Back in her room, Shen Zhiyao quickly drew the curtains. With a flash, she entered the space. The moment she got in, Baibai came running over excitedly, announcing that the system had issued a new mission.
“What mission?” Shen Zhiyao asked.
“Help Lu Sicheng capture enemy spies! And uncover a hidden agent as well.”
“Where are the enemy spies?”
“They’re hiding in the mountains! Don’t worry, I’ll help you locate them.”
Shen Zhiyao’s eyes lit up. “When do we leave? What do I need to prepare?”
Baibai replied, “Tonight. Besides Lu Sicheng, there’s also an educated youth named Sun Dayong. The two of them were ordered to capture the spies. They have to hide their identities as educated youths. The higher-ups gave them ten days—seven have already passed. This afternoon, Sun Dayong discovered some footprints left by the spies. Lu Sicheng has already made preparations and is about to set out.”
As soon as Baibai finished speaking, Shen Zhiyao vanished in a blur. She rushed to the weapons depot, muttering to herself as she picked through the options. In the end, she didn’t dare use firearms and chose only a dagger and a grappling hook, strapping the hook to her arm.
She quickly ate two buns for dinner and drank a large cup of spirit spring water. Her mental energy instantly surged to its peak.
Then she changed into a black, tight-fitting athletic outfit and put on a black face mask. She didn’t plan on letting Lu Sicheng know—there would be no way to explain it!
Once everything was ready, she left the space. Taking advantage of the night, she quietly opened the door and sprinted toward the back mountain.
Inside his room, Lu Sicheng paused mid-motion while wiping down his gun. He seemed to hear something. Opening the door a crack, he looked outside—but saw nothing.
Just then, three cuckoo calls sounded. It was time for him to move out.
After meeting up with Sun Dayong, Lu Sicheng instructed him, “These enemy agents all have guns. If they resist fiercely, you can shoot to kill—but not a single one can be allowed to escape!”
Meanwhile, Shen Zhiyao dared not use any lighting. Guided only by Baibai’s voice in her mind, she moved swiftly deeper into the mountains.
Lu Sicheng and Sun Dayong traveled in silence. When they reached the spot where Sun Dayong had discovered the footprints, they stopped to examine them briefly before continuing deeper.
“Yaoyao, Yaoyao,” Baibai said. “There’s a person about one thousand meters ahead. He has a knife but no firearms.”
“Got it. Prepare some rope for me—hemp rope.”
Shen Zhiyao sprinted forward at full speed. She found the largest tree, fired the grappling hook upward, and it embedded firmly into the trunk. With a light leap, she sprang up into the tree.
Below her, the enemy agent was looking around alertly, as if keeping watch. A blade of grass hung from his mouth as he hummed a little tune.
Shen Zhiyao quietly dropped down from the tree and rushed up behind him. Just as the man started to turn around, she struck him with a sharp chop to the neck, knocking him out cold. She pulled out the rope, bound him tightly, grabbed him by the clothes, dragged him forward, and with a heave tossed him onto the path Lu Sicheng would inevitably take.
“That was easy. Not even as tiring as collecting supplies,” she muttered.
Baibai’s voice sounded again. “There’s a hidden cave ahead. Three people are hiding inside. They have one pistol with ten bullets.”
Shen Zhiyao immediately became alert, thinking carefully about how to deal with them quietly.
On Lu Sicheng’s side, he and Sun Dayong spotted the bound man on the ground. They exchanged a glance and hurried over. Sun Dayong slapped the man’s face hard. When he opened his eyes and was about to shout, Sun Dayong reacted quickly and knocked him out again.
“Commander,” Sun Dayong said, “we won’t get anything out of him right now. If he shouts and alerts his companions, the mission will fail.”
What Lu Sicheng was really thinking was: Who tied him up here?
There was no time to dwell on it. Lu Sicheng ordered Sun Dayong to take the captive to rendezvous with the others and then come back to assist him. After that, Lu Sicheng ran forward alone.
