C5 Chapter 5

But either way—if they didn’t die today, they’d die tonight.

By now, noon had passed, and the soldiers seemed to feel their lives slipping away.

The girl’s skills were impressive, sure, but none of them truly believed she could get them out of these mountains—out of the trap that had them boxed in.

Tang Yao knelt across from General Lang. Between them sat a long, low table, spread with several flat maps of the formation.

Even inside the tent, General Lang hadn’t taken off his heavy armor. Only his eyes showed—cold and unreadable.

He watched Tang Yao in silence, then gave a small nod to Deputy Zhang at his side. Deputy Zhang understood at once and began to explain.

“This formation is called the Heavenly Mechanism Formation. It’s built like a spiderweb—layer after layer, tightening as you go. Every layer is packed with deadly traps, and there are specialists stationed to guard it. Right now, we’re at the center of the web.”

Like prey wrapped up in silk—no way out.

He finished his brief explanation and fell quiet. General Lang waited for Tang Yao’s answer.

Truth was, Tang Yao didn’t understand any of this Heavenly Mechanism Formation stuff.

She’d woken up in the Wind God Camp three days ago. In those three days, she’d been through a brutal mental tug-of-war—doubt, denial, second-guessing herself.

That wasn’t something she could explain to anyone. What mattered was this: she knew she was trapped inside an army that had reached the end of the road.

So the only thing she cared about was how to get out.

She might not have known what the formation was called, but she understood the reality. The enemy had used the terrain to set up checkpoint after checkpoint and trap after trap, hemming them in.

Breaking through successfully was almost impossible. From a tactical standpoint—especially when it came to terrain—the Wind God Camp’s position was a death sentence.

She’d worked that out through her own calculations. And where there was a dead end, there had to be a way through.

Over the past three days, while forcing herself to accept this new identity and this new situation, she’d also been quietly worried sick, combing through nearly the entire camp, counting, measuring, running the numbers—until she finally found it: a way out.

But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about the magnetic field on this bleak stretch of land.

Truth was, she wasn’t completely sure her calculations were right.

She scratched at her palm, trying to steady herself...

“Um... if—if this goes wrong... what happens to me?”

“Death.” General Lang’s voice came out low and buzzy, cold and utterly emotionless.

“Uh, okay, but... putting an entire army’s lives on the shoulders of one fragile teenage girl—don’t you think that’s a little cruel? That’s a lot to carry, haha...”

“...” She’d sounded so confident just a moment ago, swearing she had a way.

General Lang clearly wasn’t in the mood for word games. He coolly unhooked the sword at his waist and set it on the table, making his position unmistakable.

It was already afternoon, and they were running out of time.

The army had planned to make their push tonight anyway. The other side had already delivered an ultimatum: if they stayed holed up here any longer, they’d unleash their trump card.

Rumor had it it was more than a dozen fourth-tier Ferocious Beasts.

Ferocious Beasts—unique to this land, and terrifying.

More than a dozen fourth-tier Ferocious Beasts would be enough to chew through their twenty thousand troops and leave nothing behind.

If that was the choice, they might as well charge forward. At least then they’d find out what this so-called Heavenly Secrets Array really was—and just how deadly it could be.

But everyone understood the truth: the enemy wanted them dead. Whether they stayed or tried to break through, there was no way out.

So today’s battle was always going to be the Wind God Battalion’s last.

Tang Yao knew she had nowhere to run. Unless she got the Wind God Battalion out of this death trap, she was as good as dead too. And this so-called General Lang wasn’t going to let her off the hook.