Rise of a Lonely City: From Exiled Prince to Ruler of the Nine Provinces

Operation codenamed "Purge" was launched precisely after nightfall.

In the "Ghost's Sorrow" valley, the night wind howls, sounding like the cries of ghosts.

Near the giant stone platform at the bottom of the valley where the alliance meeting was once held, a dozen or so simple wooden huts and tents have been built against the mountain wall, and the campfires are flickering in the cold wind.

This is the nominal "headquarters" of the bandit alliance, guarded by Liu Biao's confidant, the ruthless bandit nicknamed "Lone Wolf" He Biao, along with more than fifty elite bandits. They are responsible for communication, transmitting messages, storing some of the looted supplies, and also serve as a backup base for Liu Biao.

At three-quarters past midnight, people are at their most exhausted. Apart from a few sentries wrapped in fur coats, huddled in sheltered spots and dozing off, most of the bandits had already crawled into tents or wooden huts, drifting off to sleep amidst cheap wine and exhaustion.

Unbeknownst to them, dozens of cold eyes were silently watching them from the shadows of the rocks and dead trees surrounding the camp.

The first and second hunting teams, a total of one hundred elites, had been lying in wait here for half an hour, like rocks blending into the night.

Their faces were smeared with black ash, their bodies clad in camouflage, and they gripped poisoned crossbow bolts and sharp daggers tightly in their hands. Night Owl's two top scouts had already thoroughly investigated the sentry posts and camp layout.

The leader of the hunting team was a taciturn veteran named Zhou Heng, who had been a border scout and was most skilled at infiltration and assassination.

He made an extremely discreet hand gesture. Behind him, two hunters crept forward silently like raccoons, using the sound of the wind and the shadows as cover, until they reached the two dozing sentries.

With a flash of cold light, the throats of the two sentries were slit open by a sharp blade. They only made a slight "hoarse" sound before collapsing to the ground.

"Go!" Zhou Heng commanded in a low voice.

Dozens of dark figures, like arrows released from a bow, split into several groups and rushed towards different wooden houses and tents.

The movements were swift and deadly. The faint "click" of the crossbow was masked by the wind as poisoned bolts pierced through the thin gaps in the tents or wooden huts, striking the bodies of sleeping bandits.

Muffled groans, suppressed screams, and the sounds of bodies falling to the ground echoed sporadically in the silent camp.

"Enemy attack!" Finally, a bandit who got up in the middle of the night noticed the abnormality and screamed at the top of his lungs.

But it was too late. The hunters had already stormed into the heart of the camp.

They worked in groups of three, back to back, killing anyone they saw and rushing into any house they encountered. Their steel blades flashed coldly in the darkness, sending up sprays of blood.

The bandits were awakened from their sleep and hastily engaged in battle. Many of them were cut down before they could even touch their weapons.

The bandit leader He Biao awoke with a start, shirtless, carrying a ghost-head knife, and rushed out of the largest wooden house, roaring repeatedly, trying to organize a resistance.

Zhou Heng's gaze sharpened as he recognized the target. He raised his steel crossbow and, from twenty paces away, aimed it at He Biao's chest and pulled the trigger.

"Pfft!" The specially made triangular armor-piercing arrow easily tore through the leather armor that He Biao had hastily put on at close range and pierced deep into his chest.

He Biao screamed and staggered backward before being overtaken by two hunting team members, who hacked him to death.

With their leader dead, the bandits were thrown into chaos and scattered in all directions. Instead of pursuing the fleeing bandits who had disappeared into the darkness, the hunters quickly rushed toward several wooden huts and tents where supplies were stored, dousing them with kerosene and throwing torches, according to their plan.

Boom! Flames quickly rose, engulfing the wooden house and supplies, turning the valley a fiery red.

The hunters quickly searched the battlefield and found an iron box in He Biao's wooden hut. Inside were some of the bandit alliance's pledges, tokens, and correspondence. Zhou Heng hoisted the iron box onto his back and whistled.

"withdraw!"

The hunters, without lingering, retreated into the darkness like a receding tide, leaving behind only the burning camp, corpses strewn across the ground, and the wailing of the wounded. The entire process took less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Almost on the same night, a hundred miles away, the secluded valley "Snake Coil Valley" where "Poison Scholar" Sun Bu'er was hiding also met with annihilation.

