The Passerby Hidden Guard Picked Up the Villain [Transmigration] - Chapter 15

Hearing his words, the two hidden guards looked around warily. The members of the Canal Gang were currently engaged in a fierce battle with the government troops on the shore; only the two guards and Xiao Hongyin remained on the deck.

“May I ask, Young Master Xiao, what grand gift have you prepared to entertain us?”

Caltrops, pit traps of a thousand blades, arrays of dragon’s breath, iron cages, poisons, or savage beasts; the hidden guards prepared themselves mentally for countless possibilities. However, they only saw Xiao Hongyin gently draw a single sword from a haystack.

He looked at them with a smile. The numerous silver ornaments on his body emitted a crisp tinkling sound in the dark night, and an aura of Yin energy seemed to surround him.

“Against the likes of you, one sword is enough.”

Arrogant!

The two hidden guards were successfully provoked. That a mere youth dared to challenge them both was an insult. They immediately drew their swords and slashed toward him. In a flash of cold steel, the three of them exchanged positions.

Xiao Hongyin stood with his back to the two, his sword lowered. His expression remained unchanged, as if nothing had happened. However, after the two hidden guards stabilized their footing, they silently collapsed onto the deck.

Blood dripped from the tip of the blade. Xiao Hongyin let go, and the sword fell straight onto the wooden planks with a dull thud.

Xiao Hongyin looked at the situation on the shore. Xu Wu had sent for reinforcements, and more troops were continuously being deployed into the fray. The brothers of the Canal Gang were gradually losing ground. The General Headquarters did not have many men to begin with, and half of them had left with He Yanzhi and Jin Lanye. The other branches could not arrive in time. If they continued to fight head on, they would be unable to hold out.

Xiao Hongyin calculated the time. He ordered the guards’ bodies and swords to be thrown into the water, recalled the brothers to the wooden buildings, and notified Jiang Beihai to set sail immediately.

“Where are we going?”

“To Mount Baoque, to find Brother Yan and the others.”

The ship braved the wind and waves, sailing down the river at maximum speed. Behind them, the government vessels pursued, maintaining a steady distance of one li. Xiao Hongyin ordered full speed ahead, but the hull suddenly shuddered violently. Jiang Beihai rushed to the stern to look and cursed loudly: “Damn it! Those animals mounted catapults on their ships and smashed a giant hole in our rear!”

River water began to pour through the hole into the hull. Xiao Hongyin’s lips tightened into a straight line.

“Keep sailing!”

With that, he snatched a bow and arrows from a man and ran to the stern. Jiang Beihai was busy directing men to bail the water out of the cabin. Xiao Hongyin stood on the high ground, quietly waiting for the government ship to draw closer. He then lit a straw wrapped arrowhead, drew the bow to its full extent, and shot the arrow straight into the opponent’s cabin.

Under A-Pi’s guidance, Yang Kuan led his men to find the passages connecting to the cliffside caves and stationed guards at each one. Meanwhile, He Yanzhi and Jin Lanye took exquisite daggers and dived into the caves from underwater.

The five men selected earlier were already lying in ambush beneath the water, silent and motionless like grains of sand shifting in the current. Jin Lanye quietly swam to the shore and nodded to He Yanzhi.

Once everyone was in position, He Yanzhi swam out from behind a giant rock. He floated shallowly on the surface, the ripples from his movements quickly catching the attention of the people on shore. Upon being discovered, He Yanzhi hurriedly retreated, but the men on shore had already drawn their blades and leaped into the water. One man appeared behind him with incredible speed. He Yanzhi drew his dagger and engaged the man in a struggle.

The man underestimated He Yanzhi’s skill. After missing his initial strike, his hands were seized by He Yanzhi. Taking advantage of the momentum, the man rotated his arms, flipped himself upside down, and slammed his knees toward He Yanzhi. He Yanzhi tilted his head to dodge and was forced to release his grip.

The man surfaced and blew a whistle, and several more men immediately leaped in to deal with He Yanzhi. They dove to the bottom and used water weeds to tie knots around He Yanzhi, attempting to drag him down and drown him. Suddenly, several gray skinned figures darted out from the weeds, seized their necks, and forced their mouths open to stuff the weeds inside.

