Too many female prisoners, a special forces soldier transmigrates and marries wildly.

The night was thick and impenetrable. Midnight had passed.

Without a word, Lin Feng mounted his horse, with A Yue following closely behind. The two riders moved silently towards the west gate, like ghosts gliding through the night, hugging the shadows of the walls and choosing quiet alleys.

Zhou Wenyuan had made all the arrangements. When Lin Feng and A Yue arrived at the agreed corner near the city gate, a soldier wearing worn leather armor and with a weathered face was already waiting there. He responded to the code given by Zhou Wenyuan and, without saying a word, signaled his men to quietly open the side gate, which was only wide enough for one person and one horse to pass through.

"You must be back before 3:45 AM, or I won't be able to handle it," the soldier said quickly in a low voice, handing over a small package wrapped in oilcloth. "Inside are two sets of garrison uniforms for changing shifts, in case... you need them."

Lin Feng took it, nodded, and rode out of the city gate one after the other with A Yue. Behind them, the side gate closed quickly and silently, shutting out the warm lights and security of the prefectural government and exposing them to the cold night and unknown dangers.

Traveling at night is tedious and tense. Apart from the sounds of the wind, insects, and horses' hooves, there is only my own steady breathing and heartbeat.

Twenty miles doesn't seem like a long distance when walking silently at a brisk pace.

We've arrived at Laoyadu, "Zhou's Leather Goods Store".

The two men reined in their horses at a grove of trees about a hundred paces from the warehouse, tethered them deep in the woods, and carefully concealed their tracks.

Then, using the reeds and rocks along the riverbank as cover, they stealthily made their way to the warehouse.

The warehouse fence was very high, constructed from logs as thick as a bowl driven into the ground, with sharpened tops, making it difficult for ordinary people to climb. However, Lin Feng noticed that the fence had several recent repair marks, the wood splinters were very new, and... on the ground outside the fence, near the corner of the wall, there were some messy footprints and drag marks that had been deliberately concealed but whose outlines were still visible. Judging from the size, there were more than one person, and it seemed that heavy objects had been carried there.

In the air, besides the fishy smell of the river and the musty smell of the wood, there seemed to be a very faint, lingering smell of blood, and... a burnt smell?

Lin Feng and A Yue exchanged a glance, a hint of seriousness flashing in their eyes.

Sure enough, something bad happened, and it's probably not a small matter.

Lin Feng pointed to a spot on the side where the fence showed relatively recent repairs, next to a crooked old willow tree. A-Yue understood, ducked low, and in a few leaps, reached the tree. Like a monkey, she climbed the trunk, gracefully vaulted over the fence, and landed silently. Lin Feng followed closely behind.

The warehouse was deathly silent.

The doors to the several storage sheds were tightly shut, and the main building was dark and gloomy. Only the window on the second floor, with its light on, stood like a tired but vigilant eye, watching the dark courtyard. There were obvious signs of a struggle in the courtyard—scattered wood chips, broken ropes, and several blackened bloodstains that had seeped into the soil.

The two men, one on the left and one on the right, stealthily made their way towards the main building, taking advantage of the shadows cast by the storerooms and clutter.

Lin Feng pressed himself against the door, listened for a moment, and, confirming there was nothing amiss, gently pushed the door open. A strong stench of blood mixed with the smell of dust rushed out! By the dim starlight outside, he could see the hall was a scene of utter chaos—tables and chairs overturned, cups and plates shattered, and splattered, congealed, blackened blood everywhere on the walls and floor! The intensity of the fight far exceeded what he had seen from the outside.

He walked to the top of the stairs, where bloodstains were splattered. Looking up at the second floor, he saw a faint light coming from a room at the end of the corridor on the right side of the stairs.

Lin Feng gestured for A Yue to "go up," and the two of them, one in front of the other, crept silently up the blood-stained stairs.

The second-floor corridor was equally messy, with bloodstains and signs of a struggle. Several rooms on both sides of the corridor had their doors tightly closed, except for the one at the end, whose door was ajar, with dim yellow light leaking from the crack and casting a thin, elongated shadow on the floor.

Lin Feng held his breath, pressed himself against the crack in the door, and peered inside.

This was a study that also served as an accounting office. The furnishings were simple: a table, a chair, a few bookshelves, and a wooden couch. At this moment, the table was overturned, account books scattered everywhere, and ink splattered all over the floor. A slightly overweight man, around fifty years old, dressed in a silk shirt, lay face down beside the overturned table, a dagger embedded in his back, hilt deep, and beneath him a large pool of blackened, congealed blood. Judging from his clothing and position, this man was likely the manager of the warehouse.

And on the wooden couch against the wall, there was actually a person sitting there!

