Chapter 1068: Hard to Distinguish Soldiers from Bandits

The goat-bearded man immediately sent someone to invite the stone-cutting master.

The master who came over had a dark, reddish face covered in wrinkles, and his palms were full of thick calluses, but his eyes were exceptionally sharp and spirited.

He took the raw stone, weighed it in his hand, used a flashlight to carefully shine light on it for observation, and exclaimed, "This is a top-grade piece of material; I haven't encountered such good goods in several years."

The goat-bearded man was stunned and hurriedly asked, "Lao Gui, are you serious? Don't pull my leg!"

Lao Gui revealed a meaningful smile: "This time, your eyes deceived you."

The goat-bearded man's expression stiffened, his heart pounding, and he urged repeatedly: "Don't keep me in suspense, my heart can't take the strain, cut it quickly!"

Lao Gui said no more and directly brought the blade down to cut.

After about two minutes, the thin layer of stone skin was cut open—

A full, authentic Yang green color was revealed, the water content so full it seemed as if it were about to overflow.

When the flashlight hit it, the emerald color bloomed in layers, transparent and dripping with vibrancy.

This single window alone was enough to show that a priceless, peerless raw stone was hidden inside.

The goat-bearded man raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face: "I hunt geese every day, yet today I've been blinded by a goose!"

He Yuzhu said nothing; he picked up the stone and turned to walk outside.

The goat-bearded man lunged forward and grabbed his wrist.

He Yuzhu flicked his wrist and pushed him away, causing him to stumble.

"Why are you stopping me!"

The goat-bearded man instantly put on a fawning smile: "Boss, don't be in such a hurry to leave, listen to me. Our market has rules; private jade gambling is not allowed. If the market management sees such a rare piece of material, they will definitely arrest you on the spot. It's better if we trade privately; I guarantee I'll give you a fair price."

"We aren't selling," He Yuzhu said.

The goat-bearded man shook his head: "It's too late, the news has likely already spread."

He Yuzhu glared: "There are only a few of us here, how could the news have leaked?"

The goat-bearded man's eyes darted toward the ceiling; there was surveillance everywhere in this market.

He Yuzhu was somewhat impatient: "It's fine if I sell to the boss you introduced, but if I don't, there's trouble? There's no such logic under the sun."

The goat-bearded man laughed: "The bosses I know have to pay tribute to the soldiers in the market every day. How much this jade is actually worth depends entirely on their word. Those bosses could say they gave you one hundred million, and then you'd have to pay twenty million in taxes; of course, they could also tell the outside world they only gave you one hundred thousand... you understand the trick here, right!"

He Yuzhu shook his head: "I don't understand, and I don't want to. I just won't sell, let's see what you can do to me?" After saying this, he held the stone and walked straight outside.

The goat-bearded man never expected this person to be so tough, and he was suddenly at a loss. He called over a lackey and ordered: "A Guang, I'm calling Suoge right now and telling him to take these five people out. You follow them and keep an eye on them. That kid is ruthless; if Suoge finds out this jade is worth tens of millions of dollars, he'll definitely take the goods and run. You cannot slack off for a second; if anything happens, call me immediately."

"Understood, Boss." A Guang took the order and ran off.

The goat-bearded man thought for a moment, feeling that something wasn't quite secure, so he called over another lackey: "I'll call A Rong and have him watch Suoge. Once Suoge gets the item and plans to swallow it alone and run, you will..." He raised his hand and made a throat-slitting gesture, "Contact me immediately if there's a change in plans."

That lackey hurried out of the market.

Just as He Yuzhu and his group turned out of the market alley, a deafening roar of motorcycles reached their ears.

Ten motorcycles stopped not far away, directly blocking their path.

This area was already desolate, and as soon as the motorcycles appeared, the surrounding passersby ran away instantly.

Xu Damao's legs went weak with fear, and he nearly collapsed to the ground: "Zhu... Zhuzi..."

He Yuzhu took a large step forward and spoke loudly: "Friends, if I'm not mistaken, the boss who sold me the jade sent you, right?"

The man in the lead tilted his helmet, revealing a pair of hawk-like eyes, and sneered: "So what if I was, so what if I wasn't?"

