Magical Water Margin: They all call me brother

Page 18

The fledgling dragon hurriedly shouted to stop.

"That guy has way more money than three hundred taels of silver! I've always wanted to rob him of all his treasures and decorate my bed with a mountain of copper coins, so I've been fighting him! But that guy is quite skilled, and I haven't been able to beat him."

But if the three of us join forces, how can we not destroy his stronghold? We'll earn far more money than three hundred taels of silver!"

Liu Hong and Wu Song remained silent, but continued to approach—three hundred taels of silver was enough, enough to cover their food, clothing, and martial arts training for at least fifteen months. There was no need to take any extra risks; Suo Chao of Daming Prefecture and the other Song soldiers were not to be underestimated.

"Don't come any closer! Stop! Stop!"

The fledgling dragon frantically clawed at the rock face, as if trying to dig a way out. Its sharp claws kicked up dust and sent rocks flying. Its head pressed tightly against the rock face, watching the two figures and letting out a desperate cry.

"I... I'm willing to become sworn brothers with you! From now on, we're family! If the three of us team up, we'll definitely be able to wreak havoc in the brothel! Let's make money together and get rich together, okay? Brother! Sister?!"

Liu Hong and Wu Song remained silent and continued to approach each other.

Accompanied by blinding flashes of lightning, the tiger-sized fledgling dragon rapidly shrank, and the blue dragon scales on its head transformed into flowing, beautiful cobalt blue hair, like a fairy's robe or a jellyfish's tentacles, gently dancing in the air. The ends of its hair gradually changed into a silvery-blue light like stardust, cascading down to its ankles like a waterfall.

The dragon scales covering her body transformed into a Han-style dress adorned with scale patterns, barely concealing her developing, immature curves. The indigo silk sash wrapped around her waist moved without wind, and each piece of cloud and thunder pattern embroidered with gold thread reflected a cold metallic light under the firelight.

Four dragon claws transformed into chubby, fair arms and legs, covered in beautiful cobalt blue scales, as if dressing her in cobalt blue jewel stockings and high gloves. This added a touch of mature sexiness to the little girl. A section of dragon tail covered in fine blue scales suddenly appeared under her skirt, then disappeared back into the skirt amidst the crackling sound of lightning, revealing only half of the tail tip.

Her cute and innocent face was as adorable as a finely sculpted doll. She had a pair of shy dimples, adorned with two lightning-shaped gold foil flowers. Her gilded vertical pupils, beneath her long eyelashes, shimmered with the dark luster of thunderclouds, and tears of fear streamed down her face.

This tiger-sized fledgling dragon had shrunk to the size of a girl, who looked no older than six.

"Don't come any closer! Aren't you a chivalrous knight-errant? I'm so poor! The brothel owner is so wicked! He goes around buying and selling, abducting innocent women. Shouldn't you rob him to help me?"

The little girl crouched at the foot of the rock wall, covering her head in fear. Her petite body trembled slightly, and she was crying with tears streaming down her face. Her big, watery eyes were quite heartbreaking, and she looked extremely pitiful.

When she discovered that the temptation of personal gain and the sworn brotherhood were no longer effective with the two men, she changed her approach again, based on Liu Hong's chivalrous nature.

"Oh, right, have you heard of this former boss of the Ghost Fanlou? The one who went to do his corvée labor, came back to find his wife and three children had been kidnapped and sold to a brothel, and got beaten up when he tried to report it to the authorities?!"

"Oh, I remember that. The boss you wanted to rob was willing to fund your rescue of his wife and daughter, but when you got there you found them all dead, so you went into a rage and wiped out the entire brothel."

Liu Hong vaguely remembered hearing this story from the bandits when he was here last time, so he finally stopped and wanted to hear the latest updates about this fledgling dragon.

"Yes, yes, that's it! But that's just the version circulating in the streets. The real story is that the boss gave him a demon with extremely strong side effects and combat power. He sent the former boss to the brothel to rescue his wife and daughter, and at the same time sent his servant to the brothel as a patron. The servant brutally murdered his wife and daughter a second before he entered, then escaped underground, driving him into boundless despair and rage. In a frenzy, the boss used the demon's abilities to slaughter the entire brothel!!!"

