treacherous world

The stories that Wu Gang told Zhan Zhao and the others were not so tragic and soul-stirring, it may have something to do with the simplicity of his telling.

Back then, the big bosses of the Hailong Gang were originally from pirates, and they did a lot of burning, killing and looting at sea.More than ten years ago, they occupied an island in the sea, planned to build a big house, and raised money everywhere.One day, after robbing a fishing boat and killing the fisherman, he found that the fisherman's wife in the cabin was beautiful and attractive, so he became delusional.

Several masters had a fight, and Qinglong King won, so he robbed the woman to be his wife.

The woman's surname is Yao.

Although the Qinglong King is rough, he loves the woman very much, but the woman hates the Qinglong King because she has a deep relationship with the fisherman and they have been married for less than a month.

Not long after, the woman became pregnant. At that time, many people persuaded the Qinglong King to let her kill the child, because they didn't know whether it was the fisherman's or his.But King Qinglong loves Mrs. Yao very deeply and refuses to say that it doesn't matter who the child belongs to, as he will raise them all the same.Everyone started to build the Hailong Gang, expand their power, and settle down.

Two years later, the imperial court sent people to start suppressing pirates at sea and rectify maritime affairs.

At that time, Cao Xin had just turned one year old, and the Hailong gang was also thriving, ready to clean up their crimes, so they helped the government to eliminate pirates.

One day, the agents of the Hailong Gang intercepted a letter sent to the government. The letter reported the various actions of the Hailong Gang when they were pirates, and listed the evidence for the murders and robbery they did back then.

Sea Dragon King was furious and asked people to investigate the matter thoroughly. Finally, someone reported that the letter was written by Mrs. Yao. When everyone thought about the past, they felt that Mrs. Yao was suspicious.

The Qinglong King didn't want to believe it, and confronted his wife, only to see that Mrs. Yao committed suicide by jumping into the sea, leaving only a suicide note, cursing the Hailong Gang and the Qinglong King to die badly, and one day they would all be burned and have nothing left.

After Wu Gang finished talking about the past, he sighed, "Several old people knew about this matter, but they kept it from Cao Xin... Now that I think about it, it's not like I lost everything."

After everyone heard this, they all nodded secretly. It turns out that there is such a grievance...

"If it's really a female ghost, why don't you come sooner or later, and set the fire at this time?" Zhao Pu thinks that the ghosts and ghosts are basically nonsense, "Could it be that Cao Xin knew what happened back then, so she wanted to avenge his mother. Made it up? After all, he was the only one who saw some female ghost."

Zhao Pu was just talking about the matter, and he said something unintentionally, but it made Wu Gang's face ugly. He also had the same idea... But it's hard to prove it.

Zhan Zhao stood aside, stones and scissors ran around him, and the boat was still a little bit bumpy.He doesn't know water and his head is messed up, he just feels top-heavy.He hurriedly looked around to distract himself... and saw Bai Yutang leaning on the railing of the bow, looking at the faintly visible ruins of the Hailong Gang in the distance.

After thinking for a while, Zhan Zhao still grabbed the chubby stone in front of him, pressed it down to let it stop for a while, then went around and walked to Bai Yutang's side.

Bai Yutang should have listened to Wu Gang's narration just now, and was thinking alone when he realized that Zhan Zhao was by his side and turned around.

Zhan Zhao stared at the waves under the boat, his head became even more dizzy, and he stretched out his hands to rub the center of his brows.

Bai Yutang saw it and asked him, "Cat, are you seasick?"

Zhan Zhao patted his head, it was not very comfortable anyway.

Bai Yutang poured him a glass of strong wine, and Zhan Zhao swallowed a glass of wine, which suppressed the dizziness.

At this time, the shadow guards in the distance spotted a few survivors of the Hailong gang floating on the sea holding planks. Wu Gang and Jiang Ping both disembarked and ran to rescue them.

There was no one else on board, so Gongsun asked Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "How did you check last night?" Zhan Zhao was about to speak when he heard a "meow" from beside him.

Dazed for a moment, he turned his face to look... I saw that at some point, the black cat followed the boat.Now, it is squatting on the railing and licking its paws, while looking at the two of them with those bright red eyes.

When the fourth son saw a little black cat, he came over happily, stretched out his arms to hug it, and stared into the cat's eyes, "It's so red! Is it sick?"

Bai Yutang suddenly remembered that he still had the string of soul calling bells in his arms, so he reached out and took them out, "By the way, Gongsun, look at this."

Gongsun raised his head, Zhao Pu saw it too, and saw Bai Yutang holding the wind chime in his hand and asking them, "This..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a "meow" again.

