Passerby: Secret Image of Ancient Scrolls

Ye Zhuo was panting heavily, her face already numb and devoid of feeling from the cold, but she dared not loosen her grip on the remote control for a moment.

Her gaze was fixed on 2045, suspended in mid-air. This taut steel cable was the lifeline of the two people inside the car. If she released the button even slightly, the winch tension would break down, and the car could plunge into the abyss at any moment.

The cold wind blew into her jacket through her collar, but she seemed completely unaware.

Ao Luya pressed his hands firmly against the front bumper, his palms able to clearly feel every subtle vibration and tremor of the car body.

The white deer still braced its neck against the front of the vehicle, its front hooves digging two deep snow pits in the frozen ground, occasionally letting out an uneasy low hiss.

Shen Xun's arms ached so much from supporting the several-ton vehicle that he could barely lift them; every muscle in his body was protesting the overload. He exhaled and regulated his breathing during a break in his exertion, but his expression suddenly changed.

A strange aura, carrying both madness and chill, suddenly surged forth amidst the wind and snow without warning.

No longer the faint mist that had appeared several times before, this time, an overwhelming frenzy and deathly silence instantly swept across the battlefield.

The chill seeped into one's bones along with the wind and snow, and even the howling wind seemed to be frozen by this aura. The air became thick and restless, and even the snowflakes that fell on one's body carried a chill that made one's heart tremble.

Shen Xun's pupils suddenly contracted, and in those eyes that held the weight of centuries of experience, the golden pupils flashed briefly in the wind and snow.

He turned his head sharply, his sharp gaze sweeping across the entire battlefield, his heart sinking: all the remaining enemies lying paralyzed in the snow were now completely enveloped by this eerie aura.

What happened next sent chills down everyone's spine, and even the biting cold wind seemed to freeze at that moment.

The first to make a sound was the assassin with his hands crippled, standing on the edge of the frozen river.

He was lying on the snow like a lump of mud, his hands hanging by his sides, blood still seeping from the ruptured tendons, unable to even move a finger.

But at that moment, he suddenly let out a roar that was not human. The voice was hoarse and violent, completely devoid of human emotion, and more like the howl of a wild beast on the verge of death.

Dragging his two limp, completely powerless arms, he frantically used the strength of his knees and waist to prop himself up from the snow. Even when he fell to the ground, he immediately crawled forward on his hands and feet, his eyes fixed on the direction of the suspended vehicle, like a hungry wolf that had smelled blood.

Immediately afterwards, another assassin, who had been lying on the snow with his neck crooked, had his entire arm hanging down at an angle completely contrary to human anatomy. A normal person would faint from pain just from moving, let alone getting up.

At this moment, he also made a strange hoarse sound, his neck twisted into an arc that no normal person could possibly do, his dislocated arm swayed back and forth with his movements, and you could even hear the fine cracking sound of bones grinding together, but he seemed to feel no pain at all, and he frantically scrambled up from the snow, staggering and stumbling, and charged towards the crowd.

Almost at the same time, the two assassins on the slope who had been knocked unconscious by Shen Xun also suddenly opened their eyes.

The assassin, who was holding a gun, had just been struck by Shen Xun's precise hand chop. Under normal circumstances, he would never have woken up at this moment, but he suddenly sat up from the snow.

He frantically rummaged through the snow around him, screaming for his pistol, but his fingers only scooped up handfuls of cold snow. The gun had been taken by Shen Xun the moment he was knocked unconscious. The rage at not finding his weapon intensified the crimson in his eyes. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the throbbing pain in his neck, and charged towards Shen Xun.

On the other side, the crossbow-wielding assassin who had come down from the roof of the car had a swollen ankle from a sprain, and with the arrow wound in his leg from being shot by Ye Zhuo earlier, a normal person couldn't even stand up, let alone run.

But at this moment, he forcefully used his injured leg to support his body and stood up, completely ignoring the excruciating pain of the dislocated bone in his ankle. He staggered and grabbed the crossbow from the snow, completing the nocking of the arrow with one hand. His movements were so fast that he didn't seem like someone who was seriously injured.

In just a few seconds, all the assassins who had been completely subdued were "resurrected".

Their eyes were filled with bulging, scarlet blood vessels, their pupils were completely dilated, and all that remained was irrational madness and a bloodthirsty obsession.

The calmness, restraint, and precision he had as a professional assassin were shattered by this eerie aura, leaving only the most primal violence and the instinct to perish together with others.

He kept making strange hoarse noises from his throat, completely ignoring his fatal injuries, dislocated and deformed bones, and even the wounds where broken bones pierced his flesh and blood soaked his clothes. Driven only by a mad obsession, he charged wildly from the bottom of the slope toward the suspended vehicle.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The sound of crossbow bolts piercing the air rang out one after another, shattering into pieces in the wind and snow.

The crossbow-wielding assassin at the forefront ran wildly, frantically pulling the trigger. One bolt after another shot through the air, but the accuracy was completely gone. Some bolts veered off course and landed several meters away in the snow, while others crashed against the rock face, sending up shards of rock. It was all a chaotic and haphazard shooting.

