The Scout Party

I arrived near Xingyang with Xiahou Yuan. Of course, Cao Cao hadn't sent just the two of us—a company of roughly a hundred scouts trailed behind.

"Shall we get moving, then?"

Xiahou Yuan and I each took a portion of the scouts and fanned out. We fixed a rally point and agreed to spend the day thoroughly surveying the surrounding terrain.

I looked left. I looked right.

The moment Xiahou Yuan vanished from sight, however, I called a halt. I told the scouts to map the local topography on their own and decided to take a little time alone.

Because all of this was meaningless. No matter what anyone did, Cao Cao was going to lose this fight.

Even if I scouted perfectly, Xu Rong wasn't going to show herself so easily.

Heh... but I had the ultimate broken skill: Stat Reset. The new moon had already risen on the journey out with Cao Cao, and I'd long since locked in a build tailored exactly for this operation.

Just in case, I'd left Run Away as my sole survival skill and stacked everything into Intellect. Then I'd borrowed Guo Jia's trait, Ghostly Schemes.

The name meant schemes as cunning as a ghost's—an overpowered technique that guaranteed prediction of any enemy stratagem so long as their Intellect was lower than mine. The cooldown was fairly long, but the word "always" made its destructive power enormous.

I'd actually agonized over which trait to take this time. The simple option was to reuse last time's Divination and try to foresee Xu Rong's movements that way.

But Divination had a hidden weakness that kept me from getting whatever result I wanted whenever I wanted it. The description ran as follows:

The key word was "randomly." Last time I'd been so dazzled by how broken the skill seemed that I only realized the trap after reading Zhao Yun's fortune.

I'd gotten lucky and pinpointed Zhao Yun's location on the first try, but there was no guarantee it would work the same ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way again. With time short, I needed a technique that would land even if I only got one shot.

Hmm... all right, let's think this through. If I were Xu Rong, how would I go about taking Cao Cao apart?

I could see it. I could see everything—exactly how Xu Rong meant to exploit Cao Cao's openings, and exactly how she would win the battle!

She would wait for Cao Cao to finish crossing the Bian River. The moment he completed the crossing, she would strike at the perfect instant and annihilate him before he could even form a last-stand formation!

"...?"

That was it? I'd predicted the strategy, sure—but that alone didn't tell me where Xu Rong actually was.

No. I couldn't forget that I was currently a peerless master of ghostly schemes with Intellect 100.

Once I knew the enemy's plan, I could craft a countermeasure—and in the process, Xu Rong's location would naturally come into focus.

Remember the phrase: she would strike Cao Cao "at the perfect instant" after he finished the crossing. In other words, Xu Rong would arrive at the Bian River precisely when the crossing ended, after calculating the distance to perfection.

Which meant that if I reverse-engineered the travel time to the river, I could narrow down the candidate sites where she would make camp.

So I spent the entire day surveying every area from which Xu Rong could reach the Bian River in half a day. Surprisingly few places could actually hold a force of any size; I managed to cut the candidates down to three.

Good. Now all that remained was to scout those three spots and pin down her position.

Then I'd tip Cao Cao off before Xu Rong was ready, hit her in a single decisive ambush, and she'd die on the spot—snapping Dong Zhuo's only remaining trump card.

Grinning from ear to ear, I headed back to the rally point. But what was this? The place that should have been swarming with scouts was utterly deserted.

"You're late."

The only person there was Xiahou Yuan, leaning against a distant tree with one leg crossed over the other. Something faintly sultry clung to the subtle twist of her posture.

"Where is everyone?"

"I sent them back. Never mind that—won't you come here?"

Crook... crook...

That was all she said before she crooked a pale, slender finger at me. Gulp... for reasons I couldn't name, I swallowed dryly without meaning to.

She'd always had that kind of atmosphere, hadn't she? Her face was white as fresh snow, but her skin was delicate enough that the cold brought a natural flush to her cheeks.

