Chapter 48: Chapter 48: What Was Thrown Was Nectar?
Tang Wen: "Let’s go find Commander Zhao!"
Zhou Bing gripped his hand back. "Commander Zhao should be on night watch. Let’s go find my uncle."
"Go straight to the General? Sister Bing, aren’t you worried my premonition is wrong?"
"This is a matter of life and death. What does it matter if you’re wrong?"
Zhou Bing pulled Tang Wen and ran straight for the house where General Zhou was resting.
As they were speaking with the Guard at the door, the lights inside the house came on. General Zhou was awake and told them to come in.
Tang Wen explained his premonition.
General Zhou mused, "This is the coal mining area, and it’s also the front line closest to Black Mountain Camp. We can just treat it as a drill for an ambush and wake everyone up. There’s no harm in... oh no!"
Before he could finish, his expression suddenly changed drastically, and he rushed out like the wind.
Tang Wen and Zhou Bing exchanged bewildered glances before quickly following him.
"WHOOSH—"
The sound of something cutting through the air came from the dark night sky.
"Night raid! It’s catapults!"
"Fire the Whistling Arrows! Hunting Teams, assemble!"
The shouts were deafening.
The entire camp was roused.
Then, to Tang Wen’s astonishment, General Zhou launched several fist-shaped shockwaves through the air.
Zhou Bing gripped her longspear, also wanting to intercept the things crashing down.
Tang Wen held her back, flicking a continuous stream of pebbles from his hands toward the sky.
Even if he couldn’t stop the rocks, he could at least alter their trajectory.
CRACK, CRACK
The sound of jars shattering rang out.
’What?’
’Weren’t those rocks being hurled from the sky?’
Tang Wen couldn’t believe his ears.
But in the next second, a liquid rained down from above.
The two of them quickly dodged, but it was impossible to avoid completely, and they were splattered.
’What is this stuff?’ Tang Wen’s sense of unease intensified.
A gust of night wind brought with it a cloying fragrance.
Zhou Bing lifted her arm and sniffed, her expression turning strange. "It seems to be flower honey. The scent is very strong."
Before she could finish, someone in the distance shouted:
"General, everyone, it’s flower honey! Those were jars flying through the sky, filled with flower honey!"
"What?"
"Why would it be flower honey?"
"Did those idiots get it wrong in the dark and launch flower honey instead of kerosene?"
"Impossible! The Black Mountain Ghosts aren’t that stupid!"
"..."
The mining area descended into chaos. The Hunting Teams were in better shape, as they rested together as a full unit at night. When they came out, they were surrounded by trusted comrades.
Being well-trained, they wouldn’t fall into the kind of chaos seen in ancient armies, where panicked soldiers would attack their own men during a night raid.
"Maintain a rotating watch! Half of you, find a way to get the flower honey scent off of you first."
"All regular miners in the area, according to emergency protocol, evacuate the mining area. Evacuate!"
General Zhou’s commands rang out. He stood at the front, facing the threat as if it were a formidable enemy.
RUMBLE!
The ground was shaking.
It was as if a mighty army was charging toward them.
Tang Wen and Zhou Bing looked at each other, seeing the same look of disbelief in the other’s eyes.
This was a mountainous region.
And across from them was a forest!
How could horses or any other mount possibly charge through a forest?
"Black Mountain Ghosts! Get out here!"
Commander Zhao, standing on high ground, let out a furious roar.
"SWISH SWISH SWISH"
The Archers from each team took up advantageous positions and began firing probing shots into the woods.
"ROAR!"
A tremendous roar.
Zhou Bing, who was in the middle of cleaning the flower honey off herself, felt her head spin and nearly collapsed.
The others were the same; those with less strength fell right to the ground.
"A Mutated Beast! It’s a Tyrant Bear!"
There was a tremor in Commander Zhao’s voice.
A Tyrant Bear, with strength equivalent to a General Level expert—its terrifying combat power was enough to make ten Hunting Teams despair!
After shouting, Commander Zhao snatched the Bow and Arrow from the person next to him and fired three arrows in quick succession at the tank-like silhouette!
"You beast! Come and get me!"
Commander Zhao drew his bow, fired, and leaped down from the high ground.
’A Tyrant Bear?’
Tang Wen frowned. Hearing the name and seeing Commander Zhao’s reaction, he knew this was trouble.
"You two, retreat first. Take the side paths straight back to the camp! The Black Mountain Ghosts are after you, too!"
In a flash, General Zhou crossed several dozen meters in a single step and appeared before them.
Tang Wen turned immediately, but Zhou Bing hesitated.
"This is an order. I will use you to draw away the pursuers! Run as fast as you can!"
Hearing this, Tang Wen’s expression changed again. He grabbed Zhou Bing and turned to flee.
Just as they ran out of the mining area, they faintly heard a voice echoing behind them: "All Hunting Team rookies, retreat immediately! Abandon the mining area! Abandon the mining area!"
’Has it really gotten this serious?’
