End

The door of the barn slowly opened in her sight.

It all happened so easily, as if there were no obstacles at all.

Jiang Nian dug the medicine bag in her hand. She had just picked up a wooden stick but threw it away because it was too tiring to run. If the medicine bag in her hand didn't work, she would be left with nothing.

No matter how much preparation you make in advance, when something unexpected happens, you will still feel that you are not prepared enough.

What was waiting for her was right ahead, so Jiang Nian was not afraid at all.

She gathered her composure and pushed open the door, which was several times taller than she was. Her narrow vision suddenly opened up, and the light from the barn shone into her eyes along the paired supplies.

The dust floating in the huge warehouse glowed brightly. The man standing in front of the piles of food slowly turned around, wearing a familiar mask on his face, and met her eyes.

Lu was much taller than before, as if he had changed his body shape. If it weren't for the mask of anger on his face, Jiang Nian felt that it would take him several seconds to react.

As if he had expected Jiang Nian to enter the camp at this time, he opened his arms and saluted. His words were smiling, but they sounded hoarse and like a sting on the eardrums, making people extremely uncomfortable.

"Miss Jiang is truly exceptional. She was able to dodge all that useless trash and find her way here."

"Now... since you want to burn this batch of food, why not go through me first?"

Jiang Nian calmed down completely the moment he saw Lu. He stared at him coldly, stroking the flammable material in his hand for a moment, and replied with a smile:

"Since you are so powerful and know what I am thinking, why don't you guess who else would come here and steal the food and fodder from the military camp besides me?"

You hasn't arrived yet, and she can't just skip over Lu and set fire to the food supplies by herself. She needs to delay time.

When You Lai was about to kill Lu, he seized the opportunity to set fire to the grain.

The soldiers who had been searching the barracks for Jiang Nian for a long time without finding him seemed to come to their senses and began to take emergency action.

One group of people was guarding the women washing clothes, another group was guarding the gate of the military camp, and another small team was sent here to guard.

Jiang Nian didn't have much time to act, but she couldn't contact You by any means, so she had to talk to Lu to delay time.

She imagined how she would set the food supplies on fire if Yu did not come, and how she would escape from this huge military camp while setting the food supplies on fire to ensure that they would not be extinguished.

Lu's figure and voice have changed, but his thinking is still the same as when he was in Zuihualou. He is wholeheartedly thinking about serving the Wu Mi people and kidnapping Jiang Nian before any riot occurs in this military camp and taking her to the Wu Mi people.

Previously, he was avoiding pursuers and had no way to take Jiang Nian away in front of so many people. Now that he had time and had gotten rid of the pursuers, he would definitely take her away immediately.

Keeping Jiang Nian in the military camp for the time being was just a strategy of his. Now that it was time to pay respect to the leader, he naturally had to take away the person in front of him who could help him get promoted again.

Within her sight, a gleam of light flashed in Lu's eyes. Even through the mask, Jiang Nian could feel his greed as he clung to her.

Intuitively sensing that the other party had no intention of listening to her any further, she grabbed the dry food piled nearby, and before Lu pounced on her, she pulled out the flammable material from her sleeve and lit one of them.

The rest of the food and grass instantly licked the extremely heartwarming flame in the dry cold air, and the pleasant light reflected on her face. The person behind her was defenseless, and the powder that Jiang Nian waved out from his sleeves made him hesitate for a moment.

The powder was sticky, and within a few seconds, his mask was covered with a thick layer of white particles that could not be shaken off.

The bright and jumping flames startled the soldiers who were coming here to investigate. A bustling sound of footsteps sounded here. Jiang Nian calculated the time and barely avoided his hand before Lu made his next move.

Immediately afterwards, the flaming food in her hand was suddenly burned even more fiercely by the cold wind that rushed in when the gate opened. Jiang Nian ran back a few steps, and when the other soldiers pointed their arrows at her heart, she threw the burning food on the large pile of food behind her.

The blazing flames instantly illuminated people's faces, and the cold and pale sky seemed to be burned through half by the bright flames.

I don't know who reacted first, aimed the arrow in his hand at Jiang Nian who was standing in front of the cover, and shot it out with force, while the others on the side were running outside, shouting that there was a fire.

Lu, who was rushing towards Jiang Nian and trying to take her to the Wu Mi camp, felt his heart go empty as he was suddenly pierced by a cold arrow.

The extremely cold and sharp blade pierced silently, without any murderous intent, with fast and fierce speed, and it was sure to hit the target.

The one running forward subconsciously tried to break free from the sword that seemed to cut off his life, but the opponent was well prepared and anticipated his attack habits in advance.

In the next moment, he pulled out the arrow, turned his arm, and cut off the back of his neck that was exposed to the air.

His body suddenly felt very light. The mask string that had been tied behind his head for years suddenly broke, and the loose rope fragments flew past his eyes.

The furnishings in the barn spun around in his eyes for a few times before finally falling heavily to the ground.

The blood color faded, and warm liquid slowly flowed from his eyes and ears. He opened his eyes, his mind gradually blurring, his consciousness lingering only on the seemingly inextinguishable fire burning on the food.

You retracted his sword, looked up at the blazing fire on the food, turned around, walked past the head rolling on the ground, and headed forward.

He was not interested in other people. In the current situation, apart from taking a closer look to see if Lu was dead, there was nothing else he needed to pay attention to.

The soldiers swarming behind him tried to stop You, mistaking him for Jiang Nian's backup. They formed a circle around him in the leaping red flames, seemingly ignoring the food and supplies behind him that were related to his life, and blocked You's sight to check.

“…”

Jiang Nian survived the disaster. She dodged the arrow that was shot at her just now, and then because of You's appearance, the soldiers were caught off guard.

