Worried that she’d expose Jun Huang if she stayed too close to her, the woman ran away. She glanced at the soldiers traversing the mountain, silently calculating her chance of survival as she ran. Distracted, she was caught off guard by one of the pursuers’ shouting. She stumbled and rolled down a small hill, twisting her ankle when she landed.

She cursed under her breath and grabbed a stick to use as a crutch. Sharp pain stabbed through her ankle as she moved. She gritted her teeth and kept running.

The soldiers chased her with single-minded focus, forcing her to the edge of a cliff. Her heart sank. There was no way out for her now. She couldn’t turn around and risked having her face seen. She took a deep breath, focusing on the footsteps closing in on her.

She jumped.

The soldiers didn’t expect such a strong reaction. Qi Chen hurried to the cliff and stared down, opening...