Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Unfortunately for Shen Lang, the gag over his mouth muffled his words, preventing them from reaching his captors. His kidnappers simply ignored his muffled protests. At this, Shen Lang glared intently at their leader.
The man looked to be around thirty years old, with two scars on his face. He had a cold expression and a cruel gaze, and was wearing soft armor.
Surprisingly, Shen Lang knew the identity of this fierce man. According to his memories, he and this man had met several times before. He held the official title of Militia Captain of Xuanwu City, but under him were hundreds of subordinates who ran illegal gambling dens, brothels, and various rackets. They were all fierce and vicious, having killed countless people.
They pushed Shen Lang into a pit and began to shovel dirt over him. An ordinary person would have screamed in terror or desperately begged for their life, but strangely, Shen Lang remained completely silent. At first, he glared at Tian Heng's face, but then his gaze shifted, scanning the man's entire body from head to toe with a peculiar intensity.
Shen Lang was studying Tian Heng as if with X-rays, his gaze sharper than ever. Witnessing this unusual side of Shen Lang, who was famous for being a simpleton, Tian Heng couldn't contain his curiosity and raised his hand. His subordinates immediately stopped shoveling. Tian Heng stepped before Shen Lang, cut the cloth gagging his mouth, and asked.
"What are you looking at?"
"There's a needle inside your body. If you don't remove it, your life is in danger."
Shen Lang stated what he had seen with his ability as a matter of fact. An extremely thin silver needle was lodged in Tian Heng's lung. Hearing this, Tian Heng was utterly shocked.
Shen Lang continued.
"That silver needle is currently in a major blood vessel in your lung. It's moving with your blood, and if it isn't removed, it will eventually reach your brain, and you will die."
Tian Heng was even more astonished by these words and spoke with a look of disbelief.
"How could you possibly know that?"
Tian Heng couldn't hide his amazement that this pale-faced simpleton before him had mentioned a secret even his own wife didn't know.
"I can remove it."
Tian Heng stared at Shen Lang for a long time before speaking.
"Everyone says you're a simpleton... It seems rumors can't be trusted."
"If that needle isn't removed, you're a dead man. Only I can take it out for you."
"And your condition is that I spare your life, I presume? Aren't you curious who ordered this?"
Shen Lang shook his head.
"I know who it is without asking."
Tian Heng narrowed his eyes.
"Who on earth called you a simpleton?"
Then he shook his head and said.
"But I cannot accept your offer."
Shen Lang's pupils contracted in an instant. He had thought Tian Heng would readily accept his offer. No matter who paid Tian Heng to kill him, his own life should be more precious than money. There was no reason for Tian Heng not to let him go when he was offering to save his life.
Shen Lang guessed there had to be some reason why Tian Heng had refused his offer. A reason why Tian Heng couldn't remove the silver needle from his body. Could it be that he was bound by someone he couldn't defy?
But Shen Lang had no time to spare for such matters. If the other party refused to have the needle removed, Shen Lang couldn't use his medical skills, and no deal could be made.
That meant his own death.
Tian Heng said.
"Your younger brother owes us money."
*'My brother owes money?!'*
"Three months ago, your father was injured. Your brother borrowed five gold coins from my establishment to call a doctor to save him. Now, with interest, the debt has already surpassed one hundred gold coins."
Loan sharking existed even on the modern Earth where Shen Lang had originally lived. But this man before him was taking it too far. The interest had exceeded twenty times the principal in just three months.
It was all Shen Lang's fault. If it weren't for him, his father wouldn't have been injured, and his brother wouldn't have had to borrow money from a loan shark.
But the past Shen Lang, oblivious to this and lost in his infatuation with Xu Qianqian, was truly beyond saving. A fool like that didn't deserve his parents' love.
"We're killing you because your brother and family couldn't repay the debt. It has nothing to do with anyone else. Understand? After we kill you, we'll go to your house and take care of your parents and brother, too. Then, everyone will remember your family as fools who fell prey to loan sharks, won't they?"
