With a loud bang, the wooden floorboards of the storage room were suddenly shoved open from below, revealing a square entrance to a hidden passage.
A yamen runner covered in blood climbed out from the opening, holding a saber.
There was actually a secret underground chamber beneath this side room!
Ning Ze turned pale. Instinctively shielding Yiyi behind him, he gripped the dagger in his hand tightly.
He recognized this runner. He was Wang Liang’s confidant, someone who had constantly mocked and targeted him and his father!
“Heh, Ning Ze!” Holding his blade, the runner walked toward them step by step, his scarred face twisted into a gruesome sneer. “Ning Ze, your father killed so many of my brothers. Today, I’ll make him feel the pain of losing a son!”
Ning Ze backed away while protecting Yiyi until they bumped against the heavy boxes blocking the door.
His heart filled with panic and regret.
He shouldn’t have used those heavy objects to block the door earlier!
They had completely sealed off their own escape route!
“Yiyi, in a moment, I’ll stall him. You hide in the underground secret chamber and see if you can escape!” Ning Ze whispered to Yiyi behind him, his eyes glued to the runner approaching them.
Lady Lu had helped him save Sister Ling’er; he had to protect Yiyi!
He couldn’t break his promise!
“I won’t!” Yiyi said. “I want to fight the bad guy with you!” She had already pulled out her wolf-repellent spray and mini stun baton from her pouch, holding one in each hand.
By now, the vicious, terrifying runner reached Ning Ze. He raised his saber and slashed down at him. “Ning Ze, die!”
“Brother, quick!” Yiyi stepped out from behind Ning Ze, raising the spray and blasting it directly into the runner’s face.
The runner hadn’t expected this soft, delicate little child to pull such a move. Unprepared, his eyes were sprayed shut, and his entire face burned painfully.
Yet the searing pain in his eyes didn’t stop him from bringing the blade down toward Ning Ze.
Ning Ze pulled Yiyi, dodging frantically to the side.
Hearing the movement, the runner swung his broad saber toward their direction again. “Damn it!”
Grutting his teeth, Ning Ze pushed Yiyi away while ducking low, charging straight into the runner to narrowly miss the blade.
The runner staggered back two steps from the impact, his broad saber sweeping right past Yiyi’s eyes.
Before he could regain his footing, Ning Ze plunged the dagger in his hand deep into the man’s abdomen.
“Ah—”
The runner let out a painful screech. Enduring the agony, he continued to swing his saber wildly.
Ning Ze had to die today!
Unable to dodge in time, Ning Ze’s shoulder was slashed by the tip of the blade, blood spurting out.
“Brother—” Yiyi’s little face turned pale with fright.
Clutching his shoulder, Ning Ze rolled on the ground until he reached Yiyi’s side.
“Don’t cry, I’m fine,” Ning Ze whispered. “Quick, get into the secret passage!”
Wiping away her tears, Yiyi remembered her mother’s advice. She lowered her voice and said decisively, “Brother, hit the floorboards to draw his attention.”
Ning Ze looked at her, confused.
“Quick!” Seeing the runner circling the room, wildly swinging his saber, Yiyi feared he might hurt Ning Ze again.
Ning Ze had no choice but to nod.
Enduring the pain in his shoulder, he gritted his teeth and shouted, “Didn’t you want to kill me? I’m right here! Come at me!”
As he shouted, he watched Yiyi’s small body hug the base of the wall, tiptoeing toward the runner’s back. Realizing she intended to sneak up from behind, anxiety surged in his chest.
He couldn’t let Yiyi get hurt!
Catching sight of a shoulder-pole nearby out of the corner of his eye, Ning Ze felt a rush of hope. He rushed over in two steps and grabbed it.
By then, the runner had reached him. As the broad saber was about to fall, Ning Ze struck his arm hard with the pole.
The impact vibrated through the runner’s arm, almost making him lose his grip on the blade.
However, driven by a resolve to die, this runner possessed endurance far beyond ordinary men.
“You brat! I’m going to chop you into ten thousand pieces!” Hearing the sound, the runner swung at Ning Ze.
Right at that moment, Yiyi reached his back and pressed the mini stun baton against his waist.
The runner felt a slight touch on his lower back. The next second, a surge of numbness rushed through his entire body, sending him crashing to the floor, twitching uncontrollably.
