked a lot, but never revealed any key information about her identity.

Of course, Chen Mu hadn't told her his identity either.

……

……

At the same time.

On the third-floor balcony of a building some two hundred meters from the market crossroads.

"Elder Zhao, it's confirmed—the sect master is also being beheaded today."

A young man dressed entirely in black from head to toe came to the edge of the balcony, cupped his fist, and reported in a low voice.

"Have you checked the area around the execution ground?" Zhao Baokun asked calmly.

"Just checked—no ambush by Zhenwu Bureau personnel has been spotted for now." The young man replied respectfully.

"Keep it that way."

Zhao Baokun said in a low voice, "Don't let your guard down until the sect master and the others come out."

"Yes!"

The young man responded, then cupped his fist again and turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Zhao Baokun's eyes suddenly lit up. Across a straight-line distance of more than two hundred meters, his gaze landed on Chen Mu and Long Tutu.

"Go grab that little girl!"

Zhao Baokun extended his hand, pointing through the air at Long Tutu on Chen Mu's shoulder.

The young man, who had just turned around, heard this, craned his neck to look, and actually saw Chen Mu and Long Tutu as well.

"A little girl sitting on a youth's shoulder?" the young man asked.

"That's her."

Zhao Baokun's lips curled upward, his eyes full of a smile. "Who would have thought, truly who would have thought—we actually ran into this little one. Grab her, and the sect master and the others can be saved!"

"Yes!"

Hearing this, the young man's eyes lit up at the same time, and joy spread across his face. "I'll go grab her right now…"

"Wait!"