He Yuzhu said coldly: "If you insist on wading into these muddy waters, I'm afraid you won't live through tonight."

The leader's expression turned fierce, and his right hand lunged toward his lower back—

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Almost at the same instant, He Yuzhu flicked his wrists, and two pistols equipped with silencers spat fire.

"Puff, puff, puff..." After a few muffled sounds.

The five people charging at the front instantly had large patches of blood bloom on their chests.

The remaining five thugs scrambled off their bikes to flee, but before they could run a few steps, they were shot in the back and fell heavily to the ground.

From drawing the guns to the situation settling, it took no more than ten seconds, and over a dozen vicious thugs had all fallen.

Hu Bayi's eyes were about to pop out; he had seen people who could fight, but he had never seen anyone this fast.

Wang Pangzi swallowed his saliva and asked nervously: "Master He, how... how should we handle these corpses?"

"You hurry and run to the hotel, as fast as you can." He Yuzhu didn't look back, ejected the magazines to reload, and tossed the two pistols to Hu Bayi and Wang Pangzi, "Take them, for self-defense on the way."

Hu Bayi and Wang Pangzi didn't dare to waste words; they grabbed the weak-legged Xu Damao and sprinted into the distance.

Confirming that they had run far away, He Yuzhu's mind stirred, and the corpses on the ground, along with the motorcycles, were all collected into the System Space.

Just as he was about to move to catch up, his sharp ears caught the faint sound of rolling pebbles.

Looking up, behind a bush twenty meters away, a pale face was trembling with fear.

It was the goat-bearded man's confidant, A Guang.

He Yuzhu's gaze sharpened, and he fired a shot. A blood hole appeared in A Guang's forehead, and he fell straight into the weeds.

He Yuzhu stepped forward quickly, collected A Guang's corpse into the space as well, and turned to chase in the direction of the hotel.

Just as he turned an alley corner, dense gunfire suddenly erupted.

Beside an abandoned brick kiln ahead, Hu Bayi and the others were being suppressed behind a low wall, bullets causing the wall's surface to peel off in showers, dust filling the air.

Opposite them stood twelve or thirteen fierce thugs, holding various firearms, howling as they closed in step by step. The intense firepower kept Hu Bayi and Wang Pangzi from even lifting their heads.

Xu Damao curled up in the corner, shaking like a sieve, repeating over and over: "It's over, it's all over now."

Hu Bayi gritted his teeth, poked his head out to return fire, but was immediately forced back by a burst of bullets.

He Yuzhu didn't hesitate at all; he lowered his body, using the waist-high weeds and piles of waste bricks as cover, and circled behind the group of thugs.

In the blink of an eye, he had crept to a position a few dozen meters from the thugs.

This group was only focused on firing forward, the muzzle flashes illuminating their ferocious faces, completely unaware that the Grim Reaper had already crept up behind them.

He Yuzhu flipped his hands, and a Submachine Gun appeared in his grasp.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" A rapid series of gunshots rang out.

Blood sprayed from the backs of the heads, backs, and necks of the fierce bandits as they fell to the ground one after another.

Deep in the tall grass, the sentry saw this, turned, and bolted for his life.

He Yuzhu raised his arm and pulled the trigger; the bullet whistled through the air, striking the man squarely in the chest, and the opponent collapsed heavily onto the grass, never to move again.

The gunfire stopped abruptly.

He Yuzhu put away the Submachine Gun and shouted, "Hu, stop shooting! I've taken care of this whole lot."

Xu Damao slowly raised his head, looked at the bandits lying all over the ground, then looked at He Yuzhu; his lips trembled for a long time before he suddenly wailed, "Zhuzi... are you human or a ghost!"

Hu Bayi slumped on the ground, gasping for air, his gaze toward He Yuzhu filled with an indescribable layer of awe.

Wang Pangzi spat a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva onto the ground and muttered, "Good grief, this experience today is enough for me to brag about for a lifetime."

He Yuzhu urged, "Hurry, let's go; there might still be pursuers behind us."

The group had not run far before they were intercepted by more than a dozen soldiers.