Shen Lang understood his meaning. In truth, the reason didn't matter. From the moment Shen Lang left the Xu Clan's estate, someone's objective was crystal clear. Killing him for an unpaid debt was just an excuse, but it was a good enough reason for others to accept the deaths of Shen Lang and his family.
"Of course, I have no personal grudge against you. Besides, you're not the fool rumors make you out to be. But what can I do? This is our line of work. Please, don't hold it against me."
He stood up and said.
"Let's finish this cleanly. Kill him and bury him."
"Yes, sir."
One of the warriors drew his sword and aimed for Shen Lang's neck, intending to end his life.
"Wait!"
Shen Lang shouted.
"Someone paid you to kill me, right? I'll give you ten times that amount—one thousand gold coins."
The warrior who was about to strike Shen Lang's neck stopped his sword just short of it. More accurately, Tian Heng, with a surprised expression, had stopped the warrior's sword. He couldn't help but admire Shen Lang's cleverness in instantly deducing that the person who hired them had paid one hundred gold coins. How could he have inferred that from their brief conversation?
"A very tempting offer. Indeed, that amount of money could turn this situation around. But isn't your family so poor they can barely afford to eat? Your father is still bedridden, and your brother's legs were broken from a beating. You'd be hard-pressed to come up with a single gold coin, let alone a thousand."
This was all the original Shen Lang's doing. His foolishness and the Xu Clan's wickedness had left his father and brother severely injured, their lives hanging by a thread. How much would a thousand gold coins in this world be worth in his original one? An ordinary family couldn't even earn two gold coins in a year, so a thousand gold coins would be the equivalent of a fortune back on modern Earth.
"A penniless man like you couldn't possibly pay such a large sum at once, no matter what you do."
"You enjoy gambling, don't you? Why not think of this as a gamble? If you win, you get your hands on a huge sum of money. If you lose, it only delays my death by a few days, and you can still get the hundred gold coins the Xu Clan promised you anyway."
Tian Heng seemed to hesitate. No matter how he thought about it, it was practically impossible for Shen Lang to come up with a thousand gold coins. However, having just witnessed Shen Lang's uncanny ability to detect the silver needle inside his own body—in his lung, no less—gave him pause.
"I will give you one thousand gold coins in exactly ten days."
Tian Heng stared at Shen Lang's handsome face, hesitating for a long while before finally speaking.
"Three days. That's all the time I can give you!"
Hearing this, Shen Lang realized that Tian Heng's deadline with the Xu Clan was three days. Tian Heng had to kill him within three days to get his hundred gold coins.
"Alright, a deal."
"Get Shen Lang out."
The warriors dug Shen Lang out of the pit.
Barely out of the pit, Shen Lang tore a piece from the white silk undergarment he was wearing. He bit the tip of his finger to draw a little blood and wrote an IOU on it.
As he wrote, he cursed inwardly.
*'So much for protagonist plot armor. It's less useful than money. In the end, it was gold that saved my life.'*
Tian Heng took the IOU written in blood and looked at Shen Lang again.
*'This is the rumored simpleton, Shen Lang? What kind of idiot spread such nonsense?'*
Tian Heng said.
"If you fail to produce one thousand gold coins in three days, you and your entire family will be sent to the afterlife. Thirteen, Fourteen. You two will escort Young Master Shen home and stay with him for the next three days."
"Yes, sir!"
The two warriors replied, and Tian Heng left with the rest of his men.
"Shen Lang, remember this. If you can't produce one thousand gold coins in three days, your whole family dies."
Tian Heng was no longer in sight, but his cold voice carried on the wind and reached Shen Lang's ears.
"No problem."
Shen Lang quickly devised a plan. A way to earn a large sum of money, protect his family, and get revenge on the Xu Clan! Killing three birds with one stone