Chapter 102: Spy Shadows

Nearly a hundred li east of Anlu County town, the land leaves the Jianghan Plain behind and enters the foothills of the Dabie and Tongbai Mountains. Across this stretch of low, rugged hills, countless elms, pines, and birches scatter and stand in silence like sentinels, their bark like ancient, coarse armor crawling with verdigris-green moss.

Shrubs and wildflowers grow in tangled profusion on the ground; nameless little blooms dot the landscape, giving off a faint, delicate fragrance that draws swarms of insects. A small squirrel crouches on a branch, gnawing nonstop at a plump pinecone, while the air, dappled with the lingering glow of sunset, rings now and then with a crisp birdcall…

Everything is so peaceful, so tranquil — until a gaunt man appears!

He vaults out from behind a huge fallen dead tree, landing heavily on the leaves and branches with a sharp crackle, shattering the stillness!

Birds startle into flight, insects scatter, and even the little squirrel drops its pinecone and shrinks back into its tree hollow.

After the gaunt man races past, everything seems to settle back into calm. Just as the squirrel pokes its head out to test the air, another figure comes charging through at full speed!

It is a red-scarved village headman carrying a crossbow — none other than Heifu!

No close-quarters combat, not a single word exchanged. After abandoning his horse and taking to the hills, Heifu has been chasing Ao through these woods in a game of hunter and hunted.

His eyes are locked dead ahead. Ao's figure is twenty or thirty paces in front of him — sometimes vanishing from sight, sometimes suddenly reappearing, flickering in and out of view. The man is an expert at fleeing, constantly ducking behind tree trunks so that the crossbow in Heifu's hands never manages to hit him.

At first, Heifu was wary of a counterattack from Ao, but although the man carries a worn bow on his back, he seems to have no arrows…

They climb a gentle slope and descend the other side; Heifu's legs slow and speed with the terrain. The ground is thick with roots and stones, and his cloth shoes are so thin that the soles of his feet ache from every jab. He has heard that some of the local Pu and Yue people in Nan Commandery can walk barefoot through the mountains as though on level ground — how do they manage it?

The woods ahead grow denser, the obstacles multiplying. Heifu can do nothing but let the branches whip at his cheeks. A twig snags his red scarf and leaves it hanging there like a conspicuous banner, but Heifu has no time to retrieve it.

The chase between the two men has lasted nearly a quarter of an hour. Just when Heifu is accidentally blocked by a startled elk and pauses for a moment, thinking he has lost Ao's trail again, he rounds a bend and suddenly spots him — Ao is pulling on an aerial root, trying to climb up a large banyan tree…

Was he planning to hide in the banyan and let Heifu stupidly keep running forward? Too bad his movements were a little too slow.

Heifu is overjoyed and immediately draws his sword and closes in — he has already shot all his crossbow bolts during the pursuit…

The banyan grows at the top of this earthen mound, with a deep gully right behind it; a fall would mean at least a broken leg. Ao seems to realize he has no way out. He turns around, takes the short knife from between his teeth, holds it across his chest, and watches Heifu's every move with cold composure.

No probing words are spoken. Both men know exactly what kind of opponent they face and dare not let their focus waver.

After a few breaths, Heifu is the first to swing his sword and advance — it clashes against Ao's knife!

Clang!

The sound of metal on metal startles away more small creatures and shows Heifu that Ao's strength is not great, but his footwork is extremely agile. His knife is short, putting him at a disadvantage in close-quarters combat, so he does not seek to attack when engaging Heifu; instead, he constantly dodges and retreats.

Heifu presses the reach advantage of his two-foot sword, slashing left and thrusting right, sealing off any chance of Ao escaping and driving him back steadily beneath the banyan…

Ao seems outmatched and soon has his back to the banyan, panting heavily. Heifu immediately raises his sword and thrusts fiercely!

Unexpectedly, at the critical moment, Ao parries Heifu's sword aside with his knife, throws his body sharply to the side, grabs hold of an inconspicuous banyan vine root, and yanks it hard!

Heifu feels something tighten deathly around his leg, and then a great force pulls him — he crashes backward onto the ground!

In the dazed moment of Heifu's fall, Ao keeps pulling on that tough vine root. Despite his slight build, his strength is considerable; just like that, Heifu is hoisted up by the foot, dangling upside down from a banyan branch!

…

"All my days hunting geese, and today the goose pecks out my eye!"

Right now, this is the only phrase Heifu can think of that perfectly captures his predicament.

He is now two feet off the ground, head down and feet up. Around his right ankle is a noose made from a banyan aerial root, now pulled tight into a dead knot.

A little snare like this would take no more than a moment to set for anyone familiar with the mountain woods. Heifu suddenly understands — Ao chose this place to fight precisely to trick him into the trap.

