Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 281 Story
The surrounding guests—or rather, the assassins—were caught off guard and didn't even have time to react.

After a while, a dark-faced man stood up.

"You Taoist priest, we brothers have no grudge against you, why would you poison us with this wine?"

However, before he could finish speaking, a flash of sword light had already covered a distance of several steps and was heading straight for him!
—Are you kidding me? You're fucking playing dirty tricks!

This man was quite skilled; he narrowly avoided the sword's edge at this critical moment. But before he could even catch his breath, a yellow talisman suddenly appeared behind him and silently stuck to his back.

The next moment, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky—

When they looked again, the man was already exhaling blue smoke and had collapsed to the ground.

The aroma of roasted meat could be faintly smelled in the air.

To be honest, this tastes much better than the food on the table.

Looking closer, Tao Le'an showed no sign of arrogance or impatience; instead, he lightly drew another talisman.

In an instant.

It was as if time had been slowed down several times. Except for Zhou You, everyone else's movements slowed down as well. Only then did Tao Le'an take a deep breath and shout.

"Taoist Master, you may proceed!"

Zhou You nodded in agreement, and then a flash of sword light appeared.

In the blink of an eye, it was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep—

It only took the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to pass.

In this small tavern, all that could be seen were corpses scattered everywhere.

The heavy smell of blood lingered in the air, and the stench of rust and entrails was inescapable, making one feel dizzy.

—It must be said that although Tao Le'an usually acts like he's lazy to the extreme, he's actually quite capable when it comes to serious situations. His talisman skills are superb, and they also make up for Zhou You's lack of proper magic.

Slowly wiping the blood from the sword's edge, Zhou You said to Tao Le'an.

"Honestly, I'm not trying to be mean, but you're always so nice, why can't you act like a normal person when you're actually working?"

After dealing with this group of assassins, the young man slumped back onto the table and said lazily.

“Work is work, and life is life. The Zhenxie Division has treated me well, so I do my job diligently. But the problem is that they don’t pay me extra for the work I do in my daily life. Why should I take these extra tasks seriously?”

What this guy said makes so much sense, I'm speechless.

—You've been sleeping a lot, but could you at least participate in the floor cleaning?
Zhou You rolled his eyes, just about to move the things on the ground outside.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, a burly man rushed out of the kitchen, holding the already nearly rolling-back-eyes Manager Sun hostage.

"Listen up, let me go, or I'll kill this guy! Do you hear me?!"

Zhou You and Tao Le'an exchanged glances, then looked at the man with pity.

"Speaking of which, I almost forgot about you if you hadn't rushed out yourself—but speaking of which, my friend, have you ever heard of the imperial court's laws regarding hostage-taking?"

".What do you mean?"

"Actually, it doesn't mean anything else. It means that anyone who dares to kidnap others can be killed without mercy, regardless of whether the kidnapped person is alive or dead."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sword was already slashing out again.

Judging from their posture, they were about to cut off the heads of both Manager Sun and the burly man at the same time!
—Holy crap, you're serious!
The burly man panicked immediately. He retreated hastily, pushing forward with his hand, trying to use Manager Sun as a shield. However, the sword suddenly changed direction halfway through its thrust and then, like a venomous snake, relentlessly pursued him!

Seeing this, the burly man had no choice but to use his trump card.

He clenched his teeth, and a wax pellet hidden in his teeth shattered instantly. Then his expression twisted instantly, and his back suddenly swelled up—just a few seconds later, a pair of wings covered in blood and fat exploded out from behind him!

At this moment, the strong man's heart was also bleeding.

It wasn't just the pain; this thing had drained his savings of many years.

Three hundred taels of gold! Three hundred taels of gold!

The burly man glared fiercely at Zhou You, as if trying to etch that face into his very heart, then flapped his wings and flew into the sky.

—I can't beat you guys on the ground, but I fucking refuse to believe you can fly!

Zhou You, of course, couldn't fly. He first looked at Tao Le'an, and when he saw that the other party shrugged and indicated that he was powerless, he sighed and took out the Broken Moon Bow.

