Chapter 48

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Chapter 48: Du Yinsui, having already removed her shackles and evaded the guards, was questioning whether she would return to the "cage."

Wei Huiqing differed from Kong Yan’er; she carried an upright air that Kong Yan’er’s cunning arrogance lacked. Throughout their journey, Wei Huiqing had helped them considerably, making it unnecessary to force her compliance through the same method.

Most importantly, this presented a practice opportunity. Small game like rats and deer were mere training; today, someone deserving death appeared—a true test of their prior efforts.

Having endured the apocalypse, Du Yinsui knew certain lines existed in every person’s heart, and taking a life marked one such boundary. Jiang Wu’s complex identity meant troubles would likely persist beyond this journey. Linzhou, under Han army control, promised no peace even after their arrival. Crossing this moral threshold would reduce hesitation during true crises, enabling swifter decisions. When life and death hung by a thread, Du Yinsui preferred others perish over herself.

Jiang Wu didn’t disappoint. After only a brief hesitation, he took the stone shard from Du Yinsui.

This time, however, Du Yinsui merely positioned everyone without delivering the killing blow as she had for Kong Yan’er.

The unconscious guard’s faint pulse seemed to travel through the stone shard into Jiang Wu’s palm—though he knew it was just an illusion.

Rather than sensing the guard’s pulse, Jiang Wu recalled nights when Du Yinsui guided his hands to explore their vulnerabilities: pressure points, neck arteries, the heart…

Having dissected countless deer heads, Jiang Wu recognized this as another lesson from Du Yinsui before her departure. Yet during those hands-on teachings, his racing heart persistently faltered.

Now, at the moment demanding a real kill,

Jiang Wu couldn’t fully focus. His mind fixated on whether this was the "final lesson"—and whether Du Yinsui, freed from shackles and guards, would return to the "cage" with him.

Nearby, Du Yinsui frowned as waves of complicated emotions brushed coldly against her face.

First kills naturally brought fear and conflict—even retreat was understandable.

But!

Why did those fearful, conflicted scents pale against this intensifying sweetness tinged with bitterness?

With the weapon at the throat, such thoughts persisted?

I won’t intervene just because you harbor such feelings!

Just as Du Yinsui prepared to refocus Jiang Wu, overwhelming sweet bitterness flooded her senses—and with that lovesick aura, Jiang Wu struck.

In that instant, Du Yinsui suspected something was deeply wrong.

Either her sense of smell had failed… or Jiang Wu had.

Their training proved worthwhile. Unlike Kong Yan’er’s panicked flailing after Zhao Qi’s death rattle, Jiang Wu’s move was clean and precise.

Wei Huiqing—positioned exactly—shut her eyes as warm blood drenched her, then obediently sat as instructed.

Du Yinsui discarded the lifeless guard and swiftly arranged a scene mirroring Zhao Qi’s death.

After Du Yinsui and Jiang Wu departed, Wei Huiqing sat alone, counting silently.

Per Du Yinsui’s plan, only after three hundred counts could she scream and flee.

She hadn’t reached fifty when clouds swallowed the moon, plunging the moonlit woods into near-total darkness.

Wei Huiqing’s eyes betrayed her, darting toward the gory corpse. She couldn’t fathom how Du Yinsui had gutted it so swiftly, spilling entrails everywhere… Now it resembled butchered meat more than a person.

Even this self-deception failed to calm her; tremors wracked Wei Huiqing’s body with increasing violence.

From the moment Cui Wu dragged her out until that time, Wei Huiqing could feel her nerves stretched to their limit. She desperately wanted to leave that dreadful place and head toward the bright campfire. Yet, despite her urgency, she dared not rush her counting, fearing even a slight speed-up might cut short the time for Du Yinsui and the others to return safely. Sometimes, she deliberately slowed down, worried she had counted too fast.

In the nearby forest, wrapped in deeper darkness, Kong Yan’er also suffered. She had to keep imagining Du Yinsui slitting her throat, gutting her, and other awful deaths just to stop herself from running away.

Three hundred counts felt terribly long, long enough for their tears to wash away the blood on their faces. But three hundred counts also felt short.

After Du Yinsui hid all traces along their path, she threw the things taken from the two guards into a stream flowing into the river, where the water was deep and full of fish. They washed off the bloodstains, rubbed some unknown herbal juice from Du Yinsui’s bag on themselves, hurried back to camp near the donkey cart, and put their shackles back on. Not long after, they heard a woman’s scream from the forest.

Since they had been taken far into the woods, the scream sounded faint at first because of the distance. But as time passed, the cries grew louder and more frightening.

