Chapter Fifty: The End

At this moment, Chief Constable Chen was gripped by an overwhelming terror.
It was not the pirates he feared, but Qin Zhen.
The sight of Qin Zhen before him, decisive and ruthless, commanding the unarmed villagers with such poise that they managed to drive the savage pirates into utter desperation—it was astonishing! From beginning to end, Qin Zhen had shown not a hint of panic; every arrangement he made was interlocked, ruthless, and resolute.
Chen simply could not fathom how Qin Zhen had devised such a meticulous strategy to counter the pirates in so short a time.
It was as if he had already foreseen their attack and laid his plans in advance, simply waiting for the pirates to walk into his trap.
Was this... truly a sixteen-year-old boy?
Chen suddenly felt fortunate that he had never made an enemy of Qin Zhen.
This youth was by no means ordinary!
The fierce blaze reflected off Qin Zhen’s cold profile. He had always preferred to consider the worst-case scenario in everything.
The pirate raid had not been anticipated; today’s tactics had, in fact, been devised for mountain bandits.
In his original plan, he would have filled the trenches outside the village with bamboo spikes, armed every hand with repeating crossbows, and fought a defensive battle from the eaves—this, he believed, was the best way to deal with these short-legged pirates. He had a thousand ways to kill them, to make these inhuman wretches regret ever coming into this world!
But fate had other plans.
The pirates had come so suddenly that Qin Zhen had not been able to prepare fully—he had no choice but to make do with what he had.
“Brother Chen, it’s our turn now.”
Qin Zhen’s voice rang out suddenly, snapping Chen from his reverie.
Not far away, Oda Takaya, relying on his formidable skills and iron will, had broken through with more than a dozen pirates in tow!
Their arrows were spent, their stones exhausted—now it was time for close combat.
“Village Guard, forward with me!”
Qin Zhen drew his steel blade and strode straight for Oda Takaya.
The members of the guard followed swiftly.
Other villagers, gathering their courage, joined the charge.
Chen drew a deep breath, unsheathed his sword, and followed close behind.
“You filthy merchants of Dashang! I’ll kill every last one of you to avenge my men!”
Oda Takaya, his body drenched in blood and his skin blackened in many places, looked every bit a demon as he hacked wildly.
It had to be admitted: the pirates’ fighting spirit was far fiercer than that of any regular Dashang troops.

Despite their heavy losses, their numbers slashed, pummeled by arrows, fire, and stones, they still maintained such ferocity!
Truly remarkable!
“Do you remember this place?” Qin Zhen asked in a low voice.
His own brother had been slain by pirates—this blood debt must be repaid!
Yet he needed to know if these were the same pirates who had attacked the village years ago.
But he had overlooked one thing: he did not understand the pirates’ language.
Nor did Oda Takaya speak the tongue of Dashang.
Listening to the pirate’s guttural gibberish, Qin Zhen grew frustrated and gave up questioning him.
By now, Oda Takaya was already charging at Qin Zhen, blade raised.
Clang!
Their blades met, and Qin Zhen’s steel sword broke in two!
“What the—?!”
Qin Zhen nearly cursed aloud. He had not expected his weapon to be so flimsy—was it that Scarface’s blade was too shoddy, or the pirate sword too superior?
Fortunately, Chen Shu intervened in time, blocking Oda Takaya’s strike and pulling Qin Zhen behind him, sparing the latter from a humiliating death at the hands of the pirates.
The remaining pirates surged forward, and a brutal melee erupted between them and Chen Shu’s guard.
Chen, gritting his teeth, threw himself into the fray—blood was drawn with every stroke!
“The art of the quick-draw? Are you from the Flying Fish Battalion?!” Oda Takaya’s face flickered with shock.
He had never imagined that a master of the Flying Fish Battalion would be hiding in such a remote backwater!
“Well, well! You actually have some eye for talent!” Chen Shu, equally surprised, pressed his attack with even greater ferocity. With a deft parry and a swift motion, his blade plunged into Oda Takaya’s flank; twisting cruelly, he brought the pirate crashing to the ground, blood pouring from the wound.
Though Qin Zhen was curious about this “Flying Fish Battalion” Oda Takaya spoke of, now was not the time for questions.
He snatched up Oda Takaya’s katana and threw himself back into the fight.
With Oda Takaya’s death, the remaining pirates’ will crumbled. After a few more bloody deaths, they fell to their knees and surrendered.
“Damn, these black dwarves are vicious!” Chen collapsed onto a stone stool, his eyes full of lingering dread. He’d taken a cut to the wrist and a deep gash across his back that exposed the bone.
Chen had trained in martial arts since childhood; though not as skilled as Chen Shu, he was a competent fighter. Yet even he had suffered such wounds in the struggle against the pirates.
As for the constables and villagers, their losses were even greater.
Despite the overwhelming advantage, two constables had died, and seven or eight members of the village guard were gravely wounded—three of them mortally so.

“The pirates come from harsh lands; to survive, they train as warriors from childhood. Their techniques are fierce and merciless, and their katanas, being light and nimble, give them a fighting edge over our Dashang folk.”
Staring at the bloodstained katana in his hand, Qin Zhen’s gaze grew heavy.
Almost every lowly pirate was desperately poor, yet each one spared no effort to forge a fine katana!
He spoke gravely.
“Pirates are by nature savage—surely a dire threat to Dashang.”
“Everyone knows that, but what of it?” Chen Shu slumped beside Qin Zhen, utterly spent even for one of his caliber. “To the north, we have the barbarian kingdoms; to the west, the rampaging Yue. The court is stretched thin—where do they have the strength to deal with these pirates?”
At this, he turned to Chen the constable. “Old Chen, we’ve killed so many pirates tonight—surely we’ve earned some merit?”
A moment before, Chen had been mourning his fallen comrades. Now he leapt to his feet.
“That’s right! Military merit!”
He jumped with excitement, only to grit his teeth in pain from his wounds.
“The pirate menace is the greatest scourge of Jiangnan. The governor has already decreed: anyone who kills pirates shall be richly rewarded! We’ve felled so many tonight—enough to bring honor to our ancestors!”
He grew more and more animated. “This is a great victory! A great victory! Maybe it’ll even be reported to the court, and His Majesty himself will reward us!”
Qin Zhen dismissed Chen’s words as mere bluster.
There were only a hundred or so pirates—what was the fuss?
Did he really think the Emperor of Dashang would bestow honors personally?
Wishful thinking!
But seeing how badly Chen was wounded, Qin Zhen did not have the heart to crush his hopes.
Just then, Li Han approached.
“Zhen’er, there are six pirates left. I’ve tied them up like pigs—how should we deal with them?”
As he looked at the kneeling, pleading pirates, a wave of humiliation swept through Qin Zhen’s mind—memories of those years of disgrace and the kinfolk who had died so cruelly, not least his brother, whose severed head had been piled into a grisly mound by the pirates.
How familiar it all felt!
With a cold smile, he gave his order.
“Tie them to the posts. Let the villagers stab them—keep stabbing until they’re dead.”