Chapter 74: Yanjue Wall

After getting back onto the highway, the driver changed from Gao Ming to Ye Dong. Naturally, Gao Ming sat in the passenger seat.

Originally, Ye Dong planned to relax and sleep for a while, but after what had just happened, there was no way he could calm his mind enough to sleep.

Before a poisonous snake catches its prey, it usually spends a long time watching first.

At this moment, Ye Dong felt exactly like prey being stared at by a venomous snake.

Gao Ming normally did not show many expressions, but now he kept staring at him with a strange half-smiling look.

How could Ye Dong not think strange thoughts? How could he not feel nervous?

After more than ten minutes of silence, the air inside the car felt so heavy it was hard to breathe comfortably.

Finally, Ye Dong slammed a fist onto the center console and turned toward Gao Ming with a sharp glare.

“If you have something to say, just say it already!”

“Fine!”

As he spoke, Gao Ming picked up his phone and played a voice recording from a time when Ye Dong had been drunk.

Back then, when talking about Bai Xi, Ye Dong had sounded so angry his teeth almost cracked.

But now…

In an instant, Ye Dong’s face turned red all the way down to his neck. He immediately reached out to grab the phone and shut it off.

But Gao Ming had already expected that move.

First the military coat embarrassment, and now this. He was determined to make Ye Dong suffer enough embarrassment in return.

He leaned back with the phone in hand, causing Ye Dong to miss.

Missing the phone was not the problem.

The car suddenly swerved left and right across the road.

Honk—screeech!

Sharp horn sounds and braking noises exploded around them. The car almost crashed into the vehicle behind them in the next lane!

Luckily, the other driver reacted quickly and avoided them.

Both men instantly broke out into cold sweat.

The car behind sped forward aggressively, rolled down its window, and the driver shouted angrily.

“If you want to die, drive yourself off a bridge! Don’t drag innocent people into your mess!”

The yelling was harsh, but they could only endure it.

After all, this really was their fault.

Gao Ming gave an awkward smile instead, which surprisingly calmed the angry driver down a little before the other car sped away again.

Putting away his phone, Gao Ming awkwardly took out the coffee he had made earlier at the service area, offering it like a peace treaty.

Ye Dong glanced at it.

Since it was just joking between good friends, he let it go and drank over half the bottle in one go.

“Alright, tell me already. What exactly is going on between you two? Before it was like that, and now it’s like this…”

Ye Dong let out a breath, remembering that night with complicated feelings.

“Hehe. A smile after meeting again wipes away old grudges. But more than that, it was because I could understand her feelings…”

“The incident when Aunt Gui was threatened?”

“Yeah. That was the first time in my life I truly felt my life was in danger. It was also the first time I really understood my mom and how difficult her work actually is. So…”

“Interesting.” Gao Ming curled his lips slightly.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing.”

“What does ‘nothing’ even mean?”

“Nothing means… just nothing.”

Ye Dong immediately chose to shut up.

If they continued this conversation, it would never end.

Really, he could only blame the richness of the Chinese language. The same word could carry many different meanings depending on how it was used.

Driving required focus. If they kept joking around, another accident might happen like before, and they would end up getting cursed at again.

Time quietly passed into the afternoon.

Thanks to Cheng Fei’s carefully prepared boxed meals and the extra-large portions, they had managed to last until now.

But after all the eating, the food box was finally completely empty.

Cheng Fei went inside the service area and tried buying a hand-grab pancake to taste.

The flavor was still unbelievably awful.

One bite was enough to make someone want to throw up!

The food stall looked cold, empty, and miserable.

Not a single customer appeared for a long time. Most people were probably already scared away by the terrible reputation of highway service area food.

The few customers who did come were probably just too hungry to care anymore.

Cheng Fei simply rushed into the convenience store and swept up instant self-heating meals and instant noodles like crazy.

However, by the next meal after five in the evening, six self-heating hotpots plus instant noodles were completely wiped out again.

Most of the roads they passed went through mountain valleys, where the speed limit stayed around eighty kilometers per hour.

On top of that, Zheng Qi, the curious little explorer, kept running around everywhere during stops.

So after driving for almost the entire day, they had still only finished about two-thirds of the journey.

As the sky gradually darkened, almost everyone with a driver’s license had already taken turns driving.

Everyone was tired.

