Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 326 - 316 Fight Sounds

Chapter 326: Chapter 316 Fight Sounds

"Do we need someone to keep watch at night?" Lu Yun asked obediently as she crawled into her sleeping bag, finding the stone-processed ground indeed warm and comfortable.

"Yes, we’ll take turns, one person for one to two hours should suffice. I’ll take your shift so you can sleep soundly," Shitou nodded.

"Oh," Lu Yun nodded without objection and crawled further into the sleeping bag, turning her head to see the others also doing as Shitou did, using the specially collected and heated stones to pave the ground...

She watched for a while then closed her eyes, feeling sluggish. As sleepiness crept up on her, she overheard Shitou say, "When using this method, one must be extremely cautious. You absolutely must not use damp or porous stones or rocks. Such stones or rocks can explode once heated, and if you’re unlucky, you could very well end up losing your eyesight or worse. Anyone who doesn’t want to get hurt better remember this firmly..."

Hearing this, Lu Yun couldn’t help but curl the corners of her mouth into a smile.

He was always like this—seeming stern and icy to others, but actually, he cared more than anyone, the typical case of a tough exterior but a warm heart...

She sighed softly, smiling contentedly as she surrendered to sleep.

Shitou placed the sleeping bag right next to Lu Yun, looking down at her completely relaxed sleeping form with a softening expression and involuntarily lowering his voice to a whisper.

He addressed the remaining four, "It’s eight o’clock now. Wen Shan will take the first watch until nine-thirty; Su Qiaoling next, from nine-thirty until eleven-thirty; I’ll watch from eleven-thirty to three o’clock; Zhan Hongtao from three to four-thirty, and finally, Zhuang Jun from four-thirty to six."

He glanced at the four who seemed hesitant and appeared to want to object, speaking in a soft yet unquestionable tone, "This is an order, execute it as such."

"Yes."

Su Qiaoling, Wen Shan, Zhan Hongtao, and Zhuang Jun all showed a moment of solemnity. Although they felt a pang of guilt for leaving Shitou to take the most challenging and torturous night shift while leaving the easier ones for themselves—the guards who should have been responsible for the full duty—they dared not voice opposition to his command and all nodded in agreement.

But that wasn’t how Shitou saw it. Bringing Lu Yun out into the deep mountain forest for camping and cooking was inherently dangerous, inadvertently adding extra trouble for the guards around him.

Prior to this trip, he had applied to those above and adamantly refused other Hidden Guards’ protection, leaving these four, who couldn’t be declined, no matter what. Therefore, they really did only have six people on this outing.

In the ancient forest, dangers were unknown. Even though it was certain that there were no large predators or packs of wolves that even those predators would fear here, some dangers were worse than fierce beasts...

With Lu Yun by his side, even though he had arranged for people to keep watch, he also set spiritual power marks nearby, but he simply couldn’t possibly rest easy and sleep.

Shitou meticulously "inspected" the surroundings with his spiritual power and placed spiritual power marks at several nodes before lying down. He didn’t fall asleep immediately; instead, with his eyes closed, he silently began cultivating his spiritual power.

Fortunately, the cultivation of spiritual power didn’t necessarily require sitting cross-legged; practically any posture would do. Seeing that Shitou and Lu Yun had both laid down, except for Wen Shan who was on watch, the rest also lay down one by one, closing their eyes whether they could sleep or not.

By twelve o’clock, Su Qiaoling hadn’t called for Shitou, but he opened his eyes and sat up on his own, looking so refreshed that Su Qiaoling suspected he had been awake all along and hadn’t fallen asleep.

The two acknowledged each other with a nod and without a word, Su Qiaoling quickly crawled into her sleeping bag and swiftly fell into a deep sleep.

The surroundings were silent except for the calls of animals, distant or nearby.

Shitou used his spiritual power to check for any anomalies and, finding none, began to sit in meditation, pondering the Cultivation Technique of Physical Arts in his mind. Although cultivating both spiritual power and Physical Arts could slow down the pace of one’s practice, the two were not mutually exclusive.

Exceptions existed, and those with higher Psychic Power Talent cultivated at a faster pace. With Shitou’s 3S Psychic Power Talent, dual cultivation did not significantly affect him; it didn’t drag him down, nor did it impede the speed of his spiritual power cultivation.

At three o’clock in the morning, Shitou woke up Zhan Hongtao on time.

Seeing nothing unusual, Zhan Hongtao did not crawl back into his sleeping bag but continued to sit cross-legged and silently cultivate his spiritual power.

Zhan Hongtao dared not disturb him, and even when Zhuang Jun took over the watch, he moved lightly and quietly, not bold enough to disturb him. Being with Shitou, both he and Zhuang Jun undoubtedly knew more than Su Qiaoling and Wen Shan, as they too had soaked in the medicinal bath and were aware that some had been selected to train in different Cultivation Techniques in groups.

For instance, both of them were practicing Physical Arts.

Having experienced the medicinal bath and having practiced Physical Arts, they truly believed that if they could advance their Physical Arts to a certain level, the powers described in novels-like the lightness of running over rooftops and the overwhelming Inner Strength to fell a large tree with one palm—could indeed become reality.

At four forty-three, Shitou suddenly opened his eyes and instructed Zhuang Jun, "Wake the others, and make sure to do so without any unnecessary noise." After speaking, he softly woke up Lu Yun himself.

"Is it wolves?"

Lu Yun opened her eyes and blinked, her first thought was of a wolf pack, and as she spoke, she extended her spiritual power in a sweep, but found nothing—it seemed Shitou’s spiritual power had reached a higher level, allowing him to see further than her, she thought to herself.

"No, there’s a suspicious person moving in the forest." A frown formed on Shitou’s brow, feeling annoyed that their rare pleasure trip with Lu Yun was being disrupted halfway.

"There’s the sound of fighting."

He added and looked toward Su Qiaoling, Wen Shan, Zhan Hongtao, and Zhuang Jun, who had all silently risen and were standing by, ready for orders, "Su Qiaoling, Wen Shan, stay behind to protect Xiaoyun; Zhan Hongtao and Zhuang Jun, come with me to deal with it."

"Yes," the four of them nodded.

Zhan Hongtao suddenly became serious and asked, "Should we inform the higher-ups now?"

He hadn’t heard any noise actually, but since Shitou had said so, he absolutely believed it was not a groundless assertion. Zhuang Jun and both Su Qiaoling and Wen Shan also wore grave expressions, as they too had heard nothing.

They all knew that the vast stretch of forest was a forbidden area, not without its patrols, but due to its extensive range, even with a not inconsiderable number of patrolling personnel, it was still not possible to cover it all.

Additionally, this forest was often used as a training ground for the Guard Squad. Thus the area was not lacking in small animals such as rabbits, wild chickens, and poisonous snakes, but medium to large animals like wild sheep, deer, and boars were few, and solitary wild wolves should be non-existent, let alone packs of them.

Hence, they all understood that what warranted nocturnal vigilance in this forest was less likely to be animals and more likely to be people.