My Promotion Story Through Time Travel

Chapter 127 Dark Night

Tumbled rocks, collapsed mine shafts, and occasional limbs and torsos protruding from the ground, the brown soil tinged with streaks of bright red.

Gao Chi looked at him with a pitying expression and said, "How pitiful."

Jiang Wanyu also lamented, "This... how did it collapse? Young masters, I don't think it's safe here. We should leave quickly."

Gao Chi looked sympathetic, but still nodded.

"Brother, where are we going?" Hong Lao Er asked, pointing to a place in a daze. "Home is over there."

Lin Ziping looked in the direction of the steward's house and said patiently, "I'll take you down the mountain."

Hong Lao Er clapped his hands happily: "Go down the mountain to find my mother...go down the mountain to find my mother..."

"Let's go," Jiang Wanyu suggested.

Lin Ziping pulled Hong Lao Er away with Gao Chi and Jiang Wanyu.

As the clouds and mist dissipated, Lin Ziping couldn't help but turn around, only to see that familiar high mountain standing behind him.

It was already dark when they returned to the mountain stronghold. Hong Lao Er's fever had subsided after taking the medicine.

Jiang Wanyu arranged for Jiang Xiaoba to bring food, and the group quickly finished their meal before resting.

The village was quiet, with only the occasional rustling sound of the wind blowing through the trees.

The group found a room to rest in. The room was simply furnished, with only a table and a few chairs.

Given these circumstances, no one is being pretentious.

Lin Ziping chose a spot by the window and sat down on the floor, directly facing the high mountain.

Hong Lao Er lay down next to Lin Ziping and soon began snoring loudly. Lin Ziping dozed off for a while before being woken up by the noise.

I opened my eyes and looked out the window, and suddenly noticed twinkling starlight coming from the opposite mountain.

"You saw it too." A whisper suddenly came from the silent room.

Lin Ziping tightened his grip on the dagger, and it took him a while to realize that it was Gao Chi who had spoken.

He loosened his grip slightly and didn't reply.

"Lin Ziping, you saw it too, didn't you?" Gao Chi's voice drifted over.

Is Gao Chi's vision infrared? Lin Ziping thought to himself, wondering how Gao Chi could have known he was awake when he had only opened his eyes and hadn't moved much.

"What did you see?" Lin Ziping stopped pretending to be asleep and started playing dumb.

"You came up the mountain to find me, didn't you?" Gao Chi's voice was certain.

Lin Ziping was startled. Was he that obvious?

He immediately stopped pretending to be stupid, chuckled, and said, "Yes, Your Highness, Sixth Prince. The county magistrate knew of your troubles and specially sent me here."

The air seemed to freeze, and Lin Ziping felt Gao Ci's gaze suddenly sharpen: "You already knew my identity?"

"It was after seeing your portrait that I learned your identities." Lin Ziping shook his head, sighed, and continued, "We are of lowly status and everyone in the county government avoids us like the plague, so they had no choice but to send me."

Gao Chi stared intently at Lin Ziping.

Lin Ziping pretended not to notice and gave a wry smile.

After a long pause, Gao Chi looked away from Lin Ziping and said, "Have you thought about how to save us?"

Lin Ziping's expression remained unchanged, but his eyes looked at him as if he were looking at an idiot. There were only a few dozen people in this village, and he couldn't even beat them. How could he save them? With a spirit of selflessness?

"Commander Xiao brought his troops to attack Cat Mountain. When I came, I told them I had saved you, and they were going to attack the mountain." Lin Ziping shrugged. "But I guess they don't really know the situation on the mountain, otherwise they wouldn't have sent me alone."

"What do you think of Jiang Wanyu and the Jiang family?" Gao Chi continued to ask.

Lin Ziping paused for a moment, then organized his thoughts and said, "I just think it's too coincidental. The mine collapsed too coincidentally, and they came too coincidentally."

Gao Chi remained silent.

Lin Ziping squinted and stared intently out the window. What could be on the opposite mountain?

"What did you do today?" After some time, Gao Chi's voice came.

