Futile Devices Scans

After making their preparations, at noon Zhang San and Li Si headed to the North City Gate together.

The two of them brought enough rations for two or three days, two pairs of thick gloves, a leather tarp to shield against wind and snow, a cloth blanket for warmth, a two-hundred-meter length of thin rope, and various climbing tools.

The treasured saber Wang Xu had given him was still with the blacksmith being repaired. Zhang San carried an ordinary single-edged saber. Li Si, meanwhile, carried the Tang-style horizontal saber he had newly selected, and also had a Tang-made long siyu bow slung across his back, deliberately choosing several heavy arrows as well.

The packs were large and heavy. Zhang San carried all the supplies himself, allowing Li Si to carry only his weapons. He also wrapped the tiger-fur cloak and tiger-fur hat securely around Li Si.

As they set out, light snow began drifting down again at the North Gate. Liu Wu came to see them off. The three men stood in the wind beneath straw rain capes and bamboo hats while the thin snow fell around them.

Zhang San said to Liu Wu, “The county’s defenses are in your hands. We should be back before nightfall tomorrow.”

Liu Wu nodded. “Go without worry, Commander Zhang. Take care of yourselves.”

⸻

After seeing off Commissioner Zhang and Envoy Li, Liu Wu selected a horse from the temporary stable by the North Gate and rode toward the South Gate to conduct an inspection.

The day before had been his first time riding a horse. Had Envoy Li not rescued him, he might have fallen to his death. Today he deliberately decided to train himself again, choosing the gentlest-looking horse he could find, struggling into the saddle, and wobbling his way down the road.

The fortification works at the South Gate were the most important of all, and Commissioner Zhang had personally overseen them these past days. They were now nearing completion. Fearing that last night’s blizzard might collapse the newly built walls, the craftsmen had specially covered the outer barbican with waterproof, snowproof tarps and reinforced them with wooden supports.

Originally there had been a small woodland directly outside the South Gate. Commissioner Zhang had said enemy troops might hide among the trees while approaching the gate, and had therefore ordered a large open area to be cleared.

Seeing that both the fortifications and defenses were proceeding in excellent order, Liu Wu turned his horse around and headed for the training grounds, intending to inspect the construction site at the Fortress below the mountain as well.

He had not yet reached the training grounds when he saw Zhou Qi hurrying toward him with a new recruit.

“County Commandant! He says he needs to see Commander Zhang!” the recruit shouted from afar.

Liu Wu steadied them both. “Commander Zhang has matters to attend to. Tell me instead.”

Panting heavily, Zhou Qi said, “County Commandant, th-this is bad! The Xiao troops—they’re back again!”

Liu Wu placed a hand on his shoulder and lowered his voice. “Don’t panic. Explain carefully. What happened?”

Zhou Qi swallowed hard, caught his breath, and said properly, “Last night’s heavy snow froze the Wen River solid. Early this morning, my brother and I spotted a few Xiao soldiers on horseback watching from the opposite bank. I immediately had everyone stop work and hide inside the Fortress. Those Xiao bastards left shortly afterward, so I thought everything was fine. But at noon they came back! There were four of them. They wrapped cloth around their horses’ hooves and led the horses across the river…”

Liu Wu asked, “Did they enter the Seven-Star Formation? Were they searching for General She?”

Zhou Qi shook his head vigorously. “Not like the last group. The last group came from Tianmen Pass. These ones came from Kuiyuan. They wandered around the Seven-Star Formation for a while and probably thought it was an abandoned fortress, so they left without entering. But then they followed the river south and found the official road up the mountain! All of them mounted up and rode toward the county!”

Liu Wu inwardly cursed his luck—Commander Zhang had barely departed when the Xiao troops came looking again! The last visitors had been pursuers from Tianmen Pass. These ones were scouts from the western camp outside Kuiyuan City. Instead of finding the Fortress, they had come directly to Ant County!

⸻

At this moment, Commissioner Zhang had already ventured deep into the mountains, completely unaware that the Wen River freezing solid after last night’s sudden cold snap would cause such trouble for Ant County.

The dense forest sheltered them from part of the wind and snow, but the trails remained buried beneath thick drifts. Fallen leaves lay packed underneath the snow, and every step sank into deep holes. The path grew steeper and steeper, forcing them to climb on both hands and feet from time to time.

