Chapter 21: Indistinguishable from Water and Fire (3)

  Huo Xiao Xie's move was a success, using a hard object to strike the three-clawed hook, it was one of the methods to break the Hook Soldier's single soldier law. Huo Xiao Xie's move left the Hook Soldier stunned, his reaction no less than Huo Xiao Xie's, he hesitated for a moment, forgetting to retract the three-clawed hook, and stood there in a daze. The Jade Tuo Pearl container was already broken, and the two Jade Tuo Pearls inside were also shaken out, flying over Huo Xiao Xie's shoulder along with the force, and landing behind him.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yā barely escaped, reacting faster than the Hook Soldier. He quickly turned around, rolling and crawling to pick up the two Jade Taisun pearls from the ground, stuffing them into his pants pocket, and continued to flee forward. The shocked Hook Soldier came back to his senses, yelling angrily, and chased after him again.

  Huoxiao Ye knew that if he continued to run straight, the hook soldier would throw out three claws and he wouldn't be able to dodge. So Huoxiao Ye ran a few dozen feet away and saw a ditch of stinky water by the side of the road. Without thinking, he jumped in, not caring about the smell, trampling through the mud with his hands and feet moving together, his speed was still quite fast.

  Hooker was quick and agile on the rooftops and ground, but when he encountered this stinky ditch, he couldn't move forward due to the muddy terrain. Although he furrowed his brow and jumped into the ditch with all his might to chase after him, he was still gradually left behind by Huo Xiao.

  Hooked soldier anxious, see Xiao Yan fire about to run out of sight, and threw three claws hook, but the ditch winding twists and turns, Hooked soldier's feet can not hold power, a throw, still biased a few points, biting on a rotten wooden head. Xiao Yan fire knows this throw did not catch himself, think can escape the ascension, two hands two legs like wheels rolling, others are "grass flying", Xiao Yan fire is "mud flying", looking at Hooked soldier was shaken out of sight.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yè jumped out of the water ditch, stepped onto the road, and with a loud "hiss" sound, cursed: "Let you catch Grandpa me!" After speaking, he thought that Làng Dé Bēn, Lǎo Guān Qiāng, and Biě Hóu had already fallen into Zhang Sì Yé's hands, their lives hanging in the balance. His nose turned sour, and tears almost fell. Huǒ Xiǎo Yè forced himself to hold back, raised his elbow to wipe away his tears, and continued to run wildly ahead.

  Huoxiao Ye picked up the darkness, and in the blink of an eye, he got on the main road. At this time, Fengtian City was already in a mess, with soldiers, police, and Japanese troops rushing around, and they had already sealed off all the roads leading out of the city near Zhang Siye's house.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yē hid in the dark corner for a moment, knowing that with his own skills, he probably couldn't escape for the time being. He was about to turn around and find a hole to hide in for the night when he suddenly felt like something had bitten him hard on the back of his neck. He slapped at it with his hand, but there was nothing there. Just as he was feeling puzzled, countless colorful lights burst forth before his eyes, and his body went limp, causing him to collapse to the ground, unable to move.

  A woman's voice suddenly sounded beside Fire Xiao's ear, saying in a soft and sweet tone: "You can escape from Zhang Siye's hook-handed soldiers, it's really your skill." Fire Xiao was shocked in his heart, thinking: "I've been escaping all the way, being careful everywhere, but I didn't find anyone following me? And it's a woman? How did she discover me without knowing anything? I must have taken the wrong medicine!"

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié's eyes were blurry, and he could only vaguely see a woman who looked like a ghost pouncing in front of him. His tongue felt stiff, and with great effort, he cursed: "You... damn... turtle... poison..."

  The woman didn't bother with him, lowered her head and searched his body, quickly retrieving the two jade fetus pearls from Fire Small Evil's pocket. The woman smiled, weighed the jade fetus pearls in her hand, and said: "Worthless trinkets! Haha, you can eat them!"

  Huo Xiao listened to the woman's crazy talk and was actually fed a jade fetus pearl, he cursed loudly: "You... damn...! Old man..."

  Before Huo Xiaoyao could finish speaking, the woman reached out and pinched his cheek, forcing two jade prenatal beads into his mouth. Then, with a quick pull on his throat, she made him swallow them whole. Huo Xiaoyao's mouth was filled with a foul odor, but he had no idea whether the jade prenatal beads were soft or hard.

  The girl clenched her fists and cursed non-stop: "Damn... damn... you..."

  The girl smiled and said: "I'm still not at the age of getting married! Let me tell you...

  "Ah, you've seen me before. It was just the other day when you were being reckless and almost got beaten to death. If I hadn't intervened and called back the housekeeper, would you still be alive? You don't even thank me, but instead ask what's going on? Hehe, how old are you, anyway? What do you understand?"

