Passerby: Secret Image of Ancient Scrolls

The deafening crash of shattering glass still echoed across the frozen river, the piercing sound of breaking glass mingling with the wind and snow, drawing everyone's attention towards the direction of the pickup truck.

The two vehicles were parked side by side on the riverbank roadbed, with Lao Gu's four-wheel drive pickup truck facing the rear of 2045. There was a gap of about one meter between the two vehicles, and the bear scale armor plates formed a semi-circular closed safety zone along the side of 2045's body.

The road leading to the riverbank extends along the layout of the vehicles: the road we came from extends from the top of the hill to the riverbank, passing off-road pickup trucks first, then passing 2045. The two vehicles are facing away from the road we came from. In front of the 2045 is an open space, and more than 20 meters away is a dense forest.

Old Gu pulled open a slit in his armor: "Nobody's here! There's no movement on the snow slope!"

Shen Xun's heart sank suddenly.

His keen senses, honed through centuries of martial arts training, were still as if they were completely obscured by a thick cloth soaked in ice water.

That eerie, familiar aura seeped in with the wind and snow, penetrating every nook and cranny, shattering the assassin's presence in the windbreak forest. He could only vaguely discern a few wisps of energy shifting and shifting in the wind and snow, like venomous snakes lurking in the shadows, ready to strike. He couldn't pinpoint their exact location, let alone determine their movements.

wrong.

This arrow wasn't intended to harm anyone at all. The loud explosion at the rear of the pickup truck was, from the very beginning, meant to draw everyone's attention to the back of the vehicle, providing cover for the real killing move. The assassins' vision was completely obscured by the animal hides on the bear-scale barrier, preventing them from seeing the inner arrangements. They could only use this method to distract everyone and look for an opportunity to break through the defenses.

"Watch out for the front of the car! They're trying to lure us away! Don't fall into their trap!" Shen Xun's voice was very low but clearly reached the ears of everyone outside the car. Almost at the same moment he spoke, his hand slammed heavily on the window of car 2045 facing the safe zone.

Hearing the knocking, Lin Jian rushed over and yanked open the sliding window facing the safe zone. Shen Xun leaned over the window, speaking rapidly like bullets, each word crystal clear: "Press the plastic lock on the driver's side window, lock the driver's side door and the tailgate, but don't lock the passenger side door! Open and secure our side window; the wind and snow are too strong, we can't hear your commands if we close the window!"

"Understood!" Lin Jian responded immediately, his fingertips swiftly pressing the locking latches to lock the driver's side door and tailgate. He then pulled the window facing the safe zone halfway open and secured it. Just as he was about to pull back, Ye Zhuo was already kneeling on one knee, poised to fire his bow at any moment. He said in a deep voice, "Keep an eye on the front of car 2045. If the assassin's position changes, don't let the enemy notice. Report immediately! They don't know our setup, and they'll most likely sneak in from the front of the car!"

Lin Jian hummed in agreement, his fingertips pinching the blackout curtain, pulling it open only a crack to observe the direction of the car's front.

Without pausing, Shen Xun seized the moment of silence to quickly finalize the complete tactical division of labor, with each command tightly linked and without any redundancy: "Old Gu, grab the shield and get in the car. Absolutely no assassins can break the window and get inside! Be ready to start the vehicle at my command, but don't start the engine now, to avoid alerting them." He paused, then added, "Can it be driven with a manual transmission?"

"I know it very well!" Old Gu immediately replied, then said to Ye Zhuo, "Take this shovel next to you as a spare!"

Ye Zhuo glanced at the shovel and nodded in agreement. He then turned to Shen Xun and nodded, "The tailgate is always locked, so there's no need to worry about anyone coming in from the back."

Shen Xun immediately turned to Ao Luya, his speech still fast and steady: "Ao Luya, have the white deer use its antlers to firmly hold this piece of armor against the side of the vehicle. With the white deer's strength, the assassins outside absolutely cannot pry it open or break through. You don't need to keep an eye on the gap; the animal hide has already blocked the view, so they can't see inside. You are on standby at all times, ready to provide support wherever needed."

Ao Luya immediately responded, folding the armor plates of the vehicle back inwards and pressing them tightly against the vehicle body. She then gave a low gesture to the white deer, which immediately stepped to the side of the vehicle, its thick antlers pressing against one end of the bear scale armor plate, firmly nailing it to the vehicle body, its hooves digging into the ice surface, remaining completely still.

A semi-circular armor plate, one end locked and fixed by the white deer's antlers, and the other end controlled by Shen Xun himself, was positioned at the front of the vehicle for defense. The animal hide firmly covered the top opening, forming a sealed barrier without any blind spots, completely eliminating the possibility of the assassin spying.

Shen Xun's gaze fell on Ye Zhuo, who had already set up his composite bow: "Ye Zhuo, when the assassin gets close, I will open a narrow gap just wide enough for one person to pass through sideways. Aim at the gap and shoot only at the arms and legs, just to disable their mobility, but absolutely do not kill them."

His voice was low and resolute: "As a guardian of reincarnation, from the moment I awakened the power of reincarnation, I cannot kill. Forcibly taking lives will inflict an immediate backlash from the mark of reincarnation. Even if I don't act, if they die within my perception range, my power of reincarnation will be greatly diminished. My perception is already disrupted; if I further weaken it, we will all die if we encounter evil spirits later. They are not evil spirits; they can only be subdued. Unless it's a matter of life and death, we must not harm them. If they dare to rush in, we'll trap them like turtles in a jar, one by one. Everyone, watch your heads! Although the animal hide has blocked the breach, the assassins might try every means to probe; be wary of sneak attacks!"