It was a young man dressed in coarse cloth shorts, looking like a waiter, leaning against the wall, head down, motionless. But his chest rose and fell slightly, showing that he was still alive! Moreover, one of his hands was tightly gripping a bloodstained boning knife, while the other hand hung limply at his side, blood dripping from his fingertips.

It was him! The only light source on the second floor came from an overturned oil lamp on the floor in front of him, its oil nearly burned out. This dim light illuminated his pale face, covered in sweat and blood, and his eyes, wide with fear, pain, and extreme vigilance. He seemed to hear movement outside the door; his body trembled violently, and he struggled to lift his head, looking towards the doorway. A hoarse, bellowing sound escaped his throat, and his grip on the dagger tightened, a desperate yet ferocious light flashing in his eyes.

"Don't...don't come any closer..." he uttered hoarsely and haltingly, his voice weak but full of hostility.

Lin Feng slowly pushed open the door, but didn't go in immediately. His gaze quickly swept across the room to make sure there were no other ambushes. A Yue stood guard at the door with a fork, watching both sides of the corridor warily.

"Are you a clerk at this warehouse?" Lin Feng's voice was calm, deliberately concealing his murderous intent, as he slowly asked, "What happened here? Prefect Zhou sent us."

Upon hearing the name "Prefect Zhou," the hostility and fear in the young waiter's eyes seemed to dissipate somewhat, but his vigilance remained. He stared intently at Lin Feng, then glanced at A Yue, who was like a ghost at the door, panting as if trying to determine whether it was true or not.

Lin Feng took out the token given to him by Zhou Wenyuan from his pocket and waved it in the light.

Upon seeing the token, the young man's tense body seemed to relax for a moment, but then the excruciating pain twisted his face. He looked down at his left hand, which was hanging by his side and still dripping blood—his palm had been almost pierced through by a sharp weapon, the wound was gruesome, and it was hastily bandaged with strips of torn cloth, which were already soaked with blood.

"Are...are they Master Zhou's men?" His voice trembled, choked with sobs. "Why...why did you take so long to come! They're all dead! Steward Wang, Old Zhang, Liu San...they...they all..." He became agitated, which aggravated his wounds, and he coughed violently again, black blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

"Tell me slowly, what exactly happened? Who did it?" Lin Feng entered the room, but maintained a safe distance, while signaling Ah Yue to pay attention to the commotion outside. His gaze swept over the steward's corpse on the ground and the scattered account books, and he already had a bad feeling.

The young shop assistant caught his breath for a while before beginning his account, his voice filled with fear and lingering dread: "It was...it was in the middle of the night...when suddenly a group of masked men broke in. There were many of them, and they were very skilled. They killed anyone they saw...They seemed to know the warehouse very well, and they rushed straight into the back warehouse, Warehouse A...Manager Wang and his men fought desperately to resist, but...but they couldn't stop them at all..."

"Warehouse A?" Lin Feng pressed, "What's inside?"

"Yes...yes..." The young man's eyes flickered, seemingly hesitant, but seeing the token in Lin Feng's hand and remembering their dire situation, he gritted his teeth and said, "It's...it's 'black market goods'! From the north...the leather goods contained...arrowheads, pig iron, and...and a few powerful bows..."

As expected, it was contraband military equipment! Lin Feng understood. Zhou Wenyuan's business was big enough, but also deadly enough.

"How much did they steal? How many people came? Can you tell where they came from?" Lin Feng asked.

"The Jia-class warehouse... it's almost completely emptied." The young man closed his eyes in anguish. "There were a lot of them, at least twenty or thirty, all masked, but their speech... didn't sound like our Yan people. Their accents were strange, like... like the dialect of the Di and Rong tribes from the north! Moreover, their methods of killing were ruthless, and their teamwork was impeccable, unlike ordinary mountain bandits!"

The Di Rong people?! Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat. It was the Di Rong people again! Not only were they hunting Chen tide, but they were also eyeing Zhou Wenyuan's smuggled goods? Was it a coincidence, or…?

"Then how did you survive?" Lin Feng looked at the wounds on his body, especially the penetrating wound on his palm, which was obviously not caused by a chaotic battle.

The young man's face showed a mixture of fear and resentment: "I...I was hiding in the cellar under the tent, and when I heard no more noise upstairs, I...I sneaked out to take a look, and then...and then behind the storeroom, I saw...I saw..."

"What do you see?"

"I saw...I saw the accountant!" The young shop assistant's voice suddenly turned shrill, filled with incredulous anger. "He! He's not dead! He's with two masked men, counting the looted goods! I heard them talking; the accountant called one of them 'Third Master,' and said...he said, 'Zhou Wenyuan suffered heavy losses this time; let's see how he explains himself to the Prince!'"

