The wind of Northern Di carried a deep chill as it swept across the barren Gobi.
Xiao wore a set of windproof combat camouflage, with a specially made lightweight protective vest from the Gatekeepers underneath. A large tactical combat backpack was strapped to his back.
He lay low against Huiye’s broad back, like a ghostly shadow silently slipping across the Northern Di border.
Huiye was faster and more enduring than an ordinary warhorse, and this land was also territory it had once known well.
For a scout, venturing deep into enemy territory often meant nine deaths for one life, requiring them to feel their way forward through unfamiliar terrain.
But Xiao did not need to.
Having lived through more lives than anyone else, and having experienced countless life-and-death battles in the Northern Frontier, he had long since carved into his mind a living map that was a hundred times more precise than the military maps of Da Sheng.
He knew exactly which valleys were likely to encounter Northern Di’s mobile patrols, which seemingly concealed forest paths were actually filled with hidden sentries, and even which dried-up riverbeds could be used at night to evade detection.
He galloped across the Gobi, skillfully avoiding three potential danger zones.
Before dawn, Xiao followed his memories and rode Huiye toward an abandoned herdsman’s hut on the leeward slope.
In his memories from previous lives, this dilapidated hut had already been abandoned for many years. Half the roof had even collapsed, making it an excellent temporary hiding place.
However, when they were still dozens of paces away from the hut, Xiao suddenly pulled on the reins.
Huiye, extremely intelligent and attuned to its master, stopped without making the slightest sound.
Xiao’s eyes, sharp as an eagle’s, locked onto the half-concealed broken wooden door of the hut.
There, lay a small pile of fresh horse manure that had not yet completely dried.
He stopped where he was and did not approach any farther. With merely a glance, he had already reached his conclusion—
Someone had used this place.
And not long ago.
The horse manure had not yet completely hardened, and several distinct hoofprints remained in the soil beside it.
More troublesome still—
There were hoofprints from more than one horse.
At least three.
Xiao did not hesitate. He immediately turned his horse around, abandoning the “safe point” from his memories without the slightest attachment. Leading Huiye, he changed course and entered a deeper stretch of continuous mountain valleys.
This kind of tiny deviation made him feel even more uneasy than directly encountering a squad of enemy troops.
Before daylight, he had to disappear into this wilderness.
◆◇◆◇◆
Xiao eventually settled in a partially collapsed natural cave ten kilometers outside Duanyun Fortress.
After tying Huiye securely deep inside the cave, he removed his heavy combat backpack and methodically took out his equipment.
His first objective on this trip was Duanyun Fortress.
According to Xia Lanshi’s analysis, this was the “heart” of Northern Di’s military network, responsible for storing and transporting provisions.
If the intelligence concerning the heart was wrong, their judgments regarding the other two locations would all be overturned.
Xiao had to establish a “baseline”—
To determine exactly how much overlap there was between the “present” and those memories of the “past” in his mind, and how many discrepancies existed.
He took the reconnaissance drone, “Xiao Qi,” out of its specially designed shockproof case, unfolded its rotors, and switched on the power.
Then he took out the dedicated handheld terminal controller from the case and connected it.
Through the terminal controller, he entered the reconnaissance range and flight mode.
“Go,” Xiao whispered.
Xiao Qi emitted an almost imperceptible hum. Like a raven crossing the night, it quickly rose into the air and disappeared beneath the clouds.
Xiao leaned against the rock wall, put on a single-ear communications headset, and held the controller while staring intently at the screen.
He could not keep Xiao Qi airborne for too long.
The battery’s limit was thirty minutes of flight. Ten minutes had to be reserved for the return journey, after which it would need to be connected to the portable power supply in the backpack and charged for nearly three hours.
Therefore, he could conduct at most three reconnaissance flights a day.
On the screen, after taking off, Xiao Qi first climbed to a safe altitude, then used the terrain and its preset flight path to approach the reconnaissance zone.