Without hesitation, everyone quickly took their positions: Old Gu, shield in hand, crawled into the vehicle, ready to fire at any moment; Ao Luya stood guard beside the white deer, her deer bone knife in hand; Ye Zhu knelt on one knee, his fingertips resting on the bowstring, his breathing steady, ready to shoot at any time.

Just then, Lin Jian's voice trembled slightly: "They're here! Four of them! They're rushing this way from the front of the car! Less than twenty meters away!"

Everyone tensed up instantly. Ye Zhuo's fingers tightened slightly, and his gaze was fixed on the front of the car.

In the snowstorm, four assassins dressed in black windbreakers were rapidly approaching, crossbows at their sides. Their footsteps were extremely light, yet their approach was incredibly fast.

Just then, Shen Xun called out softly, "Ye Zhuo!" and pulled open an opening wide enough for one person to pass through.

Four men in black rushed towards Ye Zhuo's line of sight. In an instant, an arrow was released from the bowstring, and a carbon fiber arrow pierced the calf of the foremost assassin. The assassin's body stiffened abruptly, and he rolled to the ground, gritting his teeth to make no sound. As he rolled, the crossbow slipped from his hand. Without pausing, he dragged his bloodied and mangled leg and dodged, his back pressed against the outer rear wheel of the 2045.

In a flash, several thoughts raced through his mind: he'd lost the crossbow; if he still had it, he could easily lie prone in this blind spot and find an opportunity to shoot these men through the ankles. But he knew even better that these men always acted independently, and no matter how well they usually cooperated, in a life-or-death situation, these comrades would never risk their lives for him. What worried him even more was that he had no line of sight and had no idea what was happening inside the safe zone.

The other three assassins were even faster, using the cover of the arrow to continue their charge. Just as Ye Zhuo nocked his second arrow, they disappeared from sight. They split up to search for a breakthrough.

"I can't see them anymore!" Lin Jian's voice tightened instantly.

Almost simultaneously, the soft sound of footsteps on snow spread around the vehicle. The previously concentrated footsteps split into three groups, and the three assassins moved in three directions, silently forming an encirclement around the safe zone surrounded by Xiong Linmu. Meanwhile, the assassin who had been shot and wounded had already silently moved to the middle window of vehicle 2045 and concealed himself under the cover of the rear wheels.

Four assassins were positioned around the vehicle and its armor plates, separated only by a layer of bear-scale armor plates and a car window. Even the sound of wind and snow seemed to be swallowed up by the deadly killing intent.

The assassins tried several times to reach out and touch the animal hide, attempting to peek through a crack, but dared not act rashly and alert the enemy.

Shen Xun gripped the leather straps of the armor plate and quickly closed the narrow gap that only allowed one person to pass sideways.

Just then, the eerie aura that was interfering with his senses suddenly intensified. The peach wood staff in Shen Xun's hand became slightly hot. The eerie coldness in this aura gave him a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had encountered it somewhere in hundreds of years of reincarnation, but the aura had shattered his senses, making it impossible for him to grasp its source.

Suddenly, a muffled crash was heard, and large cracks spread rapidly across the outer side window of the middle row. It was the wounded assassin outside the car who had taken out a dagger and smashed it against the window with the handle. He was injured in the leg and could not move easily, so he could only make noise to distract the driver.

Old Gu was prepared, holding his shield firmly against the inside of the glass, preventing it from shattering completely. Lin Jian gripped his hand axe, ready to attack.

The second heavy blow shattered the car window, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

At the very moment of shattering, Shen Xun's ears twitched. Besides the crisp sound of shattering glass in front of him, he heard another, softer, more distant cracking sound, like plastic being torn apart, coming from the direction of the pickup truck.

Before he could think it through, the killer who smashed the car window rolled to the rear wheel and hid there. The window there was a blind window, so the people inside the car couldn't see him.

At the same time, two loud stomping sounds came rapidly from the windbreak forest. The heavy and fast footsteps were from two assassins who had been lying in ambush behind the pickup truck and had shot the rear window. Seeing that the four had been surrounded, they rushed over to provide support.

Ye Zhuo's ears twitched. The fully drawn composite bow remained motionless. She could clearly hear a very light breathing sound coming from outside the armor plate, right in front of the car. She could even hear the subtle movements of the other person adjusting their breathing.

Immediately afterwards, a very slight metallic scraping sound came from behind, the sound of shoes stepping on the metal bumper of the front of the car, indicating that someone was quietly climbing onto the front of the car.

Shen Xun also noticed the movement and tightened his grip on the peach wood staff slightly.

Just then, a rearview mirror silently emerged from above the bear-scaled beast skin, its surface slowly turning towards the interior of the safe zone, attempting to spy on the defensive arrangements inside.

The assassin eventually found a way to deal with the situation, trying to use the rearview mirror to check the inside.

This subtle movement was precisely caught by Ye Zhuo's peripheral vision.

Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Zhuo released his fingertips abruptly, and the arrow, with a sharp sound that tore through the wind and snow, shot precisely towards the mirror!

The instant the arrow left the bowstring, a poisoned dagger, gleaming with a dark bluish-green luster, suddenly pierced through the gap in the armor plates controlled by Shen Xun. The blade wedged into the groove on the edge of the armor plate, attempting to pry open a gap with tremendous force! The assassin who had climbed onto the hood of the car no longer concealed himself, suddenly flipping over and leaping onto the roof with a heavy thud; while the assassin hidden under the blind window, also with an arrow lodged in his leg, used only one leg to propel himself up, enduring excruciating pain as he stepped on the tire and leaped up, gripping the edge of the roof rack tightly, and began to climb onto the roof!

Triple deadly threats erupted simultaneously, and this tiny safe zone instantly became a death trap surrounded by assassins!