Chapter 80: A Screw Loose in General’s Head

The army led by Gu Nan set out at daybreak and did not stop until sunset.

At night, in the dark and quiet mountain woods flicker vague shadows of human figures. At a closer look, they are hundreds of soldiers in black amors standing in front of a mountain wall.

The mountain wall is neither too high nor too low. The height of more than ten meters makes it seem like a city wall.

Gu Nan did not bring Blackie into the woods and only leaves it at the foot of the mountain.

By estimation, it has already past midnight, and it took them almost fourteen hours to get there.

From the regular march at initial departure to the rapid march since noon, they have gone almost two hundred miles from the Xian Yang city, and everyone is exhausted.

None of them knows the purpose for which they come here or the form of their final examination, and neither will they ask.

They are waiting for Gu Nan’s order, and whatever she orders them to do, they will make it happen.

Gu Nan looks up at the moon hung above her head, and then lowers her sights back to three hundred soldiers.

“It is midnight right now.”

“Before breakfast (seven to nine am), I will see you with every piece of your gears at the east gate of Xian Yang city.”

“You do not have any money on you, and you cannot rob passersby or commit any evil. If you can find someone willing to give you a free ride at this hour of the night, you are lucky. I just need to see you in person next morning, then it will be a pass for you.”

“At last, this is an examination, and no one can help each other; otherwise, should I see it happen, I will give you a fail.”

“If you cannot make it or be on time, it is also a fail.”

After that, Gu Nan glances over the three hundred men, turns around and leaves.

They are about two hundred miles away from the Xian Yang city, and they have less than eight hours until designated time.

This means that they have to carry the full set of heavy armors and gears, march at a speed of more than two miles every five minutes, and maintain such speed without getting lost. Only then can they make it back to Xian Yang city.

To those soldiers who have been exhausted along the way, this is a mission almost impossible.

Until Gu Nan leaves, the three hundred soldiers remain motionless as well as silent.

Only after Gu Nan is completely out of sight does one of them lightly asks.

“Does the general not afraid that we may just escape by leaving us to ourselves here? Last time I check, we were still death row inmates, were we not?”

“Why do you even ask.” Another one gives him a stare. “You should already know that our general always has a screw loose in her head, unless it concerns some important matters.”

“Well, you are right.”

Should Gu Nan hear the conversation, she would definitely make them run a couple more miles.

However, at the same time, some people already start to hesitate.

On one hand, it is an impossible mission, but on the other, it is freedom.

Facing such choices, those who are the most determined will waver.

“Or, could it be that the general does not worry at all that we may escape?” Suddenly, one of them speaks.

But those around him falls silent.

“We underwent such hellish tortures and almost did what we were supposed to. Now, can you accept leaving everything behind in the last minute?”

Saying so he starts packing up his stuff: “I cannot, ever.”

“Don’t forget what we promised each other every time we survived a drill.”

“To be that forbidden guards in embroidered clothes, and accomplish the extraordinary that no one else can.”

He lowers his head, rubbing the jade pendent with only half remaining.

I have failed her for almost twenty years; I cannot do that anymore.

I will come back to see you after I make a name for myself!

Putting the jade pendent back to chest, he stands up and then disappears in the woods.

“The general taught us of martial arts and internal energies so that we can fight but not flee.”

Another one clasps his hand to the crowd after packing up his things.

“Brothers, I wish to see you all again in Xian Yang city.”

Saying so, he leaves.

“Ah, it cannot be helped that the general is so absentminded. It is better for me to remind her of that after I return to the army.” One languidly strolls away.

But he soon proceeds firmly toward the Xian Yang city.

“My family is down and out, so I must earn a name in the army before I return home. Excuse me, brothers.”

“How best to put it? Haha, the fire basins in the barracks are warm and hard to find anywhere else.”

“It is easier said than done to run hundreds of miles at midnight. Hey, I say we make a carriage out of the woods. Do you think we can make it?”

“If you are the one to pull the carriage, then I will accompany you. Otherwise, I am on my way since we are all on the clocks.”

“Go screw yourself!”

“Hahaha!”

Three hundred men, one after another, quickly marches toward the Xian Yang city, none attempting escape.

In the next morning when the sun emerges from the horizon, Gu Nan is standing in an open field one mile away from the east gate of Xian Yang city.

Next to her stands a flag painted black fluttering in the wind.

She has been standing for hours glaring at the woods from far away.

Until in distance a figure in black armor rushes out of the woods and stumbles toward the flag, Gu Nan’s stern expression cracks with a smile.

When the soldier gets close, she quickly retrieves her smile.

“Soldier, Li Yi, report!” This is a rule under Gu Nan’s commend that the soldiers have gotten accustomed to.

After the report, Li Yi is about to sit down.

“Stand up. I never told you to sit.” Gu Nan says, frowning.

Li Yi gasps and scratches his hair. He smiles momentarily with his throat too dry to make a sound, and remains standing.

He is aware that he will probably faint if he sits down right now. but he is just so tired that he naturally wants to rest once he reaches the destination.