The Villain Saint is my secondary account

In this world, firearms do not have the range of crossbows, so crossbows are still the most effective weapon for long-range sniping by individual soldiers. If the aim is accurate, the kill distance can be roughly two to three hundred meters.

Although Li Cheng's primary role is warrior, the Seven Stars Guild has never lacked general points and gold coins. Nowadays, it is common for veteran players to hold multiple roles. As a result, with the accumulation of resources, Li Cheng's shooting skills have reached the proficiency level.

As Ye Xiao used his teleportation ability to instantly traverse nearly a hundred meters and flash to the base of a wall in the village, Li Cheng activated his "Eagle Eye" skill, aiming at nearby enemies for Ye Xiao.

"Brother Ye, at two o'clock, two soldiers are approaching your position."

Since this wasn't in the main city, and private chat wasn't possible using the social system, Li Cheng spoke directly to the crow familiar that had folded its wings and landed beside him.

The fact that the crow can hear it is the same as the fact that Ella can hear it, and the fact that Ella can hear it is the same as the fact that Ye Xiao can hear it.

Ye Xiao, standing close to the corner of the wall, gave Li Cheng a signal that he had received the message, and then gestured to indicate that he should "take care of the other party."

Li Cheng understood immediately, held his breath, and pulled the trigger just as the two patrolmen were about to approach the corner where Ye Xiao was.

"call out"

With a soft thud, the arrow pierced the air, precisely striking the head of the soldier behind it, splattering blood everywhere.

Before the soldier in front could react, Ye Xiao suddenly rushed out from the corner of the wall and slit his throat with a knife.

Now that everyone is on the battlefield, Ye Xiao naturally won't show any more pity.

The two worked together and swiftly eliminated the two patrolling soldiers. Ye Xiao put on the Myriad Manifestations Ring and touched one of them. Then, the rat at his feet ran to the corpse, and invisible ripples spread from its body.

Several tentacles emerged from the portal, dragging the soldier's corpse inside before disappearing without a trace, leaving only a bloodstain on the beach, which Ye Xiao casually swept away and covered up.

Immediately afterwards, Ye Xiao returned to the corner, squatted down, and continued to break the defensive magic array set up on the outside of the wall.

Although the magic array was quite complex, it was not a major problem for Ye Xiao, who was now a Grandmaster-level mage.

About half a minute later, he broke the restriction. After confirming that there was no obstruction above by observing the crows flying in the air and Li Cheng, he activated the Myriad Manifestations Ring and transformed into the appearance of a soldier. Then, he climbed up the wall as lightly as a gecko and leaped into the village.

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Place to Hide

The village is mostly made up of low stone houses, and it looks very quiet.

Ye Xiao, with a hunched back, walked along the path between the houses, avoiding the line of sight of the musketeers on the makeshift watchtower.

Although it appears deserted from the outside of the village, once inside, one can observe many ducal soldiers leaning against the window railings, patrolling or resting.

"So what exactly are we guarding here? It's the middle of nowhere, and we wake up with sand in our mouths every morning."

Ye Xiao was half-squatting, and the sound of soldiers chatting came from the window above his head.

"Isn't this good too? You don't necessarily want to go to the battlefield and fight the Loren with swords, do you?"

"Oh dear, I heard those Loren people are utterly useless. Our steam-powered troops were basically half-dead after just one round of bombardment. Now, you can easily pick up battle merits on the battlefield, and you might even have a chance to become a border baron."

"Keep dreaming. No matter how much territory you conquer, it will be divided up by big shots. It has nothing to do with us."

"At least we can get some reward, which is better than guarding this godforsaken place. We don't want to be here dozing off when Sandbar Fortress is captured, and we won't even get to eat hot shit."

Ye Xiao listened quietly for a while, until one of them stopped talking, then cautiously ordered the mouse to climb onto the windowsill and take a look.

"Hey, what's this fat rat?"

