Volume 2: Jade Promise Chapter 99: Misunderstandings, all misunderstandings
Where Tang Zheng was pointing, a crossbow arrow sank straight into the thick bluestone slabs of the street, with only a little bit of the arrow tail still sticking out. With the arrow tail as the center, a large area of huge cracks radiated out from the originally extremely thick bluestone slabs of the street, which was shocking to the sight.
Xu Qingyan also jumped off the carriage at this time, walked to the side of the crossbow arrow with only the tail left, squatted down, carefully checked it, stood up and looked in the direction where the crossbow arrow came from, frowned and said: "There are embossed array patterns on the tail of the arrow, it's a genuine Star Annihilation Arrow. Judging from the power of this arrow, it should have been shot by a three-star high-level warrior. Judging from the trajectory of the arrow, it should be aimed at the roof of the carriage..."
What Xu Qingyan did not say was exactly the reason why Ban Yiluo's face turned pale. If they really chose to do as he and Xu Qingyan had planned before, to cut through the carriage and jump out to avoid being burned by the raging fire, what would greet them would be the fatal Annihilation Star Arrow.
A three-star high-level warrior uses a military crossbow with an Annihilation Star Arrow, and does it without any intention. Even Ban Yiluo, who is at the peak of the three stars, could be killed on the spot if he is caught off guard and hit in the vitals.
What Tang Zheng said just now about saving his life was not an exaggeration at all.
"Boy Tang, how did you guess his most deadly killing arrow?" Ban Yiluo looked at the Annihilation Arrow that was almost completely sunk into the ground, swallowed his saliva, moistened his dry throat and asked.
"Because he has already tried to assassinate me once before, so, in the words of Sakuragi Hanamichi, 'I have seen through his boxing style'. In the words of the five bronze saints, 'the same move will not work on a Saint Seiya twice'!" Tang Zheng raised a finger and said calmly.
"Speak human language!" Ban Yiluo rolled his eyes at Tang Zheng and yelled.
"Well, you should remember what I said before, how he tried to assassinate me on the cliff. He used a huge rock as bait to attract Instructor Li's attention."
"Then, while my vision was disturbed by a large amount of rubble and dust, and I was constantly suffering from damage, he used martial arts to greatly enhance the power of several pieces of rubble, and mixed several pieces of rubble with a large amount of rubble, so that Instructor Li and I were unable to immediately discover these particularly threatening pieces of rubble. In the end, he succeeded in severely injuring me and knocking me off the cliff into the turbulent water. It was just a little bit short of allowing me to delete my account and start over!" Tang Zheng briefly recounted the process of the last assassination.
"Well, then, is there any connection with this arrow?" Ban Yilou asked.
"It's very simple. A person can change the means of assassinating a target, but it is difficult to change the thinking behind the means of assassination. This assassin is best at hiding the final killing move in other means, and they are linked together, step by step. The moment you think you are about to escape, he forces you to jump into the death trap he has prepared for you."
"Take this assassination for example. When you first heard the sound of the military crossbow, it was his first psychological intimidation against us. When we found that the crossbow had very little power, it was his second psychological suggestion to us - there was something fishy going on. Soon, the third psychological suggestion came, with the addition of the second round of crossbow arrows with flaming oil. At this time, he tricked us into thinking that fire attack was the ultimate weapon and that the purpose of the crossbow arrows was only to start a fire."
“So, in order to avoid the pain of being burned by the raging fire, and with the psychological illusion that the crossbow arrows are actually very small, the safest way is to break through the carriage. Breaking through the carriage and using footwork and martial arts to jump high can not only quickly escape from the flames, but also gain a better field of vision for counterattacks, and we were indeed planning to do so... and he, probably after the fire started, silently counted three, two, one in his mind and shot the final fatal arrow. I have to say, if he hadn't overlooked that my Han Jiangxue could resolve the crisis of the raging fire, I'm afraid the three of us would have become a string of candied haws of the Annihilation Star by now.” Tang Zheng said as he looked at Ban Yilou and Xu Qingyan.
Ban Yilou recalled the entire attack process. His mind was indeed just as Tang Zheng analyzed. He fell into the trap carefully prepared by the other party step by step. He couldn't help but feel a little scared: "This person has such a sinister mind!"
Xu Qingyan listened to Tang Zheng's analysis and seemed to be thinking about something.
At this moment, there was a sudden burst of applause from behind them: "Pa, pa, pa——"
Tang Zheng and the other two turned around at the same time and saw Xu Feng, the commander of the Feishi City Guard, walking slowly towards them with a group of men. Among the warriors behind them, three were dragging a corpse each. There was a crossbow arrow stuck in the throat of the corpses, and they all looked like they had died not long ago.
"This man who is capable of making decisions must be Mr. Tang Zheng, the top student of Yisu Academy recently?" Xu Feng, dressed in military uniform, walked up to Tang Zheng and his companions and asked with a smile.
Tang Zheng nodded and said, "That's right, Commander, what can I do for you?"
Xu Feng pointed at the three corpses behind him and said, "Someone just reported that an assassin was committing murder in the street. Unfortunately, when we arrived, there were only these three corpses of idlers who were not even warriors. They must have been killed by the real murderer. Mr. Tang, you three are the only clues at the moment. And from what you just said, Mr. Tang seems to be proficient in assassination. Why don't you go back with us to the City Guard House to assist in the investigation for a few days?"
Tang Zheng and his companions took a look at the corpse being dragged by Xu Feng's men, and thought to themselves that it was no wonder that the crossbow arrows had no power at the beginning, it turned out that they were just small thugs bribed by the murderer to come and help.
However, Tang Zheng and the other two were quite unhappy when they heard that the city guards were late and their commander Xu Feng asked them to go back and assist in the investigation for a few days in a semi-commanding tone.
Tang Zheng sneered, "I also want to help the city guards hunt down the murderer, but I have a heavy workload and limited abilities, so I can only do nothing to help."
A soldier holding a corpse behind Xu Feng heard Tang Zheng's refusal and threw the corpse in front of Tang Zheng and his men. The corpse was broken into pieces. If Tang Zheng had not been quick-witted and opened his folding fan, the corpse would have been almost splashed with blood.
"Oh my, this soldier is not only incompetent, but also has a bad temper. This corpse is a clue to solving the case and arresting the murderer, but you just treated it like garbage and threw it away. This is simply dereliction of duty." Tang Zheng shook his folding fan and threw the fan with all the blood on it back to the soldier's face, teasing.
The soldier originally wanted to disgust Tang Zheng and his men by killing them, but he did not expect that he would lose more than he gained. Instead, Tang Zheng splashed blood on his face. He immediately became furious and was about to attack Tang Zheng.
Unexpectedly, Tang Zheng and Ban Yilou did not dodge or fight back. Instead, they almost simultaneously took out a nameplate and threw it into the air to play with it, shouting, "This is terrible! Are the city guards going to kill ordinary citizens in the street?"
When Xu Feng saw the teacher nameplate in Tang Zheng's hand, which was different from that of ordinary students, and the exclusive nameplate of the owner of Jubao Pavilion in Ban Yilou's hand, a sharp light flashed in his eyes. He slapped back the soldier who was about to attack, and smiled at the old and young foxes: "It turns out that Mr. Tang is not only a top student, but also a teacher in the academy. This must be the new owner of Jubao Pavilion, Mr. Ban? Misunderstanding, all misunderstanding..."
