My Years in the Jianghu with the Prince: A Time of Unethical Conduct

"Wait a moment."

It was the second-in-command who spoke, his eyes filled with malice as he leaned close to the leader's ear with a wicked grin: "Although there are undercover agents, there must be people protecting them among them. These people cannot be let go either."

"Boss, I've thought of something fun..."

No one could hear what they were saying; all they could see was the leader's smile growing wider and wider, until he finally couldn't help but clap and cheer.

Yu Bai couldn't see Xie Yan's direction, so he could only exchange glances with his companion, feeling an ominous premonition, which was sure to come true the next moment.

The second-in-command turned his head and gave an order. In no time, someone came over with an incense burner and a stick of incense and lit one.

"Since no one is willing to come forward and admit it, from now on, kill one person for every stick of incense burned."

At the leader's command, the first person to be executed was Niu Da.

"No, please! Spare me, Boss!"

Niu Da was dragged in front of the crowd, trembling, with a large knife held to his neck. He was so frightened that his pants were soaked, leaving a water stain on the ground.

The leader sighed affectedly, "Alas, actually I don't really like killing."

Then, as if he had come up with a brilliant idea, he clapped his hands and said, "How about this? If you don't want to die, you can spare your life by giving up on someone. How about that?"

Niu Da knelt there, trembling like a leaf, and Dou Da was sweating profusely. He couldn't help but look at the incense that would decide his fate, and to his surprise, he saw someone fanning the incense with a bamboo fan.

He practically screamed, "Stop! Stop right now! What are you doing?!"

The man ignored him and instead increased the speed at which he fanned himself.

Niu Da immediately looked at the leader, who had a mocking expression on his face. He immediately understood that this was the leader's intention.

Under such immense pressure, Niu Da finally couldn't hold back any longer and hurriedly turned around to look for Yu Bai and the others.

Yu Bai's companion sidled up to him, his voice tinged with anxiety: "What do we do? This kid's probably going to betray us."

Yu Bai frowned. "Even if he doesn't implicate us, someone else will eventually. Besides, protecting innocent civilians is our top priority."

"There's no other way. Should we lead our men and fight our way out?"

"We can't leave, there are too many of them."

There were at least a hundred bandits in the village, while their group consisted of less than ten people. Protecting dozens of civilians was an almost impossible task.

Yu Bai couldn't help but look at Xie Yan again. He felt that if it were Xie Yan, she would have some solution.

This time, through the crowd, he was finally able to barely see the lower half of Xie Yan's face.

"It's him!"

But Niu Da finally found the person, Xie Yan, who always ended up being the first one called out.

Seeing Xie Yan being dragged away, his companion became even more anxious, "What should we do? Young Master Xie has been arrested. Will he be in any danger? The Prince specifically told us to keep a close eye on him!"

Yu Bai rubbed his eyes, somewhat doubting whether he had seen correctly.

How did he just see Xie Yan smiling?

He restrained his restless companion and hesitated, saying, "Let's wait and see. Perhaps Young Master Xie has his own ideas?"

Upon hearing this, the group thought for a moment, recalling Xie Yan's past deeds, and suddenly calmed down.

"Hmm...that's true."

"Young Master Xie must have his own reasons."

Xie Yan was pulled out. Niu Da kept his head down and didn't dare to look at him, while Lu Zizhao stared at him intently for a moment, as if trying to see something from his face.

Looking at him, the leader suddenly remembered, "So it was you."

The person from the escort agency who was chosen to go to the martial arts arena but couldn't beat the child and ended up getting injured.

In this way, everyone already knows who the undercover agents are.

But as long as the boss doesn't say stop, the game won't end.

The leader glanced at Niu Da and said approvingly, "You're really something."

Niu Da dared not speak anymore. He turned to Xie Yan and asked, "I heard you're one of that kid surnamed Chu's people?"

Is his surname Chu?

