"Damn it, don't they know to keep it down when handling business."
Xing San mumbled to himself as he walked towards the privy in the corner by the wall. Instead of entering, he just unraveled his belt at the corner beside the privy to start urinating.
Xing San only felt a warmth in his chest and instinctively looked down, only to see a section of an Arrow gleaming with a cold light protruding from his chest.
A sharp pain assaulted him, and Xing San's face was full of fear. He opened his mouth to scream loudly, but the fleeting life gave him no such chance. With a thud, he collapsed to the ground, motionless.
In the dark of the night, Zhong Lin leapt off the wall without any expression and walked towards Xing San's corpse. He reached out to check under his nose, then pulled out the Arrow, causing blood to gush out from the wound like snowflakes.
Not pausing for a moment longer, Zhong Lin carefully walked towards the main house.
Before getting close, he could already hear the heavy breathing of a man and woman through the window coming from the bedroom. Zhong Lin, having been through the same, naturally knew what the people inside were doing, and quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Stepping into the main house, the smell of alcohol and meat still lingered on the table.
Zhong Lin arrogantly pulled up a chair and sat down, his eyes fixed tightly on the bedroom door.
Ever since the evening when Qin Yong and Xing San robbed him of Silver, Zhong Lin had set an order for their inevitable death. After dinner, he took advantage of the cover of night to come over quietly.
In no time, accompanied by the curses of a woman in the room and Qin Yong complaining tiredly, the bedroom door swung open.
The first thing visible through the open bedroom door was naturally Zhong Lin. Qin Yong was first stunned, then his expression drastically changed.
Zhong Lin drew his longbow and notched an arrow. Accompanied by the sound of the arrow piercing through the air, it struck Qin Yong in the face, piercing through from the eye socket.
Before Qin Yong could even let out a muffled groan, he stiffly fell to the ground.
A scream echoed, but it was cut short by the cold blade that appeared in front of the eyes.
"Don't kill me, don't kill me."
The "sister-in-law" who came out of the bedroom was trembling all over, petrified by the scene before her. The cold hunting knife grazing her neck made her soft pale skin rise with goosebumps.
Just climbing off the bed, not having had the chance to put on a jacket, the "sister-in-law," wearing only a pink tube top, had it slide halfway down revealing a snowy white expanse due to her trembling.
"Shh! Don't scream. Although I don't kill women, if you alert the neighbors, I won't have a choice but to get ruthless, you understand, sister-in-law?" Zhong Lin said coldly.
"Mmm, mmm, I won't scream, I promise, hero, spare me. I know nothing, I was also brought here by Qin Yong and have been tormented every night. I wish nothing more than to dismember him."
The "sister-in-law" was trembling all over, and her voice quivered like the tail feathers of an arrow embedded in a tree trunk.
"Really? In that case, Qin Yong deserved to die even more. Sister-in-law, you've been living here for this long, you must know where Qin Yong hid the Silver, right? Don't say you don't!"
"I know, I know, I'll go get it for you."
Suppressing her fear, the "sister-in-law" returned to the bedroom rummaging through boxes, while Zhong Lin followed closely behind her, not allowing her to step away for a moment.
A moment later, she pulled out a money pouch from a camphor wood cabinet, now plump and full. From the weight and the sound of Silver clinking together, it was clear it was much more than the ten or so units of Silver that went missing earlier in the evening.
"Hero, that's all there is, I wouldn't dare keep any for myself. Qin Yong has a group of cronies who always eat and drink together; these were secretly tucked away by myself."
Zhong Lin nodded his head, suddenly wearing a lecherous expression on his face. His left hand tore down the partially exposed tube top around the "sister-in-law's" chest and then grabbed directly.
The "sister-in-law" felt relieved instead, not afraid of the lascivious, just worried about encountering a cold-hearted individual.
"Sister-in-law, don't you think it's unreasonable to find only this much Silver in the dead of night?"
Zhong Lin's grip tightened as he meant more than he said.
The "sister-in-law" perked up her chest, adjusting her position to allow Zhong Lin to grasp better, her face brimming with a seductive smile.
"Of course it's unreasonable, Hero even killed that accursed Qin Yong, I want nothing more than to repay Hero's kindness as a beast of burden, the night is still young, I only hope for Hero's benevolence."
"Come, lean over the table and lift your hips a bit higher."
The "sister-in-law" dared not neglect, attributing it solely to Zhong Lin's peculiar fetish. Not only did she raise her hips higher, but she willingly pulled her skirt up to her waist.
With a crisp sound, the sharp hunting knife sliced across the "sister-in-law's" throat, causing blood to spurt out instantly, leaving her slumped lifeless across the table after several breaths.
At this moment, Zhong Lin's eyes bore no trace of desire, only ice-cold.
He retrieved the Arrow from Qin Yong's eye socket, found a tattered cloth to wipe clean the Arrow and the blood from the hunting knife, and vaulted over the wall without looking back, vanishing into the darkness.
In the darkness, Zhong Lin kept changing positions to take detours, as setting fires was unsuitable in the city. All he could do was create confusion to prevent others from tracking him down.
Suddenly, a raindrop fell heavily, causing Zhong Lin to pause and look up at the sky, only for the dense rain to follow immediately after.
"It's raining, how perfect."
Zhong Lin broke into a smile, no longer detouring, and instead ran straight toward home.
A rainstorm is perfect! It washes away all traces clean.
Returning home without knocking, he scaled the wall instead, wary that knocking might disturb the other families on either side.
The lights in the house were not lit, Zhong Lin assumed Xiao Shitou was asleep, yet upon pushing open the door, he spotted Xiao Shitou sitting at the edge of the bed.
The voice was full of joy, stemming from the disappearance of fear and worry.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?"
"I'm waiting for second brother."
Xiao Shitou quickly climbed off the bed, took the longbow and Arrow Quiver from Zhong Lin's hands, and hung them on the wall behind the door with familiarity.
"Did everything go well, second brother?"
"It's done, very smoothly. Tomorrow we're going to study and learn characters with Master Liu, are you happy?" Zhong Lin said with a smile.
Xiao Shitou nodded heavily.
"Haha, in a few days you might not be so happy, now off to bed!"
It didn't take long for the little one to fall asleep. Zhong Lin then took out the money pouch and dumped it onto the table.
"Forty-eight taels of Silver, thirty more than the eighteen taels I lost, thirty taels for three lives. This world is truly dark!" Zhong Lin lamented in his heart.
He didn't dwell on the emotions, let alone any remorse for killing. From the moment he woke to his family being wiped out, Zhong Lin understood that in this world where the weak are prey to the strong, to live well one must be more ruthless than the villains. Otherwise, it's only a matter of time before you're devoured with nothing left.