Bang!
The sound of the door closed abruptly alarmed Xiao Ren. He pressed his body to the wall, hoping that he could use the darkness to completely hide his presence. However, it was hard to tell whether his method would actually work or not.
"Commander Bei, it's already nearing wee hours. If you don't return back soon, I'm afraid that the governor might report your misbehavior."
"You're only disrupting my fun."
"Commander Bei, please…"
"I know, get out!"
Bang!
Xiao Ren furrowed his brows when he heard the sound of moaning continued from the room. It seemed that even though he was already warned, Commander Bei was still in the mood to keep going. Just how many times he actually wished to do it?
However, he could hear the sound of something thrown to the floor not long afterwards.
"Commander Bei, are you going to leave?"
"Heh, don't worry, I'll return back to my beauties."
Tep! Tep!
Hearing the footsteps, Xiao Ren leapt down and waited at the back alley. He knew that Commander Bei would surely pick the back road in order to avoid meeting other people who might have recognized him. It would be better to keep as fewer people as possible who knew about his bad habit.
Xiao Ren laid waiting patiently. One thing he had learned back in the military was the importance of patience. Without patience, one wouldn't be able to get the best result and might even screw up.
Commander Bei was humming songs as he turned into the alley. His laidback expression could be seen very clearly. As he licked his lips, the wicked smile hung on his face expressed the lust deep within his eyes.
He was thinking of how he could get his hand on the beauties.
Tep! Tep!
Swish!
Just as Commander Bei was in a distance away from the main road, he felt sudden wind gust. His instinct that he had honed in battlefield for years worked almost immediately as he raised his hand and tried to block. Unfortunately, he turned in the wrong direction.
Slash! Bam!
Deep wound appeared on his chest. His eyes widened as he stepped back but before he could pull his sword out, he was punched to the back. With a loud bam, he crashed onto the wall before him.
Swish!
A sword was rested on his neck. Commander Bei's eyes widened. He couldn't believe that a veteran of war like him was cornered in a few breaths of time just like that. His eyes landed on the youth before him, the familiar youth whose face he could never forgotten in his entire life.
"Xiao Ren…"
Xiao Ren didn't reply. To be exact, he couldn't reply since he hadn't recovered his voice. However, his cold gaze seemed to be threatening Commander Bei. And even without words, it was not hard to perceive his anger and hatred.
"How in the world are you still alive? You're supposed…hiss.."
Trail of blood appeared on his neck. Commander Bei saw Xiao Ren's cold eyes and felt that if he spoke nonsense again, he would die immediately. The sword was tightening around his neck rapidly as he looked at the young man before him.
Time was ticking.
"Xiao Ren, listen to me. I didn't intend to do it, but General Wang promised me a lot of beauties if I follow him. You know that I always like…ouch… listen, just follow me and you'll be able to live a good life. There's no point in doing dirty work like this. Xiao Ren, you're my good friend, right?"
Good friend?
Right now, Xiao Ren knew for sure that they were not a good friend. His eyes were cold as he pressed the edge of his sword closer to Commander Bei's neck. If this man uttered more nonsense, he didn't mind killing this man right here, right now.
From their conversation before, he knew that Commander Bei was tasked to take over his men that was stationed at the north. With such point slapped to his face, how could he trust what Commander Bei said just now?
Commander Bei felt that blood was pouring even faster. His heart thumped madly, finally thinking that he was on the corner of death. "This… I was only following order from General Wang. Many others are also doing the same. We... know that following His Highness Prince Ji Quji wouldn't earn us that much, so we want to follow Prince Ji Shu-no King Si of Zhou."
However, Xiao Ren was merely looking at his former comrade as he watched the blood that poured out of the man's neck. It wouldn't take long before Commander Bei died out of blood loss.
"What do you want, Xiao Ren?"
'Your life.'
Xiao Ren didn't answer and merely uttered the answer inside his heart. His eyes were staring at Commander Bei without any emotion. Right now, he wished for nothing more but killing this man.
"Listen, I was only following orders. Even if you kill me, many others will come. He will not let your soldiers free because you're King Zhending's person."
'I know.'
Commander Bei saw the cold glint within Xiao Ren's eyes and instantly understood that Xiao Ren also knew this. in fact, Xiao Ren knew much better than him. He was not that stupid to not realize that his men were targeted because of him.
"You…" Commander Bei wanted to continue, but he felt that his vision turned blurry. Weakness also began to spread from his legs. By now, he had lost too much blood. "You won't win, Xiao Ren… Give up."
Xiao Ren said nothing and swung his sword.
Slash! Thud!