When a "Sea King" is Bound to a System [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 16

“What are you doing?”

Jiang Zhen asked faintly. Her slightly cold voice, paired with her pale face, would have made her perfect for a horror movie.

Jiang Yan calmed herself down and forced a smile: “Elder Sister, why are you awake?”

‘Weren’t you hit by sleeping smoke? Could you be immune to it, too, just like me?’

Jiang Zhen took a step forward, her eyes staring intently at Jiang Yan. In the dim light, it was a little unnerving.

Jiang Yan couldn’t help but feel guilty and took two steps back.

“Elder Sister, why aren’t you saying anything?”

Jiang Zhen didn’t answer. She walked to the table, poured a cup of water, and drank it casually.

Jiang Yan felt that she had most likely been exposed. She obediently got back into bed and settled in.

Jiang Zhen lifted the blanket and got into bed. After a short while, the sound of her even breathing came.

Jiang Yan opened her eyes and looked at her, then closed her eyes again.

She had a dreamless night. The next day, the snow finally stopped.

The temperature was even colder, and the sky was gloomy, as if a raging storm was about to break out at any moment.

Although Jiang Yan wanted to figure out who “they” were, time was of the essence. They had to get to Jingcheng before tonight.

When the two sisters left the inn, several malicious gazes fell upon them.

Jiang Yan acted as if she hadn’t noticed, but she remembered their faces.

‘These people might have been sent by them. I can slowly investigate later when I have time.’

Jiang Zhen still drove the carriage at high speed. They arrived at the outskirts of Jingcheng around 5 PM.

The closer they got, the more shocking the sights became.

There were starved people everywhere and corpses lying all over the fields.

There were refugees everywhere. In the freezing cold, they were wearing tattered clothes, and their bodies were covered with cracked wounds.

The children were crying from hunger. The adults, helpless, could only cut their own hands and feed their blood to their children, but this method couldn’t last long in such a desperate situation.

Jiang Yan was grabbed by a haggard old woman. She looked back and saw a baby still in her arms. The baby was sleeping, and there were dried bloodstains on its mouth.

“Young lady, please have mercy and save this poor child.”

Jiang Yan frowned. She took out a piece of dry food from her bag. Just as she was about to hand it to the old woman, her hand was grabbed by Jiang Zhen.

“Look around. How many people are eyeing you with malicious intent?”

Jiang Yan looked around and saw the refugees, their eyes green with hunger, staring at her intensely, as if they wanted to tear her apart and eat her.

She looked at the old woman again. The woman’s eyes were filled with pleading, and the baby in her arms started to cry at that moment.

All the sounds mixed together, giving Jiang Yan a headache.

She thought for a moment and then cruelly shook off the old woman’s hand, walking forward without looking back.

The two of them changed into ordinary clothes and smeared mud on their faces, making them look no different from the citizens of the city. The guards at the city gate probably saw that they were unarmed and posed no threat, so they let them into the city without much questioning.

Jiang Zhen led Jiang Yan all the way west to a desolate place.

According to the information she had received, her father had fought the enemy army here and had fallen into a trap.

What was strange was that since the Kingdom of Xia had already taken Jingcheng, a key strategic location, why didn’t their army continue to advance? Instead, they were stationed here, and the city gates were wide open.

This didn’t look like they wanted to start a war with the Kingdom of Yu. It seemed to be deliberately targeting her father.

She was deep in thought and didn’t notice that the little tail behind her had been left far behind.

She had seen too much snow during the day. At night, she couldn’t see anything. Jiang Yan called out “Elder Sister” twice, but there was no response.

‘Oh, great. We’ve been separated.’

She sighed and walked forward based on her sixth sense, only to trip over something.

She reached out and felt a person’s face. It was hard. She didn’t know if they were dead or not.

Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and she saw the person in front of her in the faint light.

Jiang Chengsha, her father.

It had been at least five days since the battle report was sent and they arrived here.

In such a harsh environment, he still had signs of life.

Jiang Yan: ‘Is this even logical?’

Regardless of whether it was logical or not, the priority was to save him.

She rubbed her father’s limbs with snow and draped her outer coat over him. After a while, Jiang Chengsha finally took a breath.

He coughed twice and spat out a pool of blood, then fell unconscious again.

Jiang Yan looked at her strong father and gave up on the idea of carrying him back. She obediently squatted there and waited for Jiang Zhen.

She knew Jiang Zhen would come back to look for her when she realized she was missing.

Sure enough, a quarter of an hour later, Jiang Zhen’s figure appeared in her line of sight.

She put on a frightened expression and called out “Elder Sister” in a weak voice.

Jiang Zhen immediately hurried over. When she got close and saw that Jiang Chengsha was also there, a rare look of excitement appeared on her face.

She squatted down and felt Jiang Chengsha’s carotid artery with two fingers. Then her body relaxed.

“We can’t stay here for long, or if we get caught in a storm, the snow will bury us.”

After saying that, Jiang Zhen lifted Jiang Chengsha up. Although she was a martial arts practitioner, she was slender, and carrying a grown man was a struggle.

Jiang Yan instinctively put Jiang Chengsha’s other arm on her shoulder, helping Jiang Zhen carry his weight.

The two of them took much longer to return than they had on their way there. It was already late at night when they returned to the dilapidated house with holes in the walls.

Jiang Chengsha had not regained consciousness, but his breathing was much more stable and smooth.

Before they left, Jiang Zhen had brought medicine for wounds, both for internal use and external application.

The two sisters took turns diligently caring for Jiang Chengsha every day. He finally woke up on the third day.

When he saw his two daughters, he was stunned for a moment, and then he asked in surprise, “Zhen’er, Yan’er, why are you here?!”