Then the black shadow flashed... the black cat moved extremely quickly, and jumped out of Xiao Sizi's arms, jumped up and snatched the wind chime from Bai Yutang's hand, and then flew away.

Bai Yutang froze in place - his hands were empty.

Let's talk about how fast the black cat moved...not really, but this move was a bit too sudden, and everyone present was unprepared, and was stunned for a while.

"Ah!" But the fourth son yelled, "Thief cat! Xiao Liangzi catch it!"

Xiao Liang chased after him, but the cat was very clever, jumping up and down, running away with the wind chime in its mouth, the sea wind was not weak, only heard the wind chime rattling non-stop.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang also came back to their senses, Gongsun hurriedly called to the shadow guards on the bow of the boat, "Hurry up and grab it!"

Ziying and other four or five shadow guards all rolled up their arms and sleeves and grabbed the cat.

It's just that people who know how to do light work are easy to catch, but cats who don't know how to do light work are hard to catch. Ordinary cats are light and weak, but this cat is smart and quick. Everyone jumped up and down so that the boat was shaking, and they didn't catch a cat. hair.

As soon as the boat rocked, Zhan Zhao became even more dizzy, rubbing his brows and feeling his stomach turning upside down.

Bai Yutang looked at the group of people in front of him in a mess, and shook his head helplessly.Walking into the kitchen at the back of the boat, I saw a little girl preparing fruit, so I asked, "Is there any fish?"

The little girl blushed, and quickly pointed to the water tank at the side, which contained several live fish, and brought out a plate of cooked braised fish from the cabinet.

Bai Yutang picked up a piece of braised fish with his chopsticks, turned around and went out.

After thinking about it, he turned his head and said to the girl, "Find some sour oranges and cut two for Zhan Zhao."

"Yes." The girl nodded quickly and cut two still green oranges.

Bai Yutang went straight out of the cabin... and saw that everyone was panting from exhaustion, Zhao Pu was sitting on the side with his arms around his youngest son, who was rolling with laughter.

Gongsun had already pulled Zhan Zhao, who was a little seasick, over to sit at the table, and stuck two silver needles in his head, Zhan Zhao's face looked much better than before.

Looking at the black cat again, I saw it squatting on a chair with the spirit bell in its mouth, with the hair on its tail standing up, staring at the two stones and scissors that surrounded it. Obviously, these two huge monsters were chasing after it. It was frightened.

Bai Yutang walked closer, squatted down, and shook the black cat with the fish in his chopsticks, "Tsk tsk tsk."

……

The crowd was silent.

The cat immediately attracted the attention of the fish. It should be hungry. From last night to today, it has not eaten anything except the half piece of pastry just now. Unable to resist the temptation of the fish, it moved over to some.

Bai Yutang put the fish on the ground and pushed it away a step.

The black cat immediately jumped down, put the wind chime on the ground, and went to eat the fish. The cat bent its waist and ate carefully.

Bai Yutang picked up the bell and walked over to hand it to Gongsun.

The fourth son clapped his hands, "Bai Bai is amazing, as expected, Mao Mao listens to Bai Bai the most."

Zhan Zhao felt that his head, which had just healed a little, was throbbing again.It happened that a servant girl brought two limes, and Zhan Zhao ate one of them, so sour that he was so sour that he immediately lost consciousness.Looking at the girl gratefully, the maid is very well-behaved, and said that the fifth master sent it.

Zhan Zhao glanced at Bai Yutang beside him, the fourth son leaned over and whispered something in his ear, Zhan Zhao was a little embarrassed, and scratched his head with his hand.

Gongsun held up the bell and examined it carefully, "This is the legendary summoning bell... The wood is very special, how can it make such a sound? It sounds like a piece of ceramic."

Zhao Pu also picked it up and looked at it, shaking it twice, "It's really ugly."

"It's said that you can't shake it." Zhan Zhao propped his chin and said while pinching the chubby arm of the little Sizi who climbed up on his lap and sat down, "It is said that shaking the bell can attract ghosts."

After finishing speaking, both he and Bai Yutang remembered that the ghost-masked man came last night.

Gongsun saw that the expressions of the two were different, so he asked with a smile, "Did you shake last night?"

The two of them talked about the ghost-faced man.

"Ghost-faced man?!" Zhao Pu frowned, "So evil?"

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded, "It's quite wicked, and their kung fu is pretty good."

At this time, the boat was already approaching the Hailong Gang.

The Sea Dragon Gang was originally a large water village built on the basis of two small islands, straddling the two ends and connecting them.Because most of the houses are made of wood, a big fire has already burned the entire Dazhai to black.At this time, there was also a strange smell of barbecue and charcoal, and everyone knew what it was when they thought about it, and everyone lost the mood to joke.

