Su Mu didn't want to kill anyone.
For one, Zhang Chong and his two men weren't just some random beggars; killing them would be a huge hassle.
For another, Su Mu wasn't confident he could take on all three of them at once.
But he meant them no harm, while they were hell-bent on his destruction.
Zhang Chong and his men had pushed him too far. Su Mu had tolerated them time and again, but they refused to give him a way out.
He had reached his limit. There was no reason to hold back anymore!
He reached for his waist and gripped his wood-chopping hatchet.
At that moment, the raised fists of Zhang Chong's two henchmen were just beginning to fall, aiming right for Su Mu's face.
Suddenly.
A cold light flashed.
SHLICK! SHLICK!
Two soft sounds, nearly simultaneous, rang out like a knife slicing through tanned leather.
"You... I..."
Zhang Chong's two henchmen clutched their necks as fresh blood streamed from between their fingers.
They felt all the strength drain from their bodies, unable to utter a single word. They stared at Su Mu, their eyes full of unwillingness, before collapsing. After a few twitches and kicks, they went still.
It all happened so fast that Zhang Chong only realized what had happened after his two men hit the ground.
"Su Mu, you..."
Zhang Chong's pupils contracted. His eyes became bloodshot, and he ground his teeth with a grating sound, forcing the words from his mouth.
"You bastard, you're courting death!"
Zhang Chong roared, took a step forward, and threw a punch at Su Mu.
As a low-level Steward for the Chai Bang, Zhang Chong had practiced a few moves.
He couldn't stomach hardship and had limited talent, so he'd never amounted to much, but he was still physically much stronger than the average man.
This punch actually whistled through the air, carrying considerable force!
Su Mu's expression was grim. Although he had killed Zhang Chong's two men, it was a sneak attack.
Su Mu knew very well that he hadn't been practicing with the hatchet for long, and his physical condition was far inferior to Zhang Chong's. Even one-on-one, his chances of winning were slim.
But things had come to this; he had no other choice.
When two foes meet on a narrow path, the brave one wins.
He, a mere mortal, had dared to draw his blade against a demon. How could he not do the same against a common street thug?!
Wave-Taming Slash!
As if he hadn't even seen Zhang Chong's incoming punch, Su Mu neither dodged nor evaded, striking straight out with his hatchet.
Wave-Taming Slash!
The hatchet whistled through the air, slicing through the gap between Zhang Chong's fists and cleaving toward his chest.
Zhang Chong was just a street thug; when had he ever encountered such a suicidal, life-or-death fighting style?
By the time he realized something was wrong, it was too late to change his move.
CRACK!
The crisp sound of cracking bone echoed as excruciating pain shot from his chest to his brain.
At that same moment, Zhang Chong's fists landed on Su Mu.
One punch smashed into the corner of Su Mu's mouth, the other behind his ear.
Although both punches connected, the searing pain in his chest had drastically reduced the power behind them.
"You..."
Zhang Chong stared at Su Mu in utter disbelief, completely unable to fathom how such a frail-looking guy could be so ferocious in a fight.
Blood trickled from the corner of Su Mu's mouth, his face devoid of expression.
Zhang Chong's pupils contracted, and he opened his mouth in terror.
"Spar—"
SHLICK!
The hatchet sliced across Zhang Chong's throat, crushing his larynx and severing his carotid artery.
Zhang Chong collapsed, blood spurting from his neck. His body twitched a few times and then went still.
...
Su Mu glanced around.
Besides the three corpses, there was no one else in sight.
He slowly let out a breath of relief. A feeling of exhaustion washed over him, and the places where Zhang Chong had hit him throbbed with a piercing pain.
'This body of mine is still too weak, after all.'
'If I were a little stronger, that first strike would have killed Zhang Chong, and I wouldn't have taken those two punches.'
Looking at the three bodies, the hand Su Mu used to grip his hatchet trembled slightly.