Zhang San walked ahead gripping a woodcutting blade, climbing while chopping away branches that blocked the route.

Li Si followed silently behind him, moving with light, nimble steps, each one landing precisely in the footprints Zhang San had already made. A slight lift of his gaze brought Zhang San’s long legs into view. Raising it a little higher revealed his firm, rounded backside swaying gently with each step.

Li Si did not know that staring at someone’s backside was impolite. He merely thought Brother Xiao’s body looked strong and graceful, filled with power, and that the way he climbed was very pleasing to watch.

So he quietly watched from behind the entire way, hardly blinking. Then Brother Xiao suddenly slipped!

Li Si immediately reached out.

—and caught Brother Xiao’s backside firmly.

Zhang San coughed awkwardly in front. Instead of kicking him as he might have before, he simply used the momentum to continue climbing. His backside bounced once in Li Si’s palm before quickly moving out of reach.

Li Si’s palm suddenly felt hot. He did not understand why it felt hot, so he lowered his head to look at it, then touched his own face with the heated hand.

His face was hot too. His heart pounded heavily, and he found it difficult to breathe.

How strange. Back when they climbed over the rockslide together, Brother Xiao would touch his backside and “bully” him, making him so “angry” that his whole face became hot. But now he was the one touching Brother Xiao and “bullying” him. Why was his own face still burning?

—So it wasn’t anger after all. Then what was it?

He stood frozen in place, not moving. Zhang San glanced back at him.

“What’s wrong? Feeling unwell? Tired? Need a rest?”

Li Si shook his head. “I’m fine. Not tired.”

⸻

Liu Wu brought ten veteran archers out of the city and down the mountain, hurrying toward the rockslide halfway down the slope.

The four Xiao scouts had by now reached the far side of the rockslide. Three of them saw that a landslide had blocked the road and assumed no one would be passing through anymore, so they wanted to turn back.

But among them was an old soldier with considerable battlefield experience. He remained behind, dismounted, and carefully inspected the area around the rockslide.

The pile of stones and the surrounding woods were covered in snow, revealing nothing suspicious at first glance. Then he approached one of the broken trees and brushed away the snow covering it, exposing scorch marks left by fire beneath.

How could a landslide cause a fire? Someone must have deliberately set one. And judging by how fresh and obvious the burn marks remained, it could not have happened long ago.

The veteran Xiao soldier shouted loudly, calling his companions back. After a brief discussion, the four men tied their horses to nearby trees and began climbing to the top of the rockslide.

Meanwhile, Liu Wu and the archers were also climbing upward. The slope was steep to begin with, and now it was coated with snow, making it treacherously slippery. Most of the veteran archers were elderly retired militia whose legs were no longer especially steady. As they climbed, Liu Wu gradually pulled ahead until he was by himself at the front.

Less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense later, Liu Wu was nearing the summit when his searching hand suddenly froze.

He heard voices from the opposite side of the rockslide.

The men were speaking the Xiao language. Liu Wu could not understand a single word, but the voices were unmistakably close.

Turning around, Liu Wu signaled everyone behind him to remain silent. Then he found a large rock, planted his feet firmly, quietly removed the bow slung across his back, and slowly nocked an arrow and drew the string.

The sound of the wind seemed to fade farther and farther away, while the pounding of Liu Wu’s heartbeat grew increasingly deafening. His fingers trembled slightly from nervousness, but through long, measured breaths, he steadied them.

The sharp arrowhead remained fixed unwaveringly on the direction from which the sounds were coming.

He heard the strange crunch of Xiao soldiers’ boots trampling snow, the brittle crackle of hands brushing away thin ice, and the rise and fall of breathing. A hand clad in a leather glove appeared over the rock face, followed by a pointed round cap made of fur and padded cloth, its brim lined with a thick ring of animal fur. Beneath it emerged a pair of eyes like those of a wild beast—

And at the instant those eyes reflected Liu Wu’s figure, the arrow flew from the string!

The Xiao soldier’s mouth opened in shock, but he had no time to make a sound! The arrow struck him squarely between the brows. His body pitched backward and fell straight down!

