South Mountain Mine

Beneath South Mountain Mine, it felt even more like a lair than it did above.

When the stone Gate opened, they found not a Mine Tunnel but rows of low stone huts. The roofs pressed down close overhead, oil lamps hung on the walls, and their flames stretched everyone's shadows long and thin across the damp stone.

Even more people were imprisoned here.

There were children brought in by the Ghost Carriage, Rogue Soul Masters lured by fake Soul Bones, and several ordinary people dressed as miners. They had been separated into different huts, iron cuffs fastened around their wrists. Each cuff bore the mark of Blood-Pattern Incense.

Among them were several companions the gray-clad boy's sister had mentioned.

At the sight of the Spirit Hall Deacon, the little girl shrank into a corner. Only when Xiao Wu crouched down and described her brother did she burst into tears.

Xiao Wu held her and gently patted her back.

It was such a gentle motion.

She was usually loud, and she fought without hesitation, but when it came to comforting a child, she knew exactly what to do. The girl sobbed so hard she could barely breathe, so Xiao Wu let her bury her face against her shoulder and muttered with feigned annoyance, "Go on, cry. Once you're done, remember to tell your brother I saved you. Maybe then he'll stop running errands for bad people."

The girl didn't understand the joke. She only clung tighter.

Watching them, Tang San felt his heart soften a little.

He knew what Xiao Wu feared.

The Ghost Face Society was after Blue Silver Emperor Blood, and that trail had already led dangerously close to them. If those people ever uncovered Xiao Wu's secret too, Tang San couldn't bear to imagine what he would do.