Night Hunt, Enemy City in Chaos

Inside Ye County.

Torches like long dragons tore through the night within the city, the sounds of shouting and footsteps shattering the quiet night and deep dreams.

A large number of night-patrol soldiers were fully deployed, searching the streets and alleys in the west of the city for traces of a Qin Army spy, even breaking into civilian homes to search thoroughly, leaving countless families in a state of panic, unable to sleep again.

Swish, swish, swish!

Amidst the light twang of bowstrings, arrows suddenly shot out from the rooftops of the houses. The cold, gleaming arrowheads plunged into the throats of the patrolling soldiers one after another, and in the blink of an eye, four or five men collapsed in succession.

The arrows did not stop, flying in a continuous volley, and another four men fell. The last remaining soldier dropped his long sword and fled in a panic, letting out a strange cry.

"He's here!! He's here!!"

He hadn't even seen the shadow of the man clearly before his companions were all dead.

Zhao Cheng leaped down from the roof, scavenging arrows and a sturdy bow from the corpses.

Under his high-frequency use, the previous bow had already developed cracks and would not last much longer.

After securing the bow and arrows, Zhao Cheng looked back.

Through a gap in the wooden window of a civilian house, a pair of a child's eyes were peeking out, trying to see the scene outside.

Zhao Cheng waved his hand to extinguish a torch, plunging the courtyard into darkness and concealing the gruesome sight of flowing blood.

Then, he shot an arrow right next to the window. "Close the window!"

The adult inside shuddered in fear and slammed the window shut with a bang.

Zhao Cheng leaped away, vanishing into the dark night.

In the night wind, a single sentence echoed clearly.

"The Qin Army does not kill civilians; surrender early to avoid death."

The more the Han Army patrol commander searched, the more incredulous he became. That Qin Army spy was elusive and possessed god-like archery skills.

No matter how he surrounded him, the spy could easily break through, taking the lives of squad after squad of patrolmen in the process.

Often, his soldiers would be wiped out before they could even catch a glimpse of the enemy's figure.

Worst of all, this fellow always left one survivor to flee in a panic, only for that man to return and recount the situation, often leaving the other soldiers trembling with fear.

As a result, many patrol soldiers dared not move, making command increasingly difficult.

Driven to desperation, he personally executed the survivor who had fled back!

"This is the fate of deserters! Even if only one man remains, he must sound the alarm immediately; nearby comrades will naturally come to support, and he will have nowhere to hide!"

"Keep searching! Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, find him!"

"With so many of us, can we really not take down one Qin Army spy?"

He could never have imagined that a single Qin Army spy could be so troublesome.

He could not help but grow extremely anxious.

At this moment, atop the city wall, Han Jiang paced back and forth with his brows tightly knitted.

With the Qin Army besieging the city, he could not sleep at all. He was deep in thought, trying to devise a strategy to break the stalemate, when he saw the city ablaze with light and countless torches darting about.

He summoned his subordinates to inquire, and only then did he learn that a Qin Army spy had infiltrated the city.

The infiltration of a Qin Army spy was within his expectations; resources in the city were scarce, and once the northern gate was opened, even a small gap was enough for someone to slip through. No matter how strict the inspections were, there would always be fish that slipped through the net.

But what he could not understand was that a mere spy, once discovered, should have been unable to escape; he should have been caught and killed. How could he cause such a massive disturbance in the city?

"It is just one Qin Army spy; why make such a huge fuss? What are you all doing?"

He frowned, his tone filled with reproach.

"This subordinate does not know."

Han Jiang looked at the boundless Qin Army outside and then at the chaos within the city, feeling utterly irritable.

He waved his hand and said, "Tell him to find this spy and kill him within an hour, or he can bring me his own head!"

"Yes!"

Han Jiang shook his head in anger. "Not a single one of them is useful!"

He was currently burning with anxiety, his mouth covered in painful blisters—the old ones hadn't even faded before new ones had already sprouted.