Heifu twists his head and sees his sword lying off to the side, out of arm's reach. But no need to panic yet — he still has a small paring knife tucked into the leg wraps on his calf. That is Heifu's last hope of getting free…

"Headman Heifu, don't move."

But Ao is also approaching Heifu with caution. That worn bow is now drawn, nocked with one of the crossbow bolts Heifu shot at him — Ao picked it up off the ground.

Heifu has no choice but to abandon his attempt to reach for the knife for now. He spreads his hands and looks at Ao. "You're going to kill me?"

Ao has a gaunt face and a small tuft of beard under his chin; he looks around twenty years old. Heifu had not expected him to be so young.

Ao keeps a careful distance of five paces. "To be honest with the Headman, if I don't kill you, I fear that once you're free, you'll keep hunting me. And then, I'm afraid I won't be so lucky again."

Heifu has no intention of begging for his life. He sighs. "Then do it."

He never imagined his transmigration career would end so quickly. Being a cop really is a high-risk profession. He should have played it safe earlier — so what if the man got away? At worst he'd take some punishment. Why did he have to chase so hard?

But Ao smiles again. "Yet Headman Heifu's reputation is such that even I must admire it somewhat. If I kill you, the world loses a stalwart man — would that not be a pity?"

"So, to be honest with the Headman, kill or not kill — I am still hesitating."

"You're a strange one."

Heifu looks at Ao. "Whether you kill me or not, can you first answer three questions of mine?"

Ao seems to know exactly what Heifu is planning, but he still nods. "Ask freely."

"First, who are you?"

"I am merely a minor scholar-official who fled from Chu, a hired farmhand scraping a living in Qin."

"Hah, Ao — at this point, drop the act."

Heifu finds it laughable. "I've heard a saying: a man of talent in this world is like an awl in a sack — its point will show at once! With your abilities, how could you possibly end up a fugitive? How could you spend over a year in Qin in total obscurity?"

True, a "dragon-slaying blade" like Han Xin, fit only to carve up the realm, might well fall on hard times in daily life.

But Ao is different. This man's stratagems, martial skill, and adaptability are all exceptionally quick. If an ordinary person had such talents, they would do well in either Chu or Qin. Ao must have some special reason for hiding himself among hired farmhands, avoiding all notice, only revealing himself when necessary and throwing the whole county into shock.

"Starting with that murder case, you laid meticulous plans, staying a step ahead of the authorities at every turn. The schemes you used faintly carry the art of war within them, and you led half the Qin officials of Anlu County around by the nose. In the end, you even used yourself as bait to lure us into chasing you. How could a man of such great wisdom and courage be a destitute hired farmhand without food or clothing?"

Heifu fixes his gaze dead on the most formidable opponent he has encountered since arriving in this era.

"If I'm not mistaken, Ao — you are, in all likelihood, a trained Chu spy on a mission!"

…

The bowstring in Ao's hand pulls taut, then relaxes again.

He sighs in admiration. "The Headman truly is a capable officer who has cracked major cases ever since taking office. Not only did you close in step by step and track me down, you even guessed my identity. I am impressed! You are right — I am a Chu spy, ordered to infiltrate Anlu County. I have lain low for over a year, and now that the intelligence I was sent to gather is confirmed, it is naturally time to return home and report!"

"So that's it!"

Heifu feels the blood rushing to his head; his fists clench tight.

"Second question. With your skills, you could have slipped away silently at any time. Why drag it out until now, and why insist on taking those other hired farmhands with you — even going so far as to use yourself as bait to buy time for six men who can't ride horses? Who are they? Chu agents as well?"

At this, a trace of shadow passes over Ao's face. "The Headman guesses wrong on that point. They are just ordinary commoners who could not survive in Chu."

"When I first infiltrated those Chu fugitives crossing the river, I used them to hide my identity. Only after coming to Qin did everyone discover that the fabled good life was not to be found. In Qin or in Chu, there is little difference. As stateless fugitives, to hope for equal treatment in a foreign land — how difficult that is. And so everyone came to regret it and wanted to flee back to Chu. It may not be much better there, but at least it is home, and they still have family there."

"Leaving by myself would not have been difficult, but if I abandoned them and it was discovered afterward, everyone would be implicated and sentenced to hard labor. Unwilling to let others suffer on my account, I planned to bribe the village gate warden to forge travel permits for us. Who would have thought he would go back on his word halfway through…"

This was the origin of the entire case.

"I was also not meticulous enough in my handling of it. I never expected the Warden of Blackwood Station would join the investigation. After the matter was exposed, I not only implicated everyone, but also implicated Lord Shi, who trusted me. I knew I could not save Lord Shi, so I could only rely on my own strength to give the Chu people traveling with me more chances to escape, and to ease the guilt in my heart. One who insisted on following me knew how to ride a horse, but unfortunately died. I can only hope the remaining six can reach Cloud Dream Marsh safely."

