Night Raid Warning, A New Crisis Arrives Quietly

Chen Wuya pinched the metal shard he had just pried from the armor-piercing awl between his fingertips, his palm faintly cool. The sunset had already sunk behind the ridge, and wind swept ashes across the scorched earth, stirring the hem of his robe. Just as he was about to tuck the fragment into his clothes, his eye suddenly twitched—through the smoke and dust to the northwest, a figure was racing toward him, footsteps clattering urgently over shattered stones.

He said nothing. He merely slowly raised his hand, clenched the shard tight, and fixed his gaze on that figure.

The newcomer wore gray-brown fitted clothes, his face caked with mud and dust, an unbandaged gash on his left shoulder. He had clearly fought his way back with his life on the line. Still twenty paces from the main command tent, he dropped to one knee, gasping so hard he could barely force out a full sentence. "Commander... thirty li northwest... remnants of the foreign tribes are gathering... more than two thousand... marching light, no baggage train, heading straight for our camp."

Chen Wuya's brows pressed down. "You're saying they brought no supply carts?"

"Not one soldier carries a load, only short blades and bows." The spy raised his head, his voice hoarse. "Their vanguard has already passed Broken River Shoal. By my estimate, they'll be close enough to strike within two hours."

Chen Wuya fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Did you recognize who was leading them?"

"From the shadow of the banner... it looked like Tuoba Lie leading them himself."

As the words fell, the wind suddenly whipped up a cloud of dust between them. Chen Wuya asked no more. With a light flick of his fingers, he tossed the metal shard into a scorched pit by his