These words caused another stir in the crowd. Wasn't the most famous surname in the world today...?

"How dare two sons of traitors rule the world?"

The leader was unexpectedly furious; he slammed his hand on the armrest, and his entire body trembled.

Judging from his appearance, it seemed as if he had some grudge against the Chu family.

He kept cursing to himself, but Xie Yan remained unmoved. Upon closer inspection, he even seemed to agree with her, nodding slightly.

Boss: ...What's wrong with this guy? Is he really one of those thieves surnamed Chu's men?

He choked up, unable to continue his tirade; the man seemed completely unfazed.

The second-in-command spoke up promptly: "Boss, why waste words with this kind of person? Just kill him."

The leader patted his chest, caught his breath, and thought what was said was absolutely right. "I'm going to cut off your heads one by one and send them to that traitor Chu."

Several bandits immediately sharpened their knives and headed towards Xie Yan, looking menacing.

His companion grew anxious again: "They're going to make a move against Young Master Xie!"

"Does Young Master Xie really have a solution?"

Yu Bai seemed a little uncertain again, but he still said firmly, "Don't panic! We must trust Young Master Xie!"

"...You're right, let's trust Young Master Xie!"

"Yes! Young Master Xie will definitely succeed!"

Just then, Lu Zizhao suddenly said something to the leader, and after receiving the leader's approval, he walked straight toward Xie Yan.

He walked over to Xie Yan, feeling a little regretful that he couldn't see more of her expression.

But at that moment, he was laughing as heartily as a young boy.

He moved closer to Xie Yan, staring intently into his eyes, and asked maliciously, "How does it feel to be trapped in a desperate situation with no hero to save you?"

The next moment, he successfully detected a hint of emotion in Xie Yan's eyes.

Lu Zizhao was very happy, but he soon realized that Xie Yan was looking at him like he was an idiot.

Xie Yan was speechless: ...I never thought there would be teenagers with chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) in this era.

He couldn't help but want to shout out Lu Zizhao's famous line, "It's not me who's wrong, it's the whole world."

The boy, somewhat embarrassed and angry at the look in her eyes, said, "What do you mean by looking at me like that?! Don't look at me like that!"

Xie Yan shrugged, displaying a sense of helplessness in dealing with a rebellious child, which infuriated Lu Zizhao.

The second-in-command seemed impatient and ordered his men to pull Lu Zizhao down.

"Do it."

Just before the knife was about to fall, Lu Zizhao heard Xie Yan call his name.

“Kid, I’m telling you,”

Lu Zizhao turned to look at him. Amidst the flashing swords and shadows, Xie Yan remained calm and composed.

"Since no one is going to save you, you might as well be your own hero."

In the blink of an eye, weapons fell one after another. Then came a series of thuds as not only Xie Yan's men, but also the bandits surrounding them, fell one after another.

"W-What's going on?!"

People began to gasp in alarm. Some tried to run, but before they could take more than a few steps, they fell heavily to the ground.

Lu Zizhao opened his mouth as if to say something, but then everything went black and he fainted.

Yu Bai and the others stood there dumbfounded, not even realizing what had happened, when they saw the panicked civilians around them fall one by one.

Several people: ...What's going on?!

Xie Yan sighed with her hands behind her back, exuding an aura of "how lonely it is to be invincible".

He said quietly, "Why does everyone have to fight and kill each other? It would be so much better to use drugs. It's convenient, quick, and saves a lot of trouble."

Yu Bai was stunned: "When did it download?"

How come they didn't find anything?

"Oh, it was put in the rice jars, water jars, wine jars, and grain piles in the village yesterday. So—"

Yu Bai was momentarily at a loss, unsure whether to marvel at Xie Yan's abundance of medicine and his excessive caution in administering it, or to worry about his unfinished business. He stammered, "...So what?"

"Those with internal strength will last longer."

"thump!"

Yu Bai and the others also collapsed.