Scouting the Valley

Lin Maoxian casually tossed the medicine basket and Dilong Grass into his Storage Space, then sat down to wait for Xiao Zhang to come up.

He had barely sat down when Xiao Zhang came running up, panting hard as he stood in front of Lin Maoxian.

Looking at Xiao Zhang's disheveled state, Lin Maoxian smiled. "At least you knew what was good for you and didn't try to run. With your speed and stamina, you wouldn't have gotten far. Heh..."

Panting, Xiao Zhang said, "N-no, I wouldn't dare. H-how could I run?"

"Good. Your life is safe for now. Whether you get to keep it depends on how cooperative you are." Lin Maoxian immediately put on a stern expression. In his view, the best way to handle this kid was to alternate between easing up and tightening the screws. He couldn't let him get too comfortable, but he couldn't scare him too much either.

"I'll cooperate, I'll cooperate! I'll do everything I can. Just tell me what you need, sir." Xiao Zhang did his best to be deferential. He didn't want to anger the grim reaper before him and get punched to death.

Lin Maoxian was very pleased with Xiao Zhang's response. "Good. I want to know how many Yellow Turban Soldiers are gathered in that valley."

"There were over a hundred. Now there are about a hundred left." Xiao Zhang answered at once.

"Do you know what kind of men they are?" Afraid Xiao Zhang wouldn't understand, Lin Maoxian explained, "How many elite soldiers are there? How many Squad Leaders, that sort of thing."

"Oh." Xiao Zhang thought for a moment, then said, "All I know is that the group is led by a Centurion. He has five Personal Guards, and there are ten Squad Leaders under him. I don't know how many elite soldiers there are."

"Personal Guards? What's that about? Compared to a Squad Leader, who's stronger?" Lin Maoxian had never heard the term before, so he asked with particular interest.

Xiao Zhang said enviously, "The Personal Guards, of course. Not just any ordinary soldier can do that job. The Squad Leaders compete, and the five winners become the Centurion's Personal Guards. Unless something special happens, they never leave his side. Wherever the Centurion goes, they go too."

Seeing Xiao Zhang's envious expression, Lin Maoxian asked curiously, "When I overheard you talking earlier, didn't you say you weren't looking to become some big official? Why are you envying them now?"

Xiao Zhang swallowed, then said enviously, "Because the Personal Guards stay with the Centurion and have to protect him at all times. They get plenty to eat at every meal, and they often get to eat meat. For little soldiers like us, just getting enough to eat at every meal is already a blessing."

Hearing this, Lin Maoxian was even more puzzled. "If there are all those perks, and you have connections, why didn't you want to take a leadership position?"

Xiao Zhang didn't quite understand what Lin Maoxian meant by "leadership," but he could guess. After hesitating for a long while, he finally said, "B-because I'm afraid that on the battlefield, I'd have to take a blade for the Centurion at a critical moment. A Personal Guard has to put the Centurion's life first."

So he was afraid of dying. No wonder Lin Maoxian had only had to threaten him a little before he spilled everything. But fear of death was human nature, and Lin Maoxian didn't look down on him for it. If anything, he admired him a little. Xiao Zhang knew what he wanted and wouldn't let other things distract him from that goal. That was something worth learning. "Then why did you join the Yellow Turban Soldiers instead of the Great Han Imperial Court's army?"

"There was a disaster back home, and we had no food. One of my fellow villagers dragged me along. Sometimes the Yellow Turban Soldiers don't get enough to eat either, but at least there's food. We won't starve to death."

Looking at Xiao Zhang, Lin Maoxian could almost see countless impoverished commoners in him, joining the Yellow Turban Soldiers just to get a meal. Even if they lost in the end and died in battle, they had at least gotten to eat for as long as they could. They had no regrets. No wonder the Yellow Turban Rebellion had initially left the court unable to fight back. People driven mad by hunger were truly terrifying.

"Kid, if you cooperate with me, I'll make sure you live comfortably before I leave this area. You'll have food and drink without worry, and you'll even get a wife. But if you refuse to cooperate, I may feel sorry for you, but I'll still kill you, just like Wang Hu and the others. Understand?" Lin Maoxian knew his own limitations. He couldn't change this world. But as long as Xiao Zhang cooperated, he didn't mind giving him a fortune before finishing his mission and leaving this world. If Xiao Zhang got in his way, he couldn't blame Lin Maoxian for being ruthless.

"Yes, yes... I'll cooperate." At the promise of a life without hunger and a wife of his own, Xiao Zhang immediately perked up. He felt that maybe this time, misfortune had turned into good fortune. If he did a good job, perhaps he could enjoy a comfortable life for the rest of his days.