The two exchanged a look, lowered their heads, and accelerated, their armor clanking.
"The main road we came on might be ambushed." The dense forest before them was pitch black, and Tang Wen felt a sense of unease.
"Let’s take a detour."
The sounds of battle erupted behind them. The pair left the main road that led straight to the camp and veered into the deeper parts of the forest.
They ran for several miles without stopping.
Zhou Bing’s face was pale. She stopped and waved a hand at Tang Wen. "You go on ahead. Go back to camp and get someone to pick me up."
Her injuries hadn’t fully healed, and her internal organs couldn’t take any more jarring.
"I’ll carry you!"
"We’re still far from the camp. You go first!"
The unease in Tang Wen’s heart hadn’t faded. There was no way he could leave her behind alone.
"Quick!" He insisted, pulling Zhou Bing’s hands and placing them on his shoulders.
"Alright." She knew Tang Wen had impressive stamina, so she didn’t argue further.
She proactively wrapped her legs around his waist, freeing up his hands.
She clung to Tang Wen’s back like an oversized koala.
Zhou Bing was a Martial Artist, all solid muscle, and with the added weight of her armor and longspear.
She weighed a good two hundred pounds.
Tang Wen hoisted her onto his back, but his speed didn’t decrease in the slightest as he continued to sprint.
Meanwhile, the people from Flame Camp had withdrawn from the mining area.
Commander Zhao was leading his men, barely managing to tie down the Tyrant Bear.
General Zhou was nowhere to be seen; he had likely gone to intercept the General from Black Mountain Camp.
The forces from Black Mountain Camp moved through the mining area and into the forest as if it were unguarded territory.
Two men were in the lead: a middle-aged man with a dull expression, and another man dressed as a Hunter.
The Hunter took a deep breath, then held it for half a minute before pointing in the direction Tang Wen and Zhou Bing had fled. "Among the people who ran this way, there’s a woman. The scent of flower honey on them is very strong."
The middle-aged man immediately waved a hand. "Go after them! If you find the target, send a signal."
"Understood." A group of six set off to track them in that direction.
"Let’s go. We’ll check the other areas."
There was still snow in the forest, and the ground was damp.
The pursuers followed the footprints on the ground, trailing far behind the pair.
"Something’s not right!" Tang Wen stopped abruptly.
"What is it?"
"I have a feeling someone is chasing us."
Zhou Bing turned her head to look at the ground. "Our footprints are too deep. Listen to me, you go on ahead. You’re fast. Go get reinforcements."
’Even if I’m fast, it won’t be in time.’ Tang Wen knew she didn’t want to slow him down and shook his head. "The danger isn’t that great. Should we try to set up an ambush?"
"It’s a bit risky. Why don’t we find a mountain path?"
"Okay." After speaking, Tang Wen observed his surroundings and suddenly noticed that the pine branches overhead were connected. "How about we try to throw them off first?"
"I’ll listen to you, but if it’s impossible, you have to leave first."
Tang Wen pretended he didn’t hear the last part. He had run for miles, yet he still didn’t feel tired.
Using both his hands and feet, he scrambled up a tree like an ape.
He stood on a thick branch, took a few deep breaths to steady himself, aimed, and then leaped with all his might, covering a distance of seven or eight meters.
THWACK!
The two of them simultaneously grabbed hold of a thick branch on another tree.
CREAK, CREAK, CREAK... The branch dipped sharply, groaning under the immense weight.
But at least it held.
"Whew!"
Zhou Bing breathed a sigh of relief, let go gently, and gripped Tang Wen’s shoulders.
"Can you still hold on?" The impact from the jump was much greater than from running.
"I’m fine."
"Good. Hold on tight!"
She didn’t say anything, silently tightening her arms and long legs around him.
After several more jumps, Tang Wen slightly changed direction, heading toward the mountainous terrain.
The ground in the mountains was hard and wouldn’t leave footprints easily.
Reaching a mountain path, they ran for a while before the sound of water reached their ears.
A frozen stream appeared before them, with water flowing slowly beneath the surface of the ice.
The mountain path was especially draining. Tang Wen stopped and found a nearby cave.
He walked into the cave with Zhou Bing on his back.
"The danger hasn’t passed?"
Tang Wen nodded. "The enemy probably has some means of Tracking. Smell this. We still have the faint scent of flower honey on us."
Both their armor and clothes were stained with flower honey.
After all that running, it had long since dried in the wind.
But the smell lingered and was difficult to get rid of.
"There’s water here, but no fire. Our clothes won’t dry after washing. Let’s just ditch the armor," Zhou Bing said, taking off her helmet.
"I have flint and steel. Sister Bing, you wash the scent off here. I’ll go back and lead them away."
Zhou Bing disagreed, but Tang Wen wouldn’t listen. He took off his armor, then tossed her the flint and steel and some brown sugar. "Wait for me for an hour."
"You... be extremely careful!"
Tang Wen strode back the way they came. His intuition told him that the pursuers behind them couldn’t be shaken. They had to be killed!
