"My lord—" A soldier bravely stepped forward, intending to grab Deputy General Lin. Faintly behind, there seed to be a cliff; Deputy General Lin in such a state was bound to fall off.
But before the soldier’s hand could touch Deputy General Lin, Deputy General Lin had already shouted loudly, swinging his sword directly at the soldier. The soldier, unprepared, was struck directly on the shoulder by the sword, and scread in agony as blood sprayed from his shoulder. Deputy General Lin showed no signs of stopping, as the second and third strikes of his sword imdiately followed.
"My lord—" Two other soldiers quickly caught up. In the darkness, they could only see vague shadows; just two steps forward, sothing hot splashed on their faces. One soldier reached out to touch it, and the sweet and tallic taste suddenly made them realize what it was...
As another soldier reached out, suddenly feeling sothing flying toward him, he instinctively reached out to catch it. The next mont, warm liquid flowed from the object in his hand. Touching it, he realized it was an ear, and imdiately scread, throwing the object away.
"Murder, murder, help—" The images flashing before the soldier’s eyes were of bandits breaking into his ho, and he imdiately charged at Deputy General Lin.
Suddenly, the scene was thrown into chaos, with cries of "Fire—" and "Robbery—"
The next mont, all sounds were drowned in the darkness, leaving no trace of noise.
In the midst of the night, the troop slowly advanced, only the sound of marching feet being heard. They only waited for the mont of dawn when a streak of light pierced the darkness, scattering golden light; the troop suddenly stopped.
"General, General—" A soldier rushed over, his face displaying indescribable panic, shouting from the front to the back of the column. All the soldiers looked exhausted, just as they were about to pass through the last mountain road and reach the other side where they could rest as a group.
But clearly, sothing had gone wrong, and everyone halted.
General Wen Sheng, at the rear of the column, sat on his horse, faintly seeing the hurried soldier approaching. Behind that soldier, several more hurriedly followed, a situation that looked extraordinarily eerie.
"General, up ahead..." The soldier imdiately knelt before General Wen Sheng’s horse, falling to his knees with a thud.
General Wen Sheng’s face remained composed.
"What has happened up front?" At that mont, General Wen Sheng had not realized what serious event might have occurred. After all, the troop had been moving smoothly and cohesively; if there was any disturbance up front, there would surely have been so noise. Moreover, their column was almost out of Heavenly Gorge; even if there were ambushers, they surely would not have struck by then. So, General Wen Sheng’s first thought was that this soldier, appearing out of nowhere, lacked brains and was disturbing the military’s heart.
"General, they, they’ve disappeared—" the soldier said in panic, lacking much knowledge and unable to describe what he saw, he could only tell the blunt truth.
"What has disappeared?" General Wen Sheng frowned.
"They really vanished, our comrades in the camp—" the soldier panted, pointing ahead. He had originally been in the front camp, but suddenly had a call of nature; he was lagging far behind after relieving himself and when he returned, he couldn’t catch up. Then, he found that the troops ahead had disappeared.
As the soldier spoke, the nearby soldiers visibly tensed up. Was this an ambush? But why hadn’t they heard any noise?
"Soone, drag this troublemaker away and deal with him on the spot—" General Wen Sheng waved his horsewhip.
"General, General, spare my life, they really disappeared—" The soldier cried out, looking frantic. He had sought Deputy General Lin, Deputy General Yu, but could not find them, and had thus headed to the rear of the column, when he realized that sothing major had occurred.
"General—"
"General—" Before the matter could be resolved, a wave of panicky voices ca from the part of the column that had reached the fog. Only then did they discover that ahead there were no allies visible, and they quickly turned back to report.
General Wen Sheng frowned but raised his hand to stop his subordinates from dragging away the soldier who had spoken earlier.
"General, all the soldiers from our forward camps have disappeared," the soldier imdiately reported.
Wen Sheng was startled, as if he had heard sothing incredible. He was frozen for a mont, unsure of what to ask.
Wen Sheng glanced ahead, his soldiers stretched to the horizon, a group of about two hundred n.
He had arranged for Deputy General Lin to lead, with Deputy Generals Yu and Li in the middle, and himself covering the rear. The night had been calm, not a sound; what could have happened? What did it an they had all disappeared?
"Bring Deputy General Lin, Deputy General Yu to see ," ordered Wen Sheng imdiately, a trace of agitation in his heart.
The soldier faltered, hesitantly glancing at his general, wondering if the General had misunderstood.
"General, Deputy General Lin, Deputy General Yu, they have all vanished. We sent n to scout back and forth, but there’s none of our troops," the soldier said promptly.
Upon hearing this, Wen Sheng swiftly dismounted and grasped the speaking soldier.
"Explain the situation again. What do you an they all disappeared?" Wen Sheng realized the implication of the soldier’s words, but also wondered if they might have entered the woods ahead, hence becoming out of sight.
"General, just a few hundred ters ahead is the Heavenly Gorge. There’s nothing obstructing the view there. With so many of us, it isn’t possible to hide them all. I specially sent people to inspect the base of the mountain; it’s flat, with no fires, our n... our n..."
At that, Wen Sheng imdiately released the man he was holding and moved ahead.
"Ahead, your n have checked already?" Wen Sheng asked as he walked, his subordinate promptly responded.
Suddenly, Wen Sheng stopped, eyeing the mountain trail ahead as his eyes grew darker. He did not proceed further.
"Send out orders—deploy two teams to investigate ahead; report imdiately if they find any clues. Command the troops to halt, recount their numbers, and regroup for reinforcent. We’ll move at daybreak," Wen Sheng felt an ominous sensation, his arms trembling at his sides. He realized that sothing bizarre must have happened—sothing beyond belief, and if it truly had occurred, it was beyond their ability to resolve.
The soldier was startled and imdiately carried out the orders. The troops began retreating, and as a sliver of light turned brighter, the night receded, revealing the shape of the mountain peaks to everyone.
"Report to the General, the troops, we have only three hundred sixty-two people left, the others... the others..."
"Report to the General, we went to investigate, traveled nearly five miles, and saw none of our n."
"Report to the General, we have found, we have found..."
A soldier stumbled over, gasping with desperation as he spoke.
Wen Sheng imdiately turned to the speaking soldier, his spirit lifting as he took a step forward.
"Where? Why didn’t Deputy General Lin co with you?" Wen Sheng asked, imdiately noticing sothing was off with the soldier.
"General, they, they are all inside the gorge..." the speaking soldier trembled, pointing towards a not so deep ravine beside the mountain road, his face filled with nothing but fear.
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