Chapter 64: Discovery

A waning moon hung in the sky. Mist shrouded the Luo River.

Seven or eight speedboats pierced through the thick fog, hurtling upstream along the Luo River.

Chen Mu sat awkwardly at the bow, doing his best to avoid looking back.

At the stern, Lin Que’s orange-peel-like face was flushed with exertion, yet he still strained to row the boat, his arms working in a relentless rhythm.

He glared furiously at the gray-robed subordinate before him, his teeth itching with suppressed rage. As a division leader of the Soaring Swan Gang, he was actually acting as a oarsman for his own subordinate?

The more he thought about it, the more suffocating his anger became. He asked coldly, "Whose crew are you on?"

Hadn't he already answered that? Puzzled, Chen Mu replied, "Division Leader Zhang Yun's."

"Zhang Yun only has three boats under his command. I'm asking which boat you usually work on!" Which bastard could possibly have chosen someone as utterly useless at handling a boat as you?

Chen Mu breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, I guard the warehouse."

Lin Que’s eyebrows knitted together. "Old Zhao has always been in charge of the warehouse. If you follow Zhang Yun, how on earth did you end up guarding it?!"

Chen Mu’s heart skipped a beat. *Damn it, I'm going to be exposed!*

"Useless trash! Zhang Yun can't even manage his own people, and yet he dares to plant moles under someone else's nose? Is he trying to play undercover games right under my watch? I'm going to divorce his sister the moment I get back!" Lin Que fumed, utterly exasperated.

Chen Mu: "..." *Fine. As long as you can make peace with it in your own head, whatever works.*

"Wait a minute, you're so utterly incompetent, how could Old Zhao not have noticed?" Lin Que furrowed his brow deeper.

"I... I don't know." Chen Mu had no idea how to fabricate another excuse.

Lin Que stared at Chen Mu, his expression growing increasingly solemn.

Just as Chen Mu was about to slip a steel lotus seed into his hand and silence him, a shout rang out from across the water.

"Brother-in-law, why are you rowing yourself? Come over to my boat!" From a speedboat not far away, Zhang Yun called out loudly to Lin Que, gesticulating wildly.

Lin Que’s face darkened.

*Why am I rowing myself? Whose fault do you think that is, you idiot?*

Gritting his teeth, he gave the oars two vicious pulls, steering closer to the approaching speedboat.

*So this is Zhang Yun?* Chen Mu narrowed his eyes, looking at the tall, skinny figure making all the noise.

Secretly, his fingers gripped an iron lotus seed.

Just as Lin Que lowered his oars and prepared to leap across to the other boat:

*Whoosh!*

It sounded like a stray river wind sweeping past.

*Plop!*

The oarsman on the opposite boat fell backward into the river.

"Quick, quick, quick! Big Brother, the pursuers are here!"

"Damned Scarlet Robe Pavilion!" Lin Que cursed fiercely, immediately snatching up the wooden paddle again, his arms spinning like wheels as he rowed for his life.

Chen Mu instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

A direct confrontation with Zhang Yun was the last thing he needed right now.

If the two of them ended up face-to-face, wouldn't his cover be blown instantly?

Once he boarded the White Tiger Hall's flagship, he just needed to wait for the chaos of the crowd, slip quietly into the cabin, and everything would be smooth sailing.

...

Spurred by the sudden attack, Lin Que rowed with desperate, frenzied strokes.

Having achieved mastery in physical conditioning, his explosive strength was formidable. For a moment, he actually made the rowing boat feel like a motorized speedboat.

The bow of the speedboat tilted slightly upward, trailing a wake of white foam as it surged rapidly up the upper reaches of the Luo River.

The seven or eight speedboats that had set off much earlier were actually overtaken one by one.

"Big Brother is amazing!"

"Shut up!"

"Got it!"

A massive ship, over fifty meters long, quietly loomed into view, lying quietly hidden in the middle of the Luo River.

Catching sight of the grand vessel, Lin Que finally let out a sigh of relief. They had finally made it home.

...

Beneath the towering hull of the White Tiger flagship, Lin Que leaped upward, bounding directly onto the deck. His subordinates followed, clambering up one after another.

Chen Mu did not jump. Fidgeting nervously, he blended in with the ordinary gang members and climbed up to the deck via a rope ladder.

Tonight's operation had gone poorly, resulting in heavy casualties, and they had spent the better part of the night simply fleeing for their lives.

Now back aboard the main ship, the gang members slumped to the deck one by one, completely abandoning all composure.

Chen Mu swiftly assessed his surroundings.

Everything was pitch black. A few patrol members who hurriedly approached did not carry lanterns—clearly an effort to maintain absolute secrecy.

