Wu Youren had been dragged into this for no reason, and he found it rather baffling.
It was probably out of jealousy, but to act like this over a "possible ability user"-that sort of narrow-mindedness was really...
He could not be bothered to think any further about the other party. He reached for the large backpack on the three-wheeled motorcycle-as if he actually wanted to stay.
Then he glanced at Luo Xi, giving him a questioning look: Aren't you leaving?
Luo Xi shook his head and returned a helpless look: You go. I can't leave.
He still wanted to join Red Pine, and the people over there were his future colleagues at the martial academy.
It would have been one thing if he had never come, but if he left now, he could only hope those colleagues all died.
This time, Wu Youren really did leave, heading back along the road without the slightest hesitation.
The road was still muddy, but that did not matter. The real issue was that he had not slept all night, and he was getting drowsy.
But he really did not dare sleep, because this place gave him a very uncomfortable feeling.
Earlier, he had vaguely sensed something watching their group, which was why he had reacted, only to end up being targeted.
That feeling of being watched had not entirely vanished even now, though it was much better.
Over a hundred kilometers of mountain road... Wu Youren yawned as he worked out how to ration his stamina.
The road was wet and slippery, so running was out of the question. It would consume too much stamina; he could only walk briskly.
Stopping to rest and eat was inadvisable, too. He could only eat as he walked.
He had to cover at least ninety kilometers and get past this stretch of mountain road before he would be relatively safe.
But sometimes, when the roof leaked, the rain just had to last all night. He had been walking for less than an hour when it began raining again.
Knight Luo Xi's earlier joke had actually come true.
Fortunately, today's rain was light, a soft, steady drizzle.
Wu Youren put on his raincoat and hat, then quickened his pace through the rain.
The spring chill bit in the mountains, and a light rain was falling, yet he walked until sweat covered his body.
After another half hour or more, he felt increasingly drowsy, and he happened to pass a small mountain village.
The village was over a kilometer from the main road, with a mountain gully in between.
The fine threads of rain obscured his view, and he could not tell whether anyone was in the village.
Without any hesitation, he kept hurrying onward-this place still felt unsafe.
After another ten minutes or so, his communicator watch actually rang. Luo Xi was contacting him. "You didn't stop to rest in the village?"
Had he caught up? Wu Youren was not quite sure what was going on, so he replied, "It didn't feel very safe."
"Wait for me," Luo Xi said before ending the call on his communicator watch. "Just keep following the mountain road."
Wu Youren checked his surroundings with his senses. Feeling no additional danger, he continued hurrying forward.
Six or seven minutes later, the roar of a motorcycle came from behind. Sure enough, that three-wheeler had caught up.
Luo Xi was careful this time, too, releasing a trace of battle qi toward Wu Youren.
Once the check confirmed nothing was wrong, the two climbed aboard and continued onward.
They were not driving fast, but it was still much better than groping their way along in the middle of the night.
Wu Youren asked, "What about them?"
"Don't even mention it," Luo Xi replied bitterly. "Fog rolled in not long after you left."
Not long after the fog appeared, he lost contact with the six stranded people. Never mind seeing them-even their communicator watches could not connect.
They tried all sorts of methods, but the flash flood did not stop. Instead, the current grew increasingly fierce.
With the terrain unclear as well, no one dared wade into the water to rescue them.
After waiting for nearly an hour without managing to contact them at all, the boy in white issued a warning: members of the Weird Race had appeared nearby.
The moment Luo Xi heard that, he climbed onto his motorcycle without another word, turned around, and made himself scarce.
When he left, the other party still tried to stop him, saying, "How are you going to explain yourself when you get back if you don't get to the bottom of this?"
The people stranded over there were from his Red Pine Martial Academy!
But Luo Xi's stance was equally clear: he had not come to Suotu Town on an official academy assignment.
Strictly speaking, even the two previous groups sent to Suotu had not been on academy assignments.
They had not even gone through the instructors' internal mission system. This could basically be considered private work!
Since he was already there, lending a hand was only natural.
But the others had lost contact, he had waited an hour, and now he had learned that members of the Weird Race had appeared nearby. If he did not pull out now, what was he waiting for?
He had already sent a warning to the academy, which completed his part. Then he casually switched off his communicator watch.
He was in the mountains, after all. Poor reception on his communicator watch was perfectly normal, wasn't it?
The convoy, however, had stayed in Suotu-they had a proper assignment to investigate the situation in Suotu Town.
Hearing this, Wu Youren could not help asking, "The military should be pretty strong, shouldn't it?"
"Military, my ass," Luo Xi snorted. "They're from the Intelligence Agency. Otherwise, they'd have commandeered us."
Clearly unwilling to discuss those people further, he sighed. "The world's getting more and more chaotic... Let's head to that Rust Zone you mentioned."
Wu Youren had long known that the people of Great Liang were relatively lax in their organization-though Great Jin did not seem much better.
Still, he could not help asking, "You're not going back to the academy to explain?"
"The gatekeeper casually assigned it. Why bother with him?" Luo Xi replied dismissively. "We've already been to Suotu, right?"
