Chapter Forty: Seeking Vengeance

Walking under the moonlight, I dared not follow too closely, keeping a cautious eye on that Wei fellow. Fortunately, his direction was clear, so I had little fear of losing him. The farther we went, the more curious I became. More than once, I thought he might turn or stop, but he kept striding steadily in a single direction. He moved with the ease of someone intimately familiar with the village's layout.

Earlier that day, Xiao Qingwan and I had wandered all about the village and never ran into him. Could it be that he had been here before? But when we arrived, Huang Wenyang’s manner clearly showed it was their first meeting—he even got the man’s title wrong.

We were getting farther and farther from the center, and in no time we’d reached the edge of the village. Beyond lay only the woods. I couldn’t help but joke to myself—surely he wasn’t headed into the trees just to relieve himself?

There were no houses to hide behind past this point, so I pressed myself to the wall, waiting for him to get farther ahead before following. After a while, thinking he must be well ahead, I peeked out—only to find the Wei fellow had vanished!

Had he already entered the woods? Could he really have moved so quickly?

I crept forward a few steps, scanning the area. There was no trace of him; it seemed he truly had gone into the forest. I tiptoed toward the trees. In daylight, they looked lush and green, thickly clustered; at the edge by the village they were a bit more sparse. I craned my neck, peering in—the canopy was so dense it blotted out the moon, and within, darkness reigned, thick as pitch, where even an outstretched hand would be invisible.

A soft rustling echoed through the night, but there were no footsteps. Strange. Had the Wei fellow not entered the woods after all? Or was there a path inside, free of fallen leaves, so his light tread made no sound?

Suddenly, something brushed my trouser leg—something leapt onto me and clung tight. I staggered back a few steps, glanced down in the moonlight, and saw an enormous eight-legged monstrosity gripping my leg! My heart thudded, my scalp tingled, and every hair stood on end. Damn it! A ghost spider!

How cursed could I get? Why in the world would there be a ghost spider here?

I shook my leg in terror, desperate to fling it off, but the creature was stubborn and leapt onto my torso, its eight long legs splayed across my chest!

My mind buzzed, a chill ran down my spine, and I felt faint. I dared not swat at it with my hands; I jumped and twisted, frantically shaking my clothes. The accursed spider crawled and leapt across my body, refusing to let me go!

I should never have come out here! This was hellish! I was bouncing, wriggling, and even shrieked aloud, completely forgetting my dignity.

The spider scrabbled onto my back, then suddenly I felt a prickling numbness at my neck! God help me! It was crawling up to my throat! If it bit me there, who knew if I’d live to see the dawn?

In my panic, I reached to grab it—

A shadow flashed swiftly past me. My hand landed on my neck, but the spider was gone. Puzzled, I hadn’t even registered what had just happened.

I shook myself all over, confirming the spider had truly vanished, then turned to see the Wei fellow standing nearby, gripping the gigantic spider between two wooden sticks.

Where had he come from? Hadn't he just disappeared?

Remembering I’d been following him, I felt a twinge of guilt and tried to cover it up. “That’s a big spider…”

Looking closer, I realized the monstrous spider wasn’t a ghost spider at all, but a tarantula—a real, honest-to-goodness bird-eating spider.

Damn! That gave me a fright!

Wei tossed both the spider and the sticks into the woods, then looked at me.

I turned away and chuckled awkwardly. “Couldn’t sleep, so I went for a walk. Never thought I’d run into a tarantula. What rotten luck.”

“Did it bite you?” he asked.

I was taken aback, expecting him to question why I’d been tailing him.

“No…” I replied.

He said nothing more, just turned and headed back toward the village.

I followed, wondering if that was really the end of it. Wasn’t he going to ask why I was following him?

Now that it was just the two of us, I seized the chance to ask, “Back at sea, was it you who saved me?”

I could vaguely recall a hand grabbing me as I was about to lose consciousness, but nothing after that.

“Mm.” He nodded.

He didn’t seem as disagreeable or arrogant as he usually appeared.

I pressed on, “What happened on the ghost ship that night? Why didn’t I see you after I jumped over?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he stopped abruptly and looked in a particular direction. A clamoring of footsteps approached, and under the moonlight, a large group stormed toward us. Leading them was a figure I recognized all too well—it was Instant Noodle Yellow, the one who’d picked a fight with us earlier that day.

Damn! He really meant business! Now it was just me and Wei, and if he caught us, we were done for!

“Run!” I whispered urgently to Wei, making to dash aside.

But just as I moved, someone yanked my collar hard. Almost at the same instant, something whizzed past my face and smashed against the nearby wall with a heavy thud—a brick!

“Well, what do you know! Since we found you here, let’s finish off these two first—then we’ll hunt down the rest!” Instant Noodle Yellow and his mob swiftly surrounded us, brandishing machetes and iron rods, clearly a gang of thugs.

One look was enough to know these people were trouble. I hadn’t thought he’d actually gather such a gang and come for us in the dead of night—he was clearly ruthless, leaving us no room to escape. Reasoning with him was pointless. This was bad!

“Wait, do you even know who he is? That’s Second Master’s son, the crown prince of South China’s greatest syndicate—no one in the region would dare touch him!” I bluffed, trying to buy us time.

“The crown prince, huh! Well, tonight I’ll chop off the head of South China’s crown prince and piss on it!” Instant Noodle Yellow cursed, swinging his iron rod straight for my head.

Shit! I reflexively raised my arms to protect myself, bracing for shattered bones.

But the blow never landed. Lowering my arms, I saw that Wei had grabbed the thug’s wrist in mid-swing!

With a swift kick, Wei sent Instant Noodle Yellow flying, snatched the iron rod from his grasp in one fluid motion. The whole thing happened so quickly I hardly saw how he moved—the next moment, the rod was in his hand, and Instant Noodle Yellow was sprawled two meters away, clutching his stomach and groaning in pain.

“Get back!” Wei said quietly beside me.

I hadn’t even reacted before the rest of the gang charged in, weapons raised, murderous intent clear—they meant to kill us!

Wei, iron rod in hand, took down two men with agile strikes, then suddenly yanked me, hurling me out of the encirclement!