Hearing hoofbeats outside, Xiao Fan and Liu Yun exchanged a glance and carefully hid among the bushes.
With no way to tell whether the newcomers were friends or foes, the best choice would have been to leave immediately after the rescue. But Liu Yun's wounds made moving him inadvisable, so they had stayed.
The clatter of hooves soon stopped, and a crowd of mercenaries poured in.
Xiao Fan quietly peered through a gap in the bushes. "Their clothes don't look like those of desert bandits, either." With the wound in his abdomen, Liu Yun could only lie flat, leaving Xiao Fan to quietly survey the newcomers.
With such uniform clothing and disciplined command, they hardly looked like men who had sunk to desert banditry.
Once the newcomers came fully into Xiao Fan's view, Liu Yun struggled to speak. "I wonder whether it's our commander and the others coming back, or those Sand Thieves."
Xiao Fan looked toward the crowd. Leading them was a burly man carrying a large saber. He stood a head taller than the others, his clothes stretched tight over his muscles. The powerful muscles of his upper body bulged beneath the fabric, giving him an imposing presence.
The muscular man looked at the corpses strewn across the ground, grief and fury crossing his face. He told the mercenaries around him, "Everyone, check whether any of our brothers can still be saved."
The men turned over bodies and checked them. One sharp-faced mercenary ran up to the muscular man and said, "Commander, we haven't found any sign of Fourth Brother."
Just then, Liu Yun excitedly told Xiao Fan, "That settles it. It really is our leader and the others. Brother Xiao, sorry for the trouble, but could you call out for me?"
At Liu Yun's words, Xiao Fan