Jiang Yan briefly explained the situation to him. After listening, Jiang Chengsha also talked about what had happened to him.

It was exactly as Jiang Zhen had suspected. He had been misled by his second-in-command and had fallen into the trap.

“Father, that second-in-command is probably untraceable now. When we return to the capital, His Majesty will surely blame you. You must be mentally prepared.” Jiang Zhen said calmly.

Jiang Chengsha was silent for a moment, his voice full of sorrow: “It’s my fault for misjudging people. All the blame should be on me.”

‘Our army lost a hundred thousand men. It was all due to my poor strategy. Even if His Majesty wants to kill me, I have no complaints.’

‘It’s just that my children and Yuan Feng will suffer.’

He looked at Jiang Zhen and Jiang Yan, his face filled with guilt. “Children, I have failed you.”

“Father, let’s not talk like that. You haven’t failed anyone. The ones who should be apologizing are the people who colluded with the Kingdom of Xia to frame you.”

Jiang Yan said it in a casual tone, but there was a hint of ruthlessness in her eyes. Jiang Chengsha was stunned for a moment before he said, “Yan’er has grown up.”

The father and daughters stayed in Jingcheng for seven days. After Jiang Chengsha’s injuries had mostly healed, they planned to return.

However, how to get past the city guards was a big problem.

When they came, there were only two of them, so they didn’t attract any attention. Now, with a grown man in his prime, they definitely couldn’t get out.

After Jingcheng fell, all the young men in the city were taken as conscripts, leaving only the old, the weak, women, and children. If a grown man were to leave, it would be obvious that they were up to something.

They were worried about this the night before, but the next morning, they received news that the Kingdom of Yu and the Kingdom of Xia were fighting again. There was chaos in the city, which was the perfect opportunity to escape.

Jiang Chengsha, as a good general who loved his country and people, swore to die with the soldiers of the Kingdom of Yu. No matter how much his two daughters tried to persuade him, it was no use.

Jiang Zhen immediately took out her short sword, her expression resolute: “Since Father insists on staying, then your daughter will stay with you, to fight for the Kingdom of Yu with all my might.”

“You’re a young lady. How can you stay in a place like this? You must leave with your sister at once!” Jiang Chengsha took them to the city gate and then went to join the army of the Kingdom of Yu.

But Jiang Zhen had made up her mind and insisted on staying no matter what.

Under normal circumstances, Jiang Yan should have persuaded her to go back, but this was a plot point, and she could only go along with it.

Jiang Zhen saw Jiang Yan out of the city. No one broke the silence. Only the wails of the people on the side of the road could be heard.

This time, Jiang Yan gave her food to the dying refugees without any hesitation, leaving none for herself.

Jiang Zhen looked at her, her eyes filled with a complex emotion. She only said “foolish” in a soft voice.

“Will you be okay by yourself?” Jiang Zhen patted the horse’s backside. Seven days had passed, and the horse, having survived on dry grass, was still full of spirit. It truly lived up to its name as a “blood-sweating noble steed” that cost ten taels of silver a day.

Jiang Yan sighed and hugged Jiang Zhen. Her voice was choked with sobs: “Elder Sister, you must take care of yourself. I will pray for you every day.”

Jiang Zhen hugged her back. It was the first time she had hugged Jiang Yan.

“Be careful on your way.”

She only said that before pushing Jiang Yan away and helping her into the carriage.

Jiang Yan looked at the smoke-filled city behind her, cracked the whip, and gradually rode away.

Only when the shadow of the carriage was completely gone did Jiang Zhen look away. She walked back step by step, with a look of determination and resolve.

Jiang Yan arrived in Jiucheng in the evening. There were more eyes watching her than before, but for some reason, they only stared and didn’t make a move. Jiang Yan waited all night in vain. The next day, she started her journey with two big dark circles under her eyes, and she fell asleep while walking.

[Host, wake up. You have a tail behind you.]

Hearing Oscar’s voice, Jiang Yan immediately woke up. She looked at the few people following her not too far behind and curled her lips into a sarcastic smile.

‘Following me on horseback? Isn’t that a bit too obvious?’

She wasn’t in a hurry and continued to walk at a leisurely pace. At night, she slept directly in the carriage, waiting for them to come to her.

The first half of the night was calm, and the second half was uneventful.

Jiang Yan was confused.

‘Are these people planning to follow me all the way back to the capital?’

She drove the carriage again. When she passed by Li Erping’s house, she specifically stopped for a moment.

She heard Li Erping calling his wife in the courtyard and smiled.

She entered the capital without any trouble. The people who had been following her magically disappeared.

She was planning to sneak back through the back door but was caught red-handed by her mother.

Yuan Feng’s eyes were red, and she pulled Jiang Yan into her arms.

“You brat, how dare you go to a place like that? If anything happened to you, how could I live?”

Jiang Yan patted her back, comforting her like a child. “Mother, please don’t cry. Didn’t I come back safely?”

Tears hung in Yuan Feng’s eyes, and her face was haggard. It seemed she had been worrying about them a lot these past few days.

“Why are you alone? Where is that wretched Jiang Zhen? Is she hiding because she’s afraid I’ll punish her? How dare she abduct you to such a dangerous place? Just you wait. I’ll deal with her!”

Jiang Yan felt a pang of sadness and explained: “Mother, I was the one who took Elder Sister there. She protected me the whole way. She didn’t come back. She stayed in Jingcheng and said she wanted to fight alongside Father.”

Yuan Feng’s expression froze for a moment. After a long while, she said, “She’s a young lady. How can she stay in a place like that? Isn’t that just absurd?”