Chapter 77: The Slaughter
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Just as Maid Lotus said, no one interfered with the slaughter between apprentices. Golden Roc Fort was glad to see future killers go through real and harsh training. They had only set a small number of rules.
Firstly, the slaughter could only take place in East Castle, specifically the eastern and southern area of Pyrowork Academy, reaching Reincarnation Cliff to the east and Woodensaber Alley to the south. Any killer apprentice going beyond the set area would be slain by concealed guards.
Secondly, the slaughter could only take place among the apprentices. Anyone who murdered a servant would also be killed. Anyhow, the servants dared not to enter East Castle in spite of this rule, hence the blackmarket no longer existed, and servants who brought meals or cleaners would only enter in groups and then leave in a rush. During the slaughter, East Castle was chaotic, filthy, and no different than the ruins in Woodensaber Alley.
Killer mentors did not interfere with the rules. They left their places soon after the slaughter began. Anyway, life in the castle was no longer convenient without the blackmarket. Most of them went to South City to enjoy the fair wine and women there, treating themselves a rare vacation for a month.
A few remaining killer mentors also left after a successful assassination by the Tattooed Arm Gang, leaving the site to those killing spree apprentices.
This assassination was Gu Shenwei's vengeance, and its target was named "Aardwolf".
Most of the members of the Snow Mountain Gang deserted their original names, and nicknamed themselves with beasts. Aardwolf was one of them, a swift young man with remarkable machete skills and expertise in close range combat.
"He was the one that attempted to assassinate you in the blackmarket."
One Tattooed Arm Gang member pledged, without any evidence backing it. But all the crew agreed to choose Aardwolf as their first target. They also needed to save the gang's reputation and status, because seven of its members were slain during the first two days of the slaughter, which was the highest casualty among the gangs.
In fact, contrary to the oldest apprentice's assertion, there were no other gangs willing to ally with Tattooed Arm Gang, which was hated as much as Snow Mountain Gang. The members of Tattooed Arm Gang used to be slaves in the castle, and were connected with every academy in every way. Their old friends regularly paid visits to the gang, such as Maid Lotus and Slave Qian. Plus, they did not even have to live in East Castle. As all the facts mentioned above, the gap between Tattooed Arm Gang and the other apprentices were deepened.
This was the very first time Gu Shenwei had joined an organization. Although his kung fu was universally recognized as the best, he was not selected as their leader. Everybody was waiting for him to earn their respects by demonstrating more charisma.
That afternoon, more members of the Tattooed Arm Gang came, totaling a number of 58 eventually. The Shangguan family's conflicts were revealed here, because they had served different Shangguan masters. Therefore, quite a few apprentices wanted that leadership.
Hence this assassination meant two things now, vengeance and leadership, and Gu Shenwei was determined to take hold of this game.
The fact that Aardwolf's Master Shifu had not left East Castle was the most significant hindrance in this assassination.
Based on the intelligence Maid Lotus had collected, Gu Shenwei schemed a bold plan involving only three members.
Aardwolf's Master Shifu had six apprentices. The third day of the slaughter, one of them would attend the monthly test, which was the only activity survived in Pyrowork Academy and required every living apprentice's attendance.
By coincidence, one member of this assassin group was attending the monthly test the same day. Hence he was responsible for monitoring and sending a signal to Maid Lotus who would stay at the doorway right after he saw Aardwolf's junior fellow apprentices go into the room.
Dressed in killer apprentice's standard black suit with a mask, Gu Shenwei started the ambush near Aardwolf's residence from the previous night.
Maid Lotus now came to change shifts, and her task was to stall or kill Aardwolf's junior apprentice if he came back early.
Gu Shenwei took his saber and started walking aboveboard into Aardwolf's yard.
The place where Aardwolf lived was much larger than Tie Hanfeng's. Their killer mentor was resting inside, while Aardwolf was practicing machete skills with his fellow apprentices. Gu Shenwei nodded to them, pretending to be frustrated, and then went straight into "his" room without a word.
The slaughter had just begun for a few days, and everyone's vigilance had not reached its highest level. Plus Gu Shenwei looked similar to their fellow apprentice who went to attend the monthly test in figure, nobody suspected it, even though it seemed weird to wear a mask after the monthly test. After all, who would have thought an apprentice could murder somebody under a killer mentor's eyes?
Aardwolf had a good relationship with this junior fellow apprentice, therefore, he wanted to ask him the result after having practiced a little longer. "It seemed as if he had failed again. It's already lucky enough for him to walk back home."
Just as he once hid under a bed and waited for Han Shiqi's arrival, Gu Shenwei hid behind the door, holding his breath. He felt uneasy, and again he thought his plan sucked. "What if Aardwolf doesn't come into the room? What if he comes in with the others? What if Maid Lotus's intelligence was wrong? Life is full of uncertainties."
