CH 48

October 13, 2022Merchie

Arrows showered down like heavy rain from the surrounding forests and hills. The guards were well-trained and had prepared for a situation like this, but some of them were still injured.

The rain of arrows stopped, and a group of black-masked bandits emerged on horseback from behind the forests and hills. All of them appeared to be skilled in martial arts; they immediately rushed in and began to fight with the guards.

Pei Zheng caught the sword that Zhao Litang tossed to him, turned around, and stabbed an advancing bandit. Warm blood splashed all over his hands.

He slashed a few more bandits with his blade, pulled the reins taut, and rushed towards the scattered convoy. But he was immediately surrounded once more.

His heart was flooded with anxiety, his eyes were red and ruthless; his sword sliced through the air with deadly precision, and another lifeless bandit fell to the ground.

From a distance, he saw Cheng Feng battling with another group of robbers, shielding the carriage with his body.

He rushed over and swung his sword, finishing off the rest of the robbers, before he flung open the carriage door to check inside.

It was empty!

Pei Zheng grabbed Li Yu, who was lying unconscious on the ground, and pulled him up by the collar. His tone was filled with rage, “Where is he?!”

Li Yu had been hit on the head; blood was still oozing from the wound as he groggily opened his eyes. He took one look at the empty carriage, and his face immediately filled with panic. He wailed, “I, I don’t know, he was still here a minute ago!”

Pei Zheng suddenly reached past Li Yu and quickly snapped another bandit’s neck. The crisp ‘crack’ echoed in Li Yu’s ears, frightening him half to death, and bringing back some unpleasant memories.

“I got it! Right before I fainted, I saw someone carrying His Highness go that way!”

Li Yu pointed towards the forest.

Pei Zheng glared at him, “You’re sure?”

“Absolutely! I only fainted after I saw it!” Li Yu began to sob. “My Lord, you must save His Highness. These lawless bandits kill people without even blinking an eye, what if something happens to His Highness?”

Pei Zheng’s eyes darkened. He tossed Li Yu at Cheng Feng, turned around, and headed straight for the woods.

The sounds of battle immediately faded as he entered the forest. Pei Zheng’s footsteps were light and quick; the tips of his boots merely tapped the scattered twigs on the ground as he ran.

There were indeed faint footprints indented into the grass. A wave of uneasiness washed over Pei Zheng. He didn’t know who those bandits were, but they actually had the gall to attack imperial soldiers; they definitely weren’t ordinary people.

The wind whistled past his ears; he didn’t know how long he had traveled, but he had reached the end of the forest.

The last traces of grass disappeared at the face of a huge rock. Behind the rock was a mountain cave, its dark, bottomless entrance spanning the length of several people.

Pei Zheng paused for a second, held his breath, and walked inside.

Qi Changyi was woken up by the raucous noise surrounding him. He had been hit on the back of the head earlier; it was still extremely painful. His eyes could only peel open slowly.

The ceiling above his head looked rough and rocky; it seemed that they were in a cave. Dozens of ugly, enlarged faces had their eyes pinned on him, their expressions ferocious and filled with lethality.

“Ah!” Qi Changyi was startled and reflexively shrank away, but he couldn’t avoid the hard stone pillar behind him and crashed right into it.

“Who, who are you? Why did you capture me, I don’t even know you.”

The bandits all exchanged glances with each other, and suddenly burst into laughter.

“Hahahaha, Ol’ Seventh1 must’ve brought back an idiot, did you hear that, he asked us who we are!”

“We’re good guys, don’t be afraid, ahahahaha.”

Suddenly, the person sitting in the nearby corner shouted, “All of you, shut the fuck up!”

Qi Changyi looked in the direction of the voice. There sat a tall man, who had a long scar on his face that looked like it was from a sword. His eyes were piercing and terrifying; everybody in the cave cowered under his gaze.

Ol’ Seventh, the person who had kidnapped Qi Changyi, stepped out of the crowd and bowed to the man.

“Big brother, I thought that those imperial soldiers were escorting some kind of rare treasure. Turns out, that carriage they were watching so closely was actually holding this little beauty! Your little brother thought, ‘big brother has lived for so long now, but he doesn’t even have a wife yet’. So I quickly grabbed him and took him back, big brother, please take a look!”

