The infiltration began with brutal efficiency.
Two of the largest, most scarred shadow guards were now wearing the tattered leather armor stripped from the fallen Syndicate scouts, tied thick, scratchy hemp ropes around the Null-Stone cuffs of Ji'an and Yichen.
They secured the ends of the ropes to the saddles of the captured bandit horses, forcing the "captives" to trudge through the deep mud behind them.
Ji'an immediately slipped into character. She let her shoulders slump, dragging her feet, forcing a look of wide-eyed, exhausted terror onto her makeup-smudged face, which looked sickly and fragile.
Yichen, to his credit, also played the part.
He walked with a feigned, delicate limp, keeping his head bowed, allowing the dark curtain of his hair to obscure his furious, calculating eyes.
His padded chest shifted awkwardly with every step, a constant, humiliating reminder of the chef's audacity.