The fourth son and Xiao Liang stayed on the boat, while Zhan Zhao got off the boat and set foot on the scorched earth.

There were still some wounded on the island, and Wu Gang and the shadow guards were responsible for bringing them aboard.

Zhan Zhao's feet landed on the ground, and his heart was at peace. He looked back at Gongsun and asked him, "By the way, what do you think you found?"

Gongsun was squatting beside a piece of burnt wood at this time, he picked out a piece of black wood, smelled it, raised his face and said to everyone, "I used fire phosphorus powder and sulfur powder."

"Fire phosphorus and sulfur?" Zhan Zhao thought for a while, "This powder is indeed smarter than kerosene for combustion. It was windy last night, as long as you sprinkle the combustion powder into the air with the wind...then the wind blows, it will burn immediately. "

"If you are a kid, you probably wouldn't use these things, right?" Zhao Pu sneered, looking at the devastation, "Don't say, this move is cruel enough... don't mention Hai Long's help, if there are enough things, the entire Songjiang River will be burned The government is fine."

When everyone heard this, their hearts tightened.

Jiang Ping immediately sent people to notify Songjiang Mansion and other islands to take precautions, and thoroughly searched all places with fire phosphorus powder and fire sulfur powder. "

Everyone wandered around in the ruins, but they couldn't find any clues, but their hearts were full of doubts... Does this have something to do with the demon city they investigated before?Why target the Dragon Gang?

At this time, there was a shout not far away.

Bai Yutang followed the prestige and saw that it was a boat of the River Gang, with Dong Xiaodie standing on the bow, waving to everyone, as if he had something to say.

After the big ship approached, Dong Xiaodie flew down from the bow, ran over and said, "Something went wrong!"

Everyone's heart twitched, why do things keep happening? !

"What's the matter?" Jiang Ping asked.

Our fleet is responsible for picking up the corpses, and we picked up some things from the dam of the Dragon Gang!

Everyone looked at each other—something? !

"Come and see!" Dong Xiaodie led everyone onto the boat, and saw a row of corpses on the bow deck.Said to be bones, it looks like it has been a few years old, and there are sunken ships and chains.The most peculiar thing is that there is a big hole in the chest of those bones.

"Is this found in the Dragon Gang?" Jiang Ping frowned.

"Hmm!" Dong Xiaodie said in a low voice, "Near the Hailong Gang's dam, there is a shoal with mud underneath... It is the place where the Hailong Gang used to bury gang members at sea."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were taken aback when they heard this, and Zhao Pu asked Dong Xiaodie with a smile, "What do you mean... these people were killed by the Hailong Gang?"

Dong Xiaodie shrugged, "I only know that these people have been dead for a day or two. As for who they are, I'm afraid only God knows."

This discovery was no small matter. There were many people on the island talking about it, and the news spread quickly.

Many people discussed in private, saying that the Hailong Gang originally had secrets to tell. After all, they started as pirates, and their background is not clean. Maybe they killed these people, and now it's bad retribution.

Rumors spread all over the place for a while, people in Jianghu were originally very sympathetic to what happened to Hailong Gang, but now they have become scruples.

The River Gang refused to take in the survivors of the Hailong Gang this time, and the Songjiang Mansion also seemed to be a little hesitant, and sent a yamen servant to investigate.Unexpectedly, a large amount of gold, silver and jewellery, as well as official gold and silver, were found in the warehouse of the Hailong gang. They also found the corpses of more than a dozen Jianghu people who had been tortured to extract confessions from the water prison, and some of them were dressed in the clothes of palace guards.Everyone immediately remembered the official ship that was silent at sea before...it turned out to be robbed by the Hailong Gang.

Now, the Hailong gang has become the target of public criticism.However, the surviving elders and the head of the Hailong Gang said they knew nothing about it, and the Songjiang Mansion ordered an investigation into the matter, and those gang members turned from refugees into suspects, and were despised by others.

At this time the weather was already cold, these hundreds of survivors were seriously injured and helpless, He Gang and Songjiang Mansion did not take them in, so they had to stay on the empty island, there were also old and young women and children, complaining for a while.

Lu Fang and Min Xiuxiu couldn't bear it, they couldn't drive so many living people into the sea, so they simply ordered several large boats to send these hundreds of people to Xishan, Songjiang Mansion, a separate school on the empty island. In the yard.

Songjiang Mansion was still babbling, Zhao Pu glared at the prefect, and he was so frightened that he quickly agreed, promised to provide food and send someone to take care of the wounded.

