Chapter 4.26 Nine-Clawed Hook (Extra)

The three gangs and five factions rushed into the water and started heading for the ship, which was about eighty meters or so from the shore. Since the old woman was blind, she didn’t know what had happened and was still sitting there silently. The short boss’ body didn’t fall down, but stood there like a pillar. When the people in the water looked up and saw this scene, they all hesitated and then stopped.

The white fat man snorted and said to the old hunter, “Break his legs.”

When the old hunter didn’t make a sound, the white fat man became angry and turned his head. “Are you fucking deaf?!” He saw that the old hunter’s head was drooping on his gun and he was leaning against the bamboo hats. A lot of blood was oozing out from under the bamboo hats.

When he went up and tore the bamboo hats away, he saw a strange thing lying on the old hunter’s back. The old hunter’s scalp had been completely torn off, revealing the white skull underneath. He was dead. That thing had been lying motionless on the old hunter’s back, but suddenly turned to look at the white fat man the moment the bamboo hats were torn away.

The white fat man saw an extremely thin, slightly deformed face. Not only was the face small, but its head was as well. At first glance, it still looked like a person, just one with a little head.

Then it moved a bit, and he could see that it was an extremely thin “person”, but its nails were all crusted, and they were as long as a finger. The skin all over its body was wrinkled, and it looked especially creepy because of its disproportionately small head.

The white fat man cried out and went to pull his gun from his waist, but the little-headed thing opened its eyes wide, leaped up, and threw the white fat man to the ground. Two claws pierced directly into the white fat man’s chin, and tore through his whole face and scalp.

Almost at the same time, the people in the water heard the sound of six or seven doors opening in quick succession on the ship. Countless shadows emerged from the doors and jumped into the water.

Then they saw a lot of strange little figures in the iron cages hanging under the ship.

“Go ashore!” Someone shouted from the water. Everyone immediately began to retreat, but three or four seconds later, a series of screams were abruptly cut off as people were instantly dragged into the water. They struggled desperately, but were quickly dragged under the ship, where they saw that the iron cages were full of barbed hooks. Those little-headed “people” pulled them into the water and pressed them onto the barbs until their chins and clothes were pierced. They put up a fierce struggle, but couldn’t break free.

A mass of blood rose up in the water. Only twenty people managed to escape, but before they could react, the little-headed “person” still on the shore dashed over. All twenty people pulled out their guns and shot at it until it was riddled with holes. But before they could relax, more of those little-headed “people” climbed out of the water. The people on shore scattered and fled, but were instantly killed just as they were about to make it to the tree-line. At that time, shots rang out everywhere and blood spattered all over the place.

The short boss’ body still stood there motionless, but then it slowly reached out and pulled a cable on the side. All the bamboo curtains on the ship were lowered, and then the corpse’s shoulder seemed to crack open and another head appeared.

It looked at the destroyed head and took a deep breath before moving. After a moment, it stretched a hand out from the place where the destroyed head used to be.

This two-headed trick was a skill he had learned when he was a “Xuandeng bandit” in his early years. It was originally a trick only known by a generation of great witches and monks in Hubei and Hunan. He was actually curled up in his clothes, with one hand reaching up into the dead man’s decapitated dead to control his expressions and speech. He would use his other hand to act, which made him look much shorter. A truly skilled person could even make the decapitated head roll its eyes to seem more lifelike.

There were very few firearms in the three gangs and five factions, and the bullets only went as far as thirty meters. He had originally been saving this trick, because he was afraid the hitmen’s leader was plotting against him. He even went so far as to wear inconspicuous armor and set up this head trick. He just didn’t expect that the white fat man could find a man with such accurate marksmanship.

He walked up to the table, finished what he had just written, sealed it with a bamboo tube from the medicine jar behind him, and then whistled. When one of the little-headed “people” came out of the water and parted the curtain, he handed the tube to it. The little-headed “person” received it and quickly jumped back into the water.

The short boss then went back to the table, used his hands to neatly break all the bones in Changshan’s head, emptied them out, and then washed the head in the water. There were several large wounds on Changshan’s face that still looked ok after washing, so he tried to put the head on his shoulder.

