Chapter 39

The female thief said: "There have been many people appearing nearby these past few days. This place cannot be stayed in for long. We will leave today."

Jia Cong heard this, but wondered where she was taking him. Although he was full of doubts, he had saved his life after all, so he could only take one step at a time.

What he was most worried about was Zhi Shao. He hadn't been seen for several days. Guo Guo Zhigui and the two servants returned, and everyone knew he had been kidnapped by thieves. He didn't know how worried Zhi Shao must be.

These past few days, he had been detained in the cave by the female thief, either tied up or knocked out, and hadn't stepped out of the cave once. He didn't even know if it was day or night outside.

The two walked out of the cave. The sky was slightly dark, and the west was covered with red sunset clouds. Jia Cong looked at the scene and estimated it was around 5 to 7 PM.

Now it was the end of winter, and the days were short. At this time, it would be dark soon.

Walking down the mountain along the mountain road they came from, they returned to the small forest. Both of them were very careful about the movement around them.

The female thief needed to hide her whereabouts, so she was naturally cautious; as for Jia Cong, if he encountered people at this time, he wouldn't be able to explain why he was peacefully together with this remnant of the Hidden Sect.

After walking a few steps, Jia Cong suddenly stopped the female thief and pointed to the snow in front.

One of the men in black, Jia Cong had seen at the Shuyun Villa. He was Zhou Junxing's subordinate and had even discussed the investigation results of the case with the Zhen'an Prefecture Magistrate.

"Colluding with the remnants of the Hidden Sect, does the Jia family want to rebel?"

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, who would believe that the son of a dignified Duke's mansion would actually collude with a female thief of the Hidden Sect?"

The female thief said casually: "There are many wild animals nearby. We encountered hunters when we came, so these should be traps they set."

It would also bring unprovoked disaster to the Jia family. He didn't think how important the Jia family was, but now that he was a son of the Jia family, he and the Jia family were already damaged together.

He said to the female thief: "Someone set a trap and treated us as prey."

"Isn't this Jia Cong, the young master of the Lady Rongguo Mansion who showed off at the literary gathering?"

The man in black sneered: "Magistrate Zhou ordered us to take turns searching in these places. I thought it was looking for a needle in a haystack, but I didn't expect to have such luck, letting our brothers pull the first prize."

The female thief saw his movements and remained silent, waiting for him to finish before setting off together. After walking a few dozen steps, just as they were about to leave the forest, two figures suddenly flashed out from behind a tree in front.

The female thief looked in the direction he pointed, and half a circle of black things appeared on the ground covered by snow, with some sharp saw teeth on it.

He stood up and glanced around. The small forest was silent, and he felt some unease in his heart. He picked up a thick, short branch, swept away some snow, and covered the exposed part of the animal trap.

Jia Cong found that since he carefully examined himself in the cave, this female thief had become much gentler toward him, not as fierce as the past few days, not knocking him out with a knife handle at every turn.

Jia Cong felt cold in his heart. He had encountered trouble after all. Looking at the behavior of these two people, it was obvious that they were coming for them.

Jia Cong's face was iron-blue. It was one thing to encounter people, but it happened to be Zhou Zhou Junxing's subordinate. Zhou Zhou Junxing was best at framing people, and this time he wouldn't be able to wash himself clean even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

Jia Cong carefully walked over to take a look, but it was an iron animal trap. If it weren't for his carefulness, one foot would have been ruined if he stepped on it.

The female thief glanced at him. This sentence sounded slightly strange.

Before she could think too much, she saw Jia Cong turn and run. She felt angry and disdainful in her heart: A coward without guts, scholars, whether adults or children, are not good things.

The man in black said to his companion: "Go catch that boy and bring him back. Don't let him run away. That's a big fish."

The man in black was just a grass-roots man in the Jianghu, recruited by Zhou Zhou Junxing by chance. He had followed him for several years, so how could he not know the other party's intentions?

This kind of military noble family getting involved in the Hidden Sect's affairs was like a shark smelling blood to his magistrate, which was most to his liking.

If he helped him handle such a matter, he would surely be more valued by the magistrate.

Thinking of this, he had already drawn his long saber, and the saber light rolled toward the female thief like a ribbon.

This female thief was slashed on the back by him in the snow a few days ago. Although it wasn't fatal, it wasn't light. After a few days, the wound must not have healed yet, so taking her down would save some effort.

The man in black was strong and his moves were heavy, with amazing momentum, while the female thief was good at small-scale maneuvering and assassination, and frontal slashing wasn't her strength.

She gritted her teeth and raised her double sabers to block a slash, but she hadn't recovered from her injury, and her strength wasn't as good as in the past. She staggered back two steps, and her left shoulder and back felt a heart-drilling pain; the wound had already burst.

She braced herself and exchanged a few sabers with the man in black, but the clothes on her left shoulder and back were already soaked, and her movements were sluggish for a few minutes without knowing it.

The man in black slashed back, and she dodged with all her might, but the veil on her face was slashed open. If she had been a step slower just now, her whole face would have been ruined.

The man in black saw the female thief's tattered veil slashed open, revealing a beautiful and peerless face, which was stunning. Anyone who saw such a face would never forget it.

"I saw you in Dezhou. I didn't expect you, a fish that slipped through the net, to dare to come to the Divine Capital to kill!"

The female thief said fiercely: "Wu Jinrong harmed more than three hundred people in the Dezhou Hidden Sect. He deserved to die, and Zhou Junxing and you running dogs will sooner or later have someone come to collect your lives!"

The man in black sneered: "It's a pity you won't see it."

He had already seen that the female thief's back shoulder was blood-red, as if the old wound had broken, and she had lost a lot of blood. She was at the end of her rope, and he didn't think she could escape his grasp.

The female thief had no strength to fight hard and could only dodge and move by relying on the trees in the forest. Just as she was about to be unable to support herself, a shrill scream came from not far away.

Both people fighting were startled. The female thief knew that Jia Cong was a boy with no strength to truss a chicken, so how could he resist a strong man? She thought he had already met with misfortune.

She felt a bit panicked in her heart. Ever since she saw Jia Cong's appearance in the cave, she had thought of a matter of great connection, and she absolutely didn't want Jia Cong to have an accident.

She ran a few steps to distance herself from the man in black and flew toward the place where the scream came from.

But the man in black changed his face when he heard the scream. He recognized that the voice was his brother, not Jia Cong.

He couldn't figure out why, it was just going to catch a boy with no strength to truss a chicken, so why would he make such a shrill scream?

And that person wasn't his brother in the general sense, but his own brother. They were recruited by Zhou Junxing together in Dezhou. His brother had quite a bit of skill and would never be such a coward.

When the female thief arrived, she saw an unbelievable scene.

The man in black who went to chase Jia Cong was lying on the ground. He stepped on the animal trap, and one of his feet was clamped tightly, his flesh and blood blurred. What was strange was that he was also lying there with a broken head and bleeding.

And Jia Cong stood not far from the man in black, holding a thick tree branch in his hand, one end of which was stained with hot blood.

(End of chapter)