Theology's Coffin Nail

"Why are you the only one on night watch?"

After making a round of inspection, the official leader discovered that one of the subordinates standing guard was missing.

"Him? A female prisoner came looking for him. He's in the land of tenderness at this moment."

The subordinate pointed toward the small slope, waggling his brows as he made the implication clear to his superior.

Such things were not uncommon on the way of exile.

If prisoners wanted to suffer less, either someone in authority had specifically instructed others to take care of them, or relatives had paid to grease palms. If they had neither, they could only use their own bodies as capital to bribe the officials.

The Gong Clan had been stripped of their property and sent into exile. Their former colleagues and disciples could barely protect themselves; where would they find the energy to take care of them?

The female prisoners had only one road left to take.

Wasn't that why this was considered such a cushy posting?

Naturally, the official leader knew this unspoken rule as well.

"How long has he been gone?"

"Only a little while."

"Hmph, absent without leave!"

"But with that kid's speed, he should be done by now. He's quick—it won't cost much time."

Hearing that, the official leader's lips twitched. He seemed to want to laugh, but forcibly held it back and put on a stern face.

"When he comes back, tell him—add another hour to his night watch!"

Yet after waiting for a while, they still saw no sign of him returning.

Could that kid really have found some useful secret remedy somewhere and cured his hidden illness?

Unable to sit still, the official climbed to his feet. Seeing the prisoners sleeping as heavily as dead pigs, he was not worried they would seize the chance to flee. He quietly got up and followed in Shen Tang's direction.

He would listen for any sounds. If the two of them were nearly done, he could go up and take a shift himself.

Only when he drew near the small slope did an ominous premonition vaguely arise within him.

The sounds here were far too abnormal!

There was neither ear-heating panting nor mentally exciting slapping. There was only the noisy ensemble of insect chirping and the night wind brushing through the wild grass.

"Old Zhou? Old Zhou, are you—"

Suppressing his unease, he hurried forward, pushed aside the dense wild grass, and called his colleague's name.

His voice abruptly stopped.

He lowered his head to look at what he had stepped on—

An arm!

By the dim night, he barely recognized that the male corpse with its neck twisted at a bizarre angle was Old Zhou, the very man he had called for!

"D-Dead! Someone's dead!"

His cry brought the official leader over.

The man was completely dead, yet his corpse was still warm and soft like a living person, not much ice-cold at all. Clearly, he had died only moments ago.

The official leader inspected the twisted neck and the wrists again. Judging by the traces, they had been snapped instantly. The killer's finger strength and hand strength were terrifying. Yet the corpse bore traces of Martial Spirit operation, and still he had been killed without even putting up decent resistance. The killer's strength had to be above that of a low-tier Gongshi.

"Where is that female prisoner? Did you find her corpse?"

Seeing that the corpse had been searched clean, the official leader thought of something.

The subordinate answered, "N-No, we did not discover her. There's only Old Zhou."

The official leader said, "..."

A man was dead, and the female prisoner was gone?

Someone had staged a prison break?

As that thought arose, his face suddenly darkened.

"You go back and keep an eye on those prisoners! If there are any suspicious people, kill them directly!"

"Yes!"

The official leader followed the traces left by Shen Tang all the way after her. Before long, he spotted a vague figure running through the darkness.

Without hesitation, he nocked an arrow to his bow.

The arrow left the string, shot towards Shen Tang's back.

There was no suspense in killing a female prisoner with that arrow.

Who would have expected the female prisoner to seem to have grown eyes in the back of her head? Just as the arrow was about to hit, she rolled to the right and narrowly avoided it.

"I never expected there to be a fish that slipped through the net like you!" He rode his horse over Shen Tang's head, tightened the reins, and the hooves stood firmly, blocking her path. He said angrily, "Taking advantage of your male appearance, female features to mix into the female prisoners, then escaping at the opportunity—the Gong Bandits played a good hand!"

The male prisoners of the confiscated Gong Clan had their dantians destroyed, regardless of age.

First, to prevent the prisoners from having the ability to escape; second, to prevent them from seeking revenge later.