He could not sleep, so he continued to rack his brains on how to break the siege.

The main force of the Qin Army was arrayed to the east and south of the city, leaving the west side open. It appeared as though the west was a path for a breakout, but Han Jiang knew it was a dead end.

Meng Wu was simply waiting for him to reach his limit and attempt a breakout from the west, only to be surrounded and annihilated by ambushers. A breakout was a path to certain death.

After much deliberation, aside from holding the city, he could only wait for reinforcements.

"At this time, the military report should have long since reached Wan City and Xinzheng. If there were reinforcements, they should arrive in two or three days."

"When the Qin State exerted pressure, the Chu State also indicated they would provide support. Why is there still no movement?"

West of the city.

Feng Quan carefully dodged the Night Patrol Battalion.

He would hide quickly after every short distance, his heart pounding as he evaded the guards, before continuing to creep toward the armory. The journey was perilous, and his progress was agonizingly slow.

But as he went on, he suddenly felt the patrol density decrease significantly. Previously, he would encounter a squad of soldiers every hundred paces.

Now, having walked over three hundred paces, he still hadn't run into another squad.

He couldn't help but feel a bit strange. "Why are the guards getting laxer the further I go in? Is this place not a key military storage area?"

Just as he was wondering, another squad of soldiers walked by quickly. Feng Quan hurriedly hid in the shadows of a corner, using a bundle of firewood to conceal his figure.

From within the dark corner, he heard the soldiers' terrified and uneasy voices.

"Why were we suddenly transferred to the west side of the city?"

"Sigh, there's a Qin Army spy causing chaos over there. He's killed forty or fifty men from the Night Patrol Battalion. Most of the battalion has been mobilized, yet they can't even catch a glimpse of the guy's tail."

"The General gave a death order: if they don't catch that spy within an hour, Commander Du will have to present his own head!"

"A Qin Army spy killed forty or fifty men??"

"No way. Did the Qin Army break through? How could a single spy kill so many people?"

"Sigh, that's what I'm saying! But it seems like that spy is only one person. To this day, our men haven't even seen what he looks like—everyone who has seen him is dead!"

"The brothers up front are scared out of their wits. That's why they're sending us clueless ones to our deaths."

"How do you know?"

"I pulled some strings to get transferred away from the west side, and now, damn it, I've been transferred right back. All that effort was for nothing!"

"..."

As the voices faded into the distance, Feng Quan was stunned.

Commander Du is truly divine!

This was the first time he had ever heard of a deep-cover agent being able to kill people so brazenly, yet looking at this chaotic situation, it seemed the enemy really couldn't do anything about him!

With that, a large number of soldiers were flooding toward the west side, greatly reducing the pressure on him.

He quietly slipped into the area around the garrison under the city wall, and after careful observation, he committed many details to memory.

Then, taking advantage of the night, he crept along the city wall, searching for weak points in the foundation...

[You have killed an enemy, plundering twelve years of lifespan!]

[You have killed an enemy, plundering nineteen years of lifespan!]

[You have killed an enemy, plundering two years of lifespan!]

"Heh, this place flies the Han flag. Could it be the government office?"

While the Night Patrol Battalion was desperately searching the west side, Zhao Cheng had already broken through the perimeter and reached the outside of the government office district in the north-central part of the city.

Looking at the Han flag fluttering in the night, he grinned.

This government district was the core of power in Ye County. The main office was the seat of the County Magistrate, housing the treasury, household registers, and emergency grain supplies. It was considered a key point of city defense. If he stirred up trouble here, wouldn't the enemy army fall into chaos?

He crept under the watchtower and raised his bow to shoot.

With two whoosh sounds, the sentries on the watchtower tumbled down. Zhao Cheng leaped up, directly occupying the high ground of the watchtower to observe the layout of the government district.

From this vantage point, the layout and troop deployments of the government district were all laid bare before his eyes.

