Chapter 147: The Great Fire

“You are not an ordinary hunter. Hunters don’t have your skills, and they don’t kill without blinking like you do.” Zhu Que suddenly spoke.

His voice was calm, with no rise or fall.

“You are also not an ordinary assassin. Ordinary assassins wouldn’t be so rich or carry so many hidden weapons on them.”

Xiao Huai’an’s words carried a hint of mockery.

Zhu Que’s face flushed for a moment.

Despite using so many hidden weapons, he hadn’t even scratched his opponent. Was Xiao Huai’an mocking him?

“You’ve killed people. Even if I can’t kill you, your family will still get into trouble,” Zhu Que said. “With your shady identity, you’ll fall into endless trouble.”

Xiao Huai’an, however, chuckled softly. “Who said I killed them? They were clearly killed by you!”

Zhu Que’s heart skipped a beat.

The next moment, Xiao Huai’an appeared in front of him.

Zhu Que had already used up all his hidden weapons, and his curved blade had been thrown away. The only thing left in his hands was the hoe he had picked up from the edge of the yard to fight Xiao Huai’an.

At that moment, the difference in their strength became immediately apparent.

Xiao Huai’an swung his axe, and Zhu Que tried to block it with the hoe. The hoe was instantly cleaved in two.

Zhu Que staggered and raised the remaining part of the hoe to defend himself, but he didn’t anticipate that Xiao Huai’an’s axe had already circled behind him.

The sharp edge of the axe pressed against Zhu Que’s neck.

“Don’t move. If you do, your head will be separated from your body.”

Taking advantage of Zhu Que’s momentary distraction, Xiao Huai’an kicked him to the ground.

He whispered, “Tell me, who sent you?”

Zhu Que’s face pressed against the ground, his voice emotionless, “I won’t say. Unless you promise to let me go.”

“Not talking? Then you’re useless.”

Xiao Huai’an raised his axe, and Zhu Que let out a hissing laugh, “If you kill me, you won’t get anything from me.”

Xiao Huai’an’s face was expressionless as he swung his axe down, severing Zhu Que’s head.

“Keeping you alive wouldn’t have gotten me anything either.”

He had encountered many people like Zhu Que, those who thought they could protect their lives by holding on to a secret, but in the end, they said nothing.

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Ye Xin Ran stood by the window, listening closely to the sounds coming from the next door.

She couldn’t do anything herself. If she went out now, she’d only cause trouble for Xiao Huai’an.

But her heart was racing so fast, it felt like she could hardly breathe.

She tightly pinched her own fingers, praying that Xiao Huai’an would win.

It felt like an entire century passed before the noises from next door finally ceased.

But Xiao Huai’an hadn’t come back.

After a while, the outside suddenly lit up, accompanied by the sounds of crackling.

Ye Xin Ran could no longer worry about the danger. Barefoot, she ran out of the room and saw that Zhang Po Zi’s house next door was engulfed in flames.

In the fiery light, Xiao Huai’an, covered in blood, walked slowly like a god of war.

Ye Xin Ran immediately rushed to him.

“You’re alright, that’s such a relief.”

Xiao Huai’an lifted her with both hands, concerned that the blood on his body would dirty her clothes. “The ground is so cold, why did you run out without shoes?”

Only then did Ye Xin Ran realize how cold the night wind had become.

“Did he… die?”

Ye Xin Ran looked at Xiao Huai’an, covered in blood, and guessed.

“He’s dead.”

“And Zhang Da Shan… them?”

Ye Xin Ran hesitated, looking at the blazing fire.

“They’re all dead, killed by that person.”

Xiao Huai’an said slowly.

He wasn’t afraid of the judgment of others, but he feared Ye Xin Ran might fear him. He didn’t want her to think of him as a heartless murderer.

The next moment, Ye Xin Ran said, “You should go inside and change. In a while, the villagers will wake up. If they see you like this, it’ll be hard to explain.”

“Alright!”

Xiao Huai’an continued holding Ye Xin Ran until they reached the house and he placed her on the bed.

Then, in front of Ye Xin Ran, Xiao Huai’an began to remove his bloodstained clothes.

He bent down to pick up the dirty clothes on the ground, planning to hide them somewhere, but Ye Xin Ran urged him, “Go take a shower, I’ll handle the rest.”

Xiao Huai’an obediently went outside, and as soon as he turned, Ye Xin Ran collected the bloodied clothes into her space.

Xiao Huai’an was quick in the shower.

When Ye Xin Ran had calmed down and changed clothes, she went outside. By then, Xiao Huai’an had already finished changing and was throwing water on Zhang Po Zi’s house, which was still burning.

He had removed all the traps from the yard and saw the curious villagers gathering around. He called them over to help extinguish the fire.

Seeing Xiao Huai’an working so hard to put out the fire, the villagers were a bit puzzled. “Xiao Brother, I never expected you to hold no grudge. The Zhang family treated you so badly before, and now you’re still willing to help them!”

Xiao Huai’an had a calm expression. “It’s not helping them, I just don’t want the fire to spread too much and damage my home.”

“I see now!”

The villagers understood and immediately said, “We’ll help you!”

More and more people began arriving.

When the village chief arrived, he immediately began directing the strong men in the village to help put out the fire.

The villagers came and went through the Xiao family’s yard, and soon the yard was in disarray.

However, the fire was so fierce that despite everyone’s best efforts, they couldn’t bring it under control.

The village chief had no choice but to have everyone form a line along the Xiao family’s wall to prevent the fire from spreading.

The fire raged until dawn before slowly dying down.

The village chief ordered everyone to protect the fire scene.

He also sent Niu Er and Er Zhu to the county office to report the incident.

The village chief stayed behind at the Xiao family’s house to inquire about what happened the previous night.

“How did this fire suddenly start? Did you hear anything unusual last night?”

Xiao Huai’an answered, “We went to bed early and didn’t hear anything unusual.”

The two children were also confused. Chang An said, “We went to bed early last night. Before we went to sleep, Second Uncle even asked me to recite the Three Character Classic. I recited until I fell asleep.”

“And we couldn’t hear anything from outside. We only found out this morning,” Chang Ping added.

Ye Xin Ran said, “After the fire started, my husband and I did hear something. At first, I thought it was someone setting off firecrackers in the middle of the night. But then I realized, it’s not a holiday or the New Year, so why would anyone be setting off firecrackers? I asked my husband to go out and check.”

“He went out and found the fire.”

“Village chief, although our family isn’t on good terms with Zhang Po Zi’s family, we were the first to rush out to help put out the fire.”

“Uh…”

The village chief was momentarily speechless.

“Whether you’re first or not, it doesn’t seem to matter much.”

“Zhang Zong is never home. With such a big incident at his house, I don’t even know if he’ll get the news. I’ve been the village chief for many years, but I’ve never encountered such a large fire.”

“This matter might be suspicious. We’ll have to wait for the constables to investigate before we can say anything.”

The village chief rambled on, but Ye Xin Ran didn’t catch any important points, only knowing that a report had been made.

She hoped the constables wouldn’t be too clever and wouldn’t trace anything back to them.