Chapter 105: Is It That Coincidental?

At dawn, the faint morning light spilled over the edge of the wilderness, and the rolling mountains were shadowy and indistinct in the morning glow, appearing and disappearing from view.

Lu Yu walked along the road alone, his face covered by a piece of cloth, his hands gripping his long spear tightly; at this moment, his mood seemed to be shrouded in a layer of haze, appearing exceptionally heavy.

When he set off toward Zhou Family Fort yesterday, he knew in his heart that this trip might encounter danger, but at that time, he still harbored expectations in his heart.

However, today, his state of mind was completely different; it was as if overnight, that expectation had been replaced by worry.

"As the saying goes, there is always a way when the cart reaches the mountain, and the boat will naturally straighten when it reaches the bridge; thinking too much is useless, it is better to adapt to circumstances and act according to the situation."

Lu Yu pondered to himself, and after thinking this way, his mood actually lightened a little.

After all, the road of life is inherently full of bumps, and eight or nine out of ten things go against one's wishes; difficulties and setbacks are the norm of life.

Only by maintaining a positive and optimistic attitude at all times is the correct way to deal with hardships and obstacles.

Lu Yu walked in a hurry, and in less than half an hour, the tall city walls of Zhou Family Fort appeared before his eyes.

Everything was the same as yesterday; he passed through a crowd of ragged people begging for food and arrived at the foot of the city wall.

Although it was still early, there were already quite a few people waiting to enter the city at the gate; they gathered in groups of two or three, whispering to each other in low voices.

On the city wall, there were already many guards holding Rifles; they were also in groups of two or three, leisurely puffing away while chatting happily.

Lu Yu raised his head, his gaze scanning the crowd quickly, trying to find the person who might be carrying a Telescope.

In fact, he knew clearly in his heart that this method of searching was not reliable; after all, the other party might be like him, tucking the Telescope in their pocket.

But other than this, he really could not think of any other way.

After a rough scan, there was indeed no harvest.

"Don't rush, wait and see," Lu Yu thought to himself; it seemed that many guards had not yet arrived, and he would have to find an inconspicuous corner later to observe the situation properly.

Time passed quietly amidst the conversations of the crowd, more and more people arrived from all directions, and the atmosphere at the city gate gradually became lively.

"Have you heard?" Suddenly, a rough voice broke the noise of the crowd, "That group of horse bandits outside has all been killed!"

"What!" This sudden news instantly stirred up a wave in the crowd, and exclamations rose one after another.

Not only was Lu Yu startled, but even the dozen or so guards standing on the city wall turned their gazes toward the direction the voice came from.

"Brother, what did you just say?" A few meters away, a man widened his eyes, his face full of disbelief, "Are you saying that the group of horse bandits outside are all dead?"

"Is it true or false? Who has such great ability to kill them all?"

"Brother, it's early in the morning, don't tease us, okay?" Everyone spoke one after another, their eyes filled with both expectation and suspicion, and they all looked toward the person who had just spoken.

The speaker was a tall man of about forty, wearing a tattered coat, his hair as messy as a chicken coop, but his eyes were bright and piercing, revealing a sense of shrewdness.

At this moment, seeing that he had suddenly become the focus of everyone's attention, and even the guards on the city wall had cast their gazes over,

the man named Luo Hua could not help but feel proud; he raised his head high and said loudly, "How could this be fake? I saw the corpses of those horse bandits with my own eyes!"

In an instant, the surroundings became silent, and everyone was shocked by this news.

Lu Yu frowned slightly, pondering to himself: Could this person be one of those who looked at him from afar yesterday?

"Brother, what exactly happened? Tell us quickly."

"Yes, big brother, don't keep us in suspense, tell us quickly." Everyone urged impatiently.

For everyone, the two words "horse bandits" were like a nightmare; they lived in fear all day long, afraid that one day the horse bandits would attack them.

If this news were true, and that group of horse bandits were really all dead, it would be like a piece of good news falling from the sky.