The three-courtyard complex sat on a rammed-earth platform, with bronze chimes for alarms hanging under the eaves. The storage area was on the south side, guarded by over a hundred soldiers; it was clearly a heavily fortified area.

Below the high tower, there were also some soldiers on guard.

Zhao Cheng observed for a moment and quickly grasped the situation. Taking advantage of his high position, he waited for the patrolling soldiers to step into range and drew his bow to shoot again.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sound of arrows piercing the air cut through the night, and a dozen patrolling soldiers fell in a row.

Those with quick reactions realized something was wrong and immediately sounded the alarm, beating their gongs frantically.

"Enemy attack!"

The area below fell into instant chaos as many soldiers gathered, but during this process, many more soldiers continued to fall.

The soldiers were terrified, but fortunately, the County Commandant appeared in time. He immediately struck the bronze bell under the eaves, and as the sound echoed, he ordered the soldiers to counterattack against Zhao Cheng on the high tower.

"Shoot him down!"

"The rest of you, surround the tower! He won't be able to escape!"

The County Commandant was a man of rich combat experience, but this time, with the Qin Army pressing the border, Han had sent Han Jiang to lead troops to defend Ye County, leaving him to guard the government offices and manage logistics.

Now, seeing a lone Qin Army spy daring to storm the government office, he sneered coldly.

"Climbing the high tower? You've cut off your own retreat! I want to see how you run now."

However, Zhao Cheng had no intention of running; he stood atop the high pavilion, looking down and brazenly exchanging fire with the soldiers below.

The soldiers possessed limited arm strength, and even with stiff bows, they could barely draw them fully, let alone shoot from a lower position to a higher one.

Those arrows lost their momentum before they could even reach the top of the pavilion, and even when they landed on Zhao Cheng, they were neither painful nor itchy.

Zhao Cheng, however, held the high ground, drawing his bow like a full moon and releasing arrows like flowing water; one after another, they flew without pause, showing no signs of fatigue.

Each arrow claimed a life, adding at least three to five years of lifespan to his account, with some even granting twenty or thirty years.

In the span of a single cup of tea, his lifespan had increased by another five hundred years!

More than half of the soldiers below who had been exchanging fire had already fallen, each one struck through the throat by a single arrow.

The remaining soldiers realized something was wrong and retreated one after another, not daring to continue trading shots with Zhao Cheng above.

They cowered, refusing to advance.

The County Commandant's expression finally changed; was this motherfucker an enemy suicide agent?

How could they be willing to send such a fierce warrior as a suicide agent?

"Retreat! Surround him and wait for reinforcements; he won't be able to escape!"

The bronze bell had already rung, and the Night Patrol Battalion in the city would arrive before long; once the main force surrounded him, he wouldn't be able to fly away even with wings!

The County Commandant was full of confidence.

Yet, he had not expected the range of that fierce man atop the high pavilion to be beyond imagination.

Even after the soldiers retreated beyond the normal range, several more were still shot dead by him, and it was only after retreating again that they finally escaped his reach.

From above came a crisp snap—the stiff bow had actually been pulled apart by that fellow!

The County Commandant was dumbfounded; what kind of divine strength was this?

Before he could react, the figure actually leaped down, slapped the wooden pillars of the high pavilion a few times, and landed steadily, just like a flying tiger!

The County Commandant was terrified.

What kind of person was this motherfucker, to just fly down like that?

But since he had abandoned his defensive position on the high platform and dared to come down, wasn't he just courting death?

"Charge! Surround and kill him here!"

The other soldiers had long been holding their breath, and seeing that Zhao Cheng had snapped his bow and had no arrows left, they immediately swarmed forward, intent on surrounding and killing him!

What they didn't expect was that this fellow didn't run, but instead drew his sword and charged head-on into the crowd of over a hundred men!

This made the County Commandant laugh out loud, "How reckless!"

"No wonder he was treated as a discarded pawn by the Qin Army; a suicide agent entering the city, turns out he's just a brute."