“Big Brother” stood up from his chair, walked towards Qi Changyi, and squatted in front of him. He looked the small man up and down, his eyes narrowed.

“Where’s everybody else?”

Ol’ Seventh responded, “They’re still collecting the rest of the loot. There’s a ton of stuff, so it’ll take a while for them to get back.”

“Big Brother” nodded, and continued to stare at Qi Changyi. “She’s got a pretty face, but her figure is lacking. Like a stick of bamboo.”

He reached out and groped at Qi Changyi’s chest. His eyes suddenly widened; he stood up and kicked Ol’ Seventh to the ground.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? This is a man!”

The entire cave was shocked into silence.

Ol’ Seventh gawked at Qi Changyi for a while. But instead of being angry, he laughed and whispered something into Big Brother’s ear. The corners of Big Brother’s mouth trembled slightly, “You’d better not be lying to me, kid.”

“Don’t worry, Big Brother! You’ll really like it, I promise!”

Qi Changyi was absolutely terrified; the bandits closing in on him were all holding sharp, silvery knives. They plucked him off the ground and threw him into a nearby room, before slamming the door shut and locking it from the outside.

The furniture in the room was shabby and crude; only the elegantly carved wooden bed in the center looked like it was worth any money.

Qi Changyi didn’t dare to move or touch anything. He squatted beside the bed and hugged his knees, before burying his face in his sleeves. Soon, his eyes became wet.

He was terrified. He didn’t know where he was, who those people were, or what they were planning to do to him.

Would he die here? If he did, he would never be able to see him again…

It was a moment of crisis; there was only one name echoing in Qi Changyi’s heart. He was too stupid to escape by himself; he had no choice but to stay where he was and wait for that person to find him.

But, could Brother Pei find him? Would Brother Pei put himself in danger to save him?

Qi Changyi didn’t know. Shrouded in dangerous darkness, he curled into a little ball and hugged himself tightly.

Things seemed to be getting very lively on the other side of the door; loud laughter was occasionally pierced by the sound of a bowl or jar being smashed to the floor. Every time he heard something shatter, Qi Changyi’s small body shuddered.

He lost count of how many times he shivered. Suddenly, the laughter grew louder and louder as it neared the room, and the door was violently kicked open.

Qi Changyi quickly hid behind the bed and nervously gulped; he didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly.

It seemed like a large group of people had entered the room. But the laughter had ceased and was replaced with an eerie quiet. One could only hear the shuffling footsteps that circled the room, searching for the small man.

Qi Changyi squeezed his eyes shut, and anxiously recited a mantra in his mind, they can’t see me, they can’t see me, they can’t see me…

Suddenly, somebody grabbed his wrist and yanked him out. His hiding place had been revealed, and everybody in the room burst into a chorus of guffaws.

“Hahahaha, did you really think we couldn’t find you if you hid there?”

“He really is an idiot, he doesn’t even know how to hide properly! He actually thought he could fool us by hiding behind the bed, hahahaha!”

“In a little while, Big Brother will make sure that he won’t even be able to get out of that bed!”

The one who had grabbed Qi Changyi’s soft white wrist was none other than “Big Brother” himself. He laughed along with the others while staring at the panicked white rabbit in front of him.

He reached out, pinched the small man’s delicate little chin, and commanded, “Bring it to me!”

Someone took out a crimson-colored pill and carefully presented it to “Big Brother”.

“Big Brother” took it, and pressed it against Qi Changyi’s soft red lips, “Eat it.”

The moment the pill’s bitter scent hit his nose, Qi Changyi frowned. He wasn’t sick, why would he need to take medicine?

“I don’t want to…”

“Big Brother” didn’t really care if he wanted to or not. He squeezed the small man’s cheeks with one hand and stuffed the pill into his mouth. His fingers merely brushed a warm little tongue, but the carnal desire in his body instantly begged for more.

Qi Changyi was choking; the hand in his mouth was still rummaging around even after he swallowed the pill. His face was bright red as he desperately gasped for breath. He couldn’t take it anymore and ferociously bit down on the fingers between his lips.

“Agh!”