From an extremely high vantage point, it began scanning Duanyun Fortress.
This was not simply aerial photography.
The AI system was performing calculations in real time. Green lines continuously flashed across the screen, gradually outlining a three-dimensional model of Duanyun Fortress: the thickness of the walls, the scale of the stables, the distribution of the barracks, water sources, firepower and troop positions, entrances and exits, the surrounding waterways and roads…
As the AI mapping sketch gradually took shape, Xiao’s brows furrowed slightly.
The actual scale of Duanyun Fortress was considerably larger than described in the intelligence.
What made his eyes sharpen most, however, was the location of the granaries.
In his memories of the past, Duanyun Fortress had only one enormous main granary, located in the center of the fortress.
But now, under the overlapping infrared and optical scans on the screen, the AI clearly marked two enormous storage buildings with extremely similar structures.
The second one had obviously been built in recent years.
Xiao said nothing. He merely engraved the sight into his mind.
The Gate’s rules were extremely strict. He could not directly write down or speak of important future information that had “not yet happened” or had “not yet been verified.”
But now, he had observed it with his own eyes.
From this moment onward, this memory became “real intelligence” that he could record and bring back to the Northern Frontier.
Over the next three hours, Xiao patiently waited for the battery to charge before conducting the second and third flights.
He did not have Xiao Qi continue staring at the fortress itself. Instead, he turned the camera toward the surrounding transportation network.
The intelligence said this was a supply heart.
If it truly was the heart, then how did the blood—”provisions”—flow?
During the second flight, Xiao Qi captured an endless stream of supply carts on the southern road, as well as herds of cattle and sheep being driven along the eastern side.
This seemed to confirm the accuracy of the intelligence.
Everything was far too normal—so normal that it seemed deliberately placed in plain sight for someone to understand.
Xiao immediately issued a voice command through the terminal controller:
“Xiao Qi, execute calculations. Compile the following data: estimate how many carts enter and leave within one hour, the direction each vehicle travels, which gate each enters through, which gate each exits through, whether any empty carts return, and the number of cattle and sheep. Don’t report it immediately. Just record everything in the file.”
The voice of Xiao Qi immediately came through the headset.
“Received. Task in progress. All data will be recorded in the file.”
It was not until the third flight in the evening that—
Xiao piloted Xiao Qi through an extremely concealed ravine behind Duanyun Fortress, flying low through a place that was not even marked on the maps.
The reconnaissance drone did not directly “see through” the forest canopy.
It merely used occasional glimpses of vehicle shadows between the treetops, the heat signatures of horses, and traces of repeatedly crushed earth to gradually map out a road that had originally not existed on the military maps.
One.
Two.
Then came an unnaturally dense network of wheel tracks.
Xiao’s gaze gradually darkened.
It was a mountain road deliberately concealed by dense forest canopy and rock walls.
Large numbers of heavily loaded wagons did not enter Duanyun Fortress through the main gate. Instead, they silently followed this hidden road around to another direction—
One that pointed directly toward the front lines.
Xiao stared at the screen, the corner of his lips curling into a cold, hard arc.
He reached a precise conclusion in his mind:
“The heart is real. But the blood… doesn’t flow through just one vessel.”
The intelligence was not wrong.
But the intelligence had only seen the layer Northern Di was willing to let others see.
As night fell, the cave became pitch-black. Xiao did not light a fire.
He connected Xiao Qi to the power supply, removed the memory card, inserted it into the specially made group phone, and let the system begin organizing and compiling the day’s three reconnaissance data sets.
During the brief interval, he drank some water.
He opened an energy bar and casually took a bite. When he wiped across his lips, a sharp pain immediately followed.
He raised his hand and gently touched the wound on his lip, giving a bitter smile.
The wound seemed to be reminding him of something he was supposed to remember.
Then he immediately pulled his thoughts back.