Now all we have to do is find Zhou Jinyu and wait for help.

It seemed like everything was done too smoothly.

As Jiang Nian ran out of the granary, she kept an eye on the dark shadow running towards her in the firelight, and was wary of the arrows shot from the darkness. After a while, she saw the pursuers surrounding her in front, and her heart tightened.

If she followed the route Zhou Jinyu gave her, she should run forward so as not to leave the place where they originally planned to meet.

But there were pursuers ahead, and if she rushed forward she would surely be caught.

The soldiers had extremely good eyesight and saw Jiang Nian's figure from afar. They raised their sharp bows and arrows, intending to shoot her and capture her alive.

His breathing became rapid, and Jiang Nian's body stiffened for a moment. In his peripheral vision, he saw that only the area to his left was not surrounded by anyone.

But that place... seemed to be outside the jurisdiction of the military camp. I heard from the women who had been planning to escape that there had been a major earthquake in this plain, and the cracks in the ground had never closed up since they broke.

Could it be the place she is looking at now?

Too careless.

Jiang Nian instinctively didn't want to go here.

But now, she was gradually surrounded by pursuers from behind and in front, and the food and grass she had burned behind her were jumping and burning in her sight, and the flames that reached the sky could illuminate the entire sky.

In the distance, there were the sounds of weapons clashing and the shouts of battle. The sound of horses' hooves mixed with the rustling of cloaks was carried to my ears by the sudden cold wind, but all these sounds seemed to be fading away with me.

In this open space, there was only her and the pursuers gradually approaching her.

......

If he hesitated any further, he would only fall into the hands of the enemy. Jiang Nian didn't want the ambush to fail halfway, so he lowered his eyes slightly and fixed them on the row of straw mats on the ground in front of him.

She lit the food and grass that she had pulled out while running away. The moment the cold arrow flew towards her, the burning food and grass was used as a fire and immediately thrown onto the straw mat opposite.

The flames spread rapidly on the dry straw mat, and thick smoke billowed, soon blocking the vision of the soldiers who continued to move forward.

This can only delay the stay for a short while, but...

Jiang Nian looked up at the increasing number of pursuers rushing towards him not far away, and then looked at the fire in front and behind that was burning wildly and was about to merge into one.

The heat from her arms seemed to drain all her strength, and there was blood on her legs from being scratched by the arrow.

The fire licked, as if reflecting her inner unwillingness, trying to devour the entire military camp trapped in the winter cold.

The explosion not far away made my ears seem to go deaf, and the figures running around seemed to be dragged by someone and stopped in place.

The soldiers stopped what they were doing, as if they were being held hostage. Some of the more active ones were instantly stabbed through by the blades.

The dark black crane cloak flashed past his sight, and the color turned into bright red in an instant.

Is it because I ran too far and they can’t catch up with me?

Jiang Nian was unable to think.

There was only one thing in her mind, to set the food on fire and escape from this cruel military camp.

Today is already the third month in this military camp.

It's almost spring.

The ice and snow are about to melt.

The white air exhaled from the lips was instantly blown away by the biting wind. Jiang Nian endured the waves of pain coming from his body, clenched his hands, and tried to keep himself alert so as not to relax all the strength in his body.

It seemed as if she was the only one left in the vast world.

The sharp sound of weapons clashing behind him gradually faded away like the tide.

Those heart-wrenching screams and the image of cold-faced soldiers pointing arrows at her made her feel cold from head to toe, and she almost felt dizzy and out of her mind.

It seemed as if all of these would be burned to ashes by the fire she had set, becoming pictures that could never be put together again. Once the wind blew across the frozen earth, they would no longer be visible and could be treated as if they had never happened.

Distant memories, forgotten memories, seemed to rush towards her all because of the shock she received today.

Jiang Nian's legs went weak and he fell to his knees.

Messy hair fell from her shoulders.

On the frozen ground without any green grass, there is only a deep black color that makes people shudder and want to escape.

Bare and lifeless.

......

He supported himself on the ground with his hands. Since he hadn't eaten anything today, all that came up in his stomach was sour and bitter water.

The leg that was hit by arrows seemed to have lost consciousness, but when Jiang Nian turned his head and saw the sharp arrows, his heart contracted with pain.

She is lucky.

Under heavy siege, because of Lu's words that he wanted to capture her alive, she was not shot like a hedgehog by the overwhelming cold arrows, but showed mercy and only shot the parts of her body that could not move or run.

But even so, the desire to survive that has existed in humans since ancient times dominated her, causing her to run to the left for a distance.

Until all I could see was a desolate land.

It seems that she didn't run very far. Xiao Yingzhu will definitely be able to find her, right?

Her hands on the ground could no longer support her heavy body. As her arms lost strength, Jiang Nian fell straight to the cold ground.

Jiang Nian's soft internal organs collided with the hard ground, and he could only use his arms to block the contact between his face and the ground. Even so, his eyes went black and his whole body was in so much pain that he wanted to curl up.

It hurts so much.

She should have suffered only superficial injuries.

The snow piled up on the mountains not far away seemed to be startled by the fire after the explosion in the barracks below, and began to collapse. The snow that had not collapsed for a long time suddenly tilted down at this moment.

The broken snow rolled down the steep hillside and rushed towards Jiang Nian's distracted eyes.

There must be a cliff ahead.

...The snow shouldn't cover her body, right?

Jiang Nian remained silent, but was too weak to move.

People are insignificant in front of nature.

Even if she could move, if the snow wanted to cover this place, then no matter how she escaped, it would be useless.

Fatigue.

Can you close your eyes?

......

In the cold darkness, Jiang Nian did not feel anyone approaching her. The momentary warmth she had felt over the past few months was ultimately an illusion.