Cipher and Letter

At night, the only sounds were the clanking of armor from the patrolling soldiers outside the tent and the occasional chirping of insects. It was, by all accounts, a night perfectly suited for sleep.

But Zheng Yutong could not sleep.

Ever since she discovered the "code" in the letter, all traces of drowsiness had vanished. The meaning of "neve" was, in fact, quite simple.

Literally, it meant "ice field" or "ice grain."

But what did that signify? Zheng Yutong was utterly baffled. A woman's intuition told her this code was crucial and that Li Wei must have left it specifically for her.

Ice field, ice grain—no matter how she looked at it, neither term held any practical significance.

She reread the letter from start to finish. There was nothing unusual; it was filled with apologies, claims that he had urgent matters to attend to, and detailed plans for completing the mission. It was a mere few thousand characters, less than three pages, and incredibly straightforward.

Yet, the sudden appearance of the code was definitely meant to point to something.

All night long, Zheng Yutong tossed and turned, reading the letter over a dozen times without any success. She even hunted down every sentence containing "ice field" or "ice grain," but found no clues.

By the early hours of the morning, Zheng Yutong, sporting two dark circles under her eyes, threw the letter aside in frustration and collapsed onto her bed.

Damn that guy, he wouldn't just make up some crappy code to mess with me, would he?

Thinking of this, she felt it was entirely possible. After all, she didn't really know Li Wei. That explanation made sense—a boring prank that had wasted her entire night.

"You jerk, you bastard, you wretched man! Next time I see you, I'll beat you until even your own mother won't recognize you!" After venting, she tried to get some sleep.

Almost subconsciously, she glanced at the letter one more time. Suddenly, as if she had discovered something, she jumped up.

Picking up the paper again, Zheng Yutong revealed a smile. "I'm such an idiot! How could I have missed such a simple code? Hahaha, why did that guy have to make it so complicated just to tell me something?"

Had Zheng Yutong cracked the code?

Indeed. If one looked at the word "neve" alone, its literal meaning was "ice field" or "ice grain," but if the order was reversed, it became "even."

"In other words, he wanted me to read the text from back to front, looking only at the even-numbered characters!" With dark circles under her eyes and a beaming face, Zheng Yutong, like a child who had just learned basic arithmetic, pulled out the characters from the letter in reverse order, selecting only those in even positions.

Once she finished, Zheng Yutong was shocked to find that the selected characters, when reordered, formed a new letter. The content, however, made her heart turn from cold to frozen.

After spending ten minutes reading it, Zheng Yutong slumped into her chair, her delicate brows locked tightly together.

A long while later, she let out a long sigh, tore the pieced-together letter into shreds, donned her leather armor, and stepped out of the tent.

But unlike before, she was now radiating a thick, murderous aura.

What exactly did Li Wei's letter say? Only the author and Zheng Yutong would ever know.

Time flew by. Only one day remained of the seven-day mission limit, and the human kingdom's crusade against the undead had already reached the Knight Training Ground.

This was an army composed entirely of griffins.

The griffin, a Tier 3 unit, was a creature of legend. With the body and claws of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, it inherited the ferocity and dominance of both. No one knew where or when these creatures originated, though sages believed they were the result of magical experiments from an ancient civilization.

Yet, they were the symbol of the human kingdom. When Zheng Yutong saw the army of griffins filling the sky, she was completely stunned.

Joining the crusade as it marched toward Dawn City, Zheng Yutong kept Bai Jie by her side. Wang Kai, who had originally intended to lead a squad of creatures into battle, was also forcibly kept back by her.

"Miss Zheng, what is the meaning of forcing me to stay here?" Wang Kai, wearing his gold-rimmed glasses, maintained his usual smiling expression, though he was clearly expressing his dissatisfaction.

Zheng Yutong did not react to his question. She simply ordered a large group of knights to surround the area, then sat leisurely on her horse, her eyes fixed on Wang Kai with a chilling gaze.

Strangely, under her stare, a flicker of panic appeared in Wang Kai's eyes.

"It's come to this; if you don't make your move now, you probably won't have another chance, will you?" Zheng Yutong's words struck Wang Kai's heart like a hammer.

"What do you mean? We're teammates!" The smile had completely vanished from Wang Kai's face. If one looked closely, sweat could be seen beading on his forehead.

With a cold snort, Zheng Yutong glanced at Bai Jie behind her, who was so terrified by the look that she collapsed to the ground.

