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墨書 Inktalez
In the Fox Fairy Cave of the back mountain, Lin Dahe rubbed his tired eyes. "Put it together with Aunt Wang's grain."
Cui Xiaoman burst into the ancestral hall, clutching a faded bundle. "I found it! The treasure at the bottom of the Mad Old Woman's chest!"
As she unwrapped the bundle, several embroidered diagrams on coarse cloth came into view. The stitches were astonishingly fine; from a distance, they appeared to be a lucky pattern of magpies perched on branches. But up close, hidden secrets revealed themselves—each bird's position corresponded to tactical formations, and the direction of the branches outlined ambush routes!
"This is..." Lin Dahe's fingers hovered above the embroidery.
"A modified version of the Qi Family Army's Mandarin Duck Formation." Cui Xiaoman's eyes sparkled with excitement. "My father mentioned it in his books!" She suddenly lowered her voice, "The Mad Old Woman's man was one of Qi Jiguang's personal soldiers back in the day..."
Suddenly, historical data popped up in Lin Dahe's mind: [Qi Jiguang, a famous Ming dynasty general known for his resistance against Japanese pirates, created the Twelve-Person Mandarin Duck Formation specifically to counter their sword techniques]. Lin Dahe's heart raced. What other secrets lay hidden in this seemingly ordinary village?
As night fell, the entire village sprang into action. Women sewed soft shields from cotton blankets to block arrows, while children embedded shards of pottery into mud cakes to create traps. Lin Dahe led a group to dig three triangular pits at the village entrance, with sharpened bamboo stakes inserted at the bottom.
"Pour another layer of manure water," Seventh Uncle commanded with his cane. "It'll fester the wounds."
The first drop of rain hit Lin Dahe on the back of his neck; he thought it was sweat. But as the second and third drops followed closely behind, he suddenly looked up—the dark night sky seemed to have been torn open, and torrential rain poured down.
"The Mad Old Woman's prophecy!" someone exclaimed.
Rainwater quickly pooled in the pits, turning them into muddy traps. Lin Dahe carried a lantern to check the traps when he noticed reflective traces on the ground—it was white lime! Someone had scattered powder on the main road before the rain; now washed by water, it revealed glowing green arrows pointing directly to the village granary!
Following the traces to an abandoned temple, Lin Dahe pressed against a broken window frame and overheard muffled arguing inside.
"What kind of useless mark did Zhou Liangzhang give us?" a hoarse male voice cursed. "That stuff dissolves in water!"
"Calm down, big brother..." another sycophantic voice replied. "That old fool said he just got a new batch of Nitre; the markers would glow at night..."
Lin Dahe's heart raced. Peering through the gap, he saw about ten burly men gathered inside the temple. The leader had a scar running across his left eye and wore a standard waist knife—these were no ordinary bandits!
"We strike tomorrow at noon," Scarface kicked over an offering table. "According to old rules, we raid for grain and burn down the village—leave no survivors!"
Lin Dahe stepped back from the ruined temple as rainwater poured down his neck, chilling him to the bone. Suddenly, he remembered the flashing red dots on his system map and quickly summoned the interface—those markers representing enemy troops were now alarmingly close, within five miles!
At the moment the granary caught fire, Lin Dahe was loading arrows into a crossbow. A sharp whistle pierced through the rainy night, followed by Cui Xiaoman's altered shout: "From the north! They're coming from the north!"
As he burst out of the door, he saw that the entire northern sky was already aglow. The thatched roof of the granary blazed fiercely in the rain, clearly ignited by specially designed fire arrows. Even more terrifying was that firelight illuminated shadowy figures moving outside the village—at least thirty men were closing in in a fan-shaped formation!
"Dong dong dong—" The copper bell in front of the ancestral hall rang out.
The voice of One-Armed Veteran boomed through the rain: "Take your positions! Arrange according to the embroidered diagrams!"
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