Chapter 262 Familiarity
It was Wen Zhimo, the King of the Northern Frontier.
Wen Zhi was afraid that arriving late would cause an irreparable regret.
They changed horses five times along the way, rested for only two or three hours a day, and finally arrived at Guandu Prefecture a day earlier than Meng Xingyuan.
He was so exhausted that he took a day to rest before Meng Xingyuan and the others arrived.
Early this morning, he inquired about the Severed Head Gang and prepared an outfit similar to that of the gang's leader, Blood Wolf, intending to "kill" Meng Xingyuan under the guise of Blood Wolf.
In order not to alert the enemy, Wen Zhiming did not investigate the Headless Gang, so he did not know the true identity of the Blood Wolf and could only disguise himself according to the description given by the people.
Fortunately, his appearance was similar to that of Blood Wolf; he was tall and imposing, and stronger than the average person. He could slice off a person's head as easily as slicing a watermelon. As long as the knife was sharp enough, it wouldn't be difficult for him.
The most troublesome part was the red glow in the eyes. It took him a lot of effort to find two beads of cinnabar from several shops. When the moonlight was refracted, it could create the illusion of "red glow".
Meng Xingyuan's men had never seen Blood Wolf before, so his less-than-stellar disguise barely passed the test, leading the soldiers to mistake him for Blood Wolf.
As for the person he beheaded, it was a bully he had seen during the day who was about to attack a woman in the street.
He knocked the bully unconscious and hid there. When he dragged Meng Xingyuan over and knocked him to the ground, he switched the two in an instant and then swung his knife to disfigure the bully's face. Everything happened so fast that no one noticed anything amiss, even under everyone's noses.
At this point, Wen Zhiming's plan can be considered to have been successfully completed.
Meng Xingyuan had already been brutally murdered by the bandit leader Blood Wolf in full view of everyone. All he needed to do was take his father-in-law away and hide him, and then he could go back and report to Meng Lingge.
But the five thousand soldiers that Meng Xingyuan brought are most likely to meet a grim fate...
The Headless Gang already harbored deep hatred for government officials, and now that he had been accused of murdering officials in the capital, Blood Wolf, unable to find the real culprit, was bound to vent his anger on the remaining five thousand soldiers.
These five thousand soldiers were not related to Wen Zhiming, and were even the emperor's men, but when Wen Zhiming recalled the scene of the last few soldiers risking their lives to drag away their unconscious comrades, he still felt compassion.
Although the five thousand soldiers were mostly old, weak, sick, or disabled, each of them had family members who could not bear to part with them.
The massacre of government soldiers by the Duan Tou Gang would pose some threat to the emperor, but it would be beneficial to him. However, Wen Zhiming had a sense of justice and could neither ignore such a cruel and vicious person nor allow five thousand innocent soldiers to die tragically.
He planned to go and test the waters of the Headless Gang and meet Blood Wolf.
Wen Zhiming didn't think for long. After handing Meng Xingyuan over to the guards who arrived a day later, he turned back and returned to the entrance of the Duan Tou Gang.
There was no one here now, but you could faintly hear footsteps approaching.
Presumably, the noise of the soldiers fleeing earlier alerted the Headless Gang members, who have now come out to investigate.
Not many people came from the sound. Wen Zhiming leaped onto a big tree and had just concealed himself when a dozen people carrying swords and axes came out from the depths of the forest.
The leader was a very burly and strong man, much taller than the people behind him. He carried a sharp and menacing long knife, and his eyes gleamed red when he looked up.
It seems this person is the real Blood Wolf.
Wen Zhiming had initially thought that the people's description of Blood Wolf was exaggerated, but now that he had seen him, he realized that what the people said was true. This person did indeed look somewhat monstrous, not only in his eyes, but also in his muscles and skin, which were unlike those of ordinary people.
Strangely, Wen Zhiming had never seen Blood Wolf before, but looking at him now, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
The dozen or so people paced back and forth below Wen Zhiming, constantly observing him.
“There is fresh blood here; someone fought here.”
“We could hear the noise even from so far away, so there must be a lot of people coming.”
"The blood is splattered so far, it's probably not just a fight, but someone is killing people here."
"Who dares to cause trouble on our Headless Gang's turf? They must be courting death."
"Look, isn't there an extra head over there? It's right there!"
The head that Wen Zhiming had just hung up was discovered, and everyone's attention turned to it. Wen Zhiming was only two steps away from the head, but fortunately, the tree was covered with lush foliage and the darkness of night concealed him from being noticed.
The people below were still talking amongst themselves.
"It was definitely newly hung up. Since the establishment of the Headless Gang, nothing like this has ever happened before. Could it be the work of that new official from the capital?"
“The officials are all scoundrels. Now that there are no officials in this place, the people are living better than before. In my opinion, this dog official sent by the emperor is definitely not a good person either. I have already scouted the place. As long as the boss agrees, I will take the dog official’s head tonight.”
"The boss said long ago that we should only kill corrupt officials. As long as these officials from the capital don't harm the people or cause us trouble, we can keep them for now."
Wen Zhiming was slightly surprised to hear this. It seemed that the Headless Gang was not entirely wicked. Although they were ruthless, they only killed corrupt officials and could be considered to be righteous and have a clear sense of right and wrong.
Moreover, judging from their words, Blood Wolf has not yet agreed to kill Meng Xingyuan and the others tonight.
If Wen Zhiming hadn't intervened, Meng Xingyuan and his group probably would have waited there until dawn without seeing anyone from the Headless Gang.
The bandit who suggested killing the official was still searching for evidence, pointing to the footprints that appeared by the roadside and saying, "Now they're here to cause trouble. Look, these are all fresh footprints. There are a lot of people here, and there's even a newly hung human head. They're obviously here to provoke us."
"What the fifth brother said makes some sense. Why don't we use the same method we used to deal with the government, chop off those corrupt officials and hang their heads on trees, and as for those innocent soldiers, just scare them and let them find their own way to survive."
"Let's wait a bit longer. We'll investigate thoroughly these next few days to see if this official in the capital is behaving himself before deciding whether to take action. What do you think, boss?"
Upon hearing this, Wen Zhiming was certain that the bandits were not indiscriminate killers. He planned to wait for Blood Wolf to speak, and if Blood Wolf said not to harm Meng Xingyuan's five thousand men, he would leave the place as soon as possible.
Surrounded by his men, the Blood Wolf didn't answer the question. Instead, he slowly walked to the tree where Wen Zhiming was hiding, raised his eyes to stare at the spot where Wen Zhiming was hiding, and said in a hoarse voice.
"Someone's there!"
The bandits were on high alert, raising their weapons and aiming in the direction Blood Wolf was looking.
There were dense foliage there, and they didn't see anyone, but they were absolutely certain of Blood Wolf's judgment.
Wen Zhiming was slightly startled. Logically speaking, given his position and his lightness skill, he shouldn't have been discovered.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