The phone screen emitted a faint glow, illuminating Xiao’s expressionless face.
Displayed on the screen was the most authentic appearance of Duanyun Fortress in this life.
Xiao closed his eyes. Countless other versions of Duanyun Fortress flashed rapidly through his mind.
Some outlines overlapped perfectly.
Other places, however, now contained unfamiliar buildings and hidden passageways.
He organized the information in his mind:
Consistent: location of the fortress, main walls, old granary, river channels, general roads.
Deviations: second granary, new hidden passage, new logistics routes.
After a long while, Xiao opened his eyes in the silent cave and whispered almost inaudibly:
“…It has begun to deviate.”
He realized that his greatest advantage might also be his greatest trap.
He knew the past too well.
So well that he had once believed there was nothing left in this world that could surprise him.
But now, the past he remembered—
was slowly becoming the thirty-eighth possibility.
He took out his notebook and recorded, one by one, all the information he was able to write down.
◆◇◆◇◆
The next morning, the white mist over the Gobi had yet to disperse when Xiao had already packed everything and quietly set off northward toward “Baishui Pass” on Huiye.
Baishui Pass was the “shield” of Northern Di’s defensive line. The intelligence mentioned that a barbican and a mysterious mountain path had recently been added.
Xiao’s mission today was to verify how thick this shield really was.
However, the danger arrived sooner than expected.
As Xiao led Huiye through a narrow mountain valley called “First-Line Heaven,” he suddenly stopped.
In his memories of the past, this valley had treacherous terrain. The Northern Di patrol cavalry found it troublesome and absolutely never came here in the early morning. Usually, a group would only pass through hastily around noon.
But now, the wind carried the faint sounds of orderly hoofbeats and the clinking of metal armor.
And there was more than one group.
Xiao’s gaze sharpened.
He did not choose to force his way through. Instead, he decisively led Huiye backward and quickly disappeared into the dense brush on the side of the valley.
As a top-tier warhorse, Huiye was extremely intelligent and highly alert. At this moment, it remained so quiet that it did not even snort.
Before long, two squads of heavily armored Northern Di patrol cavalry slowly passed through the mouth of the valley, cautiously scanning their surroundings.
Watching this from the darkness, Xiao’s heart sank slightly.
He finally felt clearly that his past experience could no longer serve as an absolute guarantee of survival.
The butterfly’s wings seemed to be flapping again and again somewhere he could not see, and…
there was more than one butterfly.
In the past, this route usually had only one light cavalry patrol of a dozen or so men.
But today, there were two squads of heavily armored patrol cavalry.
And they were not following their usual patrol route.
They…
seemed to be “searching.”
Northern Di had clearly entered a state of heightened military readiness, with patrol frequency greatly increased.
But he had an even more dangerous speculation—
Northern Di was not merely increasing its military readiness.
It was searching for something.
Once, he had believed:
“I know what will happen.”
Now, that sentence had become:
“I thought I knew.”
Once the patrol cavalry had gone far enough, Xiao immediately changed course, taking a dangerous detour of more than a dozen li before finally finding a suitable launch point on a high cliff outside Baishui Pass.
The view here was excellent, takeoff was easy, and it was not easy for ground patrols to approach.
He deliberately chose the side facing away from Baishui Pass, avoiding exposing Xiao Qi directly to the line of sight of the defenders when it took off.
The first flight took off.
Xiao Qi’s camera passed over the towering mountains and transmitted an aerial view of Baishui Pass back to the screen.
Xiao examined it carefully.
The intelligence was not wrong. There really was an additional thick barbican surrounding the outer perimeter of Baishui Pass, firmly shielding the original gate behind it.
The difficulty of a frontal assault had doubled compared with what he remembered.
As for the “new mountain path” mentioned in the merchants’ rumors…
During the detailed scan of the second flight, Xiao Qi skimmed along the cliff face, and the AI quickly detected traces of artificial excavation.