It turned out easier than he had expected, Gu Shenwei finally killed an enemy from the back. He stabbed Aardwolf's heart, grabbed his hair before he fell, and cut off the head, following Master Shifu's lead.
Once it was done, his anxiety vanished. He orderly cleansed the blood stains on his saber, found a black suit to cover the head, and then walked out of the yard easily, without looking sideways.
The other four apprentices looked surprised. They did not realize that they should have checked on Aardwolf until that masked man in black disappeared.
The killer mentor was so furious that he almost slew all of the five apprentices left. After he cooled down, he admired the killer's nerve a lot. On account of his status, he could not revenge for an apprentice by himself. Therefore, he left East Castle right away, and said to his five apprentices, "Kill the assassinator, or I'll kill you all."
In order to prevent such disgraceful event from happening again, the last few killer mentors also left, unveiling another massive wave of assassinations.
As to this assassination, it spread quickly, and soon everyone knew it was Slave Huan that did this. He then acquired the allegiance from Tattooed Arm Gang's members, as well as series of assassinations against him.
For the entire month before winter came, Gu Shenwei was homeless. He had stayed at every member's yard, even the ruins of Woodensaber Alley.
There was never a safe place for him. The only way to survive was to kill before being killed.
Gu Shenwei divided 58 members into several groups with three to five members each, and assigned them with different regions and targets, while he grouped with Maid Lotus and a youngster named Slave Liu. He sometimes even participated in the scheming of an assassination.
The killer talent of Maid Lotus was revealed very soon, while Slave Liu was more of a hindrance. However, as his owner was the third Young Master, who was very close to the eighth, Gu Shenwei had to keep company with him. After all, the other slaves who had served the other masters were even less trustworthy.
Assassinations were like tides, they rose and ebbed. The highest record of casualties was around 40, and there were also days that every party chose to cease fire.
The way to attend the monthly test became the way to death. Unlucky apprentices got killed even before they reached the gate of Pyrowork Academy, while the lucky ones just found out that their opponents were gone after they entered the contest house.
Moreover, nobody dared to dump corpses on Reincarnation Cliff anymore, because that almost meant to throw themselves off the cliff too.
If the apprentices wanted to take actions in public, they had to move in threes or fours, with several hidden protectors.
Assassinations became more and more challenging. In the meantime, some highly skilled apprentices' reputation grew, with their phenomenal outcomes. People had developed a skill that could tell the assassinator by the way they killed, so that they could record the score and rank of the perpetrators.
Although Gu Shenwei had taken part in most of the assassinations he schemed, his rank was not on top, and lingered between three and four in the overall ranking.
Many people found out that survivors might not have a better command of kung fu. Many talented apprentices from Carvewood Academy, who had killed their opponents with one saber stroke in monthly tests, got killed during the first few days of the slaughter, while some unknown apprentices survived and kept increasing their number of kills.
A youngster named "Liuhua" was the best of those unknown apprentices, he ranked ahead of Slave Huan in the overall ranking.
The surname of Liuhua was Zhi. He was born in the west of the Land of Riversand, feeble and short, with an ordinary look. The only thing that caught everyone's attention in Carvewood Academy was his weird name. He had never killed with one saber stroke in monthly tests after he transposed to Pyrowork Academy, and even got injured once.
This "sick" looking youngster did not attend any gang, have any helper, and always acted on his own. He assassinated 11 apprentices during the first three days like a ghost. In the beginning, people attributed his kills to the other killers, until someone found out his unique killing method.
It turned out that Liuhua was an archer. He made a special shortbow, which was much less than a longbow in shooting range but easier for him to hide. He only fired within a distance of 20 steps, and was able to shoot one to three arrows dependent on how quickly the enemy responded.
He only killed with arrows and always fetched them afterward, and he had never left an arrow on the corpses. No matter how many arrows he fired, one of them had to penetrate from the enemy's mouth to hindbrain.
Thus he was given the nickname of "Mouth Seal", and "Liuhua the Silencer" had once been apprentices' nightmare, especially those who had already humiliated him. They all kept their mouth shut since then.
Liuhua's appearance had strikingly raised archers' status in Golden Roc Fort. In the past, apprentices who studied archery and hidden weapons were in a weak position, because of the saying among killers, "Close fight was always better than ranged attack, because the closer you get to the enemy, the easier you could tell whether he's alive or not."
Anyhow, Liuhua was a lone survivor who killed only for personal issues, unable to create a stir in East Castle. The one who ranked way ahead of the others was said to be the only one Liuhua dared not challenge.
"Wildhorse", a youngster who kept a record of one assassination each day, had murdered 69 people in a month which was enough to form a medium-sized gang. On a whim, he declared to hold an open contest between him and Slave Huan to end this ridiculous slaughter.