A faint, shimmering light appeared on Min Gande's body, then he convulsed and jumped high into the air, his face twitching, his mouth wide open but making no sound.
With one, two, three spasms, his body emitted wisps of white smoke, and finally he became completely still.
Seeing that Min Gande was beyond dead, Song Liyun withdrew her hand, and the high-voltage electric baton disappeared instantly.
The subordinate's eyes widened, almost popping out of their sockets, and he lost his grip on the knife, which fell to the ground with a clatter.
He didn't see the stun gun in Song Liyun's hand; he only saw Master Min walk up to the woman, start jumping around inexplicably, and then die.
"Ah! Ahh! Fourth Master is dead!"
The subordinate couldn't take it anymore, so he abandoned Song Liyun and ran away, disappearing into the woods in the blink of an eye.
Their movements were so fast that Song Liyun didn't even have time to catch up.
Meanwhile, the three men who were fighting with Han Ming saw nothing. When they heard the shouts, they turned around and saw Min Gande's dead body with his eyes wide open.
"Fourth Master!"
The three were startled, and their swordplay immediately became chaotic.
Han Ming also saw Min Gande's location at this moment and was immediately startled. He never expected that Min Gande would attack Song Liyun.
Thinking about his mistake, which almost led to his employer being ambushed, he felt ashamed. He exerted force with the steel pipe in his hand again, and suddenly became fast and urgent, the shadow of the pipe covering the three people tightly.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!" Three crisp sounds rang out, and a person screamed and fell to the ground convulsing uncontrollably, white and red blood spurting from his head. It was clear that he was not going to survive.
"Run!"
The remaining two were terrified and, disregarding everything else, desperately slashed at Han Ming with their swords. Just as Han Ming raised his staff to block, the two threw down their swords and began to run away as fast as they could.
At this point, nothing else matters; survival is the most important thing.
"Boss!" Han Ming didn't have time to chase after her and quickly looked at Song Liyun.
"I'm fine, what should I do?"
Song Liyun looked grave. The person had already run away, and there was no point in chasing after them. She should deal with the immediate matter quickly, as there were two dead bodies here.
Han Ming wiped the sweat from his forehead. He knew Song Liyun wouldn't be easily captured, but he didn't expect someone to die so quickly. However, it didn't matter: "Don't worry, I'll handle this."
In this desolate wilderness, it's normal for people to die. If he doesn't deal with it, Min Gande's men will.
Fifteen minutes later, Han Ming picked up the cart again and set off. This time, the two dared not stop and almost ran all the way until they were ten miles away from Suijin Town before slowing down.
Neither of them mentioned what had just happened.
Outside Baolin Residence, Han Ming still had some suspicions that Song Liyun was faking it.
He had just witnessed Min Gande's bizarre death, without a single injury or trace, and without even a cry.
It would have been incredibly easy for him to kill himself and Kim Sam-joong that day.
Song Liyun had a good understanding of Han Ming's skills; as long as he had the right weapon, he could handle three opponents without any problem.
During her hasty escape, Song Liyun kept thinking about one question.
Slowing down, she asked, "Han Ming, you said that bandits, along with sand laborers, colluded with the Di barbarians to harm Suijin Town. Where are those bandits now?"
Han Ming's chin was dripping with sweat. When he heard Song Liyun mention the bandits, he immediately thought of the path leading up the mountain across the Huangsha River. He gritted his teeth and said, "Those bandits disappeared after the Di people retreated."
"The authorities haven't caught anyone?"
"No, I heard there aren't any. Only the Zhenbei Army rescued twenty or thirty people from the grasslands."
Some of the others who were taken away died on the way, while others were sold to tribes. The grasslands were too vast for the Zhenbei Army to find.
As he spoke, his voice grew low. He wondered whether the young widow was alive or dead, but hoped she was still alive in some tribe's cattle pen.
Song Liyun frowned slightly and murmured, "Is it possible that people like Min Gande are actually collaborators among the bandits? They can rob gold and silver and just stay in Suijin Town. When the government troops arrive, they can become refugees and move into Qili County without any problem."
The cart in Han Ming's hands crashed to the ground, and the contents of the cart almost fell off.
"Master, are you saying that among those who last came out of the forest, there might be bandits?"
Han Ming's hands were shaking. Although there was not much placer gold produced in Broken Gold Town at that time, there were still many people like him who stayed in the town to live. There were three or four thousand people in the whole town.
More than half of them were taken away by the Di people, and in the end, only five or six hundred people escaped from their various hiding places.
When the officials arrived, everyone was in a state of panic, disheveled and dirty. No one paid attention to who was who; they only counted the names and then didn't ask any further questions.
These three or four hundred people later found their own way out and left Broken Gold Town.
Thinking about it now, if there were bandits and spies among these people, they could indeed easily whitewash their identities and evade government investigation.
Everyone outside says that the Di people plundered Suijin Town, and that we should hate the Di people.
In fact, Han Ming and the other survivors in the town hated the bandits and their inside accomplices even more.
Without these traitors, the Di barbarians would not have dared to venture deep into the heart of the Wu Dynasty, and they could have quietly controlled all the crossroads.
They were all from the Wu Dynasty, of the same clan and lineage, yet they committed such a heinous act.
"I'm just guessing!" Song Liyun didn't know the inside story either; she was just guessing based on her feelings.
It is said that those involved are often confused while bystanders see things clearly. Song Liyun had not experienced it firsthand; she only saw Min Gande's ruthlessness and naturally projected her image of a bandit onto him.
"We, we need to go back right away!"
Han Ming felt increasingly alarmed. If what Song Liyun said was true, then how many of the hundreds of survivors who left Suijin Town were bandits or sand miners?
Will they return to Broken Gold Town? Will Broken Gold Town repeat the same mistakes and drag the garrison down with it?
Song Liyun didn't think that much. She was only worried that after Min Gande died, the three who escaped would come to Suijin Town to take revenge.
Five miles from Suijin Town, in the dilapidated temple of the "Cloth Bag Monk," Song Liyun met Song Zhenping and Xiao An, who had been eagerly waiting.
The two had cleaned the dilapidated temple, even wiping away the half-mud sculpture on the altar.
Upon seeing Song Liyun return, Xiao An happily ran up to her, hugged her arm, and rubbed her face against her, just like Hei Jin trying to please someone.
Song Liyun touched his icy cold face and his red nose, feeling a pang of heartache. She wondered how long the two of them had been waiting for her here.
Song Zhenping was also freezing and had a runny nose. He didn't say much, but helped Han Ming pull the cart to the entrance of the dilapidated temple.
Then he took out a small clay stove and a small teapot from the corner, which contained boiling hot soup that had been prepared earlier.
He asked the two of them to drink some tea and rest for a while.
Although Song Liyun and Han Ming had eaten their fill before leaving the city, they fought on the way and then hurried along, so they didn't even feel like drinking water. Only now did they realize that their mouths were dry and their stomachs were parched.
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