After inserting the knife, Qingdeng did not forget to turn the blade several times.

The warrior whose mouth and nose were effectively blocked opened his eyes wide in horror and stared at Qingden, his eyes full of pleading, as if begging for his life. The veins in his neck were bulging, his arms were scratching in the air, and his legs were kicking on the ground.

, explore everything that can be borrowed.

His struggles driven by the desire to survive were ultimately in vain.

Soon, he collapsed to the ground softly and died.

Having killed countless enemies with his hands, Qingdeng had long been used to seeing life and death. The blood-stained Qingdeng flattened the man's body on the ground as usual, then pulled the Ding Guishen out of his body, took out the pocket paper and left a lot of it.

Wipe the blade clean of blood and fat.

——1...

Qingdeng didn't know how many remnants of the anti-barbarian group were still lurking in this house, but it was always right to remember the number of enemies killed first.

The obstructionists had been "cleared", and Qingdeng continued to walk inside.

Along the way, Qingdeng ran into several remnants of the anti-barbarian group from time to time with different expressions and basically no good looks on their faces.

But in order to save time and avoid people discovering him as much as possible, Qingden always chose to hide and dodge whenever he could.

Finally, after a lot of mishaps along the way, Qingdeng finally found and arrived outside the room where sobs were constantly coming from inside.

Judging from the number of doors, the area of ​​this room is quite large. The plainly painted paper sliding door is tightly closed, and a dim candlelight shines through the narrow crack in the door.

From successfully sneaking into the house to finding the room where the hostages were located - the process was generally smooth.

I didn't see any patrols or sentries at all. I just saw people wandering in the corridor one after another, wandering in their thoughts and not knowing what they were doing.

It can be seen that this "one-armed party" is either loosely organized, or the fighting spirit and morale of all members are currently very low, and they are no longer able to arrange effective warning and defense.

Judging from the current situation and the expressions of every remnant of the anti-barbarian group that Qingteng has observed since sneaking in, the latter is more likely.

This old rival and powerful enemy who had brought him a lot of trouble was now at the end of his rope and no longer had the prestige of the past... For some reason, Qingdeng felt a strange sigh for no reason.

The task of rescuing the hostages was urgent. Qingdeng took a deep breath, quickly gathered his thoughts, and concentrated.

I recall that when I first learned "Yunliu", Qingdeng's "Indoor Combat Technique" teacher Tian Cangxiao emphasized to him countless times: hearing is the most important sense when performing infiltration missions. You must know how to use your ears to predict the enemy's position.

Find the safest way forward.

Qingden deeply agreed with Tiancang Xiao's teaching.

Qingdeng closed his eyes and listened to all the movements in the room with bated breath.

Sobbing, whining, breathing, pacing... Those who come to Qingden will not refuse to capture all the sounds that can be captured and put them all into their minds.

——1,2,3,4……13……

——There are 13 people in the room...

——Five of them were sobbing, and their voices were very soft... These five people should be the hostages... Fortunately, the hostages were all gathered together, saving me the trouble of searching for them.

——As for the other 8 people, most of them are the remnants of the anti-barbarian group... Tsk, there are a lot of people, it's a bit troublesome...

If it were under normal circumstances, that is, facing this group of thieves without any worries, then Qingdeng would have no fear at all.

But how to protect the personal safety of the five hostages while fighting these eight people... This is a difficult problem.

Just as Qingdeng was secretly thinking about the best way to defeat the enemy, he suddenly noticed the candlelight coming from the crack in the door.

The candlelight flickered on and off, illuminating Qingdeng's face.

At this moment, a bold plan related to "light" took shape in Qingdeng's mind.

…

…

"woo woo woo woo……"

"Mother……"

The girls who were kidnapped by the "one-armed gang" huddled together in a corner of the room.

They were obviously extremely frightened, and each of their bodies was shaking uncontrollably.

At this moment, only their body temperatures can give each other a sense of security.

So far, many people have been beaten up by the one-armed samurai and others for crying too loudly. Therefore, these poor girls now do not even dare to cry loudly. They can only bite their lips and let out low whimpering.

But even so, the one-armed warrior sitting cross-legged next to them still yelled at them impatiently: "It's so noisy! You all should be quiet!"

The girls' bodies suddenly started to tremble even more violently. With their eyes wide open, they hurriedly raised their hands to cover their mouths, trying not to make any sound.

The one-armed samurai personally leads his six most trusted subordinates to guard the girls who they regard as the "last life-saving straw".

The other survivors of the "One-Armed Party" were either working together to collect the bodies of their companions in various places in the house; they were pacing uneasily in the corridor; or they were squatting in other rooms.

