Chapter 192 - The Supply Zone and the Missing Assassin
Yan Lie looked like he wanted to ask something.
His mouth had only just opened when Chen Feng leaned slightly closer and whispered, "Don’t ask questions."
Yan Lie closed his mouth. His expression turned grim.
The others also remained silent with impressive understanding. After seeing Su Bai talk peacefully with a Soul-Bloom Returnee, bring the enemy back, and kill the carrier before its bloom could fully erupt, they all felt that questions were dangerous.
Liu Meng, however, was different.
She looked at Su Bai with bright eyes and said sincerely, "As expected of Senior Brother."
The others glanced at her.
Somehow, after everything that had happened, those words sounded both correct and worrying.
Tang Ziyan looked at Su Bai from the side. "You are really good at acting. You can even deceive enemies like that. Were you a great liar in your past life?"
Su Bai almost choked. His steps paused for half a breath.
Fortunately, the Glacier-Lung Bone Mask hid most of his expression.
Tang Ziyan narrowed her eyes slightly. "Why did you stop?"
"The road is uneven."
Everyone looked at the road.
It was indeed uneven.
But somehow, that explanation made him look even more suspicious.
Su Bai decided that silence was safer.
"Let’s proceed."
No one exposed him.
The group continued along the old military path.
The first Layer One supply route was close.
In the ancient memories, soldiers had passed through this route quickly, carrying orders toward the second layer while support cultivators dragged wounded people back from the front.
Now, only broken stone remained.
Farther ahead, the silhouette of a ruin slowly appeared through the mist.
They had found the supply zone.
Su Bai slowed down.
A moment later, he stopped.
The others halted almost at once.
Zhuge Jing’s fan moved slightly. "Something?"
Su Bai did not answer immediately.
His spiritual sense spread forward and brushed across the entrance of the supply zone.
Almost immediately, he noticed what had been arranged near the gate.
There were threads. They were stretched between broken stones, cracked pillars, and half-collapsed walls.
Some were close to the ground, positioned to catch a foot. Some were higher, hidden in the blind spots where a person’s sleeve, shoulder, or weapon might touch them. Others did not look like traps at first glance, but Su Bai could feel faint spiritual fluctuations running along them.
Whoever placed them had not done so carelessly. The threads were arranged in layers, and each layer had a different purpose.
Tang Ziyan noticed them almost at the same time.
Her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Those are..."
She took half a step forward, then stopped herself.
"Tang Clan Threads."
The moment she said those words, realization spread through the group.
There was one person they had not seen until now.
Before anyone could say her name, something flashed from inside the supply gate.
Needles flew out. They were attached to threads so thin that they almost vanished in the red mist.
The needles did not fly in a straight line. They curved, shifted, and adjusted with the pull of the threads. They aimed not only at Su Bai but also at the people behind him.
Su Bai moved at once.
He did not dodge. If he dodged, the people behind him would have to deal with the needles.
His head tilted slightly, allowing one needle to pass beside his mask. His hand rose and caught one of the threads between two fingers. The thread was sharp enough to cut flesh, but his Qi wrapped around it before it could bite deeper.
He pulled.
"Eep!"
A small yelp came from inside the supply gate.
A slim figure was dragged out of the shadows.
For a brief moment, everyone saw her.
Her body was light, almost too light, and her movements had the strange softness of someone who had trained for years to leave no sound behind. A dark cloth covered most of her face, leaving only a pair of bright eyes visible.
Those eyes widened.
Before Su Bai could pull her completely out, the girl released the thread, twisted in midair, kicked lightly against the broken arch, and vanished back into the supply zone like a shadow slipping under a door.
The entire exchange lasted only a breath. But that was enough.
Tang Ziyan’s expression changed.
"Sisi, it’s me."
No answer came from inside.
The supply gate remained silent.
Tang Ziyan did not look surprised. Instead, a faint helplessness appeared in her eyes.
"She does not believe it."
Tang Ziyan raised her hand. A faint wisp of purple-black poisonous aura gathered around her fingers. It did not spread wildly. It moved with careful control, thin as smoke, and drifted toward the entrance of the supply zone.
The poison aura did not attack. It merely carried Tang Ziyan’s own trace.
The moment it passed through the gate, something inside shifted.
A soft sound echoed from the ruins.
This time, the voice was clear.
"Cousin?"
Tang Ziyan let out a breath.
"It’s me."
A shadow rushed out from the entrance.
