On a steep cliff face, a cat-eared beastman clung to it, fingertips digging into stone crevices, her cheek nearly pressed into the cold rock.
She didn’t dare look down—below her feet was a nearly hundred-meter cliff, and a few steps ahead was the back of Black Cliff Territory’s North Wall.
Torches on the wall cast lazy silhouettes of the guards, and she could even hear one of them yawning.
“Finally…”
She silently let out a breath, her tail drooping slightly from exhaustion, then immediately tensed alertly.
–Li Ke, a Second-rank Warrior of the beastman Blood Spear Clan, seventeen years old.
At this age, she wasn’t outstanding among her clan—could even be considered young—but she had one talent: she was very fast, good at running.
For example, today, she had been running for a full thirteen hours.
Starting from the temporary camp deep in Night Whisper Forest at dawn, she circled along the western ridge of Black Cliff Territory.
Without a road, she climbed rock faces, waded through streams, and squeezed through poisonous thorn thickets.
Her leather arm guards were torn with three gashes, the fur below her knees caked with mud, and the tip of her left ear had been bitten by some poisonous insect, swollen badly, itching so much she bared her teeth the whole way.
But Li Ke didn’t dare stop.
Because this was the path she had chosen herself.
— One day earlier.
“The vanguard needs someone to climb over the North Wall.”
In the clan’s council tent, the Old Shaman’s finger tapped lightly on the sheepskin map, his voice low: “The South Wall will be the main battlefield. The army’s battering ram will strike their city gate. To break through successfully, the North Wall… needs someone to cause trouble, to infiltrate the night before we go to war.”
He paused, his murky eyes sweeping over every warrior in the tent.
“You must create a big enough disturbance to divert the territory’s forces. Burn the watchtowers, kill the guards, or do something even more excessive… In short, do whatever you want, the messier the better.”
“Until that lord’s attention is on the North Wall.”
“The more havoc you wreak, the more troops he sends north, and the fewer of our clansmen die on the South Wall. Otherwise, we have no chance of victory.”
The tent fell silent.
Everyone understood this was a dangerous mission with no return.
There was no support in the north, no retreat route.
The moment the mission was complete would be the moment of being surrounded, hunted down, and killed.
The Old Shaman didn’t say “this is a suicide mission,” but everyone’s eyes filled in that phrase for him.
“I’ll go.”
While others were still mentally preparing themselves, Li Ke was the first to stand up.
She didn’t look at the shocked expressions of the clansmen around her, only stared straight at the Old Shaman: “I’m fast, and I’m familiar with the northern terrain… Besides!”
She swallowed, her voice lowering but steady.
“My little sister, my only family, Zuo Feiya, was captured by them two months ago.”
“Now, her head… is hung on the South Gate. I must take revenge myself.”
The tent grew even quieter.
The Old Shaman didn’t comfort her. He was silent for a long time, then nodded slightly and clenched his fist toward her.
“…Alright, the signal will be the fire at the North Watchtower. Once we see it, we’ll advance. Li Ke, I leave it to you… For the tribe!”
“Yes! For the tribe!”
Li Ke responded, also clenching her fist in return.
That night, she not only ate the sweetest fruit in the clan but also drank honey until she was full.
Although she originally wanted to drink alcohol, the Old Shaman gave her a knuckle sandwich and took it away, citing that underage beastmen cannot drink.
The next day, at dawn, she set off alone on her journey.
It took a full thirteen hours, crossing mountains and cliffs, throwing herself like a fierce throwing knife precisely into the shadow of Black Cliff Territory’s North Wall.
She had reached her destination, but the mission was just beginning.
Li Ke took a deep breath and slowly poked half her head out.
The watchtower on the west side stood darkly, like an old nail driven into the night. The patrol path inside the wall was emptier than expected; only a squad of guards on the main road, lounging as if strolling in their own backyard.
‘Let’s start with these two unlucky bastards.’
She silently climbed onto the battlements, fixed her gaze on her prey, poised to strike—
“Mmph!!”
A small hand reached from behind, unerringly and precisely covering her mouth and nose.
Li Ke’s pupils contracted sharply, becoming vertical slits.
Her fur bristled instantly as if electrified, and her tail swished taut as a straight rod.
She frantically clawed at the bricks with hands and feet, but was effortlessly pressed back by that hand.
‘Who?! When—!’
‘She hadn’t even heard footsteps! No breathing! No warning at all!’
‘She had clearly observed for a full five minutes and confirmed there was no living thing in this corner except cockroaches!’
That hand was slightly cool, with distinct knuckles. The force wasn’t rough, but it carried an absolute suppression that made struggling impossible.
Desperately, another hand reached from behind and wrapped around her waist.
Now, Li Ke was completely “plucked” off the wall, limbs dangling, flailing uselessly in the air.
“Uuh… Uuuh—!!”
She twisted her head desperately, finally catching a glimpse of the newcomer in her peripheral vision—
Under the moonlight, an overly delicate, almost inhuman face was slightly lowered.
Silver-white hair cascaded from her shoulders like a cold stream, and heterochromatic eyes, one red and one blue, quietly watched her in the dimness, like two pure gems dredged from the abyss.
There was no emotion in her eyes.
No warmth at all.
Just a gaze.
This look was familiar to Li Ke—the same as when they saw a prey that had fallen into a trap but was still futilely struggling.
That young girl spoke softly.
Her voice was light, like a blade cutting through velvet—
“Shh.”
Li Ke’s body instantly froze.
On the main road, two guards yawned as they walked around the corner, seeming to notice nothing.
That slight noise, even if heard, they would only take it as made by a rat in some gutter, not bothering to pay attention.
The night wind remained gentle.
Only under the shadow of the wall, two pairs of foreign eyes, separated by bristled fur and lingering moonlight, silently confronted each other.
The courage to struggle and resist vanished under the silent gaze of that young girl.
Not fear.
Something more primitive…
That instinctive submission to a higher predator, etched deep into the bloodline.
Even though the girl was still the same girl, her figure kept enlarging in Li Ke’s eyes until it reached the edge of her vision.
Behind the girl, the shadow stretched by moonlight, far darker than the night, suddenly split into two halves, twisted and entangled eerily, then spread like a living thing, silently devouring the last trace of a “human” silhouette.
Li Ke’s body began to tremble uncontrollably.
She felt that what she was facing now was not some silver-haired, heterochromatic-eyed beautiful girl—
But something more ancient, more terrifying.
The bristled fur began to flatten inch by inch, even the tip of her tail dared not twitch, and her sharp vertical pupils turned back into watery cat eyes.
Finally, she weakly whimpered in front of the girl.
“Meow QAQ~”