Chapter 14: Consecutive Assassinations
"Very dangerous?" Linley laughed. "How dangerous is it?"
Jenny, seeing Linley's reaction, couldn't help but anxiously nod repeatedly. "Extremely dangerous. Auntie is currently managing Cer County City. That's practically the authority of a county city lord."
Jenny said with some shame, "Brother Lei, I'm really sorry. I didn't tell you any of this before. You don't have to take risks for us. It's not worth it."
"Haha..."
Linley laughed and said, "Not worth it? Actually, I don't have anything else to do. If I can protect you along the way, I naturally will. As for danger? Whether it's dangerous or not, I understand it far better than you do. Alright, Jenny, go back to bed early."
"Brother Lei." Jenny stared at Linley, somewhat stunned.
"Go back," Linley said with a faint smile.
Jenny looked at Linley gratefully. "Thank you, Brother Lei." But then she looked at him seriously. "But Brother Lei, I really don't want you to take risks for us."
"Go back. Sleep." Linley put on a stern face and deliberately barked.
Linley had always been very kind to Jenny in the past. Now, putting on a stern face like this actually scared her.
"Oh." Jenny nodded obediently, like a child, then turned and walked toward the door. In truth, at this moment, Jenny felt a bit of joy in her heart. After all, Jenny was an eighteen-year-old girl. Seeing an outstanding young man who was good to her naturally stirred some fondness. She didn't really want to part ways with Linley either.
Jenny reached the doorway and suddenly turned around.
Jenny broke into a smile and said, "Brother Lei, when you put on a stern face, you actually look very cool." With that, Jenny, like a mischievous little girl, quickly fled out of Linley's room.
Seeing this, Linley didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Taking a deep breath, Linley calmed his mind and returned to the bed, sitting cross-legged to begin his soul cultivation. No matter when or where, Linley never dared to neglect his training.
Linley could not forget the vengeance for his parents.
He could not forget Grandpa Delin's death.
He could not forget the goal deep in his heart—to uproot the Radiant Church entirely!
"One day..." Linley's heart was resolute. At this moment, he sought neither high status nor power, only the peace to train quietly.
...
In another independent courtyard of the hotel, a candle burned continuously in one of the rooms. The red-haired man sat coldly in the room, while the other six people stood.
"If this operation succeeds, everyone will be fine. But if it fails... you all know Lady Weide's methods," the red-haired man said indifferently.
The six people all felt a chill of fear in their hearts.
Lady Weide was ruthless and merciless. Back when Count Weide was alive, almost everyone in Cer County City knew that although Count Weide was nominally the city lord, the actual ruler was Lady Weide.
Even Lady Weide's own son was terrified in her presence.
Unfortunately, her son had died.
According to the rules, the son of Count Weide should inherit the position of city lord. How could Lady Weide allow a pair of country siblings to seize power?
"Captain, rest assured. We won't fail this time. That strong warrior is indeed powerful, but he can't protect those siblings every moment," one of the six said firmly.
The others nodded in agreement.
"Good. I've already bribed the owner of this hotel. On the third floor of the main building, there are two rooms directly facing the courtyard where the siblings are staying. Four of you will go to those two rooms. The other two will follow me... Remember, strike as soon as you have an opportunity, but our primary target is the young man," the red-haired man reminded them.
After all, Keane currently held the primary inheritance right.
Jenny, on the other hand, was a woman. For her to become city lord would be extremely difficult.
"Wait for the young man to appear, then strike. Kill the young man, and if there's a chance, kill the woman as well," the red-haired man said coldly. "Alright, go wait there now. Perhaps the young man might come out to use the restroom during the night. That would make our task even easier."
"Yes, Captain."
Under the red-haired man's orders, four of the six immediately slipped out of the courtyard and headed to the hotel's main building, entering the two rooms on the third floor that had been prepared in advance.
That night, a crescent moon hung in the sky, casting a faint, hazy moonlight over the land.
The archers the red-haired man had brought were all elite members from Cer County City. Under these conditions, shooting at a powerless young man in a courtyard fifty or sixty meters away was a sure thing.
"Captain, what should we do?" the other two men asked, standing beside the red-haired man.
The red-haired man said indifferently, "Your task is this: if those four fail to shoot the young man, you will disguise yourselves as hotel waiters and deliver breakfast. When you get close to the young man, kill him with a single strike."
"Captain!" The two men immediately panicked.
Disguising themselves as waiters to assassinate someone? But the strong warrior with the black panther was right there. Even if they succeeded, would they have any chance of escaping alive?
"Hmph."
The red-haired man turned and looked at them coldly. "You two have no choice. The eight of you came with me on this mission, and Lady Weide already has your families under control. If you fail, not only will you suffer, but your entire families will be finished. But if you succeed, even if you die, your families will be well taken care of."
The two men's faces turned pale.
"You two should know Lady Weide's methods, and you should know mine as well," the red-haired man said coldly.
Although the red-haired man was nominally their captain, he was in truth a loyal dog of Lady Weide, killing without mercy.
"Of course, if those four succeed, you won't have to take the risk," the red-haired man said calmly. "Now pray. Pray for the blessing of the War God."
The two men remained silent.
They were so-called elite soldiers in the county city's army, but how could small fry like them fight against Lady Weide? And with the red-haired man watching over them...
