"Sorry I'm late." Facing the Giant Whale Gang members who had come outside town to greet him—though it was probably just a coincidence—Pan Long looked apologetic. "I stumbled upon a rare opportunity and trained in the mountains so long I lost track of time."
Ren Fengtao beamed. "A rare opportunity is a good thing! I'd love to find one that let me train for over a year in one stretch. Why would I complain? I'm just envious of you, brother!"
"Come on! We're throwing you a welcome feast today. We won't leave until we're drunk!"
Despite that, Pan Long did not touch a drop of Wine. Even when it came to food, he ate only mild dishes that would be difficult to poison.
He remembered that he was playing the role of "A-Fei, the lone swordsman." A-Fei spoke little, acted cautiously, and regarded the whole world with suspicion. He was certainly not the sort to eat and drink freely in a restaurant.
The Giant Whale Gang members had seen how he behaved before, so they thought nothing of it. But the servers kept glancing at him curiously. He sat at a banquet yet drank only water and ate food as plain as baked flatbread.
"We've spent the past two years searching for traces of that treasure, and we're now fairly certain we've found it." After several rounds of Wine and dishes, Ren Fengtao turned to business. "All we lack is the key token to open it. With your help, brother, we'll surely open the treasure on the Summer Solstice this year and see just what that great figure from a thousand years ago left behind."
Pan Long nodded. He hoped so too.
"Why are there so many people in town?" he asked.
"What you don't know, brother, is that someone