An Unexpected Turn

The sudden turn of events left both of them looking uncertain and alarmed.

The whistle arrow streaking into the sky meant a Guardian had spotted an intruder.

But weren't they the intruders tonight?

Shen Mu couldn't help saying, "Brother Wei, it looks like we'll have to call it a night."

Wei Bo nodded, regret showing on his face. "There's no other choice now."

According to last night's plan, if a Guardian lit a whistle arrow to sound the alarm, they were to immediately call off the operation and return to Zhou Xuan's Bamboo Shed.

They had accounted for this sort of sudden turn in their plan from the start, but it was still unavoidable.

Once the whistle arrow went up, the Guardians who hadn't yet fallen asleep would be startled awake and rush to provide reinforcements. There was no realistic chance of capturing Origin Cicadas after that.

"Let's go back and wait for everyone to return. Then we can find out what happened."

After Wei Bo finished speaking, the two of them hurried together toward Zhou Xuan's Bamboo Shed.

By the time they arrived outside the shed, the squad made up of Yuan Wenxuan and Sun Jing had already returned.

"What happened?"

Seeing Shen Mu and Wei Bo arrive, Yuan Wenxuan couldn't help asking.

"We don't know. We were far away, too. We'll have to wait until everyone gets back to find out."

Wei Bo shook his head.

Shen Mu couldn't help feeling relieved. The whistle arrow could be seen from a great distance, giving him time to get away safely.

If the Guardian had happened to spot them in the area he and Wei Bo were searching, they probably wouldn't have escaped so easily.

Now all they could do was pray that the two fellows whose tracks had been spotted by the Guardian had also gotten away unscathed.

Still, Shen Mu wasn't worried that they'd be captured alive by the Guardian.

The reason they had paired up was to guard against just such an unexpected situation.

There was only one Guardian, while the people taking part in this operation were paired up.

Even if the Guardian spotted them, he would probably be scared half to death himself. He wouldn't dare act rashly and would only fire a whistle arrow for help, giving the exposed pair a chance to escape.

About half an hour passed. One squad after another returned, all discussing what had happened. Then Hong Jingcheng came back with Ji Shixian and Guo Jinchuan, looking rather grim.

"Brother Hong, what happened?"

Wei Bo couldn't help asking.

Everyone else turned to look at Hong Jingcheng as well.

Meeting their gazes, Hong Jingcheng gave a wry smile. "Looks like luck wasn't on our side tonight. It's my fault, too. I didn't check carefully to see whether there was a Guardian inside the shed..."

After hearing Hong Jingcheng's explanation, everyone wore strange expressions.

It turned out that after Ji Shixian and Guo Jinchuan finished searching one Origin Mulberry Field, they had gone to meet up with Hong Jingcheng before heading to the next field.

After Hong Jingcheng released the smoke into the Bamboo Shed, Ji Shixian and Guo Jinchuan had set out again.

But then something unexpected happened.

While searching for Origin Cicadas in the Origin Mulberry Field, Ji Shixian and Guo Jinchuan had run into the Guardian.

And that Guardian had been carrying a cloth sack, secretly picking Origin Mulberry Fruit...

Since the two of them had already covered their faces with black scarves, he had mistaken them for thieves come to steal Origin Mulberry Fruit and immediately fired a whistle arrow.

Ji Shixian and Guo Jinchuan had no choice but to call off their operation and flee at once...

After hearing everything Hong Jingcheng had to say, everyone looked rather awkward. Ji Shixian and Guo Jinchuan could only manage wry smiles as well.

No one could have anticipated a situation like this.

Hong Jingcheng looked around, then said, "We'll have to stop here for tonight."

"This unexpected turn in the operation was due to my carelessness."

"I won't take a cut of the Origin Cicadas everyone caught tonight. You can split them among yourselves. How does that sound?"

Wei Bo couldn't help trying to persuade him. "Brother Hong, nobody could have seen this coming. You put in the work, too. How can you give up your share? Isn't that right, everyone?"

