Intelligence Ultime

Chapitre 217

Zhu Huihui felt a deep sense of regret. She had aimed for the enemy's neck, but her aim was off, and she missed by a considerable distance...

Big-Headed Ghost mustered his last bit of strength, endured the pain, and swept his leg back, kicking Zhu Huihui in the shin and sending her flying.

Zhu Huihui heard a "crack" sound and knew her lower leg had probably broken; the pain made her vision blur. But she still gripped the cleaver tightly, gritting her teeth as she crawled towards the big-headed ghost. "Damn it, even if it kills me, I'll chop your big head off first!"

The big-headed ghost shouted, "He's blind! He's blind! His eyes..." His voice carried far, but before he could finish the last sentence, the snow-white sword had already pierced his heart.

From the moment Zhu Huihui lunged forward with her knife to the moment Da Tou Gui was killed, it all happened in the blink of an eye.

Feng Xuese coughed up a mouthful of blood, paused for a moment, and said, "Zhu Huihui!" Her voice was full of worry.

"I...I'm here!" Zhu Huihui was in so much pain she was about to faint, but she still managed to answer.

Feng Xuese swayed slightly and came to her side. He reached out and touched her, but only felt her head covered in sweat.

Where is the injury?

"No...it's nothing, it's probably...my left leg is broken."

Zhu Huihui gritted her teeth and said that she really wanted to cry out loud, but for some reason, when her eyes fell on Zheng Hu and Sun Qing's corpses, especially when she saw Sun Qing's swollen belly, she felt that her eyes were spitting fire, and the little bit of tears of pain were burned away before they could flow out!

Feng Xuese reached out and touched her calf, gently humming in agreement, and said, "It's not broken, it's probably just a fracture."

He reached out and touched the bamboo fence, then snapped two bamboo poles in half. He tore off a piece of his shirt and used it to quickly immobilize her leg, comforting her, "Grey Grey, just bear with it for now. We'll heal your wounds properly once we break through!"

Zhu Huihui said through gritted teeth, "Great hero, I'm fine, don't worry!"

Feng Xuese stroked her hair, thinking to herself, "This child is behaving herself."

"The Nine Netherworlds and Ten Ghosts, are they all dead now?"

"Yes, yes!" Zhu Huihui said. Besides Zheng Hu and Sun Qing, there were ten other corpses on the ground—it turned out that there were only ten Nine Netherworld Ghosts! She had thought there were nineteen. She was terrified!

"Alright, let's bury Zheng Hu and his wife, then fight our way out!"

"Yes, hero!" Zhu Huihui crawled over from the ground, picked up Zheng Hu's hoe, and Feng Xuese took it. They went to the vegetable garden, dug a large pit, and then, under Zhu Huihui's instructions, put the bodies of Zheng Hu and his wife into the pit and buried them with soil.

As Zhu Huihui helped cover the soil, she said, "Hero, I will always remember them!"

Zhu Huihui recalled the heartbroken, reluctant, and tragic expression on Sun Qing's face as he stroked her abdomen, and couldn't help but shed tears again.

This couple, the man not handsome, the woman not beautiful, and neither skilled in martial arts, were driven by a sense of righteousness to disregard their own lives and their unborn child. Perhaps this is what it means to sacrifice oneself for righteousness?

Maple-colored, handsome face was as cold and aloof as snow, his voice calm: "I will remember them too."

Although this couple was just an insignificant figure among the 360,000 followers of Maple Snow City scattered throughout the country, and although he had never even seen what they looked like, he would always remember that their blood added a strong touch of heroism to Maple Snow City. He did not know that Sun Qing was pregnant, and if he had known, he would probably have been even more heartbroken.

The leaden clouds piled up heavily in the sky, threatening rain but not quite, which only made people feel more depressed and uncomfortable.

It was nearly dusk when, outside Zhuma Village, there stood a solitary courtyard with a few thatched huts.

Grandma Chen, who lives alone, looked at the sky outside her main house and sighed.

The thatched roof is very old, and the house leaks badly when it rains. If the wind is even slightly strong, the thatch will be blown away. If the roof is not repaired soon, these two thatched huts may not survive this rain!

Grandma Chen tiptoed to the woodshed in the side room and carried out a bamboo ladder. She carefully placed it on the roof, then painstakingly carried over a tightly packed bundle of straw mats. With difficulty, she tied the straw mats to her back, then, holding onto the ladder, her tiny, dumpling-like feet climbed up the bamboo ladder, trembling slightly, intending to spread the straw mats on the roof.

