Chapter 863

Chapter 863 ‘Fire-eyed Nightingale’

“Be careful on your way.”

“Hmm.” After raising her hand in response, Lolan Hill walked into the night.

With no moon, visibility was low, and only the light from the braziers illuminated the surroundings clearly.

Lolan Hill held her sword scabbard with one hand and gripped the hilt with the other, slightly closing her eyes and listening intently to the sounds of the wind.

Although she was currently training in the War Sequence, the effects of her powers were still present, allowing her to keenly perceive many situations.

Uninvited guests had arrived around the camp, and there were more than one. The young lady carefully analyzed the faint sounds and fluctuations carried by the wind.

A silent advance of three agile figures could be seen as a three-dimensional map in her mind, each about 200 meters apart, advancing toward the camp in a crisscross pattern from a kilometer away.

They did not seem like bandits but rather assassins.

Watching their nimble movements, Lolan Hill speculated that these three were at the Sequence 4 level and had received good training, likely from some organization. They were not the kind of skilled fighters that bandits in the mountain area could produce.

Should she intervene?

She could certainly defeat them, but doing so would attract unusual attention, with a Sequence 4 easily overpowering three peers, which would draw the notice of others.

The young lady pondered while quickly advancing, her body slightly crouched, agilely weaving through the night.

Though not matching her unrestricted state, her speed now far exceeded that of ordinary Sequence 4s; perhaps only certain Sequence 5s skilled in speed could keep up.

In the darkness, a black-clad infiltrator felt a gust of wind sweep past, followed by a cold, sharp longsword descending upon him, causing his heart to race.

He hastily blocked with his short sword, his body suddenly kneeling, sliding sideways to avoid the blade that narrowly missed him.

No, he was still injured.

Though he wasn’t directly hit, a cut had been made across his shoulder, blood flowing down his arm into his sleeve and waist, the pain heightening his alertness.

In the darkness, the sword blade effortlessly turned, flashing several pale purple arcs before knocking his short sword away and causing a sudden sharp pain in his knee, rendering it numb.

By the time this infiltrator regained his senses and attempted to struggle to his feet, the figure who had attacked him had already left, disappearing into the woods on the other side.

She went towards my companions.

Watching the figure disappear into the forest, the infiltrator felt a surge of anxiety but was immobilized due to his leg injury, forced to kneel where he sat.

“Chirp—! (Danger, retreat)” A hurried birdcall echoed through the night.

Let the two far away know instantly.

Upon hearing this brief sound, the two infiltrators clearly stopped, then turned around decisively and fled in different directions.

Seeing the dark figure in front suddenly accelerate and vanish into the depths of the jungle with a jump, Lolan Hill had no choice but to give up.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t catch up, but she didn’t want to complicate matters further; her actions were already somewhat out of line.

She sheathed her sword and turned back towards the infiltrator who had signaled.

Stepping through the mountain forest shrouded in night, the grass and fallen leaves underfoot made faint sounds with each step, though not obvious, they were clear to the ear of the infiltrator.

He did not know who his opponent was or why they would suddenly ambush him here, but since the incident had occurred, he could only quickly think of a way to resolve it.

“Please wait,” he said as he covered his bleeding knee, seeing the unknown swordsman approaching through the darkness.

“Please allow me to explain; my strength falls far short of yours, you needn’t worry about me escaping or causing you harm,” he said, his mind extremely calm.

Immediately, the sound of a blade slicing through the air came from ahead, followed by a pale purple arc cutting across his cheek, the cold edge of danger brushing against the sweat on his skin, making him break into a cold sweat. But fortunately, the footsteps in the darkness finally stopped.

“Our actions this time were not specifically targeted at the Rentchen trade caravan; it was merely an accident and coincidence,” his heart pounded fiercely, and he could only try his best to explain, as whether he lived or died depended on whether the other party believed him.

“We mean no harm to the caravan; we merely wanted to use the caravan to achieve other goals. This time, we inadvertently clashed with you, sir,” he raised his hand, indicating his lack of resistance.

Seeing that the figure in the darkness did not respond, the infiltrator’s forehead began to sweat, his thoughts racing as he continued to explain.

“If you can spare me, I will return to report to my organization, and all future actions will avoid your Rentchen trade caravan, and I will keep this matter secret forever, as if nothing ever happened.”

“I swear, what I say is true. My organization, the ‘Fire-eyed Warbler,’ has always valued commitments and reputation, which is evident over the decades in the Southern Region.”

“You will gain our friendship if you let me go. We can provide you with intelligence, secrets that ordinary people cannot easily obtain.”

“This is my badge. You can use this to contact our organization,” he said as he slowly lowered his left hand, retrieving a small copper-colored badge from inside his collar and placing it gently on the ground. After doing so, the infiltrator kept his hands raised, waiting quietly.

He had done everything in his power; whether he would live or die now depended on the other party.

Go, let fate decide. At this moment, he slightly closed his eyes, his body trembling as he waited.

Lolan Hill stood in the darkness, quietly observing the man in the distance, constantly analyzing his words.

The Renqin Trade Caravan’s personnel were not strong, and the value of their goods was not high, indeed it would not attract such capable assassins to attack.

Although lying could not be completely ruled out, what this person said did have a high degree of credibility.

After a period of silence in the darkness, Lolan Hill slowly sheathed her sword.

Hearing the sound of the blade sliding back into its scabbard, the infiltrator finally relaxed, leaning on his hands on the ground.

“Thank you for your mercy, my lord.” He knelt down and thanked him, then carefully took out some medicine from his chest and applied it to his bleeding wound.

After quickly bandaging himself, he leaned against a tree trunk and slowly got up.

“You can take this badge to Ironhill City. There’s a bar called ‘Black Pig’ in the south of the city. Tell the bartender you want to drink something fiery yet icy. When the bartender asks you specifically what kind, secretly show him this badge, and he will understand.”

After saying this, he retreated slowly into the night.

Once the infiltrator had moved far away, Lolan Hill came to the meadow, looked at the badge lying among the grass, picked it up, and examined it slowly.

The badge was made in the shape of a nightingale using copper, with some special materials mixed in, making the copper surface appear dark red. Although it wasn’t very valuable, it made it difficult to replicate.

On the back, there was a string of numbers engraved, seemingly representing a special code.

“‘Fire-eye Nightingale,’ huh? Looks like I’ll need to ask around about this later.”

Lolan Hill put away the badge and headed back toward the camp.

Not long after, she returned to the campfire, where everyone had already finished eating the grilled fish. The bearded mercenary was drinking from a small iron can, the youth was cultivating his extraordinary sequence, another mercenary was whittling a wooden branch, seemingly preparing an arrow shaft.

“Back already? That patrol lasted quite a while.”

“Yeah, I went to the riverside midway through and tried fishing, but didn’t succeed,” the young lady shook her head and sat back by the campfire.

“Haha, that still depends on experience. Maybe if you brought a lantern, it would help a lot. Some fish swim towards the light, and you can just spear them with your sword.”

“I’ll teach you next time,” the uncle said heartily, slapping his chest armor loudly.

Under the night sky, they continued their patrols in turn until late into the night when the second group arrived to relieve them. The rest of the night passed peacefully, and gradually dawn broke.

(The End)