The camp was quieter now, but the silence did not bring peace. It brought tension. The survivors huddled together around their fires, casting nervous glances at one another, the memory of the beastmen ambush still fresh in their minds. The victory had been swift, brutal, and decisive, but the cost was undeniable. Two of their leaders—Shen Ru and Liang Bo—had fallen, and with them, the fragile balance of power had shifted.
Hui Jian moved through the camp like a shadow, his presence understated but felt by all. The cold air bit at his skin, but his mind was sharper than ever. The ambush had gone exactly as he had planned. The disloyal leaders who had questioned him were gone, and now he was free to begin positioning the people he trusted in key roles within the camp.
As he passed by the survivors, he caught snippets of their conversations.
"Without Hui Jian's plan, we wouldn't have survived..."
"He's the only one who can lead us now. The others are too weak..."
"The council is falling apart..."
These were the whispers he had carefully orchestrated without uttering a single word. He had done what the others could not. He had struck first, taken action, and ensured their survival. But he made no public claims to leadership, no grand speeches of victory. That was not his way. He needed to remain in the background, for now. Let them come to him.
Ren approached him as he walked past one of the smaller fires. His face was grim, though there was a spark of respect in his eyes.
"They're talking about you," Ren said, his voice low. "The camp's starting to see you as the leader."
Hui Jian's expression remained neutral. "Let them think what they want. It doesn't matter."
"It does," Ren insisted. "The council is in disarray, and with the deaths of Shen Ru and Liang Bo, there's a power vacuum. If you don't step up, someone else will."
Hui Jian turned his gaze toward the distant horizon, where the cold winds howled over the desolate landscape. "I'm not interested in power," he said softly. "I'm interested in survival."
Ren frowned but said nothing more. He understood Hui Jian better than most, but even he couldn't see the full extent of Hui Jian's plans. No one could.
Later that evening, as the camp settled into an uneasy quiet, Hui Jian sat alone by a small fire at the edge of the camp. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, calculating the next steps. He had positioned Ren and Mei Lin in more prominent roles, quietly ensuring that they would support him when the time came. But the guilt gnawed at him—Liang Bo's desperate look in his final moments, Shen Ru's panicked eyes as the beastman overpowered her. They had died because of his manipulations.
Necessary sacrifices, he reminded himself. There is no room for weakness in this world.
As he stirred the fire with a stick, lost in thought, a voice broke through the stillness.
"Hui Jian?"
He looked up to see a girl standing a few paces away. She was young, perhaps fifteen, with pale skin and dark, wide eyes. He recognized her immediately—Shen Ru's younger sister, Li Xue. Her face was a mask of uncertainty and grief.
"I... I wanted to ask you about my sister," she said hesitantly. "The others said you were with her during the ambush."
Hui Jian's heart tightened, but he kept his expression calm. "She fought bravely," he said, his voice steady. "We all did."
Li Xue's eyes glistened with tears. "But... but how did she die? What happened out there?"
Hui Jian hesitated. The truth was a blade that could cut too deep. He could see the raw pain in the girl's eyes, the need for closure, for something to cling to in this harsh world. But the truth wasn't something he could afford to share. Not now. Not ever.
"She was protecting us," he said finally, his voice quiet. "She gave her life to save the camp."
Li Xue's lip trembled as she processed his words. She nodded slowly, though it was clear that her grief was far from assuaged. "Thank you," she whispered, turning away and disappearing back into the shadows.
Hui Jian stared into the flames, the weight of his lies pressing down on him. He had told her what she needed to hear, not the truth. The truth was that Shen Ru had been a pawn, a piece on the board he had maneuvered into a deadly position. He had chosen her fate, just as he would choose the fates of many more to come.
His resolve hardened. This was not the time for guilt or sentimentality. Sentiment would make him weak. If he was to survive—if he was to rise—he would have to sacrifice more than just others. He would have to sacrifice his own humanity.
The next morning, Hui Jian began to subtly reorganize the camp. He spoke to Ren and Mei Lin in private, instructing them to take on more responsibilities while gently encouraging other key figures to step aside. His method was always the same—quiet, careful, and precise. Those who posed a threat were given tasks that kept them out of the way, while those he could trust were elevated.
He moved like a shadow, always keeping to the background, allowing the camp to believe that the changes were natural, that the power was shifting of its own accord. But every move was deliberate, every action part of his greater plan.
By the end of the week, the camp had been transformed. The disloyal leaders were either dead or sidelined, and those who remained followed Hui Jian's unspoken lead. The council was still technically in place, but its power had been gutted. Hui Jian didn't need to sit at their table to control their decisions.
Ren approached him again one evening, a hint of admiration in his voice. "You've managed to do what no one else could. The camp is united... thanks to you."
Hui Jian's face betrayed nothing. "The camp is surviving. That's all that matters."
Ren shook his head. "No, it's more than that. They look up to you now. Whether you like it or not, you're their leader."
Hui Jian met Ren's gaze, his expression calm, but inside, he felt the weight of his decisions pressing down on him. He had started this journey with one goal in mind: to survive. But now, he was beginning to understand that survival was only the first step. To survive in the North Plains, you had to become something more. Something stronger.
Leadership was not a prize he had sought, but it had fallen into his hands nonetheless. And now that it was his, he would wield it with the precision of a blade.
As the wind howled through the camp and the flames flickered in the night, Hui Jian made his choice. The camp was his now. And soon, the North Plains would be too.