"What, a pentakill?" Ye Zixiao said with a smile to Fourth Miss.
"Absolutely, total victory!" Fourth Miss walked up to everyone.
"What's your brilliant plan?"
"You guys can't possibly break through the front gate. Our garrison has over a hundred snipers. With just you few, you'd all be dead before you even got inside."
"I asked what your brilliant plan was?" Ye Zixiao shot her a glare.
"Why are you so fierce?"
"I'm damn..."
"If you keep being like this, I'm not telling you."
"Alright, alright, I was wrong!" Ye Zixiao immediately backed down. He didn't want to argue with a young girl, and he desperately needed a way in. If they could take out the rebel command post, the war would be over.
"Our back mountain is a ninety-degree cliff, two thousand meters high. The cliff faces the sea, but there are footholds below. If we can climb up two hundred meters, there's a chance to sneak in for a surprise attack," Fourth Miss said smugly.
"Why am I confused?" Ye Zixiao frowned and asked in surprise, "A cliff over two thousand meters, what good is climbing up two hundred meters? Little girl, you're not suggesting we carve through the mountain to dig a tunnel, are you?"
"No need. The Xiao family has a ancestral hall located deep in the mountains. Two hundred meters up from the bottom of the back mountain cliff, there's a small entrance. That hole is actually a ventilation shaft."
"And then?"
"Once we're inside the ancestral hall, we're in!"
"A small entrance, isn't it guarded?"
"You don't need to worry about that. The Xiao family ancestral hall is forbidden to outsiders. Except for the elders of the Xiao family, I generally don't let anyone in, so very few people know about that entrance."
"Hmm, I understand!" Ye Zixiao lit a cigarette and thought for a moment before saying, "But it still won't work. A sheer vertical cliff face, I don't think I can climb it. There are no handholds!"
"That's not my problem!" Fourth Miss turned to go back to her car.
"Wait."
"What for?"
"Can I trust you?"
"Believe it or not!" Fourth Miss walked away indignantly.
Ye Zixiao, Tang Keke, and Jiang Xiaoyao, the three of them, quickly discussed it and felt that Fourth Miss could be trusted. After all, she didn't even blink when Xiao Erhu died. Although they didn't know why, she seemed to have a grudge against the Xiao family!
But the biggest problem arose. If Ye Zixiao couldn't climb the sheer cliff face, could anyone else? If no one could climb it, it was all a pipe dream.
"What's up, Commander-in-Chief?" Brother Shan suddenly walked over.
"A little bit of trouble." Ye Zixiao didn't think too much about it. He waved and called Leng Shao over, then recounted Fourth Miss's plan to the regimental commander and chief of staff, asking if they had any solutions.
"I have no idea!" Leng Shao spread his hands.
"Damn, this is simple!" Brother Shan's eyes suddenly lit up. He waved to the crowd, "Xiao Bi, Xiao Bi, Xiao Bi, are you deaf? Come here, come here quickly, the organization has a glorious mission for you."
Xiao Bi scurried over happily.
"Commander, he can climb it." Brother Shan patted Xiao Bi on the shoulder.
"What is it?" Xiao Bi was still confused.
Brother Shan, with great patience, explained the situation to Xiao Bi in detail, then pointed at him and said, "Don't let me down, I've already bragged about it."
"Piece of cake!" Xiao Bi pouted and raised his head.
"You, can you really climb it?" Ye Zixiao was somewhat skeptical.
"Brother Xiao, no, Commander." Xiao Bi said boastfully, "Before I met you, I was actually a thief. It's an ancestral skill, practicing my hand techniques. I used to climb the outer walls of thirty-story buildings for fun."
"Really?" Ye Zixiao still didn't believe him.
"If I can't climb it, I'll jump into the sea!"
"Alright, I believe you." Ye Zixiao had no other options, so he patted Xiao Bi on the shoulder and said, "After dark, you take the ropes and go up. As long as you complete the mission, I'll make you a deputy regimental commander when you get back."
"Yes, thank you for your cultivation, Commander-in-Chief!" Xiao Bi gave a very serious military salute.
There was plenty of time for Ye Zixiao to prepare. He dispatched Brother Shan's only four men and had Leng Shao select sixteen more, forming a twenty-person assault team. They just had to wait for nightfall. To climb the cliff under the cover of darkness...
It was strange. Knowing that Ye Zixiao was attacking the castle, Xiao Bahuang actually didn't send troops to intercept him? This wasn't because he didn't have troops to send. Ye Zixiao guessed that Xiao Bahuang simply didn't believe he could break in. Yes. That was exactly the situation. Inside the Xiao family castle, Xiao Bahuang sat on a sofa, holding a glass of red wine, and said with a smile to General Baoshen of the Sunset Nation's command: "Don't panic, don't rush, victory will come soon."
"What good plan do you have?" Baoshen's expression was somewhat grim. After all, their first battle had been a crushing defeat.
"The wise man has his own stratagems!" Xiao Bahuang confidently raised his wine glass.
"Respected Commander Xiao, I hope you won't be too careless. Be cautious on the front lines and be cautious here as well. I still suggest you send someone to kill Ye Zixiao. He is a hidden danger."
"You don't need to worry about that either!" Xiao Bahuang took a sip of wine and said dismissively, "Ye Zixiao is very strong, but he's ultimately just a mortal. My castle is as solid as gold. Forget his hundred or so men, even a hundred thousand wouldn't be able to break in."
"Alright, cheers!"
"Cheers!" The two commanders leisurely drank their red wine.
Around three o'clock in the afternoon, on the northern outskirts of Beihai City, a town that had initially been spared by the war was suddenly attacked. A force of three hundred armed men stormed into the town. These men were inhumane. They opened fire on sight at any man they encountered, attacked house by house, and killed the elderly directly, leaving only children and women. This group came from the Wu Kingdom. They were hired by Xiao Bahuang. To win this war faster, Xiao Bahuang had become less than human. He intended to capture civilians as prisoners to threaten the Beihai City garrison into surrendering.
"Kill all the men."
"Keep the beautiful women, I want to have some fun."
"Hahaha, don't run!" The three hundred Wu Kingdom soldiers were simply insane. They weren't here to capture prisoners; they were here for a massacre. In their eyes, these civilians were not human at all.
"Help!"
"Mom, I want Mom!"
"Don't kill me, please!"
"My child..." The entire town was filled with tragic screams. These civilians, with no martial arts skills and no guns, were completely unable to resist. They wanted to run but were burdened by their families, so they could only be like lambs, pitiably slaughtered. Gunshots echoed chaotically. Cries of grief filled the air. A perfectly good town flowed with blood. The insane Wu Kingdom soldiers, in the midst of their slaughter, began to assault the women. Young women and married women generally had no escape. No matter how they struggled, they would suffer the torment of devils.
"Let go of my mother!" In a simple flat house, a boy of fifty or sixty, seeing his mother being stripped, rushed forward without regard, biting a Wu Kingdom soldier's leg.
"Ahhh, you little beast!" The Wu Kingdom bandit screamed, then lifted the little boy and, without a word, plunged a knife into his throat. He then pulled out the knife and tossed the corpse away.
"Son, ahhhh!" The mother was almost fainted by the pain.
"Come on, beautiful!" The Wu Kingdom soldier, who had just killed the child, pushed the woman onto the bed and, with his dirty hands still stained with blood, continued to tear at her clothes. Suddenly, the woman felt a pair of scissors. With a stab! She directly pierced his vital spot!