The setting sun hung low, emitting feeble light above the treetops.
Lin Nan and Ukitake looked straight ahead and headed to the target base according to the defense map drawn in advance.
Before setting off, Katori had already planned a route for them, from near to far, they would pass eleven strongholds along the way.
Except for the six closest ones, the rest are all strongholds with a relatively large number of people stationed there.
As long as the notification is in place as soon as possible, 8th Division's vitality can be retained to the maximum extent.
Lin Nan put away his usual carefree attitude, and while using Shunpo, he arranged:
"We will make a small circle first and notify the six nearest strongholds. They are relatively close and can return as soon as possible.
Then we will directly start the notification from the farthest stronghold to ensure that these strongholds with a larger number of people can meet up with others on the way back to avoid being attacked by sneak attacks."
"Okay, Lin Sang, I'll listen to you." Ukitake has no objection to Lin Nan's arrangement.
In the face of this chaotic situation, the aura exuded by Lin Nan seems to be particularly reassuring.
The two of them moved forward quickly, following the arc trajectory and quickly passed the six strongholds closest to the headquarters.
Fortunately, these six strongholds have not been attacked yet. After receiving the order, all Soul Reaper immediately set off to return to the headquarters.
After learning about the development, Seated Officer proposed to go with Lin Nan:
"After all, we are now in combat mode. Such a dangerous job should not be left entirely to you two college students to take risks."
This Seated Officer just took office not long ago. He was promoted to the eighteenth seat by Katori because he fought to the end in the competition that besieged Lin Nan in the 8th Division team building.
But he knew clearly that it was because Sasakibe Chojiro had terminated the competition that day, and thanks to Lin Nan's mercy, otherwise he would have been eliminated on the spot, and how could he have had his turn as Seated Officer.
I can only say that thanks to these two benefactors, Vice-Captain Sasakibe and Lin Nan, I am where I am today.
What's more, I heard that this Lin Nan is already a famous genius student in the Spirit Arts Academy, and the captain has been trying to recruit him into 8th Division.
As 8th Division, Seated Officer must not sit back and watch the future of 8th Division and his benefactor take risks!
Lin Nan seriously refused. "Thank you, but now is not the time to be humble. Your job is to ensure that the team members return to the headquarters safely, and at the same time, ensure that the accompanying college students are safe and sound.
If you do this, our efforts will be considered in vain!"
After saying that, the two of them said nothing more and left directly using Shunpo.
The Eighteenth Seat watched the two figures disappear into the distance and murmured to himself, "The captain is really good at judging people. This kind of calmness is definitely not something ordinary people can have!"
After running through the six bases, the sun was already setting in the west. The sky gradually turned from orange-red to Klein blue.
Lin Nan looked up at the sky, feeling a little uneasy. "Ukitake, how is your physical strength now? The sky is getting darker and darker. We may have to speed up, otherwise we will easily be ambushed in the dark night."
Ukitake responded, "Thanks to the full meal at noon, there is no problem now! Let's go! By the way, if it gets dark, can you still see the defense map clearly?"
"I couldn't see clearly, so I just kept trying to keep the map in my head so that I didn't have to stop halfway to find the direction."
The two quickly crossed the woods and rivers, followed a not-so-wide road, and rushed towards the farthest target.
"I suddenly remembered something." Ukitake said suddenly while running halfway.
"Huh?"
"The defense map is confidential, so how did the enemy launch a sneak attack at midnight? They also accurately attacked several strongholds." Ukitake said while organizing his words,
"Could it be that there was a spy in the team who stole the defense plan? So that the enemy could successfully attack at night?"
Lin Nan's eyes sank and he was silent for a moment. "It's too late to verify this possibility now. I just hope that Captain Katori can also think of this as soon as possible and respond in time.
Moreover, from now on, we both have to be careful. If there are really spies, maybe the enemy will already know the news of our departure."
Ukitake agreed in a deep voice. The two of them were silent, taking advantage of the getting darker sky, to speed up towards the target stronghold.
The farthest stronghold No. 39 is located by a small river. There are no residential areas around it and it is a complete wilderness.
When the two arrived here, night had fallen.
A slender crescent moon in the sky casts a faint light, shining on the silent Stronghold No. 39, making it look like a sleeping dark monster.
"Oops, there's no light..." Ukitake immediately tensed up when he saw this.
Lin Nan sighed slightly, "It's faster than we thought... Get ready for battle!"
The two men gently pulled out the Asauchi from their waists and sneaked into the dark stronghold camp.
Without lights, danger may be hidden in any dark corner. However, lighting Kido cannot be used, which will increase the risk of exposure.
Lin Nan and Ukitake were back to back, cautiously approaching the center area along the edge of the camp.
In the open space near the entrance of the tent in the camp, several figures were lying upside down.
Lin Nan Looking carefully, the clothes of those figures are dark all over, and they seem to blend with the ground under the moonlight. If the human body did not have obvious undulations on the ground, it would be difficult to distinguish them by color.
According to the surviving students, the attacker last night was also wearing dark night clothes.
Are these people who fell to the ground sneak attackers? Or Soul Reaper?
Lin Nan made a gesture to Ukitake, and the two of them moved close to the backlight of the tent and moved towards the open space.
As the distance got closer, one could gradually make out the loose clothes of the man who fell to the ground.
