"Who else could possibly come here in this snowy weather?" A bearded man with a high jaw looked impatient. He stepped forward, grabbed Luo Xue by the neck, and lifted her up. "Tell me, who sent you!"

Snowflakes were terrified, tears streaming down their faces: "My grandpa... my grandpa is sick, I went up the mountain to find food... I saw people here... so... so I thought..."

“She’s from the village.” One of the men, dressed in hunter’s clothes, short and slightly hunched, turned around. “If we lock her up as a hostage, maybe the villagers will obediently hand over their grain for her sake.”

The first man to appear disagreed: "It's a bit too late for you to say that we're going to plunder the village tonight."

Loot the village clean, and the food for hundreds of people can feed a dozen or so of them. They'll definitely survive the winter. There's no need to go through all that trouble with hostages.

The short bandit gave him a laugh: "Do you think this is still Hundred Ghost Valley? You think looting the village will attract the government's attention? Maybe the villagers are already on their way to report it."

He was the one among them who least supported looting the village. They had previously robbed a caravan, but the government pursuers had changed locations several times, yet these people still didn't learn their lesson.

Even so, he never intended to stop it on his own: "I will leave once this winter is over."

He comes from Baiyou Valley and possesses exceptional skills; he cannot afford to be a bandit for the rest of his life.

He needs to change his identity and find a new way out; continuing like this will only lead to his death.

After saying that, the short bandit went into his wooden hut and slammed the door shut.

At this moment, the first man to appear adjusted his cloak and said, "The most important thing now is to get the food. Don't cause any trouble."

The implication was that since the operation was to take place tonight, it was better to save one's energy for tonight.

The bearded man frowned angrily and slammed the snow-covered figure to the ground.

Luo Xue let out a scream of "Ah—" Before she could react, her hair was pulled up and she was dragged along: "Fine, since none of the ones that are locked up are usable now, I'll use you as a test subject."

As she cried and begged for mercy, Luo Xue noticed some crucial information.

There were indeed hostages.

This is also information that Xiaobu has been monitoring, but it's not accurate.

Since they knew there were hostages and no one from the village had gone missing, it must have been the merchants who had been robbed and kidnapped in the past six months.

Snowfall's mission is to protect these hostages to the greatest extent possible during times of chaos.

"Ah—" Luo Xue was thrown into a dark room, filled with a strong smell of blood and medicine. As the room slammed shut, Luo Xue looked up and the scene before her eyes made her eyes sink instantly.

What kind of hostage is this? There's absolutely no need to rescue them.

After a long silence, Luo Xue slowly got up.

Suddenly, she gathered a surge of internal energy in her palm, and with a loud "bang," the door of the wooden house was blasted open.

The loud noise startled the bearded man who hadn't gone far, causing him to turn around in shock. He saw Luo Xue slowly emerge from the small wooden house, a smile still playing on her lips, though her feigned cuteness and innocence had vanished.

"You!" the bearded man exclaimed in shock.

His eyes hardened instantly, and he swiftly moved in front of Luo Xue, his five fingers forming a claw as he aimed straight at Luo Xue's crown.

Luo Xue smiled and tilted her head back. Suddenly, a cold light flashed at her waist, and her movements were as swift as lightning. Before he could even see what the weapon was, she had already landed behind him with a few swings.

Silent footsteps in the snow.

With a loud "bang," the bearded man's claw strike missed its mark and crashed straight to the ground.

Before he could react, his body made a few soft hissing sounds, and then blood splattered from his neck, arms, and body, gushing out like a spring from the cuts.

"Ugh!" The bearded man felt a sudden tightness in his chest. He clutched his neck and stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

He tried his best to look back at the last moment, wanting to say something, but the blood on his neck seemed to flow freely, preventing him from uttering a single word.

“You…” he gritted his teeth and uttered a single word.

But at the very end, a smile appeared on his lips.

Hmph... Even if he dies, he'll drag her down with him... After being drugged by him, there's no way she... can... possibly survive...

The last word fell into his mind, and his body fell straight to the ground. The blood, reflected against the torches on the fence, was made even more crimson.

Luo Xue turned around, her soft sword flashing long, its cold light gleaming, yet unstained by a single drop of blood: "These bandits aren't all that great, Your Highness, there's no need for you to go to such lengths."

However, no sooner had she finished speaking than a poisoned needle whistled and struck Luo Xue in the neck.

Startled, Luo Xue quickly leaned back to dodge the needle, but the next one followed immediately. This time, Luo Xue didn't have time to react; the needle lightly grazed her cheek, leaving a trace of blood.

Seeing that the poisoned needle had wounded Luo Xue, the person in the shadows stopped moving and slowly emerged from the darkness.

It was that thin, gloomy man; the dark circles under his eyes made it look like he hadn't slept for days.

Apart from him, Luo Xue noticed that no one else had appeared.

Snowflakes touched her cheeks; in the cold winter, the traces of blood had long since dried.

"You've been poisoned," the man said in a sinister tone. "You'll die soon. Before you die, you can tell me who sent you, and I can make your death easier."

“No.” After saying that, he added, “It’s not just my poison…”

He looked at the bearded man who was already dead; he had poisoned her in his final moments.

The falling snow fell silently; so that's how it is.

She thought it was easy to deal with, but it turned out that she had been poisoned without anyone noticing. Fortunately, she had already taken the antidote given by the empress.

Luo Xue smiled slightly: "Aren't the others planning to come out?"

"There's no need for a major offensive to deal with you."

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than arrows suddenly rained down upon them.

The man's eyes widened instantly, and he hurriedly leaped to avoid it.

Immediately following was a series of synchronized footsteps. An army clad in armor had appeared on the snow-capped mountain and was charging toward their hideout.

"The government?" The man hadn't had time to think it through.

Then the people who had been huddled inside the wooden house finally appeared, and upon seeing the scene before them, their hearts skipped a beat: "What's going on!"

The short man saw the situation from inside the wooden house and started packing his things, preparing to run away in the chaos. He couldn't afford to die in a place like this!

The moment the army stormed in, the gloomy man swiftly grabbed Luo Xue: "She's already poisoned. If you don't want her to die, stop right there!"

However, the army, with its overwhelming momentum, seemed not to have heard him and charged straight down the fence with their spears in hand.