“Big Brother” was in severe pain; a layer of cold sweat had formed over his forehead. But the sharp white teeth embedded in his skin only clenched harder, unwilling to let go.

In the end, Qi Changyi’s arms were restrained, and his jaw was pried apart by one of the other little brothers. Only then did they ease “Big Brother”‘s bloody fingers out of his mouth. If Qi Changyi had kept biting for just a little longer, those fingers would have become useless sticks of mincemeat.

“Big Brother” was so enraged that he raised his hand and slapped the small man’s stubborn little face. “You dare to bite me? You must be tired of living!”

Qi Changyi fell to the ground from the force of the slap. His cheek swelled and turned red, but he was immediately plucked off the floor.

“I’ve lived for so long. I’ve already lost count of how many people I’ve killed, but I’ve never been injured by anyone until now! I’m a little impressed with this motherfucker!”

Qi Changyi raised his chin, and managed to choke out, “You’re not a good person, you’re a bad person, bad person, bad…”

Someone couldn’t hold themselves back and laughed out loud. “Big Brother” glanced over with cold eyes, and the man who had laughed was immediately gagged and dragged away.

The rest of the bandits were all quiet as chickens2, and didn’t even dare to breathe.

“All right then, if you’re going to be like this, I’ll show you exactly what a bad person can do!”

Qi Changyi was thrown onto the bed; his head was slightly dizzy from the force of the impact.

When he returned to his senses, he tried to stand back up. But a tall black shadow loomed over him and shoved him back down. Big, rough hands tore at his robe, and the brilliant red skirt ripped apart, revealing a pair of pale, slender legs.

Qi Changyi’s brain was overcome by panic. He desperately scooted away, and kept repeating, “Get away, get away from me, don’t touch me…”

His face was becoming extremely red, abnormally so. His skin was itchy to the extreme; it was as if thousands of ants were crawling all over him. His body was also burning hot; it felt as though he had been stuck into a fire. His mouth was dry, but his eyes were overflowing with tears.

“Big Brother” looked down at Qi Changyi’s pitiful face, his expression filled with unbridled disdain. “You were so confident just a minute ago! What’s wrong now? You miss your boyfriend?”

Everybody in the room laughed. They couldn’t tear their eyes away from the two people on the bed. Their Big Brother was letting them watch such a gorgeous scene for free, but he didn’t care in the slightest that all of them were about to burst out of their pants.

Qi Changyi didn’t know what was wrong with his body. He just wanted to take all of his clothes off, it would be so much cooler without these annoying layers. Why was it so hot…

The person in front of him grabbed his ankle and jerked it forward with force. Qi Changyi tried desperately to struggle out of his grasp, but his limbs were like jelly, and he couldn’t muster any strength.

“Big Brother” began to untie his robes. The onlookers’ eyes all glistened with greed, and they began to cheer loudly.

“Big Brother! Big Brother! Big Brother!”

Under his little brothers’ encouragement, “Big Brother” enthusiastically stripped himself. Just as he was about to tear off his pants, a hand suddenly reached out and stopped him.

It was a little boy with a youthful face, he had probably just joined this band of robbers. He spoke with sincerity, “Big Brother, as far as I know, people like him are usually part of the army.”

He leaned over and his voice lowered, “An army prostitute3.” He continued on, “There are so many people in the army, what if you caught something gross from him? It would be terribly humiliating for you, Big Brother.”

Everybody fell silent at these words, even the chatty Ol’ Seventh. This little newbie was really thorough.

“Big Brother” tried his best to quell his raging desire. He glanced at the beautiful, half-clothed man on the bed and rolled his eyes. Then, he pointed at the young outlaw who had just spoken.

“If that’s how it is, you should fuck him in my place.”

Notes

Weirdest chapter ever. Giving me 1984 vibes and the rest of this weird shit

Thanks for reading~

1: This gang of silly robbers, they all call each other ‘brother’ and stuff. This person is called 老七; in ancient times, this is what the Emperor called his brothers (老 and then their birth order). I chose Ol’ Seventh because ‘Seventh Brother’ sounds a bit too formal for this ragtag group

2. 安静如鸡: Quiet as chickens, refers to a noisy scene that has suddenly quieted down

3. Is there a better word for this? it just sounds…so bad