  The woman chuckled and suddenly struck Huo Xiaoyao's occipital bone with great force, knocking him out instantly.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié was dizzy and disoriented, when a pungent smell wafted into his nostrils, jolting him awake. He shook his body, only to find himself tightly bound to a wooden stake, surrounded by hundreds of people, with torches lit all around. A medicine man retrieved the small bottle that had been held under Huǒ Xiǎo Xié's nose and turned to someone on the side, saying: "Master Zhang, he's awake!" The liquid in the bottle was a mixture of ammonia and other irritating volatile substances, known in the jianghu as "Cui Shen Shui", used to counteract anesthesia and revive people from unconsciousness after severe blows.

  The fire was extinguished, and the atmosphere was tense. Zhang Siye sat across from Huo Xiaoxia with a dark face, while Mr. Zhou stood beside him. On one side of Zhang Siye, Zheng Fuguan, Ito Shōshō, Ning Shen Professor, Yan Jingtian, and others sat silently, staring at Huo Xiaoxia and the others without making a sound. Zheng Fuguan had a bandage wrapped around his head, his face was iron-gray, and he looked extremely angry, as if he might get up and take the lives of Hei Sanbian and Huo Xiaoxia at any moment. Zheng Fuguan's appearance was also unavoidable; after all, he had been used as a hostage by Huo Xiaoxia with a knife to his throat, and then beaten unconscious by Hei Sanbian and tied to a horse like a dead pig.

  Mr. Zhou waved his hand and the medicine master beside Huo Xiao quickly left.

  "It's all over! We've been caught again! That damned little girl! Little demon!"

  Huoxiao Xie suddenly thought of something, and with a sudden movement, he turned his head to look around. Indeed, Hei Sanbian, Lang Deben, Lao Guanqiang, and Bi Hou were all tied to pillars on either side of him, each one bound to their own pillar. Except for Hei Sanbian who was staring straight ahead with his eyes wide open, the others - Lang Deben, Lao Guanqiang, and Bi Hou - all had their heads hung low, their lives hanging in the balance.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yè woke up, Hei Sān Biān also turned his head to look, and glared at Huǒ Xiǎo Yè with a nonchalant expression, hummed, and turned his head away without saying a word. Huǒ Xiǎo Yè was extremely disgusted with Hei Sān Biān, and couldn't help but struggle, the rope binding him was quite tight, not moving in the slightest. The scene was silent, only the crackling sound of the torches burning could be heard.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié's heart skipped a beat, and he shouted out: "My three younger brothers have nothing to do with this! Let them go!" After Huǒ Xiǎo Xié finished shouting, the scene was still silent, with no one speaking up. Huǒ Xiǎo Xié felt his hair stand on end as he thought to himself: "What's going on here?!"

  Hei San Bian burst out laughing: "Hao Xiao Xie, can't tell you're not very old, brotherly righteousness is quite sufficient!"

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié refused to bother with Hei Sān Biān, and instead roared: "Let them go! Whether you want to kill or skin them is up to you!"

  "Hei Sanbian continued to laugh loudly: 'Zhang Siye, are you going to ask for an interrogation, a heart excavation or a lung removal? At least give us a clear answer, we may be opera singers, but shouldn't we at least get a good introduction?'"

  Vice Officer Zheng saw Hei Sanpiao tied to the pillar, speaking with such arrogance, and couldn't help but want to jump out and scold him loudly. But seeing that Zhang Siye didn't move at all, he forcibly restrained himself and leaned in close to Zhang's ear, asking in a low voice: "Zhang Siye, we've caught everyone! What are you waiting for?"

  Zhang Siye's expression was unchanged as he said, "Don't rush, wait for them to cool down!" Zhang Siye's tone had long since lost its initial warmth. Zheng Fuquan saw this and felt a chill in his heart, knowing that Zhang Siye was truly angry. Zheng Fuquan still had some reservations about Zhang Siye and didn't dare offend him. He suppressed the anger in his heart once again, shrinking back into his chair without making another sound.

  Hei San Bian, also known as Hei San, was scolding and cursing, spouting nonsense for half a day, but no one responded to him. Hei San Bian got nothing out of it, his chest felt tight with anger, and he stopped speaking.

  Huo Xiao Ye and the three black whips finally finished their shouting match, then took a deep breath and shouted: "Zhang Si Ye! The things are with me! As long as you let my few little brothers leave the city, I'll return them to you!" In fact, when Huo Xiao Ye said this, he had already lost confidence. Zhang Si Ye and his men used silence to control the situation, setting the atmosphere just right, not interrogating or asking questions, just waiting for Huo Xiao Ye and his men to speak out themselves.

  In the old society, people who were thieves in the Northeast region, regardless of age or size, had very fierce personalities. Most of them were the type to die with their mouths still hard, unlike the smooth-talking thieves from the South. The more you played tough with them, the tighter their lips would be. When pushed to the limit, they would shout "I'll be a good man again in 20 years!" and seek death.

  Zhang Siye understood that Hei Sanbian dared to barge into his own bandit lair, which was notorious for making people tremble with fear at the mere mention of its name. Behind the scenes, he didn't know what kind of shocking plot was being hidden, so he put on this show of force, actually just trying to intimidate Hei Sanbian's gang. Those people like Huo Xiaoxie were just extras.