Fang Yuan carried a heavy sack of rice on his back and a bundle stuffed full of supplies as he walked along the small road back to the village.
Though his burden was immense, his steps remained steady, and he was not slow.
[Basic Footwork proficiency +1]
Yet as he walked, his senses, sharper than those of ordinary people, caught something unusual.
Far behind him, several sets of breathing and deliberately muffled yet still disorderly footsteps crunching through the snow kept following at neither too close nor too far a distance.
It was not one person, but several.
Fang Yuan's heart instantly went on guard. Was it Heizi and some fish that had slipped through the net?
Or had accomplices of Wang Meng's group come looking for him? His first thought was of his former enemies.
Without showing any reaction, he deliberately turned onto a more secluded side path where the snow lay deeper. At the same time, his ears pricked up like a cheetah's as he carefully distinguished the movements behind him.
Sure enough, those people turned in after him. Their footsteps grew clearer, as if they felt this was a better place to make their move.
When they closed to within twenty or thirty paces, Fang Yuan suddenly slammed the sack of rice from his shoulder onto the ground!
It landed with a muffled thud, especially abrupt in the silent snowy night.
He whirled around, his icy gaze stabbing toward the figures trailing him in the darkness.
Clearly, they had not expected him to be so alert or to react so swiftly. Startled, they froze in place, crowding together in some confusion.
By the faint light reflected off the snow, Fang Yuan made out their appearances.
They were four sallow, emaciated men dressed in tattered