The accountant? The mole? A prince? Lin Feng's eyes suddenly sharpened like knives. The amount of information was overwhelming! The mole was actually the warehouse's accountant! And it seemed to involve a certain "prince"?

"Did you get a good look at 'Third Master'?" Lin Feng asked urgently.

"No...no, they were all masked. But...but I recognized the accountant's voice, there's no mistake!" the young clerk exclaimed excitedly. "I tried to sneak away to report, but I stepped on a piece of broken tile and they spotted me! That 'Third Master' just shot me with an arrow, piercing my hand!" He held up his bloodied hand; there was indeed a hole through the wound, the edges charred black, as if it had been struck by a special arrow. "I...I ran for my life, hiding in the ditch next to the Jia-class warehouse, and that's how...that's how I escaped. Later, they seemed to be in a hurry to transport the goods and didn't search carefully. I waited until they were gone for a long time before I dared to climb out and come back here...Manager Wang and the others are gone...and the accountant is gone too..."

"Which prince are you referring to?" Lin Feng pressed, his mind reeling. In Qingzhou, only one person could be called a prince—the royal prince residing in Qingzhou, Prince Qi, Zhao Yuankai! Could Zhou Wenyuan's business be connected to Prince Qi? Or was Prince Qi secretly plotting against Zhou Wenyuan?

"I...I don't know, they didn't say." The young man shook his head, his breath growing weaker and weaker. "I...I can't hold on...the token...it's...in Steward Wang's arms...and...the account book...it was taken by the money clerk...the important one..."

His voice trailed off, his head lolled to the side, and he fainted.

Lin Feng walked to Manager Wang's corpse, enduring the stench of blood, and rummaged through his clothes, finding a warehouse manager's token that was identical in style to his own, but slightly worn. He then quickly searched through the scattered ledgers, most of which were records of ordinary leather goods transactions, but one ledger had several pages of key information torn out, and the tears looked very fresh.

The Di Rong people, the mole in the money register, the mysterious "Third Master", the Qi King who may be involved, the stolen weapons, the missing account books... the clues are all mixed up, but they vaguely point to an unsettling direction.

"Check the other rooms to see if there are any survivors or clues," Lin Feng said to A Yue, while he began to carefully examine the study, leaving no corner unchecked as to any possible hiding place.

A-Yue silently retreated, then quickly returned, shook her head, and indicated that the other rooms only contained corpses and signs of a struggle, with no survivors.

Lin Feng's gaze finally settled on the few scraps of paper scattered on the ground beside the nearly extinguished oil lamp. He crouched down, carefully picked them up, and pieced them together. The scraps were thin and of a peculiar texture, like a corner of some kind of letter paper. There were faint ink stains on them, but they were blurred and stained with blood. Only half of what looked like the radical of the character "密" (mì, meaning secret) and a fragmented, arrow-shaped mark could be barely discerned.

An arrow mark! Just like the mark at the end of the letter that was shot onto the porch of the Zhou residence!

Lin Feng's heart sank. That warning letter and the attack here were the work of the same group! They not only attacked the warehouse, but also dared to directly warn Zhou Wenyuan! Was this a blatant provocation, or... some kind of declaration?

"We shouldn't stay here any longer," Lin Feng said to A Yue, picking up the scraps of paper.

The message must be sent back to Zhou Wenyuan immediately.

Lin Feng took one last look at the unconscious man and said to A Yue, "Take him with us, let's go." Although he was a burden, he was an important witness and couldn't be left here to die.

Without wasting any words, Ah Yue stepped forward and carefully secured the waiter to her back with a strip of cloth (she was incredibly strong), moving swiftly and efficiently.

The two quickly left the main building and returned to the grove where the horses were tied. After securing the man across the horse's back, they mounted themselves.

Just as they were about to ride away, Lin Feng suddenly felt a sense of danger, abruptly pulled on the reins, and shouted in a low voice, "Watch out!"

Almost at the same time he spoke, a buzzing sound of a bowstring vibrating suddenly rang out from the reeds to his side!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Three crossbow bolts, arranged in a triangular pattern, tore through the night, their sharp whistles carrying them directly towards Lin Feng and A Yue! The enemy had indeed laid an ambush, and had waited until their most relaxed moment of retreat before launching their attack!

Lin Feng suddenly ducked on his horse, and three crossbow bolts flew past his scalp and shoulder, embedding themselves deep into the tree trunk behind him, their fletching trembling violently! A Yue also reacted instantly, leaning to the side, almost touching the horse's back, avoiding the arrows aimed at her, but the companion on her back groaned as a crossbow bolt pierced his calf!

"Ambush! Go!" Lin Feng shouted, spurring his horse on its back. The horse reared up and galloped off like an arrow! A Yue followed closely behind, holding the reins with one hand and pulling out a short-handled hunting fork with the other.

