Chapter 63: Game and Momentum
Horses neighed mournfully as the night wind blew desolately across the long street in a nightmare of battle.
Sword wind cut through the chaos as a galloping warhorse had its front legs severed at high speed. Blood sprayed through the air as it tumbled thunderously across the road. When the horse rolled past, another personal guard flew backward with blood and flesh spattering from his face. The rest charged forward bravely, steel sabers splitting along with chests.
Both sides moved with startling speed along the long street. The personal guards trying to block the woman's pursuit charged from front, back, left and right while Song Xian was now fleeing on foot. A personal guard suddenly inserted himself from ahead, trying to stop the woman's chase. The next moment, sword light thunderously slashed from his left shoulder to his right abdomen, his body flying out like a cannonball as blood exploded like a massive flower.
Saber light tore through the air from both sides with a swish. The woman ducked low, drawing a line of blood with a splash across the left person's thigh. Spinning to stand, she grabbed the left person's back of the head and smashed it toward the right attacker's face, casually snatching up a steel saber and hurling it forward.
Song Xian had already run several meters away, reaching for the reins of an approaching warhorse. The spinning steel saber grazed his waist and ribs, embedding with a thud in the horse's lower leg. In the spray of blood, both man and horse tumbled forward almost simultaneously. Behind them the fighting was chaotic. He had just crawled up from the ground when the woman's figure approached again through his vision, accompanied by violent bloodshed.
"You fucking lunatic—"
Bang—
Firelight exploded as Song Xian's form was sent flying again. His back had already hit the corner of a wall. The surrounding personal guards hadn't been able to stop that woman for even a second. As he raised his head, that ancient-looking sword blade came slashing down toward his skull. He tilted his head and the sword blade churned out a mass of earth and stone from the wall with a puff. Before the feeling of having narrowly escaped could even rise, the woman's right fist expanded massively in Song Xian's vision.
With a bang, vibrations erupted in his head as the back of his skull smashed against the wall behind. His vision shook, blood flew out, and time seemed to slow—though reactions didn't necessarily become faster. Those charging figures and sounds of fighting all became extraordinarily distant in this trembling bloody scene. The woman turned and split an attacking personal guard with one sword stroke. He subconsciously raised his saber, but her gaze had already turned back.
His arm swung out, but the saber that should have struck the woman's body didn't appear. Blood sprayed from his severed wrist as the section of arm holding the saber danced through the air, flying back toward the personal guards. The woman's right elbow seemed to carry the force of her entire body as it crashed toward his face, darkness expanding.
Bang buzz buzz buzz—
He didn't know what happened. Then the third impact struck again. The wall blocking him from behind disappeared from consciousness—he flew up...
The carriage stopped at a corner of this section of road. Ning Yi had arrived not long ago and stood in the darkness under a tree, watching that scene at the end of the long street.
He hadn't seen the entire fighting process, but the wreckage all over the long street already explained everything. The remains of two carriages, corpse after corpse, blood, warhorses with severed legs lying on the ground struggling and wailing—such battle traces extended along the entire long street. Most startling was the combat scene in this final section.
Song Xian had originally joined the battle, but the pressure that woman gave was truly too alarming. By the time Ning Yi arrived, he was already preparing to flee. But he couldn't escape. The warhorses were mostly injured, and the personal guards who had chosen to fight on foot were almost completely blocking that woman's pursuit with all their strength. The battle extended that way at alarming speed, but still couldn't stop her. In the woman's attacks, the spray of blood almost never ceased. Among the personal guards, the lightly wounded, the severely wounded... they charged from all around, were thrown out, until Song Xian was caught at the end of the long street.
Boom, boom, boom—three consecutive strikes, then the entire wall at the end of the long street collapsed thunderously in his vision... A brick flew over and smashed viciously into someone's head, shattering into flying powder. The battle continued...
"Just like this, just like this..."
In the darkness, Ning Yi murmured to himself, then adjusted his breathing and let out a long breath.
"This is what I wanted..."
Having watched this brief moment of combat, there was no need to watch further. The reinforcing soldiers were probably about to arrive. Ning Yi turned and walked toward the carriage, then looked at a horse not far away. The horse stood alone at the boundary between light and darkness here—its rider was already dead, blood flowing down. Ning Yi walked over and felt around in his bosom, taking out a firework tube and putting it in his own pocket. He then looked around—there might be scattered residents on that long street side, but not here. No one should have seen him here. He returned to the carriage, quietly turned around, and raced away.
"...This is the final struggle, unite until tomorrow, Internationale1, will surely... be realized..."
His fingers tapped lightly and rapidly on the carriage as his mind calculated the nearby streets and possible pursuit layouts. He casually hummed a song that came to mind. Firelight flickered on and off his face, revealing a smile utterly different from his usual demeanor—an indescribable wildness within that humble exterior.
How many opportunities there would be, he didn't know. After all, there were too many variables—perhaps it would instead bring out some trouble. But at this moment he had already decided: he wanted that thing, wanted to obtain it...
If he didn't try hard, he probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
Fireworks rose in the city streets, though more often it was the urgent sound of gongs.
This was a chaotic night.
