Chapter 30: I’ve Dreamed of Playing Like This

At midnight, Black Cliff Territory was silent except for the wind and the crackling of torches on the city wall. A patch of black fog darker than the night slowly emerged, clinging to the shadows of the high wall.

It was Xing Yue, who had already left the basement.

After hearing Debby's story, their "deal" was settled. After settling the girl in, Xing Yue came out to gather intelligence on her own.

She remembered every detail Debby had described: the location of the manor, the number of guards, and Baron Jeffrey's daily routine.

In theory, the framework of an assassination plan had already taken initial shape in her mind.

But Xing Yue didn't rely entirely on that information.

A certain instinct deeply rooted in her soul, or rather, a deep-seated distrust of "intelligence" itself, made her cautious.

Xing Yue believed that all intelligence could only serve as a reference; only what you saw with your own eyes was real.

Any plan built on unverified sand would be a shortcut to ruin, even if only a small fragment of her consciousness remained here.

Well, to be honest, even Xing Yue herself felt she might be overly cautious.

But being careful wasn't wrong. She trusted her instincts.

So Xing Yue didn't rush to sneak deep into the manor. Instead, she avoided the main roads and, following the shadows of the alleys and streets, headed for the tallest bell tower in this territory.

That was definitely the best observation point.

The path Xing Yue chose was indeed not easily spotted by the night patrols, but the environment along the way was... less than pleasant.

Not to mention the stench. This was already the second time she felt something soft or sticky under her feet.

No defense. Absolutely no defense.

As far as the eye could see, the ground was covered with "chocolates" of various shapes, both hard and soft, along with puddles of suspicious liquid of unknown composition.

Before leaving the basement, she had already been foresighted enough to cast three layers of magic on herself:初级隐匿, night vision, and初级敏捷强化.

Now she felt that wasn't nearly enough. After using a cleaning spell, she silently added a levitation spell on top of that.

What else could she do? This mental "landmine" was giving her the creeps.

This place was basically an open-air garbage dump!

What's more ridiculous was that someone was actually sleeping soundly in that environment at the corner of the wall...

Huh? Wait, no, it seemed like that person had already stopped breathing?

Oh, then never mind...

Suppressing the strong discomfort in her heart, Xing Yue began to quickly weave through the alleys using her flight ability.

The journey was especially long, but fortunately, she finally arrived.

Taking advantage of the moment when the patrol guards turned into the corner of the street, Xing Yue swiftly crossed the empty main road and merged into the heavy shadow cast by the bell tower. Then, using the levitation spell, she flew up along the mottled stone wall and soon reached the top.

Xing Yue stood at the edge of the bell tower, feeling the cool night wind brush her face, overlooking the entire Black Cliff Territory.

The view from the top of the bell tower was indeed open. The layout of Black Cliff Territory was completely visible. It was indeed a good observation point.

Of course, if you ignored the thick layer of pigeon droppings between the wooden floorboards underfoot and the strange smell of aged dust mixed with bird feathers in the air.

But compared to that alley, this place was still clean. At least there was a place to stand.

And the scenery from up high was indeed beautiful, giving her a flashback to playing some assassin game in the past.

Too bad there was no haystack below, and she had serious work to do right now, so she temporarily suppressed the urge to perform a Leap of Faith.

Xing Yue looked around and found that Black Cliff Territory was built against a steep black cliff, with only two city gates: the south gate and the north gate.

The south gate faced a dense forest. The gatehouse was thick, with noticeably more guards, and torches burned all night. According to Debby's description, that should be the Night Whisper Forest, an area active with the Beastman tribe.

The north gate, on the other hand, faced another town in the distance, and the guards there seemed relatively lax.

The city's layout was crude. Crooked roofs pressed down on narrow alleys, with only a few scattered lights flickering in the distance. Meanwhile, the lord's manor was brightly lit, like a golden malignant sore in the darkness, located in the northeast corner of the city.

Xing Yue's gaze swept across the watchtowers on the southern wall. There were six in total, spaced at intervals. Each watchtower had a continuous fire indicating active duty.

"Dark spirits, wind spirits, respond to my call."

"Silent shadows, grant me the truth beneath the veil; flowing breezes, grant me the trajectory in the currents—now, weave the vision, clear!"

"Third-tier magic, Eagle Eye Sight!"

Xing Yue cast another buff on herself. Under the magic's enhancement, her vision extended further as she looked again at the distant watchtowers on the wall.

Visible on the surface were thirty to forty people. Considering shift rotation, she roughly estimated the garrison along the wall to be about a hundred.

Xing Yue then looked at the lord's manor and felt it was troublesome.

The manor's security was still relatively strict. At least Xing Yue could see two patrol teams of ten people each on the surface.

Each team patrolled a fixed route around the perimeter of the manor. The shift interval was about half an hour, and currently, the shift times seemed to be different for the two teams.

During the shift change, one team would temporarily split into two groups of five to take over the patrol of the team changing shifts, leaving almost no gap to sneak in.

From the movement patterns of the patrol shifts, Xing Yue also noticed there was a barracks next to the manor. She couldn't yet determine how many troops were stationed inside, but judging by the scale of the barracks, it could definitely accommodate a hundred or so people.

So, taking the worst-case scenario, if it was already fully occupied, it was a spawner that could assemble troops at any time to swiftly reinforce the lord's manor.

If she assassinated someone in the manor, even if she succeeded, she would likely be surrounded and suppressed.

Unless she could divert all the troops here to another location, or choose another assassination point.

Though she didn't have a good solution yet, Xing Yue still noted this discovery.

Now, the entire territory's topography was fully understood, and most of the troop distribution had been confirmed.

Xing Yue turned her back to the pale moonlight, leaned backward from the edge of the bell tower, and let her body fall into the shadows.

A gust of wind swept past, but quietly dissipated just before hitting the ground, like a drop of ink sinking into a deep pool.

Even if some eyes happened to glance this way, all they could capture was a natural flow of night, a bit of shadow deepening as usual.

Everything seemed natural, as if it had always been part of the night.

Back at Demon King Castle, Xing Yue, who had been sleeping on the floor in her room, clenched her fists excitedly.

"Thrilling!"

"So thrilling!"

"I've dreamed of playing like this!"

Although it was just a consciousness carrier, the real sensation of falling from a high altitude still transmitted back to her main body. This experience was much more exciting than a game.

After being excited for a while, Xing Yue sat down and began to think about the next steps.

The night was still long. There was still a lot to do.