Chapter 32

Chris nodded. "She was caught in the Darkness Cage too." Yet she had still left them a message—and she had deliberately left it after realizing an ally was hiding nearby.

No one knew how she had done it, just as no one knew where she had come from. But they knew she had let herself be taken without a struggle to turn the trap to their advantage.

In the darkness, Ye Chuqi could not even feel any jolting. She had no idea where she was being taken.

"San San, where do you think he's taking me? We've been traveling for so long that, at his speed, we should've left Kru Town ages ago. Wasn't the town sealed off? How can he come and go as he pleases?"

"Hmm..." San San found it strange too. "He has left town. This direction leads away from the Ashen Wasteland, so that leaves only one possibility..."

The Lost Forest.

Ye Chuqi and San San said it at the same time.

If that was true, things would get difficult.

After the earlier disappearances, the town mayor and the Adventurers' Guild had not only suppressed the news but investigated in secret, hoping to lure the snake from its hole. It had done little good. They did not even know whether the culprit was still in town.

They had assumed that whoever had abducted so many girls could not leave without a trace. Taking the girls out of town was bound to turn up a clue. Yet this man had slipped away with ease. Carrying someone as large as Ye Chuqi, he had passed through Kru Town as though it were deserted. The irony was hard to miss.

Presumably, the girls who had disappeared earlier had already been taken away too. Who knew where they had been sent?

Following the way things stood, Ye Chuqi could certainly play along and infiltrate the group. But she had no idea what awaited her. Should she put herself in even greater danger? She had kept insisting she could protect herself. Now, it seemed she had been too naive.

Sending an expert like this to abduct girls was using an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken, yet here he was. If this went on, Ye Chuqi feared she might be lost too. She did not believe that slipping into the enemy's stronghold would grant her some miraculous opportunity. That was treatment reserved for the protagonist, and it had nothing to do with her.

"San San, I can't let him take me into the Lost Forest." The forest was drawing closer. She could not take that risk.

"What are you going to do?"

Ye Chuqi grinned. "Grant me strength!"

San San: "..."

As the Lost Forest came into view, Gree breathed a little easier. He had not wanted to wade into these muddy waters, but the other party had offered far too much. He happened to need money—a great deal of it. The offer was impossible to refuse.

The young girl in his arms was an unexpected catch. He knew the other party still needed one last girl and had yet to find a suitable target. Otherwise, they would never have gone after Duke Fulton's daughter and set the whole town on edge. The girl he carried was of exceptional quality. And the moment he had seen her, he had known she was bait. That was precisely why her protectors had been willing to put such a fine candidate in the open. An unexpected prize.

The little thief hiding nearby had been no match for him either. One Darkness Cage had brought him down. Unfortunately, the thief belonged to the Red Wind Mercenary Group. Gree had no wish to reveal his whereabouts and make enemies of them just yet.

Once he handed the girl over and collected his payment, he would vanish, change his appearance, and leave no one the wiser about who he was.

He pushed down a flicker of unease that had risen from nowhere. The Lost Forest was right before him, but before he could finish taking a breath, the impossibly docile girl in his arms suddenly moved.

On instinct, he threw her away. He was still a moment too late. A black dagger carved a clear wound across his waist, and hot blood gushed out.

"You're awake?" He pressed a hand to the wound and sprinkled some powder over it to stop the bleeding. He sounded utterly surprised that Ye Chuqi had woken already, as though it had never occurred to him.

Ye Chuqi stood there smiling, toying with a black dagger. She looked as relaxed as if she had come out for a picnic, rather than been carried there by a stranger.

Ye Chuqi studied the man before her. He was wrapped in close-fitting black clothes, as though afraid anyone might miss the shady business he was up to. Yet that same outfit, together with his uncanny bearing, let him blend perfectly into the dark.

Black cloth covered his face. Apart from his eyes, even his forehead and ears were wrapped tight. She could not make out his features at all. Not a strand of hair showed.

Now this was a thief, nothing like Ed, who ran around in plain sight.

"How did you do it?" Once Gree had tended his wound, he stood at ease, speaking to Ye Chuqi as naturally as though they were making small talk.

Gree knew she could not be ordinary. The Red Wind Mercenary Group had sent her out as bait with only one little thief at her side and had seemed entirely at ease doing so. The Darkness Cage was not all-powerful. Even a high-level one would soon dissolve in sunlight, which was why he had rushed toward the Lost Forest. He knew the girl had been playing along to spring a trap. So had he.

He truly had not expected Ye Chuqi to strike halfway there. The wound at his waist reminded him again that this girl was anything but simple, and she had struck viciously. If he had not dodged quickly, the blade would have done far worse than leave a cut.

Breaking through Gree's Darkness Cage had been simple enough for Ye Chuqi. She had drawn on the Spiritual Power in her space and forced her way through the cage's restraints. She still could not sense the Darkness Cage clearly herself, but San San could.

Gree was a thief, after all. His perception of Magic Elements was not particularly sharp, much less his perception of Spiritual Power from an entirely different system.

Ye Chuqi smiled. "Guess."

Gree gave a cold laugh and wasted no more words on her. He had waited only to see whether help had arrived, giving her the nerve to reveal herself so suddenly. But no one was nearby. In the quiet night, there was only faint rustling: Magic Beasts watching from the shadows.

Rankings

Space stories

Transmigration and rebirth romance

Da Hei Loves Eating Fish