Driving through the night in this condition would be dangerous, so the entire group agreed to stop and rest there for the night.

They exited the highway at the nearest toll station.

The moment the ETC payment showed up, Cheng Fei stared painfully at the bright red numbers.

“Sigh… honestly, I think Yunqi Mountain in the neighboring province would’ve been fine too. Why did we have to come this far?”

Cheng Fei spoke honestly.

Did they really need to run all the way across the world just to avoid Gao Limin and Guo Rui?

“There’s only one county office over there. The ancient city is too crowded and messy. Besides, the supporting facilities at a movie filming base are the important part.”

Bai Xi, who had also been confused before, suddenly understood.

But still…

“President Gao, are you planning to film some huge blockbuster movie?”

Gao Ming shook his head.

“It’s just a short film. But I want it to have the spirit of *The Story of the Nuclear Boat*. Just because it’s a short film doesn’t mean it can be careless. It still needs depth and detail. That’s why I invited all of you here.”

Hearing that, Zheng Qi gave a thumbs-up and praised him dramatically in the style of an old movie:

“Brilliant. Truly brilliant!”

“Commander Tang, should we bring a water pump too? Planning to flood our tunnel?”

Bai Xi made a finger-gun gesture and pointed it at Zheng Qi’s forehead.

“I surrender, Grandpa!”

The car instantly filled with laughter again.

With those two constantly fooling around and making jokes, the long journey finally did not feel unbearably boring anymore.

It was true that flying was faster, more convenient, and safer.

But it also meant losing a lot of time spent together.

Traveling like this, playing around along the way, actually felt pretty nice.

The cars entered a small county town. Only because of the map’s introduction did they learn that this place had once been very famous in history.

The glorious age when great people were born here was already long gone. Missing the right chance back then had left the town slowly falling behind.

Still, maybe that was not a bad thing.

At least some of the original local culture and traditions had not been washed away or lost.

They found a fairly nice hotel to rest in.

Following the principle of “don’t ruin other people’s romance,” everyone pushed Cheng Fei and Gao Ming into the same room again.

The remaining two men and two women split into rooms by gender.

Driving all day was truly exhausting.

By the time Gao Ming finished showering, Cheng Fei was already deep asleep.

She lay outside the blanket in her pajamas, not even afraid of catching a cold.

Half-asleep himself, Gao Ming covered her properly with the blanket, crawled into bed, and fell asleep almost instantly.

People’s dreams came in many forms.

Gao Ming was an ambitious businessman who loved conquering and expanding.

That dream had followed him since childhood and shaped him deeply.

Back then the dream had always been blurry, like wandering through thick fog where nothing could be seen clearly.

Only after becoming an adult did the dream finally become complete and clear in his mind.

…………………………………

This time was the same as always.

Steep cliffs rose around Qinglong Ridge.

Yanjue Wall stood there like a masterpiece carved by heaven itself.

Groups of soldiers in red surrounded the pass.

A female general stood on the city wall at the entrance, which was dozens of meters wide.

Her face looked exhausted.

After many days defending the city, her armor was badly damaged and no longer carried its former dignity.

Behind her, soldiers gathered together tightly, placing their broken shields in front of them.

Even though the place was easy to defend and hard to attack, the price they paid had been terrible.

A general from the besieging army rode forward on horseback and shouted loudly:

“Princess Consort, I advise you one more time. Stop struggling like trapped beasts. This place is called Yanjue because even wild geese cannot pass through it! Even Prince Jin himself could never find this place. Open the gates and surrender your weapons. That is the only right path!”

The female general gave a cold laugh and answered sharply.

“And you still dare call yourself a general? Turning your blade against your own brothers-in-arms makes you nothing more than a shameless traitor!”

The rebel general laughed loudly below.

“Princess Consort, don’t you understand that power always changes hands? The Great Liang Dynasty has enjoyed prosperity for four hundred years, but underneath the surface it has long since rotted away. The people suffer terribly, and Heaven’s anger has already appeared. Now the time has come for the dynasty to change!”

“Even if your lies were true, and even if that day really came, it still would not be someone as evil and shameless as you who takes the throne!”

“Hahaha! I have sincerely advised you many times already, but you are still stubborn. Princess Consort, have you forgotten that you still have a child less than one year old?”

Children were the most precious thing in a parent’s heart.

Hearing that, the female general froze for a moment.

