WNST - 101

Time passed, but the anticipated twist never came.

No one barged in, no one interrupted this stalemate. Everything seemed to be heading toward the worst possible outcome.

Nan Yi realized that Xie Queshan was prepared to sacrifice himself. The instructions he gave Zhang Yue before sending him back were probably only to protect Song Muchuan. He had left no way out for himself.

But she couldn’t just stand by and watch him die.

A shocking thought came to Nan Yi’s mind.

She had to kill Hu Sha before Xie Queshan could act. As long as Hu Sha was assassinated in front of everyone, Xie Queshan and Song Muchuan could remain completely uninvolved.

But right now, all she had was the sleeve arrow.

The distance was a bit far. She wanted to aim at Hu Sha, but the crosshair kept wavering. Coupled with her nervousness and urgency, her hand trembled slightly, uncontrollably.

She wasn’t sure if she could kill him.

If she couldn’t deliver a fatal strike in one shot, it would alert the enemy, and the entire plan would collapse, taking away Xie Queshan’s opportunity to act as well.

Did she really have to take this shot?

This time, she wasn’t part of Xie Queshan’s plan. The decision was entirely hers. In the past, when it was only her personal safety on the line, she would simply leave it up to fate, throwing herself into action without hesitation. But now, her success or failure directly impacted Xie Queshan’s life—and perhaps an even larger outcome.

The weight of having to succeed crushed down on her shoulders all at once.

Suddenly, someone embraced her from behind, one hand steadying her arm, the other placing a crossbow into her hands.

It was the crossbow of the Qi soldiers, its arrows sharper and more powerful.

“You’ve got to use their weapons, or it’ll be too easy to trace back,” came a teasing whisper from behind her.

Startled, Nan Yi turned her head, only to see Zhang Yuehui. His demeanor was relaxed, as if he were merely here for amusement.

His arrival startled her momentarily, but it also brought her an inexplicable sense of reassurance.

She gave him a slight nod without speaking further, then turned back and focused on raising the crossbow.

In the darkness, Zhang Yuehui studied her closely. Her features were familiar yet unfamiliar. When had she transformed into such a resolute and decisive warrior?

Nan Yi steadied her aim and pulled the trigger.

With a whoosh, the arrow shot through the air toward Hu Sha. A split second later, there was a sickening thud—the sound of metal tearing through flesh.

It struck directly at his throat, piercing straight through.

In an instant, the situation flipped.

Hu Sha’s eyes widened, still unable to comprehend how he had lost. He had been so close to victory. He wanted to curse, but no sound came from his throat.

He fell to the ground, eyes open in death, unyielding.

The moment the arrow was loosed, Nan Yi and Zhang Yuehui’s position was exposed.

Hearing the commotion, Xie Queshan looked up toward the rooftop in surprise and vaguely saw two silhouettes. By then, the ambushing soldiers in the courtyard had also reacted.

“Assassins!”

Arrows rained toward the rooftop like a storm.

“Run!”

Zhang Yuehui grabbed Nan Yi and leapt to the side.

Hu Sha’s death plunged everything into chaos. As the highest-ranking officer present, Xie Queshan quickly took control of the situation, turning defense into offense.

“General Hu Sha has been assassinated. I will take over the shipyard division. Leave a team to guard the scene, and the rest, follow me!”

Before leaving, he grabbed Song Muchuan and roughly tied him to a pillar.

“Don’t do anything,” Xie Queshan warned Song Muchuan in a low voice as he leaned in.

Then, stepping back, he instructed the guards, “Mr. Song is a key witness. Keep a close watch on him.”

With that, Xie Queshan led his men away.

Song Muchuan stared at his departing figure, his expression complex.

Zhang Yuehui and Nan Yi leapt across the rooftops, pursued by the Qi soldiers, running in a panic.

They eventually stumbled into a courtyard, accidentally knocking over a flowerpot.

The sound shattered the stillness of the night, triggering a chorus of barking dogs.

Nan Yi tried to get up and run but noticed that Zhang Yuehui was moving sluggishly. Her gaze shifted downward and saw that an arrow had struck him in the abdomen. Blood was seeping through his fingers, which were pressed against the wound.

