DLERB -Chapter 164 He Had Just Received Ten Thousand Taels of Gold—And a Blade Was Already at His Back!

Night.

Outside Xianyang, inside a ruined temple.

A bonfire stretched the shadows of two men into twisted shapes.

Zhao Wu knelt on the ground.

Before him sat an open wooden chest.

Inside, gold ingots were stacked neatly in rows.

Under the moonlight, the golden glow stabbed painfully into his eyes.

The western barbarian commander Lucas stood before him, arrogance written across his face.

“Can you get it?”

His Qin speech was still stiff and awkward.

Zhao Wu swallowed hard.

He stared fixedly at the chest of gold, as if his soul had been hooked away.

“Yes!”

“My lord, rest assured—it can definitely be done!”

He grinned so widely that wrinkles covered his face, like a wild dog begging for scraps.

“This humble one… this humble one delivers timber to the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories.”

“Tomorrow morning, I have a cart of wood scheduled to be delivered there.”

“I know all the guards!”

Lucas said nothing.

Behind him, his adjutant carried over another chest.

Thud.

The chest hit the ground heavily, its lid springing open.

More gold.

Even more than the first chest.

Zhao Wu’s breathing stopped.

He felt all the blood in his body rush straight to his head.

Lucas pointed at the two chests of gold.

“Once the task is complete…”

“There will be three more.”

Zhao Wu’s body trembled.

Not from fear.

From excitement.

He slammed his forehead heavily against the ground before Lucas.

“My lord! You are my reborn parents!”

“Forget blueprints!”

“If you wanted this humble one to empty out the entire Directorate of Imperial Manufactories for you, I’d still get it done!”

Lucas smiled disdainfully.

Turning around, he disappeared into the darkness.

Leaving behind only a single sentence:

“I await your good news.”

Zhao Wu lay sprawled on the ground, staring at the two chests of gold, laughing so hard tears streamed from his eyes.

…

The next day.

Early morning.

Outside the gates of the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories, carts and horses crowded noisily together.

Zhao Wu drove a wagon piled high with timber, waiting in line.

He wore a brand-new set of clothes, trying hard to make himself look like a prosperous lumber merchant.

But his constantly shifting eyes betrayed him.

“Halt!”

When his turn came, a guard stopped him.

“Inspection!”

Several soldiers stepped forward and began probing through the timber with their halberds.

Zhao Wu’s heart rose into his throat.

Forcing a smile onto his face, he pulled out a small but heavy money pouch from his robe.

“Honored soldiers, you’ve worked hard.”

He tried to slip it over.

“Take it away!”

A cold-faced man who appeared to be the captain walked over.

“The Directorate of Imperial Manufactories is a critical site. Who dares engage in corruption here?”

The smile on Zhao Wu’s face froze.

The captain walked up to him and looked him over from head to toe.

Zhao Wu’s palms were soaked with sweat.

Suddenly—

his foot slipped, as though he had lost his balance.

A hard object fell from his sleeve and rolled to the captain’s feet.

It was a pure gold ornament engraved with an eagle’s head.

A belonging of the western barbarians.

The guard captain’s gaze landed on the golden eagle.

He did not move.

The surrounding soldiers also seemed not to notice it.

Zhao Wu’s face turned deathly pale with fright, and he hurriedly bent down to retrieve it.

“So clumsy!”

The captain suddenly kicked the golden eagle back into Zhao Wu’s arms.

The motion was quick.

As though completely accidental.

“The timber on your cart is crooked. Hurry up and straighten it!”

The captain’s voice remained stern.

“Get moving already! Don’t block the people behind you!”

Zhao Wu froze.

He looked up and saw the captain giving him an impatient glare.

But he understood.

“Yes! Yes!”

“Thank you, honored soldier! Thank you!”

He scrambled frantically back onto the wagon and drove it through the gates of the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories.

Behind him—

the captain watched his departing figure, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

…

Zhao Wu unloaded the timber at the designated storage yard.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he began glancing around cautiously.

