The whistle was like the shriek of some eerie creature, reverberating through the night sky.
Compared to the fleeting whistles used by the Hyena Gang for signaling, this whistle was much sharper, carrying an ominous chill, more like the signal of an impending war.
"This... this is the Guard!"
Schurz let out a terrified scream. The drug's side effects had amplified his emotions to the extreme, and this old man who used to kill without batting an eye now looked pale with fear.
The feral dogs wandering on the outskirts had already sensed something was amiss and fled swiftly. Just as Schurz's words fell, at the ends of the streets, the sound of footsteps and horses' hooves suddenly rang out.
Guards clad in black uniforms surged into the nearly abandoned streets on the city's edge like a tide.
At every intersection, they erected large shields. Half-human-tall ballistae were rolled out, the sharp arrowheads reflecting a chilling gleam that was unmistakably clear even in the pitch-black night.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, blinding light illuminated the scene.
Magicians among the guards summoned intense beams that outlined something amidst the chaos: elites, thugs, rats, and that dazed face hidden beneath a black robe and distorted by disguise.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What’s going on?
Wasn’t this supposed to be a perfect ambush? Why are the guards here?
"Listen up, those inside! You are surrounded!"
A corpulent guard, clearly dressed in a uniform several ranks above the rest, poked his fat face out from behind a large shield. His magically amplified voice boomed across the entire district.
"You are accused of conducting illegal trade, theft, robbery, and, yes, even organizing prostitution. Put down the stolen goods immediately, hold your hands over your heads, and squat against the wall!"
"You have one minute to comply; if you resist, we will take decisive action. I repeat, we will take decisive action!"
Creeeeak—
The gut-wrenching sound of bowstrings tightening filled the air. The massive ballistae were drawn, their enormous arrows primed and ready to launch.
These were not the trivial toys the rats wielded; such ballistae were usually stationed only at watchtowers or city walls, capable of piercing the hearts of magical beasts or several meters of solid stone in a single shot!
But now, these terrifying weapons had been rolled out and aimed squarely at these petty figures daring to roam the Lower City District.
At this moment, everyone felt an absurd sense of smallness, as though giants were bending down to scrutinize mere bugs underfoot.
"What... what’s happening?"
Lorenzo, who prided himself on having seen countless large-scale operations, now spoke with a trembling voice. Furious, he turned and yelled at his trusted aide, "What is going on? Didn't you say the guards were already bribed? Why are they here? Why didn’t we get wind of this? And what kind of absurd allegations are those? Illegal trade, theft, robbery—fine, I get it—but organizing prostitution? Does prostitution warrant rolling out these monstrous contraptions? Did we unknowingly sell ourselves off to some lord's precious daughter or something?"
"I... I don’t know either..."
The aide, pale and soaked in cold sweat, stammered, "I swear, I bribed who needed bribing! That assistant governor of the guards even pounded his chest and assured me!"
"You’re sure? Take a closer look at the guy issuing orders—does he resemble the assistant governor you mentioned?"
"What?"
The aide cautiously peered around the wall and confirmed it. Sure enough, the assistant governor—whom he had been drinking with not long ago, debating whether mature women or debutantes were better—stood behind a large shield, groveling to a bald middle-aged man.
"That bastard, I swear I’ll expose him as a damn pedophile when I get back!" The aide, enraged at feeling deceived, cursed vehemently.
"Goddamn it!"
Lorenzo couldn’t help but swear too. What followed was a prolonged, suffocating silence.
The three gang leaders exchanged glances, each looking grim. The atmosphere grew awkward once more.
For all their years in the underworld, none of them had encountered something so bizarre!
"We need to leave!"
Rat King Sam’s beady eyes darted around. He, being the most familiar with the noble elite, was also the quickest to sense unusual circumstances.
He glanced wistfully at the metallic container Ariel was clutching, then said grimly, "Let’s go! I suspect the guards aren't here for us but for someone important eyeing the Dragon's Heart Blood. The criminal allegations are just a pretext. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be the guards but the Knight’s Order coming after us! Even those cumbersome ballistae feel more like props for someone’s show."
Sam wasted no time. He led his men in a swift retreat, tussling with guards waiting in the shadows until the clashes faded into the distance.
At the forefront, the countdown persisted, ticking down from sixty and now reaching twenty-five-point-five, though the ballistae remained idle. It felt like the longest minute ever.
"We're leaving too!"
Watching the Rat's crew retreat, Lorenzo gritted his teeth and said unwillingly, "Let’s go!"
"But, the Dragon's Heart Blood..." The aide hesitated.
"No buts, our lives come first! The mission can wait for another day!"
Though Lorenzo felt like his heart was bleeding, he clenched his long blade firmly and led the half of his remaining elite toward a weakly defended flank to escape under the cover of darkness.
As for the Hyena Gang... their thugs had scattered completely early on; Schurz’s elegant top hat lay abandoned on the ground, muddied in his cowardly rush to flee.
Only Ariel remained, standing amidst layers of light so overwhelming it was almost impossible to keep her eyes open, trembling helplessly.
"Why... why is this happening?"
Ariel blinked her bewildered eyes, her mind awash with confusion.
"What went wrong? Why did the guards suddenly show up? I deliberately picked this remote place! Those parasites wasting taxpayer money—have they ever been this reliable?"
"Sigh..."
A deep sigh reached Ariel’s ears.
"Give it up, Ariel. The Dragon's Heart Blood clearly wasn’t meant for you."
"No!"
Ariel screamed in defiance, almost crushing the metallic container in her hands. Her silver teeth clenched as she muttered to herself, "The item is already in my hands! How can I let it slip away now? Are you asking me to tarnish my perfect record of successful ambushes?"
"But this isn’t just a simple ambush anymore. The guards are obviously here for this. If you don’t let it go, you might not be able to escape."
“Not a simple ambush…”
As if struck by lightning, Ariel froze.
She thought back. Back to that moment. Back to the guy she had scoffed at.
**"I have other ways."**
**"The Ancient Dragon's Heart Blood belongs to me."**
Those two scoffed-at lines echoed back in her ears.
Ariel suddenly understood—everything. She understood everything.
This was that noble's supposed "way"!
This was no ambush—it was the guards successfully cracking down on a major illegal trade after hours of toil. It was righteous justice striking a blow against the Lower City District’s underground forces!
Ariel could already picture that bastard basking in glory, standing tall under a banner of applause while eloquently describing how his bravery, cunning, and decisiveness led the guards to crush the vile conspiracy and return the Dragon's Heart Blood to its rightful place!
Return to its rightful place? Screw you!
In the end, it still ended up in *his* hands!
And without spending a single coin!
Not a single coin!
Seeing others profit felt far worse than taking losses yourself!
"No—"
The realization overwhelmed Ariel as she collapsed to her knees, pounding the ground in sorrow.
Though the season was mid-autumn, it felt as if heavy snowflakes drifted amid the pure night sky, accompanied by an ethereal, inexplicable BGM.
"Why, just why? Why has everything been going so wrong for me lately? The loot slipped through my fingers, and now I can’t even pull off an ambush… Damn you, Moen Campbell!"
"Why are you bringing him up?" her mentor asked in confusion. "This has nothing to do with him."
"I don’t know..."
Her tear-filled eyes lifted toward the heavens as Ariel shouted in indignation:
"It may have nothing to do with him, but I just really, really want to curse him.
Damn you, Moen Campbell!"