"Is he really that inhuman?"

Wu Song had heard the story before, but never such an outrageous version. He frowned immediately. If this person was such a scoundrel, he didn't want his commission or his reward. Liu Hong also looked incredulous after hearing the story.

"But how did you know?"

"Why do you think I'm picking on him? Why am I always attacking his brothel? Why am I robbing his money instead of other people's?"

Because I have a grudge against him! I was captured by them! At that time, I was transformed into this human form when I was captured by their second boss. Luckily, I was clever and didn't transform into a dragon to fight a bunch of people when they captured me. Instead, they let me stay and imprison me among the girls. I overheard this incident by chance. This was just one insignificant little thing among many. The brothels and Ghost Pavilion imprisoned countless innocent girls, and the families that were persecuted to the point of being torn apart by them were countless!

Then, I found an opportunity, transformed back into my dragon form, and caught them completely off guard! I beheaded the leader and replaced him as the third leader!

The girl said stubbornly.

"Since my brothers and sisters want to do chivalrous deeds but are short of money, why don't we go together to kill this villain, steal his gold and silver treasures, and split them equally? Wouldn't that be wonderful? I'm willing to become sworn sisters with you two and be the youngest sister, following my brothers and sisters from now on!"

Seeing that this method was effective, the little girl immediately intensified her attack, fluttering her big, golden eyes and looking at the two of them expectantly.

"Her description is basically consistent with what the Dry Land Crocodile said, and her eyes don't seem to be lying. Brother, why don't we give it a try? If this little dragon is telling the truth, I'd feel unlucky to take the bounty money for such scum!"

Wu Song turned to look at Liu Hong.

"We were just fighting to the death, we killed so many of your men, how do you expect me to trust you?"

Liu Hong remained vigilant.

“The bandits you killed were my enemies who captured me before! I only killed their leader. Some of them ran away, and others turned against me out of fear and all recognized me as their leader! That's why I reluctantly treated them as servants.”

“I don’t know who I am. Other Shatuo dragons are born with parents who are young dragons or even ancient dragons, and they spend their childhood happily. But I was born in the Ghost Fanlou underground in Kaifeng. I don’t know who my parents are at all! And some people want to kill me! I wandered all the way to Daming Prefecture, and only then did I escape the pursuit.”

Li Cunxiao looked at the two of them pitifully.

"I just want to settle down in Daming Prefecture and make a living. Since the three of us all need money, why can't we team up and take down a brothel owner?"

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Three Form an Alliance After Taking Over the Brothel

"Stay here and don't leave. If you dare to run, I'll chop you up with one knife!"

Wu Song put on a fierce look and threatened the fledgling dragon not to leave, which made Li Cunxiao tremble all over. Then he pulled Liu Hong away and whispered something to him.

“Brother, do you think this is feasible? I feel unlucky to take the bounty money from such scum! I never bully the weak with my fists. Why don’t we change our plan and rob this rich man?”

"I also think this baby dragon doesn't seem like a scam."

Liu Hong didn't doubt that the fledgling dragon wanted to do something bad. With an intelligence of eight, what could a child with emotional intelligence do?

"Based on my knowledge, dragons can live for thousands of years, while mortals are as short-lived as mayflies in comparison. Therefore, some young dragons that have not yet grown up and have lost the protection of their parents will indeed choose to join the strong, and even some adult dragons will choose to join the enemy they cannot defeat."

This trait is especially common among the numerous and powerful blue dragons, and the not-so-bright white dragons. Moreover, she was immediately attracted to my dragon blood upon first meeting me.”

"My only concern is how strong the brothel's defenses are, and that there's a fierce general in Daming Prefecture named Suo Chao, whose fighting power is quite terrifying. We've been causing such a ruckus at the brothel... Maybe we should let this little brat go and go back to find Zhu Gui and change our minds."

"Hey, so that's what you're worried about, little brother. With me here, it's no problem! A frontline fighter? Is he as strong as his older sister?"