Seeing Xiao Zhang so full of energy, Lin Maoxian nodded with satisfaction. With this bait, he wouldn't have to worry about the kid slacking off later. "Now I want to know what's going on in the valley. Take me to have a look."

"The valley is actually down below this cliff." Xiao Zhang pointed down.

Looking at the layers of mist below the cliff, Lin Maoxian furrowed his brow. "If the valley's below the cliff, how do you get down and back up? There must be some special, secret way, right?"

"You're amazing, sir!" Xiao Zhang first flattered Lin Maoxian, then pointed to the dense woods beside the cliff. "Actually, we—no, they. They don't go straight down the cliff. There's a small path through those woods that leads to the valley."

Lin Maoxian wasn't particularly bothered by Xiao Zhang's attempt to distance himself from the Yellow Turban Soldiers. He glanced at the woods and asked, "Do you have an ambush in there?"

"No, but they have men guarding the only path in and out. The mountain path is treacherous, so they don't need many guards, just a squad of soldiers. But now there are only the five Squad Leaders over there." Xiao Zhang told him everything he knew.

"How come there are only five? Were you part of that squad? And which squad did Li San belong to?" Lin Maoxian asked as he walked toward the woods. He trusted that Xiao Zhang didn't have the guts to deceive him. Besides, with his attributes, he wasn't afraid of an ambush; he was confident he could at least escape.

Lin Maoxian was walking so fast that Xiao Zhang had to jog alongside him as he answered. "We were that squad. Li San was in another one. Their Squad Leader had taken the others back to the valley floor because they were changing shifts. So in the end, we were the ones sent out to look for Li San and the others."

"Then why didn't you go back right after collecting the bodies? Why set up an ambush there?" Lin Maoxian asked, puzzled. Since it wasn't a compulsory order, they could have just taken the bodies back. Why set an ambush there? Were they trying to get themselves killed?

Xiao Zhang caught his breath and said, "Because Brother Wang said that if we caught the killer and took him back, he could become a Squad Leader, and we'd all get a lot of rewards."

Lin Maoxian still didn't understand. "You knew I was powerful. I killed Li San and the others with a single punch, yet you still dared to set an ambush there?"

Xiao Zhang hesitated before answering, "Because we set a trap on the mountain path. Brother Wang said that once you fell into it, you'd be finished, no matter how strong you were. We didn't expect..."

"We didn't expect me to come up from behind your ambush instead of taking the mountain path, right?" Lin Maoxian finished for him.

"Y-yes."

"What kind of trap did you set that made you so sure I wouldn't be able to get out?" Lin Maoxian was rather curious about it.

"We're almost there. Let's stop here." Xiao Zhang spoke first. Seeing Lin Maoxian had already stopped, he continued, "We dug a huge pit over there, about fifteen feet deep."

Lin Maoxian calculated that fifteen feet was nearly five meters. He could jump four or five meters with all his strength, and his height would add a little more, so it wouldn't be enough to trap him. Still, the trap served as a warning. The pit couldn't hold him, but there was no guarantee someone wouldn't dig a deeper one. If he assumed his high attributes meant he had nothing to worry about, he would surely get burned. And if the conditions were right, he could also use this method to trap enemies he couldn't deal with.

"You had a good idea, but you didn't know what I could do. I can jump fifteen feet in one go. A pit that deep can't hold me. You'd need to make it another ten feet deeper."

Seeing that Xiao Zhang looked unconvinced, Lin Maoxian didn't say anything more. In his real-world training, he'd been able to jump more than four meters. After a twenty-five-percent enhancement, jumping nearly five meters was normal.

"Hide here. I'll go take a look over there." After saying this, Lin Maoxian didn't wait for Xiao Zhang's response. He carefully crept forward.

Xiao Zhang watched Lin Maoxian leave after saying that, unsure what to do. The thought of running away had barely crossed his mind before he suppressed it. He knew all too well that in this chaotic world, even if he escaped this time, he'd still have to join an army eventually and would probably die anyway. Better not to run now. At least he had something to hope for, something worth fighting for. He cautiously looked around, and when he saw nothing unusual, he found a place to hide.

Lin Maoxian crept forward carefully. The farther he went, the fewer trees he saw. After taking a few more steps, he spotted people in the distance through the gaps between the trees. He hid himself carefully before taking a good look.

The path was only half a meter wide, with no cover on one side. Anyone walking along it would be in extreme danger, and a fight on the path would be even worse. At that moment, five people were crouched along the mountainside beside the path. Lin Maoxian had no doubt that they were Yellow Turban Soldiers. Remembering what he'd overheard Wang Hu and the others say before, he cautiously moved a few more steps forward. Once he was sure it was safe, he stopped.