Although it was still broad daylight and the moonlight could not be condensed into arrows, the other Heaven-Shaking Arrow could be automatically retrieved.

Nock the arrow, draw the bow, aim, and finally, with a sharp crack—

The man's smile froze on his face.

After about ten breaths, the Heaven-Shaking Arrow returned to Zhou You's hand. He threw the bow and arrow into his ring and then asked Tao Le'an.

"Is everything now resolved?"

Tao Le'an didn't answer, but turned his head to look at Manager Sun, who was paralyzed with fear on the ground.

Although no words were spoken, the other party already understood what it meant.

Manager Sun crawled over on his knees, then knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.

"My lords, I saw nothing, I really saw nothing. No matter who comes, I won't say a word, really, I won't say a single word. I have an eighty-year-old mother to support and a three-year-old baby to feed. Please spare my life!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou You interjected with some curiosity.

"Hey Manager Sun, didn't you just say you were single and couldn't find a wife? Where did this three-year-old come from?"

Manager Sun struggled for a long time before finally managing to utter a single word.

"I found it!"

Zhou You wanted to ask more questions, but Tao Le'an interrupted him softly.

But the question asked was completely unrelated.

"—Let me ask you, have you been feeling confused, having headaches, and having a very blurry memory lately, even unable to remember what you had for lunch?"

Manager Sun was taken aback.

These two wicked men... they even offer medical treatment?
But since the question had been asked to this extent, Manager Sun could only answer respectfully.

"So that you may know, sir, what you said is indeed correct. However, I think I just have a slight cold, nothing serious."

Manager Sun thought his answer was flawless, but he didn't see that after hearing it, the eyes of the two menacing figures darkened simultaneously.

Tao Le'an took a step, pulled out a talisman from his pocket, pried open Manager Sun's mouth, and stuffed it inside.

At first, Manager Sun tried to struggle, but soon he stopped moving. His eyes gradually became unfocused and confused. His face, which was always full of sorrow, began to melt like wax, and in the blink of an eye, it was no longer recognizable.

At the same time, a familiar aura emanated from Zhou You.

That was vitality overflowing to its fullest extent. Zhou You shook his head, his face expressionless, and simply said to Tao Le'an.

"I say, how many times have we encountered this along the way?"

"I don't know, I didn't count them, but there must be at least several dozen."

"The closer we get to the heartland, the more people there are who have had the seeds of the Thick Earth Sect planted in them."

With a sigh, Zhou You changed the subject again.

"So, how many assassination attempts have we encountered now?"

This time, Tao Le'an counted them carefully.

"One, two, three, four, five. Since leaving Changsheng Temple, including this one, we have probably encountered five assassination attempts."

"That's quite a few times."

Zhou You took out a scale from his pocket, looked at it, and then tried to flick it into the middle of the pile of corpses.

This was the one that had been chopped off before. He could have avoided it back then, but unfortunately, this lazybones really lacked physical exercise. In order to cover for this guy, he had to give up this precious opportunity.

Upon seeing Zhou You's actions, Tao Le'an suddenly spoke up to remind him.

“I say, Master, you’d better not throw this thing away carelessly. A single scale of this Heavenly Dragon is worth thousands of taels of silver. Not to mention, if you take this thing and wander around any Dragon Pool, you can at least hook up with several Dragon Maidens.”

Zhou You was taken aback.

"...Dragon Girl?"

"Daoist Master, haven't you heard? These dragon maidens are all incredibly beautiful and loyal. Once they've chosen one, they'll never betray you. Unfortunately, dragon maidens only consider bloodline when choosing a husband. Mortals don't even have the chance to touch them normally. Only those who possess dragon blood can get close to them."

"."

After thinking for a moment, Zhou You put the scale back into his pocket and then said to Tao Le'an.

"—Now let's get down to business. Among these five groups of assassins, are any of the prince's men?"

Tao Le'an shook his head and sighed.

"Unfortunately, still no. These five groups were probably hired privately by the Thick Earth Sect. Moreover, judging from their level and ability, they should all be assassins of the C or B rank in the Rain Watching Pavilion. However, judging from the number of people who have died, this position should be removed from the list soon."