The eerie wails made Jiang Wu, who knew what was happening, nervously clutch his clothing, even wondering if they had met real wild animals instead of following the plan.

Du Yinsui had just sat down and hadn’t drunk any water yet when she felt someone tugging at her clothes. "If they come back and say what we agreed, they’ll be fine," Du Yinsui reassured before drinking.

"Ew… uh…" The little one had crawled over and pressed a sticky substance with one hand. Holding it up—yellowish-green and gooey—the little one stared in shock at Du Yinsui. "Poop?"

"It’s herbal juice…" Du Yinsui wiped what the little one had smeared back onto her own clothes with a frown, then asked Qin Chongli, near the fire, to pass a burning stick.

Jiang Wu took the stick and carefully heated the spots where they had applied the juice.

"It removes smells, like we brushed against something on the road this afternoon. Don’t worry, they won’t find us," Du Yinsui said, spreading her clothes to dry.

Jiang Wu nodded, as if never concerned.

The herbal juice quickly dried into ugly marks under the fire’s heat.

By then, the two screams, growing louder and not stopping, had woken everyone in camp. They finally reached the forest’s edge.

The women didn’t come out from the same spot but burst out almost at the same time from two different parts of the woods.

Most people in camp guessed it was another refugee attack, since the guards hadn’t made such awful cries when taking others before.

At Xu Lv’s shout, most guards protected his carriage. Two guards, holding torches, moved toward the women running from the forest.

When they saw the bright red splashes on the women in the torchlight, they stopped, drew their blades, and yelled, "Stop!"

The guards were cowardly and disgusting, all acting together. Kong Yan’er thought this but hid it well, stopping as told and wailing about "dogs," "deadly bites," "help," and "so much blood." Her loud, messy sobs painted clear pictures for anyone listening.

Leaning against a tree while drinking, Du Yinsui thought Kong Yan’er deserved an acting award. Compared to the wild Kong Yan’er, Wei Huiqing’s tearful, trembling story was less dramatic but good enough.

The two guards soon understood the situation, but only after shackling the women to the tree did they relax a bit. After all, the women’s tale was just their word—the forest could hide real dangers.

Though Tan Wang wasn’t there, the apparent deaths of the two most troublesome prisoners made Zheng Yi more efficient. Xu Lv and Zheng Yi quickly agreed: with the forest uncertain, whether from beasts or traps, it was safer to check after dawn.

The dead were dead, and the living shouldn’t risk themselves further.

Du Yinsui wasn’t surprised by the guards’ ruthlessness disguised as prioritizing the greater good. But this was fine—even if those entrails hadn’t drifted far in a few hours, the river fish would’ve mostly consumed them by now.

Compared to uncovering the truth and avenging those two, the remaining guards probably just wanted to leave this place quickly.

As for Tan Wang… who knew what decision he’d make upon returning?

But it didn’t matter. Traces that could deceive even post-apocalyptic superhumans wouldn’t be deciphered by a mere guard captain.

Tan Wang couldn’t see clearly.

No—rather than failing to see, he refused to look at all.

Tan Wang returned at dawn.

Too much had happened that night, leaving many sleepless.

Heavy hoofbeats startled half the camp awake, while rustling noises roused the little one, who’d spent all night sniffing their hand to confirm whether it smelled of poop.

Thus, as the little one crawled away cautiously, Du Yinsui awoke too.

From afar, Tan Wang’s agitation, anguish, and overwhelming hatred struck Du Yinsui sharply.

Could Tan Wang—who often clashed with those two—have shared an unexpected bond with them?

Du Yinsui sat up, listening intently, but soon realized her mistake.

Zheng Yi had only just begun recounting how Zhao Qi and others dragged people into the woods last night; the later events remained untold.

So… had something happened to Tan Wang while he was away?

Du Yinsui cared nothing for Tan Wang’s private affairs but focused on his shifting emotions as Zheng Yi spoke.

Rage… helplessness… shock…

Hmm. These were normal reactions for a guard captain.

Yet these emotional scents were faint—utterly insignificant compared to that anguish and all-consuming hatred.

An unstable leader spelled trouble.

Du Yinsui glanced worriedly at Jiang Wu, who’d just woken and nuzzled his pillow.

Just then, Zheng Yi finished recounting the night’s events. After a long silence, Tan Wang spoke—not about the two dead men, but:

"Wanxing is dead. Xu Lv will join her in the grave."

Du Yinsui: "…"

Perfect. One captain gone mad, another as good as dead.