Before, when her husband was still alive, he did all the work, and she only needed to stand under the eaves and hand him tools. But since her husband passed away last winter, she has been left as a lonely old woman with no children or relatives, and she has no one to rely on, so she has to do everything herself.

Level 1, Level 2, Level 3...

The ladder may not have been placed securely, and under the weight of the person, it slid to one side.

Grandma Chen cried out in alarm. At her age, if she fell hard, she would either die or break a few bones...

Suddenly, a hand reached out from the side, steadily supporting the ladder. After a brief pause, the ladder was slowly returned to its original position.

Granny Chen, still shaken, looked down.

At first glance, one sees a sallow face, as if the person is terminally ill, but upon closer inspection, the features are extremely handsome, with bright and deep eyes, and a gentle smile on the face.

"Are you alright, mother-in-law?"

Hearing a crisp sound behind her, Granny Chen turned around and found that a horse was slowly walking towards her from the mountain path behind her.

The horse was ugly; its coat was a dull gray, covered in what looked like sores. But no matter how ugly it was, it couldn't be uglier than the person on its back.

She was a very ugly little girl with a face as black as charcoal. She wore an ill-fitting coarse cloth shirt, and her left leg was fixed with a cloth strap and bamboo strips. She also had a kitchen knife tucked into her waistband.

Grandma Chen hurriedly replied, "No, it's nothing, thank you!" She subconsciously looked into the yard. The gate was closed properly. She couldn't understand how this yellow-skinned patient had suddenly appeared in her yard.

The sallow-skinned patient used one hand to steady the wooden ladder and the other hand to help Granny Chen down.

Just then, the ugly man and the ugly horse arrived. Through the fence, the ugly little girl asked, "Grandma, is this Bamboo Horse Village?"

Grandma Chen couldn't figure out where these two people came from, so she only answered "yes".

"Great hero, shall we go into the village?" the ugly girl asked.

The yellow-skinned patient shook his head: "No, let's go around."

These two people were Feng Xuese and Zhu Huihui.

The deaths of Zheng Hu and Sun Qing caused Feng Xuese great regret and pain, so she decided long ago that she must avoid crowds until she recovered from her injuries, so that if anything else happened, she would not implicate others.

"Oh!" Zhu Huihui replied, then asked, "Grandma, are you going to pave the house?"

"yes."

"Um—if I help you with the house paving, could you bring us some food?" Sigh, if it weren't for her many quirks, she wouldn't need to work for others just for a bite to eat! Look how fat this old woman's chickens are! And look, that big rooster with its black tail sticking up—it would taste delicious roasted…

The old woman noticed the dark-skinned girl's shifty eyes fixed on the free-roaming chickens in the yard and was startled. She quickly stepped forward to block the girl's view: "Oh, okay! It's just that we don't have much good food at home. We still have a few of the wild vegetable buns we steamed at noon..."

Zhu Huihui beamed with joy: "A vegetable bun is still a bun!" People like him and the hero, some lame and some blind, might get "cracked" at any time and wouldn't even be able to eat a vegetable bun!

"Great hero, please throw me onto the roof!" If the house is decorated beautifully, maybe Grandma will give me a few more steamed buns.

Maple Leaf smiled faintly.

This girl is always petty thieves, but she never steals anything of value—just steamed buns or chickens, always these cheap things. She's always penniless, practically penniless. Luckily, he had some banknotes with him, otherwise the two of them would probably have to beg for food along the way! But, is this old woman trying to thatch her house? Perhaps we could help her out.

Granny Chen felt a blur before her eyes, and the patient was already outside the fence, carefully lifting the ugly little girl from the horse's back. Then, another figure flashed before her eyes, and the patient was already standing on the roof with the ugly little girl on his back.

Granny Chen was dumbfounded. Were these two... were they immortals? No, no, immortals didn't look like that; they were probably mountain spirits...

Feng Xuese gently placed Zhu Huihui on the roof, swooped down, and said gently, "Grandma, could you please give me the thatch?"

"Oh, okay, okay!" Granny Chen hurriedly handed him the straw mat.

Feng Xuese, carrying a straw mat, leaped back onto the roof and handed it to Zhu Huihui: "Huihui, do you know how to thatch a house?"