Bang! Bang! Thud! The corpse smashed against several rocks in succession before rolling all the way to the bottom, startling the tethered horses nearby into shrill neighing! The remaining three Xiao soldiers cried out in alarm as well, releasing their holds and retreating down the far side of the rockslide!

Liu Wu slung the bow back across his shoulders and immediately scrambled upward. “After them!”

For a moment, loose stones scattered across the rockslide and snow flew everywhere as more than a dozen men climbed and pursued one another across the steep slope!

One of the Xiao soldiers, panicking, lost his footing and tumbled downward, rolling all the way onto the mountain road. Bruised and battered from head to toe, he lay on the ground struggling to rise. Another was struck in the back of the leg by an arrow from the archers, fell among the rocks, and was caught by Liu Wu, who rushed up and cut him down with a single stroke.

The sole remaining Xiao veteran had been the last to climb and the fastest to flee. Dodging several stray arrows, he reached his horse before his companions were cut down and galloped down the mountain road at full speed!

At that moment Liu Wu slid to the bottom of the rockslide. The instant his feet touched solid ground, before he had even regained his balance, he saw the man disappearing into the distance and shouted, “Shoot!”

Several archers standing atop the rockslide immediately loosed arrows at the fleeing soldier. But the mountain road twisted through dense woodland. The Xiao soldier flattened himself against his horse and avoided the first few arrows. In the blink of an eye, he rounded a bend and vanished beyond bowshot.

Liu Wu seized one of the warhorses left behind by the Xiao soldiers and swung himself into the saddle, intending to pursue.

But he was no skilled rider, and the Xiao horse was fierce-tempered, tossing its head and kicking its legs in an attempt to throw him. Imitating the way Li Si had handled a horse the day before, Liu Wu gripped the reins tightly, clamped his legs around its sides, and shouted, “Whoa!”

The horse grudgingly submitted and carried him down the mountain, though it still ran unevenly and continued to resist him from time to time.

Watching the Xiao soldier ride farther and farther away, his figure appearing and disappearing along the winding mountain road through the forest, Liu Wu grew increasingly anxious. Finally, he yanked the reins tight and clumsily jumped down from the horse.

Taking down his bow, he drew it toward the faintly visible figure of the fleeing soldier and silently counted in his heart, forcing himself to calm down.

One… two… three… four…

The Xiao soldier suddenly entered a stretch of open mountain road free of trees, exposing his entire figure.

Five!

The arrow flew like a shooting star in daylight, streaking into the snow-covered forest and knocking the Xiao soldier from his horse!

Joy surged through Liu Wu. He turned at once to grab the horse and chase after the fallen man to finish him off with a blade, but suddenly froze.

The veteran archers who remained by the rockslide guarding the Xiao prisoners also stopped in surprise.

Fweeeeeeeeeeeeeee—

A whistling arrow shot out from the mountains and soared toward the vast river valley plain. Its shrill, eerie cry resembled a living owl, carrying its warning call to every Xiao scout patrolling the plains.

The Xiao veteran sat crookedly on the ground. Having exhausted himself to fire that signal arrow, his body slumped and fell still forever.

Liu Wu stared in the direction the whistling arrow had vanished, and his spirits sank heavily with it…

Author’s Notes: A whistling arrow, mingdi (鸣镝), also called a signal arrow or whistle arrow, has holes in its arrowhead that produce sound during flight. Steppe peoples commonly used them as military signals. In classical literature, whistling arrows are often used as symbols of warfare and turmoil.

⸻

Walking through the mountain forest, Li Si suddenly stopped and turned his head suspiciously, tilting it slightly.

Zhang San turned around. “What’s wrong?”

Li Si shook his head. “I heard something. A sharp sound, like a bird calling…”

Zhang San listened carefully. There did seem to be a faint, piercing cry in the distance, but they were deep in the mountains, where such sounds were commonplace.

The two listened a little longer but detected nothing unusual, so they continued on their way.

Though the mountain road was dangerous, the two constables who had come to scout the route earlier had cleared away some broken branches, tied red strips of cloth at confusing forks in the path, and even drawn a rough map of the route.

With the map in hand and their swift pace, Zhang San and Li Si made excellent progress. After passing through a long, narrow bend, Zhang San pulled out the map and glanced at it.

“We’ve already covered more than half the distance. Let’s stop and rest for a bit.”