"Wang Kai, I've told her everything! Miss Zheng promised to spare our lives—it's not too late to turn back now!"

Hearing this, Wang Kai seemed to age a dozen years in an instant. He could never have imagined that Zheng Yutong would uncover his plan.

It had been flawless. How could this happen?

Where had it gone wrong?

He and Bai Jie had known each other since their time on Shadow Street. Missions there grew more dangerous by the day, and to survive, people would stop at nothing. He and Bai Jie made their living through "robbery."

This robbery wasn't about brute force; since neither of them were top-tier experts in terms of skills or ratings, they set their sights on their own "teammates."

Bai Jie possessed an item that could force both of them into the same mission scenario. They would then pretend not to know each other, using acting and their respective skills to gain the trust and favor of their teammates. When the mission neared its end, they would strike suddenly, poisoning their allies to steal their points.

They had planned to do the same this time, but unexpected variables had arisen.

First, Wang Kai had been pinned under rubble. Although he had a T-Virus-enhanced physique, he couldn't regenerate in such a short time, and Bai Jie had been trapped by a boulder. At that point, they had already resigned themselves to mission failure.

Who would have thought Li Wei would save Bai Jie?

Later, Wang Kai appeared at the perfect moment to save Li Wei's group. He thought he could proceed with the plan, but Li Wei's decision to split the group had thrown them off balance.

He and Bai Jie were separated!

Later, Li Wei's departure and Bai Jie's return had reignited Wang Kai's hope. If only Zheng Yutong were left, dealing with her would be much easier.

For those few days, they had been building up their forces while refining a T-Virus strain that could induce paralysis. They only needed to wait for the final mission completion to launch a surprise attack. Even a veteran as strong as Zheng Yutong would have her nervous system paralyzed by the T-Virus, leaving her at their mercy.

Wang Kai had planned everything perfectly, yet he had fallen short at the very last moment.

So, this woman named Zheng Yutong had discovered their plan all along?

"Impossible, you couldn't have found out!" Wang Kai shrieked hysterically. At the same time, his arms underwent a mutation; a pair of sharp, massive claws sprouted from his limbs, covered in jagged bone spurs. One could only imagine that those spurs were coated in the lethal T-Virus.

"Wang Kai, don't!" Bai Jie screamed. After spending several days together, she knew full well how formidable Zheng Yutong was. A sneak attack might have succeeded if she had been caught off guard, but a reckless assault at this moment was nothing short of suicide.

Unslinging the bow from her back, Zheng Yutong nocked an arrow, and blinding electric sparks instantly erupted along its shaft.

"I will only say this once: stand down! Otherwise, I won't mind killing you!"

No matter how one looked at it, Zheng Yutong was far superior to her opponent—and not just by a small margin.

At this moment, Wang Kai seemed to realize that no matter how hard he tried, he could never defeat Zheng Yutong. In a fit of utter despair, his mutated hands reverted to normal, and he slumped to the ground.

"Can you tell me... how you found out?" Wang Kai reached up to adjust his crooked glasses, his eyes bloodshot.

"Yes, how did I find out?" Zheng Yutong murmured to herself. Only now did she truly believe everything Li Wei had written in his coded letter.

That man had long ago sensed that something was wrong with Bai Jie and Wang Kai. Combined with her own secret observations over the past few days, she had confirmed their conspiracy. It was laughable; if not for Li Wei's warning, she likely would have fallen right into their trap.

Li Wei, just who are you?

As for Wang Kai's question, Zheng Yutong did not answer; she felt it was unnecessary. The expeditionary army was already marching toward Dawn City, and if all went according to plan, she would complete the mission [Reclaim Dawn City] today and return to Shadow Street.

She just wondered if she would ever have the chance to see that guy again.

At the thought, a flicker of melancholy crossed Zheng Yutong's eyes.

Outside Dawn City, the human kingdom's army stood ready. The commander, a middle-aged knight, drew his gleaming longsword and issued the order to attack.

Inside the city, a massive horde of undead was constructing a defensive perimeter. Guo Jian stood atop the city wall, gazing at the human army opposite with a ferocious glint in his eyes. He knew that the other reincarnators must be among them. Once the undead emerged victorious, those people would be nothing more than fish on a chopping block, waiting to be slaughtered.

Thinking of the magical traps the undead had laid outside the city and the few Bone Dragons hidden within the walls, the corners of Guo Jian's mouth curled upward involuntarily.

The brutal battle began on the open ground before the city gates.