The reinforcements vanished without a trace. The man fighting He Yanzhi sensed something was wrong and tried to flee back to the shore, but He Yanzhi dragged him back. He Yanzhi did not kill him; he wanted to use him as bait to lure more men into the water. The man’s head bobbed up and down, his mouth and nose filled with water until his consciousness became blurred.

After dealing with eight or nine men using this tactic, the water bandits on shore finally realized something was amiss. They turned their bows toward He Yanzhi, but they did not expect Jin Lanye to have crept up behind them. He cleanly and decisively forced them to close their eyes forever.

Facing the sudden attack, the water bandits who had not yet been discovered leaped into the water. Those on shore who could not escape in time were knocked unconscious by Jin Lanye.

He Yanzhi climbed onto the shore and opened the large crate.

It was empty.

“What is going on?”

Jin Lanye was certain that the crate before them was the one meant to hold the Birthday Gifts, but the contents had been hidden elsewhere.

He Yanzhi comforted him, “Do not worry. This item is quite heavy; it certainly would not be hidden too far. Let us interrogate them first.” Jin Lanye nodded; he had no other choice.

Once they had dealt with the captives, the group left the cave and returned to the shore. Yang Kuan was currently catching the water bandits who had accidentally slipped away, tying them up one by one with thick rope. When He Yanzhi arrived, Yang Kuan added a threat: “Our famous Grandfather Evil God is here! You had better speak quickly, or you will have a bitter time of it!”

Yang Kuan blinked at He Yanzhi triumphantly, only to be startled by the water weeds covering the other man’s face. He Yanzhi signaled for Yang Kuan to step back.

“Where are the Birthday Gifts?”

He Yanzhi intentionally obscured his face and lowered his voice. He did this to avoid being recognized, lest word reached He Yu. However, since these men were He Yu’s trusted confidants, they would not easily be broken. Facing He Yanzhi’s questioning, they simply feigned death.

He Yanzhi was not annoyed. He had not expected to get anything from their mouths in the first place. He simply analyzed the situation: “You are newcomers and are not familiar with the terrain here. Finding the cave behind the cliff was likely an accident.”

The water bandits gave no reaction. He Yanzhi continued, “This cave is extremely hidden and easy to defend but hard to attack. Unfortunately, you did not find the other passages. In this way, once you are trapped, you have no way to fight back. However, you are not worried about this problem. Since the Birthday Gifts are in your hands, you expect us to eventually make concessions for them.”

Before He Yanzhi could finish speaking, the water bandits suddenly vomited black blood and committed suicide by poison.

After confirming they were all dead, He Yanzhi removed the water weeds from his face and called Yang Kuan back.

“These people considered everything. If they could escape, they would wait for the officials to leave before transporting the Birthday Gifts. If captured, they would take the secret to their graves,” He Yanzhi said coldly.

Yang Kuan said with a headache, “The people are all dead. Where are we supposed to find the goods?”

After struggling all night and finally catching the culprits, the goods were still missing. Yang Kuan picked up a pebble and threw it hard into the water. Suddenly, he saw a ball of fire appear upstream.

“Brother He, look! What on earth is that?!”

He Yanzhi looked in that direction. In the distance, he could vaguely discern what appeared to be a large ship on fire. No, it was two ships. Half of one ship was already submerged, and the part remaining above the water was almost entirely covered in flames. It looked extremely perilous.

Seeing the two ships engulfed in flames heading their way, He Yanzhi warned everyone to stay back. As they drew closer, He Yanzhi saw a figure dressed in Miao clothing on the bow of the sinking ship, the only spot left where one could still stand.

“Is that A-Yin?!”

Yang Kuan had also spotted the person on the bow. He turned to look at He Yanzhi, but the latter had already run toward the sinking ship. There was no one else left on the two vessels; those who could swim had long since jumped to escape, and those who could not were swallowed by the flames.

Before Jiang Beihai jumped, he had tried to pull Xiao Hongyin with him, but the boy had refused. He did not want to jump into the water, nor did he want to be burned to death. He was waiting for He Yanzhi.

“A-Yin!”

