A Foodie Transmigrated into the Palace

Chapter 468: Chapter 470 I know, he must not be dead

About ten people surrounded Xia Tingfeng, clamoring and vying for the task.

Finally, Xia Tingfeng grew extremely impatient. ”What is there to fight and scramble over? I’m going!”

The Imperial Forest Army wouldn’t have it! ”Commander Xia, it’s not right for you to hog all the glory!”

”Exactly, we came out here too. We want to earn some merit as well!”

”Exactly!”

It was a chaotic scene.

Xia Tingfeng was irritated and bellowed, ”Shut up, all of you! There’s no time left. Line up properly. If I catch any of you daring to move recklessly, you’ll face military discipline when we return!”

Having said that, he quickly stripped off his clothes. Down to his trousers, he then nimbly lifted the floorboards of the boat and, gritting his teeth, jumped down.

”Commander Xia!”

”Commander Xia!”

By the time the dozen or so men reacted, there was no one in sight. He had moved too fast.

They all scrambled up like madmen, lifting the boards and desperately looking down. Alas, below was nothing but water. They couldn’t see anything.

”Commander Xia can’t do this alone, I’m going too!” After saying that, the man jumped in.

Seeing this, others followed suit.

”I’m going too!”

”You can’t leave me behind!”

With that, they all jumped down! If something happened to Commander Xia, wouldn’t their deaths be a small price to pay?

Indeed, there was a disk underwater. After choking on several mouthfuls of the turbulent water, the group finally managed to turn the disk a full circle. One side of the boat’s planks slowly tilted down, re-covering the gaping hole in the bottom of the boat. Finally, the river water stopped pouring in. The men coughed and choked, each clambering up like a drowned rat, soaking wet.

At last... It was a false alarm!

The other boats had also suffered similar attacks. Fortunately, although not everyone was adept at swimming, there were still those who forcibly went down to turn the mechanism. The six boats of the fleet, though tossed about precariously, ultimately avoided disaster.

Rat glanced at the skiff about to catch up, then at the fork in the river that was fast approaching. He sneered inwardly. If you have the guts, keep chasing!

The fork arrived, and their boats turned towards the riverbank on the right. The few small pursuing boats indeed kept up.

”Hmph!” Rat was smug, certain of his victory. A bunch of fools, courting death!

The water grew shallower, and the passengers on the small canoes finally realized something was wrong. But... it was already too late.

The bandits cursed in their strange accents.

”I told you something was off, and yet you insisted on chasing!”

”To hell with it! There are only six boats. They’re nothing to me!”

The others also felt regret, especially the bandit subordinate who had been so aggressive just moments before. Now, his face was quite pale. The other bandits looked at him, then at Boss Huo. In the end, they all turned to the subordinate in panic, as if they only acknowledged him as their leader.

”What do we do? The riverbank is getting shallower!”

”Yeah, Boss, the riverbank is getting shallower!”

The subordinate hesitated, unwilling to speak.

Boss Huo, however, was already hopping mad. ”Er Lengzi, turn around and go back, quickly! Or we’re all going to die!” After saying this, he grabbed an oar, intending to row back.

Who knew that his subordinate, Er Lengzi, would snatch the oar from him! ”No! We’ve come this far; we can’t give up!”

Boss Huo exploded with rage. ”Give up your ass! I don’t want to die; there must be an ambush ahead!”

The subordinate’s gaze turned chillingly sinister. ”Boss Huo, are you thinking of betraying the Master?”

As soon as the words fell, the gang of bandits all stood up, surrounding Boss Huo.

Boss Huo was so angry that the muscles on his face trembled. In the end, he slammed his fist against the side of the boat in rage. ”Fine, fine, fine! Chase, chase, chase! I’m scared of you lot, alright?!” After speaking, he sat back down in a huff.

That subordinate called Er Lengzi also directed his men to sit back down. ”Keep chasing!” As long as there was even a little water, their small boats would never run aground.

With a command, several small canoes shot out like arrows!

Indeed, the river was becoming shallower, and the large boats almost came to a stop. The small canoes also found the passage difficult. Amidst the grating of pebbles on the riverbed, they wobbled precariously, almost capsizing several times.

Boss Huo looked at the surrounding environment and felt increasingly that something was amiss. Under normal circumstances, large boats wouldn’t come into the shallows! He squinted into the distance under the faint moonlight. Suddenly, he noticed that ahead was pitch black... On a moonlit night, water should reflect light; it shouldn’t be pitch black! Not good! he thought. There’s a river beach ahead; there must be an ambush!

Just as Boss Huo was about to loudly warn everyone, he suddenly had another thought. He really was a fool for caring. If he could survive, that would be good enough. Whether they lived or died had nothing to do with him! With that thought, he feigned calm and made no sound, only quietly observing his surroundings, ready to flee at any moment.

「After about the time it takes an incense stick to burn」

The large boats suddenly stopped. It turned out they had reached the river beach. There was not a drop of water left, so the canoes, too, were forced to a tumultuous halt amidst the bumps and scrapes.

Er Lengzi believed they had run out of options and, in their panic, had chosen this dead end. He calmly got off his boat, a look of assured victory on his face. ”Hahaha... Weren’t you running pretty fast? Keep running, huh?” His tone and demeanor were that of someone who had successfully cornered their prey.

Rat got off his boat and also let out a cold laugh. ”There’s no water here. We have nowhere else to run, so we can only stop here!”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the people from the other boats also disembarked. At the same time, figures began to stir in the surrounding darkness. Tiger and Monster, leading the remaining four hundred men of the Imperial Forest Army, were gradually closing in.

The sky was pitch black, making it difficult to see clearly from a distance. By the time Er Lengzi sensed the murderous aura permeating the air, it was too late.

Tiger had never led troops before, but he was commanding four to five hundred men of the Imperial Forest Army to encircle a dozen or so bandits. Even if he closed his eyes, not one could escape.

Er Lengzi and his men were captured alive without a hitch.

However, it wasn’t until the final headcount that Rat realized Boss Huo had fled. They had no idea when he’d run, from where, or how long he’d been gone.

”Damn it, he runs faster than a rabbit!” Rat cursed.

Tiger finished counting and came running over. ”Rat, where’s big brother?! We caught a dozen alive. What do we do now?”

Rat turned and pointed. ”Big brother is still on the boat!”

The group that had gone down to plug the hole in the boat had come back up coughing and half-dead. They hadn’t disembarked for the subsequent roundup.

Tiger rushed onto that boat, excited. ”Big brother! We caught all dozen of them alive!”

A few men lay haphazardly on the deck. Some were soldiers, still dripping wet from their recent plunge, while others were simply seasick. But no one paid him any attention.

”Big brother?”

”Big brother?”

Huh, where’s big brother?

Tiger thought he had gone to the wrong boat, so he got off and searched the others.

However, he found no one.

Where did big brother go?