Shouts of battle erupted from the reeds! Seven or eight dark figures leaped out like ghosts, wielding swords and knives, two of them raising their crossbows once more! But they hadn't expected Lin Feng and A Yue to react so quickly; their first attack missed, and their target had already rushed more than ten steps away.

"Chase them! Don't let them get away! Especially the one carrying someone!" a hoarse voice roared, speaking in a heavily accented Yan language, but with a strange tone.

Lin Feng lowered his body and spurred his warhorse to its maximum speed. A Yue also gave it her all to keep up. The two riders galloped wildly along the official road, their hooves thundering, breaking the silence of the wilderness. Behind them, the shouts and footsteps of their pursuers were close behind, the distance slowly closing—it seemed the pursuers also had horses hidden nearby and had already mounted them!

Ahead, the official road made a sharp bend, and beside the bend was a dense forest of black pine trees.

"Into the woods!" Lin Feng shouted to A Yue, turned his horse around, and charged off the official road, disappearing into the black pine forest. The dense trees forced the horse to slow down, but this also helped to hinder the pursuers.

A-Yue followed without hesitation. The two weaved through the forest, using the trees for cover and constantly changing direction. As expected, the pursuers behind them were slowed down by the dense trees, and shouts and the sound of weapons cutting through branches filled the air.

"Dismount! On foot!" Lin Feng made a decisive decision; remaining on horseback would make them too conspicuous. He and A Yue quickly dismounted, spurring their two warhorses in another direction to create a disturbance. Then, Lin Feng carried his unconscious companion on his back, and together with A Yue, using the trees and the cover of night, they stealthily made their way towards the Blackwater River. The riverside terrain was complex, with dense reeds, making it easier to hide and evade pursuit.

Sure enough, the pursuers were momentarily confused by the lured warhorses, but they quickly realized they had been tricked, became even angrier, and searched even more thoroughly.

"Let's split up," Lin Feng whispered to A Yue, carefully setting the waiter down behind a boulder. "You take him and walk downstream along the riverbank to find a place to hide. I'll distract them."

"No!" Ah Yue grabbed his arm, her dusty face showing urgent opposition for the first time. "Together!"

"Listen to me!" Lin Feng's voice was stern and unquestionable. "Their target might be me, or both of us. Separate, and you and he will still have a chance to live. I'll find a way to shake them off and meet them at that abandoned waterwheel workshop three miles downstream. If I haven't arrived by dawn..." He paused, then stuffed Zhou Wenyuan's token into A-Yue's hand. "Take him back to the prefectural capital and tell Prefect Zhou about the token and what you saw tonight. Remember, unless you see Prefect Zhou in person, don't trust anyone, including anyone else in the Zhou household!"

A-Yue gripped the token tightly, her fingertips turning white, her eyes filled with intense struggle. But in the end, she nodded, gritted her teeth, carried the unconscious assistant on her back, and gave Lin Feng a deep look. That look contained too many complex emotions—worry, determination, and an unquestionable trust.

"Living." She uttered two low, hoarse, yet incredibly heavy words with all her might.

"Definitely." Lin Feng squeezed her hand tightly, then turned around and deliberately broke a few dry branches in the direction where the pursuers' torches were most concentrated, making a loud noise. Then, like a cheetah, he sprinted into the depths of the black pine forest!

"Over there! Chase him!" The pursuers, as expected, fell for the trap and shouted as they chased after Lin Feng.

Lin Feng fled for his life through the forest, showcasing his special forces jungle warfare skills to the fullest. He used trees, vines, and terrain variations to constantly change direction, setting up makeshift tripwires and traps to slow down his pursuers. Occasionally, he would turn back to snipe enemies who got too close. A chase and escape in the dark jungle, a race against time to the death, unfolded once again.

Finally, a faint glimmer of light appeared ahead, and the sound of rushing water could be heard. It was the Blackwater River!

A great river lies ahead, and pursuers are behind.

Without the slightest hesitation, he took a deep breath and leaped into the dark, icy river like a silent fish, instantly swallowed by the raging current and disappearing from sight.

On the shore, the pursuers arrived, only to see ripples on the river and a few strings of rapidly dissipating bubbles.

"Damn it! He jumped into the river!" one of the pursuers roared in exasperation.

"The water is so fast, and it's nighttime. Jumping in would be a near certain death!" another said.

"Search along the river! We need to find him alive or dead!" The hoarse voice rang out again, filled with resentment.

The torchlight moved downstream along the riverbank and gradually faded into the distance.

The icy river water swept over Lin Feng, instantly stealing the warmth from his body and carrying away some of the noise and killing intent. He held his breath, relaxed his body, and floated downstream with the current, using both his hands and feet to control his direction, struggling to approach the abandoned waterwheel workshop where he had made a promise with A-Yue in his memory.