I'm a Qin Army Spy-You Want Me to Join the Han Army and Defend the City?

Centurion Xu Shan watched Zhao Cheng butcher the rabbit with a beaming smile, then skewer it over the fire to roast.

As far as he was concerned, a hunter's family could go a day or two without rice and still survive.

And as long as his family was still going hungry, the hunter would have no choice but to risk his life hunting in the mountains tomorrow.

Once he went hunting, wouldn't he bring back more game when he returned to the city and personally roast it for Xu Shan?

Xu Shan was quite pleased with his plan. He cut a piece of the roasted roe deer and stuffed it into his mouth.

As soon as the meat touched his tongue, its mouthwatering aroma filled the air, and Xu Shan savored every moment.

"Ah, delicious!"

The Qin Army had been besieging the city for several days, and life for the defenders was getting worse by the day. Xu Shan hadn't eaten meat in many days, let alone meat roasted to such perfection.

If...

Xu Shan's eyes shifted. He looked Zhao Cheng over again and said, "Come back down the mountain tomorrow and report to me with your game."

"This..." Zhao Cheng looked a little uneasy. "What does my lord want me to do?"

Xu Shan smiled. "You're tall and strong, and you're good at hunting and roasting meat. Why not join the army and do your part to defend against the Qin Army?"

Zhao Cheng froze, shocked.

No, I'm a Qin Army spy. You want me to join the Han Army and defend the city?

Seeing him standing there in shock, Xu Shan laughed. "Look how scared you are. Don't worry, you won't have to fight. Just do what you're good at: hunt game in the mountains, then roast it for the general!"

"This is a golden opportunity. It's only because the general and I are close that you've got a chance like this. Anyone else, and you'd never be so lucky as to roast meat for the general."

"Roast meat for the general!?"

Zhao Cheng was even more shocked.

I was racking my brains to figure out how to kill your general, and you want me to roast meat for him?

Wouldn't that be the end of your general?

I thought this fellow had some brains, but he turned out to be the ultimate teammate for the other side!

"You don't want to?" Xu Shan's expression darkened at once, and a hint of murderous intent appeared in his eyes.

Zhao Cheng nodded repeatedly. "I do! I'm more than willing! It's an honor to roast meat for the general!"

"That's more like it." Xu Shan's expression softened. "The Qin Army has been surrounding the city lately. Those despicable, treacherous Qin troops don't dare attack the city, but they've sinisterly built a dam to block the river. We're almost out of water!"

"The general's been overwhelmed with worries lately and is in a foul mood. Go roast some game for him. Maybe if it cheers him up, he'll even grant you an officer's post. Then your family won't have to worry about going hungry."

"Many thanks to the general, many thanks to the general." Zhao Cheng thanked him over and over, with complete sincerity. He even suggested, "How about I go roast meat for the general today?"

The centurion glanced at the roasted roe deer and shook his head. "What meat do you have to roast right now? Besides, roasted roe deer is best eaten fresh off the fire. It won't taste as good once it's cold."

"Tomorrow, then."

"All right, go home. Come report to me tomorrow with your game. If you're not here..."

Xu Shan's gaze turned dangerous.

Zhao Cheng repeatedly promised that he would be there the next day.

He walked out of the camp, with the cheerful, lively sounds of men eating meat behind him.

The guards ate the roasted meat as if they were celebrating a festival.

Following the marks left by Feng Quan and Feng Ruo, Zhao Cheng quickly met up with the two of them in an alley.

When Feng Quan and Feng Ruo saw him, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

"My lord, that was far too dangerous."

"We were on tenterhooks the whole time."

Zhao Cheng smiled. "We got quite a lot out of this."

The two hurriedly asked him what had happened. Once Zhao Cheng explained, their expressions turned strange.

"This... The Han Army really has no decency. They want the hunter's meat, and they won't even spare the hunter himself."

"But we're Qin Army spies. He's sending my lord to roast meat for the defending general—that's practically delivering himself to us!"

"Not so fast. Even if you went to roast meat for the general, there'd be heavily armed defenders all around him. What could you do there?"

"At the very least, I could get vital intelligence."

Both Feng Quan and Feng Ruo instinctively thought that trying to assassinate the defending general atop the enemy's city walls was no different from throwing your life away.

But Zhao Cheng knew his own abilities. Killing every defender on his own would be a bit troublesome, but as long as he got close to the general, killing him would be child's play. No matter how many people tried to stop him, they couldn't.

He thought for a moment, then said, "I have my own plan. Tomorrow, come out of the city with me as before, and pass the intelligence to the general while you're at it."

"Have you prepared a place to hide?"

"My lord, follow me."

Feng Quan led Zhao Cheng south from the East Market.

In Ye County, residential districts were divided into wards. There were twenty-three of them in all. The area Zhao Cheng had mentioned, south of the East Market, was precisely Commoner Ward, where the common people lived.

Feng Quan and Feng Ruo had understood what Zhao Cheng meant while he was sounding out Big Head, and they had already prepared a place for them to stay.

The three crossed the city. Along the way, they heard that the people of Ye County were panic-stricken. Every household was running low on water and food, and they both hated and feared the Qin Army.