It must have been excruciating. Zhang Yuehui’s face was contorted in pain, yet his voice remained unnervingly lighthearted, even managing a strained smile.

“Go ahead without me. I’ll figure something out.”

Nan Yi’s heart raced with anxiety. She glared at him.

“You talk too much!”

She grabbed his arm, slung it over her shoulder, and supported him as they stumbled forward.

Before they could reach the courtyard gate, a creaking sound came from behind them.

Both Zhang Yuehui and Nan Yi froze and slowly turned around. The noise had awakened the homeowner, who now stood staring at them in shock.

Outside the courtyard, the flickering glow of torches approached as Qi soldiers closed in.

A voice rang out, “The assassins from the Bingzhu Division are in that area! Search over there!”

Zhang Yuehui’s expression hardened. He flicked a mechanism on his silver ring, and a blade popped out. He spoke in a voice only Nan Yi could hear.

“Don’t let him make a sound.”

Nan Yi hesitated—this was just an ordinary civilian.

She glanced up and noticed curious faces peering out of the windows of neighboring houses. This was bad. Too many people had seen them.

The homeowner suddenly averted his gaze, pretending not to see them, and shouted loudly, “The soldiers are searching for assassins! Quickly, help the military find the Bingzhu Division’s assassins!”

At the same time, he gestured toward a small back alley with his hand.

Zhang Yuehui still looked wary, but Nan Yi immediately dragged him toward the back gate.

The homeowner’s shout stirred the neighborhood into action, like a pebble dropped into a still pond. Several nearby residents lit their lamps and stepped outside, creating confusion as they joined in shouting, “Find the assassins!”

At first, it was just a few people. Soon, every household had opened their doors.

Nan Yi and Zhang Yuehui glanced back. The street now glimmered with the light of countless torches, forming a river of stars that stretched across the neighborhood. Unarmed civilians flooded the streets, blocking the pursuing Qi soldiers.

Everyone knew something had happened at the shipyard tonight—something involving the Bingzhu Division.

And everyone understood: anyone being hunted by the Qi soldiers must be a righteous hero worth protecting.

For the common folk, the Bingzhu Division wasn’t a tangible entity. It was more like a story passed around during idle conversations. If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn’t have believed that, in these turbulent times, there were people silently carrying such a heavy burden.

Yet the very people they were protecting—the ordinary citizens—were their strongest defense. Though ignorant and powerless, often huddling together in fear, they were the walls of this land.

Nan Yi and Zhang Yuehui turned their backs on the crowd and stumbled onto an increasingly dark path, trudging forward step by step.

At Huachao Pavilion.

Even after returning to his own turf, Zhang Yuehui didn’t alert too many people. He only summoned his trusted aides to treat his wound. Nan Yi noticed that he had inexplicably become much quieter.

Gone was his teasing banter and carefree laughter. He merely frowned and groaned softly.

When the arrow was pulled out, it tore away flesh with it. The sight made even the onlookers’ stomachs churn. Nan Yi suddenly remembered that Zhang Yuehui had always been particularly sensitive to pain. Even a small cut would leave him grimacing. Yet now, despite the depth of the wound, he didn’t cry out. He even seemed... pensive.

Watching his transformation, Nan Yi thought back to the past. It felt distant, yet somehow within reach. Inevitably, her thoughts turned to Xie Queshan. The fleeting calm of this moment left her restless.

She wanted to ask Zhang Yuehui something but held back, cautious in front of others.

After his wound was bandaged, Zhang Yuehui gave an order.

“Take some men and check the area outside the neighborhood. Clean up the aftermath. Someone saw my face—make sure they keep quiet.”

“Yes,” the aide replied.

Nan Yi’s heart sank. “You’re not thinking of silencing them, are you?”

Zhang Yuehui gave her an exasperated look.

“Right. Let’s just kill all those nosy commoners. They must have too much time on their hands to meddle in other people’s business.”

Nan Yi caught the sarcasm in his tone and relaxed slightly. “If it weren’t for those kind people helping us, we wouldn’t have escaped so smoothly.”

“They’re too nosy,” Zhang Yuehui grumbled.