The rebel general noticed immediately and smiled proudly.

“Min’er carries the blood of the Tang family and the spirit of our founding emperor. Even if I die today, one day Yin’er will surely cut off your head and offer it before my grave!”

The rebel general looked disappointed after hearing that.

No longer willing to waste words, he sneered and rode back into formation.

War drums sounded together with waving command flags. Rows of archers moved forward.

Besides them were two giant crossbows pushed by soldiers, each as large as a bed frame.

Mounted on them were huge spear-like bolts as thick as bowls and taller than a man.

Fear finally appeared on the female general’s face. The moment she stepped down from the wall, her weakened body could no longer hold on, and she collapsed to the ground.

“Miss!”

The woman beside her was both servant and personal guard. She hurried forward to support her master.

After opening the armor, she saw the inner clothing already soaked red with blood.

The old wounds had not healed before the siege began.

Yet her master had ignored her own condition and personally gone into battle with sword in hand.

The guard no longer cared about anything else. She tore open the inner clothing, spread medicine powder onto the wound, and wrapped it again.

By the end, the stubborn woman’s face had already turned pale white, her body trembling weakly.

The fewer than one thousand soldiers inside the pass all saw this clearly. The fear in their hearts slowly turned into anger and sorrow.

“Carry her inside.”

“Wait!”

The woman stopped them with the little strength she had left.

“Meixiang… Shi Shi has already been gone for four days and nights, right?”

“Yes. But… if she had been captured, that bastard would definitely have bragged about it already. Miss, this place is too dangerous. Please return to the hall and rest.”

Tang Ying shook her head again.

Just then, an arrow suddenly flew past her face with a sharp sound.

“Arrow rain!”

Someone on the wall shouted loudly.

The well-trained soldiers instantly formed defensive positions.

With Tang Ying at the center, they protected her tightly like an iron fortress.

Moments later, countless arrows screamed through the air toward them. The shields were filled with arrows until they looked like hedgehogs.

One careless moment was enough for an arrow to pierce straight through someone’s chest.

Before one wave fully stopped, another wave arrived.

Again and again it continued.

With every attack, more soldiers were struck down.

There had originally been two thousand elite soldiers inside the pass. But after only five days, most were already dead.

At this rate, they would never survive long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

In the middle of despair, the giant crossbows began making strange noises. One shot easily shattered the battlements.

If it hit a person, the huge bolt would nail them directly into the rooftops behind them in a horrifying death.

When the bolts struck the walls, their arrowheads buried deeply into the stone and could not even be pulled out, becoming support for the rebel army instead.

Tang Ying understood how dangerous those weapons were.

She raised her head and cried out,

“Everyone on the walls, retreat first!”

The killing continued.

…………………………………

Even though Gao Ming had seen this scene countless times in dreams, this part was always the hardest for him to face.

Could dreams be controlled by people?

For Gao Ming, the answer was yes.

In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed.

Inside the pass, there was no land left to bury the dead soldiers. Only a little over one hundred people were still alive. Food supplies were gone. The gates had become shaky after endless attacks.

This time, the rebel army attacked once more.

After holding Yanjue Wall for half a month, the defense finally collapsed.

The remaining defenders died under the blades of the rushing rebel soldiers.

Tang Ying and her guards fought while retreating until they reached a cliff behind the pass.

Seeing more and more enemies surrounding them, Tang Ying knew there was no escape left.

She cut down every enemy who came close, planning to kill as many as possible before throwing herself off the cliff.

Then suddenly, a strange yet familiar war cry echoed through the battlefield. The rebel army behind them instantly exploded into blood and flying flesh.

A man who looked almost exactly like Gao Ming arrived at the critical moment.

Hope finally burst forth.

Ignoring all the wounds on her body, Tang Ying only wanted to cut a path through the enemies and reach him sooner.

Gao Ming felt as if he had entered the body of that so-called past life.

He swung the long spear wildly, piercing through enemy after enemy until he finally pulled the blood-covered woman he loved into his arms.

“You finally… finally came…”

She only lightly hit his chest once.

Then overwhelming joy and the pain of her wounds exploded together.

Unable to hold on any longer, she fainted.

“Ying’er! Ying’er, stay awake!”

Whether it was the original man or Gao Ming himself no longer mattered.

Seeing the person in his arms covered in blood and breathing so weakly filled him with panic and pain.