The two found a large tree, brushed away the snow, and spread the tarp from their packs on the ground before sitting down cross-legged.

Zhang San took out the rations and water flask and handed them to Li Si. Watching him lower his head obediently and quietly nibble away at his food, Zhang San could not resist removing one of his gloves and reaching out to rub Li Si’s pale, icy cheek, wiping away a streak of sweat smeared with dirt.

“Do your wounds still hurt?” he asked.

Li Si looked up at him, still chewing seriously. Only after he had chewed and swallowed did he shake his head and answer, “They don’t hurt.”

With his old temperament, if someone asked whether he was in pain, he would simply shake his head and leave it at that. But now there was an itch in his heart, and he wanted to confide a little more to Brother Xiao. Though he did not want Brother Xiao to worry, he figured that sharing just a tiny bit would not hurt, so he honestly added, “The wounds have scabbed over. They’re very itchy.”

Zhang San tucked a stray lock of hair behind his ear and said gently, “Even if they itch, you have to endure it. Don’t pick at them. Once the scabs fall off, you’ll be fine.”

Li Si nodded obediently.

Zhang San gently rubbed his cheek again and thought to himself: I really can’t bear to part with him.

He felt that he was truly selfish. He worried about Li Si getting hurt on the mountain paths, yet he also could not bear to be separated from him during these final two days. He kept saying that he did not want Li Si accompanying him into danger, that it pained him to see Li Si exhausting himself following him around, but the truth was that he was genuinely happy to have Li Si by his side right now.

His eyes brimmed with tenderness, yet his brows unconsciously drew together slightly. Li Si did not know why Brother Xiao suddenly seemed both happy and sad at the same time. He looked at him carefully with wide eyes, feeling that Brother Xiao seemed to need some comfort at this moment. So he extended his hand again and offered it for him to hold.

The two sat hand in hand in the snow-covered forest. The towering canopy overhead sliced the afternoon sunlight into countless shimmering fragments that scattered across the endless blanket of snow. The forest was utterly silent, as though only two identical heartbeats remained in the world.

⸻

A sudden rustling sound came from the woods!

Their hands immediately separated. Zhang San’s hand moved to the saber at his waist, while Li Si grabbed the bow lying beside him.

In the direction they were staring, a plump, furry head suddenly emerged from a snowdrift. It had two donkey-like ears standing upright and a pair of black, bead-like eyes that looked vacant and foolish. Completely oblivious to the killing intent radiating from the two men, it tilted its head curiously and observed them.

—It was a silly roe deer.

Zhang San let out a breath of relief.

He had promised to take Li Si up the mountain to hunt roe deer to eat, yet one had delivered itself to them. Grinning, he said, “Perfect. Shoot it with an arrow. We’ll roast it for you tonight.”

But Li Si shook his head. “We brought enough rations. We don’t need to eat it.”

He did not want to kill the roe deer for no reason. The roe deer, however, had taken an interest in him. Smelling the scent of food, it edged closer bit by bit, its dark little eyes fixed on the half piece of dry flatbread remaining in Li Si’s hand.

Li Si broke off a small piece and gently tossed it toward the roe deer. The creature shuffled forward in tiny steps, nosed through the snow, and carried the dry flatbread away.

Zhang San laughed. “Not only are you not eating it, you’re feeding it your dry flatbread?”

Thinking Zhang San was accusing him of wasting food, Li Si shook his head. “I won’t feed it any more.” Then he hurriedly stuffed the remaining dry flatbread into his own mouth.

Zhang San laughed so hard that he reached over and rubbed his cheek again. “Little fool.”

He laughed for a while, then his brows gradually drew together once more. Looking into Li Si’s eyes, he said softly, “After you return to the capital, if His Majesty offers you some high-ranking post, it would be best to decline it. Just be a minor captain. Officialdom is full of jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards. They’ll only bully you and use you. Don’t trust people too easily. If you run into any trouble, talk it over with Qiao Shen and let him help you come up with a plan.”

Li Si did not understand why he suddenly felt compelled to say these things, but Brother Xiao was never wrong. So he nodded honestly.

“Mm.”

Zhang San brushed a few crumbs from the corner of his mouth.

“Let’s keep moving.”

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