Not long after Jiang Zuo finished breakfast, Ruan Jianglan approached from a distance, holding her child.
But her steps were hesitant and uncertain, as if she didn’t know whether she should be coming.
When Jiang Zuo saw her, he waved from afar, gesturing for her to leave.
Ruan Jianglan’s expression dimmed slightly, but she still gave Jiang Zuo a small bow before turning to go.
For the next several days, Ruan Jianglan didn’t return, nor did anyone else show up to cause trouble over him giving her medicine and fish.
Every night, Great Black would quietly make a trip to the vicinity and into Lizhou. In the darkness, Great Black was like an assassin, melting into the night.
It would stop and lie in wait at the sound of footsteps, then dart past when no one was looking. Even the walls of Lizhou City couldn’t stop it from coming and going.
Every morning, Jiang Zuo would update his map with the tracks Great Black had found.
Gradually, the movement patterns of several Black Fish Gang members became very clear.
Compared to the three young men, Qin Yushan, as a minor boss, had a distinctly different routine.
That large yellow dog must be Qin Yushan’s pet; its movements coincided with Qin Yushan’s most of the time.
Starting from the third day, Jiang Zuo began waking before dawn and traveling upstream along the bottom of the Li River.
Having lived by the Li River for four years—perhaps because of his fish farming—Jiang Zuo’s swimming skills had improved dramatically.
His stamina attribute was much lower than his strength, but still far higher than an ordinary person’s. He could hold his breath and walk underwater for three to four minutes without surfacing.
On the way from Lizhou to Jiang Zuo’s home, two small streams flowed into the Li River.
Jiang Zuo would walk to a deserted spot on one of these streams and emerge from the water there.
Then, he would put on the Red Fox Bracelet and transform into the gaunt old man persona that Subai had set for him, and begin tracking the Black Fish Gang members.
At the locations Great Black pointed out, Jiang Zuo would find a place to hide and wait for those men from the Black Fish Gang to appear.
It had been only a week since Jiang Zuo paid the fine silver.
At noon that day, as Jiang Zuo and Great Black were eating lunch, the same three young men from the Black Fish Gang walked over together.
"A dog eats this well?"
The three of them saw fish and meat in Great Black’s large wooden food bowl, and their eyes narrowed.
"What can I do for you gentlemen?"
Jiang Zuo asked politely.
"Our gang leader heard about your case. He says you’ve delayed for too long, so you have to pay another ten taels of fine silver!"
one of the men announced loudly.
"But didn’t your Boss Qin say the matter was settled? Besides, where would I get that much money?"
Jiang Zuo frowned.
"Cut the crap! Pay up when we tell you to! If you don’t, that’s fine too. We’ll just take this dog. Looks like it could fetch a good price!"
"And that woman, she’s practically starving to death, yet she’d rather scar her own face than sell her body. There are some big shots who have a taste for that sort of thing now. If you don’t give us the money, I guess we’ll just have to pay her a visit!"
the other two men added menacingly.
"I really don’t have that much. How about five taels?"
Jiang Zuo said after a moment of thought.
"Five taels? We want ten! We won’t make it hard on you. If you don’t have enough, just trade the dog for it!"
The three men’s faces lit up. They hadn’t expected this guy to actually be rich. After being shaken down for twenty-four taels by Boss Qin, he could still casually cough up another five.
But they weren’t satisfied. They felt this guy could definitely produce ten taels of silver.
Jiang Zuo fumbled around in his clothes for a while before finally scraping together ten taels of silver for them.
"Would’ve been easier if you’d just taken it out sooner. Wasting our time!"
"Try to be quicker next time!"
The three men took the money and left excitedly, whistling as they went.
Ten taels of silver was enough for them to squander for many days.
Jiang Zuo paid them no mind and went back to eating with Great Black.
’Remember these men’s scents. Be careful not to be discovered.’
At dawn the next day, Jiang Zuo took Great Black with him and had it memorize the scents of several new faces.
Then, the people Jiang Zuo monitored each day changed to these new individuals.
Those three young men were certainly men of their word; they said they would come back, and they did.
After getting ten taels of silver from Jiang Zuo, it only took until the evening of the fifth day for the trio to come looking for him again.
"Zhao, we three brothers have come to see you again!"
The three men looked at Jiang Zuo and chuckled slyly.
It seemed they had done their homework this time; at least they knew the name Jiang Zuo was currently using.
After settling by the Li River, Jiang Zuo had taken the alias Zhao Li. In Lizhou and along the Li River, it was a perfectly ordinary name.
"Gentlemen, I recall your Boss Qin saying that the Black Fish Gang is a gang that follows the rules. By doing this, aren’t you breaking the Black Fish Gang’s rules?"
Jiang Zuo said calmly, looking at the three men.
"What? Are you threatening us? Don’t mistake our kindness for weakness! We were just going to ask for a few taels of silver, but now you’ve pissed us off. Twenty taels! If you don’t hand over twenty taels, you’re not going to have an easy night!"
Hearing Jiang Zuo’s words, the men’s faces darkened, and they spoke viciously.
’Rules?’
’In this world, what rules are there? The biggest fist is the rule!’
