The sky was grayish-blue, and there was a small campfire outside the tent.

Gao finished reading the scroll, his heart heavy. He could carry out orders, but asking him to come up with an idea was far too much to ask.

"Have the brothers split the wood into human shapes of similar height and width to make as many mannequins as possible," Yun Zhe gave his first order after a moment's thought.

"Tonight, take a few veterans and have them patrol the area around the camp. No, wait, not tonight. Tomorrow during the day, take twenty skilled men and have them scout the nearby woods. Absolutely do not let them get close to our camp. Absolutely!"

Gao nodded; he understood. "However, I might not be able to gather twenty people; ten would be good enough."

Yun Zhe paused, his mood worsening further. "That's alright, you guys take care of the woods on the right side of the camp, I'll take care of the left." Thinking that a bloody battle was inevitable at worst, Yun Zhe also had the idea of ​​killing and drinking blood to increase his strength.

"Also, tell the brothers to retreat in the next couple of days. Regarding the battle of Skano, if we've won, we're retreating according to plan. The Ars family owns several plains; if things get chaotic, we're no match for cavalry on the plains, so..."

Since it concerned his own life and death, Gao, though honest, was not stupid. He naturally nodded in agreement because Yun Zhe's words made perfect sense.

“Alright, everything will proceed as usual tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll see how things go and retreat directly.” Yun Zhe said, then walked out of the tent with Gao.

"How about we have something good to eat tonight? Those sheep look nice, let's slaughter them all tonight." There were quite a few soldiers with nothing to do outside the door. Seeing this, Gao quickly came up with a good topic of conversation to make it seem like nothing had happened.

"Okay, the sheep will be made separately, and the rest of you will make the dummies. You can arrange the details. I need to go out and check out the surrounding terrain."

"Will there be no problem tomorrow..." Gao followed Yun Zhe all the way, and finally couldn't help but blurt it out.

Yun Zhe frowned slightly. "It's nothing. As long as we make a good show of it, we'll definitely be able to retreat safely." With that, he leaped over the fence.

The soldiers around them were very curious about Yun Zhe's words about a safe retreat, and they all asked Gao about it.

"Boss, we're leaving tomorrow? Then what's the point of doing any work?" A short boy grinned and was the first to approach.

Gao sighed helplessly. He wasn't good at lying. "They've won over there. What are we still doing here, waiting for them to realize what's going on and kick us in the ass?"

The child giggled and nodded in agreement, but his mind was entirely on the mutton for tonight.

"Then why is he so angry, Gao?" The soldier who saw Yun Zhe angrily rush out of the tent also came over.

"Why... because they let the cavalry pass. Think about it, we only have so many people. If there are more people over there, there will definitely be fewer people here. He was worried that the other side would realize that we were bluffing. He was angry that they let the cavalry pass." Gao felt ashamed inwardly, wondering how he could lie so smoothly.

The soldier nodded; the reason was indeed flawless. "So, Yun Zhe won the bet this time?" The soldier realized, his tone full of surprise. Luke, that big mouth, had made everyone aware of the bet within half a day.

Gao was taken aback, but nodded. He had been so focused on the current danger that he had forgotten that if Baron Ars returned, Yun Zhe would have already won the battle.

Moreover, not only did he win, but he also calculated everything correctly, except for the situation on his own side.

At noon, Serena stood in the middle of the road, letting the strong sunlight shine on her face, making it feel hot and painful.

Around her were broken carriages, abandoned tents, and various bags filled with leftover oats or hay.

Andrew stood at a distance, feeling somewhat embarrassed and annoyed. The Earl had just given him a dressing down. Although he was resentful, he knew they had missed a golden opportunity. Worse still, Ars had already retreated, and scouts reported that Terra had also begun withdrawing his troops. The crisis in Donic City had indeed been resolved, just as Yun Zhe had predicted.

This time, Yun Zhe won.

Nyrent comforted Luke from a short distance away. Luke, fully armed, slumped under a tree, his face a mask of disbelief and regret. After crossing the border, he had volunteered to be the vanguard. Full of pride, he led his scout cavalry to a high hill near Skano, expecting to find an empty road without a single footprint, but instead found scattered debris, deep and shallow ruts, and a flag that had vanished in the distance.

He panicked immediately. He couldn't believe it was real and slapped himself hard in the face before he was forced to accept that what he was seeing was indeed true.

His first thought was, "Should I just clean this up and pretend there were no traces?"

But the scouts who followed didn't want to do such physical labor. They all rode back to report. Our hero Luke, however, remained slumped under that tree to this day.

Xi Xi didn't think much of it; it was just bad luck, everyone gets lucky sometimes. So when the scroll used for relaying messages lit up, she didn't tell Serena. Seeing the anger in Yun Zhe's words, she interpreted it even more as Yun Zhe's ugly face after getting his way.

"It rained on the way, which caused a delay. So what if we're a little slow? Any complaints?"

Xixi felt she absolutely couldn't give him a friendly look now. They'd gone back; he could just leave. What was he yelling about? She felt a pang of sympathy for her mistress. It was so hot under the sun; she guessed her mistress was probably upset about being beaten by the Aluruman and was reflecting on her actions. But Xixi thought, so what if she'd been beaten by that Aluruman? She could just win back.

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