Chapter 104: Chapter 103: Finally Found You! (Please Subscribe)
The sky was slightly bright, and the mountains were looming at the end of the wilderness.
Chen Fan walked alone on the road, his face covered with a cloth, holding a long spear in one hand, his mood somewhat heavy.
Yesterday, when he went to the Song Family Castle, he knew there could be danger, but his heart was still full of anticipation.
Today, however, was very different.
"The cart will find its way around the mountain, the boat will straighten itself at the dock; overthinking is unnecessary, it’s better to adapt to circumstances."
Thinking this, Chen Fan felt much more relaxed.
After all, nine out of ten things in life don’t go as one wishes, and difficulties and setbacks are the norm. Only by maintaining a positive and optimistic mindset can one deal with them correctly.
His pace was fast, and in less than half an hour, he saw the city walls of Song Family Castle.
Just like yesterday, he passed through the crowd of beggars and came to the foot of the city wall.
It was still early, but there were quite a few people waiting to enter, gathered together and talking in low voices.
On the city wall, quite a few guards with rifles had already arrived, standing in small groups, puffing smoke and chatting.
Chen Fan looked up, wanting to see if any of them had a telescope with them.
Actually, he knew this method was unreliable, because it was possible that the person would carry the telescope in their pocket, just like he did now, but he had no other way.
He glanced around briefly and indeed found nothing.
"No rush."
He thought to himself, it looked like there were still many guards who hadn’t arrived, he would find an inconspicuous spot later to properly observe the situation.
As time passed, more people arrived from all directions.
The atmosphere gradually became lively.
"Have you heard?"
A rough voice suddenly rang out, "That group of bandits outside has been killed!"
"What!"
Exclamations of shock immediately erupted from the crowd, and even the dozen or so guards on the city wall looked over.
"Brother, what did you just say?" A man a few meters away stared in disbelief, "You said that group of bandits outside is dead?"
"Is it true? Who could kill them?"
"Brother, it’s too early to joke with us, isn’t it?"
They all talked at once, eager and unbelieving, looking at the man who had spoken.
The speaker was a tall man in his forties, wearing a tattered coat, his hair messy like a bird’s nest, but his eyes were sharp.
Seeing himself become the center of attention, even the guards on the city wall were looking at him, Quan Erpeng was very proud, holding his head high, and said, "How could it be false? I saw the bodies of the bandits with my own eyes!"
The surroundings fell silent again.
Chen Fan frowned slightly.
Could it be that this man was one of the few people who looked his way from afar yesterday?
"Brother, what’s going on exactly?"
"Yes, brother, don’t keep us in suspense, tell us quickly."
The crowd urged.
They were terrified whenever they heard the word bandits, afraid that one day these guys would come after them. If, if what this brother said was true, that all the bandits were dead, it would be great news!
Ten years ago, they would have bought hundreds of firecrackers to celebrate for three days and nights.
"Heh."
Receiving the crowd’s praise, Quan Erpeng laughed and said, "What’s the hurry, I’m about to tell you."
Chen Fan pricked up his ears and listened word by word, gradually understanding what was going on.
It turned out that after he and others left, a few more people passed by and were all stunned by the scene.
Living to this day, who hadn’t seen corpses? They were used to it.
After a moment’s hesitation, a few people decisively went up and each meticulously searched for items, not even sparing the clothes on the bodies.
While they were searching, someone sensed something was wrong; one of them had a scar on his face and a shaved head, looking very much like a bandit, wasn’t he?
Counting the numbers, they all gasped.
This group really seemed to be those bandits!
But who killed them?
At that moment, more people arrived one after another, and the news spread quickly, reaching the man who was speaking now.
As for the others, who came from other directions, they naturally didn’t know about this matter.
"Hiss..."
When he finished speaking, the crowd gasped.
"So, those bandits really, really are dead?"
Someone couldn’t believe it.
Quan Erpeng said unhappily, "I saw it with my own eyes, would I lie to you? There were over thirty bodies, and one of them was bald."
"That’s right, the numbers match," someone next to him echoed, "and the leader of that bandit group was indeed bald, I think his surname was Wu."
"Yes, yes, I even saw that group of people riding past me on horseback, like they were chasing someone; scared me so much my legs went weak, I thought I was done for."
"So, those bandits are really dead?"
Once again, the atmosphere fell quiet.
It wasn’t that the crowd was unwilling to believe, it was just that the news was too sudden.
"Of course they’re dead," Quan Erpeng’s voice rang out, "In any case, from today on, you don’t have to worry about encountering bandits anymore."
"If that’s true, that would be great."
