Chapter Forty-Seven: Trapped in Peril

“Quick, run!” The moment Su Bai heard the sound, he knew something was wrong. Without even turning his head, he barked a low command and sprinted straight toward Yanxing City.

Watching Su Bai rush past from behind, Wei Mingyuan stared at his back in confusion.

“Is that what an injured man looks like?”

After muttering to himself, Wei Mingyuan hurriedly followed Su Bai’s lead, fleeing toward Yanxing City as well.

But only after a few steps, he clearly saw Su Bai gasping for breath, beads of cold sweat streaming down his face. Wei Mingyuan’s eyes brightened—at last, the moment he’d been waiting for had arrived.

A wicked smile flashed across Wei Mingyuan’s face. He pressed down hard with his foot, and a stone landed precisely in Su Bai’s path.

“Ah!” Su Bai suddenly felt a weightless sensation beneath his feet.

His pupils dilated in an instant. “This is bad.” The next moment, he sprawled out helplessly.

“Ah!” A jagged stone lay right at his thigh, its sharp edge instantly destroying what little ability he had left to run.

As Su Bai panicked, Wei Mingyuan grabbed him in one swift motion, slinging him over his shoulder like a sack and adjusting his hold mid-run.

“Thanks,” Su Bai managed to say, struggling.

Wei Mingyuan remained silent, forging ahead without a word.

Luckily, Su Bai was too distracted by their pursuers to notice Wei Mingyuan entirely. Otherwise, he might have heard the pounding heartbeats echoing from his chest.

When Su Bai realized Wen Shanyuan was nowhere to be seen, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, he didn’t come. Otherwise, we’d really be finished.”

“Stop right there!” Their pursuer was none other than Wen Shanyuan’s subordinate—Jiang Hengyuan.

The shouts from behind made both men tense. Wei Mingyuan pushed his pace to the limit, but the gap between pursuers and pursued kept narrowing.

“What do we do, boss? These two disguised themselves so well we didn’t catch on before. At this distance, they’ll get away.” One of Jiang Hengyuan’s men said, chasing alongside him.

“No! I promised Deputy Wen I’d get them. If they hadn’t been discovered, fine, but now that we’re in pursuit, we must bring them back. Otherwise, none of us will escape blame from Deputy Wen.”

His advisor fell silent, unable to reply. Wen Shanyuan’s attention to these two was far beyond what anyone expected. Others thought he was making a fuss, but no one dared defy his orders.

“Hurry up and chase! We must deliver these two to Deputy Wen. Whoever captures them alive gets thirty taels of silver!” Jiang Hengyuan turned, channeling his inner strength, and shouted loudly.

“Yes, sir!”

With Jiang Hengyuan’s orders, their pursuers surged forward with renewed vigor.

Seeing their pursuers draw ever closer, Su Bai’s brow furrowed deeply, forming a knot of worry.

“They’re getting closer. Wei Mingyuan, carrying me, can’t outpace them. But I’ve just injured my left leg in that fall—what am I supposed to do now!”

At that critical moment, Wei Mingyuan slowed his pace, coughing incessantly as though stricken by decades-old tuberculosis.

“What’s wrong with you?” Su Bai had some suspicions but still asked, uncertain whether Wei Mingyuan’s poison was acting up at this very moment.

Wei Mingyuan, hearing Su Bai’s question, replied haltingly, “Give me the antidote… hurry… give it to me…”

The voice sounded both real and feigned, almost identical to the symptoms Su Bai had induced when he poisoned him.

“This…” Su Bai hesitated, but with the pursuers less than a hundred paces away, he pulled out the bottle of antidote from his pack.

Under his anxious gaze, Wei Mingyuan swallowed the antidote.

Instantly, Wei Mingyuan stood before him, reinvigorated—the contrast between his refreshed spirit and his previous weakness was stark.

Even a fool could see the antidote couldn’t work so quickly.

“You…” Before Wei Mingyuan could reveal his hand, Su Bai realized he’d been tricked.

“Heh, now that you’ve figured it out, farewell!” Wei Mingyuan finished, delivering a flying kick to Su Bai’s chest.

After days of rest, Su Bai was no longer someone Wei Mingyuan could bully easily. Though he lacked inner strength, dodging Wei Mingyuan’s kick was still effortless.

But even stalling him for a moment served Wei Mingyuan’s purpose.

As Su Bai stepped back to evade, Wei Mingyuan had already dashed toward Yanxing City’s gates, not forgetting to throw Su Bai a “death” gesture.

“Damn it! He actually tricked me! It was all a ruse!” Su Bai, seeing the pursuers closing in, wanted to shout after Wei Mingyuan.

The antidote he’d just given was only one of two—he had poisoned Wei Mingyuan with two different toxins.

But as he was about to call out, an arrow shot from behind. A chill crept up Su Bai’s spine, making him clamp his mouth shut and instinctively roll left, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow.

Trying to raise his head again to shout, another arrow pierced straight into his thigh.

“Ah!” Su Bai cried out in pain, swallowing his words once more.

Jiang Hengyuan, about two hundred meters behind, shouted, “Well done! There’ll be a heavy reward when we return!” He looked at the nameless soldier who had fired the shot.

The man, excited by the promise of reward, stopped chasing altogether, calling out, “Thank you, sir!”

Jiang Hengyuan paid no mind, his gaze fixed on Wei Mingyuan. He didn’t know why the boy had abandoned Su Bai, but that was beside the point.

Now, having left Su Bai behind, Wei Mingyuan moved even faster. There was no way to catch him.

When the group reached Su Bai and surrounded him, Jiang Hengyuan faced a dilemma.