"Twenty taels... You should have come at noon."
Jiang Zuo said with a hint of regret.
"What, did someone else come for money at noon? That can’t be right!"
The three frowned.
Having found such a big fish, they naturally wouldn’t be stupid enough to tell others and let them take a piece of the pie.
"No. I mean that by bullying people like this, sooner or later, your only path is death."
Jiang Zuo shook his head.
"Path to death? You’re messing with us, aren’t you? You should worry about yourself first—"
Hearing this, one of the men felt he was being toyed with. He flew into a rage, ready to teach Jiang Zuo a lesson.
But before he could finish his sentence, Jiang Zuo moved. Before the man could react, Jiang Zuo was beside him, a large hand gripping his neck and lifting him clean off the ground.
"See? I wasn’t wrong. You’re about to die right now."
Jiang Zuo said with a chuckle.
With that, he tightened his grip.
CRACK.
With the crisp sound of a neck breaking, the man’s eyes widened. His head lolled to one side, and he fell silent.
"A Martial Artist?"
"Run!"
The other two instantly broke out in a cold sweat. But they weren’t completely inexperienced; their first instinct was to turn and flee.
Great Black, who had been watching hungrily, pounced and pinned one of them to the ground.
Jiang Zuo reached out, grabbed the other man, and with another crisp snap—like breaking a celery stalk—twisted his neck 180 degrees.
"Don’t kill me! I’ll do anything if you just spare my life!"
The last man, pinned by Great Black and unable to move, watched Jiang Zuo’s Grim Reaper-like figure approach and hurriedly shouted.
"Oh? In that case, tell me in detail about the places your Black Fish Gang leader usually frequents."
Jiang Zuo crouched down and looked at him.
The man didn’t hesitate for a second, quickly rattling off several locations.
"Good. It seems you’re not lying."
Jiang Zuo compared the information with what he already knew and nodded.
"Then..."
The young man was overjoyed.
Jiang Zuo stomped his foot down, and the man’s neck instantly shattered.
All three were dead, but not a single drop of blood was left at the scene.
Hoisting the three bodies onto his shoulder, Jiang Zuo leaped into the Li River.
Reaching the deepest part of the river, Jiang Zuo buried their bodies under rocks on the riverbed.
By the time the river’s current washed the rocks away, there would be little left of the three but skeletons.
He had to admit, the Li River was an excellent place for killing and burying bodies. Who knew how many skeletons were already buried at the bottom.
Jiang Zuo wasn’t worried about their disappearance being discovered.
Because after tonight, the Black Fish Gang would cease to exist.
Outside Lizhou City, there were several gangs like the Black Fish Gang. They carved out their own territories and frequently fought each other over them.
They had probably offended so many people that even they themselves had lost count.
If they were wiped out, no investigation would ever lead back to a simple fisherman who was usually kind to others and kept to himself.
Besides, Jiang Zuo had been cautious during his investigations these past few days, leaving no traces behind.
「That night, a little after two in the morning.」
As usual, Jiang Zuo traveled upstream along the bottom of the Li River and emerged outside Lizhou City.
Inside Lizhou City was no place for small gangs like them to cause trouble. After more than ten days, Jiang Zuo had confirmed that all the Black Fish Gang members, including their leader, lived outside the city.
Only the leader and a few minor bosses would occasionally go into the city at night for some debauchery.
They went at fixed times, and tonight was not one of those nights.
Among the Black Fish Gang members, some were already asleep, while others had just returned to their residences.
Jiang Zuo walked along, and as he passed, one Black Fish Gang member after another fell silently.
Their eyes were wide open, and each had a small, bloody hole somewhere on their head.
Inside each bloody hole was an Embroidery Needle of moderate size.
Over the past few years by the Li River, Jiang Zuo had grown bored and swapped his skill of throwing stones for Dongfang Bubai’s signature technique—the Embroidery Needle.
The embroidery needles in this world couldn’t be made as exquisitely fine as in his previous life, but they were perfectly suited for use as hidden weapons.
They could be bought anywhere, on any street or alley, and they weren’t expensive. Jiang Zuo kept more than ten boxes of them in his storage pouch, always ready for use.
Killing with these Embroidery Needles was clean and "environmentally friendly." It didn’t make noise to disturb others’ rest, nor did it make heads explode like watermelons and pollute the surroundings.
Jiang Zuo had practiced by the Li River for several years and could now hit any target within fifty meters with perfect accuracy.
With his strength, he could easily pierce a common wooden door and kill the person inside.
Silently and without a trace, the members of the Black Fish Gang were almost completely wiped out.
Finally, Jiang Zuo arrived outside an underground casino.
The Black Fish Gang also kept a few dogs here, including the large yellow dog that had visited Jiang Zuo.
It had been dozing, but suddenly, it shot to its feet and stared warily at the intersection.
But before it could sound any alarm, several stones shot out in succession, striking it and the two other dogs in the head like bullets.
THUD THUD THUD...
With three dull thuds, the three dogs’ heads burst apart.
Jiang Zuo knew that even if an Embroidery Needle pierced a dog’s skull, it wouldn’t die instantly. So he had switched to stones to ensure they couldn’t sound an alarm.