The Double
Chapter 297 - 114 Reinforcements_5

Chapter 297: Chapter 114 Reinforcements_5

Jiang Li stopped in her tracks, across the brush, she began to laugh softly.

In the calm brush, what was once an open space had turned into a lake that could swallow one whole, as if something sticky and flowing was encasing people inside. Figures struggled within it.

"Stop struggling," Jiang Li slowly said, "This is the most terrifying swamp in the area. The more you struggle, the faster you sink."

The moon gradually emerged from the clouds, her clothes and the hem of her skirt were smeared with the mud of the forest, but her face was oddly clean, her lips curled into a soft smile as she spoke terrifying words, "Oh dear, I just realized, you’re already waist-deep, there’s no saving you now. Even if someone came, they couldn’t rescue you, they’d just get pulled down with you." She covered her mouth and sighed, "Such a pity."

The black-clad assassins, looking at her with fury and ferocity, were half-sunken already, with one even having half his face entombed, likely due to his violent struggling, the swamp threatening to soon engulf his mouth and nose, and terror gleamed in his eyes.

The torment of waiting for death to come was unbearably excruciating. Jiang Li would be kinder to grant them a swift death with her sword.

Clearly not so compassionate, Jiang Li turned, mounted her horse, and left the swamp behind.

Xue Huaiyuan had once expressly forbidden her and Xue Zhao to play in these woods because of this marsh. But Xue Zhao, mischievous, saw it as a natural trap. They had constructed many traps for catching animals here, netting much game. Had the killers from Feng Yutang not appeared so suddenly today, arranging for Ye Mingyu to set the woods would not have been difficult, ensnaring the assassins in one fell swoop. Just as in warfare, strategy at times triumphs over brute force.

Only three, what a pity.

Jiang Li rode back the way she came, needing to find a new route, to return safely to Ye Mingyu’s side, uncertain how he was faring now.

The horse took a few steps forward, then abruptly stopped, its front hooves wavering in the air as if sensing danger, hesitating to proceed.

In the bright moonlight, beneath the trees, figures in black surrounded her in an encircling formation.

"The Second Miss truly has boundless abilities," the leader sneered, "no wonder the lady ordered so many of us to come together. At first I thought it was overkill, now it seems we underestimated the Second Miss."

The lady? Jiang Li frowned, "Ji Shuran?"

The other side did not answer, but Jiang Li instantly realized, it indeed was Ji Shuran.

She knew that returning to Xiangyang this time, Ji Shuran would certainly scheme from the shadows. After all, in Ji Shuran’s eyes, Jiang Li was a stumbling block that had to be removed. But Jiang Li hadn’t expected Ji Shuran’s people to be so patient or to devise a plan where the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, waiting for her and Feng Yutang’s men to both be hurt and be distracted, then to suddenly strike her when she least expected it.

This was her mistake, Jiang Li thought calmly.

There were about a dozen enemies, and she was alone, weaponless except for a short dagger hidden in her sleeve. But the dagger was of little use; the disparity in strength between her and her foes was too great. She had nothing to distract her adversaries with, and after witnessing Feng Yutang’s men sink into the swamp, these men were only more cautious, unlikely to fall for the same trick.

Fate loves its cruel jokes, always seemingly offering a smooth path ahead only to reveal that all hopes were extinguished. It made the hopeful even more despondent and the desperate forever lost in darkness.

"The Second Miss need not look around any longer, thinking of other plans," the leader’s voice carried a strange malevolence as he said, "The lady has ordered us to torture you by all possible means, and then to kill you." He chuckled nastily, "But the Second Miss is so pure and lovely, intelligent and brave, we can hardly bear to torture you in such a terrible way. How about we use a more ’comfortable’ method instead?"

His surrounding black-clad men emitted the same sickening laughter. Without any need to guess, Jiang Li knew what vile methods they were contemplating in their minds.

For an instant, she felt as though she was back on that afternoon in the Shen family, the emotions of humiliation and rage that dominated the half-year she barely survived. They turned her world upside down, and now these men were stirring those nauseating memories anew.

Jiang Li’s gaze deepened as she laughed coldly, "Do you think you’ve already won? Do you really think I have no other options?"

The leader laughed again, saying, "I know the Second Miss is trying to buy time, but just now Old Master Ye the Third was injured, and Feng Yutang’s men have already caught up with him. Besides, the Second Miss’s horse is fast, but Old Master Ye the Third’s horse doesn’t know the way, unaware of this forest, and can’t find the Second Miss. Now here, it’s just us, and you."

His words were brimming with arrogance. Jiang Li knew the area, so she could lead the three assassins into the forest, leaving them to perish in the swamp. But even if Ye Mingyu escaped those killers, he would be unable to find Jiang Li—Tongxiang was completely foreign to him.

But Jiang Li merely smiled, "Who said I was looking for Old Master Ye the Third?"

The man hesitated.

Her voice was clear, laced with an enigmatic smile, echoing through the woods.

"Duke, after watching such a long show, would you care to join us?"