Wu Song breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand, and indicated that there was no need to worry about these things.

"Then let's rob them. I've already killed so many people, one more rich man won't matter. With my sister here, I feel more at ease."

After making up their minds, the group returned. When Li Cunxiao saw Wu Song, who had just been fierce towards her, she shrank back in fear. After thinking it over carefully, she still felt closer to the dragon blood in Liu Hong's body. She timidly ran to Liu Hong's side, hugged his thigh with her fair little arms, and wrapped her tail around his ankle like a snake. Her trembling body made Liu Hong's body tremble as well.

“We’ve decided, we’ll rob a brothel if we want, and we’ll split the spoils equally among the three of us.”

Liu Hong tentatively bent down and touched her long, cobalt blue hair. Li Cunxiao breathed a sigh of relief, as if she had been granted a pardon. Then, she squinted her eyes comfortably, as if she was enjoying the caress.

“Brother, you made the right choice! You will never regret it! If we listen to Little Gangster Li Cunxiao, we can all get rich! Hmm, it feels good when you touch my hair, you're serving me well.”

Upon realizing that the two men didn't intend to kill her, her pitiful, tearful expression vanished instantly, and she reverted to her previous arrogant demeanor.

"However, we're just allies! We'll call it quits once we get the money! This cave is mine! Don't you dare steal my property!"

Li Cunxiao watched the two men warily. Although she spoke fiercely, she tightened her grip on Liu Hong's thigh with her hands and tail. When Wu Song glanced at her, she screamed and hid behind Liu Hong, peeking out half of her head and nervously looking at Wu Song.

"Okay, no problem, let's go."

After hearing her story, Liu Hong felt a pang of pity. He hugged Li Cunxiao's weak and boneless body like a cat, giving her a big hug and stroking her beautiful cobalt blue hair. Li Cunxiao trembled slightly at first, then curled up in Liu Hong's arms as if she were enjoying the warmth of his embrace, feeling as comfortable as if she were in an egg, and purring softly.

"This is the first time I've ever been hugged, and it feels pretty good. I'm allowing my brother to hug me all the time."

Li Cunxiao squinted comfortably, rubbing his cheek against Liu Hong's chest as if trying to leave his scent in his arms. His tone and actions were completely at odds, making Liu Hong want to laugh.

The three returned to the cave and found that the cages, ropes, and chains that had imprisoned the women were still there, but all the women were gone.

“I released them all. These people are really strange. I thought that because I was so generous, some people would be willing to become my servants and serve me. But none of them wanted to stay. Humph! They have no taste and don’t want to be my friends. They deserve to never get rich.”

Li Cunxiao snorted and reached for the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone on the table, but she was lying in Liu Hong's arms and her little hands couldn't reach them at all. Even if she stretched out her longer dragon tail and stretched it straight, she still couldn't reach them.

She wanted to jump down to plan the route, but she was also reluctant to leave because of the warmth of Liu Hong's embrace. Her gaze moved back and forth between Liu Hong's embrace and the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone three times, but she could not make up her mind.

Liu Hong found it amusing, so he picked her up and sat her down at the table. Her constantly taut blue-scaled tail finally reached the brush and ink, and she began to sketch a route map while lying in Liu Hong's arms, humming happily. The route map was crooked and the Q-version figures were ugly and distorted, but at least it was understandable.

"Look, the connection between the underground Ghost Pavilion and the brothel on the surface is a hidden door in the cellar."

The wealthy man knew that the underground Ghost Tower had fallen, so he covered the secret door to the cellar with a huge rock, removed the ladder connecting the cellar to the first floor, sealed off the main door above the cellar, and deployed ten thugs to defend it. I tried to break through several times but couldn't."

Li Cunxiao drew crookedly on the paper.

"First, we need to break the boulder pressing down on the hidden door of the cellar, and then find a way to climb up the more than four-meter-high cellar door without using a ladder and enter the ground—I can do all of that. The most troublesome thing is the ten thugs guarding the cellar door. Only by taking them down can we enter the brothel."