At this, Heifu was even more baffled: "Ao, you are truly a strange man. When you killed the village gate warden and the hunter's wife, you were ruthless and merciless. Yet when you set fire to the stable, you spared the stable hands and others, and didn't even burn the plow oxen — that seemed quite soft-hearted…"

"Furthermore, as a Chu spy, you should have prioritized completing your mission above all else, disregarding everything else. Yet to help the Chu fugitives escape together, you repeatedly courted danger. If you ask me, you are truly a Chu spy who adds legs to a snake at every turn — utterly baffling."

"The Warden even knows the Chu allusion about adding legs to a snake."

Having his weakness pointed out by Heifu, Ao seemed somewhat proud: "A Chu gentleman-scholar always conducts himself this way — there are things he will do, and things he will not."

"Warden Heifu, this is something you should be able to understand. I have heard that you once hardened your heart to bring over a hundred people from Blind Mountain to justice, yet to help an innocent Gongshi who had been wronged, you gave him four thousand coins for nothing. Is that not also soft-heartedness? It seems you are also a man who adds legs to a snake!"

Heifu was taken aback, then said self-deprecatingly: "True enough, I have also done many self-contradictory things."

At that moment, Ao seemed to have figured something out, and his expression relaxed: "Warden Heifu, I have thought it through. I still will not kill you. For one, my mother's clan are descendants of the Ruo'ao clan who migrated east. You captured the grave robbers who plundered the tomb of Dou Xin. The Ruo'ao clan owes you a debt of gratitude, and I am repaying it on their behalf. Secondly, there are truly few genuine gentlemen-scholars left in this world. If it lost you as well, would it not be even duller? Thirdly, although I am a Chu spy, and we each serve our own states and our own masters, killing you was never part of my mission."

"You even have ties to the Ruo'ao clan?" Heifu had never imagined there would be such a connection, but his words remained firm: "You won't avenge the captured Shi?"

"The Warden was merely fulfilling his duties as a Qin official. It is I who wronged Lord Shi and implicated him. If I were to seek revenge, I should cut my own throat to atone." Ao drew the line very clearly.

Heifu laughed heartily: "Then I truly must thank you for sparing my life. It's just that, Ao, you have once again done something that adds legs to a snake. You really are not a qualified Chu spy…"

"The Warden's reprimand is correct. As a spy, I am unqualified."

While deliberately exchanging useful and useless words with Ao, Heifu had not been idle. He had been constantly adjusting his body, turning his side toward Ao's eyes so that Ao could not see what his other hand was doing. Seizing the moment when Ao let his guard down, he quietly reached for the knife sharpener on his leg bindings…

Because he would never entrust his life to an enemy's mercy!

Two inches, one inch — his fingertip touched the iron ring on the knife handle. He had it!

Joy surged in Heifu's heart. However, just as he finally gripped the knife handle and began to slowly draw it out, the bowstring suddenly sounded!

"Twang!"

Ao, who just moments ago had been cheerfully listing reasons one, two, and three for not killing Heifu, had loosed an arrow — without the slightest hesitation.

"No!"

Heifu's pupils violently contracted in terror, and immediately after, a searing pain shot through his left calf!

Ao's archery was far superior to Heifu's. The arrow bored relentlessly into the flesh of his leg!

Heifu cried out in pain. The knife sharpener slipped from his hand and fell into the pile of leaves. He struggled and cursed: "Ao! Would a Chu gentleman-scholar go back on his word?"

Ao, having no more arrows in hand, put away his bow and laughed: "Warden Heifu, I do not intend to go back on my word. I am merely crippling one of your legs. Now that you are wounded, once you get down, tend to the wound and stop the bleeding properly. Do not continue pursuing me."

He looked up at the sun sinking in the west: "I also know your plan — deliberately stalling for time so your companions can arrive. This is no place for idle chat. Qin and Chu will likely be at war before long. On the battlefield, you and I may meet again! When that time comes, let us each greet the other with blade and spear. With that, I take my leave. Farewell!"

With these words, Ao slowly retreated backward. Only after he was more than ten paces away did he turn and break into a run.

"Hey!"

Ignoring the blood flowing from his leg, Heifu shouted toward Ao: "Is your name really Ao? Tell me your true name! If we meet on the battlefield in the future, I don't want to call you by the wrong one!"

"That's right. Ao is merely my alias."

Without looking back, his figure agile, he sprinted and whooped through the thickets bathed in the setting sun.

"Warden, remember it well! The one who spared your life today is a man of Chu — Zhongli Mei!"

PS: A big 4000-character chapter. Asking for recommendation votes.

(End of Chapter)