The system is too rubbish, Xiao Jin feels really upset about it.
But then she realized that the system had asked her to do a side quest before, but Princess Zhao Yang was not even in the palace, so it didn't meet the prerequisite for doing the task.
This shows that some things have suddenly changed, and the system cannot predict everything.
So, all she has is...
A counterfeit system that can detect the level of danger.
The system knows that Xiao Jin is unhappy with it, so it says friendly, 'Although the sudden task is difficult, the host will triple the amount of life span obtained, and if the task is completed, there will be additional rewards.'
That's so good?
Xiao Jin was a little surprised. In fact, she always approached things with a gambler's mentality. The so-called fortune favors the brave, and you have to take risks to win. This is her life motto.
She looked at Chu Shao standing beside her and noticed that her smile was as usual. She also remembered that because of the author's setting, the female lead's martial arts value was not high in the original work, so Chu Shao should not pose any threat to her.
Therefore, she guessed that the sudden situation probably came from other factors.
As for what the threat was, Xiao Jin didn't know at the moment.
Although she did not bring any attendants into the palace, the twelve guards of the Wangfu and a carriage were still waiting outside.
The guards under the original owner were all drawn from the Shenji Camp, brave and skilled, all of them elite soldiers.
But Xiao Jin was curious. With this kind of configuration, what else could go wrong?
So she turned her head slightly and asked the coachman, "How long did it take to drive from the Prince Yan's Mansion to the palace earlier?"
Although the coachman was confused, he still answered truthfully, "In reply to Young Master, it took about half an hour."
Half an hour is one hour.
According to this calculation, the midpoint they passed through on their way back to the mansion should be Zhuque Street."
After a moment of contemplation, Xiao Jin had made up her mind and nodded, saying, "I understand."
...
Due to Xiao Jin's leg illness, the carriage driver was not driving very fast, in fact, slower than usual.
Xiao Jin and Chu Shao sat in the carriage. Xiao Jin was calculating the time in her mind, while Chu Shao was observing Xiao Jin persistently.
To be precise, Chu Shao was observing Xiao Jin's bones.
From her fingers to her neck, then from her chin to her nose bridge, her gaze was almost imperceptible. She smiled gently on her face but couldn't figure it out in her heart.
Men's bones are usually much thicker and heavier than women's, but Xiao Jin's body is slender and her bones are delicate, which doesn't seem to be caused by illness, but rather natural.
After watching for a while, Chu Shao also noticed that Xiao Jin's shoes were not big, and her ankles should also be soft and petite.
No matter how she looked at it, she felt strange. But the strangest thing was that she couldn't figure out what was strange about Xiao Jin for a while.
This was the most interesting thing.
On the other side, Xiao Jin was brainstorming, counting down the time silently.
When there were only ten minutes left before the sudden task, she came to her senses and turned her head, meeting Chu Shao's gaze.
"..."
Admittedly, Chu Shao's face was beautiful, her eyes gentle and clear, and even her expression couldn't pick out any faults.
But Xiao Jin inexplicably felt horrified.
At the last moment, Xiao Jin had an intuition that she couldn't share a carriage with Chu Shao. So she lifted the curtain and shouted to the carriage driver, "Stop the carriage."
After the carriage driver stopped, he looked at Xiao Jin's indifferent expression and thought he had unintentionally offended this young master.
He got off the horse tremblingly, ready to kneel and beg for forgiveness. But unexpectedly, the other party coughed twice and asked, "This place should be Fuqu Street. If you want to go to Shenji Camp, how long will it take to ride a fast horse?"
The coachman was first stunned, then answered, "In response to young master, it will take about the time to brew a pot of tea."
With years of experience reading novels, Xiao Jin vaguely remembered that the time to brew a pot of tea was probably about ten minutes.
If a sudden situation occurred ten minutes later, the system's prediction must have also factored in the distance traveled by the carriage.
This means that the location of the event should be on Zhuque Street.
So Xiao Jin planned to do the opposite and have the coachman take the Yanwang's token to Shenji Camp to mobilize a hundred or so cavalry, while she stayed on Fuqu Street and did not move.
This way, if there was no unexpected situation, she would only lose a little, but she could save her life.
If there was an unexpected situation, the coachman would only need ten minutes to reach Shenji Camp, plus the time to return, for a total of twenty minutes.
As long as she could delay for ten minutes, then she would come out ahead.
Thinking of this, Xiao Jin let Chu Shao and the attendants help her off the carriage.
She sat in a wheelchair, handed the token to the coachman, and briefly explained her request to him.