"Then, we need to split into two groups, block the two staircases leading to the top floor, leaving him no way to escape. After that, we'll storm the top-floor room on the third floor and capture the landlord alive! We'll force him to cough up all the money! The three of us will split it equally!"

“That’s great, sister. You’re in charge of the left staircase, and Li Cunxiao and I will go to the right staircase.”

Liu Hong offered reasonable suggestions.

"Uh-huh!"

Hearing that he could stay in Liu Hong's arms for a while longer, Li Cunxiao nodded in satisfaction.

"Oh, right, there's another way. Isn't that rich man after my head? Here's what you can do: pretend you've captured me, take me to collect the reward, and then kill him when he's off guard! This method is simpler and more direct."

"No."

Wu Song and Liu Hong both shook their heads in denial.

"We got the intelligence from our informant. It's fine to attack from here; nobody will know anyway."

"But contacting the landlord through an informant and then killing him not only violates the rules of the underworld, but also puts the informant who provided us in a bad way. This is utterly despicable and ungrateful."

"I see. You two are quite principled."

Li Cunxiao thought about it and agreed.

"Then let's wait a little longer. In two hours, when night falls, that rich man will surely return to the brothel to enjoy himself. That will be our chance to strike!"

Chapter Thirty-Four: On the Future of Sibling-Brotherly Heart-to-Heart Communication

The three waited for their chance in the cave. Li Cunxiao seemed to be tired and curled up in Liu Hong's arms to sleep, snoring cutely. The two men felt a little pity for this little guy who had been born without parents and was struggling alone in the dark.

Liu Hong checked his abilities. He had used Mind Control once and still had nine points of spiritual energy left. After reaching level four, his most powerful Quadruple Heavenly Strike would consume four points of spiritual energy. Even with a series of energy reduction measures, it would still require two points, meaning he could still use it four times.

The Double Heavenly Gang Slash no longer consumes any spiritual energy, so you can use it freely. The one I just used was the Double Heavenly Gang Slash that carried two star rivers. I haven't tried the Heavenly Gang Slash with four star rivers superimposed yet, and I don't know how powerful it is.

"Sister, do you think we really should do as Master said, wait for the emperor to grant a general amnesty, clear our names, and then join the army?"

Since they had nothing better to do, Liu Hong chatted with Wu Song. Zhou Tong was a good teacher, but his vision was limited by the characteristics of the feudal era. The darkness and chaos within the Song army were clearly recorded in the history books. Joining the army really didn't seem like a good place.

This godforsaken world contains both "Water Margin" and "The Story of Yue Fei." It's the summer of 1111 now. In about ten years, the Jin army will enter the pass. In ten years, how far can a lowly soldier like me with no background go? Can I change the fact that the Northern Song Dynasty was crushed by the Jin army?

Even if I were to rise to the level of Zong Ze, what use would a military bigwig like Li Gang be? The Emperor Zhao could dismiss him at will, and that wouldn't change anything.

A little over a decade later, the Wanyan family's thirteenth Dark Expedition will capture Kaifeng, take two emperors prisoner, and tear the Central Plains in two, an event known as the Jingkang Incident.

The Southern Song Dynasty, confined to a corner of the country, could only protect half of the land south of the Huai River. The other half of the Central Plains north of the Huai River would become the dark side of an empire in disarray, eventually being devoured by the Jin Dynasty bit by bit. I must at least be prepared to survive in such a chaotic world.

"Well, there's no other way. We can't just live like rats, hiding in small villages or Ghost Tower for the rest of our lives. Let's go and see what happens. If things aren't going well with the Song army, we'll just run away. I heard that Master and General Zhong are old acquaintances. He'll write a letter of recommendation. Maybe once we get there, we can become a captain in charge of a hundred soldiers."

Wu Song was quite open-minded.

"The Song army is rotten to the core. In order to prevent another An Lushan from emerging, the fighting power of the local Song army has been continuously weakened. The bandits and convicts in our hometown are not even as good as a servant of a small rich man when they fight. Moreover, they assign generals on the spot when fighting, so the generals do not know the soldiers and the soldiers do not know the generals. They even have to draw battle diagrams before going to the battlefield. If they do not fight according to the battle diagrams, even if they win, they will not receive any reward!"

