Chapter 12. Standing at the Score (5)

“Gasp... Huh...”

Baek Seung-il looked at the knife embedded in his neck with eyes full of disbelief. Blood was gushing out from the knife that had accurately pierced his carotid artery.

Actually, I don't believe it either.

I thought this would be the end.

“I...”

The guy who was stabbed only lasted 7 seconds.

Without a last word or a moment to close his eyes, those 7 seconds passed, and he fell back and died.

I don't know whether to call it futile or...

I'm not sure. My thoughts just don't align.

At that moment, a maniacal laugh from a middle-aged man came from right behind me.

“Hahaha!! This is quite entertaining for me today. A mouse catching a cat, indeed!”

I turned around in shock to see a middle-aged man who looked like a lion, laughing wildly.

When did he appear?

“Who are you, sir?”

“I was the one who helped you just now.”

I soon realized that the voice was familiar. It was the same voice I heard in the critical moment earlier.

Secret Sound Transmission (傳音入密)!

A martial arts technique that allows one to transmit their voice over long distances using internal energy, similar to a Bluetooth earphone. If someone can use this, they are undoubtedly a master among masters.

I immediately became more respectful.

“Did you help me just now, sir?”

“Yes. Don't worry about it. You also helped me with something.

I thought it would be a troublesome job because of money, but this was quite entertaining after a long time.”

‘Helped with something?’

What did I do to help him?

Then I remembered what the supervisor had said.

He clearly mentioned that they had hired a master.

I cautiously asked,

“Then, are you the famous Pian Tian Bai, one of the Ten Great Masters of Hubei?”

“Hmph, I am the Pian Tian Bai who is entangled with those scoundrels.”

I quickly made a bow, even more respectfully than before. These martial arts masters are all a bit off, so a late greeting can easily lead to a sword attack.

Proper greetings to a master are also a survival skill in the martial arts world.

“I am Seong Ra-jun, a courier of Baegun Escort Agency. It's an honor to meet you.”

“You won't remember me tomorrow, so let's skip the formalities. Anyway, it was quite entertaining. By the way, isn't that guy your friend? He's about to suffocate.”

Pian Tian Bai pointed to where Senior Zuo Junping was still lying.

“Oh, Senior!”

I rushed over and turned Zuo Junping over. Blood was still gushing out. I untied his shirt and examined the wound, which was quite deep.

‘This is crazy. I'm not a doctor.’

I've been stabbed a few times since coming to this martial arts world, but I don't have any professional anatomical knowledge.

I quickly recalled my early days in the martial arts world.

—Hey, if your intestines burst, they smell bad, so just leave the smelly ones and chant sutras for them.

‘That's right! Smell!’

Sniff, sniff!

I quickly brought my nose to the wound and sniffed.

In the early days, I was often caught up in fights between beggar factions. When fights broke out, several people would always get stabbed in the stomach. I had to choose who was going to die and who was going to live.

If the intestines were cut, there was usually a sour or foul smell, which I used to determine if it was a fatal wound.

Fortunately, there was only a strong, metallic smell of blood. It was a stroke of luck. He might still be alive.

“Where did I put the wound powder?”

I frantically searched my clothes and found the powder, sprinkled it on the wound, and wrapped it with a piece of clothing. However, the bleeding didn't stop.

“Damn it. Why isn't the bleeding stopping?”

I tightened the clothing wrapped around his stomach, but I could only hear his labored breathing, and the bleeding didn't stop.

Pian Tian Bai, who had been watching my efforts, pushed me aside.

“Move aside. Since you helped me, I'll help you with one thing.”

Pian Tian Bai took a red pill from his pocket and put it in Senior Zuo's mouth. He then grabbed his jaw and hit his head a few times, making the pill go down.

“Gasp, cough!”

“Now that he's taken the Blood Stopping Pill, we just need to stop the bleeding. Watch carefully. This is how you stop bleeding.”

He then started poking various points on Senior Zuo's body with his fingers. It was so intense that I thought he might create holes in his body, but miraculously, the bleeding stopped.

Is this what they call acupressure?

I've never seen it in action before.

After poking around, Pian Tian Bai dusted off his hands and said,

“It's done. Take him to a doctor, and he should survive unless he's extremely unlucky.”

I quickly bowed in gratitude.

“I don't know how to thank you. Thank you so much, sir!”

“Hmph, no need for that. Anyway.”

Pian Tian Bai turned his gaze to the other side. There was Baek Seung-il's cold corpse, and next to it...

Nanhua Lady.

“...”

Why did she come here?

It seemed clear that Pian Tian Bai had brought her. Otherwise, a frail woman like her couldn't have climbed over the wall to get here.

I don't know why Pian Tian Bai brought her, but at least this wasn't what she had hoped for.

Her expression in the darkness was hard to see.

And I didn't really want to see it.

“...”

