Chapter 379

Even if Su Qiao and the others reacted as quickly as possible, it would be impossible to escape within those few dozen breaths while asleep.

That is why Xu Chunming chose this seemingly most reckless decision.

"Enemy attack!"

The hidden sentry spotted the enemies rushing toward their encampment at high speed and immediately let out a sharp cry.

232, The Real and Fake Ma Kui!

The quiet encampment was instantly roused from its slumber!

The experienced Embroidered Uniform Guard immediately felt the vibrations of the ground.

"Enemy attack, hurry!"

The Embroidered Uniform Guard on alert quickly mounted their horses and made preparations for defense.

Others resting inside the other tents also hurriedly woke up, grabbed their Spring Brocade Blades, and ran out.

Only Su Qiao's tent remained pitch black, with not a single sound of movement.

Ma Kui arrived anxiously at the entrance of Su Qiao's tent and shouted inside, "Mr. Su, enemies are attacking suddenly; please come out quickly."

Not a single sound came from inside the tent.

Ma Kui did not seem surprised; instead, he appeared to be confirming something.

"Mr. Su, Mr. Su, if you don't answer, I'm coming in, alright?"

"..."

Listening carefully with his ear pressed close and hearing truly no sound, Ma Kui couldn't help but lift the curtain and walk inside.

Inside the pitch-black tent, there were no lights; Ma Kui, using the moonlight, vaguely saw two figures lying on the bed planks.

He moved slowly toward the bed planks, "Mr. Su?"

His voice was extremely faint and drifting.

But just at that moment, Su Qiao, who had not spoken a word until then, suddenly opened his mouth.

"Throw down your knife and don't move!"

Clack!

Ma Kui froze completely, standing still and daring not to move a muscle, only turning his head toward the direction the sound came from.

Su Qiao slowly walked out from the shadows.

Under the moonlight, Ma Kui saw what Su Qiao was holding in his hand, and his body froze even more rigidly.

"Mr. Su, there is an enemy attack outside; I came to remind you; you are..."

At this moment, Su Qiao was holding a repeating crossbow aimed directly at him.

The distance between the two was merely a few steps.

At such close range, if Su Qiao fired the crossbow bolt, he would have absolutely no way to dodge.

Moreover, the scabbard was still on the Spring Brocade Blade in his hand, the blade had not been drawn, and he had absolutely no way to quickly subdue Su Qiao.

Su Qiao let out a cold smile, looking at the "Ma Kui" before him and saying, "At this point, do you really think you can fool me?"

Hearing Su Qiao's words, the "Ma Kui's" face turned very ugly.

He did not know when he had been exposed or how he had been exposed.

"Can you tell me how you discovered I am not Ma Kui?" The "Ma Kui's" voice suddenly changed, becoming a strange, high-pitched male voice.

Su Qiao smiled and gestured for him to throw the knife onto the ground first.

Clatter!

The "Ma Kui" loosened his grip, and the Spring Brocade Blade fell to the ground.

"Your voice imitation was quite good, and the human-skin mask was made very realistically, but the one thing you failed to master about Ma Kui is that Ma Kui never talks much; he does whatever I say. If I don't ask, he almost never speaks, and he never asks questions even if he has doubts."

Su Qiao said this while smiling cheerfully at the person before him.

Hearing this, the "Ma Kui" was somewhat speechless; he truly never expected to slip up over such a detail.

"Then how did you see that I was wearing a human-skin mask?"

"This, well, originally I didn't see it either. I just heard about it, and combined with the slip-ups you revealed, it made me suspect Ma Kui had been replaced and that you were fake. Since I guessed you were fake, I definitely had to find a flaw, and afterwards, I noticed something was wrong."

Su Qiao did not hide anything and explained it directly to him.

The "Ma Kui" nodded. "No wonder our strategist said you were extraordinary; it seems I really was careless. However, the strategist has already attacked, and with only a dozen or so of you, you cannot stop us. You have still lost."

"Who told you I lost?" Looking at his smug expression, Su Qiao glanced at him sideways and said with mockery on his face.

"Hm?"

Could he possibly have some ability to turn the tables?

Su Qiao asked Liu Rushi, who was still hiding in the darkness, to continue watching him, while he himself found a rope and went forward to tie him up.

The "Ma Kui" had not noticed where Liu Rushi was hiding at all just now.

Only after Su Qiao moved did he notice Liu Rushi in the corner nearby, also holding a hand crossbow.

Although Su Qiao's strength was not great, his technique for tying people up was quite skilled.

After a few movements, the "Ma Kui" was bound tightly and securely.

The "Ma Kui" had originally thought that if Su Qiao didn't tie him securely enough, he could find a loophole and escape.

Who knew that after trying to struggle, it only got tighter.

"Come, let me see your true face."

Su Qiao felt around the back of his neck, and with a ripping sound, he peeled off the human-skin mask from his face.

A strange man's face was revealed before Su Qiao's eyes.

"Tsk tsk, how should I address you?"

"You can call me Night Owl!"

"Oh, it's a bird."

Su Qiao sighed.

Night Owl's face turned very ugly. "Our men have rushed over; aren't you worried?"

Su Qiao's behavior seemed rather off.

From the moment the Embroidered Uniform Guard sounded the enemy attack alarm and hoofbeats were heard until now, nearly a quarter of an hour had passed.

Why has the noise outside not only grown quieter but become even more silent?

Where are the strategist and the others?

Night Owl felt a vague bad premonition in his heart.

Upon hearing this, Su Qiao laughed heartily. "I truly don't know how your strategist sent you; it seems you really have no one left, if you can ask such a stupid question."

With Night Owl under control, Su Qiao's expression relaxed considerably.

Hearing this, Night Owl glared at Su Qiao. "A gentleman may be killed but not insulted. Though I, Night Owl, have become a prisoner, I am not someone you can insult at will!"

It seemed Night Owl was extremely angry.

"I am speaking the truth," Su Qiao said with an innocent face. "Think about it: since I could discover you were the fake Ma Kui, naturally I could also guess someone would try to strike at me. Just as you said before, once you reached Tianjin Wei, you would have no chance; this was your last opportunity."

"What arrangements did you make? We did not discover you moving any troops or detachments behind us."

Night Owl was somewhat dazed.

He indeed was not very good at using his brain; his only strength was his skill in disguise.

"Correct, there were indeed no movements behind us, mainly because I feared you would discover them. But just because movements behind were impossible does not mean movements ahead were impossible."

Su Qiao had originally intended to draw words out of Night Owl, simply because he looked like he had no brain.

But he truly had no brain and knew very little.

Su Qiao lost patience and called for someone to come in and drag Night Owl away to be detained.

"This subordinate greets the Imperial Envoy, my lord!"

Lin Pei, the Battalion Commander and deputy general of Tianjin Wei, seeing Su Qiao emerge, immediately respectfully clasped his hands and bowed.

Su Qiao stepped forward to help him up. "General Lin, there is no need for courtesy. This time, I must thank General Lin for your protection; otherwise, if it had been later, I truly might have fallen into their hands."

Su Qiao had long thought that his journey to Tianjin Wei would not be safe and that he might very likely be ambushed by people of the Bai Lianjiao.

Moving troops in Jingcheng would be easily discovered and would alert the enemy.

To lure the fish onto the hook, Su Qiao specifically had people go ahead to Tianjin Wei to summon reinforcements.

233, deliver the invitation!