213: Chapter 213 The True Face of the Defeated Army, Hidden Dangers (1)

The Hour of the Rat... It had passed into the Hour of the Ox. Most of the cold-light stone lamps in the isolation zone on the periphery of Blue Moon Island had been extinguished—per the curfew rules during wartime, only one lamp was left for every five sheds in the outer zone. The lamps were spaced extremely far apart, and the darkness between the beams could conceal the entire silhouette of a person.

On the innermost bunk of the third shed, Scarface lowered his left leg, which was wrapped in old bandages, from the edge of his bedding. His movements were extremely slow. As he lowered his lower leg, the edge of the bandage brushed against the coarse burlap surface of the bedding, emitting a very faint rustling sound. He paused for a breath, waiting for the footsteps of the sentry patrolling outside the shed to circle from the back of the shed to the front. The footsteps moved away. He then placed his right foot on the ground as well.

Shorty was opposite him. The wooden splint on his right shoulder was still hanging around his neck, but it had loosened. He had untied two of the cloth strips of the splint, leaving only the top one tied, which was enough to keep the splint from slipping off, but it increased his right arm's range of motion by nearly half. He saw Scarface get off the bunk. Without making a sound, he reached his left hand under the bedding. Wedged between the bedding and the sandy mud floor was a tattered Storage Pouch. The opening was sewn inside out, with the seams on the inside. He pulled the Storage Pouch out about half a foot, and the corner of the pouch poked out from under the bedding.

Scarface walked to the shed window. Outside the window was the direction the second round of secret sentry patrols had just passed. The sentry's footsteps faded toward the Pier. He pushed the window open a gap two fingers wide. The night wind poured in through the crack, carrying the salty, fishy smell of seawater and the sweet stench of rotting seaweed from the shallows. He reached his hand out through the window crack and pressed his fingers against the wood on the outside of the window frame. A very thin talisman paper was stuck to the outside of the frame. There was no spiritual light on the surface of the talisman, and its color was almost identical to the old scars in the wood. Scarface ran his fingers around the edge of the talisman. It was still stuck there; no one had touched it. He pulled his hand back in.

Shorty opened the Storage Pouch. There were no spare clothes or medicine in the bag. Beneath a piece of waterproof cloth lay over a dozen poison-quenched weapons. Under the faint light of the cold-light stone lamp in the shed, the blades shimmered with a very dark green. The poison used was not the type that kills instantly upon contact with blood; it was the type that accelerates the rotting of wounds and renders hemostatic powder ineffective. The method of poisoning was also unlike that used by assassins, who would smear poison only on the tip of the blade. The poison on these weapons was applied from the back of the blade all the way to the tip, applied thickly and evenly. It was a battlefield tactic: coat it completely and hack away; wherever it cuts, it rots.

Shorty pulled a long, flat copper box from the very bottom of the pouch. The copper box was about the size of a palm and less than two fingers thick. A very thin, dark red sealing wax was sealed between the lid and the body of the box. On the surface of the sealing wax was engraved a circle of miniature spirit-locking Array Patterns. He covered the copper box with his palm, pressing his fingers on the lid, and then pushed the sealing wax about half an inch toward Scarface. The sealing wax began to soften under the warmth of his fingertips.

Scarface turned from the window. He took the copper box from Shorty's hand but did not open it immediately. He fished out a very thin bone shard from his waist. The bone shard was about the size of a fingernail, with a circle of markings so fine they were almost invisible to the naked eye engraved on its surface. He pressed the bone shard onto the sealing wax, aligning the markings on the bone shard with the spirit-locking Array Patterns on the sealing wax. The spirit-locking Array Patterns dimmed for a moment, and the sealing wax changed from dark red to grayish-white. It cracked open.

The moment the copper box was opened, the air in the shed did not change. No strange odor drifted out. No spiritual light shone from the box. The flame of the cold-light stone lamp did not flicker. The contents of the box were a layer of extremely fine grayish-white powder, so fine that after being smoothed out in the box, the surface looked like a matte mirror. The powder had no scent. However, a thin piece of silver foil was stuck to the inner wall of the copper box, with isolation Array Patterns engraved on its surface. The orientation of the isolation Array Patterns was consistent with the locking Array Patterns Su Qingli usually used when handling sealing Array materials—it was meant to lock in spiritual power. This silver foil was locking inward. What was it locking? The substance contained within the powder.