The soldier leaning against the windowsill noticed the rat immediately, but didn't think much of it, just staring at it blankly. "This place is so desolate, what have these beasts been eating to get so fat?"

"Ok?"

Another soldier, who had been resting in the corner of the room, noticed the rat and frowned as if he had suddenly remembered something. "The higher-ups said that if they see a rat, they also have to report small animals like crows. It could be a familiar of an evil god."

"Is it really that strange?"

The soldier by the window chuckled, "If Loren really had some evil god protecting him, how could we have beaten him to this state..."

Before he could finish speaking, the soldier's face suddenly froze, because upon closer inspection he discovered that the rat's fur was covered with dense, tiny tentacles.

"What is this..."

Before his startled voice could even leave his throat, he saw a glint of white light in the rat's rolling eyes. He felt dizzy and staggered back a few steps before collapsing to the ground.

The Moon Goddess Illusion Technique is basically useless against ordinary soldiers.

"what happened?"

His companion noticed something was wrong and his attention was drawn to it. At the same time, a figure on the windowsill suddenly stood up and threw a throwing knife in.

The soldier in the corner immediately turned his head, but Ye Xiao's ghostly figure had already flashed in front of him, and his palm struck his throat like a knife.

"Gu..."

The soldier clutched his throat, unable to breathe, before a cold blade pressed against his chin.

"I'll ask you questions, and you'd better be honest. A few copper coins aren't worth risking your life for the duchy."

Ye Xiao rattled off a set of words that sounded quite natural, "Did you understand?"

The soldier, his face pale, nodded as the blade was pressed against his chin.

How many people are stationed here in total?

"About a hundred people."

"What are you guarding?"

"I do not know either……"

"Where is the guard located?"

"The higher-ups didn't say anything... they just told us to monitor this area..."

Ye Xiao frowned. Just as the soldier was trembling with fear, wondering if the other side would think he was useless and want to kill him, Ye Xiao asked another question, "Is there a messenger coming in every morning?"

"Yes, it is."

The soldier was somewhat taken aback, not expecting that the other side even knew this.

Ye Xiao, meanwhile, became increasingly certain of his guess.

"Where exactly did the messenger go?"

"In the center of the village...that two-story building with a courtyard and gray walls..."

The soldier's lips trembled. "That's all I know. I have a wife and children. Please, don't kill me..."

"Good night."

Ye Xiao ignored the other party's words, knocked him unconscious with a backhand slap of the hilt of his sword, and then opened the spatial portal as usual.

On the other side, Ella summoned tentacles and dragged the two soldiers in the room back in.

"Brother Ye, a group of people has appeared on the outskirts of the village. It looks like they're looking for the two patrolmen who just went missing. You'd better hurry."

Li Cheng's voice came from beside my ear.

Ye Xiao took a breath, took out the outer clothes that the tentacles had taken from the soldier from the space gate, quickly put them on, and then turned the omnidirectional ring on his hand, and his figure immediately changed.

He stepped out of the house and, using the crows' vision to pinpoint the location of the target house, walked along the path.

Although there was a layer of disguise, Ye Xiao still tried to choose a secluded route to avoid any unforeseen complications.

The village wasn't very big, and soon Ye Xiao arrived at the foot of an "L"-shaped white stone building in the center of the village.

There were guards standing at the entrance, and a few figures could be seen through the open windows on the first floor, but the windows on the second floor were tightly closed, and the curtains were even drawn.

Seeing this, Ye Xiao understood and summoned several rats to climb the wall and reach the roof.

Four musketeers stood at the top, and after observing for a while, Ye Xiao found an angle to give Li Cheng another hand signal on the distant hillside.

Li Cheng bent down, quickly moved his feet on the hillside, adjusted to another position where he could aim at the guards on the rooftop, and set up his crossbow again.

The next moment, Ye Xiao flashed to the rooftop and slashed at the nearest guard with his sword. At the same time, Li Cheng fired a crossbow bolt, and in the blink of an eye, the two musketeers facing south fell to the ground silently.