...
The four archers stationed in the two rooms on the third floor of the hotel's main building took turns resting. While one rested, the other kept watch.
They had to maintain peak condition. And once Keane appeared, they could easily wake the person beside them.
The night gradually passed.
Throughout the night, Keane never stepped out of his room. The sky slowly brightened, and the crisp morning air refreshed the four archers.
"Creak."
A door opened.
"He's out." The archers alerted their companions beside them.
The four archers in the two rooms all tensed up at once, each peeking through the edges of the windows toward the courtyard where Jenny and Keane were staying.
"It's the woman. Wait. Hold on." The archers waited quietly.
...
Pushing open the door, Jenny's face was full of smiles. Ever since she learned that Linley would continue to protect them, even though she knew the journey would be dangerous, Jenny felt happy deep down.
"Ah, the air is so fresh." Jenny closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Then she walked toward her younger brother's room. Her crisp voice rang out: "Keane, get up. Don't sleep in." As she spoke, she knocked on Keane's door.
Hearing Jenny's voice, Linley, who had been cultivating, opened his eyes. As for the Blackstriped Cloud Leopard "Blacky," lying under Linley's bed, it didn't even open its eyes.
...
Keane, still in his pajamas, pulled open the door, rubbing his sleepy eyes and muttering, "Sister, why so early? I haven't woken up yet. Haven't had a good sleep in a long time."
At that moment, the archers in the two rooms on the third floor of the hotel's main building all perked up.
"Target spotted."
The four archers almost simultaneously drew their bows, ready to shoot.
...
"Miss, young master, you're up quite early," the old servant Lambert said, pushing open his own door.
"Good morning, Grandpa Lambert," Jenny greeted warmly.
Keane pouted, his eyes half-closed, and said, "Grandpa Lambert, it's not that I got up early. Sister dragged me out of bed."
And then—
"Release!"
In one of the rooms on the third floor of the hotel's main building, an archer gave a low command. Immediately, two archers straightened up, fully exposing their bows at the window.
"Swish!" "Swish!"
Two arrows shot out from the window almost simultaneously. At the same time, the two archers in the other room also fired.
"Swish!" "Swish!"
Two arrows from the front and two from the back, in the blink of an eye, crossed the space and arrived right in front of Keane and Jenny. Two of the arrows were aimed at Keane, and two at Jenny.
At this moment... Linley was still in his room and hadn't come out. Old servant Lambert was nearly ten meters away from the siblings. With Lambert's speed, he couldn't intercept in time.
"Miss!" Lambert could only cry out in alarm.
Jenny and Keane seemed to sense the danger and turned to look. But all they saw were the arrows growing larger and larger in their pupils.
The metal arrowheads pierced the air, letting out a sharp screech.
"Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!"
Four consecutive sounds.
...
Jenny and Keane stood frozen in place, not moving an inch. Lambert beside them was completely stunned. Just then, with a "creak," Linley's door opened.
Linley walked out of the room.
"Bebe, they're yours."
At this moment, Bebe was standing in front of Jenny and Keane. In an instant, Bebe had easily blocked all four arrows.
After the assassination attempt the day before, Linley had a feeling that group wouldn't give up so easily. So he had Bebe sleep outside at night, keeping a careful watch.
Given Bebe's size, curled up in the weeds of the courtyard, not even Jenny or Keane had noticed him, let alone those archers.
"Boss, leave it to me." Bebe licked his lips excitedly.
"Swish."
A black blur shot across the sky. The nearly ten-meter height posed no difficulty at all. Bebe leaped directly into one of the windows. Seeing their attack had failed, and then spotting the little Shadowmouse, the four archers' hearts trembled, and they immediately tried to flee.
But before they could even reach the door, Bebe had already entered one of the rooms.
Two claw flashes passed, and two archers fell into a pool of blood. Bebe then slammed directly into the wall, smashing a large hole, and darted into the other room.
The other two archers were frantically trying to open the door to escape.
They turned back and saw a black shadow flying toward them. Before they could even scream, "Rip!" "Rip!" Two sounds of claws tearing through blood vessels rang out.
Bebe glanced carelessly at the two corpses on the floor, then turned and leaped back out the window, returning to the courtyard. The whole round trip took less than half a minute.
"Bebe, not bad," Linley praised with a smile.
Bebe raised his head proudly. Beside him, the Blackstriped Cloud Leopard "Blacky" growled discontentedly at Bebe. "Hmph, if I went, I'd be faster than you."
Bebe immediately growled back at Blacky in dissatisfaction.
Linley couldn't be bothered to mediate between Bebe and Blacky. Instead, he walked over to Jenny and Keane. The two siblings were still in a daze. Having faced life-and-death crises twice in two days, they had been bullied in the past but had never experienced such danger.
"It's alright. It's alright."
Linley gently patted Jenny and Keane on the shoulders. Keane immediately burst into tears with a "Wah!" and hugged Linley tightly. Jenny, sobbing as well, buried her face in Linley's chest and cried.
Linley could only comfort the two siblings.
Once they had calmed down, Linley asked Lambert, "Lambert, did you order breakfast for today?"
"Yes, I did. It should be delivered by the hotel staff soon," Lambert said, looking at Linley with gratitude.