It's Soul Reaper. Lin Nan's heart couldn't help but sink.
No one collected the bodies.
Either the people in this stronghold have moved away, or...
All dead.
The cold crescent moon hangs high. In the dark night, the chirping of insects and frogs seems to never stop.
This camp exudes a strange and chilling silence.
"Go to the back." In the dim light, Lin Nan gestured to Ukitake, pointing to the back of the big tent facing away from the moonlight.
Ukitake understood and followed the direction of Lin Nan. The two lowered their bodies, constantly paying attention to their surroundings, and slowly moved towards the big tent.
Coming behind the big tent, Lin Nan closed his eyes and listened carefully--
Inside, it was deathly silent.
The two frowned and looked at each other in the darkness. Lin Nan lifted Asauchi and made a light stroke on the cloth of the big tent.
"Crack~" After two imperceptible sounds, a hole as high as a person was cut open in the back of the tent.
Ukitake didn't have time to praise Lin Nan's swordsmanship when he saw Lin Nan making a "warning" gesture to him. He was slightly startled, and then he smelled the smell of blood in his nostrils that went straight to Tianling Gai.
The two of them turned their bodies sideways and used their blades to open half of the cloth in front of them.
Through the faint light coming from the white curtain, one could see that in the large tent, there were corpses lying scattered on the ground.
Seeing such a tragic situation, Ukitake almost screamed. Lin Nan hurriedly reached out and quickly covered his mouth.
"Listen carefully - there is the sound of blood dripping." Lin Nan leaned close to Ukitake's ear and whispered,
"He must have died not long ago. The enemy may not have gone far yet."
Ukitake looked at Lin Nan in horror and nodded. Lin Nan then slowly let go of his hand and said in a voice that only two people could hear clearly, "I'll go closer to check, and you can help me be on guard."
As he spoke, he lowered his body, carefully walked around the tables, chairs and other items in the room, moved to the nearest corpse, reached out and touched the neck that was not stained with blood.
As he judged, he could still feel the warmth, so he had indeed just died.
Lin Nan sighed secretly, thanks to the fact that he studied mortuary science in his previous life and got full marks for embalming and plastic surgery. Otherwise, he would have fainted from fear today.
He used the dim light to carefully identify the clothing of the corpses on the ground. Most of them were black Soul Reaper uniforms, and a few had large areas of white clothing, which were undoubtedly the uniforms of college students.
Lin Nan stood up slowly, being careful not to step on blood. He raised his head and glanced around.
The furnishings of the stronghold are more practical. In addition to small tents for offices, there are also large tents for people to live in.
At this moment, Lin Nan turned his attention away from the corpse and discovered that the white cloth surrounding the tent was covered with splatters of blood.
Under the moonlight outside, the blood stains looked like random splashes of ink, which looked shocking.
"Strange. Why can't there be any trace of fighting?" Lin Nan glanced around strangely, "And, so many people, all died in one room?"
Seeing that he couldn't find any useful clues in the dim light, he moved to Ukitake's side and raised his hand to signal to exit the tent.
The two of them exited the tent from the original route. They hid in a shadow next to the tent and studied countermeasures.
Ukitake Although he lives in the chaotic Kotsukotsu District, this is the first time he has seen such a large-scale murder scene. Even if he is calm on weekdays, he is panicking at this moment:
"What should we do? Should we go to the next stronghold to warn them in advance?"
Lin Nan frowned and weighed for a moment, then shook his head:
"Use Hell Butterfly to send the message to the headquarters first! Let them take precautions as soon as possible.
The enemy may have just left. Let's stay away from the main road later, take a small path, and walk in a straight line to avoid colliding with the enemy, and try to reach the next stop ahead of them."
The two summoned Hell Butterfly on their fingertips, preparing to exit Stronghold No. 39 and find a safe place to send a message to the headquarters.
At this time, accompanied by clear sounds of drawing swords, a clear wave of spiritual pressure suddenly appeared at Stronghold No. 39.
A dozen masked figures wearing black tights appeared in the open space of Stronghold No. 39.
Lin Nan wanted to raise his hand and slap himself in the face, and whispered, "It's over, I was careless. I only thought that they were not far away, but I didn't expect that they didn't leave at all!"
He was a little confused and depressed.
After I reached the Seated Officer level of spiritual pressure, my spiritual pressure perception obviously increased a lot. It is impossible for spiritual pressure above the level of a team member to escape my eyes.
But just now, those dozen men in black appeared out of thin air as if they had emerged from the ground, and I didn't feel it at all.
Ukitake was also very confused, because he didn't feel anything wrong. "Were these people here just now? But I didn't feel their spiritual pressure at all! What's going on?"
"Who's there? Come out! We've found you. There are only two of you, so you won't be able to leave!" In the open space, people in black began to call for formation.
Lin Nan smiled helplessly, stood up and took out Asauchi, and said to Ukitake:
"Help me watch my back later. When I defeat them, I'll help you ask what's going on."
Ukitake's eyes widened. "You plan to beat a dozen of them yourself? Are you crazy? Katori Captain, didn't he say that we should find a way to get out of here as soon as possible!"
"Since the other party knows that we are two people, it means that they are already prepared, and the success rate of escaping rashly is low;"
Lin Nan rubbed his nose and said nonchalantly, "And who said I had to fight myself? Didn't I ask you to look after my back?"