Chapter 74: A Tiger Cub Shows Its Ferocity

"No. Going by the time you mentioned, Brother Zhao, they wouldn't leave the city. Leaving means traveling at night — far too risky. And the checks get stricter before the gates close, so it's easy for something to go wrong. If it really was those people, they'd rest up in the house overnight, make some preparations and arrangements, drug her, that sort of thing." Liu Yong quickly explained.

Liu Yong hesitated for a moment, then leaned close to Zhao Jin's ear and whispered, "Brother Chen said that if this crew did it, they wouldn't have touched Xiaolan's innocence. They want to sell her for big money."

Zhao Jin nodded. He could figure that much out himself. If Monk Runan had sent people to abduct Mu Shulan, it was to trade her for his own wealth and power, so naturally she had to be delivered intact to the higher-ups.

"How many people are in there?" Zhao Jin asked again.

Liu Yong shook his head and said uncertainly, "That bunch relies on trickery and kidnapping. There should only be one or two standing guard."

All the talk in the world was still just guesswork. In the end, he had to see the real people with his own eyes. Zhao Jin knew he was gambling, but right now he had no other direction to search. He could only follow the clues he had.

The sky was already growing dark, and stars were visible in the east. The Nine-Tailed Goddess Shrine had appeared up ahead. Dong Bingfeng dismounted a whole street away and walked his horse forward, tethering the mount casually to a spot. The residents in this eastern part of the city were all middling households; many military officers from Xuzhou Guard and Xuzhou Left Guard who had family properties kept residences here.

The individual houses looked neat enough on their own, but standing on the street and looking down the row, everything seemed haphazard. Every household's courtyard wall and front gate was different — a messy, disorderly sight.

If not for the flagpole standing in the courtyard of this Nine-Tailed Goddess Shrine, it would have looked no different from an ordinary large residence. The main gate was tightly shut, the walls were intact, and lamplight glowed from within the courtyard — clearly, someone was living there.

Zhao Jin and his group halted at the intersection. There were people walking on this street too, and they all glanced over curiously, but each one adopted an attitude of "the less trouble the better," looking once before turning and heading home. Two people, however, kept staring. One was right outside the gate of the Nine-Tailed Goddess Shrine, looking like a passerby, yet he leaned against the wall, glancing left and right without budging at all. The other was a small-time peddler, slouched listlessly behind a bamboo basket. He was the only peddler on the entire street, and he stuck out like a sore thumb.

"How did we end up here? Where exactly is that mutton shop? Did you get us lost?" Zhao Jin suddenly raised his voice.

Everyone froze for a second, then saw Zhao Jin turn around and say in a lowered voice, "There are two lookouts at the gate. Quick, play along with what I said."

The first to catch on was Wang Zhaojing. He likewise said loudly, "I was told it's around here. Should be right, shouldn't it?"

"I'll handle the one against the wall. Chen Sheng, you take the peddler. Liu Yong, stick with me. Ji Xiang, stay with Chen Sheng. You two, gag them — got it?" Zhao Jin said in a deep voice, then looked at his companions. Everyone whose name he'd called nodded solemnly.

Zhao Jin included, all these young men were incredibly excited at this moment, every face brimming with eagerness. Normally they just sparred among themselves, but now they were about to actually do something real. Dong Bingfeng and Ji Xiang were even trembling with agitation.

Zhao Jin took a deep breath and raised his voice again. "Let's walk down this street. I heard that mutton shop doesn't have a storefront — it's run right out of someone's home. When we find it, I'll treat everyone to a good meal."

The group ambled down the street, laughing and joking. Outside the Nine-Tailed Goddess Shrine, the two hidden sentries both relaxed and exchanged a look, thinking to themselves that some rich young masters had come looking for a good time, with no idea there was no mutton shop anywhere on this street.

As they spoke, Zhao Jin had already reached them. The sky was dark enough now that from a distance things were hard to make out. Only then did the peddler behind the bamboo basket get a clear look at Zhao Jin's face — and Zhao Jin got a clear look at his. Zhao Jin's expression turned ice-cold. He recognized this peddler's face: it was the same traveling hawker he'd seen that morning.

The peddler's eyes went wide. He recognized Zhao Jin too. His mouth opened to shout — and in that flash of lightning, Zhao Jin flipped his long spear and brought it straight down, smashing heavily onto the peddler's neck. The peddler's eyes rolled white and he collapsed straight to the ground.

The lookout leaning against the wall had been somewhat distracted, but suddenly he saw his counterpart across the way struck down. Just as he started to react, a blur flashed before his eyes, and a long blade was pressed against his throat. Instantly, no words could come out. His reaction had been a beat too slow, so naturally no instinctive shout escaped him.

