Pingzong truly didn’t know how to safely exit through the moat, but she knew that Tie Ci’s decision could not be changed. The three of them put on the waterproof gear from their backpacks and silently entered the water.
Swimming along the waterway for a while, they encountered a barrier. Pingzong used her Abyssal Iron sword to cut through it, and the three swam out to find their view suddenly opening up.
Tie Ci looked up and could vaguely see patches of tiny lights flickering in the sky through the water’s surface.
At first glance they looked like stars, but stars didn’t kill people.
Several figures suddenly swam toward them in the water, making hand signals from afar. Pingzong turned to look at Tie Ci and found her expression somewhat surprised, then she also made a hand signal.
The others came to pull the three of them, handing over breathing tubes—clearly they were acquaintances.
It wasn’t convenient to ask questions now, so Pingzong could only watch as the others made a long series of hand signals to Tie Ci, pointing upward and gesturing extensively about something very large covering a vast area.
Tie Ci nodded. As expected, the sky above was full of those flying, killing contraptions.
The ones who came to meet them were water ghosts from the Yannan Navy, under Xiao Xueya’s command. Last year, Xiao Xueya had sent a group of his most skilled underwater operatives to specifically guard the palace water area exits and moat exits, in preparation for Tie Ci’s needs.
They were also the ones who had ambushed and attacked the silver-clothed men in the underground waterways beneath the palace earlier.
The others were making hand signals, indicating that Tie Ci should surface with them and they would use their bodies to shield her.
Tie Ci shook her head and closed her eyes to think for a moment.
What kind of data was her data?
Her knowledge about her Master’s era was limited. What she currently knew came partly from her second senior brother’s loose-lipped storytelling disguised as children’s tales, and partly from her own deductions.
Fingerprints? Unlikely—fingerprints were too small and inconvenient for long-distance scanning.
Eye distance? She often kept her head down, which hadn’t prevented them from finding her.
Muscles and such? That would be troublesome—she couldn’t very well cut off her flesh.
She thought for a moment, then drew her Abyssal Iron dagger and quickly made a cut on her finger.
Under everyone’s shocked gazes, she extended her hand above the water’s surface.
Blood flowed over her hand, conspicuous on the moat’s surface.
No movement.
It wasn’t blood.
The next moment, Tie Ci surfaced.
Everyone was alarmed—how could the Emperor so rashly emerge!
Pingzong hurriedly reached out to grab her leg. With a splash, Tie Ci, who had emerged with most of her body above water, submerged again.
Still no movement from above.
This meant that the other side’s data should involve her entire body.
So a hand emerging was fine, blood appearing was fine, and half her body appearing was also fine.
Full body data…
Tie Ci was silent for a while, then suddenly pointed at her own chest.
Then everyone watched even more dumbfounded as Tie Ci’s joints suddenly made crackling sounds, and her entire body began slowly shrinking.
In the blink of an eye, she had become three inches shorter.
Jingxu was the first to react—this was bone shrinking.
Bone shrinking required a large amount of true qi to maintain, and given Tie Ci’s current condition, it wasn’t suitable.
The next moment, Tie Ci took a breath and suddenly burst out of the water.
…
In the command center, Rui watched the somewhat blurry underwater footage converted from the overhead surveillance, his eyebrows raised in great surprise.
This Great Qian Emperor could constantly exceed his expectations.
She had actually managed to guess through testing that they had recorded her skeletal data, and thought of a countermeasure.
However, he then sneered coldly.
Still claiming there was no intelligence leak to the Great Qian Emperor.
This was clearly something Yun had told her.
Otherwise, how could a feudal ruler from a low-level civilization have escaped until now?
But…
Rui smiled dismissively.
Changing skeletal distribution to evade scanning—good idea.
But did she think that all the crises were really only overhead?
…
With a splash, Tie Ci emerged from the water.
The people, once again shocked by the Emperor who never played by the rules, hurriedly followed suit and rushed out. Those water ghosts threw themselves at Tie Ci regardless of everything, wanting to use their bodies to shield the Emperor from fatal attacks.
The Yannan Navy, which had emerged from the South Yue Navy, had great fondness for His Imperial Majesty. Many of them had traveled on ships with Tie Ci in the past, and it was after that journey with Tie Ci that their Grand Marshal had treated them much better.
