C16 Chapter 16

By now, there weren’t many people left inside the cavern. General Lang motioned to Tang Yao. “Let’s go.”

Once they were out of the great tomb, they entered a mountain tunnel drowned in pitch-black darkness.

She knew this tunnel wasn’t truly dangerous. At worst, there were stretches where swarms of bats might pour through—terrifying, sure, but nothing that could really threaten a hardened unit like theirs.

Still, the darkness here felt thick and heavy, like glue set in the air, tightening around you until tension crept in on its own.

Tang Yao wasn’t afraid of the sky or the earth—but she was afraid of the dark.

Just as she was getting so nervous her palms were starting to sweat, a long, dry, warm hand suddenly closed around hers.

“Your breathing’s heavy,” General Lang said. “Afraid of the dark?”

Even though he couldn’t see her, her face flushed for no reason at all. Grown woman, scared of the dark—yeah, that was pretty embarrassing.

Normally, if a young woman’s hand was grabbed by a man she’d only known a short time, her first reaction would be to yank away.

But Tang Yao wasn’t normal, so the situation didn’t follow normal rules.

Not only did she not pull back—she shamelessly tightened her grip around his hand instead. The way ahead was still long, and it wasn’t like either of them could see the other anyway. Better to get through this stretch of darkness first.

About four hours later, they finally saw daylight again.

They were out of the Tianji formation, but the enemy was still camped not far away. Following General Lang’s plan, Deputy Commander Chen passed the order down: the entire force was to stay silent—no fires, no shouting. Rest in place for half an hour, and eat rations.

Half an hour later, they would launch the full assault on the Xikun Kingdom’s camp.

By now, the main Xikun force—and those Ferocious Beasts—would have charged into the Tianji formation, leaving the camp thin. It was the perfect moment for a surprise strike.

The moon was high overhead. In another four hours, dawn would break.

Tang Yao’s slender figure cast a long shadow in the moonlight, her clear, bright eyes daring the moon itself to outshine her.

“General, about that bet we made earlier...”

Tang Yao was actually a little worried. That deputy commander was already dead—what if General Lang used that as an excuse to back out?

“Once you’ve punished the people you want to punish, you can leave,” General Lang said evenly, giving nothing away.

“In that case, I won’t hold back. General, the two people I want punished are Duan Tiangou, the assistant cook in the mess, and Old Yan, the one who hands out the food.”

Duan Tiangou was already in his forties, yet he’d been eyeing the original owner of this body for a long time. Everyone else said she was ugly, but Duan Tiangou was the only one who called her a flower bud about to bloom—said she was beautiful.

More than once, Duan Tiangou had slipped into the shabby tent at night, trying to force himself on her, but he’d failed because she fought back hard.

After that, he told Old Yan to short her on rations. And every day, Duan Tiangou piled extra work on her so she couldn’t get any rest.

In the original owner’s memories, it was the relentless pressure from those two that finally left her starving to death in that miserable tent.

That was also how Tang Yao had ended up taking over this body.

In other words, the original owner was, in fact, probably already dead—and Duan Tiangou and Old Yan were her killers.

Tang Yao wasn’t the original owner, but she carried her memories. It only felt right to avenge her, which was why she’d asked to punish those two.

Just as she was about to explain her reasons, General Lang cut in and asked, “How do you want to punish them?”

“I want them dead.” Tang Yao’s eyes went cold.

What Duan Tiangou had tried to do to the original owner wasn’t something she wanted to talk about. Since he wasn’t asking, all the better.

“Fine.”