Liu Hong knew he couldn't persuade Wu Song in a short time, so like Yue Fei, he subtly conveyed some ideas to prepare for the future.

Over the past six months, Liu Hong has thought things through very clearly. The Song army cannot go there, but now the Northern Song Dynasty is powerful. The emperor has nominally unified most of the Central Plains, unlike the late Han Dynasty when warlords were vying for power and the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out everywhere, leaving chaotic areas unmanaged. If he wants to make a name for himself in such a place, there is really only one place left: Liangshan Marsh.

"Yang Ye, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Zhong Shidao—weren't they all heroes of their time? Were they all strategists? But did they ever make any breakthroughs in their wars against Western Xia and Liao? Weren't they all hampered by the corruption of the Song army? Sister, are you confident that you can do better than them?"

Liu Hong continued to elaborate on his theory.

"These outstanding figures of the time are still constrained by the rotten system of the Song army. What can we achieve by joining the Song army? We might as well destroy and rebuild! Are kings and generals born with a special destiny? I have heard that Liangshan in Jizhou is a good place. We can gradually develop there."

"Brother, your thinking is too extreme."

Wu Song looked at his younger brother with deep concern, feeling that his face was emblazoned with the words "rebellion is justified."

"I don't know how you know so much, but how do you know it's useless if you don't try?"

The two chatted about this and that. At first, Li Cunxiao could understand what they were arguing about, but later he had no idea what they were arguing about. His head was spinning and he looked around. Then he fell asleep in Liu Hong's arms and didn't realize that two hours had passed.

"Alright, brother and sister, stop arguing and get ready to fight!"

Li Cunxiao stretched out a big yawn and led the two to rob her. In her human form, she could unleash a blue dragon's breath. Her dreamlike blue hair moved without wind, with countless arcs of electricity running, surging, and crackling within it. As her small mouth opened and closed, she actually spewed out a torrent of silver-blue plasma!

In an instant, the sky seemed to be torn open by lightning, a wound flowing with molten silver. The dragon's lightning, so viscous that it turned into a waterfall of liquid lightning, poured out. The boulders kissed by the lightning were like fragile glass cups, instantly bursting open with thousands of ice cracks, instantly collapsing and tearing apart. Pieces of broken stone danced a death dance in the air.

The high-frequency buzzing of electronic devices and the low-frequency cracking of rock strata rose and fell, forming a symphony of collapse. Streams of pungent, pale blue gas spread out like mist, which was ozone formed from the decomposition of the entire air by lightning.

"Go! Go! Go! It's robbery!"

This fledgling dragon has an unusual obsession with robbing money. This tunnel was designed for humans, not dragons. Therefore, she can only use her human form to breathe and destroy the boulder, and then rush up to the cellar in human form!

"call!"

Just as Li Cunxiao rushed into the cellar, she suddenly saw a blazing fire in the darkness. Several hemp ropes soaked in lard were thrown from all directions, binding her head, hands, feet, and waist. With a forceful tug, she was unable to move!

Wait a minute, didn't the rich man abandon the cellar? Why are there people here? Li Cunxiao panicked and tried to transform back into his dragon form to fight, but he discovered that among these lassos, there was a deformable lasso that prevented him from transforming.

She tried to exhale, but the rope around her leg was suddenly pulled, causing her to lose her balance and fall face down to the ground. Her thunderous breath exploded along the floor and onto her own face! She didn't hurt anyone else, but instead blew her face into a mess.

"You son of a bitch! You think you're so great, Master? You've caused trouble for him time and time again, and you've even been occupying our Ghost Fanlou! We've finally caught you this time!"

A thug dressed as a retired soldier saw Li Cunxiao take the bait and tightened his grip on the rope around her neck, making it hard for her to breathe.

"I told you we couldn't give up on the cellar! The tunnel leading to Ghost Fanlou is too narrow. She can't come up as a dragon, so she can only come up as a human. That's when she's at her weakest! As long as this girl enters the cellar, she can turn into a dragon and fly around the brothel!"