Riding in an open-top car felt pretty good when the hostages were being paraded through the streets, but it was a real pain on a rainy day.
Fortunately, there was no shortage of shelter from the rain among these abandoned factory buildings.
In the end, however, the leader did not let everyone scatter. Instead, he chose a very large factory building.
It covered nearly a thousand square meters and stood over ten meters tall. There was no telling what sort of workshop it had once been.
Remarkably, although part of the roof had collapsed, the four walls were largely intact. At least there was no crosswind.
Outside, the wind had already picked up, whipping sand and dust through the sky.
The building was too large for a crosswind to form, but drafts inevitably leaked in.
They could only shelter in the corners, with the three cars forming three relatively enclosed spaces.
Huddling together for warmth would have been better, but the guards from Liang's capital did not lack basic vigilance.
After all, in a place like the capital, conflicts of interest were far too numerous, and all manner of strange things could happen.
They only needed to hold out until the people from the Red Pine Martial Academy arrived. Why bother with any team building?
Dark clouds soon spread overhead, making the interior feel even gloomier.
"Chief, is there still time to turn back?" someone asked.
"This is nothing," the leader snorted. "Turn on the headlights!"
Ultimately, they belonged to the guard system and also had ties to the military, the main forces Great Liang relied on to fight the Weird Race.
If even they had to retreat when facing the Weird Race, Great Liang should have fallen long ago.
The headlights came on, forming three points of support. As the incandescent beams swept around, everyone felt considerably more at ease.
They had only just breathed a sigh of relief when a figure began moving about.
It was Wu Youren, searching everywhere for implements he could use.
He had already snapped that length of rebar into pieces and was now scouring the ground for nails, ball bearings, and the like.
He even collected a few shards of broken glass... along with some strands of fiber drifting in the wind.
He used a large bedsheet, washed pale, to gather these things.
He Wenhao felt the long string of throwing knives at his waist and could not help shaking his head. "Now that's real poverty."
Of all the people present, only Wu Youren was busy. Everyone else watched him as though watching a farce.
"Go gather some dry firewood," the guard leader ordered. "There's no telling how long we'll have to wait."
It was already late spring, approaching early summer, but a heavy rain would certainly bring a damp chill.
More importantly, this place was thick with Yin Qi. Lighting a fire could also deter the Weird Race from approaching to some extent.
Several guards set to work, while the hostages knew their place and stood quietly where they were.
The factory grounds were overgrown with weeds and even some low shrubs. Before long, they returned with plenty of firewood.
The three bonfires did not make the enormous building any warmer, but at least they made everyone feel considerably more secure.
Wu Youren had already gathered plenty of odds and ends. Under everyone's gaze, he began setting up mechanisms around them.
The hostages might have lacked discernment, but the guards had all seen something of the world.
They could tell at a glance that he was setting up some simple warning devices, along with extremely crude traps.
These odds and ends were barely different from rubbish, which made his arrangements quite an eyesore.
For instance, he stuck several shards of broken glass into the ground with their sharp edges pointing up-could that even be called a trap?
Even a Knight Apprentice stepping on them barefoot would suffer little harm. An ordinary person walking over them in shoes would simply trample them.
Still, everyone silently watched him fuss about, and no one stopped him.
After a long while, one guard spoke up. "Forget it... better than nothing."
He said it casually. Anyone who had never experienced war probably could not appreciate the weight of those words.
On the battlefield, anything that improved one's chances of survival, even by the slightest sliver, was precious beyond measure!
Still, no one went over to help. This was near Great Liang's capital. Even if there were a few scattered members of the Weird Race, how strong could they be?
Making elaborate preparations would not only feel like using an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken, but would also make them look cowardly.
One guard snorted disdainfully. "Are all people from Jin this timid?"
"Leave it," the guard leader said, shaking his head slightly. Since it benefited their situation and the other side was the one losing face, why quibble?
He also thought the young man was timid, but there were still merits to him. "Those methods... there seems to be something to them."
"His family are also prospective builders," said a guard who had overheard the hostages' conversation.
"Heh." The leader chuckled and said nothing more, but inwardly he muttered, This isn't a builder's handiwork.
He offered no explanation simply because he did not want to hand such knowledge to a hostage from an enemy country.
Hearing this, Feng Qianjun quietly committed the assessment to memory: this man could handle related matters in the future.
Before long, a flash of lightning lit up the sky, dazzling even inside the building.
Several more flashes followed, with rumbling thunder rolling in after them.
When the raindrops began pattering down, Wu Youren was still setting up mechanisms.
"That's enough," He Wenhao called to him. "Come over and wait."
The rain had already started and would soon interfere with their hearing.