There was something else he left unsaid: If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have given that fellow the time of day.
Wu Youren also knew perfectly well that Luo Xi had been dragged into this, so he said nothing more.
But he was still somewhat puzzled: With Liang's martial artists this undisciplined, how had Great Jin lost that battle back then?
Could this be an azure-blue world, too?
After they traveled a while longer, Luo Xi's attention slipped, and the three-wheeler nearly tipped over. He yawned and said he was getting sleepy.
"Shall we rest at yesterday's supply point?"
He had not slept since leaving home yesterday morning.
"Teach me to ride the motorcycle," Wu Youren replied. "I feel we'll only be relatively safe once we're out of the mountains."
Another hour later, they passed yesterday's supply point. The motorcycle did not stop at all, continuing straight on.
There were more people sheltering from the rain there, and they found it rather surprising. "That motorcycle's really going all out, huh?"
The weapons shop owner frowned. "That vehicle... isn't it the one from yesterday?"
Five or six minutes later, another convoy arrived. Sure enough, it was the other group that had left yesterday.
Someone got out to ask whether anyone had seen yesterday's people. Upon learning that the motorcycle had not stopped, they drove off in pursuit again.
The weapons shop owner was truly baffled. "What on earth happened?"
The convoy eventually caught up with the three-wheeler, honking frantically.
Luo Xi ignored them completely and continued racing along on the motorcycle.
"Tch. Four cars and three motorcycles, and now they're down to two cars and one motorcycle. That's what happens when you don't listen."
However, their vehicles performed somewhat better than the three-wheeled motorcycle, and they managed to pull alongside it.
The female martial artist rolled down her window. "Slow down. Don't you two need a rest?"
"The mountains aren't safe," Luo Xi's muffled voice came from inside his helmet. "If you want to rest, suit yourselves."
After three hours of racing desperately onward, both groups finally rushed out of the mountains.
There were still some hills outside, but things were much better. After another ten minutes or so of fast travel, Luo Xi stopped.
"No, I really can't hold on any longer. There are a few little houses over there. Let's go in and rest."
The houses were abandoned and none were large, but they had eaves beneath which they could park the motorcycle.
The two stopped there to rest, and the convoy stopped as well-everyone was at their limit.
Wu Youren began setting various traps inside and outside the house. Even during a brief rest, he would not let his guard down.
The convoy occupied another house. The boy in white... was carried out of the vehicle.
The female Knight did not go inside. She stood beneath the eaves, watching Wu Youren bustle about.
"If there's nothing else, I'm going to get some sleep," Luo Xi said with a yawn. "Hold out for an hour first."
He had been the one riding the motorcycle for over a day. It had not only consumed a great deal of energy, but had also been extremely wearing.
He ignored the female Knight and did not ask what had happened afterward, either, lest he invite trouble upon himself.
But the female Knight would not leave him alone. "Having a child set up traps-you really have no shame!"
Luo Xi rolled his eyes at her. "At least this child's still lively and kicking, instead of needing to be carried!"
He had originally intended to build a good relationship with her, but that did not mean he could not get by without her.
Since the woman had tacitly permitted the boy in white's arrogance, he naturally had his own choices to make.
The female Knight did not take issue with his words. People from the Intelligence Agency had long grown accustomed to every face of humanity.
"This child's precognitive ability really is quite good... What happened earlier was just a misunderstanding. I didn't even take it to heart!"
Luo Xi had wanted to rest, but watching them carry three people out in succession, how could he sleep?
"Heavy losses?"
"Lost five, and another four are wounded..." the female Knight said flatly. "You two certainly ran fast!"
"Fuck," Luo Xi said, his hair standing on end. He was not the least bit sleepy anymore. "What was that thing over there?"
The female Knight rolled her eyes at him. "Are you sure you want to ask?"
"I won't," Luo Xi replied decisively. After a pause, he could not help speaking again. "Aren't you afraid it'll follow us?"
Many members of the Weird Race were fiercely vindictive. Once provoked, they were very hard to shake.
"We still have to rest a little," the female Knight replied casually. "Don't you two also think this place is fairly safe?"
"He told me to at least get out of the mountains," Luo Xi said seriously. "Now I want to sleep a little."
Knights had a strong capacity for short-term recovery, far surpassing ordinary people.
With just an hour's sleep, he could keep going for another full day and night.
"What is his... ability?" The female Knight finally could not hold back.
Luo Xi yawned, ignored her, and went straight back inside to sleep.
As Wu Youren worked, he heard every word of their conversation clearly, but had no interest in joining in.
He spent half an hour setting dozens of traps.
The female Knight watched him work with great interest. She had been drowsy before, but now she was somewhat less sleepy.
The Intelligence Agency's martial artists faced all kinds of dangerous situations year-round. They were no strangers to traps, nor did they lack experts.
She could recognize his skill at setting traps, and it genuinely surprised her.
She had seen plenty of trap experts, but he was only a teenage boy-what sort of family could have trained someone like him?
After holding out for twenty minutes, she decided to sleep in the car for a while. Unexpectedly, someone woke her very soon afterward.
"There's movement over there."