It was around 2 in the morning. The weather was extremely cold and the night dark, yet the sound of footsteps rang loudly in the streets of Fortuna.
"Slowly, stay in the shadows," Hao Xuan whispered to Bai when they passed by another squad of soldiers decked out in black armor.
The incident had taken place somewhere near the northwest of the outer city less than 20minutes ago.
The roads leading to and from that entire region had already been littered with checkpoints manned by squads of up to 20 soldiers each.
That complete area had been cordoned off. If Hao Xuan had used his identity then he probably could have gained access to it easily, but he chose not to do so on purpose.
First's vague message gave him a very bad feeling and he didn't want people to know he was going there.
So Bai had to make several dozen stops along the way, hiding in the shadows whenever they passed by a checkpoint.