Previously, the Grand Marshal had maintained strict military discipline, never took empty pay, and never shortchanged them, but his birth was too noble and he couldn’t relate to everyone—sometimes he even lacked understanding of the soldiers’ hardships due to his ignorance of their suffering. For instance, he had once established an extremely intensive training regimen, thinking that if he could do it, others certainly could, without considering that new recruits from farming families who had lacked nutrition since childhood couldn’t possibly endure it.
Now the Grand Marshal still treated them distantly, but his consideration for their welfare in all aspects had become much more thoughtful and caring.
Everyone knew in their hearts that this favor was eighty percent related to His Majesty. It was said that on the ship back then, the Grand Marshal had been thoroughly handled by His Majesty.
For a period, he had even worn hats constantly, with rumors saying His Majesty had shaved him bald.
In any case, for soldiers from remote regions, the Emperor had originally been distant and lofty, and in their hearts the Emperor wasn’t necessarily more noble than their Grand Marshal. But for an Emperor who could educate their god-like Grand Marshal and shave the Grand Marshal bald, that status was definitely only higher, not lower.
However, their desperate courage wasn’t needed at the moment, because after Tie Ci emerged from the water, there was still no movement above.
Indeed, bone shrinking was effective!
This made everyone greatly rejoiced, and they all hurriedly surfaced.
At this time, dawn was approaching, but it wasn’t yet time for the city gates to open. The light was hazy like gauze.
Tie Ci emerged with her back to the city gate and immediately wanted to teleport to get as far away as possible.
Then she discovered she could no longer teleport.
She couldn’t help but recall when Murong Yi had taught her bone shrinking, he had also mentioned that bone shrinking required a large amount of true qi to maintain, especially before becoming proficient. Bone shrinking also couldn’t be arbitrarily disrupted—once disrupted, the skeletal joints would suffer minor injuries and bone shrinking couldn’t be performed again for a short period.
Then she had no choice but to swim out.
Tie Ci had to honestly paddle, but this being her first time using bone shrinking, everything felt wrong everywhere. She almost didn’t know how to use her hands and feet, and couldn’t help but suspect once again that when Murong Yi had maintained his top courtesan image with bone shrinking abilities—and his mismatched height had dispelled her doubts many times—his bone shrinking had been so prolonged and natural that he must have started his cross-dressing career very early.
She swam slowly, and Pingzong, watching anxiously, moved forward to support her and bring her along.
…
In the command center, Rui watched as Tie Ci had already swum to the middle of the moat.
On the screen before him, the entire river was clearly divided into upper, middle, and lower layers. The lowest layer of river mud was black, and in the middle of the black river mud, there was a white light point radiating fan-shaped wave patterns of light.
Tie Ci was swimming directly into this fan-shaped area.
Rui stared at Tie Ci, his eyes full of confident, smug satisfaction.
Soon, this chase that shouldn’t have been so difficult would be over.
…
Pingzong was an excellent swimmer. Supporting Tie Ci, she propelled them forward a great distance with one stroke.
The riverbank was already not far away.
Tie Ci’s heart suddenly filled with alarm.
The next moment she felt her feet suddenly become heavy.
She only had time to push Pingzong forcefully away.
Then the weight beneath her feet became an earth-shaking, stirring force. A massive suction combined with spiraling force rushed up from below, instantly churning the waters around her into a pot of boiling porridge. Tie Ci looked down to see a thin stream of water spiraling upward, growing larger and more violent, finally forming a huge whirlpool on the water’s surface. Except for Pingzong, whom she had pushed out of the area first, everyone was caught in this whirlpool, colliding and spinning, involuntarily sinking downward.
Pingzong turned back with a stunned expression to find everyone had disappeared. She was about to rush over when she saw Tie Ci’s hand emerge from the water’s surface, waving at her with extreme determination and force.
Pingzong stopped, understanding that Tie Ci was telling her not to approach. Just as she was thinking of some way to save them, she suddenly heard a commotion and turned around in the water.
…
Tie Ci felt like she was now a torn rag being constantly rotated and squeezed. The spinning and dizziness went without saying, and all the flesh and blood in her body seemed about to be wrung dry and flung off.
In this moment, she inappropriately thought of the washing machine her Master had mentioned—some kind of drum where clothes were spun inside until dry.
She was probably now like such a garment being wrung dry.
Then she heard crisp, rapid popping sounds.
Sharp little pains shot up from her joints, and she realized that because of this whirlpool, her bone shrinking was being destroyed.
She looked down, forcing her eyes open in this chaos to examine the riverbed.