When most of the crowd returning from White Egret Isle entered Jiangning city, the chaotic commotion here had already affected nearly half the city. Arriving Ardent Wu Army soldiers and government constables busily chased that female assassin darting through the city. Several clashes occurred during this time, with several more casualties. When the returning residents spread toward this area, the female assassin probably wanted to flee toward the crowd, but the elite Ardent Wu Army troops who had originally followed Chen Yong also flanked from that direction, forcing her to head toward the relatively quiet part of the city on the other side.
That woman should have already been severely injured, but her combat ability remained formidable. Unless someone was overly self-confident, they basically wouldn't dare engage her. Ordinary constables just beat gongs and drums in pursuit. There were many pursuers after all, and though the woman charged left and broke right, she still couldn't completely vanish without a trace.
Tonight was different from Lantern Festival night—at this time there were already few people on the streets in this part of the city. That woman was also excessively stubborn tonight, unlike Lantern Festival night when she immediately left after being injured. She had gone all out to kill Song Xian in that situation and was herself severely injured—it was already difficult for her to find ideal hiding spots here. The Wu Dynasty had no curfew, and though most people just closed their doors when they saw the fireworks and heard the gongs and drums, there were still some idle people wandering at night. Ning Yi drove his carriage wandering at the edges of the situation, which actually gave him an advantage. Occasionally encountering soldiers or constables, he would say a few words or hurry away—they didn't bother with him.
Humming songs all the way, he circled between several blocks, watching the chaos coming from afar. His fingers calculated beside him the possible directions each group of people he saw might go, the general situation within the entire area, the woman's location and the plans she might choose. Trying to establish a relationship would be extremely difficult. If he drove over now, meeting that woman once would be very simple but meaningless. If he proposed the stupid beginning of wanting to help her, the most likely situation was being killed by her immediately. These things couldn't be initiated by himself—he could only find specific circumstances to make the other party take initiative, then he would have room to express his intentions.
Calculations concerning the human heart were always quite complex. Even if he still had a staff team like in his previous life, he couldn't say he'd be confident at this moment. Right now with only himself, he could only try with a testing mentality. There were several blocks in the city that should be relatively ideal. However, in this brief time, he had probably misjudged the woman's direction of flight twice. One of them was actually a usable opportunity, but unfortunately it was also missed. About ten minutes later, he finally saw a possibility in the occasionally transmitted disturbances.
The carriage raced, circling along the long street toward the west of the city. In a secluded street, urgent gong sounds transmitted from afar, followed by sounds of fighting. The woman was pushing the chaos toward this direction. At a certain moment, the visible chaos disappeared again. Ning Yi calculated the time, took out that firework tube, pulled off the cap, and a signal firework shot into the sky, lighting up the night. He then cracked the whip, making the carriage speed away from here toward nearby blocks.
Theoretically, the female assassin's escape direction had been temporarily confined. As long as he could get there ahead of time, he might be able to make his carriage an ideal bait—perhaps with a thirty percent chance of getting her aboard, and then there would be the possibility of making some deal... Racing out two blocks like this, a team of constables charged from ahead. Seeing him, they suddenly stopped him.
Damn...
If the fighting in the distance was still continuing, these constables wouldn't bother with him. But at this moment the woman's traces had temporarily disappeared, so Ning Yi had to stop the carriage and let them search. The carriage bore the Imperial Son-in-law's Estate banner, so these constables naturally wouldn't make things difficult. After a quick check, they immediately spoke politely and let him pass, but much time had already elapsed. When Ning Yi continued forward, the woman's position had already exceeded where he had anticipated.
Accidents often happened—Ning Yi had long understood this, but its occurrence now made him feel truly regretful. Having used that firework tube, he no longer had the opportunity to control the woman's direction of flight. Not long after, the woman's fleeing direction continued moving east. Ning Yi slowly drove the carriage away from the dangerous central area. Going further that way had no meaning anymore. Even if he really could save that woman, he probably couldn't avoid inspection by Ardent Wu Army soldiers and constables. The ratio of danger to benefit was extremely skewed—there was no point in taking risks then.
What a pity, not knowing if he could encounter such a formidable person again...
Thinking thus, he headed back toward the Su residence. The chaos behind fell silent for a long time. When firework signals and gong sounds drew his attention again, he suddenly discovered that the direction of chaos had actually pushed back...
At a relatively secluded lakeshore in the western part of the city, Ning Yi drove the carriage across the lakeside road. On one side were quiet lake waters and trees, on the other side high-walled courtyards with hanging lanterns. Occasionally one or two pedestrians could be seen on the road, probably returning from the flower competition.
In the distance behind the carriage, a team of Ardent Wu Army soldiers was circling around the road, seeming to come this way. At the fork ahead, constables were also patrolling toward this intersection. Ning Yi recalled the location of the recent fight and unobtrusively stopped the carriage by the roadside near the intersection. He got down from the carriage and stretched with a yawn.
By the dark lakeshore, the woman wrapped herself in black cloth, quietly lurking in the deep grass beneath the trees. She adjusted her breathing, trying to stay quiet and not let the blood on her body leave too many traces, patiently waiting for several converging search teams to pass.
That carriage stopped not far from her hiding place. Then she saw the driver get down, stretch with a yawn, and walk toward the lakeside humming a strange, leisurely tune, lowering his head to search for something in the grass...
- Internationale (英特纳雄奈尔) - The Chinese transliteration of "Internationale" from the famous socialist anthem "The Internationale," suggesting Ning Yi's revolutionary mindset ↑