"The Rain-Viewing Pavilion? What's that?"

"It's just a gathering place for a bunch of assassins, that's not important."

Seeing that the other person didn't want to say more, Zhou You could only continue to ask.

"Since the prince hasn't sent anyone, can our plan still proceed?"

Tao Le'an pondered for a few seconds, then nodded.

"That shouldn't be a problem. After all, we've made such a big fuss; even a fool would know we're heading towards the Prince's mansion."

After saying that, he took out a jade statue, threw it forward, and it transformed into a fine horse upon landing.

Tao Le'an mounted his horse and then tossed another jade stone to Zhou You.

"This place happens to be a transportation hub, which can cover our tracks—and also help us shake off these persistent pursuers."

Zhou You nodded, and then followed Tao Le'an's example and threw out the jade stone.

But upon landing, he suddenly froze.

"Wait a minute, why is yours a horse, but mine is this thing?"
-
--after a while.

Hundreds of miles away from that tavern, outside Zhongtai City.

Wang Dutou was idly picking at his toes.

Normally, given his position, he would never be assigned to guard the city gates, but lately, the higher-ups have been acting strangely, digging ditches everywhere with the Thick Soil Cult—digging ditches is one thing, since he wouldn't be subject to forced labor, but the problem is they're talking about rectifying officialdom and restoring a new atmosphere—

Bah! Everyone knows what kind of officials are in Yong'an City. If there's going to be any reform, it should be you bunch of lazy bums. What's the point of talking about reforming the system if you don't even step down?
However, he also found the camp too noisy, so he simply lowered his standards and moved to this city gate.

Anyway, it's just that the salary is a little less, but at least I can live a peaceful life, right?

Wang Dutou forcefully peeled off a piece of dead skin, brought his hand to his nose and smelled it. He was just thinking about whether he could take a nap while no one was around for lunch when two people on horseback suddenly appeared in the distance.

The first one was riding a tall horse, his face seemingly injured, wrapped in several layers of white cloth, while the second one...
Wang Dutou suddenly couldn't help but laugh.

I couldn't see it clearly from a distance and thought it was a short horse, but when I got closer I realized it wasn't a horse at all—it had protruding ears and a short, round head; it was clearly a roe deer.

—Are there really people in this world who use this thing as a mount?
Sure enough, the person sitting on the roe deer's back had an expression of utter disgust, and upon seeing Chief Wang's smile, his face darkened even further.

However, after glancing at the young man who was yawning on his horse and seemed on the verge of falling asleep at any moment, this man still drove the roe deer over and said to Chief Wang.

"Excuse me, we are businessmen from out of town and plan to enter the city to discuss a business deal. Could you tell us how much the entry fee is?"

Wang Dutou looked at the man's face, and finally smiled and shook his head.

"Normally, it would cost two large sums of money, one for each of you, but for you two... forget it, pfft, that's hilarious, roe deer, are you planning to start some kind of opera troupe business?"
-
Even after entering the city, Zhou You's face remained extremely dark.

"—I'm not trying to be mean, but yours is a horse, so why is mine this thing? Do you know how many weird looks I've gotten along the way?"

Even when not working, Tao Le'an still looked listless and just said lazily.

"How would I know if you ask me? Normally, the animals depicted in this seal are horses, and a few are donkeys or mules, but this is the first time I've ever seen a roe deer like you."

Zhou You said through gritted teeth.

"You mean I'm having bad luck?"

Tao Le'an shrugged.

"Pretty much, but it's just a matter of form; the actual footwork is about the same."

But I have a feeling that you, you lazybones, are actually taking revenge for someone else's sake.
Zhou You lowered his head and met the roe deer's moist gaze.

—Okay, I've always had bad luck anyway, so I'll just accept it this time.

Having come to terms with it, Zhou You shifted his position with a clear conscience and then spoke to Tao Le'an.

"If that's the case, what should we do next?"

Tao Le'an raised his head from his horse, looked around, and suddenly laughed, seemingly at something he had just seen.

"Don't worry, Daoist Master. Consider this my compensation. I'll find a time later to take you to a nice place."

"What a good place?"

"Borthello!"

(End of this chapter)