And it wasn't the shy, embarrassed flush Yu Bi showed—it was the kind that rose unbidden when a woman hit her peak and the blood rushed to her face.

In short: extremely erotic.

Not coming?

Look at her even now. We were well within earshot, yet she deliberately only mouthed the words, baiting my curiosity. Before I knew it, my legs were moving.

What was she up to this time? She was the type to deploy a honey trap whenever it suited her, but right now there was nothing she needed to extract from me, was there?

Or was it that? Had she grown so tired of Cao Cao ignoring her that she'd started feeling a man's appeal in me—the one who'd shared life and death with her?

If she'd dismissed every subordinate just so we could enjoy ourselves thoroughly right here... would I even be able to refuse that temptation?

Thud!

Of course I could refuse. Or rather—ten paces out, I saw through her scheme and stopped dead.

"Why'd you stop?"

Xiahou Yuan tilted her head as if nothing were wrong and asked why I'd halted. Did she really think I couldn't see through a ploy this basic?

"Suspicious. The leaves are piled unusually thick right under there, aren't they?"

I pointed at the ground beneath my feet. Xiahou Yuan's brow furrowed with a soft crumple, and the foxlike smile vanished.

"Damn, your instincts are filthy sharp. I just wanted to watch you thrash around after falling in. Guess that was too much to ask."

"Are you insane? Why dig a pointless trap and wait for me?"

"And why were you operating separately from the scouts? Pull something shady and the standard response is to tie you up and interrogate you, isn't it?"

"What the hell... I just needed some quiet time to think. I've gone head-to-head with Xu Rong before—she's no pushover."

I circled carefully around the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pit Xiahou Yuan had dug and approached her. She rose as if she'd lost interest.

"As if a bitch like that could ever beat Mengde."

"That exact complacency is what breeds your brother's defeat. You said it yourself back then, didn't you? That I might be smarter than Cao Cao? Even I got caught by Xu Rong's improvisation and had no choice but to let her go. So this time we approach with more caution."

"So what did you find out?"

"Nothing yet..."

"Are you kidding me? So you just slacked off all day?"

"..."

No. I already knew exactly how Xu Rong meant to intercept Cao Cao, and I'd even identified her probable campsites.

But something told me I shouldn't hand that information straight to Xiahou Yuan. Because ever since just before we left Sanzhao, a strange sense of wrongness had been lodged in my mind—and I still hadn't figured out what it was.

So we headed back toward camp together. Along the way I tossed out a few questions, trying to pin down the source of that unease.

"About Chen Gong. She seems to have gotten pretty close with Cao Cao, hasn't she?"

"Don't even bring that bitch up. Shameless mutt... how can she make those sounds while pinned under the man who killed her husband?"

"You really hate Chen Gong, huh?"

"Is there a reason to like her? Or are you interested in her too? Men are all the same—one look at a stupidly big chest and you're drooling."

"..."

Not entirely wrong, but not everyone was like that. More than that, I found it rather cute how openly jealous Xiahou Yuan was of Chen Gong.

"Does Chen Gong sincerely love Cao Cao?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, think about it. Like you said—he killed her husband and half-forced himself on her. She could just be pretending affection out of fear."

"That's only because you haven't seen her up close. Come back from even a short hunt and she strips him down to check for wounds like some catastrophe might have struck. She's that kind of devoted woman."

"Doesn't that seem excessive to you?"

"Not at all. The other party is Mengde. How could anyone stand not loving a man like that?"

"..."

Whether she had no sense of shame whatsoever or not, Xiahou Yuan laid bare her blatant love for her cousin without the slightest filter. She really did have a thing for bad men.

Though what Cao Cao had done to Chen Gong wasn't merely "bad"—it was full-on bastard territory... I supposed handsome men got forgiven for everything, then and now.

"Doesn't matter anyway. Mengde's completely wrapped up in Wei Zi right now."

Xiahou Yuan smirked and made it clear Chen Gong's days were numbered. True to her word, Cao Cao was a man who never stopped coveting other men's women.