The other two musketeers, standing not far away with their backs to Ye Xiao, turned around in surprise upon hearing the commotion behind them.

Ye Xiao's movements were fluid and graceful; with a single, swift strike, he accurately pierced the throat of a guard several meters away.

Immediately afterward, Li Cheng's second arrow whistled through the air, piercing the head of the last guard in an instant.

After silently dealing with the guards on the rooftop, Ye Xiao crept down the stairs to the inside of the building. After detecting and disabling two more composite defensive arrays, he finally pushed open the door to the second-floor room.

"DaDaDa..."

The crisp sound of typing echoed in the room, and a simply decorated room came into view.

Because the curtains were drawn, the room was somewhat dim, with only a few candlesticks providing a faint light.

At a desk in the corner, a thin man was operating a square machine.

The machine's brass casing gleamed under the candlelight, and the intricate circuits engraved with magic flowed with a pale blue magical energy.

Although Ye Xiao had never seen what the Enigma machine looked like in his previous life, it was, after all, one of the top secrets of the rebel army.

But when he first saw the machine, for some reason, he was certain that this was what he was looking for.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Openly Attempting a Counter-Attack

"Oh, is it almost lunchtime?"

Beside the desk, a thin man was typing away at a machine.

He heard the noise behind him but didn't turn around. "Just put it on the side of the table."

"I'm not here to deliver takeout, bro."

"Then what are you here for...?"

The man turned around impatiently and immediately saw a short knife pressed against his throat.

Without saying a word, he decisively raised his hands, "Oh! I surrender! I surrender! Don't hit me, let's talk this out!"

Someone so shameless can almost certainly be a player.

Ye Xiao didn't make things difficult for the guy. He raised his chin and pointed to the machine in front of him, "You're a player from the Principality of Tedeh, right? What's this?"

"Um,"

The man's eyes darted around, a smirk playing on his lips. "Something the duchy concocted, used to receive messages..."

"Be more specific. We're all from the same hometown, so let's not go through all this unnecessary trouble."

Ye Xiao impatiently pressed the knife closer, "Why don't you go up and introduce yourself to the God of Light?"

"Hey, I knew it! Brother, you're holding the knife too close, I'm a little scared. If you can touch it, I definitely can't beat you. There's no need for everyone to be so tense..."

"hurry up."

Ye Xiao revealed a hint of anger and made a move to strike someone.

The man shrank back and hurriedly confessed everything like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.

Just as Ye Xiao had guessed, this thing was the cipher machine that the player had improved based on steam mechanical technology and magical engineering in the previous life.

Although he didn't know how these things were created nearly a decade ahead of their time, the principles and operating methods were almost exactly the same as what Ye Xiao knew in his previous life.

Functionally, it is almost identical to the original, and in terms of performance, it has even been optimized by adding multiple rotors.

This isn't quite right.

Ye Xiao was somewhat surprised.

Even if the same person created this thing in both lifetimes, replicating a product from Earth using the magical technology of this world would not be something that could be accomplished overnight.

At least in his previous life, Ye Xiao was certain that this thing was the final version that had gone through at least several iterations, but according to the player, the function of the cipher machine in front of him was even more advanced than the final version that Ye Xiao knew in his previous life.

This might mean that the other person, like Samael, is someone who has retained some memories of their past life.

After thinking for a moment, Ye Xiao summoned a few rats to carry the spatial portal and put the machine in front of him inside.

"Hey!? You can't do that, brother!"

The player was shocked that Ye Xiao could make such a large cabinet-like object disappear so easily, and immediately panicked, "If this thing is gone, I'm doomed..."

"Don't worry, it won't come to that."

Ye Xiao patted the player's shoulder kindly, "As long as you tell them honestly who took it, they will understand."

"This……"

Looking at the knife in Ye Xiao's hand, the player could only nod and agree.

He wasn't without combat skills, but since the other party had the ability to infiltrate the village alone, he knew he was unlikely to be a match for this guy, so he had no choice but to compromise.