She couldn’t just sit and wait for death.
This small area of the moat couldn’t naturally generate a whirlpool.
There must be a machine at the bottom of the river. This was a machine-generated whirlpool, designed to drag her down and kill her. At the very least, it could destroy her bone shrinking, and the outcome would still be death.
The only solution was to destroy the machine.
Unfortunately, being caught in the whirlpool happened too quickly to notify Pingzong of this. Moreover, the riverbed’s sand and mud had all been stirred up, creating chaotic visibility, and the machine must be at the very bottom center of the whirlpool. Only someone caught in it would have any possibility of destroying or shutting off the machine.
The thought flashed by, and Tie Ci reached to draw her sword while in the whirlpool.
Fighting against the massive rotational force was extremely difficult. She drew the sword from her back inch by inch while being spun around at extreme speed. The whirlpool was still expanding, so she wasn’t immediately pulled down.
The powerful water pressure pressed down on her hand like a boulder, while the centrifugal force made her nauseous and dizzy. The sword was only half-drawn when she vomited with a retch.
She didn’t dare open her eyes, afraid of seeing herself entangled in her own vomit, and could only continue drawing the sword by feel. During this, some unlucky person was swept past her, knocking the half-drawn sword back in.
Tie Ci nearly vomited blood. Opening her eyes, she saw a ribbon of blood spiraling around before disappearing, and felt deep sympathy.
She had to draw the sword again, using too much force until her veins bulged and her joints made creaking sounds.
…
In front of the screen, Rui watched Tie Ci struggling to draw her sword only to have it knocked back, and shook his head with a sigh: “Smart people never seem to have good luck.”
…
With a “clang,” Tie Ci finally completely drew her sword, but by this time she had already been pulled close to the riverbed.
The riverbed was where the whirlpool generated, so the suction was even stronger. As soon as Tie Ci drew her sword, it was torn from her grip, flashing with light as it was swept into the depths of the riverbed and disappeared.
Tie Ci watched helplessly as the sword traced a blue-green dark light through the water, then brought out a streak of blood—some unlucky person had suffered.
She herself nearly vomited blood.
…
In front of the screen, Rui watched the sword flash and disappear, laughing with satisfaction.
…
Tie Ci looked down to see a white object buried in the river sand, about the size of a fan, appearing smooth and round with only a small protrusion on one side.
Before she could see clearly, whooshing sounds came from beside her as dark shadows flashed by—several navy soldiers were swept over and successively struck the white object.
Tie Ci witnessed the first person who hit it begin bleeding from all seven orifices when still several inches from the machine. His face instantly deformed, floating limply in the river like his face had suddenly become a mask, making one’s heart chill with horror.
When the man opened his mouth, he spewed out blood along with countless bone fragments.
The bones in his body seemed to have been pulverized the instant they contacted the machine—skin unharmed, but all internal bones shattered.
Tie Ci noticed that within several inches around the machine, the water waves were all twisting in a bizarre state.
Another person silently crashed into it, soundlessly having his bones shattered in the water, becoming a bag of skin.
With a “zheng” sound, Tie Ci shot a dart from her back connected to an iron chain, which crossed over the whirlpool and embedded in the riverbed.
Actually, in such a whirlpool, she really couldn’t expect this dart to hold firm, but beyond Tie Ci’s expectations, the dart seemed to have lodged in some stone crevice and actually held.
It was simply incredible, but there was no time for wild joy. Tie Ci reached out to grab what seemed to be someone’s scattered belt in the water and swung it toward the protrusion with all her strength.
The next moment, with a whoosh, the belt was swept away as expected.
Good luck rarely came twice in a row.
Moreover, under the massive suction, the dart could only hold for a brief time. Tie Ci already felt it loosening behind her.
If she didn’t shut off the machine, she would end up like those soldiers who had successively become bags of skin.
Suddenly a dark shadow crashed into her arms. Tie Ci looked down to see it was a navy soldier.
The man pointed at himself, then at the protrusion.
Tie Ci was stunned, not expecting that in such circumstances, there was still someone who, like herself, had discovered that switch.
Seeing that she didn’t immediately move, the man anxiously pulled at her.
Both their forms were swaying in the whirlpool, liable to be swept down at any moment. Especially that black-clothed water ghost—his position was slightly lower than Tie Ci’s and he had already entered the force field. Tie Ci could already see pain showing on his face.
Another loosening behind her—the dart was about to give way.
Once it let go, everyone would die together.