He suddenly felt irritated. He had always thought that the people of this land were as foolish as their king. Yet now, those very same people had saved him.

It felt like he owed an enormous debt.

This grudge had suddenly become impossible to untangle.

Nan Yi twitched the corner of her mouth, wanting badly to scold him for being ungrateful, but she also vaguely sensed that he didn’t mean what he said. He had always been a contrary person. Now that she needed his help, she decided not to press the matter. Instead, she handed him a cup of tea obsequiously and finally asked the question that had been worrying her:

“Thanks for tonight… but were the tasks he assigned completed smoothly?”

Zhang Yuehui cast her a mournful glance. As expected, her thoughts were still entirely on Xie Que Shan. He didn’t want to reveal any signs of jealousy, so when he spoke, his tone was laced with sarcasm, and his expression exaggeratedly theatrical.

“I told you not to run around recklessly. Otherwise, it could’ve gone even more smoothly.”

“What do you mean?” Nan Yi tensed up immediately.

“He followed the plan to his death. Song Muchuan was saved without a hitch—” Zhang Yuehui let out a long sigh. “That guy has incredible luck. He was practically at death’s door, but you managed to pull him back.”

Zhang Yuehui had known that Xie Que Shan was heading toward his death. Time was tight, and there was no way to stop him. He could only focus on carrying out what was indicated on the slip of paper. Besides, even if he’d had the time, why would he try to stop him?

He wished Xie Que Shan dead.

And yet, for some inexplicable reason, he still went to the Bingtian Division. He hadn’t expected that Nan Yi, through some method he couldn’t fathom, had also snuck in and recklessly attempted to kill Hu Sha. They were all crazy, leaving him to clean up the mess.

His martial skills weren’t great, but he had a body full of custom-made concealed weapons. Dealing with one or two Qi soldiers and snatching a crossbow wasn’t an issue.

He didn’t want her to lose. Fortunately, their first time working together had yielded decent results—though the real beneficiary was Xie Que Shan.

Even after surviving the ordeal, Nan Yi’s chest still felt like it had been struck hard. A dull ache spread through her. If they’d been even slightly off, would all of them have perished?

She shuddered at the thought for a while before pressing on. “What did he mean by a ‘loose end’? What’s that about?”

“On the night of the mountain explosion, Hu Sha’s men all died in the tunnels. But one survivor escaped—whom I found.”

Nan Yi thought for a moment and immediately frowned. “So, Hu Sha’s suspicions about the Yu City army were orchestrated by you?”

“Well, this matter is actually…”

Zhang Yuehui felt a little guilty and tried to defend himself, but Nan Yi was no longer concerned with the details. She quickly latched onto a thread of logic amidst the chaos and cut off his excuses.

“Xie Que Shan guessed it too, didn’t he? He knew you had this leverage but never called you out because he wanted to use you to accomplish something?”

“Only by letting Hu Sha latch onto this thread and cause trouble could we take down Wanyan Jun,” Zhang Yuehui admitted honestly, realizing he couldn’t fool her anymore. “If you had to pick between Hu Sha and Wanyan Jun as an opponent, anyone would choose Hu Sha.”

Nan Yi didn’t have time to scold Zhang Yuehui, because Song Muchuan had been planning the same thing. Everyone had their own agendas in this game, but the outcomes aligned.

The wildcard was that no one had expected Hu Sha to suddenly get hit with a jackpot of critical intelligence.

All the plans had been disrupted.

“But what does this loose end have to do with saving Song Muchuan?”

“The key to saving Song Muchuan wasn’t about him or how to save him, but about who suspects him—who wants to kill him. Once that person is dealt with, the problem becomes much easier.”

“But even though Hu Sha is dead, the leads he uncovered won’t disappear. We’ve only bought ourselves time; we can’t truly deceive everyone forever.”

“Which is why we need to bring back Hu Sha’s rival and have him discredit all of Hu Sha’s findings.”

Nan Yi’s mouth opened slightly, unsure. “You’re saying… to get the loose end to defect?”

Zhang Yuehui nodded. Now that the conversation had shifted to his area of expertise, a cunning smile appeared on his face.

“Everything in this world has a price.”