Chapter 32 – First Encounter – Part 1
Sima Xin made quick work on the rest of the thugs. Six had been killed within the span of three minutes after he had entered the alley. The last teenage thug stood at the edge of the alley, holding his sword and pointing toward Sima Xin.
"You are the last one. Give me your life!"
"Screw you! Who the hell do you think you are!? Immortal Zhang Tong!?"
"Hmm?"
Sima Xin heard a piece of interesting information the last thug blurted out.
'Immortal Zhang Tong?'
'10/10 Chuunibyou naming sense. Does he wear an eyepatch, too?'
'Such flashy name. Is he an otherworlder?'
Sima Xin dashed toward the last thug. To his surprise, the thug didn't attack or charge at him. The last thug turned around and ran away. He jumped on top of a stall then leaped toward the roof of the nearby wooden building as if he was a cultivator in wuxia novel.
Sima Xin was astonished. That thug was nimble! If any modern bystander could see the thug's movement, they would think that the thug was a parkour master.
'That thug is not simple!'
'There's also that immortal Zhang Tong.'
'I want to question him.'
Sima Xin pursued the mysterious thug. Because Sima Xin was still a child, he couldn't utilize his previous movement experiences to the fullest. After chasing for half an hour, he was tired. Carrying a 4kg M16A4 loaded with bullets behind his back while chasing weighted him down.
'Ugh, I don't have my former stamina.'
'Where the hell did he go now?'
Sima Xin looked around him. During the chase, the thug went out of the village and ran toward the nearby forest. Sima Xin was too concentrate in the chasing and didn't notice his environment.
'I've lost him.'
'I should go back. I don't want to get ambushed here.'
'But … where am I?'
For the entire afternoon, Sima Xin was lost in the forest. He managed to find a road back to the village before 5 PM. He backtracked to the village to book a room in an inn. He wanted to sleep on a bed today.
Arriving at the inn, he saw a group of militias dressed in yellow cloths and heard their conversation by accident.
"Hey, I heard the other camp stops allowing the guys to leave the camp perimeters. Is that true?"
"Yeah, I heard it from Captain Bo Cai myself. The immortal closed down the camp and had all the guys building fences or digging holes today."
"Is that brat really an immortal? Isn't he just a golden-spooned young master?"
"Go and try him if you dare. Over a dozen captains of our camp went to test him and came back as corpses."
"What!? How could he? They were elites from our times. Did that brat use his men and ganged up on the captains?"
"… No. You've never seen the immortal in action. He killed all of them himself."
"Lies! How can a brat alone kill them all!?"
"Like I said. If you don't believe me then go test him out yourself, at your own risk that is."
"…"
Sima Xin's ears perked up. He heard an interesting name and title in the conversation, Bo Cai and the immortal.
It was likely that the immortal was an otherworlder. And the name "Bo Cai" also sounded familiar to him, just like Zhang Jiao.
'Bo Cai, it's another familiar name.'
'Is he important in the history of China? Why did I feel a sudden déjà vu?'
'…Zhang Jiao and Bo Cai.'
'Hmm? Yellow cloths?'
'Militias with yellow cloths?'
'Zhang Jiao … yellow cloths militias …'
'The Yellow Turbans!!'
It was as if there had been a strand of hair blocking a mountain from his view, and the hair was now gone. With another clue, Sima Xin managed to put pieces of puzzles together and recalled his memories regarding this era.
'I'm stupid! This is the year before the Han Dynasty declined. It will be the Three Kingdom period next! I was born into THAT Sima clan and Sima Yi will rise within 30-40 years!'
Sima Xin's eyes sharpened. He also found a way to complete his current quest. The ex-bandits that the system had mentioned should be the Yellow Turbans. And the ringleaders were none other than Zhang Jiao and his brothers.
There were all here!
A glint of greed flashed in his eyes, Sima Xin checked the exit and the surrounding. He planned to kill all the yellow cloth militias in the inn!
'I'll kill these people for the quest. Then if I can, I'll snipe Zhang Jiao and his men.'
Without hesitation, Sima Xin drew his knife from his waist and mixed into the crowd in the inn. He sneaked behind one of the yellow cloth men who was enjoying themselves with food and wines and the dining table.
Then he stabbed down his knife into the unguarded man's neck right in front of his friends.
"UGGHHH!!!"
Sima Xin pulled off the knife and switched target to another yellow cloths man.
"Audacious!!"
"Son of a @#$%!!"
"You seek death!!"
The rest of the men screamed in anger. They grabbed their weapons and hacked them at Sima Xin.
…
…
7 PM. The same day. Zhang Manor.
Tong came back from his camp, feeling refreshed. He had a good work out with his men today.
Tong taught his officers the trench tactic warfare of the 21st century. They couldn't understand all of it yet, but they managed to grasp the general ideas and how they could create more efficient traps instead of simple pits.
He planned to import the modern guerrilla warfare into this world and teach his men. But it would take months before he shaped up his men's strength and stamina, then mastering these trench tactics.
The soldiers in this era were hard to train to truly become an elite as they lacked proper training tools and equipment. Tong didn't want them to charge into enemy ranks and die in vain, so guerrilla warfare would at least decrease the number of casualties.
Before Tong could sit and had his dinner, a servant walked in and reported a breaking news.
A strange teenage appeared in this village and killed several men from Zhang Liang's camp. And Zhang Liang himself had left with his men to search for the stranger.
"What about my father, second uncle and my fiancé?" Tong asked.
"Report to young master, they are still inside the manor. Only the third master and his men have gone out."
"Do you know the name of the stranger boy?"
"This servant is incompetent. Please punish me, young master."
"It's alright. You can leave."
The servant left, leaving Tong alone in the dining hall. Tong grabbed and ate a few pieces of pheasant meat, then Tong ordered the maids to keep the food warm. He would come back to finish his dinner later.
Tong picked up his gun and checked the remaining bullets. There were 41 remaining bullets. They were enough for two magazines which were more than enough for hunting one man.
Someone had the balls to kill militias of his uncle. If it was done by an average adult or hooligan, Tong wouldn't care about it.
However, this case assailant was a teenager. Tong couldn't help but felt threatened because there were high chances that the young man was an otherworlder.
Secondly, Hua Shi's mission made him vigilant to any unusual event. Any commotion that broke out at this time would not be overlooked.
And lastly, the system had not yet announced that Tong had completed his mission. Which meant there were other threats or other Julu men that could abduct Hua Shi still lurked in this area and could fail Tong's mission.
Tong checked his HUD radar map to find his third uncle. Zhang Liang was easy to spot, his identity on the map had been highlighted long ago, and a green dot outside of Zhang Manor in the map was flashing.
Tong didn't step out of the manor right away. He scanned the map for any unfamiliar name or any person that was moving in an irregular pattern.
To his surprise, Tong didn't need to search for long. There was a white dot in the forest behind the Zhang resident. His name also caught Tong's eyes.
'Sima Xin? From the Sima clan?'
'Sima family doesn't have someone that name in this timeline.'
'Sima Fang only has eight children. And all his clansmen are in Luo Yang.'
'Tch, another reincarnator?'
'Be it or not, he's an enemy.'
'But, why is he lurking behind my house?'
'Well, since you have come, you will not be leaving here alive.'
Tong loaded his gun and proceeded to the back of Zhang resident to get a clear view of the intruder.
The back of the Zhang resident were empty areas and a few tombstones. It was the graveyard of Zhang family's ancestor. Tong's mother also rested there.
Tong glanced at his mother's tombstone with saddening, yet determined eyes.
'I'm sorry, Mom. This might get a little noisy but please bear with it for a few minutes.'