Walking the Ten Thousand Daos

Chapter 7: It's Him Again

On Li Qi's side, although he had been attacked, he didn't make a fuss about it and returned home safely and steadily.

The Wave-Breaking Gang's headquarters was also by the riverside, next to the shipwrights.

Similar to how the Strong-Force Gang had good relations with the tailors, the Wave-Breaking Gang also had excellent relations with the shipwrights.

The Wave-Breaking Gang would often help the shipwrights pull new ships out for free, while the shipwrights would repair scrapped old ships and give them to the Wave-Breaking Gang. This kind of mutual assistance had developed good relations between the two organizations.

As the second-in-command of the Wave-Breaking Gang, Li Qi was greeted by people all along his way back.

"Brother Li is back! The pigs over there have all been slaughtered and brought back, they're cooking now!"

"The boat boss is here too, and he brought wine! I heard it was a reward from the big shots on the ship! Brother Li, hurry over, or there won't be any left soon!"

The boatmen and haulers gathered together, greeting Li Qi with cheerful smiles. Basically everyone had a bowl of stewed meat in hand, slurping away enthusiastically, as if they wanted to eat the bowls themselves.

Five fat pigs, they had killed one as soon as they brought them back. One pig weighed one to two thousand catties, and after removing the bones, the remaining organs and meat added up to over a thousand catties. The two gangs combined had only three to four hundred people, so two to three catties per person was more than enough.

River Opening Day was like New Year's for the haulers.

The Strong-Force Gang, which couldn't secure river opening qualifications, was equivalent to going a year without meat.

However... Li Qi now already knew that compared to a few pigs, what they really wanted was the Bull Strength Art, a genuine spell technique.

And now, they already knew that he was the one who had stolen their spell technique.

But clearly, they hadn't expected that Li Qi had already cultivated the Bull Strength Art to great mastery overnight.

Never mind them, Li Qi himself hadn't expected it!

However, Li Qi already had a plan in mind.

All along the way, he acted as if nothing had happened, greeting people, but deliberately showed his drenched appearance, as if he had just come out of the water, with his hair completely soaked.

Because he had indeed just come out of the water.

Moreover, there were some bloodstains on his clothes, which he had deliberately applied.

He walked into the crowd as if nothing had happened, then suddenly limped and fell to the ground.

"Brother Li?!" The haulers nearby immediately put down their bowls and hurried over to help him up.

"It's nothing, just slipped and fell!" Li Qi immediately stood up by himself, pushing the others away. Then, under everyone's hesitant gazes, he quickly walked into his own room and closed the door.

This left the haulers and boatmen looking at each other in bewilderment.

"Brother Li seems to be injured?"

"I think I felt blood, and it didn't rain today, right? How did he get completely soaked?"

"I'll go find Sixth Uncle!" One hauler reacted quickly and immediately ran off.

Meanwhile, Li Qi sat on his bed and waited for a while.

As expected, soon there came knocking at the door and Sixth Uncle's voice asking after his well-being.

Li Qi immediately got up, opened the door, pulled Sixth Uncle inside, then slammed the door shut with a bang.

This kind of wooden shack originally had no windows anyway, so once the door was closed it was pitch black, so there was no worry about anyone peeping.

As for Sixth Uncle, he had originally been eating meat and drinking wine, overjoyed, but suddenly someone outside said Li Qi had returned and was injured. This frightened him so much that he immediately swallowed the meat in his mouth, drank his wine in one gulp, and hurried over.

He knew that Li Qi had stolen the Strong-Force Gang's spell technique, so he was especially careful.

However, as soon as he entered, he saw Li Qi full of energy, without the slightest sign of injury.

"What's going on?" Sixth Uncle was somewhat puzzled.

Li Qi confirmed that the door was closed and pulled over a wooden stump to block the door, then looked at Sixth Uncle: "Sixth Uncle, don't make any noise first. Let's keep our voices down, listen to what I have to say."

Hearing this, Sixth Uncle immediately fell silent, put away his confusion, and quietly waited for Li Qi's explanation.

"On the road, I was ambushed by people from the Strong-Force Gang, two people with wooden sticks and daggers, planning to beat me to death," Li Qi said.

"What?! They've already discovered you?" Sixth Uncle's expression became grave, and his tone rose.

"Shh!" Li Qi immediately raised his finger.

Sixth Uncle immediately shut up and lowered his voice: "What happened? How could they have known?"

"I'm not clear about that, but obviously they already know, and they even specifically sent people to ambush me. I estimate that our headquarters isn't safe either, it's just that we're not easy to mess with, so they don't dare start an all-out war for the time being," Li Qi voiced his speculation.

"So that's why you're pretending to be injured?" Sixth Uncle seemed to understand.

"Right, I suspect they have people watching our place, monitoring us right now," Li Qi said.

If he could sneak into the Strong-Force Gang's place, the Strong-Force Gang could naturally do the same thing. The problem was that the haulers' discipline was too poor, it was hard to maintain long-term focus, and their work was exhausting, so they really couldn't spare manpower to maintain vigilance.

"Then should we go search them out right away?" Sixth Uncle suggested.

"No, don't alert them by beating the grass. I deliberately pretended to be injured just now. Sixth Uncle, you should go out later and quietly spread word about my injuries, so the Strong-Force Gang people can relax," Li Qi instructed.

"But... what use is this?" Sixth Uncle was somewhat puzzled.

Certainly, pretending to be injured could paralyze the enemy, but what was the point of paralyzing them?

"Of course it's useful... we can strike first to gain the advantage." Li Qi clenched his fist and threw a fierce punch at the air!

...

The leader of the Strong-Force Gang was named Lu Shan.

The Strong-Force Gang's haulers generally called him Boss Shan, while other gangs generally called him Big Strong Shan.

True to his name, his cultivation technique had given him an extremely strong body. He could lift two thousand catties and single-handedly pull a small boat. Even some strongmen in the city didn't have strength as great as his.

However, those familiar with him knew that he didn't just have a powerful body, his mind was also very clever.

In previous years, he had once squeezed the Wave-Breaking Gang nearly to death, but somehow a person called Li Qi had appeared from nowhere and pulled the Wave-Breaking Gang back up.

And recently, it was this Li Qi again...

"Li Qi... Li Qi." Lu Shan rubbed his temples and touched his big bald head.

Steeling his heart, the people he had sent out to intercept and kill Li Qi hadn't returned yet.

Just during the day, he had received divine will inheritance from that important personage, and the entire Strong-Force Gang had received it too, but there had actually been an outsider present as well.

That person had covered his face, but his build was very familiar.

He had immediately rushed over, but failed to catch up, that person ran very fast.

Later, the Strong-Force Gang found another strongman who said that on the road he had been bumped into by a crazy person who had also torn off his face mask and given him a fierce punch to the face.

After carefully questioning that person, Lu Shan finally confirmed that the person was definitely Li Qi!

Li Qi again!

Damn it! Always Li Qi!

This guy really had no end. If it weren't for him, there would have been only one hauler gang in Li Prefecture City long ago!

(Chapter End)