Zhan Zhao was amazed to see it, and said to Bai Yutang, "Xingkong Island is so rich, with so many industries."

Bai Yutang teased him with a smile, "Why don't you also be a member of the empty island, and share your property."

Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang's age with a smile, knowing that Bai Yutang was slightly younger than him, so he wanted to act as the eldest brother.

Jiang Ping stood aside to help Bai Yutang out, and asked Zhan Zhao, would he marry him?Let him choose the big girl on the empty island, even if he doesn't want a girl!You can choose the five brothers who are not married.

Among the five brothers in the empty island, Bai Yutang was the only one who was not married. Zhan Zhao looked up at the sky in embarrassment.But Bai Yutang said seriously to Jiang Ping, if you don't pick a girl, then it's not marriage!

……

On this day, after finishing all the work that should be done, it will be dark.

The empty island has increased manpower to guard the island, and they are on duty around the clock. Except for Bai Yutang, the other heads of the empty island are too busy to eat.

Bai Yutang didn't know anything else, and thought it was troublesome, he simply took charge of guarding the island. Zhan Zhao couldn't eat, so he just went with him.

After dinner, the two took two jars of wine, went to the beach and lit a bonfire, drinking and helping to watch the night.The way to light a bonfire was taught by Gongsun.

There are pits on the four sides of the empty island, and a bonfire is lit in the pit. Once phosphorous powder or sulfur floats in, the fire will inevitably rise or change color.At that time, the water dragon pair on standby will come in handy.There are also shadow guards guarding the high places on all sides, and they have prepared huge water cloths for setting fire.

After Bai Yutang took two sips of wine, he saw Zhan Zhao beside him staring at the dark sea in the distance.Under the moonlight, a pair of eyes had a faint golden light, which made people feel inexplicably uneasy.

"Cat." Bai Yutang called him, and Zhan Zhao turned his head.

"Did sister-in-law see your eyes?" Bai Yutang asked.

"I see." Zhan Zhao nodded, "It's the same as Gongsun said, I don't know what's going on...but it's not a disease or poisoning."

Bai Yutang put down the wine jar, leaned against a piece of wood behind him, and looked at the starry sky, "Guess what happened to the dead bodies under the Hailong Gang's dam?"

"I haven't seen those Dragon Kings before, but I think we need to check the water prison and so on." Zhan Zhao looked at the houses on the hollow island in the distance, and saw a person coming out, looking at the figure... ...It was Lei Qinglang.

"It's him again." Bai Yutang frowned slightly, and Zhan Zhao asked with a smile, "You don't like him?"

Bai Yutang shrugged, "Yes."

"This person is really strange, he doesn't know martial arts, but he feels different from ordinary scholars." Zhan Zhao said, "You can't tell it among a large group of warriors, but when you stand with Gongsun, you will feel that this Not an ordinary scholar."

While talking, Lei Qinglang really came over, "Brother Zhan Bai, why don't you go back so late? It's windy at night."

Bai Yutang continued to drink, Zhan Zhao smiled, "It's okay, it's not cold, Mr. Lei still not resting?"

"Cao Xin fell asleep, I couldn't sleep, so I came out for a walk." Lei Qinglang sat down next to Zhan Zhao, staring at Zhan Zhao's eyes, "It really wasn't me who was dazzled, Brother Zhan's eyes are not like ordinary people's eyes. Same."

Zhan Zhao smiled, "Yes."

The two of them were talking, when they suddenly saw Bai Yutang sitting up with a "huh", staring at the sea in the distance, with surprise in his eyes.

Following his gaze, Zhan Zhao took a quick look and thought he was dazzled, so he shook his head slightly, looked carefully, and was sure he was right!

I saw the sea... In the dark distance, a person came slowly, it was a woman, holding a lamp in her hand, the flame was dim, she was a woman in black embroidered clothes.

"Ah!" Lei Qinglang cried out in shock.

At the same time... the shadow guards standing on high ground had also seen it, picked up the gong and beat it, and the sound of gongs on the island was loud in an instant.

Ziying Zheying stretched out a long water cloth, blocking the road to the island against the wind, and the surrounding water dragon teams were also waiting there with water guns.

The atmosphere immediately became tense.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao hurried to the nearby beach, waiting for the graceful woman who came over.

"Did you see phosphorous powder?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang in a low voice.

Bai Yutang shook his head, thinking about how to deal with it, when suddenly, a strange gust of wind blew across the stabbing.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt a deep inner energy from the strong wind...was it urged by human inner energy? !

The two were distracted for a while, wanting to see who was so capable, but there was no one in the sea, and then looked back—the woman was gone!