If it were ten years ago, they would have spent hundreds of yuan to buy a pile of firecrackers and celebrate boisterously for three days and three nights.

"Heh." Under the urging and flattery of the crowd, Luo Hua's face was filled with a proud smile, and he said slowly, "What's the rush? I'll tell you in detail right now."

Lu Yu pricked up his ears and listened intently; gradually, he figured out the general course of events.

It turned out that after they left, a few more people passed by that place, saw the scene before them, and were stunned on the spot.

Fortunately, people who had experienced countless life-and-death situations were long accustomed to corpses, and there was no great ripple in their hearts.

These few people hesitated for a moment, then decisively walked forward and began to loot the items on the corpses one by one, not even sparing their clothes.

Just during the looting process, someone suddenly noticed something wrong; one of them, who had a striking scar on his face and was bald, looked like a horse bandit no matter how one looked at him.

After carefully checking the number of people, these few people suddenly gasped; it seemed that this group of people was really that group of fearsome horse bandits.

It was just puzzling who had such great ability to kill them all.

Just at this time, more people arrived one after another, and this news spread rapidly in the crowd and reached the ears of the man who was speaking.

And others who arrived from different directions knew nothing about this matter.

"Hiss..." I don't know who could not help but gasp, and then, the whole crowd followed suit and gasped.

"So, that group of horse bandits is really dead?" Someone looked suspicious, unable to believe this sudden news.

Luo Hua was a little unhappy and said loudly, "I saw it with my own eyes, could I lie to you? There are more than thirty corpses in total, and one of the leaders is even bald."

"That's right, the number is indeed correct," another person next to him echoed, "And I also heard that the leader of that group of horse bandits is bald, and seems to be surnamed Liu."

"Yes, yes, I saw that group of people riding horses flying past me before, as if they were chasing someone; I was so scared at the time that my legs went soft, and I thought I was going to die on the spot."

"So, that group of horse bandits is really dead?" For a time, the atmosphere became quiet again, and everyone was digesting this shocking news.

It was not that everyone was unwilling to believe it, but that this news came too suddenly, making it difficult for people to accept for a while.

"Of course they are dead," Luo Hua said affirmatively, "In short, from today on, everyone no longer needs to worry about encountering horse bandits."

"If that's really the case, then that would be great."

"Yes, and I don't know which kind-hearted person killed that group of horse bandits completely; what a great person!"

"Yes, yes." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Lu Yu listened to the crowd's discussion and could not help but want to laugh, because the "great person" they were talking about was standing right beside them at this moment.

However, Lu Yu had always acted in a low-key manner and liked to leave quietly after the deed was done, without leaving any reputation behind.

Just at this moment, a conversation on the city wall made Lu Yu tremble all over, and his heart could not help but beat faster.

"Liu Dong's group was killed by someone? How is this possible?" A guard said with a face full of suspicion, "That group of horse bandits has always been very cunning, picking on the weak; when they encounter powerful characters, they run faster than anyone else, how could they be killed without a single one left?"

"I also think it's unlikely; even if their luck is bad and they run into a tough nut to crack, it shouldn't be difficult to have a few survivors run away, right? More than thirty people, and not a single one survived; this is too strange."

"I think this guy is eighty percent likely just bragging."

"Huh? Su Chungui." At this moment, a voice rang out, "Didn't you see that group of horse bandits through the telescope yesterday afternoon?"

In an instant, the gazes of everyone on the city wall, including Lu Yu's, fell squarely upon a young man who looked to be in his early twenties and had a thin build.

Su Chungui had originally been listening with great interest, secretly pleased that only he knew the truth of the matter.

Suddenly being asked so abruptly, he was so frightened that his face turned deathly pale in an instant.

"What's wrong?" Seeing this, the others had faces full of confusion.

"No, it's nothing." Su Chungui managed to squeeze out a smile, licked his lips, and explained: "That's right, I did indeed see that group of horse bandits through the telescope yesterday afternoon. They were killing people at the time, and their methods were extremely cruel.

