Chapter 275 – Guards and Thieves
Lin Xiao frowned. When he turned around, he saw the thieves rushing toward him excitedly. They were waving with their all kinds of weapons, yelled and screamed while targeting Lin Xiao. He sneered once, slapped with his whip. Then, there were two people screaming. The two who were the fastest were beaten far away. However, they were too numerous, and they quickly encircled Lin Xiao and his horse. There was no way he could get away now.
After the days spent in prison, Lin Xiao was indeed very weak. Thanks to his usual practices, he could still deal with these thieves easily. Every time he waved his hand, he could at least beat away one person. Within a short while, about half of the thieves already fell under Lin Xiao’s hands. They were covering their bruises and injuries while crying out of pain. The big guy was apparently shocked. Panicking, he took a few steps back, and his voice trembled, “hurry…call…call the big boss.”
“What is it?” It’s another voice. A much stronger and taller man appeared behind him, and he asked coldly.
The big man was stunned, and he stuttered, “big big big big…big boss, since when were you here? Big Boss, you’re good at foreseeing. See what a big fish we’ve found here. Look…it’s altogether six thousand! It’s even more than what we’ve robbed before. But, this guy is a bit difficult to catch, you see…”
“Shut up for now. It’s not like I’m blind!” The middle-aged man was looking at Lin Xiao who was at the moment knocking out the thieves one by one. And there was an evil smile on his face.
With a loud noise, two more people were kicked out. They were lying on the ground, crying as a long b.l.o.o.d.y line appeared on their chest. The remaining dozens of thieves dared not go forward. Once they saw the Big Boss, they hid behind his back, “Big Boss, you’re the bravest, and you’re the most powerful. Big Boss…please knock him out.”
“What a bunch of useless people, you all. Why would you need my help for such trivia? I feel like wasting my time and effort raising you.” The middle-aged man was furious. He pulled his sleeves and approached Lin Xiao, “let me teach you a lesson!”
Lin Xiao sneered and ignored him. After slapping the horse with his whip, he tried to flee. The middle-aged man scolded him, “so, you want to run, huh? Do you have Grandpa’s approval for this?”
Lin Xiao, who initially ignored the man, suddenly turned back and saw that he was already very close to him. He was even faster than the horse. Lin Xiao quickly used his whip to hit the man, tearing off his shirt at once. However, not a single inch on his body was hurt. His tanned skin did not bleed for a bit. There weren’t even any marks.
Lin Xiao couldn’t help but felt a bit scared. The middle-aged man yelled, “d.a.m.n, how dare you hit me! Get off now!”
The wind soon turned into a storm. Without being able to defend himself adequately, Lin Xiao was blown off from the horse, and rolled for quite a while before he could stop. The middle-aged man already approached him and hit Lin Xiao’s chest with his fist. Lin Xiao used his whip to hold the man, who in turn used his force to tear the whip into pieces. Lin Xiao’s right hand couldn’t hold the whip anymore, and it also started bleeding.
How powerful this man is! Lin Xiao thought to himself, how is it possible that such a strong man became a thief?
The man grabbed Lin Xiao’s collar and threw him far away. A simple action like this was enough to make Lin Xiao as weak as ever.
“The Big Boss is so powerful, and you can fight anybody…you’re the strongest, our Big Boss is the most powerful…” the other thieves started shouting and cheering, making all kinds of strange noises. The middle-aged man walked over and said calmly, “look at you all, you even needed my help for this small thing. Go, search him, see if he’s anything worthy. And you, go and take away his parcel. And don’t steal anything from there, or I’ll break your hand.”
“Of course not, of course not.”
When he got the parcel, the middle-aged checked through it and smiled, “little guy, we’ll take this gift. You’re lucky today to meet us. Why don’t you follow us in the future? We’ll make sure that you’ll have enough to eat.”
Lin Xiao started to calm down after the panic, and he asked, “Master, you’ve got extraordinary power. You must be an important figure on the Continent, may I ask why you would become a thief?”
The middle-aged man opened his eyes widely, “you do know something. Here, everyone knows about me, Tie Dunzi. I enjoy being a thief and nothing else. Even if the Emperor wants me to inherit his throne, I won’t give a d.a.m.n.”
