Signs in the Sky

Once she heard his command, Yu Feng sprint onto the dark road towards her destination. In a blink of an eye, her small figure disappeared into the darkness.

Qin Zhi Hao's eyes narrowed as he stared into the darkness. No one dared to guess what was in his mind right now.

Beside him, a small group of soldiers stood still, waiting for the next order. When Yu Feng had started to run, a few of them had run along with her to ensure that she will not escape during this test.

At this time, everyone at the scene was waiting for a signal to come.

After five seconds have passed, Qin Zhi Hao finally turned around to his brother. "Let's go up on the watchtower."

Qin Zhi Chen's eyes glistened with excitement. He nodded and quickly followed after his brother to head over the watchtower.

The watchtower was just beside the starting point. It was a building made of wood and was twenty meters high. It was enough for just five people to stand on top and watch over the north part of the city.

At the center of it, a big mirror was covered with a cloth and a fire lightened up. This was an instrument that they would use to send a message to the other tower.

When both princes reached the top of the tower, the two soldiers who stood on guard began to salute them before they moved aside to let the princes forward.

Qin Zhi Hao stood with both hands behind his back at the large window and from his location, he was able to see the night view of the city. He glanced at the incense stick that had started to burn the moment Xiao Feng had run.

It has been a while and they were waiting for the first signal from the other location.

"Has we received the first signal?" Qin Zhi Hao asked without turning to look at the soldiers.

"Not yet, My Lord," one of the soldiers replied.

Just then, a white puff appeared on the night sky, signaling the others of the runner's location.

"He has passed the first checkpoint," Qin Zhi Chen spoke with excitement. He spread the handheld fan and chuckled. "I thought she was going to arrive sooner than this," he mumbled. "Or did I have too much expectation on this boy?"

Qin Zhi Hao's eyes narrowed as he overheard his brother's mumbling.

He had seen how this frail boy ran in the city market for weeks from the watchtower in the center of the city and was well aware of his speed. Qin Zhi Hao too thought that Xiao Feng's speed this time was a bit too slow.

In the dark, Qin Zhi Hao's eyes narrowed slightly.

If this boy dared to mess up with this test, he was going to do something to punish him.

Meanwhile, Yu Feng, who was sprinting towards the bureau suddenly decreased her speed. Her head tilted up the night sky and her eyes widened as she saw white puff disintegrating.

A thought crossed her mind and she started to mutter a few lines of cursing words.

Yu Feng has been wondering how did those people had captured her.

Whenever she was running away from the authorities, Yu Feng would make sure that she will always use a different path to escape them. No matter what, the authorities would not be able to track her by studying her routes.

This thing has been bothering her for a while and now, Yu Feng had some suspicion at how those men would know her whereabouts this morning.

Her head turned towards the direction where the tallest tower in the city market stood and her eyes narrowed dangerously. As this suspicion came to her mind, Yu Feng picked up her speed and decided to run towards the bureau using the road that that scary man had pointed towards her on the map.

Sure enough. Not long after, Yu Feng's ears picked up the sound of a small pop in the sky. She lifted her head and saw the white puff.

Knowing that her suspicion might be correct, Yu Feng let out a laugh. The amused expression on her face quickly disappeared and Yu Feng clenched her teeth as she controlled her breathing with her running. "Those bastards!" The words seeped out through her breathing.

Yu Feng was always aware of the existence of the watchtower. Because the city was located near the Dai River where merchants would stop by, she had always thought that the watchtower was used for the soldiers to scout for the activities on the river. She had thought that it was used to monitor those ships that passed through the kingdom and for the military to scout for a sign of an incoming attack.

She had never thought that the watchtower would be used to monitor her movement. She was just a small thief who stole some bread to survive. Why would they keep their eyes on her?

Now that she knew how those men had tracked her down, Yu Feng knew that at this time, it would be impossible for her to escape. If those men were keeping their eyes on her with this method they might find out where she lives and sooner or later, she might no longer have a place to live.

It seemed that if she wanted to hide from her capture, the best thing to do was to think of a new route, that would not be visible to those who stood on the watchtower.

Yu Feng reached a junction and made a turn to the right. This was a different way than the route that the scary man had pointed to her previously. Though the man had shown her the quickest way to the bureau, Yu Feng knew a few secret paths that will lead to her location and it will shorten her time to arrive.

…

A deep frown appeared on Qin Zhi Hao's face when he realized that the next signal did not come up.

According to his calculation, Xiao Feng should have appeared on the site a few seconds ago but when his subordinates did not light up the signal, Qin Zhi Hao had started to worry.

"Seventh Brother, did you think that little wild cat has escaped?" Qin Zhi Chen asked.

Qin Zhi Hao turned his head to one of the soldiers and spoke harshly, "Send someone to check on the situation."

"Yes My Lord!" The soldier turned around and moved the mirror in front of the fire, while his friend moved to open and close the blinds, as they send a message to the other tower and the men that Officer Zhou had arranged.

Just a few seconds after the message was sent, the white puff appeared in the sky again, signaling that Yu Feng had passed the checkpoint.

"He's here!" Qin Zhi Chen spoke with excitement.

"Wait," one of the soldiers spoke. "Those signals, didn't they came from the location of the fifth checkpoint?"

"Do you think that there might be some problems with those men at the third and fourth checkpoints?"

Hearing their conversations, Qin Zhi Hao turned towards the soldier before he looked at the dark sky again.