It scared me so pale that I didn't dare to keep watching at all. Even now, when I think back on it, I still have lingering fears."

"So that's how it is." The person who asked said with a hint of apology: "Sorry, Xiao Gui, I shouldn't have brought this up and made you recall the terrible scene from yesterday afternoon."

"Xiao Gui, your Uncle Wu didn't mean anything else by it, I was just asking casually, don't take it to heart."

"It's fine, Uncle Wu, I won't take it to heart." Su Chungui smiled, "Everyone usually takes good care of me, so how could I mind?"

"Hahaha." The guards laughed when they heard this.

"It looks like the horse bandits meeting with trouble must have happened later."

"Yeah, perhaps just as Xiao Gui said, those horse bandits did all kinds of evil and were too cruel, provoking some expert who couldn't stand to watch anymore, so they wiped them all out."

"I hope so. This group of horse bandits was like a group of annoying flies, buzzing all day long, so annoying. It's good that they're dead, it saves them from harming others again. Once they're dead, the other horse bandits probably won't dare to come for a while, and we can have some peace for a bit."

"It's just that I don't know where the horse bandits' mounts ran off to." Someone said this suddenly, and the atmosphere instantly went quiet again.

Su Chungui's heart jumped into his throat; he didn't even dare to breathe, fearing he would arouse the others' suspicions.

"They were probably taken away by the person who killed them, right?" Someone took a deep breath and said.

"Yeah, if it were me, I definitely would have taken those mounts away too; they're worth quite a bit of money."

"More than just worth quite a bit of money. Thirty-some people means thirty-some mounts; at the very least, they could sell for over a hundred thousand. This money could buy two sniper rifles. With that stuff, if you go out hunting and run into an Intermediate-level Fierce Beast, you'd be rich."

"Hey, what's the use of saying all that? It doesn't have much to do with us anyway."

"That's right, the gate is about to open, everyone hurry back to your posts, otherwise if the Vice Captain sees us, we'll get scolded again." After saying this, everyone walked toward their respective guard posts.

Among them, a man with a pointed chin stared at Su Chungui's back, a thick look of suspicion appearing in his eyes.

Is what this kid said true? Is there really such a coincidence?

He saw the horse bandits killing people, and then right after, the horse bandits were killed? Or is this kid lying?

Since Su Chungui saw the process of the horse bandits being killed, what was there that he couldn't say?

Could it be that he knows who killed the horse bandits? All these coincidences left Lu Yu completely unable to figure it out.

Below the city wall, Lu Yu took a deep look at Su Chungui, then pretended nothing was the matter as he withdrew his gaze and lined up at the back of the queue.

"So, it was you." Lu Yu thought to himself, and at this moment, he felt a joy as if he had cleared away the fog and could see across all the mountain peaks at a single glance.

Saw the horse bandits killing people through the telescope yesterday afternoon? According to Ji Bingyu's hint, this group of horse bandits had been lying in wait all afternoon, just waiting for their group to appear.

And Su Chungui also said he was given a fright; just now his gaze happened to meet his, looking at the situation.

He likely did not tell others what he saw yesterday afternoon; of course, one cannot rule out the extremely small possibility that he has already told those in charge.

But these are not the most important things; the key is, does this person named Su Chungui know their identities?

If he doesn't know, then as long as they act carefully and don't be too flashy, there shouldn't be too much of a problem; this is also the result Lu Yu hopes for most in his heart.

But if he does know, then things will be troublesome.

Unless this Su Chungui is a kind-hearted person who intends to act as if nothing happened.

Otherwise, heaven knows what kind of trouble will be triggered next.

According to Murphy's Law, the things one worries about most are often the most likely to happen.

Lu Yu is not stupid enough to gamble the lives of the hundred-plus people in the Zhai on the other party being a good person.

"No matter what, finding a clue is a good start. Although how to proceed afterward is a difficult problem, as long as one maintains a positive attitude, there will always be more solutions than difficulties." Lu Yu took a deep breath and moved slowly forward with the queue.