Xiao stared at the mountain path, his brows tightly furrowed.
It was nothing like the so-called “main troop transport route” implied by the intelligence.
It was an extremely narrow and dangerous plank road carved directly along the cliff face.
Xiao stared at the plank road for a long time.
…Too narrow.
Horses could not pass through it. A large force absolutely could not use it. Transport wagons were out of the question.
But people could.
And as long as they were an elite squad specially trained for such terrain, they might be able to follow this path and reach the side and rear of the fortress.
As for exactly how many people could pass through—
That was not something Xiao Qi could tell him.
If a hundred-man suicide squad equipped with excellent weapons and skilled in climbing were sent along this mountain path, they might be able to circle around to the side and rear of Baishui Pass’s defenses like a sharp dagger…
But how that decision should be made was not up to him.
He was merely the provider of intelligence.
By evening, after Xiao completed the third flight, a small accident occurred while he waited for Xiao Qi to return.
He was hiding behind a rock and preparing to retrieve the slowly descending Xiao Qi when, from the corner of his eye, he suddenly spotted several figures appearing on the slope below.
They were several Northern Di herders driving a flock of sheep.
The instant Xiao Qi landed, Xiao reached out and covered the drone’s body, switched off its external lights, and rapidly shut down the rotors.
The entire movement took less than a few seconds.
Xiao lowered his body completely.
The herders did not appear hostile and carried no weapons. They were merely ordinary shepherds.
However, the gaze of one young herder was fixed directly on Huiye, who was tied beneath a withered tree not far away.
Xiao’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Huiye was too beautiful and too large.
As the king of the purebred Northern Frontier wild horses, its well-proportioned build and glossy, sleek coat stood out among the short, stocky ancient horses and steppe horses like a crane among chickens.
Although the herder did not approach, suspicion and greed flickered in his eyes.
Xiao silently closed his hand around the folding knife.
Only after the herders had driven the flock away did he slowly relax his grip.
Huiye was his best companion in the Northern Frontier, but during a reconnaissance mission that required absolute concealment, this overly conspicuous warhorse could introduce an unpredictable variable.
He immediately untied the rope and led Huiye toward a safer location.
Unable to help himself, he murmured:
“You’re too conspicuous.”
Huiye swished its tail, seemingly trying to express something.
Xiao fell silent for a moment.
Finally, he reached out and stroked its mane.
“…I know you didn’t do it on purpose.”
There was a reason he had taken the risk of choosing Huiye.
It was not merely because Huiye was a gift from that person.
Huiye’s endurance, speed, and agility were all impeccable.
“We’ll just have to be more careful tomorrow.”
Tomorrow would be the final stop.
And also the most complicated transportation hub mentioned in the intelligence—
Yanqi Ferry.
Xiao watched the setting sun gradually sink below the horizon without saying anything.
He merely checked the securing straps on his backpack again.
One.
Then another.
Finally, he looked at Huiye.
“Tomorrow, we’ll take a different route.”
Huiye snorted.
But Xiao did not immediately turn away as he usually did.
He stood there, gazing toward the darkness in the direction of Baishui Pass.
For some reason, for the first time, he felt a faint sense of unfamiliarity toward a place he knew better than he knew himself.
That night, after organizing the reconnaissance data through his phone at the safe point, he closed his eyes and once again compared everything against the memories of the past in his mind.
Baishui Pass:
Consistent: location of the fortress, mountain terrain, main gate, old defensive line.
Deviations: new barbican, new plank road, number of patrol cavalry, patrols beginning earlier.
He opened his eyes and stared at the image on his phone—familiar, yet strangely unfamiliar.
A dangerous possibility formed in his mind—
The timing of the butterfly’s wingbeats this time was far earlier, and far more different, than he had calculated.
A deep glimmer passed through those eyes as cold as a deep pool.
If his calculations were correct, there were probably some things that were already too late to stop.