Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Whoa!" In a hurry, Lu Wanxiao yanked the reins back hard, the horse reared up, its hooves high in the air, kicking up a cloud of dust.

As the dust settled, Lu Wanxiao glared at the woman who had fallen to the ground and barked, "Do you have a death wish?!" If I had been even a step slower, you wouldn't be sitting there now but lying under the horse's hooves.

The woman seemed terrified, frozen for a long moment, her face a mask of shock.

Lu Wanxiao had no time or desire to waste here. She tugged the reins and said coldly, "Move aside!"

Finally, the woman reacted. She glanced back in panic and begged Lu Wanxiao, "Save me, please! Someone's trying to sell me off... I... please..."

"You damn woman, where do you think you're running?" Before she could finish, her pursuers caught up.

Lu Wanxiao took a look. The leader was a burly man with a fierce face, followed by two lackeys. Their clothes were dirty, wet, and smeared with mud and rotten leaves.

The woods on either side of the road were overgrown with weeds, the ground covered in a thick layer of fallen leaves, and there were plenty of mud pits. Anyone unfamiliar with the terrain would inevitably step into one.

From their attire, they seemed like guards or thugs—low-level ones at that, or they wouldn't be chasing someone in a place like this.

Turning her gaze to the terrified woman on the ground, Lu Wanxiao saw her face caked with powder and rouge, cheap silk flowers in her hair, a garish rose-red tube-top dress under a sheer gauze robe, and a dirty, coarse linen coat thrown over it—likely grabbed in a panic. She clearly had escaped from some cheap brothel. With the thugs behind her, Lu Wanxiao immediately understood the situation.

"Save me, please! I don't want to go back with them! I'll die, please!"

The thugs closed in with leering grins. The woman glanced back, then scrambled on all fours to Lu Wanxiao, crying for help.

Lu Wanxiao at first wanted nothing to do with it, but the panic and helplessness in the woman's eyes reminded her of that girl who always stood firmly by her side.

When she first met that girl, she had the same look of panic and helplessness, crashing into her as she fled, and begging for help just like this.

She wondered how that girl was doing now—had she cried when she heard about the plane crash?

Knowing her personality, she would have dropped everything to go find her after getting the news.

Lu Wanxiao closed her eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. When she opened them again, the thugs were already standing in front of her horse.

"You damn woman, run, why don't you run?" The burly leader sneered as he approached. "You've got some nerve, escaping from our Lianchun Tower and getting us to fall into a mud pit. I'll teach you a lesson today!"

Hearing his words, the woman's face went pale, and she backed away in fear. "Save me, sir, please... I..."

"Save you? Not even if the gods themselves came down—you're coming back with me!" The thug reached out to grab her, but before his hand could touch her, Lu Wanxiao's whip cracked across his arm.

"Ah~!"

The thug's bare arm now had a long, bloody welt, oozing blood and burning with pain.

"You little brat, you want to stick your nose in?" The thug glared at Lu Wanxiao, his face twisted with rage, as his lackeys lined up behind him.

Lu Wanxiao's clothes weren't made of fine silk, but her commanding presence and the swift, precise strike of her whip hinted she wasn't ordinary. Plus, the carriage she rode in was better than the ones Lianchun Tower used for hauling people. They just wanted to get the woman back and avoid extra trouble.

"Meddle? I have no interest in that." Lu Wanxiao idly toyed with her whip, glancing at the woman beside her, whose face had gone even paler at her words.

As the woman looked on in despair and the thug visibly relaxed, she spoke slowly and calmly.

"But you blocked my way, startled my horse, and delayed my trip home. Don't you think we need to settle this?"

The thug's face soured. He didn't want extra trouble, but that didn't mean he'd let himself be pushed around. He was the one who pushed people around!

"So, you're dead set on sticking your nose in, huh?" His tone grew even more hostile, but Lu Wanxiao remained nonchalant.

"Not at all." She waved a hand. "I told you, I have no interest in your business. I just want to settle the score for startling my horse and delaying my return."

It was clear she was determined to cause them trouble. The thug's expression darkened further.

His two lackeys, annoyed by her insolence and disrespect toward their boss, chimed in.

"Boss, why waste words on him? If he dares to mess with us, let's take him as well. Look at him—scrawny arms and legs. What's there to be afraid of?"

"Yeah, last time we got someone bigger than him, and now he's... heh, heard he's barely alive after being worked over."

Lu Wanxiao's eyes went cold at that.

So these weren't just brothel thugs; they also trafficked people on the sly. How many young men and women had they ruined? How many families had they shattered?

It seemed she had no choice but to mete out some justice today.

No matter what, human traffickers deserved to die.

The two lackeys, oblivious to the chill in her eyes, kept babbling.

"Yeah, this one's a bit scrawny, but plenty of clients at the male brothels like that type. Let's take him back, sell him off, and use the money for a good time ourselves."

"Heh, and the carriage and its goods will be ours..."

They grew more excited, dreaming bigger.

Lu Wanxiao couldn't help but laugh. Daydreaming in broad daylight—how fitting.

The thug felt the same way. He cracked his knuckles. "There's a road to heaven you refused to take, and a door to hell you insist on entering. Don't blame us."

With that, he clenched his fist and swung hard at Lu Wanxiao, his face twisted with malice.

Lu Wanxiao sidestepped, her hand flipping as a blade flashed. The dagger sliced through the thug's tendons.

"Ahhh..." He howled in pain, clutching his injured hand. Lu Wanxiao seized the moment, kicked him away, and with Hua Hua's help, leaped clear of the carriage.

This carriage was brand new, loaded with her purchases for the day—costing a pretty penny. She couldn't afford to damage it.

The two lackeys saw their boss wounded, exchanged a glance, and charged at Lu Wanxiao. One of them grabbed a stick from the ground.

Lu Wanxiao executed a spinning kick, landing it squarely on one man's head, dazing him. Before he could recover, she delivered a vicious kick to his abdomen.

Then, without hesitation, her dagger slashed across his throat.

Finish him off while he's down!