The prisoner before him was alone and had no backup personnel. Shen Tang must have used beauty as bait to lure the man out, then seized the chance while his guard was down to sneak attack and kill him.

But even a low-tier Gongshi, no matter how relaxed his guard, was not someone a mere woman could kill in an instant. Looking at the wounds again, he concluded that this person definitely possessed either a Literary Heart or a Martial Spirit.

Known women could not possibly have either. Therefore, this "female prisoner" before him was naturally a man.

A male prisoner who had mixed into the female prisoner ranks for so long without being discovered—there was no need to guess. The Gong Clan prisoners had surely covered for one another and protected "him."

From all this, it was clear that this person held considerable status and weight within the Gong Clan. If such an important fish that slipped through the net escaped, how was he supposed to return and report for duty?

In a flash, he concocted a logical deduction.

Shen Tang climbed up from the ground.

She spat, spitting out the dirt stuck at the corner of her mouth.

Just in time, she heard the official leader's speech.

What did he mean, she had taken advantage of her male appearance, female features?

And he called her a "Gong Bandit"?

Don't bully her just because she had no memories right now—don't casually tack a character setting onto her!

"Heh, then what do you want?"

After Shen Tang spoke, she accidentally tugged at the injury on her cheek. Fine stinging pain made her gasp in pain—she had dodged too urgently just now, and the gravel and sand on the ground had ground her cheek painfully. It burned fiercely; she did not even need to touch it to know it was bleeding—yet her gaze remained fixed on her enemy.

"Come back with me, and I'll spare your dog life."

Shen Tang laughed at that. "Spare my dog life? I think you're talking dog crap!"

Ugly appearance, yet such wishful thinking!

"Since we cannot reach an agreement, then—" The official leader did not get angry. He merely focused his breath, and a hint of killing intent flashed through his eyes. "Spear, saber, sword, halberd—bow, crossbow, spear, pike—kill!"

Shen Tang said, "...Huh?"

What did that mean?

What nonsense was he chanting out of nowhere?

The question had barely surfaced in her mind when, the next second, she saw the longbow in the official leader's hand transform into a cross halberd.

The halberd was nearly ten feet long. Its chilling spear tip thrust straight at the vital point between her eyes, showing not the slightest martial virtue.

Shen Tang was startled by the sudden change. Tilting her head and leaning back, swift as a rabbit and falcon, she dodged the fatal blow.

With weapons, an inch longer, an inch stronger.

The strange halberd, nearly ten feet long, danced in the official leader's hands with layers upon layers of spear shadows, so dense not even water could pass through. It swept sideways or thrust straight, as obedient as an arm and fingers. Shen Tang, meanwhile, was empty-handed.

At this rate, forget turning tail and fleeing for her life—she was simply serving as a living target. She could be tired to death.

As for this setting where he chanted two lines and summoned a weapon, nailing science into its coffin—

She finally understood where the horse beneath him had come from.

Could this world get any more unscientific???

Pfft!

The halberd spear tip brushed past her left arm and dug straight into the earth, making her scalp prickle. If her reaction had been even a little slower, that thrust would absolutely have pierced straight through her heart!

"Spear, saber, sword, halberd—bow, crossbow..."

With her life hanging by a thread, she dodged while treating a dead horse as if it were alive, seeing whether or not she could summon a weapon—though women in this world could not cultivate Martial Spirit and Literary Heart, why could she not be the exception? As a transmigrator facing a hellish start, she should at least get some basic safety net, right?

Before she could finish, the stabbing halberd cut her off.

The official leader said mockingly, "You ants, overestimating yourselves!"

Shen Tang said, "..."

In her memories, it seemed that no one besides editors had ever made her this frustrated! When the halberd thrust at her again, she grabbed the spear tip with bare hands in a fit of rage and pulled angrily.

"Had enough!"

A nameless rage churned and burned in her chest, repeatedly stir-frying a passage of suddenly appearing text.

Her intuition told her that this passage might be the key to breaking the situation. Its content was—

[Sword in a loving mother's hand...]

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