Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Plot and the Dire News

“Where are you going?”

While Wang Luo was entertaining the officers, Yang Wentian was approaching a village burned down by the Han army.

He had no attendants with him, only Mei Xiaosheng riding beside him. When she asked him, Yang Wentian cracked his whip, urging his horse forward and leaving her behind.

Mei Xiaosheng frowned and hurried to catch up.

She had originally planned to go to the ferry crossing with her teammates. However, Moronov insisted she stay behind.

“We need to maintain communication with the main camp,” he said simply.

But Mei Xiaosheng didn’t find it simple at all. The team lacked a clear plan for the next step and was only reacting to situations as they arose.

In that case, even though they were among the main forces with some safety guaranteed, they would receive no resources and have no chance for advancement.

If Garivier hadn’t saved her before, she might have just joined Wang Luo’s team. Given her relationship with Yang Wentian and her skills, they would likely accept her.

However... Mei Xiaosheng had seen Wang Luo a few times from afar and heard Yang Wentian speak about him.

Judging by how magnanimous he was towards prisoners and the generous terms of the missions he offered... perhaps he intended to recruit all the captives into his team.

Otherwise, why would he buy tools to build a team but refuse to use them now? If that were the case, joining early would be awkward later.

Anyway, since the outcome was still undecided, there was no need to rush.

With this in mind, she followed Yang Wentian, planning to probe into the team’s affairs.

...Then everything went black, and she lost consciousness.

----

“So you mean, even if we win, we can’t harm the three of you?”

Lin Feirui looked with interest at Yang Wentian, who lowered his head and avoided her gaze.

“Exactly.” Yang Wentian’s voice was low but still audible. “That’s my condition.”

“What if you die on the battlefield?”

“That doesn’t matter. But if the battle ends and we’re captured, our safety must be guaranteed.”

“And what about this young lady with you?” Lin Feirui looked toward Mei Xiaosheng, who had been knocked unconscious by Huakai. Was she his lover?

----

“She’s not included,” Yang Wentian said. Clearly not. Such a ruthless man. “Only the three of us. If you agree, I will cooperate. I’ll send you the intelligence you deem appropriate...”

“Appropriate intelligence?”

Lin Feirui’s expression darkened. Was this useless fellow, once used by her to transmit intelligence, trying to embarrass her by bringing up the past?

She hated to recall that failure, despised that trap she had set which cost many universal points but yielded nothing...

Fortunately, Huakai coughed a few times, interrupting Yang Wentian and helping her out of the predicament.

“What qualifications do you have to negotiate with us?”

Yang Wentian’s tone rose sharply.

“Before coming, I left a letter with my men. If I don’t return by two o’clock, the letter will be delivered to Wang Luo. Then all your schemes will be foiled.”

“Are you trying to die?”

“No. That’s why I’m making these demands.” Yang Wentian’s tone and expression showed no fear. “You can kill me, but if you do, you will lose.”

He spoke with absolute certainty. Agreeing to his terms wasn’t impossible anyway...

“If he finds out you sent false intelligence, he’ll kill you.” Huakai’s tone remained firm.

“If I don’t send it, you’ll kill me. I don’t want to betray my friends, but I also don’t want to die. He won’t forgive me for this, but what can I do? One must think of oneself...”

“Fine, let’s redraw the contract. It’s notarized in the void space. Are you satisfied now?” Perhaps it would be wiser to stall longer, but she was tired of dealing with such petty people and simply agreed. “If you lose but survive, I will allow you to surrender and join Wuzhou.”

Yang Wentian looked surprised.

After signing the contract, he left without delay.

“Surprising, he really cares about his teammates,” Huakai commented. “But agile close-combat fighters are a dime a dozen in the void space; he may not be very useful.”

“I know that.”

“He can help us transmit some intelligence. I won’t let things develop as they did last time.”

“You know, this enemy of ours, the one called Wang Luo, what slogans he shouts, and yet how he treats Charles and Zhou Suyan. This man is cunning, cold, hypocritical, and cruel. Do you think he’d trust a ‘teammate’ who’s only been to one scene? Do you think he’d care about an agile close-combat fighter?”

“I know. I’ve been fooled by him before. Besides, I never expected him to believe or care. What I need is... not something I can tell you just yet.”

“This is a big problem now.” Huakai continued. “Gedini may not be reliable. Hongdian, Dart, and Xiao Tao have all expressed support for you and are rallying people everywhere. But they don’t know that after buying the ‘forged imperial decree,’ the bloodshed has stopped. If this plan fails...”

“I know, good girl. The intelligence you’ve seen is what I left behind, alright? I will remember their support and repay it. The plan will succeed.”

Reluctantly, Lin Feirui spoke such words to reassure her most steadfast supporters, all the while maintaining a determined expression and steady voice.

----

I must look truly beautiful right now. Noticing Huakai’s surprised expression, she felt quite pleased and repeated,

“It will definitely succeed, I can feel it.” That should put your mind at ease! Silly girl.

----

Rank flipped the page of the book before him and sighed deeply.

These girls are hopelessly dumb, truly beyond cure... He cursed inwardly as he watched them study intently.

If only he had removed the memory chips from the Gundam at the start... though it couldn’t be directly uploaded into the human brain like Gedini’s. I was foolish to think this mission would be easy!

What now... Is there still a chance to make up for it? Maybe take on other tasks while there’s still time?

I wonder how Aquafell and the others are doing at the ferry crossing? From the previous reports, things seemed to be going smoothly. Should I abandon these fools and rush over now?

As he pondered these thoughts, someone knocked on the door.

It was a member of Gedini’s team, with a sullen expression, someone Rank had never spoken to before.

He handed Rank a letter and then turned to leave.

Did Gedini send this? Why not come in and speak directly? Sending a letter instead?

Rank tore open the letter. It was brief, only a few lines:

“My friend, I have bad news.”

“Our people sent to the ferry camp failed their mission. Their heads were cut off and hung at the camp’s entrance.”

“Currently, the details are unclear. Two of my men escaped. According to them, one of your men also escaped but lost contact after fleeing. His whereabouts are unknown.”

“I will investigate promptly. I hope you can do the same so we may avenge our comrades.”

“Your friend, Gedini.”

Rank’s vision darkened and he nearly fainted.