When the paper window was pierced by a bamboo tube, Shen Qingwan instantly opened her eyes.

She quickly pulled the blanket over the heads of her two children and held her breath.

Before long, she heard the sound of someone prying open the door latch.

“This little lady must have a lot of money. This time, we’re going to make a fortune,” a man whispered.

His low voice reached Shen Qingwan’s ears clearly.

Three burly men entered the room and searched around, but they found nothing.

Just as they approached the bed, a crossbow suddenly appeared in Shen Qingwan’s hands.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Three swift sounds later, the men collapsed to the ground in an instant.

“With such little skill, you dare to steal from others?” Shen Qingwan sneered.

She searched their bodies but found that they were dirt poor—not a single coin on them.

Just as she was about to dispose of the corpses, the door swung open again.

A man stepped in and immediately saw Shen Qingwan standing there, staring at him, with three lifeless bodies on the ground.

Their eyes met, and for a moment, the man felt as if his feet had taken root in the ground.

He forced an awkward smile, about to say that he had entered the wrong room.

But before he could speak, the people behind him shoved him inside.

“What’s taking so long? It’s just a little woman. I can handle her myself. But first, I gotta have some fun, heh heh…”

A vulgar voice came from outside.

Though hushed, it was clear in the quiet night.

However, as soon as the others entered the room, they realized something was off.

Shen Qingwan stood with a faint smile on her lips, tilting her head as she looked at them. In the dim light, her dark eyes glowed with an eerie light, sending chills down their spines.

When they saw the bodies on the ground, the man who had just spoken so crudely instantly fell silent.

“You gentlemen have come at the perfect time,” Shen Qingwan said coolly.

The men instinctively stepped back.

“W-We got the wrong room… We’ll leave right away!”

What a joke! If this woman could silently kill three strong men, they knew they didn’t stand a chance, even with four of them.

“Since you’re here, don’t leave,” Shen Qingwan said. In a flash, she grabbed the nearest man’s neck.

Crack!

The man went limp instantly. The remaining three turned to flee in terror.

A dagger suddenly appeared in Shen Qingwan’s hand, and she threw it toward them.

These men were just petty thieves, ordinary people who had never witnessed such killing.

Their courage crumbled—they didn’t even dare to fight back.

“Help! Don’t kill me!”

“Heroine, please spare us!”

Their pleas had barely left their mouths when Shen Qingwan stabbed them straight through the heart.

Their screams woke up the other guests in the inn.

Shen Qingwan quickly stashed the seven corpses into her spatial storage and threw them out of the back window.

With the streets full of refugees and corpses these days, a few more dead bodies wouldn’t attract much attention.

She didn’t want to dirty her space, so she discarded them right away.

Just as she finished cleaning the bloodstains from the floor, she heard loud shouting outside.

She pushed open the back window and saw a large crowd filling the streets.

They were holding torches and storming into courtyards, looting, killing, and setting fires.

Shen Qingwan’s heart sank.

Bandits had entered the city?!

“Bad news! The mountain bandits have invaded! Wake up, everyone!”

“Close the doors! Block them!”

The inn’s attendants were the first to notice the danger and immediately woke the guests.

Shen Qingwan roused her two children and took them to find Old Madam Lu.

“What’s going on? Why is it so noisy?”

Old Madam Lu, still drowsy, opened the door and saw Shen Qingwan standing there with the children.

“Mother, the bandits have entered the city! Please take care of the children. Stay in the room and don’t come out no matter what!”

After entrusting the children to Old Madam Lu, Shen Qingwan rushed downstairs and ran into Old Man Lu and Lu Wenguang on their way up.

“Father, go stay with Mother. Second Brother, come with me to help block the door!”

The inn’s entrance wasn’t large—keeping the bandits out wouldn’t be easy.

Lu Wenguang nodded and followed Shen Qingwan downstairs.

The innkeeper was already pacing anxiously.

Shen Qingwan noticed that they had only used a table to block the door, and the windows were left unguarded.

She immediately pointed it out.

“Innkeeper, call all the men down here! If they want to survive, they need to help. Use tables to block the windows. One table at the door isn’t enough—it won’t hold! Move the large wooden cabinet from the back to reinforce the entrance. If the bandits get in, we’re all dead!”

Her instructions were sharp and precise.

The innkeeper wasn’t a fool—he and his attendants quickly went to wake the guests.

Hearing Shen Qingwan’s words, the people already downstairs started moving tables to block the windows facing the street.

The windows were made of simple wooden frames—easy to break with a single kick. They had to be barricaded properly.

Meanwhile, Shen Qingwan and a few men worked together to move a large solid-wood cabinet against the door.

It was heavy, and they struggled at first, but soon, the innkeeper returned with more people.

“Quick! Help out! If those bandits get in, we’re all dead!”

The innkeeper no longer cared about anything except survival.

“But… if we anger the bandits by keeping them out, won’t they kill us all? They just want money—why don’t we give them our valuables? That way, at least they won’t kill us,” a timid scholar said hesitantly.

Shen Qingwan saw that he wasn’t helping but instead sowing fear, so she immediately kicked him down.

“Too much nonsense! If you want to hand over your money, I can send you out to negotiate with the bandits myself!”

The scholar, frail and bookish, was completely stunned by her kick.

His face turned red with anger.

“You—you’re so vulgar! I was just trying to prevent disaster. Instead of thanking me, you resort to violence?”

His words almost made Shen Qingwan laugh in frustration.

She had no patience for him.

“Say another word, and I’ll throw you outside.”

Her sharp glare shut the scholar up immediately. He shrank back like a frightened quail.

“There’s a bandit stronghold in the Changqing Mountains with over a thousand men. It must be them,” someone murmured.

“But the city gates were already closed. How did they get in? Did they break through? They’re getting bolder, daring to raid a provincial city!”

“Those mountain bandits have been around for years. The court never managed to wipe them out. Now that the empire is in turmoil and rebels are rising everywhere, they’re even more brazen. I fear we won’t survive the night…”