"Exactly, Brother Hong. Without you, we wouldn't even have known we could make money catching Origin Cicadas. This was just an accident..."

"Brother Hong, what's yours is yours. We planned it that way from the start. How can you change things just like that?"

Everyone chimed in agreement.

Hong Jingcheng shook his head and smiled apologetically. "Thank you for the kindness, everyone. But when you make a mistake, you have to own it. If I hadn't been careless, this wouldn't have happened."

"There's no need to persuade me."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent.

But Shen Mu understood why Hong Jingcheng was unwilling to take a cut: he knew they hadn't caught many Origin Cicadas.

If he took fifty percent, each of the others probably wouldn't even get ten taels of silver.

As a leader, he had to learn to give up profits to win people over.

Everyone said they had no complaints, but who knew what they were really thinking?

If his carelessness had caused this mess and he still took fifty percent of the profits, it was inevitable that the others would harbor resentment.

"Everyone, count the Origin Cicadas you caught, then put them all in one cloth sack," Hong Jingcheng suggested.

At once, everyone took the cloth sacks from their waists, emptied out the Origin Cicadas, counted them, and put them into a single sack.

After counting them, the nine squads of seventeen people, along with the Origin Cicadas caught in advance last night, had a total of three hundred and forty-seven.

Since Hong Jingcheng wasn't taking a cut, everyone present would get about twenty taels of silver.

"Now that we've counted the Origin Cicadas, everyone should head home and rest for tonight. After I sell them tomorrow, I'll distribute the silver to you," Hong Jingcheng said, putting away the sack and looking around.

Shen Mu looked rather bemused. He hadn't expected to get a windfall of silver for free.

He had caught eight Origin Cicadas tonight and five last night, for a total of just thirteen. Yet in the end, he'd still get twenty taels of silver.

That was like receiving an extra month's wages for nothing.

For him, it was a pleasant surprise.

Getting something for nothing really is a joy.

Shen Mu sighed inwardly.

"Brother Hong, when should we catch Origin Cicadas next?" Wei Bo asked.

Everyone turned to look at Hong Jingcheng. Clearly, they weren't satisfied with tonight's haul.

To improve their blood energy, they had to eat demonic beast meat, and their monthly wages weren't enough to cover their daily needs.

And they only had this one chance a year to make money by catching Origin Cicadas. How could they let it slip away?

Hong Jingcheng sighed. "Given what's happened, we'll have to wait until things die down. The earliest we can act again is in half a month."

Half a month?

Quite a few people present furrowed their brows.

Guo Jinchuan couldn't help saying, "Brother Hong, in another half a month, the Origin Mulberry Fruit will be ripe. If we wait until then to act, we might run into outsiders sneaking into Emerald Cloud Valley to steal it..."

"Exactly,"

Zhou Xuan chimed in. "To catch Origin Cicadas, we have to put the Guardian to sleep. If we run into those outsiders in the Origin Mulberry Field, a fight could break out, making things much more dangerous for us."

After hearing them out, Hong Jingcheng couldn't help freezing for a moment.

That was true. If they waited half a month before acting again, there would undoubtedly be even more variables.

Because of his mistake, tonight's operation had ended in such a major mishap and been forcibly called off. Hong Jingcheng was deeply reluctant to let it go.

After all, Origin Cicadas were how he could make a fortune. How much could he possibly make in a year on that meager salary?

If they missed this year, they'd have to wait another year.

Hong Jingcheng's thoughts stirred. "Then what do you all think?"

Wei Bo couldn't help saying, "I say we set the next operation for three days from now."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Wei Bo's suggestion.

"Fine, three days from now."

Hong Jingcheng nodded and looked around as he made the decision. "We'll meet here in the early hours three days from now."

Once they had set the time and place, everyone gradually filed out of Zhou Xuan's Bamboo Shed and headed toward the Origin Mulberry Fields they were each assigned to guard.