Ling Yi and Ling Er spent three days reaching Luoyue City. Judging by the speed of horseback travel in this world, Luoyue City was only two days away from the Imperial Capital.
The place where Tong Shuxue was currently staying belonged to Shangyang Prefecture and was only a day’s journey from Luoyue City.
Before Ling Yi and Ling Er even entered the city, several people dressed in black fitted clothing had already begun watching them. Although those people were not wearing silver masks, their clothing was identical to that of the masked men from before.
Ling Yi and Ling Er showed absolutely no mercy toward anyone with hostile intent. They lured those people to an isolated area and killed them directly.
Only after entering Luoyue City did they discover notices posted throughout the city announcing the wanted status of Tong Shuxue and Prince Ding. By the time Ling Yi and Ling Er returned that day, even the entrances of towns and villages outside the city were covered with wanted posters. Ling Yi had also photographed the notices.
The notices contained portraits of Tong Shuxue and Zhao Jingyuan. Even Ling Yi’s portrait was included. The people who escaped earlier truly had excellent memories and remarkable drawing skills—the portraits were seven-tenths accurate.
From the contents of the notices, Tong Shuxue finally learned that the War King from the prison cart on the first day was actually the Prince of Dingbei, named Zhao Jingyuan. His crime of exile was colluding with the enemy and treason.
The notices also declared Tong Shuxue to be a foreign spy and stated that Zhao Jingyuan had been rescued by that spy.
Tong Shuxue only wanted to curse.
What foreign spy? Spy my ass. Foreign country, yes—but who would care about this lousy ancient world?
The wanted posters were plastered everywhere, and War King had become the hottest topic among the common people inside and outside the city.
Zhao Jingyuan’s official title was Prince of Dingbei, but because of his undefeated military achievements, the people all referred to him as the War King.
What the common people discussed most in private was how brave and battle-hardened War King and his father, the former Prince of Dingbei, had been in defending the nation, as well as how many good deeds War King’s elder brother, Wise Prince, had done for the people over the years.
Most citizens doubted the crimes Emperor had pinned on the brothers. Some even hinted that War King’s achievements had overshadowed the ruler, causing Emperor to fear him and wish to reclaim his military authority. That was why such an irreversible accusation had been placed upon him.
Zhao Jingyuan’s father, the former Prince of Dingbei, had been assassinated while returning to the capital. Rumors claimed Emperor had also been behind that incident.
From Tong Shuxue’s understanding, ordinary civilians in an imperial society were completely suppressed by the nobility. Recklessly discussing Emperor was very likely a capital crime. Who would dare publicly discuss such matters with others?
For Ling Yi to have gathered so much information from the people’s conversations, there were only two possibilities. Either the citizens’ guesses were the truth and Emperor’s actions had already stirred public outrage, or someone was deliberately spreading rumors to guide public opinion.
And if someone truly was deliberately spreading rumors, anyone with half a brain could guess it was Zhao Jingyuan’s people.
Regardless of the truth, Tong Shuxue had no intention of getting involved. However, the wanted notices had effectively tied her to Zhao Jingyuan, and that made her extremely displeased.
She could only call herself unlucky. After all, she had landed directly on War King’s prison cart.
Since wanted notices could already be seen in Luoyue City, they would certainly appear elsewhere too. Finding a temporary place to recover from her injuries would not be easy.
Although she possessed ten all-purpose robots and could escape even if discovered, bloodshed would inevitably follow.
She was merely a scientist. She truly did not want to live a life of killing. She even wondered whether Emperor and his Feiyu Army might eventually forget about her if she hid quietly for several months.
The information Ling Yi and Ling Er gathered during their three-day trip was limited, but aside from the wanted notices, there was another very important matter.
To enter cities in this world, one had to present a document called a Travel Permit Document. Because Ling Yi and Ling Er wore yamen uniforms and carried yamen tokens, they had managed to enter the city smoothly.
The owners of those tokens were already dead, so unless absolutely necessary, it was best not to use them.
After reviewing all the information, Tong Shuxue made a decision. According to the map recorded by Ling Yi during the journey, there was a mountain range not far from here. However, its full extent was unknown because it exceeded Ling Yi’s scanning range.
“We’ll head this way and see if we can find a suitable temporary shelter in the mountains. I need time to recover from my injuries and recharge the chip’s energy.”
That direction happened to be the same route War King’s group had taken earlier.
While changing clothes, Tong Shuxue wondered whether War King might also have hidden in the mountains.
But after some thought, she felt that possibility was unlikely. War King’s injuries had looked severe. Without proper treatment, he probably would not survive long.
When she exited dimensional space once more, the sun had already set and the sky was dim.
Tong Shuxue moved two horses out of dimensional space. Ling Yi rode one horse together with Tong Shuxue, while Ling Er rode the other. The three of them headed toward their chosen destination.
After traveling only five or six minutes, forty to fifty people wielding longswords suddenly charged out from another road. Four of them wore masks, while the rest did not resemble ordinary yamen officers either.
Ling Yi and Ling Er immediately pulled the reins and stopped.
Tong Shuxue silently released the remaining eight robots from dimensional space.
The eight robots appeared out of thin air, startling the opposing group. When humans encountered something terrifying and unexpected, their instinctive reaction was avoidance. As though responding to a command, every single person stepped backward in unison.
One of the masked men shouted fearlessly, relying on their numbers.
“Capture that woman alive! The others can live or die—it doesn’t matter!”
Tong Shuxue responded without politeness.
“Kill them all. End this quickly.”
The moment her words fell, the eight robots instantly shifted their arms into submachine-gun mode. After a burst of rapid gunfire, a large portion of the people who had been standing there moments ago collapsed to the ground.
Some managed to dodge the bullets and rushed toward Tong Shuxue. Ling Er swiftly kicked aside anyone who got close.
Tong Shuxue herself had not handled firearms in a long time, but she was already holding a compact pistol in her hand. Before the man kicked away by Ling Er could even hit the ground, she shot him directly in the head.
She blew lightly at the barrel of the gun.
“This Major General’s marksmanship is still as accurate as ever.”
While raising his arm to shoot at approaching enemies, Ling Yi responded to her self-praise.
“Major General, if you still missed such a large target at this distance, you should return to the training grounds.”
Tong Shuxue paid no attention to Ling Yi’s sharp tongue.
“This Major General is only a delicate scientific researcher, not a special agent. Having this level of accuracy is already quite impressive.”
Cold weapons stood no chance against modern firearms. No matter how many enemies appeared, they were merely cannon fodder.
The four masked men had remained at the rear the entire time without even dismounting their horses. The moment they realized the situation was unfavorable, they turned their horses around and fled at full speed. All the unmasked men were completely wiped out.
None of those unmasked men carried anything that identified their affiliations, though quite a bit of broken silver was found on their bodies.
Six of them also carried several thumb-sized cylindrical objects. The outer casing was made of iron, and one end had a string resembling a fuse.
Tong Shuxue did not care what those objects were. She simply stored them into dimensional space together with the weapons and silver taken from the corpses.
After this interruption, the sky was nearly dark. By the time they reached the foot of the mountains, night had completely fallen.
Traveling into the mountains at night was inconvenient—not because of the roads, since the robots possessed night vision, but because of the possibility of snakes and insects hidden within the mountains.