Chapter 114: Ambushed

Wei Ba felt a jolt of alarm, but he forced down the urge to look back. Maintaining his composure, he maintained his pace, continuing eastward. He trusted Dun Wu’s vigilance; it was precisely because of this keen instinct that his father, Wei Yan, had insisted on having Dun Wu accompany him.

With a tail following them, Wei Ba first worried that he had been exposed—or at least, that someone had taken notice of him. Otherwise, given his unremarkable, fabricated identity, no one would have bothered with him. In this era of the Three Kingdoms, defections were common. Unless one was a high-ranking general fleeing with his entire household, ordinary soldiers were often here today and gone tomorrow, selling their services to whoever was in power. Unless one appeared to be a spy deliberately fishing for military secrets, nobody paid you much mind.

Wei Ba was at a loss. He had been perfectly well-behaved in Chang’an, staying within the confines of the guesthouse and never drawing attention to himself. How could anyone have noticed him? If Jin Dongliu had betrayed him, it wouldn't be a matter of mere stalking; he would likely be surrounded by hundreds of men and dragged directly before Xiahou Mao.

What could this mean? Where had he slipped up?

Wei Ba racked his brains, but he could never have guessed that the beautiful young woman he had seen at the city gate had fixated on him and relayed her suspicions to Xiahou Mao through Princess Qinghe. The reason they hadn’t arrested him immediately was due to far more complex motivations.

Not daring to be careless, Wei Ba followed the route specified on his travel permit, exiting Chang’an and heading east toward Luoyang. Two days passed, and as they neared Tong Pass, the tail remained. Wei Ba grew anxious. If these people refused to leave, how was he supposed to survey the terrain of Tong Pass? If the enemy saw him doing that, they would undoubtedly become suspicious and arrest him as a spy.

"Dun Wu, it seems we’ve been exposed," Wei Ba said while they sat by the roadside, drinking water and eating dry rations. "Can you tell how many are following us? Should we take care of them?"

Dun Wu kept his head down, chewing slowly, his voice low enough that only Wei Ba could hear. "It’s not entirely clear yet, but since they’ve managed to tail us this far, they must have some backing. Even if we could eliminate them, it would reveal our tracks."

Wei Ba felt a headache coming on. He knew this well enough; once their pursuers went missing, their superiors would soon receive word and order a manhunt. With his and Dun Wu’s skills, they wouldn't be captured, but the mission would be ruined. Having lost their official cover and travel permits, he would be forced to flee back to Hanzhong as a fugitive.

"Let’s cross Tong Pass first. If they’re still following us, we’ll deal with them in Hedong," Dun Wu decided, seeing Wei Ba’s hesitation. "Hedong is not under the jurisdiction of the Guanzhong Governor; they might not dare to follow us that far. If they do, we can take them out. It will take time for their reports to travel back and forth, giving us more time to return and scout the pass."

Wei Ba thought it over and agreed that this was the only viable plan. After resting, they set off again, entering the western foothills of Mount Hua. This was already the territory of Hongnong Commandery, outside the reach of the Guanzhong Governor. If the pursuers still followed, things would get complicated.

Just as Wei Ba was tense, the two men dressed as traveling merchants, who had been trailing them from a distance, stopped and watched the two figures nearing the horizon. One of them took off his bamboo hat, fanning himself as he said, "Boss Xiao, do you think we should keep following? We’ve trailed them over two hundred miles and haven't seen a single thing out of the ordinary."

Boss Xiao also removed his hat, revealing a plain, unremarkable face. He glanced into the distance, hesitating. "I don't know, Old Pi. The General's order is strange. If these two were really suspicious, he would have just arrested them. Why make us follow them?"

Old Pi, whose real name was Pi Erding, was a small-time hoodlum from Chang’an. Due to the hardships of life, he had leveraged his familiarity with the local terrain, his connections, and his brute strength to become a spy for the Anxi General’s office. His immediate superior was this Xiao—a minor military officer named Xiao Nuo. Having received the order, Xiao Nuo hadn't dared to slack off. He had brought Pi Erding along personally, hoping to catch a "big fish," earn a promotion, and get enough bounty money to buy new clothes for his wife and children. He never expected that after two hundred miles, there would be no suspicious behavior at all. Now that the targets were about to leave Jingzhao and enter Hongnong, he grew hesitant.

The pass he carried was valid for entering Hongnong, but only as a commoner. Unlike in Jingzhao, he couldn't eat and lodge for free at the post stations, nor could he flash his badge to demand cooperation from local officials.

"Old Pi," Xiao Nuo considered for a long time, "this matter was handed down by the Anxi General; I can’t make the call. There must be others following behind us. I’ll head back to ask for instructions, and you keep following."

Pi Erding rolled his eyes. "Then you’ll have to reimburse my meal expenses in Hongnong."

Xiao Nuo patted his chest. "That goes without saying! When have I, Xiao Nuo, ever mistreated my brothers?"

