Chapter 2834: The Stand-In Was Forcibly Taken by the Mountain Bandit's Wife 40

Wu Zhengchu fell into the pit, covered in mud and in a sorry state, struggling to climb up, but the pit walls were wet and slippery; after several attempts he slid back down.

Jin Chen stood at the pit's edge, eyes half-lidded, looking at him lazily, as if watching some interesting toy.

"Your Highness," he said in a light, airy voice, "aren't you supposed to be with Ruan Shutong forever?"

Wu Zhengchu froze.

Jin Chen lifted his chin, gesturing for him to look down: "Take a look below."

Wu Zhengchu stared blankly downward.

The pit bottom was lined with a thick layer of straw; beneath the straw… there seemed to be something else.

He trembled as he pushed aside the straw, revealing what was wrapped in a straw mat below.

The straw mat had rotted in places, exposing a corner—a human hand, pale and stiff.

Wu Zhengchu's whole body went rigid.

He suddenly flung the straw mat open.

Three corpses.

Three corpses, crammed in the small pit bottom, like a bizarre joint burial.

Wu Zhengchu jerked backward, his back hitting the pit wall, trembling all over, unable to speak.

At the pit's edge, Jin Chen lightly wrapped an arm around Gu Fanghe's waist, resting his head on his shoulder, eyes downcast as he watched Wu Zhengchu's miserable state, his voice lazy with a smile: "How come, seeing your Shutong makes you so unhappy?"

"Oh, but… there's also a pair of brothers in there; your love is just as cramped."

Wu Zhengchu: "……"

He trembled even more, his lips moving, but no sound came out.

He finally understood.

What plan, what luring the enemy, what pincer attack… it was all fake; from the start, this was a trap.

And he was the fool who walked right into the net.

No, he couldn't die here! He was a prince! The future Son of Heaven! How dare they?!

"I am a prince…" he whispered, voice hoarse, "I am a prince… how dare you…"

He struggled to climb up.

The pit walls were wet and slippery; Wu Zhengchu tried several times, finally grabbing a protruding stone, and inch by inch, painfully moved upward.

Just as he was about to climb out, Gu Fanghe suddenly pressed down on his head.

Wu Zhengchu felt his head sink, his face pressed into the cold, wet mud.

A feeling of suffocation struck instantly.

He struggled desperately, arms and legs flailing, but that hand was like cast iron, unmoving.

Mud clogged his nostrils, blocking his throat, his vision darkened in waves; just as Wu Zhengchu thought he would die, the hand released.

Wu Zhengchu gasped loudly, tears and snot mixing with mud all over his face, looking as miserable as a stray dog.

But before he could recover, the hand pressed down again.

This happened three times.

When Gu Fanghe released his hand again, Wu Zhengchu had no strength left to struggle.

He lay limp in the pit, trembling all over, his gaze unfocused, only able to whisper, "Don't kill me… don't kill me… please… don't kill me…"

Gu Fanghe crouched, looking at him with bloody hatred, "Did my younger brother beg you like this back at home?"

"High and mighty… Prince Your Highness."

Wu Zhengchu shuddered all over, frightened by the hatred in his eyes, his soul scattered, trembling like a sieve.

He wanted to deny it, to say he didn't know, that his subordinates acted on their own… but he lacked the courage to lie, only able to utter a more desperate wail.

Gu Fanghe stopped looking at Wu Zhengchu, loosened his grip on his hair, and let him collapse like a heap of mud at the pit's edge.

Jin Chen walked to the cliff's edge and reached out to part the dense bamboo leaves.

In the One-Line Sky Canyon, the elite troops Wu Zhengchu brought were routed.

The accompanying officials—the Governor of Nan Zhou, the Vice Prefect, and a few of Wu Zhengchu's confidants—were tightly bound, kneeling by the mountain path, watching everything unfold.

They also saw Wu Zhengchu at the pit's edge.

They saw that high and mighty prince, now lying like a dog in the pit, face smeared with mud, shivering.

They also saw Gu Fanghe and Jin Chen.

They saw Gu Fanghe stand up, grab Wu Zhengchu's hair, and drag him out of the pit.

They saw Jin Chen walk to the cliff's edge, give Wu Zhengchu a faint smile, then…

He reached out and pushed him down.

Wu Zhengchu's anguished cries echoed in the valley, growing fainter, finally drowned out by the sound of rolling rocks.

Those officials turned ashen, some even fainting on the spot.

It's over.

The Third Prince is dead.

He died in the Black Mountain Stronghold, right before their eyes.

They… are finished too.

The surviving soldiers threw down their arms and surrendered.

【Villain Blackening Value detected -20, total 25!】

——

"Report!"

A scout came panting up the mountainside and threw himself before Gu Fanghe.

Chief! Not good! Down the mountain…… down the mountain again a large batch of government troops came! Looking at the banners, it's the Crown Prince's troops! They…… they captured the Fourth Chief!!

Gu Fanghe's expression changed abruptly.

Crown Prince?!

... Indeed, when the snipe and clam grapple, the fisherman profits.

Wu Zhengchu and he were locked in snipe-and-clam struggle; the Crown Prince wanted to act as the fisherman, both eliminating Wu Zhengchu as a rival and, under the pretext of suppressing bandits, wiping out Gu Fanghe and the Black Mountain Stronghold in one fell swoop—returning with a great merit.

Issue the order! Everyone! Immediately contract defenses toward the stronghold! Prepare to meet the enemy!

Yes!

Prepare to meet the enemy!

Shouts of orders rose and fell, transmitting through the Shan Lin.

Behind the Crown Prince, the imperial soldiers once trained by Gu Fanghe, hearing this familiar order, felt complex emotions.

Not long ago, they too had charged forward under this order, and had once revered the man before them as a war god.

But now they have become the enemy.

In the mountains and wilds, battles are ever-changing; Jin Chen swept his divine sense over the mountains and wilds, discerned Gu Fanghe's position, and saw two figures blocking him, as if to capture him alive for the Crown Prince.

Jin Chen turned his thoughts, using the scheme against the schemer.

At the same time, Gu Fanghe heard the Crown Prince's soldiers shouting at him, that Jin Chen had already been captured alive in the woods, but he never expected that Gu Fanghe and Shi Meng, who should have disrupted the enemy's formation, would lock eyes.

Kidnapping Jin Chen in this place, naturally the Mountain Lord would lend aid.

"Gu Family Army's lads!" Chen Xiaoshan turned, facing the resolute, fierce mountain bandits behind him—the former Gu Family Army.

"Seven years ago, why were we here? Because the imperial court was unjust, corrupt officials held sway; because we served the country loyally yet ended up with ruined families and homeless wandering."

"Today, our enemy has been slain in part! Yet there remains that lofty Crown Prince, that emperor on the Dragon Throne, who regards us as weeds and wishes to exterminate us completely!"

"They've seized our people! They intend to use our brothers, and Young Master Jin, to threaten us!"

"What do you say—can we agree?!"

"No way!!!"

"Kill! Rescue Young Master Jin! Slaughter all these lackeys of the imperial court!!"