"Yes, I can! I'm not good at anything else, but thatching houses is my specialty!" Zhu Huihui lied. In fact, she had done things like tearing down roof tiles and blocking chimneys dozens of times since she was a child, but she had never thatched a house before.

However, even though she had never eaten pork, she had seen pigs run. Recalling the scenes of villagers thatching their houses, she followed their example, laying straw mats underneath. Then, she had Fengxuese bring several bundles of neatly arranged straw mats to the roof, stacking them layer by layer towards the eaves, and compacting them with tools. After working on it for most of the day, she finally repaired the roof, and it looked quite good.

"Great hero, you've succeeded!"

Feng Xuese stood beside her, touched the roof with her hand, feeling that it seemed quite thick, and nodded approvingly: "Very good craftsmanship!"

Zhu Huihui just chuckled, not even blushing! She's always been lazy and sloppy at her work. The house looks pretty smooth on the surface now, but whether it leaks or not is another matter. Anyway, she's already put straw on the roof.

Feng Xuese grabbed her by the collar and jumped down.

Without any politeness, Zhu Huihui immediately stretched out her two little black hands in front of Granny Chen: "Give me the steamed buns!"

Grandma Chen readily agreed, "Okay! Okay!" She tiptoed back into the room, took out a small bamboo basket, and filled it with four or five vegetable dumplings.

She said apologetically, "That's all! Miss, why..."

"Cough, suddenly... my stomach hurts!" Zhu Huihui was bent over like a shrimp, clutching her stomach, and said with a worried look on her face.

"Then...would you like to come in and rest for a while?" Grandma Chen asked kindly.

"No need, we still have a long way to go!" Zhu Huihui seemed to be in so much pain that she couldn't even straighten her back. She reached for the basket, slung it over her elbow, and said, "Goodbye, Grandma!"

"Goodbye... goodbye!" Granny Chen said.

Feng Xue Se sighed deeply, took out a stack of silver notes from her bosom, and handed one of them to her mother-in-law: "Mother-in-law, this is the money for your food!"

Grandma Chen hurriedly withdrew her hand: "No, no! A few vegetable buns aren't worth much, and besides, you're helping me repair my house!"

Feng Xuese gave a wry smile: "Please accept the money, it's not just for the steamed buns!"

After saying that, he stretched out his arm, picked up Zhu Huihui, leaped up, mounted the horse, and urged it to ride away.

Granny Chen stared blankly at them, then looked at the hundred-tael silver note in her hand, both surprised and delighted, as if in a dream. She stood there for a long time, then turned around, suddenly realizing that something seemed amiss. After pondering for a while, she couldn't help but exclaim, "Ah!"

The rooster that used to lead his wives and children around the yard to crow at dawn has disappeared!

Maple Leaf was very angry.

Zhu Huihui wasn't exaggerating; she was truly a master chicken thief! In his mother-in-law's yard, he only heard a faint "cluck" sound from deep within her throat, and then the swaggering rooster fell silent. It all happened in the blink of an eye, right? The chicken's neck was snapped, and it was hidden under her clothes. It was so fast he didn't even have time to stop it!

"Zhu Huihui!" he said, suppressing his anger.

Zhu Huihui, stroking the large, fat rooster hidden under his belly, was in a great mood and didn't notice anything unusual about his voice. He loudly replied, "Yes, sir!"

Feng Xuese coldly said, "Extend your hand!"

"Yes, hero!" Zhu Huihui stretched out a small black paw. "It's out, hero. What's the matter?"

"I'm going to cut off one of your hands!" He casually pulled the kitchen knife from Zhu Huihui's waist and swung it at her.

Zhu Huihui was so frightened that her soul almost left her body. She pulled her hand away in time and fell off her horse, hitting her injured leg. She lay on the ground in pain, screaming, "Why did you cut off my hand?" Before, he only threatened to cut off her leg or head. What had her hand done to offend him? And he actually used a kitchen knife. Wasn't that going too far?

Feng Xue Se originally wanted to give Zhu Hui Hui a good scare, but when she heard the pain in her voice, her heart softened a little. However, she still kept a stern face and said, "Zhu Hui Hui, you better remember this: if I catch you stealing again, I'll chop off whichever hand you use to steal!" She casually tossed the kitchen knife, and it "snap"ed right next to Zhu Hui Hui's little paw.