Lin Ziping was taken aback, not understanding why he asked this, but still answered honestly: "I was injured by the foreman in charge of the mine earlier, and I was so angry that I went to beat him up this morning. I happened to see that Hong Lao Er was sick. He's just an idiot, so I couldn't be bothered to argue with him."

"Later, I got separated from you by the crowd and couldn't catch up with you. I wanted to find a side path, but I ran into that manager and he took me back to that house. I pretended to be no match for him, and in the end... I killed him."

Lin Ziping's voice was completely calm as he recounted the events of the day in a straightforward manner.

"I thought you were too soft-hearted this morning, but I didn't expect you to be so decisive," Gao Chi sighed.

"Whoever tries to kill me, I will kill them," Lin Ziping said fiercely, suppressing the strange feeling in his heart.

In the darkness, Gao Chi heard Lin Ziping's words and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"I'll rest for a while. I'll trouble Brother Lin to keep watch tonight," Gao Chi's voice came from the darkness.

"Your subordinate obeys."

Lin Ziping breathed a sigh of relief; he had barely managed to get past Gao Chi.

Life is truly like a play, and it all depends on acting skills. It's so hard to survive!

I rubbed my fingers together; even though I had washed them many times, they still felt slippery.

For some reason, Lin Ziping suddenly recalled a time when he was a child and watched his father kill a chicken during Chinese New Year. The chicken didn't puncture the trachea with the first cut, and it ran around the yard with its head drooping. At that time, he sighed that life is both fragile and tenacious.

He carefully recalled the scene when he killed Steward Hong. Although he was panicked at the time, his mind was very clear, and he made the most correct response.

Lin Ziping felt fortunate that his father killed chickens to eat meat, while he killed people to survive. He was thankful that he still had the ability to protect himself in this era.

A smile involuntarily crept onto her lips, but as she smiled, tears blurred her vision, and a sense of grievance and fear welled up in her heart.

Lin Ziping bit his lip tightly, silently shedding tears, not letting himself make a sound. A gust of wind blew in from outside the window, seemingly carrying the chirping of insects.

After an unknown amount of time, a commotion arose outside the courtyard, startling Lin Ziping awake. He peered cautiously out the window.

"What's wrong?" Li Qiongying and Gao Chi asked at the same time.

Xiaochunzi got up to light the candles.

Lin Ziping turned around and stopped him, whispering, "Don't light the lamp."

Gao Chi also came to his senses and carefully moved to the doorway, peeking out through the crack in the door.

Screams echoed from outside again.

"Sixth Brother," Li Qiongying called softly.

“Brother…” Hong Lao Er got up.

Lin Ziping quickly covered his mouth.

"Everyone lie down and don't make a sound," Gao Chi whispered, turning his head.

Lin Ziping gripped the dagger in his hand and squatted by the window, looking out.

Suddenly, a fiery dragon appeared on the opposite mountain, winding its way forward, and in the quiet night, it seemed as if something was streaking across the sky.

"rustle--"

Lin Ziping felt a dampness on his face, looked outside, and it looked like it was about to rain again.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating the world for a moment before plunging it back into darkness.

"Bang-"

A thunderclap resounded!

Just then, the sound of banging on the door came from outside, and arrows were shot in through the window.

"Quick, find something to cover yourselves!" Lin Ziping shouted urgently, pressed close to the window ledge.

“Brother…” Hong Lao Er’s voice came.

"Don't come any closer, lie down!" Lin Ziping shouted. "Brother Gao, Xiao Chunzi, move the table over to block the door."

Lin Ziping picked up the backpack from a short distance away, closed the window, and quickly walked towards the door.

The group of people worked together to block the doorway with the table.

"Brother Gao, Miss Li has troubled you to hide under the table for a while," Lin Ziping said.

Gao Chi and Li Qiongying didn't say anything and just squatted under the table.

Lin Ziping then had Hong Lao Er and Xiao Chunzi hide against the wall, crawled back to the window, carefully opened the window a little, and held the slingshot in his hand.