Lin Xiao frowned, he knew he couldn’t talk any sense with him, “Master…”
“What do you mean, Master? Do I look that old?”
br>“Then…brother, since I’ve never offended you, and you’ve taken what you wanted, why do you still force me?”
“Oh?” The middle-aged man started to look weird. He started laughing, “little guy, how did you know that you never offended me?”
Afterward, he stood up and shouted, “hey, you all, get all the pots and bowls that you can find. Drag the cow that we robbed yesterday, with this horse. It’s enough for us to have a big feast. We’ve got rich today, and we’ll no longer need to rob. Let us all stuff ourselves with good food, and I shall guide you all to do something even bigger!”
“Oh!”
The prestige of the Big Boss was really something. The group instantly shut up and got what they were ordered to. After just a short while, they brought all kinds of pots and bowls. They lighted up a fire and started killing the cow and the horse. It made Lin Xiao speechless. While being miserable about his life, he was also stunned at how ridiculous these people were.
After a long while, there was a pleasant smell of meat. And about fifty, sixty of them started surrounding the pot to eat. Whenever there were pa.s.sengers, they all looked surprised, and these thieves didn’t even look at them. The thieves just let them pa.s.s by.
Lin Xiao was alone, being surrounded by these people. No one served him. It seemed that he had been forgotten. After being beaten, he had felt so weak that he couldn’t even stand up. Within one hour, these people finished eating, yet they had no sign of leaving. Lin Xiao started to panic.
At this time, there was a noise of hooves from the south. It seemed that a large team of people and horses were approaching them. The thieves immediately got alerted, and the guy who called himself “Tie Dunzi” threw away immediately the bone on his hand, and jumped on a tree next to him, then yelled, “no…no way, it’s the official army! We’d better run!”
It was apparently too late for them. When the middle-aged man finished talking, a group of horses from the Palace, with the guards appeared in front of them. And they were less than a hundred meters away. When they saw these guards, they had been found as well.
The thieves were panicking and started to flee. Without caring about the pots and bowls, they all started running away. The Big Boss, of course, ran the fastest. When they all disappeared, only Lin Xiao was left, and he got all the attention.
When Lin Xiao saw how these guards were dressed, his heart sank. And he knew what would happen to him very soon.
“Big Boss, the money, the money!”
“What money? Is your life more important or your money?” The middle-aged man started scolding them. Saying so, he was the fastest one to grab the money from the parcel. At this time, the guards were still only less than ten meters away, and he continued running while shouting, “I’ve got the money! We’re heading back. Everyone will have his share…”
When the middle-aged man returned, Lin Xiao suddenly felt that his body had recovered the strength. He stood up, and at this time, the guards from the Palace who chased him had already approached to his front, and who’s leading them happened to be Wu Shang!
Long Yin had considered well in advance how extraordinary Lin Xiao was. He especially ordered Wu Shang to grab him personally, and Lin Xiao had to be brought back alive.
After seeing Wu Shang, Lin Xiao’s heart sank further. He wouldn’t be scared of ordinary guards even if there were hundreds of them, but the guards’ leader was a whole different story.
br>Wu Shang couldn’t care less about the thieves running away. He had to even thank them. Obviously, Lin Xiao got tangled because of the thieves. Without bothering about the details, he shouted, “Lin Xiao, apparently you’ve escaped to here! And now you can’t escape anymore. I’d suggest that you give up and surrender, and return to the Palace with me!”
Lin Xiao took a step back and looked with worries, “Master Wu, we have known each other for a long time. Is it true that you don’t know how I am?”
Wu Shang sneered coldly, “I only know that you’ve done a shameful act. For your reputation, the Emperor chose not to announce it. Instead of being appreciative, you chose to escape. Now, the Emperor’s reputation has been greatly affected, and everyone knows now that it’s all because of you. If you are innocent, why did you escape? If you come back with me now, I might still be able to plead for you.”
Lin Xiao insisted not to go back, “well, things have gotten this far, I can’t go back now. Not only for my life, but I also have to protect my family’s reputation. I can’t return!”