Back when the aftertaste of Lady Bian was still fresh, violating Chen Gong would have been the most delicious thing imaginable. But it couldn't possibly match the thrill of Wei Zi—cheating on a living Zhang Miao.

And Cao Cao's ultimate target was none other than Yu Bi. The thought sent a chill down my spine and cold sweat beading on my skin.

"What about you, then? You don't seem like you'd enjoy Cao Cao seeing other women."

"Heroes are lechers—what am I supposed to do about it? Those girls are just toys he plays with a few times. The one Mengde treasures most is me."

"Uh... I don't really want to say this, but I don't think Cao Cao treasures you quite that much?"

Last time, whether you lived or died, he'd been focused entirely on snatching Chen Gong. He'd even treated your return like something he'd never dreamed possible—I'd doubted my own eyes.

"You want to die? He pulled me aside on the road to Chenliu and told me. Said he couldn't sleep or eat for fear I'd been killed."

"I feel like even I could say something like that."

"But you couldn't give me something like this."

Shing! Without warning, Xiahou Yuan drew a sword from its scabbard. It gleamed with a luminous light, its edge honed to a razor's keenness—no ordinary famous blade.

"What is that?"

"They call it the sword that leans on heaven and awaits its purpose. Mengde paid a fortune for it and treasured it like a jewel—then gave it to me. Said I was worth far more to him than this blade, or something like that."

"..."

The Heaven Sword. A top-tier item that granted a full Martial +7. Even if I maxed Martial to 100 now, I wouldn't be able to guarantee a win against Xiahou Yuan.

But wasn't that strange? If he'd had something that powerful, shouldn't he have given it to me before the attempt on Dong Zhuo's life?

If Xiahou Yuan had held the Heaven Sword and I'd held the Seven-Star Sword, we might actually have beaten Lü Bu and killed Dong Zhuo that day.

"You're late. I'll get food ready—come eat."

We arrived at camp just then, and Bao Do came out to greet us. Cao Cao had personally selected her to handle the domestic side of a scout detachment roughly a hundred strong.

"Thank you, Lady Bao Do."

But something felt off. A scout unit's mission was to push deep into enemy territory and hunt for traces of Xu Rong's army—an extremely dangerous job where you essentially staked your life.

Xiahou Yuan was the right hand Cao Cao trusted enough to entrust with the Heaven Sword; her presence here made sense. And I'd been brought along specifically for this kind of work in the first place.

But Bao Do? She was the younger sister of his partner Bao Xin—a lady of quality, on a completely different level from the other women.

So why had Cao Cao sent her of all people?

"Got a thing for Bao Do?"

Xiahou Yuan raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Apparently I'd been staring at Bao Do for far too long, and far too openly.

"Are you crazy? One look and it's obvious she's completely smitten with Cao Cao—how am I supposed to make a move on someone like that? It's just... she seems too highborn to be tagging along on something this dangerous."

"I thought that was weird too, but she probably asked to come. She likes Mengde so much she's always itching to earn merit."

"If that's the case I can understand, but..."

Even so, Cao Cao should have shut it down at his level—the words never quite made it out of my mouth. Separate from my suspicions about him, badmouthing him endlessly in front of Xiahou Yuan wouldn't do me any favors.

Then Xiahou Yuan hit me with a question I hadn't seen coming.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"If Bao Do said she liked you, would you sleep with her on the spot?"

"Have you lost your mind? First of all that would never happen, and second—if you jump into bed with anyone the moment the chance appears, that's an animal, not a human being."

What exactly did she take me for, saying garbage like that? But that didn't seem to be what was occupying Xiahou Yuan's mind right now.

She turned her head and watched Bao Do encouraging the soldiers. Bao Do had inherited a likable face from her brother and a solid figure—not a stunning beauty, but a classic "seven-out-of-ten" woman.

"Mengde has zero interest in Bao Do. If I were a man, I'd want to hold her once. Right?"

"Stop asking my opinion like that. Cao Cao's the type who... only gets interested in other men's women, isn't he?"

