"What with?"
Yaoyao picked up a newly broken, fragrant branch from the ground. "With this."
"It's so flimsy, can it even poke anything?" I asked, skeptical. It was only as big as an opened umbrella, made of willow. It would struggle to even herd ducks.
"Then you don't need to worry about it." Yaoyao shoved the branch into my hand, then pulled Bingbing to another section of the broken wall. She instructed Bingbing to guard there, to attack any enemies who scaled the wall. However, Yaoyao didn't give Bingbing a branch; instead, she handed her a thick, black plastic pipe, about the width of a bowl. It was likely taken from the temple on the mountain, used for pumping water. The other end of the pipe was plugged into a deep well nearby.
Next, Yaoyao assigned the deer demon and the eagle demon to guard separate sections of the ruin.
The deer demon was given an iron chain used for tethering dogs at the temple. The eagle demon, however, had no weapon. She was to squat on the wall in her eagle form.
After assigning the four of us, Yaoyao stood in the center of the formation, took a deep breath, and pointed her fingers at the moon, possibly absorbing essence from heaven and earth.
I began to understand. This formation seemed related to the Five Elements.
I guarded the east, my weapon was "wood." Bingbing guarded the north, her weapon was "water." The deer demon guarded the west, his weapon was "metal." The eagle demon guarded the south. Logically, her weapon should be "fire." However, in the Five Elements, fire doesn't just refer to open flames; it actually signifies "qi." Therefore, her weapon, I presumed, would be her large wings. The saying "fanning the flames" would be her method of attack.
Yaoyao in the center was easier to understand; she represented "earth." Her weapons were everywhere. This abandoned village was built in the mid-20th century, and its building materials were not steel and concrete, but rammed earth. Thus, all the surrounding ruins could serve as Yaoyao's weapons.
Shen Xingyue and her group were still nowhere in sight. Yaoyao told me and Bingbing not to be too nervous. The people accompanying Shen Xingyue today were not particularly strong. Even without the formation, we could easily win. The reason for setting up the formation was primarily to showcase our strength to Shabiya, to flex our muscles and deter them from advancing further.
I didn't understand these things, so I sat on the wall, smoking, nodding in agreement as I listened. Whatever Yaoyao said, I went along with.
After smoking three cigarettes, the sound of cars finally came from the village entrance. I worried they might not be able to spot us, so I turned on my flashlight and waved it towards them from the wall a few times.
The enemy discovered our whereabouts and drove into the village, arriving at the formation.
It wasn't just the same group we encountered at the hospital earlier; there were more of them. A total of six cars arrived, carrying twenty people. Apart from Shen Xingyue, who was in the lead, everyone else held various cold weapons. It seemed they were truly prepared to fight us.
Shen Xingyue clearly recognized our formation and smiled slightly. "Mu Jige, seriously? You think this low-level formation can deal with us? Do you think Shabiya is as weak as the 'Ye Bu Shou' of the Ming Dynasty?"
"No, no, Xingyue, please don't misunderstand," Yaoyao waved her hand, her face serious. "The Ye Bu Shou were quite capable, but you lot... you're really lacking. I honestly couldn't think of any lower-level formation that would suit your strength. Let's just say this is to give your 'Shabiya' a glimpse of what's possible."
Faced with Yaoyao's blatant provocation, Shen Xingyue didn't get angry. Instead, she laughed. "Hahaha, do you really think it's still four hundred years ago, when a mere junior shaman like you could walk all over people? Sir, times have changed!"
With that, Shen Xingyue drew a pistol from her back. Immediately, her companions moved their weapons to their left hands and drew handguns from various hidden spots on their bodies with their right hands, aiming at us.
It's over, we've messed up. I forgot to remind Yaoyao that modern handguns are not like the old matchlocks. Once fired, they take a long time to reload. This means in close combat, they could only fire once. I noticed they were all using some kind of German handgun, common in shooting games, called a Glock. With a magazine capacity of 17 rounds, it was practically a submachine gun!
"Give me a straight answer, are you surrendering or not?" Shen Xingyue raised her gun triumphantly, making a firing gesture.
"Let's surrender..." I suggested softly.