When they reached the south side of the East Market, the three of them arrived at a corner of Commoner Ward, where three unremarkable houses stood.

Feng Quan and Feng Ruo led Zhao Cheng into the middle house and shut the wooden door. They went into the inner room, where a gaunt old man sat on the ground, bound, staring at the three of them in terror.

"My lord, all three houses are tucked away in an out-of-the-way spot. Their residents don't have much contact with anyone else, and no one in the city pays them any attention. On the surface, we're just three neighboring households, so we've tied up everyone who lived in these houses."

"Whether to kill them is for my lord to decide."

Zhao Cheng glanced at the old man and shook his head. "There's no need to kill him. Tie him up securely and put him in the cellar. Make sure he can't make a sound."

Although killing people could steal their lifespans, he disdained killing unarmed civilians.

Feng Ruo and Feng Quan quickly took care of everything and returned to report.

Zhao Cheng glanced at the sky. "We'll move after nightfall. Go check the military supplies and defenses, and find out where the guards are strong and where they're weak. Pass the information to the general tomorrow."

"I'll go check the provisions..."

Deep in the night, the clack of the night watch's wooden clappers echoed through the city.

Three shadowy figures slipped out of Commoner Ward without a sound.

The one in front stepped into the darkness and vanished like a wild leopard.

The other two went in different directions: one crept toward the eastern section of the city wall, the other toward the south of the city. Those were also the main directions from which the Qin Army was arrayed to attack, so the Han Army would surely have deployed troops to defend them, some areas heavily and some lightly.

Besides that, they needed to investigate where the city wall had fallen into disrepair, such as spots where rainwater seeped through during the wet season and stretches where the foundations had subsided. That would help the Qin Army break through the wall at its weakest point.

The Han Army in the city was on edge, with guards on high alert. Soldiers patrolled everywhere in squads of ten, carrying swords and bows.

Once Zhao Cheng was inside the city, the cover of night made him feel as free as a dragon returning to the sea.

He darted across rooftops and over low walls without a sound, as nimble and agile as a wildcat at night.

In no time, he spotted a patrol approaching.

I should take some of the pressure off Feng Quan and the others.

With that thought, Zhao Cheng drifted down and appeared soundlessly behind the last soldier in the patrol. He grabbed the man by the neck with one hand and squeezed!

With a sharp crack, the soldier's neck shattered. His head lolled to the side, and he went limp.

[You killed an enemy and stole fifteen years of life.]

The crack sounded jarringly loud in the stillness of the night. The soldiers in front turned around. "Xiao Jiu, what did you step on... Uh!"

The moment they turned, their pupils shrank.

Xiao Jiu was already sprawled on the ground, dead, while a tall, powerfully built shadow stood before him, charging toward them with his sword in hand. The blade grew larger and larger in their eyes!

Shing!

A head flew into the air.

Blood sprayed everywhere. At last, the squad reacted, and chaos erupted.

"Who's there!?"

"The enemy's inside!"

"It's a Qin Army spy!"

"Raise the alarm, raise—"

One man was reaching for the gong at his waist when Zhao Cheng hurled his hunting knife. It embedded itself in the man's neck, killing him on the spot from a distance!

The patrol soldiers were horrified. Several of them rushed at Zhao Cheng in a panic.

But in this environment, they were no different from wild rabbits in the mountains to Zhao Cheng.

Primordial Qi surged through his full-powered body like a mountain collapsing into the sea.

He merely flicked his hand, and his sword swept across.

Shing!

A soft sound rang out.

The four patrolmen charging at him were beheaded at once. Their bodies fell in a heap before Zhao Cheng, blood spurting everywhere.

The other soldiers' pupils contracted. Their hair stood on end, their legs went weak, and they stared at him, rooted to the spot.

"A m-monster!"

They dared not advance, but Zhao Cheng had no intention of letting them go. He charged forward and easily cut them all down.

He walked away through the blood and corpses strewn across the ground, his back disappearing into the night once more.

[You killed an enemy and stole seventeen years of life.]

[You killed an enemy and stole nine years of life.]

[You killed an enemy and stole twenty-three years of life.]

[...]

"Damn, so many short-lived ghosts."

Zhao Cheng tested the bow he'd taken, and wasn't very pleased with it. Still, it would do.

A short while later, the bodies in the city were discovered. As the gongs rang out, the western part of the city plunged into chaos.

More troops poured into the western part of the city, following the direction of the bloody footprints. Before they had gone far, they came across another squad of dead soldiers.

"Another squad! Every one of them was killed with a single arrow to the throat!"

"How many Qin Army spies have snuck in? They've killed twenty of our men. Haven't they lost a single man themselves?"

"Judging by the footprints, it looks like there's only one person!"

"How is that possible!? One man killed twenty people and got away unscathed?"

For a moment, everyone was gripped by fear.

The general in charge of security in the city shouted angrily, "Keep searching! We can't let him run wild in the city. Don't let the patrol squads get too far apart. Surround the area from the west, and don't let a single fly escape!"

"I refuse to believe one man can kill the entire Night Patrol Battalion!"

Torches lit up the western part of the city. Large numbers of patrolmen flooded the streets and alleys, closing in on the direction Zhao Cheng had gone.