Side Story 3: The Capital's Newly Emerging "Twin Killers"

Side Story 3: The Capital's Newly Emerging "Twin Killers"

Ten years later, in the capital city.

Time flies like an arrow, and ten years have passed in the blink of an eye.

The Regent's Palace remains incredibly powerful, but in recent years, the most widespread story circulating among the elite circles of the capital is no longer about the Regent's ruthless decisions, but rather about the legend surrounding the "outrageous notice board" at the entrance of the Regent's Palace.

It was only because the Pei family had a daughter who had just come of age.

Princess Pei Niannian was only thirteen years old. She was beautiful and charming, inheriting her mother's beauty and her father's heroic spirit.

Proposals for marriage came in like snowflakes.

However, Pei Yunjing, the father who loved his daughter dearly (and was utterly heartless), had an iron plaque erected at the entrance of the Prince's Mansion overnight, with two black bears and a tiger guarding it.

The sign reads: [Questioning Criteria for Seekers]

Written test: Can you understand what the tiger is saying to you?

Martial Arts Test: Survive an incense stick's worth of time under the attack of a black bear without being killed.

Final Test: Those who survive the Regent's three sword strikes may enter the mansion for tea.

From then on, the Regent's Palace was deserted.

Pei Niannian was very happy because no one was bothering her anymore.

Only Tang Li sighed, feeling that her daughter was probably doomed to be a burden for life.

...

However, Pei Niannian herself didn't care about these things.

At this moment, she and her younger brother are at the "Thousand Gold Terrace" gambling den, the biggest den of iniquity in the capital, doing something big.

The gambling den was filled with smoke and the sounds of dice rolling and shouting filled the air.

"Open it! Open it up!"

At the very center of the gambling table, the burly dealer, with one foot on a stool, grinned maliciously as he uncovered the dice cup: "One, two, three, six! Small! All wins!"

"No...no way! How can it be small again!"

Across the gambling table, an old man wearing a tattered military coat and with a limp in one leg knelt down on the ground with a thud.

His hands trembled as he tried to grab the last bit of loose silver on the table, but the dealer pressed him down.

"Old Zhang, a bet's a bet."

The dealer chuckled, his eyes filled with greed and malice: "This is your settlement fee. Now that you've lost it all, get out of here!"

"That's money for my grandson's medical treatment... Please, give me some... just a little..."

The old man cried his heart out, clinging to the farmer's leg and refusing to let go.

"Get out of my way! Don't block my path to making money!"

The dealer impatiently kicked the old man in the chest, and the thugs around him burst into laughter, preparing to throw the eyesore out.

"Bang--!!!"

A deafening roar instantly drowned out all the noise inside the casino.

The large gate of Qianjintai, made of nanmu wood and covered with iron sheets, was violently kicked open from the outside!

The two doors crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of choking dust.

All the gamblers, thugs, and bookmakers turned around in astonishment.

Two young men and women, their figures still somewhat immature, stood in the dusty, backlit air at the entrance. Yet, their presence was already overwhelming.

The girl on the left is about thirteen or fourteen years old, in the prime of her youth.

She was dressed in a fiery red outfit, with a dark red whip wrapped around her waist, and her long, ink-black hair was tied high in a ponytail with a golden bell at the end.

That small, still-developing face was exquisitely beautiful, yet its brows revealed an unbridled arrogance and wildness.

On her right shoulder perched an old gyrfalcon, its feathers slightly pale, but its eyes still sharp as knives.

That was lightning.

Although it's old, it still accompanies its young owner out for a "street race".

The boy on the right looks to be about eight or nine years old.

He was wearing a miniature version of a black brocade robe. Although he was not as tall as his sister, his small face was as cold as an iceberg that never melts.

He held a wooden sword in his arms, his thin lips tightly pressed together, his eyes so deep they were unlike those of a child.

These were the two little darlings of the Regent's Palace—Pei Niannian and Pei An.

Who is bullying the veterans?

Pei Niannian stepped over the threshold, casually flicking her whip in the air to create a beautiful whip flower.

"Smack!"

A sharp crack startled the gamblers who were nearby.

She slightly raised her chin, and a dangerous glint flashed in her almond-shaped eyes, which resembled those of a crabapple blossom.

"Don't you know that all the retired veterans in the capital are under my protection?"

The dealer paused for a moment, then realized they were just two children whose hair hadn't even fully grown in, and immediately grinned maliciously:

"Hey, where did this wild child come from? You haven't even grown your hair yet and you want to act like a chivalrous knight? This Qianjintai is not a place for you to run wild. Go home and drink your milk!"

