Twitch Returns, the Dark Elf's Intent

Another new day dawned. Yang Jie rose early, pushing aside his beast-skin blankets and stepping out of the mouse burrow.

After yesterday’s meeting, where the tribe’s path forward had been firmly decided, the cadre had thrown themselves into their tasks. Yang Jie felt a genuine gratitude—what a blessing it was to have such capable subordinates.

On the city wall, ballistae dismantled from human ships had been installed at key points along the defensive line. Eighteen in total—four stood atop arrow towers behind the wall, while the other fourteen occupied various positions on the ramparts.

To ensure the ballistae didn’t block the passage atop the wall, Old Sha had ordered a patch of open ground to be built behind the wall, so one could simply take a detour around them when walking above.

Yang Jie climbed the earthen brick steps to the city wall, surveying the gentle slope of Gaoting below. Even from afar, he could see swathes of mouse farmers laboring in the fields.

Running his hand over the imposing ballista, Yang Jie couldn't resist testing its might. He had a wooden stake placed a hundred meters from the wall for this purpose.

The ballista’s design closely resembled that of a hand crossbow; in essence, the ballista was a scaled-up version. The ballista fired spears, while the hand crossbow shot arrows.

The reason Yang Jie’s tribe lacked ballista technology was not due to the wooden structure, but the challenge of crafting bowstrings. The mice had yet to master string-making, relying only on animal tendons for bowstrings, limited by their current technological level.

Processing and refining tendons required specialized techniques, and in this domain, the mouse tribe lagged a generation behind the humans. It was a technological blind spot for the mice. Each race had its strengths and inevitable weaknesses; this was something Yang Jie understood deeply and accepted without dispute.

Yang Jie settled onto the ballista’s firing platform, rubbing his palms against his thighs to keep sweat from interfering with his grip.

Operating the ballista was simple, much like a crossbow—the only tricky part was loading the spear, which took considerable effort for someone of Yang Jie’s stature.

A crowd of mousefolk gathered to watch, growing larger by the minute, adding invisible pressure. As the chieftain, how could he not have a show of skill?

Yang Jie closed his left eye, using his right to sight the target, estimating the wind’s effect, his finger tightening on the trigger.

A sharp twang—the bowstring vibrated, the spear shot forth, arcing slightly as it sped toward the wooden stake a hundred meters away.

A perfect hit!

The crossbow’s effective range was three hundred meters; no current infantry defense could withstand such a powerful blow.

The wooden spear didn’t pierce the stake but left a fist-sized dent in its surface.

A chorus of exclamations erupted among the mousefolk, thrilled by Yang Jie’s accuracy.

Yang Jie was quite satisfied with the ballista’s lethality—though it consumed spears quickly, with each arrowhead ruined after a single shot.

Just then, Wendy walked over from the other side of the wall…

“Chieftain, Tuchi has returned! He wants to see you now, says he has important news.”

“Returned? Have him wait in my office for me.”

Yang Jie hopped down from the ballista seat and followed Wendy back to his office.

…

Inside, Tuchi looked weathered, having aged much in the past two months. His face was covered in scruffy stubble, his fur matted with dust—a testament to the hardships of life in the wild.

Yang Jie was heartened to see that Tuchi had advanced from level ten to twelve during this time—a notable achievement.

“My friend, you’ve endured much these days!” Without a hint of disdain, Yang Jie embraced his old companion.

“Every night sleeping on the prairie, I longed for the taste of our homeland’s meat stew. Now, at last, I’m home.”

Yang Jie grinned and called for the servant in charge of daily affairs.

“Have the kitchens prepare a pot of meat stew. We must treat our great hero well!”

“Yes, Chieftain!”

The servant departed, closing the door behind him, leaving Yang Jie and Tuchi alone.

“Sit, my friend!”

Tuchi obliged, dragging over a stool and sitting down.

“Chieftain, I spent two months searching but found no copper ore.”

Yang Jie’s mood instantly plummeted.

“Haha, come now—you’re home, no need to stand on ceremony.”

Yang Jie poured Tuchi a cup of water, hurriedly masking the awkward atmosphere.

“But I did discover something else…”

As he spoke, Tuchi pulled a lump of pitch-black stone from a beast-skin bundle.

“Coal!”

Yang Jie sprang up, exhilarated! Though copper was rare, winter was only months away, and the Horseshoe Mountain Highlands lay beneath the Saintis Snow Mountains; once winter came, cold waves would follow.

With enough coal, these problems would be easily solved.

“Chieftain, is this thing rare?”

“It’s not so much rare as crucial! You don’t know what it is—where did you find it?”

Yang Jie pulled Tuchi over to the sand table, where the Norcen Plains’ terrain was rendered at a 1:10,000 scale.

Tuchi studied the sand table, thought for a moment, then pointed to the eastern Norcen Plains, near the Fagon Forest.

“Here!”

“Coal in this spot? We didn’t notice anything unusual when we scouted before. Coal is usually buried underground—how did you dig it up?”

Yang Jie hit upon the key question—coal wasn’t as common as river stones by the Tam River.

“It wasn’t me who found it. While searching for copper, I came across a group of pointy-eared elves. Curious about their presence on our land, I followed them…”

I have stealth abilities, so it wasn’t difficult for me.

“Soon, I saw more and more dark elves, gathering in groups on our territory. From afar, I couldn’t tell what they were doing.”

“I watched their temporary base for a day and night, then found a chance to sneak inside.”

“In the center of their camp, I discovered a massive pit, over ten meters deep and larger than our city tower. The pit was filled with this black stone. Though I didn’t know what it was, I sensed that, given the immense effort the dark elves spent digging such a pit, its contents must be valuable.”

“Though I couldn’t identify this pitch-black stone, I thought it necessary to bring some back for you to examine.”

Tuchi recounted the entire process—he’d found dark elves mining on their territory, unsure what they were extracting, but certain it was something important.

Yang Jie felt mixed emotions: glad to discover a coal mine, worried that it was heavily guarded by the dark elves.

Judging from Tuchi’s mark on the sand table, the coal mine lay at least fifty kilometers from Horseshoe Mountain.

Yang Jie was troubled—was this tempting prize worth fighting for?

Although the dark elves had signed a peace treaty with his tribe, it only forbade attacks against each other, without detailing resource boundaries.

Ultimately, the decision hinged on whether the mine’s reserves were substantial enough to justify risking a rupture with the dark elves.

Yet in his heart, Yang Jie already had an answer, waiting only for the right opportunity.

“Have Karl scout the area, see how many tricks the dark elves are hiding!”

If the coal mine was rich enough, the dark elves would surely keep a close watch on Gaoting.

Just like those secretive coal barons mining in the mountains, they’d place hidden guards along every road leading in.