Although it wasn't his first time killing someone, he still felt a little uneasy.
But he quickly came to terms with it.
'That's just how the world is. If you don't kill, you will be killed.'
'If he hadn't practiced his hatchet techniques, Zhang Chong and his men would have broken his arms and legs, and he would have eventually died of hunger and cold.'
They wanted his life. He didn't want to die. That meant they had to be the ones to die.
After quickly calming himself, Su Mu felt even more level-headed than after the last time he'd killed.
He was even getting much more practiced at looting corpses.
Soon, Su Mu found two silver ingots in Zhang Chong's robes, worth about ten taels.
The two henchmen didn't have much on them; only 300 cents combined.
After looting the bodies, Su Mu scanned his surroundings. Seeing no one, he quickly disappeared in the direction of Wuling City.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to hack at the wounds on the three bodies a few more times to prevent anyone from figuring out what happened.
As for destroying the evidence completely, he simply didn't have the strength for it right now.
Besides, out here beyond the city walls, jackals and wild dogs would pick their corpses clean by morning.
...
「A short while after Su Mu left.」
A few figures appeared before the three corpses. They were on their way back to Wuling City from outside the walls and happened to stumble upon the bodies of Zhang Chong and his men.
After just a single glance, the men lost interest in the bodies.
"I know him. He's a minor leader in the Chai Bang. If you ask me, this is almost certainly the result of a gang fight," another constable said.
"We're short-staffed right now. There's no need to waste manpower on this kind of scum," Chief Xing waved his hand and said.
These days, a few deaths from a gang fight were nothing.
In Wuling City, especially in the mixed bag that was South City, a day without someone dying would be the strange part.
Chief Xing himself was a constable from the South City Bureau; he'd long since grown used to this sort of thing.
If he had nothing better to do, he might have been inclined to investigate the killer.
But right now, he was already swamped. How could he be bothered with the life or death of a common hoodlum?
"We have strict orders from above. We must eliminate the Black Dragon Stronghold within six months. If we can't, I'll be exiled for sure, and none of you will get off easy either," Chief Xing said with a frown.
"Chief, we saw it clearly on this trip. The Black Dragon Stronghold has over three hundred men, at least. We only have a handful of people in the South City Bureau. Aren't the higher-ups just asking us to smash an egg against a rock?" a constable complained.
"The higher-ups aren't going to listen to your complaints," Chief Xing snorted coldly.
"Chief, I have an idea."
Another constable suddenly spoke up. "To attack the Black Dragon Stronghold, couldn't we temporarily recruit a batch of constables?
The South City Bureau is short on manpower, but what does South City have in abundance? Vagrants and beggars!
We just need to recruit a batch of constables, have them act as cannon fodder to attack the Black Dragon Stronghold, and as long as we have enough people, we can overwhelm them with sheer numbers.
Then we can just follow behind and pick up the spoils."
"The South City Bureau can't afford to support that many constables," Chief Xing said.
These constables aren't considered official staff of the Government Office, just temporary workers. But even for temporary workers, the Government Office has to pay a monthly salary. Although one constable's salary isn't much, the sheer number of them would be overwhelming.
"Chief, think about it. Of these constables sent to attack the Black Dragon Stronghold, how many will actually come back alive?
So, we won't need to support them at all," the constable said.
Chief Xing glanced at the constable, a flicker of wariness in his eyes.
'I never thought I had such a ruthless man under my command.'
'His method is feasible, but afterward, I'll have to find an excuse to transfer him away.'
'With such a vicious person under me, who knows when he might dig a pit for me to fall into?'
'No leader would ever genuinely like someone so utterly without a bottom line.'
"That's a viable plan. I'll leave this matter to you. If you can successfully eliminate the Black Dragon Stronghold, I will personally request a commendation for you!" Chief Xing said, clapping the constable on the shoulder.
"Thank you, Chief! I guarantee I'll complete the mission!" the constable was overjoyed.
...