"Here's the fat guy... no, the Elder... no, is that the Doctor?"
"Meow!"
"So this is the fat guy... and the Elder?"
"Meow!"
"The fat guy and the Elder are together?"
"Meow!"
The black cat tail swished beneath the robe. Zheng Qing stood up and turned to Jiang Yu. "That's roughly the situation... What do you think? Which way should we go first?"
Jiang Yu frowned at the two dog-paw prints on the crude map. The cat ears amid her hair unconsciously twitched outward, and a troubled expression appeared on her face.
Whether it was Xiao Xiao or the fat guy and Zhang Jixin, neither was close to them. If they had everyone gather in the Bewitching Forest, the journey would definitely take a great deal of time.
"Let's rendezvous around the Doctor."
The witch finally gave her suggestion, raising one finger. "First, the distances between all three parties are about the same. But from our perspective, most of the route to the Doctor's location is within our observable range, so the danger is manageable. For now, we can't observe the mountainous area where the Elder and the fat guy are."
"Neither the forest nor the mountains is the best place to gather." Zheng Qing nodded, agreeing with the witch's assessment.
Jiang Yu raised a second finger and continued her analysis. "Second, according to the information Maodou provided, the Doctor is currently alone, while the rest of us are in pairs. Comparatively speaking, whether it's us or the fat guy and the Elder, traveling together is safer and lets us bear the risks of a long journey."
"Third, this place isn't safe." Zheng Qing glanced at the dead rat on the ground, blood still gushing from its neck, then looked back at the pitch-black Oak Forest. "...My instincts tell me