Pi Erding snorted. "Boss Xiao, it’s not that I want to be difficult. You don't mistreat us, you reimburse us by the book. But you know as well as I do, that pittance doesn't cover anything! The General has seized all the grain under the pretext of war preparations; the price of food rises every day, but the reimbursement is still based on the standards from years ago. It doesn't even cover half the cost. You won't speak up for the brothers, so every trip we take is a loss. Look around—other than me, who else is even willing to go out with you?"

Xiao Nuo blushed, then straightened his expression. "Old Pi, don't say that. How do you know I haven't spoken up? I have, but if the higher-ups don't nod, what can I do? You know what the Anxi General is like; would he give me an extra cent? I’m just as strapped for cash as you are. Why else would I have volunteered for this mission? I thought there might be some profit in it, so I fought for it, hoping to make a little extra with you. Who would have thought these two would be so unremarkable?"

Pi Erding fell silent. He waved his hand. "Go on, report back. I’ll keep following. But I’m telling you now: if you don’t catch up within a day, I’m turning back."

"Fine, fine," Xiao Nuo agreed, turning to leave. As he turned his face away, a cunning, smug smile flashed across it. He didn't want to enter Hongnong either. As Pi Erding said, the stipend for cross-border missions was too low; it wasn't worth it. Whoever went was just asking for trouble. Let Pi Erding handle it; he was here to make money, not to suffer a loss.

Behind a giant boulder in the distance, Wei Ba and Dun Wu watched the two tails. Seeing one turn back while the other continued to follow, Wei Ba breathed a sigh of relief. He believed the enemy hadn't spotted any flaws and likely wouldn't keep tracking them much further. Once these two were gone, he could proceed with the original plan to survey Tong Pass.

Just as he relaxed, Dun Wu suddenly tugged on him. Before Wei Ba could turn, Dun Wu whispered, "Don't look back. Stay alert. It seems someone has marked us as 'fat sheep'."

Wei Ba was startled. "Fat sheep" was thieves' cant. With society unstable, there were many bandits. This was the main road between Chang’an and Luoyang, frequented by merchants, so bandits were common. But he carried no luggage and was dressed like a pauper—why would anyone target him?

"Head into the mountains, and we’ll deal with them," Dun Wu said calmly. Wei Ba nodded. The two left the main road, pretending to relieve themselves, and headed into the hills. Pi Erding, trailing far behind, grew excited the moment he saw them leave the road. He quickly left a mark by the side of the path and hurried after them.

As for navigating mountain paths, who could be better at it than Wei Ba, who had spent the last month doing just that? As for Dun Wu, once in the mountains, he was a true tiger. Though Pi Erding was familiar with the terrain, he was nowhere near their speed and quickly lost his targets.

Having shaken off the tail, Wei Ba and Dun Wu reached a crossroads, suddenly leaping like agile civets and vanishing among the jagged, interlocking boulders.

The hidden stalkers clearly hadn't expected such a reaction. They instinctively stood up from their hiding spots, shouting and charging forward, splitting up to chase the directions where Wei Ba and Dun Wu had vanished.

Wei Ba darted between the rocks and quickly found a massive boulder, pressing his back against it. He watched the ragged, filth-streaked bandits rushing toward him with a mix of annoyance and amusement. He was annoyed that these people were so ignorant of their own limits, thinking that sheer numbers would allow them to rob two masters like him and Dun Wu. He was amused by how pitiful they looked—not only in rags, but dressed in absurd, ill-fitting clothes; some were even wearing women’s garments, looking garish and ridiculous.

What eased his mind was that they lacked proper weapons. Aside from a few ring-pommel sabers and two iron halberds, they only had crudely made bows and arrows. Their combat prowess was truly mediocre. They had likely been in this business for a while, as their movements were agile and their coordination was practiced; seeing him standing against the rock, they immediately formed a semicircle and cautiously closed in.

"Gentlemen, robbing me hardly seems worth your while," Wei Ba said with a dry laugh, spreading his hands. "Look, I have no valuables, just these clothes—and they’re old, barely any better than yours."

"You may not have wealth, but you have a sturdy build." A tall, middle-aged man pushed through the crowd and stood before Wei Ba, pointing his broken blade at him. "Save it. You’ll be enough to last us a couple of days."

Wei Ba was shocked to his core. These weren't highwaymen after money—they were cannibals! In broad daylight, they actually wanted to eat people? Did they think he was some kind of steamed bun?

Wei Ba no longer felt like playing along. He sneered, "So you are nothing but man-eating beasts. In that case, I'm afraid I can't oblige. If you want to eat me, you’ll have to show me what you’ve got."

The middle-aged man laughed, shaking his blade, and just as he was about to spout some bravado, two screams echoed through the mountain rocks. Wei Ba knew that Dun Wu had begun. Taking advantage of the man’s momentary distraction, Wei Ba lunged forward, his fist striking like a spear, delivering a lethal blow.