Chapter 00084: Unfriendly Soldiers and Civilians
# Unfriendly Soldiers and Civilians
Chapter 84
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 84: Unfriendly Soldiers and Civilians
He steadied his mind and asked, "Who is the current leader of the army, Zhong Shengguang or General Hong?"
What kind of question was that? The guards were somewhat surprised.
One of them replied, "All major and minor military affairs are handled by General Hong."
This wasn’t a secret; everyone knew it.
But the man before them was acting more and more strangely.
They should probably detain him and interrogate him properly.
Thinking this, the last guard turned and ran back to call for reinforcements.
He Lingchuan saw this but paid no attention.
Instead, he said to the others, "If you stand here, I’ll release your companion in half an hour. Otherwise, you’ll be taking his corpse back with you."
He was certain this tactic would work on the Blackwater City soldiers.
However, the guards exchanged glances, showing hesitation but still following him step by step, completely unfazed by his threat.
The captive struggled to speak, "Even if you kill me, they won’t let you go!"
He Lingchuan looked around.
The rolling hills and low shrubs offered no hiding spots, and the nearest village was several hundred meters away.
To make matters worse, the farmers by the irrigation ditch had seen the guards subdued by him and were now jumping into the water to chase after him.
Now, he was caught between a rock and a hard place.
This place was no longer safe.
He had to find a way to escape.
With this thought, he grabbed the captive and moved toward the irrigation ditch.
Fortunately, the captive was small and thin, and He Lingchuan was strong.
He dragged the man along as he jogged.
The irrigation ditch was built to channel water for farming.
It was probably early summer, as the water flow was still quite rapid.
He Lingchuan’s eyes fell on a small wooden boat tied to the side of the ditch.
If he could go downstream, it would be much faster than running on foot.
No matter what, he had to shake off these pursuers first.
He ran about fifty meters.
The guards, though unwilling to stop, still cared about their companion’s life and didn’t dare to rush forward to capture him.
Suddenly, the sound of hoofbeats echoed.
Over a dozen cavalrymen emerged from the mountain pass.
Judging by their uniforms, He Lingchuan recognized them immediately:
The Gale Army!
There were actually Gale Army scouts here.
What terrible luck.
He Lingchuan abandoned the captive, slashed the man’s leg, and pushed him away before turning to run.
Two legs could never outrun four.
He couldn’t afford to carry dead weight.
Luckily, he wasn’t far from the irrigation ditch.
He Lingchuan sprinted with all his might, moving like the wind.
Using his momentum, he leaped into the ditch and cut the rope tying the boat.
The wooden boat, pushed by the current, slowly drifted away.
The sound of hoofbeats grew closer.
The cavalry was clearly charging.
He thought the boat was moving too slowly, so he bent down and gave it a push.
At that moment, a sudden sense of danger struck him.
Without thinking, he rolled forward and tumbled into the boat.
The position was undignified, like a dog eating dirt, but it saved his life.
In the next second, two arrows shot past—one embedded itself deeply into the post where the rope had been tied, and the other flew over the wooden dock and plunged into the water.
If he had stayed where he was, he would have been shot through the throat or the heart, with no chance of survival.
However, He Lingchuan’s movements were too forceful, and the boat was too narrow.
With his leap, the boat capsized.
"..."
He silently cursed several times in his mind.
What now?
With his arm strength, he could easily flip the boat back over.
But the cavalry was fierce and would likely reach the ditch soon.
Even if he floated downstream, he might shake off the guards and farmers, but the cavalry would stick to him like glue, determined to drag him out of the water at the first opportunity.
Not to mention, someone was still taking potshots at him.
Sitting in the boat, he was a perfect target.
Honestly, the moment he recognized the Gale Army, he knew running was his best option.
In just a few breaths, the cavalry reached the edge of the ditch.
The terrain of the Red Plateau was unique.
Large forces couldn’t climb up, but agile scouts often infiltrated, gathering intelligence, poisoning, and assassinating.
As a result, the people of Panlong City had a deep hatred for spies.
Whenever they caught one, they would beat them half to death.
As long as the spy was still breathing when handed over to the camp, the higher-ups wouldn’t blame them.
The cavalrymen weighed their weapons, preparing to throw them like javelins.
This was a technique the He family had witnessed in the ruins of Panlong City.
Even Sun Fuping’s barrier had been shaken by it.
It seemed to be a standard skill of the Gale Army, something everyone learned.
But when they reached the edge of the ditch and looked down, they were stunned.
In the ditch, there was only a wooden boat, floating upside down downstream at a surprisingly fast speed.
At first glance, the spy was nowhere to be seen.
The water was clear, so clear that even fish and shrimp couldn’t hide, let alone a full-grown man.
One of the cavalrymen suddenly pointed, "Look, he’s hiding under the boat!"
Everyone looked down and saw a small figure curled up beneath the boat, moving along with it.
One cavalryman quickly hurled his spear, which thudded into the bottom of the boat.
But the boat continued to drift, and no blood flowed from beneath it.
Clearly, the spear had missed its target.
The cavalryman cursed in frustration.
The curved bottom of the boat made it impossible to stand on, and they couldn’t jump down either.
He Lingchuan used the entire boat as a shield.
The air trapped inside the overturned hull allowed him to breathe freely for a long time.
Underwater and shielded by the boat, the archers on the shore couldn’t get a clear shot at him.
Now, he curled up inside the boat, using his feet to push against the bottom of the ditch, propelling the boat faster and faster downstream.
With the combined force of the current and his efforts, the boat accelerated, quickly leaving the infantry behind.
Only the cavalry could keep up.
After floating downstream for over a thousand meters, He Lingchuan’s heartbeat and breathing had steadied, but he still hadn’t come up with a plan.
He began to feel uneasy.
He couldn’t see the shore and had no idea where he was drifting.
To make matters worse, he could feel the water level dropping.
In other words, the water in the ditch was decreasing, and the current was slowing.
Soon, the boat would stop moving, and he would have to face the cavalry on the shore.
What should he do?
These irrigation ditches were common in rural areas, with bridges built at regular intervals to allow people to cross.
Thinking of this, he had an idea.
He reached under the boat, grabbed the spear, and pulled it out.
Then, he peeked out from the side of the boat to assess the situation outside.
The bad news was that the cavalry was still hot on his trail.
The moment He Lingchuan looked out, he met several icy stares.
One of the pursuers even pulled out a bow and arrow, causing He Lingchuan to quickly duck back inside.
The good news was that buildings were starting to appear sporadically along the waterway.
That meant there was either a village or a town ahead!
As long as it wasn’t an open plain, his chances of escape would increase significantly.
He Lingchuan already had a plan.
He calculated the speed of the current, moved the boat closer to the side of the ditch, and suddenly let go, crouching down.
The boat happened to pass under a wooden bridge.
It was around noon, and the sun was directly overhead, casting the bridge’s shadow straight down onto the water.
Then, the boat drifted away from under the bridge, continuing as usual.
The cavalry, suspecting nothing, continued forward, chasing the wooden boat in the water.
(End of Chapter)