Killing Without Blinking an Eye, Are You Scared

[You weren't talking nonsense. The magistrate used you as a scapegoat to balance the books; every unsolved murder case from the past was pinned on your head.]

[Hearing your words, Old Liu looked completely skeptical. He casually rummaged through your luggage and found the judgment documents inside.]

[After reading them, he let out a sneer, stood up, and neatly tidied your bedding. He then smoothly grabbed the quilt from the guy next to you and tossed it onto your bed.]

["Boss Chen, you might not know this, but the south gets cold in winter too. Those bastards in charge of logistics skim off the top at every layer. You can barely feel any cotton in the quilts they issue us. Cover yourself with an extra one so you don't freeze."]

[The guy whose quilt had been forcibly taken wore a look of bitter misery.]

["Boss Old Liu, I..."]

["What Boss?! I'm Number Two now! You and Erniu share a quilt. Sleeping together at night will help you keep each other warm."]

[Erniu looked bashful as he nodded. "I'm fine with it, anyway..."]

[Seeing this, you felt you needed to watch your back while sleeping at night. It wasn't that you feared a comrade stabbing you in the back—you feared that what poked you wouldn't be a knife.]

[Year 4, Age 21.]

(Liuzi won't write down the useless talents; my dear readers know the protagonist drew them~)

[Thanks to the official endorsement in the magistrate's judgment documents stating you "killed over a hundred people," the soldiers in the labor camp knew you were a ruthless individual.]

[Coupled with you "inadvertently" revealing a trace of your martial cultivation base, your intimidation factor rose even higher.]

[Not only did they not dare to provoke you, but they would also occasionally curry favor with you.]

[You had more food and supplies than you could use.]

[Originally, conscripted penal soldiers lived incredibly harsh lives, but you felt things were actually quite decent.]

[If you can just lay low in the military camp, slowly cultivate to improve your base, and survive a few more years to extract talents, this simulation's mission will be considered complete.]

[As for earning merits, you aren't considering that for the time being.]

[This is a cold-weapon era army; there is no merit to be had without risking your life to get it.]

[However, this is the border army. Facing harassment from the Southern Kingdoms, going to battle is inevitable.]

[Fortunately, your labor camp isn't required to go directly to the front lines; you generally stay in the camp doing menial chores.]

[Sometimes during marches, you encounter enemy forces, and there are times when the camp is raided.]

[Whenever this happens, slippery veterans like Old Liu teach you how to survive.]

[Eat rotten food to get diarrhea and avoid battle ahead of time.]

[When fighting starts, play dead; cut yourself a few times to make it look realistic.]

[Wear women's clothing; the enemy sometimes spares women to vent their lust.]

[You learned a lot from people like Old Liu, making it even easier to lay low in the military camp.]

[Year 5, Age 22.]

[You have gradually adapted to life in the military camp.]

[Whenever you have free time, you silently cultivate.]

[One day, you passed by the recruit camp and saw a man with a pockmarked face.]

["Photographic Memory" allows you to remember the face of everyone you have ever seen.]

[So, you recognized him.]

[You clearly remembered that about a year ago, during an ambush by the Southern Kingdom's army while on the march, this pockmarked man was a mounted archer in the enemy ranks.]

["A spy?"]

[You couldn't be sure.]

[Soldiers come and go like flowing water in the iron barracks. In a feudal society, it is normal for soldiers to drift over to a hostile country.]

[Because many people join the army just for a meal.]

[If this side can't provide it, they go to the other side.]

[There aren't many with patriotic sentiments.]

[You didn't expose him immediately. Instead, you constantly swapped shifts with the brothers in the labor camp to keep an eye on this pockmarked face.]

[It wasn't to earn merit, but because you were afraid he would cause trouble that could get you killed.]

[You can guard against enemies attacking from the outside to some extent, but a backstab from a spy right next to you is truly unexpected.]

[You might be sleeping or eating a meal and suddenly lose your life; living like that is far too nerve-wracking.]

[After Pockmarked Face finished his recruit training, he was assigned to the Firearms Battalion.]

[You discovered that he actively applied to be a gunpowder guard.]

[The commander of the Firearms Battalion agreed.]

[You instantly understood what he intended to do.]

[It was a dark and windy night.]

[There had been no battles for the past few months, and the soldiers' vigilance had dropped significantly.]

[Inside the gunpowder depot, where open flames were strictly prohibited, Pockmarked Face held a torch, having sneaked in by abusing his position.]

["Hehe... this explosion will be enough to throw the Qian Army into chaos. Without gunpowder, their firearms will be useless, and my Great Shi Kingdom's Elephant Army will face no resistance!"]

[Pockmarked Face twisted a fuse by hand and tossed the torch onto it.]

[After igniting it, he quickly ran far away and crouched down, waiting for the explosion.]

["Eh?"]

["Are you wondering why it hasn't exploded yet?"]

[Hearing your voice ring out behind him, Pockmarked Face jumped in fright!]

[He scrambled up to run, only to find that he was already surrounded by your group of labor soldiers.]

["Take this spy down!"]

[At your command, Old Liu and the others rushed forward. In the blink of an eye, they had the guy hogtied.]

[Your group dragged the spy to the Commander's tent.]

["Greetings, General!"]

[The commanding general of this border army was named Sun Cheng'en. Clad in black iron armor, he possessed a natural authority without needing to show anger, radiating a powerful martial aura that commanded fear.]

["I didn't expect a few conscripted labor soldiers like you to actually catch a spy."]

[When you realized the spy's objective, you had reported it to Sun Cheng'en.]

[Although the process was troublesome, as a labor soldier like you was not permitted to see the General.]

[Fortunately, Sun Cheng'en was sharp-minded and didn't stick to formalities; hearing you making a commotion outside the tent, he had summoned you.]

[He hadn't believed you immediately. Instead, he secretly transferred the gunpowder elsewhere, leaving the depot structure in place to see if the spy would reveal himself, and also to test if you were lying.]

[Luckily, the spy made his move. Otherwise, you would have been punished by martial law for reporting false military intelligence.]

["Although you have performed a meritorious service, I cannot record this merit for you. You are all criminals who broke the law and were exiled here. Essentially, you are prisoners, and the laws of my Great Qian stipulate that prisoners cannot be credited with merit."]

[Old Liu knelt down on the spot.]

["General! Actually, many of our brothers were wrongly accused back home! Those local officials plunder by force, judge cases arbitrarily, and bully us common folk who have no power or influence..."]

["Enough! I am not your county magistrate, and I have no obligation to redress your grievances!"]

[As his voice rose, the air pressure inside the tent seemed to drop, and no one inside dared to breathe loudly.]

["However, do not feel aggrieved. I cannot record merit, but I can grant you rewards."]

[Sun Cheng'en waved his hand, and a deputy general brought over some silver ingots, giving one to each of you.]

[Do you want this reward?]

[1. Take it! Only a bastard turns down money!]

[2. Refuse it! Serving the country with loyalty is the duty of a subject of Great Qian!]

[3. Refuse it, but ask for something else...]