With the blade edge pressed against his Adam's apple, a chill spread through the hidden sentry's entire body. He involuntarily pressed back against the wall, and he could clearly feel the blade at his throat trembling slightly — which terrified him all the more.

The people before his eyes all looked fourteen or fifteen, yet they were taller and sturdier than grown men. Their faces still held a trace of childishness, mixed with excitement and even a hint of fear, but in their hands they gripped gleaming, cold steel — an utterly jarring sight.

The hidden sentry had just opened his mouth to beg for mercy when someone beside him clamped a hand firmly over it. He instinctively tried to struggle, but he couldn't break free at all. Such strength!

Zhao Jin prodded the peddler with his long spear. Seeing no reaction at all, he confirmed the man was truly unconscious, then turned to the hidden sentry and said in a low voice, "Is Mu Shulan inside?"

The hidden sentry froze, a blank look in his eyes. Zhao Jin rephrased the question. "Did you grab a twelve-year-old girl from the north side of the city? About this tall."

He gestured casually with his hand, and a look of shock crossed the hidden sentry's face. Zhao Jin felt a weight lift from his chest. Found her.

"I have questions for you. If you dare shout, I'll kill you. Nod if you understand," Zhao Jin said.

The hidden sentry nodded frantically. Zhao Jin signaled Ji Xiang to loosen his grip, and Chen Sheng pulled his long blade back a little as well. Zhao Jin wanted to ask exactly how many people were inside.

Before he could open his mouth, a creaking sound rang out. The courtyard gate of the Nine-Tailed Goddess Shrine was pulled open from within, and a man stuck his head out and said, "The food delivery…"

He didn't finish. The moment he saw the scene by the gate, he froze. The hidden sentry pinned down by Zhao Jin and the others spotted his own man and immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, "Help!"

"Damn! Robbers at the door!" The man sticking his head out didn't care about his comrade at all and yelled out on the spot.

Zhao Jin's whole group was clustered around this spot and had never anticipated a sudden situation like this. Sun Dalei, at the outermost edge, at least reacted fairly quickly. He swung the axe in his hand and smashed it over. The axe blade had been facing downward, but just as he swung, he hurriedly flipped it so the blunt back of the axe struck instead.

Still, he was half a beat too slow. The wind howled as the axe swept through the air. The man sticking his head out scrambled backward in a panic — and actually dodged it. From outside, they could hear the man inside still howling: "Robbers at the door! Xiao Si and Xiao Wu outside have been caught!"

Curses and the sounds of commotion rang out from within the courtyard. Zhao Jin was frantic. This time, their planning had been completely inadequate. The whole group had bunched up together without even posting a single lookout of their own. They'd caught the other side's hidden sentries, but still alerted the kidnappers inside the courtyard.

"Knock him out! Charge in with me!" Zhao Jin roared, and gripping his long spear, he rushed toward the courtyard gate. After two steps he had to swerve around Sun Dalei, who was turning back.

The hidden sentry pinned against the wall had just gotten two shouts out when he saw a wooden club and the back of a blade come smashing down toward his head. He had no time to dodge and was struck directly, collapsing unconscious.

Zhao Jin's movements weren't slow. He charged to the gate just as the panicked man inside came to his senses and moved to shut it. Zhao Jin thrust his long spear recklessly through the gap in the door. The man let go in a fluster, turned, and fled deeper into the courtyard.

Before Zhao Jin could make his next move, someone slammed into him from behind, and he was propelled involuntarily into the courtyard. Once inside, he couldn't even stop his momentum, stumbling forward several steps before he finally came to a halt.

Complete chaos. Zhao Jin looked back in frustration and saw that all his companions had crammed in after him. He suddenly realized how tense he was. He growled under his breath, "Spread out, spread out! Don't hurt each other."

Only then did the group behind him scatter in a disorderly fashion. The calmest among them was probably Wang Zhaojing, who stood beside Zhao Jin and drew his sword from its scabbard.

But even this calm wasn't much to speak of. Zhao Jin could clearly hear Wang Zhaojing's heavy breathing. Chen Sheng gripped his blade with both hands — the blade was trembling. Dong Bingfeng's long spear had actually fallen to the ground, and he was scrambling to pick it up. Sun Dalei was shuffling to hide behind everyone else. Cold sweat already beaded on the foreheads of Shi Manqiang and Ji Xiang. The only truly composed one was Liu Yong, who already had his short axe in hand and stood to Chen Sheng's left. He had spent time in the jianghu, after all — he had experience in brawls and bloodshed.