The slim figure appeared again and threw herself into Tang Ziyan’s arms.
"Cousin! You’re real!"
Tang Ziyan froze.
Her entire body stiffened, as if she had been struck by a technique more dangerous than any miasma attack.
She was clearly not used to being hugged so suddenly. She withdrew her poisonous aura at once.
For a moment, her hands hovered awkwardly in the air.
Tang Ziyan’s expression softened despite herself. Her hands finally lowered and patted Tang Sisi’s back lightly.
"You’re alive."
"Of course I’m alive," Tang Sisi said. "I am very hard to kill."
The group looked at her.
At first glance, she did not look dangerous.
Her face was mostly covered by cloth, her frame was small, and her eyes were bright enough to look almost innocent. The damaged robe around her body made her look like a little thief who had just learned how to steal and had immediately chosen the most haunted place in the world as practice.
But no one present was foolish enough to trust that first glance.
The threads at the entrance had already proved enough.
The needles had proved more.
Even after being pulled out by Su Bai, she had escaped his grasp before touching the ground.
That was not the movement of a helpless girl.
That was an assassin of the Tang Clan.
Tang Sisi finally let go of Tang Ziyan and looked around. Her gaze passed over the group, pausing briefly on Su Bai, Zhuge Jing, Bai Zhi, Lin Weiyang, and the others. Her eyes were still bright, but the way she looked at people was not harmless at all.
She was counting positions, judging distance, and looking for exposed throats, loose sleeves, damaged barriers, and weak points in stance.
Su Bai noticed it.
The others slowly noticed it afterward.
Tang Sisi clasped Tang Ziyan’s sleeve and pulled her toward the supply zone entrance.
"Quick, come inside. The miasma outside is irritating."
The word "irritating" made several people’s expressions twitch.
Tang Ziyan allowed herself to be pulled for two steps, then turned back. "Let’s come in first."
The others followed carefully.
No one touched the threads.
Tang Sisi noticed that and seemed slightly disappointed.
Once they passed through the entrance, everyone finally saw the inside of the supply zone.
The first courtyard was filled with bodies.
Miasma beasts lay in twisted heaps near the walls. Human figures were pinned to broken pillars, collapsed beside crates, or hanging from nearly invisible threads stretched between beams.
Almost all of them had died before they could make too much noise.
The group fell silent.
Several people turned toward Tang Sisi at the same time.
Tang Sisi blinked at them.
"What?"
No one answered immediately.
The chill that ran through the group had nothing to do with the red mist outside.
The girl standing beside Tang Ziyan looked small, pale, and almost harmless.
The courtyard behind her disagreed.
Tang Sisi was fit to carry the Tang Clan name. No, she carried it very well.
She looked around the group once more, and only after confirming that none of them carried the wrong kind of aura did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"You are really alive," she muttered. "Good. I almost thought I was in trouble."
Chen Feng looked at the courtyard full of dead bodies.
Almost?
Tang Sisi’s gaze landed on Su Bai again.
This time, she stared for a breath longer.
"Brother Su?"
Su Bai nodded.
Tang Sisi tilted her head.
"What happened to your robes?"
The air froze.
Su Bai was currently wearing corrosion-resistant cloth wrapped around his body. It worked. It protected him. It was practical.
It also did not look like proper clothing.
Several people turned their eyes away.
Tang Ziyan’s shoulders trembled faintly.
Under the Glacier-Lung Bone Mask, Su Bai’s face turned grim.
Tang Sisi immediately sensed the atmosphere.
Her eyes curved innocently.
"Oh," she said. "So it is a painful topic."
Su Bai remained silent.
Tang Ziyan cleared her throat. "Sisi."
Tang Sisi nodded obediently. "I will not ask."
Liu Meng hurriedly stepped forward. "Sister Tang Sisi, are you injured?"
"No."
"Did the miasma enter your body?"
"A little tried."
"And?"
Tang Sisi’s eyes curved again. "It failed."
Tang Sisi quickly changed the topic before her cousin could scold her.
"It is good that you are all here. I almost thought I would have to stay here longer."
Zhuge Jing looked around the courtyard, then back at her. His tone was polite.
"Sister Tang Sisi, how did you get here? What happened to you?"
At those words, everyone’s attention returned to Tang Sisi.
Even Tang Ziyan looked at her seriously.
Tang Sisi scratched her head.
"Well..."
She glanced toward the deeper part of the supply zone.
"I stalked the enemies too far."
The group became quiet.