The thugs around them chimed in, "This little brat is quite pretty, why don't we keep her for the master..."

Before he could finish speaking...

"Wild child?"

Pei Niannian tilted her head, not angry.

Instead, she flashed a bright, sly smile and turned to look at her expressionless younger brother behind her:

“An’an, he said we’re wild children.”

Pei An, who had been silent all along like a shadow, finally slowly raised his eyelids.

Those narrow, phoenix-shaped eyes coldly swept over the farmer who was spewing nonsense.

Then, he closed his eyes.

One second, two seconds.

The noisy casino was broken down into countless tiny sound fragments in his extremely sensitive auditory world.

The sound of a heartbeat, breathing, the rolling of dice, and... the tapping sound under the wooden board.

"There's someone hiding under the third floorboard."

Pei An opened his eyes, his voice young and clear, each word hitting the nail on the head:

"He was pulling the magnet with a thin thread."

"That die was filled with mercury and lead powder."

He raised his small, fair hand and pointed expressionlessly at the dealer's cuff: "There's a spare 'Supreme Treasure' card hidden in the lining of your left sleeve."

boom--!

The gamblers erupted in chaos, all turning to look at the dealer.

"What?! Cheating?!"

"Mercury?! These bastards! I knew it! I knew we were losing!"

The dealer's face turned deathly pale instantly, then he flew into a rage, slamming his fist on the table and rising to his feet:

"Bullshit! You little brat, spouting nonsense! How dare you cause trouble at Qianjintai? Brothers, cripple these two bastards!"

A dozen thugs wielding sticks immediately surrounded them, their menacing expressions revealed.

"Want to make a move?"

Pei Niannian looked at the people surrounding her, but instead of being afraid, she excitedly licked her lips.

She did not draw the whip from her waist.

She simply put two fingers to her lips and whistled a sharp, short whistle.

"call out--"

"Squeak squeak squeak—!!!"

A chilling sound suddenly rang out from every dark corner of the gambling den.

Suddenly, hundreds of large black rats with glowing green eyes emerged from the cracks in the floor, from the beams, and even from under the gambling table.

Those were the descendants of the huge rat colony left behind by "Zhao Cai" back then.

Like soldiers who had heard the order to charge, they surged wildly towards the dealer and his gang of thugs under Pei Niannian's command.

"Ah! Rats! So many rats!"

"Help! Don't bite me!"

The thugs were instantly thrown into chaos.

Several large, ferocious rats, acting as the leaders, rushed forward and began to frantically gnaw at the farmer's trouser legs.

"Bite him! Strip him naked!"

Pei Niannian stood on the table, hands on her hips, giving instructions:

[Minions! Loosen his bones! Let him know why the flowers are so red!]

"Sizzle—sizzle—"

The farmer's brocade robe was torn to shreds, and his trousers were bitten, revealing his red underpants underneath.

He rolled on the ground, crying and screaming for his parents, his body covered in rats; the scene was more terrifying than hell.

"I was wrong! I was wrong, Grandma! I'll give you the money back! I'll give you all of it back!"

The dealer broke down in tears and pushed all the silver on the table out.

...

Half an hour later.

The siblings stuffed all the money they won back, plus the compensation from the bookmaker, into the arms of the lame old soldier.

"Uncle, take this to treat your grandson's illness." Pei Niannian patted the dust off her hands and smiled brightly.

"Thank you... thank you, my little benefactor! Thank you, little deity!" The old soldier knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

The two walked out of the gambling den, their shadows stretched long by the setting sun.

Pei An, holding the wooden sword, frowned slightly, looking like a little adult: "Sister, you made too much noise just now. Father will definitely know we sneaked out again when we get back."

"What are you afraid of?"

Pei Niannian pulled out a candied hawthorn she had bought on a whim from her pocket, took a bite, and said nonchalantly:

"Mommy's here!"

"If Father dares to punish us, then Mother will make him sleep in the study tonight! Besides..."

She glanced back at the smashed "Qianjintai" signboard, a hint of arrogance belonging to the Pei family flashing in her eyes:

"This kind of shady shop should be smashed."

"Better to offend the King of Hell than the Pei family. That's a lesson my father taught me."

Looking at his sister's fearless demeanor, Pei An finally revealed a faint, helpless yet indulgent smile on his icy face.

"Too."

He followed in his sister's footsteps:

"Let's go home. Mother said there will be braised pork tonight."