At this moment, in this room used to hold hostages, in addition to the girls being held hostage and the guards headed by the one-armed samurai, there is also a third party - Takasugi Shinsaku.

Takasugi Shinsaku stood beside the one-armed warrior with his arms crossed and asked softly:

"Gao Long, do you really think that with just these few hostages, you can make the Huofu thieves retreat?"

The one-armed warrior with bloodshot eyes replied in a hoarse voice:

"Other than that, I have no other choice..."

After saying this, the one-armed warrior raised his head to look at Takasugi Shinsaku, and his eyes met with Takasugi's.

"Takasugi-kun, aren't you ready to leave here? Since you have the ability to 'break through the defenses of the Huoshu Rogue Kai at any time, and fly away at any time', then leave quickly. Don't stay in this desperate situation for a long time."

Having said this, the one-armed warrior lowered his head again and slowly closed his eyes.

"I understand very well... you approached us with the mentality of 'investigating the anti-barbarian group'."

"I also understand very well... after a brief 'inspection' of us, you have a very disdain for us... and feel that our anti-barbarian group will never be a great weapon..."

"Even though I haven't been with you for a long time, and even though you have a bad opinion of us... I still like you quite a bit."

"Because I can truly feel that you have the same beliefs as we do, and you have the same sincere heart as we do to kill the enemy and serve the country!"

"Although I really don't want to admit it...but I do not have the courage and ability to act like Mr. Kamino. I have no way to rebuild the anti-insurgency group, and I don't even have the ability to lead my partners through the current crisis..."

"but!"

While the one-armed samurai suddenly changed the subject of the conversation, he suddenly raised his head and showed a decisive expression towards Takasugi Shinsaku.

"Although associations may perish, ideals will never disappear!"

"Takasugi-kun, you are very talented...far more talented than me!"

"You must live! You must... lead our anti-barbarian group to complete the great cause of 'repelling the barbarians'!"

Suddenly, the air in the room was filled with sadness and anger.

The six members of the "One-Armed Party" who accompanied the one-armed samurai to guard the hostages were all deeply affected by the one-armed samurai's words just now. They all raised their eyes and cast their determined eyes on Takasugi Shinsaku.

.

"..." Takasugi Shinsaku rolled his eyes silently, his calm eyes scanning the faces of the one-armed samurai and the others one by one.

After a moment, he sighed silently, as if he had made some helpless determination.

"...The officers and soldiers who were reformed by the thieves will definitely not let you go just because you have a few hostages in your hands. The only way to survive is to fight out."

"Kill out?" As soon as Takasugi Shinsaku finished speaking, someone hurriedly said, "There are so many officers and soldiers outside, how can we possibly kill them out!"

"No!" Takasugi Shinsaku said resolutely, "This is ridiculous! Although there are many officers and soldiers outside, they are far from being in a desperate situation."

"Sun Tzu's Art of War says: 'Be prepared for the front, and the rear will be few; be prepared for the rear, and the front will be few; be prepared for the left, and the right will be few; be prepared for the right, and the left will be few; be prepared for everything, and be few for everything'."

"According to my observation, the Huo Fu bandits have sent a total of three squads over."

"It seems scary at first glance, but they dispersed the troops like beans and spread them over a vast area."

Takasugi Shinsaku stretched out his finger and tapped the tatami at his feet.

"In order to prevent you from escaping, they very boldly surrounded the Japanese confectionery shop at our feet and the nearby houses."

"The way the Huo Fu thieves have changed is not wrong, but as a result, each node of the encirclement network they built can only have a dozen soldiers at most."

"If we concentrate all our forces and launch a breakout at a certain point in the encirclement, even though the casualties will inevitably be heavy, a few people will be able to escape more or less."

"That's what I suggest."

"Should we continue to be trapped here and hope that the Huo Fu Thieves will spare you because you have a few hostages? Or should you follow my suggestion, gather all the remaining troops, select a certain point on the encirclement, and attack in one go

Fight out - it's your choice."

Having said that, Takasugi Shinsaku stopped talking and folded his arms in front of his chest, waiting for the response from the one-armed samurai and others.

The one-armed samurai and his group first looked at Takasugi Shinsaku dumbfounded for a while, and then looked at each other in confusion.

"Takasugi-kun, what you said...makes sense...!"

The one-armed warrior's eyes glowed with a strange brilliance bit by bit.

"Instead of hoping that the dog officers and soldiers who have been punished by thieves will be merciful and let us live, it is better to fight to the death..."

Bang!
To be continued...