Stunned for a moment, Ning Ze reacted instantly. He drove his dagger deep into the runner’s chest, blood splashing across his face.
Afraid the man wasn’t completely dead, Ning Ze pulled out the blade and slashed his throat.
He then stabbed blindly at the body repeatedly, determined to ensure the runner was dead beyond doubt!
Watching the blood gush out, Yiyi was paralyzed with fear, her eyes staring blankly at the blood-filled holes.
“Ah—”
The little girl suddenly clutched her head and let out a piercing scream.
Driven mad by the killing, Ning Ze was startled back to his senses by the agonized cry. Overcome with remorse, he dropped the dagger, crawled over, and pulled the little girl into his arms.
“Yiyi, don’t be afraid! It’s okay, it’s okay… He’s dead…” Ning Ze babbled incoherently. He didn’t know whether his own body was trembling or if it was Yiyi.
It was his first time killing a person, and deep down, he was consumed by intense fear.
Yet seeing the little girl terrified to this extent, his heart was filled with self-reproach alongside that fear.
He shouldn’t have let Yiyi see this!
Outside, Yun Zhu, who had just finished off Chen De, was utterly exhausted. Sitting on the ground to regain some strength, she was about to check on the unconscious, blood-soaked Ling’er when she heard her daughter’s scream.
Her legs went weak, almost causing her to collapse back onto the ground.
She rushed to the side room, pushing against the door while yelling, “Yiyi! Yiyi! What happened to you? Answer me!”
Hearing her mother’s voice, the little girl in Ning Ze’s arms instantly burst into tears. “Mother, Mother~~”
She rushed toward the entrance and pushed with all her might against the boxes blocking the door, but couldn’t move them.
Ning Ze silently walked over to help her.
Before long, the heavy objects blocking the doorway were cleared away, and Yiyi hurriedly opened the door.
“Mother—”
Yiyi threw herself into her mother’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
“What happened? What happened?”
Yun Zhu held her daughter, asking frantically. Looking up, she met the gaze of the blood-drenched Ning Ze, and her heart sank.
Peering further into the room, she saw a motionless runner lying inside, equally covered in blood.
Yun Zhu’s pupils contracted.
How was that possible?
She had entered this side room earlier, and there had clearly been nowhere to hide!
“Did you save my daughter?” Yun Zhu asked Ning Ze, filled with lingering fear.
“I… I… Yiyi saw me… kill someone…” Ning Ze’s face was deathly pale as he spoke with great difficulty.
Yun Zhu held her daughter even tighter. “It’s all right! Yiyi, it’s all right.”
As long as her daughter was safe!
Yun Zhu looked at Ning Ze gratefully. “Young Master Ning, thank you…”
Before Yun Zhu could finish her sentence, Ning Ze collapsed straight to the ground with a thud.
Startled, Yun Zhu looked down at her daughter. “Yiyi, stop crying, okay? Young Master Ning fainted!”
Yiyi continued to cry as if unable to hear anything, her arms tightly wrapping around her mother’s neck to seek a sense of security.
Yun Zhu had no choice but to carry her over to Ning Ze’s side. Looking closely, she realized Ning Ze’s shoulder was wounded and still bleeding.
She didn’t know whether he had fainted out of fear from killing someone or from excessive blood loss.
Using one hand, Yun Zhu unbuttoned his clothes, retrieved styptic powder from her spatial storage, and applied it to stop the bleeding first.
Fortunately, though the wound on Ning Ze’s shoulder was long, it wasn’t very deep.
Yun Zhu planned to wait for the bleeding to stop before cleaning his wound. Just then, Ning Sichang rushed over, his face deathly pale.
“Ze’er—”
Seeing his son lying on the floor covered in blood, Ning Sichang froze at the doorway of the side room, not daring to step forward.
“Magistrate Ning, Young Master Ning is only injured; his life isn’t in danger,” Yun Zhu said to comfort him, understanding his feelings.
Ze’er was fine?!
Ning Sichang’s tightly wound nerves relaxed, and he almost cried tears of joy.
The next second, his gaze fell upon the opening in the corner of the wall.
Was this the secret passage Wang Liang had mentioned for smuggling stolen silver?