Sun Bu'er was suspicious by nature, so he set up his lair in the deepest part of the valley, accessible only by a treacherous path, with many poisonous caltrops and hidden alarm mechanisms along the way.

The valley has a complex terrain, is teeming with poisonous insects, and is easy to defend but difficult to attack. He himself rarely goes out, spending most of his time hiding in the valley studying poisons, concocting poisons, poison arrows, and poisonous smoke.

However, the goal of the three hunting teams was never to storm the valley.

Led by the Night Owl Scout, they stealthily made their way to the cliff at the upwind side of "Snake Coil Valley" in the first half of the night.

From here, you can overlook most of the valley, especially the stone houses and wooden sheds where Sun Bu'er lives.

"Wind direction, northwest, stable," the captain said in a low voice, observing the fluttering strips of cloth.

"Prepare the incendiary bombs."

Dozens of earthenware jars were carefully removed; they contained a mixture of kerosene, sulfur, saltpeter, and other substances, and were sealed with oil-soaked linen. The hunting team worked in pairs, one carrying a powerful crossbow with tinder attached to the arrowheads, and the other carrying an earthenware jar.

"put!"

At a command, dozens of burning pottery jars were hurled into the valley, drawing dozens of tragic streaks of fire across the night sky before landing in the valley at Sun Bu'er's residence, the poison-making shed, and the place where dry firewood and fodder were stored. At the same time, dozens of rockets roared down.

Boom! Bang! Bang!

The earthenware pot shattered, and kerosene splattered everywhere, igniting upon contact with fire. The rocket ignited the wooden houses and rooftops.

The valley was instantly engulfed in flames. Poisonous smoke, sulfurous smoke, and thick smoke from burning wood mixed together and were blown into the depths of the valley by the northwest wind, choking people to the point of despair.

"Cough cough... Fire! Enemy attack!" The bandits' terrified shouts and coughs echoed from inside the valley, their figures darting about in the firelight.

Sun Bu'er rushed out of the burning stone house, his clothes disheveled and his face blackened by smoke. He was furious and ordered his men to put out the fire and try to find the attackers.

But the third hunting team, positioned on higher ground, used their crossbows to accurately shoot down the bandits exposed to the firelight, especially those who appeared to be leaders.

The bandits in the valley were forced to flee by the fire and smoke, and were then subjected to accurate shooting, resulting in heavy casualties and chaos.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Sun Bu'er, under the protection of several trusted confidants, tried to escape through a more secluded path behind the valley.

However, just as he rushed out of the fire and disappeared into the darkness of the back mountain, a hunting squad that had been lying in ambush there appeared like ghosts.

There were no empty words, only precise crossbow bolts and deadly steel blades. Sun Bu'er didn't even have time to apply poison before being riddled with crossbow bolts and dying a violent death.

Overnight, the bandit alliance's central headquarters, "Ghost's Sorrow," was massacred and burned to the ground, and the treacherous "Poison Scholar" Sun Bu'er perished in the flames.

At the same time, Hunting Teams 4, 5, and 6, guided by Night Owl's intelligence, launched simultaneous attacks on the hideouts of several key members of the bandits.

They would infiltrate and assassinate, snipe from a distance, or set fire to their strongholds. Many bandit leaders were killed in their sleep or while being protected by their trusted confidants by arrows shot from nowhere or assassins who suddenly appeared.

As the first rays of dawn pierced the cold and darkness of the North, the bloody storm of the night temporarily ceased.

Of the thirteen bandit alliances, seven had their leaders or key figures confirmed dead overnight, three had their hideouts burned down, and over four hundred bandits were killed or wounded. The hunting team, on the other hand, suffered only a dozen or so minor injuries, with no fatalities.

The news spread like wildfire among the bandits of the North.

Panic, like an icy tide, overwhelmed the hearts of every surviving bandit.

They finally understood just how terrifying the being they had provoked truly was. When it moved, it was with overwhelming force, precise and deadly accuracy, and... it knew everything.

The ashes of "Ghost's Sorrow," the scorched earth of "Snake Coil Valley," and the decapitated bandit leaders proclaimed in the bloodiest way: Han Yuan's revenge has begun.

This hunt, known as "Purge," is far from over.