By now, Shen Zhiyao had already entered the cave.
This was a naturally formed cave. It was cool inside, with animal hides and bones scattered across the ground. The men must have survived by hunting after hiding here.
There was firelight ahead—a campfire burned, and not far away lay three men, seemingly asleep.
Shen Zhiyao crept closer. “Baibai, who has the gun?”
“Two of them are R-nation people. One of them has it.”
What?! In this era, in a small mountain village in Sichuan Province, there were actually R-nation people? Their lives must have been too comfortable—coming here to cause trouble! Well, if they’d fallen into her hands, they were done for.
The blood of the Huaxia people surged within Shen Zhiyao, her eyes blazing as she stared at the three men on the ground.
One of them slowly woke up. “You—”
Before he could say another word, Shen Zhiyao slammed her fist straight into his nose. Blood immediately gushed out.
The other two woke up at the noise. One of them reached for a weapon.
Perfect—the gun was on you.
With a flick of her hand, Shen Zhiyao stored the weapon into her space. The man fumbled frantically but couldn’t find anything. Shen Zhiyao stepped forward and smashed her fist into his temple, knocking him down. Then she kicked the third man flying to the ground.
She walked over, pulled out her dagger, and stabbed one blade into each of his legs. Grabbing him by the collar, she pummeled his face, blow after blow, each landing solidly. Once he was beaten unconscious, she did the same to the man who had carried the gun—kicking him whenever her fists got tired.
Only after venting her anger did she bind the first man who had noticed her.
The two badly beaten R-nation men weren’t tied up—their legs were ruined. Escape was impossible.
At that moment, there was movement outside the cave. Baibai’s voice rang out, “Yaoyao, Lu Sicheng is here.”
Shen Zhiyao immediately flashed back into the space.
When Lu Sicheng approached and saw the scene, his pupils shrank. One man was tied up like a dead dog; the other two had blood pouring from their legs, their faces so swollen and bruised they were unrecognizable. The air was thick with the smell of blood, mixed with a faint, strange fragrance.
Lu Sicheng frowned deeply. He waited for Sun Dayong to return, marking the area outside the cave.
Back in the space, Shen Zhiyao headed straight to the bathroom to shower. She was splattered with blood.
“Ugh, disgusting!”
After washing up and changing clothes, she went to the kitchen and devoured a huge bowl of boiled pork slices. No help for it—she’d burned too much energy and was starving.
Before long, Sun Dayong returned with two other soldiers.
“Commander,” Sun Dayong said hurriedly, “the man woke up earlier. We questioned him briefly. At first, he wouldn’t say anything, but after some… methods, he spilled quite a bit. They fled deep into the mountains because someone here was helping them. They knew they were being hunted. The stolen documents are hidden on the person who’s helping them.”
“That person is an educated youth, right?” Lu Sicheng asked.
“How did you know?” Sun Dayong exclaimed. “Yes. An old educated youth who’s been here a long time. But we don’t know who it is—only the two Japanese know. Damn it, who beat these guys like this? Are they even alive?”
“No idea. The mission file said they had a gun and ten bullets. Now they’re gone.”
The group fell silent. A gun falling into civilian hands was no small matter.
Finally, Lu Sicheng broke the silence. “You take them back first. I’ll return to the educated youth point and continue undercover. Once you identify the collaborator, notify me. I’ll observe on my own as well.”
“Yes, sir!”
After they left, Baibai told Shen Zhiyao it was safe to come out. She quickly ran down the mountain. Halfway there, Baibai warned her that Lu Sicheng was ahead.
Shen Zhiyao immediately leapt into a tree to hide.
No joke, she thought. A soldier like him would definitely hear footsteps behind him.
Fifteen minutes later, Lu Sicheng had already descended the mountain. Only then did Shen Zhiyao jump down and head home.
When she closed her door, Lu Sicheng stood in his own room… and smiled faintly.