Chapter 75: Explosion

“Who’s there? Catch him!”

The spies followed the direction Gold Pig pointed and looked. They only saw a wine building roof where a dark-faced figure had just peeked out from behind the roof ridge, quietly spying on Hongyi Alley.

One spy was suddenly startled, "Is it a person or a ghost?!"

Gold Pig narrowed his eyes with a smile, gazing at Chen Ji on the building. "Pretending to be a god or a ghost. Surround him for me!"

The Spies Division had come up empty tonight. Gold Pig's face was smiling, but inside, a fire of anger burned. Their side had produced a Jing Chao thief as an undercover agent. If the other Zodiacs knew, they would surely laugh their teeth off.

The next moment, Chen Ji's eyes widened as he watched dozens of spies surround him, completely encircling the wine building he was on. Some people climbed the outer wall. Chen Ji then lifted tiles one by one and smashed them down, hitting the spies trying to climb up until their heads were broken and bleeding.

More spies brought over two long ladders, intending to climb onto the roof using them. Chen Ji went to the ladder and with force flipped it over, along with the spies on it. The spies set up a ladder, and he would flip that one over too. But there were too many spies, and they brought more and more ladders. More and more were climbing the building. He alone simply couldn't guard everything; losing guard was only a matter of time. He was like guarding an isolated city, facing an attacking army from all sides.

At this time, Lin Chaoqing slowly asked Gold Pig, "Does my Jie Fan Wei need to take action? If Gold Pig, your spies can't take him down, we Jie Fan Wei can relieve you of worry and difficulty."

"With so many pairs of eyes watching, if we can't even deal with one Jing Chao thief, it will spread and people will joke that Si Li Jian is useless."

Gold Pig said with a smile, "No need for Jie Fan Wei to take action. My Spies Division can handle it ourselves." After speaking, he took off his light armor and handed it to a subordinate, actually going to arrest Chen Ji himself.

Chen Ji's peripheral vision caught this scene. He secretly thought it was not good. If Gold Pig personally came up the building to catch him, he would truly be in a disaster he couldn't escape. He untied the cloth package on his back and took out two bamboo tubes from inside!

The next moment, they only saw Gold Pig rushing towards the wine building. Each step could cover several zhang. Arriving in front of the building, Gold Pig leaped and jumped. His fat body actually ascended to the second floor like a dry onion pulled from the ground. He then used the wooden railing on the second floor for leverage and directly flew onto the roof! For a high-ranking official like Gold Pig, ascending a building several meters high was like walking on flat ground, already surpassing ordinary people.

However, just as he flew onto the roof, he saw the dark figure opposite him holding a fire-tipped strip in one hand and a bamboo tube in the other. The fuse on the bamboo tube had already started burning. But Chen Ji lit it and didn't immediately throw the bamboo tube. He patiently waited for the fuse to almost burn out, then threw it towards Gold Pig, who had just landed on the roof.

Lie down! Chen Ji lay on the roof, covering his ears tightly.

Gold Pig, who hadn't even stood still, saw the bamboo tube flying towards him. He subconsciously wanted to kick it away, but the bamboo tube exploded before it reached him!

With a boom, Gold Pig lifted his arms to protect his head. His whole body was flipped outwards by the huge impact wave! This sound was like thunder on flat ground. The exploding firelight illuminated the originally dim sky, as if a god had descended with an angry fire, directly facing the bright sunlight.

Outside Hongyi Alley, the sound of thunder exploded and echoed far. For a time, over a hundred watchdogs barked wildly. The entire Luo City seemed to be startled awake! Inside Hongyi Alley, clients and singing girls were all scared stiff. Countless clients and singing girls lay on the ground, howling in fright. Not only them, but even the Jie Fan Wei horses were startled and neighed. Several dozen warhorses on the bluestone road reared up, almost throwing the Jie Fan Wei to the ground.

The warhorse under Lin Chaoqing also wanted to lift its hooves, but he forcefully stopped it. This main Xing Si commander's face was solemn. He lifted his head and calmly looked towards the sky, his sharp gaze shooting out from under his bamboo hat. They only saw Gold Pig, who had just ascended the roof, flying out like a kite with a broken string, falling directly from the air several meters high.

Gold Pig's originally exquisite cross-collared robe was now in tatters, his sleeves torn open like flowers, his pants missing half, his whole body ragged, like a broken cloth bag.

A spy exclaimed, "Save the adult, don't let him fall to the ground!" After speaking, over ten spies rushed towards where Gold Pig was falling, catching him before he hit the ground and forcefully holding him up.

With several cracking sounds, several spies felt their arms being pulled by the heavy Gold Pig. Their arm bones directly broke, and their waists couldn't bear the weight! A group of people fell down with a boom, but in total, they didn't let Gold Pig smash onto the bluestone road.

"Adult!""Adult!"

These spies had followed Gold Pig for many years and had feelings for him like brothers. And it wasn't just how fierce Gold Pig was towards Jing Chao thieves; it was also that he was indeed extremely caring towards his subordinates and very good at winning their hearts. But now, Gold Pig's eyes were tightly closed, his face dark, and even his breathing had stopped. The spies immediately felt sorrow from within.

