26: Chapter 26 Being Set Up

As soon as Xia Shaoxin exited the city gate, he immediately mounted his horse and rode along the main road.

He had been to Li Family Hollow many times, but he had never entered or exited through this gate before.

Traveling along the unfamiliar road, his heart felt somewhat lost, yet he was also extremely excited—he was finally going to escape this place.

The road grew narrower, and on both sides were towering cliffs.

Ahead was a towering gatehouse, with a dozen or so people standing in front of the gate.

There were very few pedestrians, and the soldiers did not inspect every passerby, only watching them with their eyes.

Xia Shaoxin dismounted and walked over, leading the horse by the reins.

A person in front was walking very quickly, and a soldier barked angrily, "Look at you, rushing about with unsteady steps. Are you feeling guilty?"

The person carrying a bundle muttered, "I'm not feeling guilty; my legs are just a bit weak from walking, and I'm tired."

The soldier questioned him for a while before letting him go.

Xia Shaoxin felt he shouldn't walk too fast, so he slowed his pace.

Another soldier shouted at someone else, "Looking left and right, acting all sneaky—are you hiding something?"

He stopped that person for questioning.

Xia Shaoxin thought to himself, "I will just look straight ahead, keep my steps firm, and not draw anyone's attention."

Unexpectedly, a soldier shouted at him, "You kid, strutting around so boldly, walking like you own the place. What do you do?"

Xia Shaoxin was stunned. He was indeed walking straight, but was it really "walking like he owned the place"?

When he reached them, the soldiers wanted to search him.

He had lived this long and it was the first time he had ever been searched by someone. He copied the others, spread his arms, and let them frisk him, feeling them patting him down everywhere.

"What is this?"

The token was pulled out.

Suddenly, the dozen or so soldiers acted as if facing a great enemy and drew their swords.

Xia Shaoxin was bewildered, not knowing why they reacted this way.

"This is a Gu Bureau token. If you want to leave, do you have the paperwork?"

Xia Shaoxin was dumbfounded. What paperwork?

"When people from the Gu Bureau leave here, they must have paperwork stating clearly where they are going. Don't you know that?"

"You aren't really from the Gu Bureau, are you?"

"I remember Liu Xinglong is the name of the Gu Bureau official. Could there be someone else named Liu Xinglong?"

Just then, the sound of hoofbeats came from behind, and the leader was none other than Zhang Yan.

The moment he saw Zhang Yan, Xia Shaoxin suddenly understood.

The token could bypass the Formation, but to leave this place, paperwork was also needed, which Zhang Yan had never mentioned.

This was, of course, intentional.

Zhang Yan's voice called out from afar, drawing closer: "This person is a Bug Catcher who murdered a Gu Bureau official and is attempting to escape! Execute him on the spot for me! Don't let him get away!"

The soldiers were immediately alarmed and drew their swords, rushing forward.

Almost simultaneously, Xia Shaoxin acted, drawing his sword, cutting down several soldiers in front of him, leaping onto his horse, and fighting his way out.

Seeing this, the people on the gatehouse didn't have time to close the gate, so they drew their bows and shot arrows from above.

Xia Shaoxin was a mountain dweller and rarely rode horses. The fact that he saw a horse at the Gu Bureau, rode it to the city gate by instinct, and then reached the pass was truly a talent.

After exiting the gatehouse, two military camps appeared on either side, and he was instantly terrified out of his wits.

It turned out that this pass at Li Family Hollow was not under the jurisdiction of the Gu Bureau; the military camp was stationed outside. It was easy to guess who they were guarding against.

Suddenly, a sharp pain struck his back—he had been hit by an arrow.

He hurriedly hunched over on the horse's back, whipped the horse's rump fiercely, and ran madly outward.

Fortunately, the soldiers rarely encountered any issues, so military discipline was very lax. Except for the dozen or so soldiers on duty, everyone else was fast asleep in the camp.

Xia Shaoxin actually managed to rush out of the camp's perimeter.

The soldiers didn't have time to fetch their horses, but Zhang Yan, along with four people from the Gu Bureau, chased closely behind.

