BXBX NOVEL Chapter 624 - Perimeter Defence
As soon as the sun went down, a large black cloud appeared in the sky, blocking the moonlight. It was very dark, and the visibility that night was very low. In other words, their plan’s success rate for tonight had just gone up.
But to be cautious, everyone decided to wait another two hours before making their move.
The war was approaching, and everyone in the camp carried a different look on their faces.
Zhang Heng walked to the sheriff, who was in a daze as he held a hip flask that he carried with him. “Are you okay?” Zhang Heng asked. “Of course,” the sheriff confidently said, “Why would I not be okay?” “You only talked about the relationship between Cook and Matthew, and the relationship between you and Matthew, but you didn’t mention the relationship between you and Cook.”
“There is nothing to mention between Cook and me. I joined the Lucky Horseshoes because of Matthew. Cook and I are just ordinary friends.”
“Is that right? But from your tone, it’s pretty obvious you admire Cook very much.” Zhang Heng sat down in front of the sheriff, resting the Winchester rifle on his knee.
The latter went silent for a moment before saying, “He has always been the person I admire the most. No, it should be said that he’s the one that all the young folks in town admire. After what happened that night, I know he did not tell me everything about the plan. I don’t blame him. And I’m telling the truth here. He understands me and each of us. He knows that if the price he has to pay is to kill everyone in the town, we might not join him in his revenge plan. So I can forgive him regarding this, but everything that happened after that... it’s somewhat difficult to accept.
“Actually, I lied earlier. When the Cook Gang was first established, I went to him look for him alone. At that time, they just robbed a train and killed all its passengers. They took everything valuable, and the remaining goods were burned to ashes. The Cook Gang at that time was not as cunning as it would become later. I managed to find them with the trail that they left behind.”
“And then?” Zhang Heng took the hip flask handed over by the sheriff and took a sip. “Then, I was discovered by their people. A guy sneaked and knocked me out from behind. When I opened my eyes, I found myself tied to a tree.”
“Did Cook recognize you?”
“No, he was looking at me quietly. And one of his men had a gun pointed to my head. At that time, I was so angry that I didn’t consider my safety. I just asked him aloud, on how he became such an evil man.”
“What did he answer you?”
“He didn’t answer me. He just asked me how many people I had. I didn’t answer his question. Then his men started to beat me up for about three minutes. The brutal attack caused me two broken ribs. Just when I thought I was going to die, Cook finally asked them to stop. And then he told me that this would be the first and last time. If he met me again, he would beat me to death. After that, they left me alone under the tree and fled.
“I lay dying there for a whole week before being rescued by a passing caravan,” the sheriff lamented, his head shaking. “So stop thinking that I would show him mercy just because of our past friendship. I have to make him pay for what he’s done.”
Two hours passed by quickly.
Zhang Heng and his party started to make their move at nine o’clock. To avoid getting spotted by the enemies, they made sure to ride slowly, not to mention how they wrapped their horses’ shoes in cloth. Finally, they arrived at the outer perimeter of the forest at a quarter to ten.
The look on the sheriff’s face had also turned solemn. With the low visibility, the people they appointed would disguise themselves as Major Wade and his soldiers, but that would also increase the difficulty of sneaking in. The man responsible for keeping an eye on the forest ran back to tell them that the Cook Gang had finally arrived. Now that they knew about the forest situation, and they had no idea about their defense arrangement.
“I’ll lead the way,” Zhang Heng said. And he took out the Filter Lens and put it over his eyes.
Within an effective range of 300 meters, his vision became entirely clear again. Even the water droplets on the tree trunk could not escape Zhang Heng’s eyes.
Everyone silently walked for about two hundred yards. After that, Zhang Heng stopped suddenly.
“What’s wrong?” the sheriff asked in a low voice.
“There are people on the tree in front of us,” Zhang Heng said. With the Filter Lens’ assistance, Zhang Heng saw a man doing surveillance for the Cook on the tree not far away.
He would actually be quite troublesome to deal with from this distance. After all, there were 19 people on Zhang Heng’s side. Even if they moved carefully, they would still make some noise. And Zhang Heng could not use his gun to kill the man from such a long distance. Besides, the sound of gunshots would expose their location too. Bows and arrows would not work either because the sound of the body falling on the ground would alert other people. “Change direction,” Zhang Heng said. Although there were 30 people in the Cook Gang, it was still impossible for them to cover the entire forest. And the people that were in charge of surveillance had different habits. For example, the man Zhang Heng encountered after diverting to the east was now squatting under the tree.
Zhang Heng took his bow and arrow from a farmer and then cautiously approached his target. At a distance of about 80 meters, the enemy began to sense that there was movement around him. The ground was filled with dried branches and leaves, and the sound of breaking and crunching twigs was inevitable. But fortunately, at this distance, the enemy could not see Zhang Heng clearly. He thought that the sound was caused by wild animals that lived in the forest.
Zhang Heng walked forward another ten meters. This was probably the closest he could get to the enemy. He then put his Paris’s Arrow on the bowstring, looked at the target’s position roughly, and released it. The arrow drew an arc in the sky before landing the target’s heart accurately.
The enemy grunted, and he wanted to reach out to the arrow and pull it out from his chest. However, he stopped breathing when he placed his hand on the arrow.
“It’s safe.” Zhang Heng rushed to the people behind him, and then he walked to the man that he just shot to death and retrieved his Paris’s Arrow.
After taking out the enemy quietly, there was no trouble for the rest of the journey. Everyone quickly approached the hunter’s cabin. Since the Cook Gang was not engaged in a war, it was logical that they invested in less manpower to secure the perimeter.