After finishing at this spot, the three shadows quietly emerged and moved to the next tent.
One of them gently pulled back the tent flap and scanned the number of people inside. He was somewhat surprised; a single person was lying right at the tent’s entrance.
Having no choice, he had to deal with this one first.
The shadow crouched down.
Like a seasoned craftsman on an assembly line, the following steps were mere repetition.
First, he reached out and quickly covered the man’s mouth. The man seemed to be stirring, but it didn’t matter; his other hand, holding a knife, swiftly drew it across the man’s neck!
A scraping sound was heard.
This time, slitting the throat felt like grinding a knife on a whetstone.
Moreover, the anticipated gush of hot, scalding blood didn’t spurt out.
Almost instinctively, the shadow slashed at the man’s neck several more times with his knife.
SCRAPE... SCRAPE... SCRAPE...
Barbarian God above! Is this a human neck? How can it be so hard?
However, the shadow’s confusion didn’t last long, because a hand suddenly seized his neck.
CRUNCH! f|re(e)web.n\ovel. (c)o.m
The crisp sound of bone breaking echoed.
The shadow’s neck was snapped, his head slumping onto his shoulder—the closest contact his head and shoulder had experienced in his entire life.
The two shadows outside the tent seemed to hear the commotion inside. Extremely alarmed, they were just about to make a move when, unexpectedly, a head slowly emerged from the ground behind and beneath them.
A smile touched the corners of Xue Three’s mouth as he sprang up from the small pit where he had been hiding. And when his body reached a certain height, the daggers in his hands reaped forward!
The two shadows fell to the ground.
Xue Three twisted his neck. It’s been too long, this feeling of killing.
If he hadn’t known the current circumstances didn’t allow for it, Xue Three would have really liked to let out a satisfying cry, perhaps even mimic a few wolf howls.
At this moment, the tent flap was lifted from within, and Liang Cheng and Zheng Fan walked out together.
Liang Cheng was holding a bloody severed head. He said to Xue Three, "Cut off their heads."
Just then, the shrill sound of a whistling arrow pierced the false tranquility of the night.
The shadows that had infiltrated opened the camp gates. Outside, the sound of thundering warhorses suddenly erupted.
Over a thousand cavalrymen stormed through both the front and rear gates of the fortified camp. They roared and bellowed, pouring in like a tide, charging into the encampment.
The camp’s sentry posts had already been dealt with, and many of the outer defenses had also been neutralized by the prior infiltration. Under these circumstances, the two cavalry forces, one at the front and one at the rear, smoothly charged into the main camp area in one fell swoop.
The sleeping laborers were jolted awake. Some were bewildered, with no idea what was happening. Others were the first to see the Barbarians, dressed in animal skins and riding warhorses, charging towards them, and they started screaming in terror.
Just as Liang Cheng had foreseen, the enemy’s surprise attack smoothly threw the camp into chaos.
The hundreds of regular troops originally in the main camp area had their formation broken by their own scattering laborers. They were directly overrun by the Barbarian cavalry and cut down.
Under the cover of night, the camp instantly became a playground for the Barbarian cavalry to roam freely. They brandished their scimitars, madly and wantonly slaughtering the prey fleeing in all directions before them.
First, kill all the prey. Then comes the wonderful moment of enjoying and dividing the spoils.
Liang Cheng led the way, Xue Three followed, and Zheng Fan walked in the middle. After leaving the tent, the three of them headed straight for a corner of the fortified camp. There, a wooden cart piled with "provisions" was backed against the camp’s stockade fence, forming a simple defensive work. It was the spot they had scouted before nightfall.
Zheng Fan gripped the knife in his hand tightly, his mind on high alert.
Xue Three, however, sat on the wooden cart, swinging his short legs.
Then, Xue Three turned his head to Zheng Fan behind him and said, "My lord, why don’t we take this chance to slip out amidst the chaos? It’s still too dangerous here, after all."
Zheng Fan heard this, shook his head, and said, "I trust Liang Cheng’s judgment."
This logistics detachment is bait. The fish have taken the hook now; the net should be closing in soon.
Although using the lives of several thousand laborers as bait seemed excessively cruel, since things had already been arranged, what Zheng Fan and the others needed to consider was how to best preserve themselves, given their prior preparations, while also reaping some tangible benefits.
For example, the heads of these Barbarians!
As for escaping? What a joke. Is there any difference between escaping now and making a foolish, last-ditch defection?
Seeing Zheng Fan’s insistence, Xue Three stopped trying to persuade him. When he turned back, his gaze met Liang Cheng’s. A look of mutual understanding and satisfaction flowed between their eyes.
My lord is pragmatic. When we all guessed the fate of this laborer team, he didn’t raise a fuss about warning everyone to save their lives. Instead, he directly brought up another matter: "The day before yesterday, when escorting the provisions, I heard those two soldiers say that Barbarian heads can be exchanged for reward money and also count towards military merits."
Xue Three smacked his lips a few times and thought: He is, after all, My lord who could bring us forth. Although he’s an ordinary person and thus inevitably a bit flustered and unaccustomed, his heart... is truly black.
Two Barbarian cavalrymen were chasing a soldier over. The one in the lead spurred his horse on and cut the soldier down. At the same time, they spotted Zheng Fan’s group of three standing between the wooden cart and the fence.
They let out excited, eerie howls, then urged their horses to gallop again, charging towards their new prey.
Liang Cheng silently stood up. Xue Three closed his eyes, his earlobes twitching slightly.
Zheng Fan couldn’t help but swallow. I’d only learned from some historical materials that cavalry were the absolute kings in the age of cold weapons. Although only two warhorses are charging at us now, the force of their approach is no less than that of an SUV speeding towards you as you stand in the middle of a road.
The thudding of hooves, mixed with snorting breaths, began to gradually slow... slow... and slow even more... Time itself seemed to shift into slow motion at this moment.
However, Zheng Fan still didn’t choose to flee or dodge; he just continued to grip the knife in his hand in what seemed like a less-than-standard way as the distance narrowed.
Xue Three moved first. His body first shot downwards rapidly, then sprang up in front of the warhorse in an inconceivable manner.
The Barbarian knight subconsciously swung his saber, but hit only air. Xue Three, however, had already appeared at his side and was still ascending.
Dagger in a reverse grip, he lifted his wrist and slashed diagonally!
The dagger pierced into the Barbarian cavalryman’s lower jaw and instantly sank in to the hilt.
The Barbarian cavalryman only felt his vision turn blood-red, and then he lost consciousness.
As for Liang Cheng, he only moved when the other cavalryman charged right in front of him.
Perhaps, in the Barbarian cavalryman’s eyes, the man before him would be turned into paste under the iron hooves of his warhorse. However, this man swung a punch in an inconceivable manner, smashing it into the warhorse’s head.
The warhorse’s front legs buckled directly, and the terrifying inertia flung the Barbarian cavalryman on its back forward.
Liang Cheng directly grabbed the animal skin clothing on the man’s back, slammed him onto the cart’s planks, and then abruptly raised his head to look at Zheng Fan, "My lord!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
Almost instinctively, Zheng Fan raised his knife and slashed directly down at the Barbarian cavalryman before him, who was already completely subdued!
Blood splattered—red, hot, scalding.
Zheng Fan’s mouth fell open, his eyes wide, his body swaying slightly.
Slowly, he began to discern another taste...