At the same time, their speed and strength increased dramatically. The crossbow-wielding assassin, who had sprained his ankle, was now running faster than he had in his prime. His injured leg kicked into the snow, leaving deep dents with each step, and he covered more than ten meters in just a few strides.

"They've gone mad!" Ye Zhuo's expression changed drastically, his heart feeling as if it were being gripped tightly by an icy hand.

But she dared not move her right hand, which was gripping the remote control. Her thumb and forefinger pressed firmly on the tightening button to maintain a constant pull on the winch, while she yelled into the car, "Old Gu! Slowly press the accelerator and drive uphill! Don't press it hard! Keep the steering steady! Coordinate with the winch's pull!"

As she roared, she swiftly drew the composite bow from her back with her left hand, her fingertips smoothly pulling carbon fiber arrows from the quiver and placing them on the bow rest. With only her middle, ring, and little fingers remaining, she precisely hooked the bowstring and drew it taut.

Her right hand was incredibly steady. She had to hold the remote control to keep the people in the car safe, and she also had to use her remaining three fingers to hold the bowstring. Years of special training had ingrained muscle memory into her bones, and at this moment, she brought it to its fullest potential.

She bent low, squinted one eye, and locked her gaze on the assassin with crippled hands who was the first to rush across the frozen riverbank. With a flick of her finger, the arrow whistled through the air.

The arrow pierced the assassin's thigh with pinpoint accuracy, but the assassin only staggered slightly without pausing, continuing to roar and charge forward as if the arrow had pierced his flesh, but rather a trivial blade of grass.

Ye Zhuo's heart sank. She gritted her teeth and nocked another arrow. This time, she aimed for the opponent's knee.

Ao Luya gripped her deer bone knife and shield, took a step to the side, and stood firmly between the chariot and the charging assassins, protecting the frightened white deer behind her.

The heavy shield blocked several stray crossbow bolts, the arrowheads striking the shield with dull thuds. Her eyes were fixed on the figure charging towards her, her legs spread apart in a firm stance, ready to take the hit head-on. No matter how frenzied the enemy was, she would stop them immediately.

The moment the assassin stood up, Shen Xun stepped forward half a step, blocking the assassin on the slope and protecting Xuan Che, Ye Zhuo, and Ao Luya behind him.

His eyes were as cold as knives, and his grip on the peach wood staff tightened slightly.

He had figured out the strangeness of this aura. It completely disrupted the assassins' minds, shattered all reason, pain, and fear, and forcibly stimulated their physical potential, even at the cost of overdrawing their lives and breaking their bones. It turned well-trained professional assassins into mad beasts who only knew how to charge and kill and were not afraid of death.

Almost the instant he stood still, the first assassin who had been charging at him, who had originally been armed, was already in front of him.

This assassin was a master of close combat. Now, devoid of pain and fear, he unleashed ruthless attacks aimed at mutual destruction, making no attempt to defend himself. He raised his hand and grabbed at Shen Xun's throat, completely unconcerned that his chest was exposed to Shen Xun's attack range.

Shen Xun twisted his wrist, using his peach wood staff to block the attack. The staff slammed into the assassin's forearm with a sharp crack, and the assassin's forearm bone broke.

To Shen Xun's slight surprise, the other party seemed completely oblivious to the excruciating pain of the broken bone. The broken forearm was bent at an odd angle as the other party lunged forward recklessly, while the other hand viciously grabbed at the wound on Shen Xun's palm, the moves reaching the extreme of madness.

Immediately following, the crossbow-wielding assassin on the slope threw away his empty crossbow and charged forward with a roar. He had a leg injury, but he used the momentum of his charge to leap high into the air and smash his elbow hard into the back of Shen Xun's head, completely disregarding the fact that he would be exposed to the attack range after landing.

Attacking from both sides, every move was a desperate gamble.

Shen Xun shifted his feet, using his centuries-old honed lightness skill to dodge sideways like a ghost. At the same time, he pressed his peach wood staff down, precisely striking the leaping assassin's knee.

Another cracking sound of bone breaking echoed as the assassin fell heavily onto the snow. But as if nothing had happened, he immediately braced himself with his hands, and even with his knees bent backward, he still frantically reached out to grab Shen Xun's ankle, his eyes almost overflowing with bloodlust.

Shen Xun's heart sank.

Previously, he could have subdued these two assassins within five seconds.

But now, they completely ignore the pain and the limits of their bodies. Even with broken bones, they can still attack. Even with their limbs crippled, they will use their teeth and bodies to pounce and kill. There is no possibility of "subduing" them.

Not to mention that he had exhausted a lot of energy climbing and carrying the car body, and the wounds on his palms and the old injuries on his wrists also limited his strength. Facing two crazy beasts who were not afraid of death or pain and whose strength and speed had increased dramatically, he was unable to win easily for a while, and was even entangled and unable to break free.

He can't retreat.

Behind him was the suspended vehicle, and Ye Zhuo and Ao Luya. Once he stepped back, these two crazed assassins would rush straight for the winch and the vehicle, and the already precarious rescue would instantly fail.

He could only tough it out, fighting fiercely in the limited space, trying to block the two men's frenzied attacks while preventing the remaining enemies from other directions from breaking through his defenses.

Just as the battle ahead reached its climax, the life-or-death struggle inside the car also reached its most critical moment.