"Cough cough cough cough, what are you crying about? What are you howling about? This old man isn't dead yet." Gold Pig slowly opened his eyes, sitting up in surprise and uncertainty. "How is this damn gunpowder so powerful? Even the things inside our Craftsman Supervision might not be this fierce!"

Earlier, when Gold Pig saw the bamboo tube and the fuse, he had already prepared himself mentally. He guessed that the bamboo tube contained gunpowder, and that he would definitely be injured if it exploded. But he fundamentally didn't expect that the power of this firecracker was far greater than he had anticipated! This thing was simply not the same kind of thing as the gunpowder he had seen before!

Gold Pig lowered his head and looked at his ragged clothes. His whole body felt a burning pain, his bones felt like they were falling apart, and his internal organs had all shifted. If his cultivation realm hadn't been high, he probably would have been exploded to death on the spot.

Strange, could it be that someone inside the Craftsman Supervision had researched something new and secretly not reported it, quietly selling it to Jing Chao thieves? Not good, if Jing Chao gets this thing, Ning Chao is in danger!

Gold Pig forcefully supported himself to stand up. "Quick, quick, quick, catch that person! If this person runs away under my nose, how can I still have the face to go back and see the Inner Minister adult!"

But, when he lifted his head again at this time, where was Chen Ji on the roof? He had long since jumped to another roof and run away.

Lin Chaoqing sat on his horse and glanced at him. "Gold Pig adult, a great disaster not leading to death must have later blessings. But next time, if you don't have full certainty, then don't come to the Meng Jin camp and call me, Jie Fan Wei. Go back to camp!"

Hongyi Alley quieted down. Gold Pig sent out half of his spies, trying to track down the dark-clothed, dark-faced person. But he actually understood in his heart that it probably wouldn't be easy to find him. He led his core subordinates to the backyard of the wine building and quietly looked at his six subordinates who had died in the yard.

"All are knife wounds. Xi Feng, you are most skilled in using knives. Examine them." Gold Pig said expressionlessly. The spy named Xi Feng squatted down, saying "Sorry" in his heart, then stripped off the clothes of his dead colleagues. The spies brought clear water to wash the wounds clean and carefully observed. "The opponent used a short knife. The blade is a bit strange, it doesn't seem sharp, it doesn't even look like a knife specifically for killing people."

"What kind of knife was used?"

"Adult, there are too many types of knives. It seems the assassin just casually picked up a knife and used it."

"This assassin's knife technique is extremely fierce and cunning. The wounds are all at fatal key points, very precise."

"The opponent is a seasoned old knife expert."

"If he hasn't practiced hard for years, it's impossible to be so straightforward and clean."

"And this person is very cautious. He clearly understands that one knife strike usually won't immediately kill someone, so he supplements several knives to other key points every time he kills someone."

The spies took a breath of cold air. "What a ruthless and vicious mind."

Gold Pig furrowed his eyebrows and looked around. He suddenly looked at the scattered long knives on the ground. "Eh, why are all these knives broken!" The spy examining the bodies stood up and looked. He suddenly discovered that out of the six knives in this yard, five were broken! He picked up a piece of a broken knife blade and then found the matching handle. Holding the two segments of the knife together, everyone saw a clear notch where the long knife was broken.

The spies were somewhat unbelievable. "Adult, these knives were chopped broken by someone with a single strike."

"The long knives used by my Spies Division are all made of hundred-forged steel. The opponent simply used a casual short knife and could chop our knives broken with one strike?"

Gold Pig looked at the spies. "Have you seen this kind of knife technique?"

The spies shook their heads. "No. Could it be Liang Gou Er?"

Gold Pig sneered, "It's not Liang Gou Er. If it were Liang Gou Er here, where would he still need the effort to break their knives? Moreover, Liang Gou Er's spine was broken; he wouldn't dare oppose my Spies Division. So, who could it be? Such a fierce knife expert can't just jump out of a crack in a stone, right?"

He stood in the quiet yard, surveying the bloodstains and corpses on the ground. The opponent killed six spies by himself. He was undoubtedly an official. But Gold Pig had seen many officials, and not many had such exquisite knife techniques. Wait, wasn't there a Si Cao in the Jing Chao Military Intelligence Division who was skilled in using a short knife? Earlier, Bao Hou led a team to capture the opponent in Jinling, but after the opponent fought and killed over ten people, he jumped into the Qinhuai River to escape. At that time, that Si Cao used just a short knife!

Gold Pig's whole body was burning with fiery pain, and there were still countless iron fragments embedded in his skin. Now, every step he took was torture, his bones felt like they were falling apart. By rights, he should seek treatment as soon as possible, but he thought about such powerful gunpowder falling into the hands of Jing Chao thieves and being used on the Ning Chao border army in the future. Then he no longer cared about his own injuries.

Gold Pig said in a ferocious voice, "Xi Feng, take my waist token and find the Luo City Military Affairs Division. Tell him to seal all the city gates of Luo City. Dong Feng, go intercept Jie Fan Wei. Tell them to go to the grain transport wharf now and not allow any ships to leave within three days!"

He said gloomily, "Find him for me. Even if you dig three feet into the ground, turn Luo City upside down, you must find this person for me!"