He Yanzhi ran to the shore closest to the ship. Heat waves, carried by the river wind, lashed against his face. He shouted for Xiao Hongyin. The fire burned through the keel, and the hull shuddered violently. Xiao Hongyin’s footing became unstable, and he was thrown off the deck. His hands barely managed to catch the mast, making him look like a withered leaf about to be blown away by the wind.

He Yanzhi grew frantic and shouted, “Do not be afraid! I am down here to protect you! Jump!”

The river water steamed from the heat of the fire. He Yanzhi plunged into the water and swam toward the ship. Xiao Hongyin looked down from the height and saw a figure exerting every effort to push away burning driftwood and dodge debris falling from above, opening his arms in the water below the bow.

Xiao Hongyin took a deep breath, relaxed his body, and let himself fall freely. His body brushed past the heat of the flames, followed by a sudden, bone chilling cold.

Waves of water poured into his mouth and nose. His mind felt as if it were suddenly cut off, and an unspeakable sense of helplessness surrounded him. Memories of being imprisoned in a water dungeon in his past life flooded back.

So tired. I just want to sink like this.

Xiao Hongyin stopped moving and let himself sink slowly with the weight of the water. But he eventually landed in an embrace that appeared out of nowhere. He Yanzhi held him and swam to the surface, taking him away from the ship as fast as possible.

Just as the two of them scrambled onto the shore, the ship collapsed with a roar and was completely swallowed by the river.

“A-Yin? A-Yin!”

He Yanzhi laid Xiao Hongyin flat on the ground, helping him expel the water from his stomach by pressing on his chest with clenched, crossed hands. Fortunately, Xiao Hongyin was mostly fine aside from choking on some water. He woke up just as He Yanzhi was about to provide artificial respiration and immediately threw himself into the man’s arms.

“I am here. It is alright now.”

The child was truly terrified. He Yanzhi gently patted his back to comfort him. Yang Kuan and Jin Lanye rushed over with their men, hurriedly asking what had happened. Seeing the tattered Miao clothing on Xiao Hongyin, which had been burned by the fire, they both looked surprised. He Yanzhi told them not to rush and to let Xiao Hongyin recover.

“Where is Old Jiang?” Jin Lanye looked around, found no sign of Jiang Beihai, and asked urgently.

“Leader Jiang jumped ship to escape. He should be fine.” Xiao Hongyin was exhausted. Leaning into the crook of He Yanzhi’s neck, he explained how the government troops had surrounded the headquarters and how he had impersonated Jin Lanye to buy time.

When Jin Lanye first heard about the encirclement, he instinctively gripped his dagger, but he let out a long sigh of relief upon hearing that Jiang Beihai and the brothers were safe.

Yang Kuan gasped in surprise after listening. “That was so dangerous! Brother He, you are playing a big game! Do you dare to fool the government? Do you not want your job anymore?!”

He Yanzhi thought to himself that his job was long gone anyway, so he did not care. Instead, he was more concerned about the situation of those two hidden guards. He sent the others to handle the aftermath, then quietly asked Xiao Hongyin: “What about those two?”

Xiao Hongyin naturally would not tell him that he had dealt with them. He lied casually, saying that they had unfortunately been crushed into meat pies by giant rocks during the fight. He Yanzhi nodded, his eyes lowering slightly.

The hidden guards were dead, so he would not be exposed for the time being, but there was no guarantee that He Yu would not send more people. Thinking of this, He Yanzhi looked at the youth in his arms. The small, frail body was shivering, and the relaxed face was still stained with black ash from the charcoal.

As long as the boy remained, He Yanzhi could never completely escape the main plot. The bright moon was obscured by dark clouds, and He Yanzhi’s dark eyes merged with the night.

“Put this on.”

He found an outer robe and left Xiao Hongyin in the care of the bailiffs while he went to search for the Birthday Gifts.

As Jin Lanye and Yang Kuan were discussing possible hiding spots on the shore, He Yanzhi suddenly asked a crucial question: “What exactly are the Birthday Gifts?”

“People from the Eastern Province call it the Red Tree,” Jin Lanye explained. “In common terms, it is a piece of red coral stone half as tall as a man.”