# 1018
Chapter 1019: Trickery
Pamir Plateau.
Elsewhere.
In the barren snowfield, two figures walked with their heads bowed, wandering aimlessly.
Si Xiaonan walked while boredly scraping the snow on the ground with the toe of her shoe, unable to resist covering her mouth to yawn.
"Leng Xuan, we've been traveling at full speed for so long. Shouldn't we take a break?" Si Xiaonan blinked her eyes.
"Mm, I'm a bit tired too." Leng Xuan replied without changing expression.
"Do you have any dry rations on you?"
"...No."
"Then let's look around here for something to eat."
Si Xiaonan's gaze swept across the surroundings, finally landing on a gray-white yurt at the foot of a distant mountain. It looked similar to a Mongolian yurt but had distinctive ethnic characteristics.
Outside the yurt, several cows and sheep were tethered, swaying their heads leisurely.
Si Xiaonan and Leng Xuan exchanged a glance and nodded in tacit understanding.
The two moved swiftly and silently toward the yurt.
Just then, a herdsman happened to walk out from behind the door of the yurt. Seeing these two people suddenly appear at his doorstep, he froze for a moment.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
He下意识 retreated a step, shielding the three children behind him with his hand.
The three children were all adorable, dressed in bright minority ethnic clothing, their jet-black and pure big eyes curiously打量着这两个不速之客.
Si Xiaonan's brow furrowed.
She touched her nose. "Kill them all."
Leng Xuan's figure dragged a shadow, moving at an undetectable speed to knock out everyone in the yurt, then kicked over the large cauldron in the center, spilling all the boiled sheep's milk inside, simulating the sound of blood splattering.
Several heavy thuds sounded, and only then did Si Xiaonan relax.
She helplessly bent down to bow apologetically at the unconscious herdsman and three children, then quickly grabbed several roasted flatbreads on the table and a pot of distilled liquor, pulling out a hundred-yuan bill from her chest and placing it on the table.
Having finished all this, Si Xiaonan gave Leng Xuan a look, and both of them retreated from the yurt simultaneously.
"Don't leave any traces. Burn the house down." Si Xiaonan touched her nose again.
"Alright."
Leng Xuan pretentiously moved the hand with Loki's ear toward the bonfire, pretending this yurt had already been burned down, then turned and left.
It wasn't that they wanted to make things so troublesome—it was不得已.
Loki's ear was growing on Leng Xuan's hand, which meant Loki in Asgard could monitor their movements anytime. If he sensed anything amiss, he could instantly wipe out Si Xiaonan, who had been marked with his soul contract.
Faced with such a suspicious god of trickery, the two had no choice but to approach everything with the utmost caution... like ensuring that anyone who saw their true faces absolutely could not be left alive.
After obtaining food, the two resumed their act of going through the motions.
Si Xiaonan chewed on a flatbread while vigorously rubbing her feet against the ground to create the sound of someone running hard.
Leng Xuan's face remained expressionless as he wildly waved his right hand, letting the whistling wind blow past the Loki's ear on the back of his hand. He didn't care whether Loki would be annoyed hearing this sound—it was his own fault for leaving it there.
Wouldn't it be nice to disturb Loki's good mood a bit?
Suddenly, Si Xiaonan seemed to sense something, nudging Leng Xuan with her elbow. The latter immediately understood, stopped waving his right hand, and reached for his waistband. Two antique-looking flintlocks appeared in his hands.
Si Xiaonan's gaze swept across the surroundings, finally fixing on a patch of emptiness, squinting slightly.
"Hiding and skulking?"
"Oh? You can detect me?" A black-clad man's form materialized from the void, fluent English laced with surprise. "As expected of Loki's agent... your vigilance is something a Gaia agent could never match."
Si Xiaonan's brow furrowed even deeper.
She had lived in Asgard for so long—of course she could understand English. But this man's accent seemed somewhat peculiar.
"No need to be nervous. My name is Singh, from the Indian Temple of the Gods. I'm the agent of the demon god Asura." The man took the initiative to extend his palm, smiling as he spoke. "You two were sent by Asgard to search for Mount Kunlun and probe the true strength of Great Xia's gods, right?"
"Is that any of your business?" Si Xiaonan replied coldly.
"We could work together." Singh spoke sincerely. "Back in the day, when Lord Loki came to the Temple of the Gods to deliver messages for Asgard, he crossed paths a few times with the one I serve. They could be called friends. Moreover, since the four divine kingdoms have formed an alliance, we're practically allies now.
Allies should help each other, wouldn't you say?"
Looking at Singh's smiling face, Si Xiaonan felt not comfort but the sensation of being stared at by a venomous snake.
This man was off.
Si Xiaonan was about to refuse, but after careful consideration, she fell silent instead.
From the looks of it, not only Asgard but other divine kingdoms had also sent agents to infiltrate the Pamir Plateau, attempting to enter Mount Kunlun to probe the true strength of Great Xia's gods. Although she and Leng Xuan were just going through the motions, that could only hide things from Asgard's eyes. Agents from the other divine kingdoms would still pose a threat to Great Xia.
But what if... she secretly tripped up the other agents?
One scheme after another flashed through Si Xiaonan's mind.
"Sure." Si Xiaonan changed her expression from cold to smiling. "Then let's work together."
She grasped Singh's right hand.
A trace of surprise flickered imperceptibly in Singh's eyes. He smiled. "Since we're allies, shouldn't we exchange names?"
"Loki's agent, Si Xiaonan."
Singh's gaze turned to Leng Xuan behind her.
"He's not an agent—just my servant. He's mute." Si Xiaonan said without changing expression.
Leng Xuan gazed at his own toe caps, silent.
...
The faint light of dawn tore through the darkness, rising slowly from the edge of the horizon.
On the sheer cliff face of the snow plain, Lin Qiye opened his eyes again, looking at the land below, complex emotions surfacing in his gaze.
At the base of the cliff, a one-eyed boy in winter gear took a bite of compressed biscuits,平静地抬起头, gazing up at this near-vertical cliff that seemed to pierce the heavens.
He reached out, about to touch the cliff's surface, when a voice drifted down from the invisible summit above.
"I'd advise you to rest first before attempting to climb this mountain."
Hearing Lin Qiye's voice, Lu Baoyou's movement paused. His eyes narrowed slightly as he shook his head.
"No need."