Chapter 624: Puzzlement

Chapter 624: Chapter 624: Puzzlement

Shen Hao didn’t stay long in Wu Kai’s tent; he’d already asked everything he needed to ask, and hanging around would only keep Wu Kai from getting his rest. By order, Wu Kai was allowed only one night and half a day of rest in the camp; one good sleep and it’d be over.

By the time he got back to his own tent, it was already past mid-9 p.m., and the tent was thick with a musty smell.

"Sir, the Military Inspector Xu Jie requests an audience." Just as he sat down, his Personal Guard came in to report.

"Let him in."

Xu Jie was the Inspector in charge at the Upper Military Camp, an old hand among the Inspectors. He was from the same hometown as Shen Hao’s Deputy Li Jiang, and he’d served for many years as a Soldier before joining the Xuanqing Guard, so at Li Jiang’s strong recommendation, Shen Hao had sent Xu Jie to the front line to act as Inspector.

Soon, a man of medium build and imposing features stepped in from outside. After loudly saluting, he stood with his hands at his sides, one zhang away from Shen Hao.

"No need for formality. Tell me how things are on your end."

Xu Jie relaxed after seeing that Shen Hao showed no sign of blame. Shen Hao had arrived that afternoon, and Xu Jie should have come to pay his respects immediately. But as soon as Shen Hao entered the camp, he was summoned by Cheng Jinhou. Afterwards, he went to Wu Kai’s tent, so Xu Jie missed him several times and finally waited near Shen Hao’s tent to catch him when he got back.

"Reporting, sir, the situation in the Upper Military Camp is dire. On my fifth day here, the Military Supervisor died, and then, one after another, three replacement Supervisors were sent and two of them died as well. Only one is left, gravely wounded and in a coma. I would have ended up just like that Supervisor, if General Cheng Jinhou hadn’t stepped in to save me. He even hurt his right arm because of it."

Shen Hao’s eyes narrowed slightly. There was a lot of information in that statement.

"If Cheng Jinhou hadn’t saved you, you’d be in the same state as that gravely wounded Supervisor? The two of you were standing together?"

"Yes, sir, we were side by side. It happened suddenly—one moment I felt several gusts of force come at us, and then everything went blurry; the next thing I saw, General Cheng was blocking in front of me. The Supervisor beside me got unlucky and was hit by one of the blasts—now, I hear half the bones in his body were shattered, and he probably won’t live."

Never mind how someone managed to get near Cheng Jinhou with the Central Army so heavily guarded—in Xu Jie’s story, he was standing right next to a Supervisor, yet Cheng Jinhou saved only Xu Jie and not the Supervisor at his side. Was it deliberate, or was there no time?

Shen Hao was sure that Cheng Jinhou chose not to save that Supervisor. If it had been him, he probably wouldn’t have bothered either. This was the downside of how unwelcome the Supervisors were—no one cared for them in a crisis; even if they died, no one would notice.

"Does this happen often? Assassins getting this close to Cheng Jinhou?"

"Yes, sir. Some Cultivators among the Barbarian Race are extremely strong. They disguise themselves as ordinary Soldiers, mix with the attacking stragglers, and only go wild when they get close to the camp walls. Some run at extraordinary speed, and it’s very hard to stop them in advance."

"The ones garrisoning Cheng Jinhou are Cultivators from Jingying Prefecture? What’s their background?"

"Mainly two people. One is a man named Wu from the Celestial Toad Sect, said to be Profound Sea Realm Second Layer; the other is an Elder surnamed Yuan from the Valley of Love Flowers, reportedly a Profound Sea Realm First Layer."

"Tch!" Shen Hao sucked in a breath. It wasn’t the Cultivation level of these two Elder-level High-Tier Cultivators that startled him, but the abilities of those Barbarian Race Cultivators. Even two Profound Sea Realm Cultivators couldn’t guarantee Cheng Jinhou’s safety. This was—

"And? Were the Barbarians who tried to assassinate Cheng Jinhou killed?"

"Three were left behind; two others escaped unharmed after their assassination attempt failed."

Shen Hao didn’t know what to say. No wonder, when he and Cheng Jinhou were arranging Arrays and dealing with corpses outside the camp, he hadn’t seen any Profound Sea Realm experts around—their pride must’ve been hurt and they chose to protect him in the shadows.

"Any other news?"

"There’s more, sir. From my observations, the Upper Military Camp is drastically understrength. Take that battle yesterday—there were only six thousand effective fighters at the time, and nearly two thousand were lost, with even more wounded. The patrolling line outside is supposedly twenty thousand strong, but in reality only fifteen thousand are actually on the front lines, and they’re spread extremely thin. They constantly clash with Barbarian infiltration teams, and in open field skirmishes, the losses are severe.

But I heard General Cheng mention, the next wave of reinforcements won’t arrive for another five days. If the Barbarians launch another raid the size of yesterday’s in that time..."

He left the rest unsaid, but Shen Hao understood what Xu Jie meant. He feared that, if the Barbarians attacked in force again, the Upper Military Camp wouldn’t hold.

The five-day timeframe matched what Wu Kai had mentioned earlier. That was not a good sign: even if reinforcements arrived on time, there would be no extra time to reposition or deal with emergencies. Even an outsider like Shen Hao could see this was a serious vulnerability.

Would Cheng Jinhou not know this? What was he planning?

"Any countermeasures?"

"Cheng Jinhou hasn’t said anything. Even when people below try to warn him, Cheng Jinhou won’t explain and just maintains a tough outward defense, making no move to pull back his men."

"Have the Cultivators from Jingying Prefecture raised any concerns?" Shen Hao found this stranger by the minute. A general famous for his caution wouldn’t just ignore so many flaws, would he? The subordinates couldn’t sway Cheng Jinhou, and the Supervisors were gravely wounded, so the Cultivators from Jingying Prefecture ought to have spoken up.

But Xu Jie shook his head. "No. The Cultivators from Jingying Prefecture hardly speak to anyone in the army, let alone interfere in military matters."

"So the Supervisors never reported this? Or did you block it?"

"The Supervisors did bring it up—multiple times. I’m not stupid; I’d hardly reject exposing so clear a weakness in our campaign. But Cheng Jinhou ignored it, and any reports sent out by the Supervisors just disappeared with no reply."

The Supervisors’ reports wouldn’t just vanish into thin air, and Cheng Jinhou would never dare defy the Supervisors’ withdrawal orders. The only explanation was that the Supervisors’ appeals got no response, or even their own superiors didn’t back them up.

By the time they finished talking, it was well past 9 p.m., and Xu Jie left only as midnight approached.

But Shen Hao felt no sleepiness at all, sitting in his tent, staring for a long time at the Jianchuan terrain map spread out on his desk, silent and unmoving.

Outside, three Guards were whispering to each other. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Things look pretty grim here."

"Mm! It’s no exaggeration to say it’s a crisis on the edge. I have no idea where Cheng Jinhou gets the confidence to keep holding out. With losses like this, morale will crumble before long."

"Listen, if things can’t be salvaged, our priority is to get Shen Hao out safely."