Lu Mingxuan cried out and covered his eyes. Su Jin fired with his other hand.
The shot hit. Su Jin turned and ran.
He had definitely struck Lu Mingxuan, but the man was not dead.
Lu Mingxuan was strong. The bullet had only made him step back once.
The two bursts of light had attracted attention. Other strong patrolmen might already have seen them. There was no time to keep fighting.
Su Jin vanished around a street corner.
Lu Mingxuan’s junior brother ran up with a lantern and stopped beside him.
"Senior Brother, what happened?"
Lu Mingxuan lowered his right hand from his shoulder. His palm was covered in blood.
"That man is strange. I’ve never seen a Mystic Light Technique that flashes over and over. It almost blinded me," Lu Mingxuan said, shaken.
"Forget his light technique. How badly are you hurt?"
"It’s nothing. A minor wound from being caught off guard. After him!"
"Ah? Pursue him where, Senior Brother?" The Junior Brother stood utterly bewildered.
Lu Mingxuan turned on him. "You ask me? My eyes are still dazzled. Didn’t you see where he went?"
"I... I was watching you."
"Useless. He’s no ordinary man. Running at night, he must be trying to leave the city. He’s heading for the north gate. Signal the other Jiantian Guards!"
"There’s something strange about him. Don’t let the Xuanjia Army catch him first!"
"Understood!"
...
A sharp whistle rose into the night.
A bright white light burst above the north gate.
Strangely, both the light and the shrill sound remained suspended in the sky.
Su Jin raced through the streets.
Just as he expected, the earlier flash had drawn attention.
He heard more and more footsteps in the surrounding streets.
As he turned through the lanes, Su Jin looked up. His face twitched.
All this because he had drunk some liquor.
His luck had been terrible, and now they were hunting him in force.
The detours had cost him time. How would he climb the wall if more pursuers arrived?
If one of them brought a bow, they could turn him into a pincushion.
He kept heading toward the north gate.
Su Jin took out a signal flare and watched the light and sound overhead.
At last, the white signal faded.
He fired his flare toward the city center.
It rose, burst red, and slowly fell.
Patrols from around the city had been rushing north.
At the new flare, they all stopped.
"Whose signal is that?"
"Isn’t it from Tanyu Temple?"
"Their signal is white. Who fired a red one? What does it mean?"
"Which way do we go?"
The patrols hesitated, unsure where to move.
Su Jin kept running.
He was less than a kilometer from the northern wall. Its guards would be watching more closely after the signal.
His original route would no longer do. He needed a better place to cross.
He climbed onto the roof of a wooden building and lay flat.
From his ring, he took out another object and set it up.
He found a dark, unguarded section of wall, jumped down, and ran toward it.
Five hundred meters from the wall, he fired another flare behind him.
At the same moment, a loud noise burst from the roof where he had stopped.
Patrols converged on the building from every direction.
Several strong fighters leaped onto the roof.
Xuanjia and Jiantian experts arrived together.
The two groups usually competed bitterly for credit and resources.
This time, they silently looked at the roof.
A small metal box was making a tremendous noise.
"...You are mine, and I am yours. One more glance and I’ll explode; come a little closer and I might melt..."
"What is that?" a Xuanjia fighter asked the Jiantian men.
They looked at one another.
"It sounds like singing. I don’t know the language. Could it be a message?" someone wondered.
"Could it be a diversion, meant to draw us away?" another asked.
Everyone immediately searched in all directions.
A moment later, the group erupted.
"It is a diversion! He’s at the north wall. He’s about to climb out!"
"Get the archers!"
...
At the foot of the wall, Su Jin slid to a stop in a lunging stance, bow ready.
Twang!
The powerful 110-pound bow sent the grappling hook over the wall.
The hook barely caught the edge of a battlement.
"Yes!"
Su Jin clenched his fist. At last he could breathe a little easier.
A normal arrow would have cleared the wall easily.
The rope and iron hook had greatly shortened its range.
But the shot had worked. He would not have to climb partway up and try again.
Su Jin grabbed the nylon rope and ran up the wall.
In the darkness, aided by the doubling effect, he moved so fast he might have been running on level ground.
Within moments, he reached the top.
He crouched behind the battlements and pulled in the rope, ready to descend the other side.
Arrows hissed overhead as he gathered it.
Su Jin let out a breath. That was close.
Another moment or two and he might not have escaped.
He probably would have survived, but they might have captured him. That would all but end his mission.
He had no intention of winning the trust of those in power and completing his task that way.
He lacked the time, and human nature made it unlikely.
Even if he persuaded them the apocalypse was coming, those rulers would never accept another savior who might challenge them.
He took the rope and descended the outside of the wall.
About five meters above the ground, he pushed off hard and swung his arm.
The hook came free and fell with him.
He put it back in his ring, stayed close to the wall, and brought out his RV.
He could not run openly now. The most dangerous place might be the safest place to hide.
The RV’s optical camouflage should work well at night. He would leave after the searchers passed.
As he reached for the door, a patch of weeds by the wall stirred.
Du Wenyan crawled out of the ground, dirty and holding a little girl. He covered the opening again with his foot.
"You..." Su Jin stared, speechless.
"Brother Wu... we meet again," Du Wenyan said nervously, hiding his sister behind him.
Torches were already approaching from the gate.
Su Jin opened the RV door and pushed them both inside.
"Quiet. Wait until they pass."