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"Damn it, I've tolerated you once and twice, but again! Even Buddha has his limits!"

At this point, Mengdie's patience finally snapped. Suddenly, she reached out with both hands, grabbing the soldier's hand that was reaching for her chest, twisting his wrist! The intense pain immediately stopped the soldier from kissing Mengdie's lips, as he opened his mouth to scream in pain. But Mengdie couldn't let him shout. To prevent other soldiers from being alerted, she slammed the heel of her palm onto his chin just as he was about to scream, causing a "crack" sound of teeth clashing against each other. Then, the soldier bit his own tongue, blood oozing from his mouth as he staggered aside.

Having acted, Mengdie decided to follow through. She didn’t give him time to cry out in pain but quickly stepped forward, pressing her left hand against the nape of the soldier's neck and hooking her left foot around his ankle. With a press and a trip, she brought the soldier down to the ground. Before his body fully hit the ground, Mengdie stepped on his waist with her right foot and formed a dragon's head fist with her right hand. As the soldier's body hit the ground, she aimed a heavy strike at the connection between his spine and skull with her right fist! In just a moment, the soldier's eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious.

Sigh... Damn it, instead of finding a way out of the city, I've gotten into such trouble! What now? Should I go back immediately? But what about the necklace outside the city? Who knows what might happen to it overnight!

As she hesitated, another group of soldiers came around the corner. Mengdie was startled and quickly blew out the lamp in the glass oil lantern, dragging the soldier's body into hiding. Fortunately, the soldiers didn’t notice her, letting her breathe a sigh of relief.

After setting the soldier's body down, Mengdie once again lamented the lack of strength in a woman's body. Just dragging a man had exhausted her? Though her martial arts skills made usual fights no problem, any situation requiring strength left her exhausted! She unbuttoned her chest and fanned her clothing to cool off. That’s when she noticed the soldier's discarded armor.

Disguise?!

The idea sparked in Mengdie's mind! Acting immediately, she skillfully removed the soldier's armor and put it on herself. Then, she donned the nearly fully enclosed helmet, stuffing all her conspicuous long hair inside the armor. It was hot, but who could tell her current appearance?

However, while her appearance could be disguised, her height couldn't. Standing at only 158 cm, she looked noticeably short. Mengdie peeked around the corner at the soldiers near the damaged area, considering whether to start a fire to create chaos and then escape.

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Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves approached along the road. Mengdie crouched down and peeked out more cautiously. A carriage pulled by two large horses drove in, its decorations not ordinary, appearing quite lavish. The carriage bore a slanted moon emblem similar to the one on the castle.

Royalty?

The carriage stopped near the city gate, not far from the damaged area. The soldiers quickly surrounded it. After a brief exchange with the coachman, they began to open the city gate. At that moment, the defense at the damaged area loosened considerably! Seizing the opportunity, Mengdie quickly moved forward, walking out through the damaged area. To avoid suspicion, she lit the glass oil lamp and carried it, pretending to patrol as she walked further away. Only when the city wall's torches could no longer illuminate her did she dash towards a nearby grove and hide.

Finally out of the city! What a stroke of luck amidst misfortune! After removing the armor in the forest, Mengdie picked up the glass lamp, feeling a huge sense of "gratitude" for the soldier she had knocked down. Wasn’t it him who inadvertently provided her with both a disguise to leave the city and a lamp to search for the necklace?

Revived, Mengdie eagerly began to walk through the forest. Relying on her memory, she first went to where she had discovered the necklace during the day, estimating the force and direction in which she had thrown it, and walked deeper into the forest with great enthusiasm.

One hour later—

Nothing found. No matter, keep searching...

Two hours later—

Hmm... It's too dark, keep going...

Three hours later—

...

Four hours later—

Damn it... it's already past midnight!!!

For four whole hours, Mengdie wandered in what seemed to be a small but actually extensive forest! She kept searching, tirelessly. But as time passed, her confidence began to wane. Not to mention the ruby, she hadn't even found a trace of the necklace's clasp!

Mengdie, unwilling to give up, sat down on a pile of dry leaves. In the silent forest, her faint body fragrance became more ethereal and mysterious. Unfortunately, it only increased her own distaste.

Continue searching? Maybe I got the location where I threw the necklace wrong from the start! Moreover, as if to add insult to injury, the oil in the lamp seemed to have run out. As the flame flickered its last, the pitch-black darkness finally reclaimed control of the night.

With no light, searching for anything in the forest became even more impossible. Mentally exhausted from the day, Mengdie finally couldn’t hold up any longer and collapsed on the ground, looking up at the occasional moonlight peeking through the tree branches, feeling disheartened.

Suddenly, the familiar sound of horse hooves approached. Mengdie turned over and peered from behind the bushes, seeing a light approaching from deep within the forest. The light gradually neared, turning into two lanterns hanging from the necks of two tall horses. On closer inspection, it was the same carriage that had left the city gate hours ago.

Strange, why would the royal carriage not take the main road but instead take a detour through this grove?

The carriage eventually stopped in a small clearing not far from Mengdie. In the light, Mengdie could see the mud on the carriage’s axle, which looked uniform and not like it had been through a long journey, but rather as if it had been circling in one place.

The carriage door opened, and two people alighted with the help of the coachman. One appeared to be in his fifties or sixties, thin and sharp-eyed, with a cunning look. The other person Mengdie recognized—it was BL, the man who had offered her flowers in the men's bath earlier that day!

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