"Exactly. But poor Bao Do has no idea. So she'll never have that feeling returned, not for her whole life."

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"..."

Xiahou Yuan didn't answer. She only turned her head and looked at me with a lingering gaze.

What was this? Hadn't the games ended earlier in front of the trap? Yet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she still wore that mischievous expression as her eyes raked me from head to toe.

Then—swish—she extended a single finger and began tracing it down the valley of my chest. I startled and took half a step back.

"W-what are you doing?"

"No reason. I noticed it back then too—your body's pretty nice. Come to think of it, ever since you started following us you haven't been with anyone, have you? How exactly are you dealing with that?"

"Why do you assume it has to be 'dealt with'? A human being can go a few months without that kind of thing."

A few months, nothing. Where I came from, people kept their virginity for thirty years, forty years and more, then died without ever casting the spell even once. There were plenty of them.

"Is that sooo? You're not actually stacked up to the brim?"

Xiahou Yuan's tone was growing more and more familiar. Sensing danger, I turned my head and headed off to eat.

Whew... I'd almost fallen for it.

That night, once everyone was asleep, I slipped quietly out of camp. Time was short; I intended to locate Xu Rong's encampment myself if I had to.

The moon was fairly full, so I trusted its light and urged my horse forward at a careful pace. My first destination was a fairly large forest abutting the Bian River.

Perfect for concealing troops. And half a day's march would put you right on top of Cao Cao's main force the moment they finished crossing.

Huff... huff...

Amazingly, I hit the jackpot on the very first try. The instant I reached the forest, I spotted wavering firelight.

I tethered the horse at a distance and proceeded on foot. Moving alone, I went completely unnoticed.

Rustle...

I hid myself in the brush right beside the main camp. From outside the forest had looked peaceful—but inside, soldiers and officers moved in perfect coordination, processing incoming intelligence in real time.

That temperature difference between inside and out confirmed it: Xu Rong really was a genius of concealment. In any case, I'd found the location and gotten a rough sense of the situation. Time to head back...

What are you doing?

...!?

And then Xiahou Yuan appeared. I had no idea when she'd started following me, but at some point she'd pressed right up against my back and was breathing into my ear!

Y-you—what the hell? When did you catch up?

I've been watching only you the whole time. I never imagined you were hiding something like this. Trying to ditch me and take all the credit yourself?

Th-that's not—

Better to let her think that than admit I didn't trust her brother and had been holding the information back. My heart had nearly stopped!

Anyway, we've got the location. Let's go back.

Already? They don't even know we're here.

We've got a rough read on their formation and numbers. No reason to linger.

Is that sooo?

...?

Then what else was there? Xiahou Yuan glanced briefly toward Xu Rong's camp.

Mengde said something to Chen Gong once. Wouldn't it be incredibly exciting to do it right in front of the enemy lines with your mouth clamped shut? Men like that kind of thing, don't they?

Uh... more precisely, only your brother likes that. What kind of lunatic does that in front of the enemy?

You and me?

...

Was she in her right mind? I'd noticed her eyes change after we got back to camp, but this was not the time for jokes like that!

Why are you doing this?

Looking at Bao Do earlier, it suddenly hit me. Mengde isn't someone I can have just because I want him. On the contrary—if I became another man's woman, he'd stick close and try to snatch me away even if I said no.

Th-that's true, but what does that have to do with this situation—

What do you think? You're going to help me out a little.

Help you how—ngh!

Thud! Xiahou Yuan shoved me flat and straddled me in one motion. This was the exact same position as that time in the prison!

Hah... hah...

On top of that, her breathing had gone rough. She looked down at me with completely unhinged eyes, then lightly flicked her tongue across her lips.

What exactly did she think she was doing? Don't tell me she planned to go through with this with me just so Cao Cao would try to take her back?

There was a separate problem. We were right in front of the enemy camp—the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠second either of us made a loud sound, we'd be discovered instantly.

In other words: if I wanted to live, I had to quietly meet her demands.