She looked at Baek Seung-il, reached out her hand, then hesitated, looked at us, and withdrew her hand.

Like a child caught doing something wrong.

Pian Tian Bai, who had been watching her, bluntly said,

“Are you okay?”

He continued,

“You said you wanted to see his face one last time, so I brought you here. If you don't close his eyes, he'll keep appearing in your dreams.”

“...I don't have the right to do that.”

“Hmph.”

He shrugged and then turned to me.

“Is it too dark for you to see anything?”

For some reason, Pian Tian Bai's eyes seemed to glow blue. I quickly smiled and said,

“...Now that you mention it, I've been so busy today that my eyes are quite blurry.”

“Old as I am, my night vision is also poor.”

After saying that, Pian Tian Bai started to act nonchalant.

I followed suit.

Then Nanhua Lady looked at us for a moment, then at Baek Seung-il, then at us again, and shivered like a small animal.

Finally, she carefully, very carefully, and sadly brushed Baek Seung-il's face.

...And that was it.

She bowed her head and asked Pian Tian Bai in a small voice to let her go. Pian Tian Bai laughed and said, “Take care, kid,” and then grabbed her and flew over the wall, disappearing.

It was a stormy night indeed.

I quickly carried Senior Zuo and ran to find a doctor, thinking,

What was Baek Seung-il's last look like?

I can't remember.

...Does she remember?

* * *

[Baegun Escort Agency, Hubei Province, Mayang County Branch]

Bai Linghua's mornings are early.

She wakes up at the hour of the Rabbit (5:00 AM to 7:00 AM), prepares for the day, and goes to work at the escort agency.

However, her wake-up time in Mayang County was delayed to the hour of the Snake (9:00 AM to 11:00 AM).

—Chirp, chirp, chirp!

“...Refreshing.”

Bai Linghua woke up to the sound of birds and first drank a warm cup of tea.

How long has it been since she felt such leisure? She took a sip of tea, recalling the hectic years she had spent.

‘This is what happiness feels like.’

She had worked tirelessly from a young age to put Baegun Escort Agency on the right track. For her, this kind of rest was a rare treat.

When she first arrived in Mayang County, she planned to stay only briefly, but various issues had extended her stay.

However, she wasn't displeased. She considered it fortunate. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had this leisure time.

Enjoying this rare leisure, she was having an elegant morning when a loud noise came from outside.

“Miss!”

The shout broke her peace, and Bai Linghua's expression turned sour. The person shouting and running over was Gang Biadu, the branch manager of the Mayang County branch.

Bai Linghua tried to maintain her composure and asked,

“What is it?”

“I have an urgent report.”

“What is it? Has something major happened?”

As far as she knew, nothing major had happened in Mayang County. While Mayang County was relatively large in the area, it was not a major county in the whole of Hubei Province. It was just a rural area.

Could something major happen in a small county?

However, Gang Biadu's expression was different. He continued his report with a serious face.

“The second son of Jiejian Sect, Baek Seung-il, was killed by our couriers when he invaded Zheng Family Manor.”

“Jiejian Sect? You mean Baek Seung-il? The one who caused trouble recently...”

“Yes, that's correct.”

“...How could that happen?”

Her question was justified.

After arriving in Mayang County, the first thing she did was analyze Jiejian Sect, the largest business rival in the county.

She had already assessed the levels and martial arts skills of all the martial artists deployed by Jiejian Sect, including the sect leader.

In her standards, Baek Seung-il was not particularly outstanding. However, the problem was that the Mayang County branch of Baegun Escort Agency was even less capable.

They were just rural couriers in a rural county. Their job was to move goods along a fixed route, and they were all of average skill.

Gang Biadu, the branch manager, was the only one who could barely be considered a master. The rest were second or third-rate martial artists.

In contrast, the Baek Seung-il she had assessed was not a first-rate martial artist but was close to it. At that level, it would take four to five second-rate martial artists to barely match him.

“Did they use an array formation?”

In that case, it was possible.

Couriers, being individually weak, focus on array formation training. Inexperienced newcomers are particularly vulnerable to such formations.

Baek Seung-il, being a young man, might have been caught in a formation of lower-level martial artists.

“No, it was a one-on-one duel.”

“Surprising. Who was it?”

“It was the new recruit, Seong Ra-jun.”

“Ah! That...”

She recalled the recent interview. He was a promising young man, and while he seemed to be hiding something, his martial arts skills were truly poor.

At her level, she could gauge someone's skills just by lightly scattering her energy.

By her standards, Seong Ra-jun's martial arts skills were exactly at the typical third-rate level. Compared to Baek Seung-il, there was a world of difference.

“There's no way. Are you sure you didn't misunderstand something?”

“I am still investigating the circumstances, but it is almost certain.”

Seeing Gang Biadu's serious expression, she thought of one possibility.

‘Did he hide his skills?’

“...I will head to the branch immediately.”

It was something she needed to look into right away.