Before leaving, she reminded him, "Remember, be as fast as you can, and I only want the cavalry from Shenji Camp."
When he received the token, the coachman's hand was trembling.
But when he rode the horse, his expression became very serious, and he said firmly, "Your highness, please rest assured that I will not disappoint your trust and will definitely bring back the elite troops!"
"..."
Xiao Jin was a little embarrassed. Big brother, don't say that, this sounds like you're setting a flag before going to war.
Chu Shao stood beside Xiao Jin. Although she didn't understand what Xiao Jin was doing, when she helped this person off the carriage just now, she could clearly feel that the other person's weight was very light.
Especially when their clothes were touching, she found that Xiao Jin's body was surprisingly soft, like that of a woman.
But every time she thought about it, she couldn't figure it out.
Looking at Xiao Jin's slightly pursed lips, Chu Shao furrowed her brows. She had never been so curious about anything in her life, but she still couldn't solve the puzzle.
At this moment, Xiao Jin didn't even care that there was a yandere standing beside her.
Considering the upcoming risks, she had already taken out a bow and arrow and a sword from the carriage.
She picked up the sword and tried it out casually. She felt that the original owner's swordsmanship should be quite good, even though the body was weak, the sword moves were still decent.
After trying it out, Xiao Jin sheathed the sword, but suddenly felt some doubts: not to mention why the original owner had to dress up as a man. Even if she disguised herself as a man, her martial arts skills were too good. It looked like she had been practicing for many years.
But why did the original owner have to go to such an extent?
Although she was confused, the urgent matter was still to solve the sudden situation.
Xiao Jin looked at the bewildered Wangfu guards and felt that these brothers had at least fought for her in the fight for the marriage.
So she coughed twice and said to them, "If something unexpected happens later, just try your best to protect yourselves. You don't have to risk your lives for me."
Certainly, Xiao Jin believed that her life was the most important. But this time she was gambling, so she naturally had to bear all the consequences herself and didn't want to involve others.
She believed that if there was one less Xiao Jin here, there would still be another Xiao Jin in the world of the book, and the world would still continue to operate.
Although these guards were just paper people, they were also innocent, and there was no need to explain everything to them here. If a major disaster was about to happen, they should escape if they could, and disperse if they had to.
The guards were stunned and seemed to not understand Xiao Jin's meaning.
Xiao Jin looked at them mysteriously and decided to be a boss for once, so she lowered her voice and said, "This is my order."
After saying this, the corners of her mouth twitched slightly, almost losing control of her facial expression.
Indeed, not everyone could be a boss. These awkward words were not something that everyone could say.
However, in this dog-blooded ancient world, although the guards didn't understand, such bossy words seemed to intimidate them.
So they responded with clasped fists, "Yes!"
Xiao Jin nodded in satisfaction. But as she lifted her head, she met Chu Shao's slightly puzzled gaze.
She looked at Chu Shao and thought that the female lead already had a serious illness, so there was no need to explain such things to her. She would figure it out herself when the time came.
Seeing the fading smile on Chu Shao's face, Xiao Jin knew that the female lead did not understand her arrangement.
But the secrets of heaven cannot be revealed, and she could not explain much.
The scene fell silent for a while.
However, Xiao Jin did not expect that the silence would be broken by a Yanling arrow.
"Swoosh-"
The sound of the feathered arrow piercing through the air was very clear, and the arrowhead aimed at Xiao Jin's face, expanding infinitely in her sight.
Xiao Jin instinctively drew her sword, trying to intercept the arrow.
But what surprised her even more was that Chu Shao's movements were even faster than hers.
Almost in an instant, Chu Shao forcibly turned the wheelchair in a strange posture.
In the end, the arrow was pinned to the edge of the wheelchair.
Xiao Jin looked at the sawdust falling to the ground, and before she could be shocked by Chu Shao's martial arts, another flying arrow was shot out from the grass.
Then she realized that the so-called "emergency situation" of the system was actually a timed bomb, which was probably not planted in Zhuque Street in advance.
Instead, it was lurking in the dark, following her every step.
Ignoring the situation analysis, the twelve guards of the Wangfu had already drawn their swords and shouted, "Assassin! Protect the prince!"
Xiao Jin: "..."
She felt that this sentence sounded familiar. She even began to suspect that the mastermind behind this was the Fourth Prince.
Just as the guards rushed towards the bushes, Xiao Jin raised her sword and cut down several feather arrows.
Fuqu Street was located in a remote and desolate area, where few people ever ventured.
Moreover, it was already late, making it a good time to commit murder. However, Xiao Jin did not expect that there would be so many people lurking in the dark.
