Chapter 165: Escaping the Prison

"Ah! What are you doing?!"

The female assassin let out a sharp cry, desperately trying to push Jiang Chen off her. However, she found that the man weighed a ton, and despite using all her strength, she could not budge him.

"Not only are you Shen Yinglong's lackey, but you're also a brazen, lecherous scoundrel! Get off me at once!"

Propping himself up with one hand, Jiang Chen said with a solemn expression, "If it weren't for me, you'd be dead by now."

Just as the female assassin was about to fly into a rage, she caught a glimpse of the spot where she had been standing just moments before. It was now bristling with gleaming, razor-sharp feathered arrows. Had she not dodged in time, she would have been pierced into a honeycomb.

Realizing the truth in Jiang Chen's words, she understood that she had just been saved by the very "scoundrel" she had condemned.

Though her reflexes had been sluggish, failing to sense the danger coming from beyond the high wall, Jiang Chen's innate combat instincts and agile movements had allowed him to make the most timely and precise judgment in that split second.

Leaping from ten paces away, he had directly tackled the female assassin, tumbling across the ground a few times to narrowly escape the rain of dense arrows. A fraction of a second later, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Fresh blood trickled down Jiang Chen's left arm, causing the female assassin to freeze in shock.

"You... you're injured?"

Standing up, Jiang Chen ignored this trivial matter. Instead, he focused entirely on the movements outside the wall. With the volley of arrows ended, the enemy would surely charge in, and escaping now was their only chance.

"If you don't want to die, follow me."

His matter-of-fact tone was infuriating yet carried an unquestionable, commanding aura. Struggling back to her feet, the female assassin was about to voice her resentment when she abruptly heard the sound of a door being smashed open not far away.

"Bang!"

The enemy had finally broken through. Their orders were to kill every living person found within the prison. The one who gave such an order was, of course, Shen Yinglong, who had narrowly escaped Jiang Chen's clutches.

Now, it was time for his counterattack.

Having the absolute upper hand, yet being cornered to such a miserable extent by Jiang Chen, the habitually arrogant Shen Yinglong was eager to return the favor. He swore he would not let Jiang Chen escape Wangchuan City.

There had been eighty-seven Northern Yan prisoners of war in the prison, along with twelve guards. Now, all of them had become cold corpses, and this feat had been accomplished by a mere two people.

Upon hearing this news, the city garrison patrol troops were utterly shocked. Unable to fathom what had transpired here, they decided to first test the waters with a volley of arrows, planning to break down the door only after confirming it was safe.

Gazing upon the sea of corpses and the utter devastation, their last shred of doubt vanished. Everything was exactly as young master Shen had described: it was a bloody, one-sided massacre.

These Northern Yan people, regarded as fierce beasts by the people of the northern border, were scattered across the ground in heaps. Their fatal wounds were still oozing dark crimson blood, causing some of the soldiers to bend over and retake their meals.

"Quickly, surround the courtyard! Do not let a single person escape alive!"

They rapidly advanced deeper into the prison. However, Jiang Chen and the female assassin were no longer there. Before the troops arrived, they had already scaled the wall and escaped, far more easily than anticipated.

"Are you really not one of Shen Yinglong's lackeys?" the female assassin asked again.

Jiang Chen replied, "If I were, I wouldn't have saved you just now. I could have let you get shot by arrows and then gone to Shen Yinglong to claim credit. Wouldn't that have been much better?"

The female assassin fell silent.

It was true. Jiang Chen had no reason to save her. Risking his life to snatch her away from ten paces away was certainly not something Shen Yinglong's lapdogs would do.

Moreover, Jiang Chen had injured his left arm in the process. It would be entirely unjust of her to continue blaming him.

"What do we do now?"

Unwittingly, the female assassin had grown accustomed to seeking Jiang Chen's counsel. Given the sharpness, wisdom, and martial prowess he had just displayed, he was clearly the shrewder of the two.

"Since they didn't see your face, they naturally don't know your true identity. You only need to take off your veil and change into ordinary civilian clothes to vanish without a trace."

"The crowd is your best disguise. Head to crowded places, and you'll be safe."

"And you?" the female assassin asked.

Jiang Chen answered with utter confidence, "Naturally, I have my own ways. Let us part ways here. One more piece of advice: do not attempt to assassinate Shen Yinglong alone. There is no possibility of success."

"Are you looking down on me?"

"Indeed. You aren't even a qualified assassin, so how can you speak of assassination?"

"You..."

Jiang Chen's words were direct and merciless, but he intended to teach this ignorant and fearless young girl that such tasks were beyond her capabilities. He hoped she would actually take his words to heart.

Otherwise, her young life would inevitably end at Shen Yinglong's hands. After crossing paths with Shen Yinglong several times, Jiang Chen was deeply convinced of this outcome.

Shen Yinglong was a dangerous man surrounded by numerous experts. Within the city of Wangchuan, he reigned like an emperor. Trying to assassinate him was by no means a wise idea.

At that moment, Jiang Chen and the female assassin were hiding in the firewood room of an inn's backyard, waiting for the outside tension to subside before venturing out. However, another pressing issue needed to be addressed immediately.

"Is your arm injury alright?"

Perhaps to alleviate a prick of guilt in her own conscience, the female assassin deliberately asked this.

"It's just a graze from an arrow. Nothing to worry about."

"Who... who's worried about you? I just hope you don't collapse halfway somewhere and end up exposing me..."

Jiang Chen smiled helplessly. "I don't even know your name. What could I possibly expose?"

The female assassin paused, only then remembering that she had kept her face covered and her identity concealed. Even if Jiang Chen were captured by Shen Yinglong's thugs, what did she have to worry about?

Realizing this, the female assassin finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I wish you good luck. Though you look rather wretched and might get caught the moment you step outside, I still hope you manage to live a little longer."

With that, the female assassin pushed open the door and left ahead of him.

Jiang Chen inspected the wound on his left arm. He urgently needed some hemostatic medicine to tend to it, lest his pursuers pick up his scent and track him down.