After fiddling with it for a long time, he managed to fit it inside.

After several twists, the short boss moved again. It was as if he had come back to life, but his face had become Changshan’s (although there were gouges where whole pieces of his face were missing). He moved his hand to make an expression, but it looked very strange. It was obviously not as good as his previous head, but now there was nothing he could do about it.

He pulled back the curtains, and watched the killing spree taking place on shore.

“Huang Kui, how many people do you have to harm?” The madam was in the middle of a protective circle, but several of those close to her had already gone mad with the killing.

“They look a little strange, but aren’t they human beings, too?” The short boss shouted. The three gangs and five factions looked at Changshan’s face in surprise. His face looked ragged, but he was looking at them with a strange smile.

“Mr. Advisor!”

“Isn’t the advisor dead?”

“No, that’s Huang Kui’s voice.”

“Was he pretending to be dead?”

“The boss’ head was hit! How could it be fake?!”

The short boss sat down beside the gangplank and turned to look at one side of the river where dozens of boats had appeared. The hitmen’s leader had returned. “It’s inevitable that everyone would come out to fight and kill. I can’t completely destroy the three gangs and five factions, but now the hitmen’s leader has returned. Today, there’s one gang left in the three gangs, and three left in the five factions. If you don’t want to die, kill the most effective men to save your life. You get to live if you kill the others first.”

Everyone looked at the distant Huang Kui boats, and the increasing numbers, and froze. Changshan really hadn’t deceived them. During this time, Huang Kui’s numbers had far exceeded any of the gangs’.

The short boss spoke a few words in a strange dialect, and the drum crawlers backed off, leaving them a little breathing room.

Everyone started eyeing each other with very complicated expressions. A lot of them had despairing expressions on their faces, when an old man from the five factions suddenly shouted, “He who has life, has hope. Let’s go!”

But as soon as they moved, all the drum crawlers surrounded them, sealing off any means of escape. Everyone was fighting in close quarters again.

The madam was in the middle of the chaotic army. A very calm-looking man looked around at the situation and then looked at the madam again, who said to him, “Don’t be afraid, fight.”

The man shook his head, pointed his gun at his temple, and shouted, “Huang Kui, look.” Just as he was about to shoot, however, the madam snatched the gun away.

“Madam, the people you’ve taught are really good.” When the short boss spoke, the nearby gang leaders immediately looked at their own buddies, and the atmosphere became very strange.

At this time, Chen Pi finished peeing, came out from behind a bush beside the embankment, and looked to one side. There were a lot of fishing boats bearing the Huang Kui’s flag that were approaching, while a group of people were fighting on the other side. Chen Pi sniffed, and the man on his shoulder looked up and pointed to the man on the first boat. “The hitmen’s leader!”

The leader stood on the bow of the boat and coldly looked at the people on the ship and embankment. He took out a bamboo tube, drank three mouthfuls of traditional Chinese medicine, and then passed it around, “Remember to drink three mouthfuls of this Huang Kui soup. You’ll be paralyzed if you drink less, and die if you drink too much. After drinking three mouthfuls, you won’t be tired even after killing for three days and three nights. Follow me to pick the flower drums.”

The people came up to drink one after another, and the leader cracked his neck. Just as he was about to sneer, a nine-clawed hook flew from an inconspicuous place on the shore and hooked him on the face. He could only manage an “Oh!” before he was dragged into the river.

“I’ve finally caught you!” Chen Pi, who was on the shore, tugged at the claw’s rope and shouted excitedly, “I thought I was going to die looking for you!”

The three gangs and five factions in the distance saw the aggressive hitmen’s leader suddenly get pulled into the river and dragged to shore like a fish. They suddenly understood what was going on and turned to look at the short boss again. Their men also put down the guns they had aimed at each other, and the madam said coldly, “We can’t be outdone by a beggar. Let’s kill this bastard.”

The short boss silently looked at the scene that had just occurred. For the first time in his life, he felt very embarrassed.

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