Taking advantage of the cover, Chen Mu hid behind the noisy throng of gang members and quietly made his way toward the entrance of the nearest cabin.

*Hide first, and once these people also enter the confined space of the cabin, I'll unleash the soul-bewildering smoke immediately.*

...

"Halt! Where do you think you're going?" A harsh roar suddenly shattered the tension.

Chen Mu’s hand, which had just touched the cabin door, froze.

Turning his head, he met Lin Que’s icy gaze.

"I knew something was wrong with you from the start. You're one of Left Victory's men, aren't you?"

As Lin Que's words fell, the gang members who had been sprawled about instantly sprang to their feet, staring at Chen Mu with expressionless faces.

"A member of the Soaring Swan Gang who doesn't even know how to row? Left Victory must be completely blind."

The surrounding gang members burst into uninhibited, mocking laughter.

"You could have survived, you know. I wouldn't have minded keeping you around to be a thorn in Left Victory's side," Lin Que said calmly.

"Too bad fortune isn't on your side."

Tonight had been a string of disasters, and with most of his elite subordinates killed or wounded, he was already filled to the brim with pent-up rage.

"Throw him in the water to feed the fish," Lin Que said indifferently, turning away with a wave of his hand. "Set sail."

A mere lackey wasn't worth spending his energy on.

The White Tiger Hall had suffered far too many losses lately; he needed to figure out how to handle the impending crisis.

*Continue recruiting? We haven't even fully digested the ones we took in last time, and now we need more?*

"Forget it, recruit if we must," Lin Que sighed, walking slowly toward the captain's quarters. "The business territories of the White Tiger Hall cannot be allowed to suffer."

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...*

Suddenly, a low, whistling shriek erupted from directly behind him.

*Aah...*

A rapid succession of strangled screams pierced the air.

Lin Que’s head whipped violently to the left.

*Thud!*

An iron lotus seed brushed past his earlobe, leaving a finger-thick hole in the wooden door ahead.

Lin Que spun around abruptly.

More than a dozen gang members had collapsed to the ground, all clutching their left chests.

His brother-in-law, Zhang Yun, was also sprawled out, blood endlessly bubbling from his mouth and nose.

All three division leaders were injured, blood gushing from wounds on their shoulders and arms.

"Ha!" Lin Que split his lips into a grin, the moonlight gleaming off a mouthful of stark white teeth. "So we have an expert here after all."

He looked down coldly at his subordinates sprawled across the deck.

"Useless trash."

His disappointment in these men had reached its absolute limit.

It seemed he had been far too lenient with them lately. Living in comfort, they had grown lazy and forgotten how to earn their keep!

...

Chen Mu looked at Lin Que with a completely blank expression.

He hadn't wanted to resort to violence.

He had simply wanted a quiet chat with Lin Que to clear up any misunderstandings between them.

After all, what was a little gift-giving among colleagues?

For the sake of a peaceful life, one should spend where necessary and save where possible!

Yet these people had actually decided to gang up on him?!

And they wanted to feed him to the fish?!

The water was freezing cold!

Trying to turn him into fish food in the middle of the night?!

Too barbaric!

Left with no choice, Chen Mu had to take action.

Fortunately, he had never neglected practicing his throwing mastery. Even with a modest daily quota, he had slowly ground the skill all the way up to Tier Four.

The iron lotus seeds now came with an area-of-effect capability.

With a single toss, every single projectile claimed a life.

Surrounded by so many people just moments ago, Chen Mu had been terrified!

He was just an ordinary, law-abiding citizen leading a quiet life; when had he ever witnessed such a scene?

Without a second thought, he had scattered a handful of iron lotus seeds.

Looking at the bodies strewn across the deck, Chen Mu felt a wave of profound relief.

"Proficiency never lies!"

...

Lin Que slowly raised his head, a smile plastered across his face, though his eyes were brimming with murderous intent.

"It seems you aren't one of Left Victory's men after all."

"The Scarlet Robe Pavilion?"

"With how vast the Scarlet Robe Pavilion is, they surely won't shed tears over a dead subordinate or two."

Lin Que drew two short sabers, each about the length of his forearm, from his waist.

"No, how could you possibly be from the Scarlet Robe Pavilion? You're definitely one of Left Victory's men."

Lin Que smiled sinisterly. "It's completely normal for the various divisions of the Soaring Swan Gang to spar, and for a few casualties to happen by accident when things get a bit out of hand, right? Haha..."

So what if it was the Scarlet Robe Pavilion!

A powerful dragon couldn't crush a snake in its native domain.

He simply refused to believe that the Scarlet Robe Pavilion would declare war on the Soaring Swan Gang over some nameless nobody!