They ran for thirty miles. The horse had been running hard, its legs went weak, and it stepped on a loose stone, suddenly collapsing and throwing Xia Shaoxin off.

Fortunately, he had prepared in advance and rolled on the ground, so he didn't die from the fall, but the arrowhead was embedded in his flesh, making him grimace in pain.

Zhang Yan rode up to him.

"Listen well, it was Zhang Yan who conspired with me to murder the Gu Bureau official Liu Xinglong."

Zhang Yan sat on his horse, the corners of his mouth slightly curled in a mocking smile.

The four people from the Gu Bureau acted as if they hadn't heard and stood side-by-side with Zhang Yan.

Only then did Xia Shaoxin realize that these four people were all Zhang Yan's men.

"Our plan was flawless. Why didn't you write me the paperwork? If I had the paperwork and the token, I could have left smoothly, flown far away, and never seen each other again. Wouldn't that have been better?"

Zhang Yan said coldly, "A Bug Catcher escaping the control of the Gu Bureau—that would be a massive case. The imperial court would certainly investigate it. Who could hide that?"

Xia Shaoxin understood in an instant; it had been a scam all along.

"Give up that thought. I already told you, if you want to be removed from the register, your whole family has to die off; then you'll be removed naturally. Selecting a qualified Bug Catcher isn't that easy. Your bodies are slightly different from ours. It's pathetic that you don't understand this at all. No wonder you did something so absurd."

Xia Shaoxin panted and shouted in grief and indignation, "Why didn't you tell me clearly?"

"You brought this on yourself. When you first proposed to Liu Xinglong that you wanted to be removed from the register, we concluded that you were a blockhead." Zhang Yan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Your Xia family only has one blockhead left; sooner or later, your household registration will be canceled. We were just teasing you."

Xia Shaoxin's face turned black in an instant.

A person can be beaten, can be killed, but they cannot be insulted.

"I originally thought you were just emotionally unstable because you were the only one left in your family and were talking nonsense. I didn't expect that you could actually gather so many Poisonous Insects so easily!"

Zhang Yan sighed, "Actually, I really wanted to cooperate with you so we could all get rich together. If you stayed in Li Family Hollow for a few more years, perhaps you really could have followed Liu Xinglong's method and gotten rid of the Bug Catcher slave status."

"Unfortunately, you are just a blockhead. Keeping you would definitely mess things up here, so Liu Xinglong decided to kill you."

"Liu Xinglong was too careless, thinking you were just like other Bug Catchers and could be taken out by sending a few people."

"I didn't expect you to actually be able to counter-kill those three, so a bold idea grew in my mind..."

Xia Shaoxin was suddenly shocked, "Wait, has Liu Xinglong murdered others too?"

Zhang Yan shrugged, "Two or three, I don't quite remember."

Xia Shaoxin's pupils constricted sharply. So the reason Bug Catchers have short lifespans wasn't entirely due to the poisonous miasma and Poisonous Insects.

The Gu Bureau's methods were truly formidable; he had never heard of any Bug Catcher being secretly murdered by the Gu Bureau.

"Do you know? Actually, we people in the Gu Bureau like long-term gains, setting the annual quota a bit lower, not wanting to do a one-time deal."

"Remember I warned you that selling so much stock at once easily invites trouble?"

Xia Shaoxin waved his hand and said in a deep voice, "Stop spouting this meaningless nonsense. Why must you kill me? If you let me go, can't we all live in peace?"

Zhang Yan looked at him deeply and sighed regretfully, "How can I rest easy with you running outside carrying leverage against me? Besides, killing you is still a great merit."

Xia Shaoxin felt a wave of suffocation.

He shouted to the four people, "You heard him! This person is ruthless. You know more things than I do; he won't let you off either."

Zhang Yan sneered. The four people remained expressionless and drew their swords.

"This person has a strength pill. Don't try to save money for me."

The four reached into their robes and took out a pill.

Facing Xia Shaoxin, they swallowed it into their mouths with smiles on their faces.