In just a blink of an eye, twenty to thirty black-clad men appeared. Although their faces were unclear, it was obvious that their martial arts skills were high, and their intelligence was also remarkable.
They were not interested in entangling with the guards, but only injured them before heading straight for Xiao Jin's wheelchair, intending to kill her.
Xiao Jin had only three guards by her side, and she herself was seriously ill and unable to move her legs. If she used her sword, it would be difficult for her to show her true abilities.
At the critical moment of life and death, she chose to take up her bow and arrows, the weapon her original owner was most proficient in.
The arrows flew like shooting stars, and all three of them hit the black-clad men who were wielding swords.
Unfortunately, the black-clad men were not ordinary people. They seemed to be well-trained masters. Even though the arrows were as unstoppable as a landslide, only one person died.
The remaining ten or so black-clad men wielded long swords, and they seemed to be using some kind of footwork, surrounding Xiao Jin's wheelchair in an instant.
The clashing of weapons was extremely piercing to the ears. Xiao Jin drew her sword, and received one of the black-clad men's swords, looking directly into his eyes.
She was somewhat surprised because the other person avoided her gaze. Moreover, the next sword was not very sharp, as if not putting forth full effort.
With the skills of these mysterious people, killing the original owner who was unable to move would not be difficult.
So there was only one possibility-- the mastermind behind it did not want her life, but had another goal.
Xiao Jin realized this and was about to ask the three guards by her side not to act, but just as she turned her head, blood splattered, blurring her vision.
The guard's head rolled to her feet. The face was still young, belonging to a small soldier from the royal palace.
Immediately afterwards, the other two guards also fell to the ground, and their blood soaked into the mud.
Xiao Jin felt nauseous and cold all over, unable to tell whether it was sorrow or fear.
The black-clad men, however, did not react at all and only struck at her with their second sword.
As Xiao Jin was still recovering, she couldn't avoid being cut on the arm when she raised her sword to block the attack.
The blade sliced through her skin and flesh, causing Xiao Jin to groan in pain.
As she raised her sword to block the third attack, she gritted her teeth and endured the pressure of the blade while calling out to Chu Shao who was standing by and watching: "Princess, don't forget, you have a covenant with me."
She knew Chu Shao was insane and had no obligation to save her, but just watching from the sidelines was chilling.
Chu Shao's lips still carried a smile, and after seeing the blood on the ground, she was somewhat fascinated.
For a moment, she forgot that she had a covenant with Xiao Jin.
Seeing the injuries on Xiao Jin's body and the blood soaking into her clothes, Chu Shao's smile grew deeper.
She hadn't been this happy in a long time, so she decided to properly repay those men in black.
Xiao Jin knew that the men in black wouldn't kill her, they just didn't want to see any more of their own guards die, which was why they reminded Chu Shao.
She had already lost hope for Chu Shao, who was still indifferent and standing in place.
The next moment, however, she felt a cool hand covering hers.
The hand was as slender as a newly sprouted spring branch, gently prying apart her fingers before grasping the sword handle.
Like the first harmonics plucked by a musician, the clash of the silver swords was undoubtedly elegant.
With black hair flowing, brushing past Xiao Jin's eyes, she widened them.
Chu Shao's white clothing was as pure as snow atop a mountain peak, her lips curved in a soft smile as she skillfully weaved between the men in black, wielding her sword with ease.
Her sword strikes were light, the tip of the blade slicing through the enemies' necks, leaving behind only a deep red line. As if dancing to a rhythm, she enjoyed the fine blood droplets emerging from their throats.
The drops of blood fell like pearls on a plate, splattering onto Chu Shao's hand, warm enough to make her hands tremble, and her sword strikes became even more fierce and swift.
Until Chu Shao's excitement reached its peak, she decisively cut open the throat of the black-clothed man, watching him struggle and writhe on the ground before he died with his eyes wide open.
She felt that she was too merciful, allowing these people to escape and enter the land of the forgotten river.
Living is inevitably painful, and death will lead them to paradise.
This was her gift to them.
"As for you..."
Chu Shao smiled as she looked at the man lying on the ground, wailing in pain. She knew that this person was the one who had just wounded Xiao Jin, and he was also the person who pleased her the most.
So she had only cut off his hands earlier, hoping to let him live a little longer.
"You make me the happiest, so I won't treat you badly. I'll let you die slowly, and someone will help guide you along the way."
Chu Shao squatted down, looking at the pale face covered in blood, gently whispering, "Tell me, am I not the best to you?"
~~~~~~~~~
The translator has something to say: Your the best Chu Shao!, Protect your wife!.
TO BE CONTINUE...