Seeing Jiang Hengyuan’s troubled expression, his advisor approached and counseled, “Sir, you needn’t worry. The boy’s brother is in our hands—he’ll surely come to us. We just need to keep him in a conspicuous spot, and when he tries to rescue, we’ll capture them both. What do you think?”

Understanding at last, Jiang Hengyuan laughed heartily. “Excellent, excellent! A fine plan. Let’s lock up this boy in the left rear of our camp. All sentries must stay alert—not a single cooked duck will fly away!”

“Yes, sir!” The men responded solemnly, their cold eyes fixed on Su Bai.

Collapsed on the ground, Su Bai clutched his thigh, biting his lip, his gaze lingering in the direction where Wei Mingyuan had fled.

“This poison is a hidden move for future confrontations, but if he finds a skilled healer, it may lose its effect.” Su Bai withdrew his gaze, thinking to himself.

“Get up!” A soldier stepped forward and kicked Su Bai’s thigh, just half an inch from the arrow wound.

“Hiss—” Su Bai sucked in a breath, wanting to glare back, but remembering his predicament, quickly suppressed his anger, lowered his head, and propped himself up on one leg.

Another man, seeing Su Bai’s weakness, took advantage of his shaky stance and kicked him hard in the back, sending him sprawling.

Su Bai clenched his fists, then slowly relaxed them.

After a deep breath, he chose to climb up again as before.

“Haha! Look at this little thing, dragging his leg like a crippled dog!”

“Haha! That’s hilarious.”

“Hurry up!” Another man shoved him forcefully, almost making him stumble.

Ignoring their mockery, Su Bai calmed himself.

“If I endure this, things stay quiet. Trying to fight back now would only earn me a beating. If I add more injuries, even if I get a chance to escape later, I won’t have the strength.”

Seeing Su Bai silent and non-resistant, they lost interest in tormenting him, settling for a quiet trip back to camp.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Su Bai noticed the place was unlike any bandit camp he’d seen.

From the entrance, he saw sentries at both sides of the gate, squads patrolling in orderly fashion—nothing like the chaos expected of thieves.

Jiang Hengyuan produced his token, and only then did the gate slowly open. Su Bai and his group followed closely, never leaving Jiang Hengyuan’s side.

Su Bai glanced about, confirming his suspicions.

“From the leaders’ conversations, this must be a rebel stronghold.” Su Bai frowned, unsure how to proceed.

“Ordinary bandits are one thing, but rebels are far more disciplined and guarded. My chances of escaping alone are slim.”

When they reached a large tent, Jiang Hengyuan suddenly stopped and spoke solemnly to the others, “Lock this boy in the house on the right, and assign some sharp guards. Don’t let him escape, understood?”

“Yes, sir! We’ll handle it.”

Jiang Hengyuan glanced back at Su Bai, who instantly lowered his head, feigning fear.

“Good, keep watch on him.” Jiang Hengyuan nodded, then strode toward the main tent under everyone’s gaze.

“Move it, what are you staring at?” Without Jiang Hengyuan nearby, Su Bai’s status dropped further, but it didn’t stop him from observing the entire camp.

“It seems the rebel forces are far greater than just this small camp.” Su Bai felt a pang of disappointment.

As he pondered, his captors reached their destination.

“Get in there!” One of them kicked Su Bai to the door of what looked like a warehouse.

It was midsummer, with rain at its peak; the damp, gloomy air inside struck Su Bai, making him shiver.

“What are you waiting for? Get in!” The men behind him had no intention of letting Su Bai compose himself before “inviting” him in.

One produced a key and opened the door.

A piercing scream erupted.

Under Su Bai’s gaze, a blood-soaked woman burst out, trying desperately to break free despite the heavy guard.

But instead of warm sunshine, she met a ruthless kick.

“Ah!” Right in front of Su Bai, she was booted back inside.

The soldier spat vulgar insults, “Stupid woman, looks like you haven’t been fed enough here! Your useless husband hasn’t come to ransom you, guess you’ll die here.”

“Ah! Ah!” Her hoarse cries could not answer their taunts, only venting her pain.

Tears traced long lines down her face, too many to count, yet in the eyes of these men, it was a source of amusement.

“This is a world utterly devoid of compassion,” Su Bai thought silently.

“What are you daydreaming about? Get in there.” Someone grabbed Su Bai’s hair, tossing him inside as he grimaced in resistance.

“That crazy woman might do something to you—maybe tomorrow we’ll come to collect your corpse! Ha!” Their laughter echoed as they left.

Su Bai gazed at the woman, barely clinging to life, feeling torn, but finally walked toward her.

Yet the soldier’s words flickered through his mind, making him hesitate.

“Forget it, she’s just a weak woman—even if I take another arrow, I can handle her easily.” Su Bai tried to reassure himself, but another thought arose: “But even if she survives, her wounds will fester without timely treatment. Better leave her fate to chance.”

Thinking this, Su Bai sat back down.

Suddenly, the woman’s body convulsed violently, like a corpse in a horror film, startling Su Bai.

But as he watched, her convulsions stopped, and she lay still, as peaceful as a corpse beside him.

Su Bai reached out to check her carotid pulse.

When he touched that lifeless artery, his hand trembled.

“I… I’m sorry.” Su Bai took a deep breath, stammering out the words, his heart heavy.

The apology was not for the woman but for his own conscience.

He remembered how he’d once criticized those who watched others die without helping, condemning their morals. But now, he watched this woman die and did nothing.

He gently turned her body over, seeing bloodstains crisscrossing what had once been a graceful face, and eyes refusing to close even in death.

He fell silent.

Staring blankly for a long moment, he finally reached out and closed her eyelids. Then he turned toward the cold iron window, staring at the summer sun.

It was blinding, and somehow, it chilled him to the bone.