Corrosion Powder. The outer layer of the array paths for the perimeter warning Array Eyes of Blue Moon Island was encapsulated using a mixture of old sand and reef powder. The adhesive used for the encapsulation was a powder ground from a type of mucus-producing shellfish found in the shallows. This shellfish powder could withstand normal seawater environments for half a year without dissolving. Once the Corrosion Powder touched it, the mucus component in the shellfish powder would be decomposed. The encapsulated layer of old sand would seep out layer by layer from the outside in, and eventually, the array path would be exposed to the air, allowing spiritual fluctuations to leak directly from the array path. The warning Array Eye was not sensitive to leaked spiritual fluctuations; it was only sensitive to ordered spiritual fluctuations coming from the direction of the array base. As long as the exposed position of the array path was precise enough, the sensing range of the warning Array Eye would shrink from sixty miles in the periphery to less than twenty miles.

Scarface closed the copper box. The sealing wax was ruined, so he resealed the lid with a new piece of sealing wax. The spirit-locking Array Patterns on the surface of the new sealing wax were blank—no one had activated them. He handed the copper box to Shorty.

"Northeast corner. Flank, Array Eye number three for the perimeter warning." Scarface's voice was extremely low—every word was pushed directly from his throat, his lips barely moving. "Go around behind the coral bone aggregate pile. The sentry shift change is at the start of the Hour of the Ox—there is less than half an incense stick of time left."

Shorty untied the top cloth strip of the wooden splint. He took the splint off his right shoulder and placed it on the bedding. Without the splint, his right shoulder slumped slightly by about half a finger's width—the muscles at the joint showed slight signs of atrophy. However, his right arm's range of motion was fully restored. He drew a weapon from the Storage Pouch, selecting a poison-quenched short blade with the narrowest edge. Then, he tucked the copper box under his left arm.

Scarface stood still at the shed entrance, listening intently for about five breaths. The sentry's footsteps—the third round of patrols had just turned toward the back of the shed. He tapped his fingers on the door frame of the shed twice—extremely lightly, with about two breaths between the first and second tap. This was the response signal for the shed opposite. The opposite shed also tapped twice with the same interval. Everyone had arrived.

The start of the Hour of the Ox. Sentry shift change. In a crevice between the reefs behind the coral bone aggregate pile, two sentries just released their grip on their shields. The relief sentries had not yet arrived—the time window for the shift change was about thirty breaths.

Shorty climbed out of the back window of the third shed. The back window was less than twenty zhang from the coral bone aggregate pile. He walked close to the aggregate pile. His feet made no sound as they stepped on the coral bone aggregate debris—he had taken off his military boots and wrapped his feet in a layer of cloth. The color of the cloth was the same dark gray as the aggregate pile in the night.

He circled from the aggregate pile to the back of the Inner Harbor warehouse, then headed toward the northeast corner. The location of the flank, Array Eye number three for the perimeter warning of Blue Moon Island, was between the Outer Port Pier and the Ring Reef, buried at the base of a half-person-tall reef. The Array Eye was covered with a layer of compacted old sand and gravel—the gravel had been chipped off the reef wall, and its color was identical to the surrounding reef. Without a Formation Plate to mark it, it was impossible to tell with the naked eye that an array path was buried beneath.

Shorty stopped about fifteen zhang away from the Array Eye. He opened the copper box and turned the lid over into his left palm. With his right hand, he fished a small pinch of dark green seaweed debris from his waist pouch and sprinkled it onto the powder. The moment the seaweed debris touched the powder, it began to absorb the moisture in the air. The powder did not dissolve when it met water; instead, it formed a thin film on the surface of the seaweed debris. The film expanded in the air and then silently burst open. The powder drifted out from the crack and slowly fell toward the Array Eye.