His target was an inconspicuous workshop tucked away in the western corner.

According to the map Lucas had given him, that place contained the item they wanted.

He circled around quietly.

At the workshop entrance, two guards were squatting on the ground, completely absorbed in a dice game.

“Open it! Open it! Open it!”

“Damn it, I lost again!”

They did not even notice someone approaching.

A sneer rose in Zhao Wu’s heart.

So this was the famed Directorate of Imperial Manufactories of Great Qin? Nothing special after all.

Like a cat, he silently slipped along the wall and entered the workshop.

The interior was dimly lit.

The air was filled with the smell of dust and old paper.

Discarded blueprints and scraps of wood were scattered everywhere.

Following his memory, Zhao Wu found a dust-covered wooden chest in the corner.

On the chest was a small eagle-head engraving he recognized instantly.

His heartbeat quickened.

He opened the chest.

Inside lay a scroll wrapped in fine silk.

His hands trembling, he picked up the scroll.

Opening just one corner—

he saw complicated lines, intricate structures, and symbols he could not understand.

This was it!

As though holding the most precious treasure in the world, he carefully tucked the scroll into his robe.

He walked back out of the workshop.

The two guards were still arguing furiously over their dice.

Zhao Wu proudly strode past behind them.

At that moment, he felt like the smartest man in all of Xianyang.

…

Late at night.

Outside the city, beside a mass grave in a poplar forest.

Crows cawed overhead.

Zhao Wu waited there alone, feeling increasingly uneasy.

The sound of hoofbeats echoed out.

Lucas arrived from the darkness with several personal guards.

“The item?”

Zhao Wu dared not delay. He hurriedly pulled the blueprint scroll from his robe.

“My lord! I have fulfilled the mission!”

Lucas accepted the blueprint and handed it to an elderly man beside him.

The old man unfurled the blueprint and examined it carefully under the moonlight.

Then he nodded toward Lucas.

At last, a faint smile appeared on Lucas’s face.

He waved his hand.

Three heavy chests were carried over.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

All three lids were opened.

Three entire chests of gold.

Under the moonlight, they almost seemed to burn.

Zhao Wu’s eyes turned red.

He pounced forward.

His whole body sprawled over the gold.

“Haha… hahaha!”

“I’m rich! I’m rich!”

He grabbed fistfuls of gold ingots and frantically pressed them against his face.

The icy sensation filled him with ecstasy.

Lucas looked at his disgraceful appearance and snorted disdainfully.

“We’re leaving.”

The western barbarians quickly vanished into the night.

Only Zhao Wu remained in the forest.

Along with his gold.

He laughed for a very long time.

Laughed until tears streamed down his face.

Standing up, he brushed the dirt from his clothes.

From this day onward, he would stand above all others!

He would buy the grandest estate and marry the most beautiful women!

Smirking smugly, he turned around, preparing to leave this cursed place.

He took one step—

and stopped.

Before him—

someone was standing there.

Dressed entirely in black, as though merged with the night itself.

There was not the slightest expression on that face.

Zhao Wu’s heart skipped violently.

Then he saw it—

within the shadows of the poplar trees behind that man, more than a dozen figures stepped out.

All dressed in black.

Each held a dark, heavy crossbow unlike anything Zhao Wu had ever seen.

The tips of the bolts glowed with a faint blue light beneath the moon.

Every crossbow was aimed directly at him.

Zhao Wu’s legs went weak.

He wanted to run.

But an icy blade silently came to rest against his neck.

He froze.

Not daring to move even slightly.

He could feel the edge of the blade cutting into the skin of his throat.

“Zhao Wu.”

Behind him came a calm, emotionless voice.

“This gold…”

“…is your burial payment.”

Zhao Wu felt as though he had fallen into an icy abyss, his entire body turning cold.

That voice continued:

“The Ninth Young Master has given his orders.”

“Traitors to the nation shall suffer death by slow slicing.”