Tie Ci gritted her teeth and grabbed his hand.
Only now did she see the other person’s face clearly—still a youth, pale-faced with fear in his eyes, yet still resolute.
He nodded to Tie Ci.
The next moment, Tie Ci’s body sank downward. The whirlpool swept them around, and with a “zheng” the dart sprang free from the stone crevice.
At this moment, Tie Ci also used her last strength to hurl the young soldier’s body along with the whirlpool’s current!
Striking hard toward that side protrusion.
With a “crack,” from the reverse exertion, three fingers on her right hand snapped together.
The machine seemed to sense something and suddenly trembled, then the suction suddenly intensified.
The whirlpool enlarged, waves rolled and flew, roaring like thunder.
Tie Ci could no longer hold onto the youth and was swept toward the machine with a whoosh.
In the chaotic tumbling, she vaguely saw the youth’s body being swept away before it could hit the machine.
She sighed deeply in her heart and closed her eyes.
She had used all her strength but was three parts short of luck.
So be it.
In this moment of certain death, she didn’t experience the legendary instant review of her entire life, but only had Murong Yi’s face float into her mind in that instant.
In this life, they would never meet again.
You must take care of yourself.
…Heaven and earth suddenly became still.
For that instant, Tie Ci thought she had already passed into blissful afterlife.
That’s why she had gone from raging waves to eternal quiet in the blink of an eye, with vast heavens and her body floating like clouds.
This even gave her a rare sense of relaxation, thinking, oh, it’s finally over.
That seems quite good too.
But then she awakened from this illusion and discovered that her floating body was because she was still in the water.
And the whirlpool had completely disappeared.
All around was peaceful. The underwater light was dim, and she could vaguely see several human figures floating in the water, extremely light and soft like sacks, making one very uncomfortable to look at.
They were the dead Yannan Navy soldiers under Xiao Xueya’s command.
Among them was the youth who had just used his body as a weapon and asked Tie Ci to hurl him out.
He floated directly below Tie Ci, his face turned downward to the side, his whole body rippling like a sack, with only one right hand that seemed to still retain its bones, stretching straight forward.
Tie Ci stared at that straight, rigid hand—the only part of the youth that still had bones.
In that final moment, he had used all his strength to reach out and press the switch, shutting off the machine.
Therefore his right hand hadn’t been pulverized by the machine, frozen in the final gesture of his life.
He had used his life to save Tie Ci, yet Tie Ci didn’t even know his name.
She could only firmly remember his face and, when she met Xiao Xueya in the future, provide good compensation for his family.
But that life not yet twenty years old could never be restored.
The lives of all these very young Yannan Navy soldiers around her could never be restored.
Tie Ci was silent. At this moment she was extremely exhausted, aching all over. In the struggle against the machine’s whirlpool, she had expended all her strength. Besides her fingers, her ribs seemed to have stress fractures too, so that now she couldn’t even swim and could only hold her breath and slowly float upward.
Someone swam down from above—Pingzong had come to meet her.
…
In the command center, Rui looked at the motionless machine, a mocking smile flashing in his eyes.
Sometimes, the moment when victory feels closest is the most devastating moment.
…
Pingzong reached out to pull Tie Ci.
Tie Ci suddenly felt slight vibrations beneath her feet.
Though she had been shaken until her whole body was numb and her senses dulled, her naturally keen temperament made her immediately look down.
Then in the still-unsettled chaos of the riverbed, red lights suddenly began flashing.
Right at the location where the white machine had been.
Tie Ci’s heart jumped, and she grabbed Pingzong. Not knowing where the strength came from, she suddenly shot upward.
But despair was already rising in her heart.
That was obviously going to explode. This kind of final contingency, this kind of weapon that surpassed this era—once it exploded, the damage it caused would definitely not be just a few small fish and shrimp.
All living things in the entire moat would surely not escape.
…
Rui watched Tie Ci desperately trying to escape on the screen, his eyes showing amusement.
Really, very perceptive indeed.
Too bad, this time there’s no time left.
Even if she reached the water’s surface, as long as she hadn’t left this water area, there was absolutely no chance of survival.
…
After the red light flashed rhythmically three times, it began rapid continuous flashing, but Tie Ci was still some distance from the water’s surface.
…
Rui smiled and stood up.
The mission was over.
He lit a cigarette that was now very expensive in their time, leaned against the control panel, took a deep drag, and tilted his head back slightly in enjoyment.