He did not think any of the Weird Race would appear here. After keeping busy for so long, the man could take a rest.
Even if one really did appear... setting up so many mechanisms only to have one of the Weird Race exploit the opening would make him a laughingstock.
Behind this car stood the three Liang guards assigned to it, all in relaxed postures.
The one who also served as the driver was the most relaxed of all, sitting comfortably on the hood with a cigarette between his lips.
Compared with the guards' laxness, He Wenhao was fairly cautious. His arms were folded, with his right hand resting at his waist, ready to draw his dagger at any moment.
In barely a dozen seconds, the rain grew heavy. Outside, the rushing water merged into a continuous roar, as though a small river were flowing.
The roof was damaged too. Besides several cracks, there were a few large gaps through which unbroken curtains of rain came streaming down.
A dozen minutes later, there really was a small river flowing: the water on the ground had gathered into streams.
"Fuck," one guard could not help muttering. "Now those Red Pine bastards have an excuse to come late."
"We can still turn back," someone else replied. "We'd just have to wade through the water."
"Why would we turn back? Wait for the rain to stop," the leader said unhappily. "Those Red Pine people... they even dare slight matters of foreign relations!"
Another dozen minutes passed. The rain became much quieter, but it kept falling.
Another hour passed, and the rain still had not stopped. They were running low on the firewood they had gathered.
"This damned weather," the leader muttered. "Turn off the headlights. Save some power."
Going out to gather firewood was no longer realistic, and they also needed to conserve the off-road vehicles' fuel.
Two more hours passed. The rain grew lighter still but did not stop, and the last bonfire gradually died down.
"Fuck, we might end up freezing," a guard muttered. "We'd better not spend the night here."
Passing through a place like this during the day was fine, but late at night... besides getting poor rest, they really might encounter a little trouble.
With the vigorous blood Qi of over a dozen people, even if there were none of the Weird Race nearby, they might draw some from farther away.
Near Tianjing, that possibility was extremely small, but it did exist.
The driver who had been sitting on the hood had long since climbed down. He muttered softly, "Even without the rain, it'd be nearly nightfall."
Then he looked at Wu Youren. "Go check those mechanisms of yours. See if any have stopped working."
Inside Jin Garden, the guards had no authority to order the hostages to do this or that. They could only forbid them from doing things.
But now that they were outside, he gave orders quite freely.
Wu Youren did not quibble over it. He walked ahead and checked around.
One mechanism really had been affected by the rain washing over it. He fixed it with a slight adjustment.
Just as he was making his final check, he suddenly felt an inexplicable palpitation.
The next instant, he noticed that all three guards in his group had turned their gazes toward him.
The light inside the warehouse was extremely dim, and the cars only had their sidelights on, but he still sensed it keenly.
There was little unusual in the guards' eyes, but the fact that they had all turned their heads already said something.
Of the three guards, one was a Knight and two were Knight Apprentices. The former, in particular, was hardly likely to be that bored.
Whether it was his imagination or not, Wu Youren suddenly felt a chill down his back.
The Weird-Repelling Jue hanging against his skin at his waist also began to tremble faintly.
Without thinking, he flung the two iron nails in his hand behind him with a backhand throw, darting diagonally forward.
His movements were extremely light and utterly silent, like a wildcat pouncing.
Then he changed direction and darted again, his footfalls still very faint. Deliberately or otherwise, he also kicked a small stone off the ground.
The stone silently struck a sheet of iron nearby-one he had placed earlier to serve as an alarm.
The sheet was very thin and badly rusted, yet the little stone did not pierce it. It merely produced a dull sound.
The sound was not particularly loud, only faintly rising above the rustle of the drizzle, but it was enough.
The next instant, he darted in the opposite direction from the sheet of iron. By the time he landed, he had turned around with the movement.
To his astonishment, he discovered a faint mass of black shadow behind him, twisting in an exaggerated fashion.
The shadow was very faint, and with the warehouse so dark, it was easy to overlook or dismiss as a trick of the eyes.
Notably, the shadow resembled mist, but also something like a cloud of locusts, its shape shifting elusively.
"What is this?" The two iron nails Wu Youren had thrown earlier had already fallen to the ground. They could not possibly harm something in this form.
Without hesitation, he drew his wooden sword and circulated his internal breath. At the same time, he abruptly dropped to the ground and rolled backward several times.
This was one of the spots he had already chosen, with no mechanisms set up there.
"Just a Night-Wandering Grade Qi Weird," the guard driver snorted disdainfully, raising his hand and firing twice in succession.
(Monday-let's make a push for the new book rankings. Three thousand words a chapter, two updates. Please keep reading, vote, and add the book to your collection.)