"Yes, I wonder which kind person killed all the bandits, really a great person!"
"Yes, yes."
The crowd nodded repeatedly.
Chen Fan wanted to laugh.
The great person they kept mentioning was standing right in front of them.
However, he preferred to brush off his clothes after the deed, hiding his achievements and fame.
Just then, a conversation on the city wall made his body stiffen, and his heart began to race.
"Wu Bin’s group was killed? Impossible, right?"
A guard doubted, "Those guys are very cunning, they only target the weak, and avoid the strong. How could they be completely wiped out?"
"I think it’s impossible too. Even if luck was bad and they kicked an iron plate, there would still be some survivors, right? Over thirty people, and not one survived?"
"I think that guy must be bragging."
"Hey, Yang Xiaochun,"
A voice sounded, "Didn’t you see those bandits through the telescope yesterday afternoon?"
In an instant, almost all eyes on the city wall fell on a young man in his early twenties, thin and frail.
Including Chen Fan.
Yang Xiaochun was enjoying the excitement, secretly rejoicing that only he knew the truth, when someone suddenly asked him this question, and his face changed.
"What’s the matter?"
The others saw and looked puzzled.
"No, nothing." Yang Xiaochun forced a smile, licked his lips, and explained, "Yes, in the afternoon, I did see the bandits through the telescope, but at the time, I saw them killing people, extremely cruelly. I was so scared that my face turned pale, I didn’t dare to keep watching. Even now, thinking about it frightens me."
"I see." The person who asked apologized, "Sorry, Xiaochun, I shouldn’t have asked you about yesterday afternoon."
"Xiaochun, your Uncle Xu didn’t mean any harm, he just asked casually, don’t take it to heart."
"It’s alright, Uncle Xu, it’s nothing." Yang Xiaochun smiled, "Everyone usually takes good care of me, how could I take it to heart."
"Hahahaha."
The guards all laughed.
"It seems the bandits’ incident happened after that."
"Yes, maybe as Xiaochun said, those bandits were too cruel, and a master couldn’t bear it and killed them all."
"I hope so. Damn, those bandits were like a bunch of flies, buzzing around. It’s good they’re dead, it saves others from their harm. With them dead, other bandits wouldn’t dare come for a while, it should be peaceful."
"Just don’t know where those bandits’ horses went."
Someone’s words made the atmosphere fall silent again.
Yang Xiaochun’s heart leapt to his throat, not daring to make a sound, lest he arouse suspicion.
"They were probably taken by the person who killed them."
Someone took a deep breath.
"Yes, if it were me, I’d definitely take those horses too, worth a lot of money."
"More than worth a lot of money, over thirty people, over thirty horses, worth hundreds of thousands, enough to buy two sniper rifles. With those, encountering a Mid-level Fierce Beast would be hitting the jackpot."
"Hey, what’s the use of saying these things, it’s none of our business anyway."
"Yeah, the gates are opening, let’s go back. Otherwise, if the deputy captain sees us, he’ll scold us again."
They finished talking and went to their posts.
One of them, a man with a pointed chin, stared at Yang Xiaochun’s back with deep suspicion in his eyes.
Was this kid telling the truth? Such a coincidence? He saw the bandits killing people, and then the bandits were killed?
Or was he lying?
Did he see the bandits being killed, but didn’t dare say who did it?
Why wouldn’t he say it?
He was puzzled.
Below the city wall, Chen Fan took a deep look at Yang Xiaochun, then pretended nothing happened and moved to the back of the line.
"So, it was you."
He felt like he had just cleared the mist and saw the peaks.
Seeing bandits killing in the afternoon through the telescope?
According to Meng Yu’s information, those bandits were squatting all afternoon, waiting for him and his group.
And he also said he was startled.
Didn’t their eyes just happen to meet?
Chen Fan suddenly understood; from the looks of it, this guy hadn’t told anyone about yesterday afternoon.
A small chance, he had told someone above.
These weren’t too critical. The critical thing was, does this Yang Xiaochun know their identities?
If he didn’t know, then as long as they were careful and didn’t attract attention, there wouldn’t be a big problem.
This was the result he most hoped for.
If he did know, then it would be tricky.
Unless Yang Xiaochun was a kind person and acted like nothing happened.
Otherwise, who knows what trouble would come next.
According to Murphy’s Law, the most worrying things tend to happen.
Betting on the lives of over a hundred people in the village that the other was a good person, only a fool would do that.
"No matter what, finding this person is a good start. How to proceed is a challenge, but as long as you keep a positive mindset, there are always more solutions than problems."
Chen Fan took a deep breath and slowly moved forward with the line.