"How odd, doing such a provocative gesture doesn't fit your cautious character. What's the purpose behind it?"
When Qing Chen and Li Shutong regathered in the woods, the latter asked curiously.
Qing Chen explained, "I'm worried they'll run away. If I fail to aggravate and push them to chase me, then my plan may not work."
"Oh," Li Shutong nodded, "that makes sense."
As the pair of master and disciple walked side by side, the atmosphere turned much more relaxed at once, as if this place was an ordinary forest instead of a Forbidden Land.
"By the way, Teacher," Qing Chen asked, "Have those wilderness people come in?"
"Only the ones from the Firepit. Judging from their current route, they're heading straight to the hinterland. With the way they suddenly appeared, I feel like there's a high probability they're also targeting Qing Huai," said Li Shutong.
"For Qing Huai?"
"You're certainly not the only candidate who wants to kill him," Li Shutong explained, "Maybe someone from the Qing Family exchanged conditions with the Firepit and asked them to get rid of Qing Huai. But this is the norm, if you and Qing Huai were the only ones fighting, it wouldn't be like a Fight for the Shadow."
"Does the federation also have a connection with the wilderness people?" Qing Chen was puzzled.
"Of course. As long as there are interests, no cooperation is impossible," answered Li Shutong.
Qing Chen looked at Li Shutong and asked, "What did that Firepit elder mean when he talked about a reward from god? From the tone of his voice, it seems like there's a real benefit to it? Does their god really exist?"
Li Shutong glanced back at him, "How the god will reward him is his god's business. In the future, if he wants to kill you in exchange for a reward, what you can do is to let him meet his god… But of course, my relationship with the Firepit is actually pretty good.”
Qing Chen, "…"
Li Shutong then took out a sealed pouch. "Take it and go do your business. But beware, since you've used this method to attack them, you must prevent your own waste from being found."
"Okay." Qing Chen went aside to relieve himself.
As he came back with the sealed pouch, thinking about where to bury it, his eyes suddenly shifted to his teacher.
It instantly disgusted Li Shutong. "Get away from me, I won't help you take care of that."
Qing Chen solemnly said, "But no matter where I hide this thing, it won't be as safe as leaving it with you. A teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime — in my heart, I've already treated you as my father, and you also say that you treat me as a son. How can a father disdain his own son?"
"What reasonable words," Li Shutong stared straight at him, "Can I take back what I said before about taking you as my son?"
"I'm afraid it's too late," rejected Qing Chen.
Li Shutong sighed and pointed to the crown of a big tree, "Throw it up."
Qing Chen didn't know what for, but he did as instructed.
When the pouch flew up, a small furry paw actually stretched out from the top of the tree to catch it.
The tree immediately shook, and the furry little animal hiding in it rushed all the way to the hinterland. Qing Chen could vaguely see its proportionately huge white tail.
His curiosity was sparked, "Teacher, what animal is that?"
"You'll find out later," Li Shutong replied.
The boy squinted at his teacher, suddenly realizing that not only did he possess absolute immunity from the rules in Forbidden Land No. 002, he also seemed to have many strange friends.
Was this how the home ground of the Knights worked?
"By the way," Li Shutong said, "you have to be careful about Cao Wei, that person by Qing Huai's side."
"Oh?" Qing Chen was taken aback. His teacher even knew the name Cao Wei, it seemed that he had really investigated all the necessary details before coming to assassinate them.
"I read his information, he's a skilled expert, far more difficult to deal with than Qing Huai," Li Shutong continued, "I feel like that guy is biding his time, waiting for you to make a mistake."
"Thank you for the warning." Qing Chen glanced at Li Shutong, "I'll go on then?"
"Go, go," Li Shutong waved him off.
He looked at Qing Chen's back, and a sentence came into his mind: parents would constantly watch over their children's backs as they gradually moved forward and further away.
He should be a qualified master, right?
This was the first time he had taken a disciple, so he was always a little worried that he couldn't be a good master.
He hesitated for a while, but finally decided to be willful, "How about I help you directly kill them? You can consider it a gift from your teacher."
However, Qing Chen quickly turned around, stared at Li Shutong and spoke, "Teacher."
"Huh?" Li Shutong was stunned for a moment.
"This time, I said I would first try it by myself not because of my stubbornness," the boy calmly explained, "A child who walks supported by others will grow slower than their peers. I know that you'll be leaving to do a very dangerous mission soon. You know how dangerous it will be, so you brought me to meet Li Yinuo, to let me know who to look for should I meet any trouble in the future. You also brought me to kill Qing Huai, to help me eliminate an obstacle in the Fight for the Shadow. Then you did everything you could to help me hide my identity, for fear that I would be implicated by you."
"I was thinking that although what you plan to do next might be extremely challenging, if I grow up fast enough, I might be able to help you when the time comes."
"In your eyes, this master-disciple relationship might look like a shackle to me, but I've never once thought so," Qing Chen told him.
The boy stood in the middle of the dark woods. Although he hadn't known Li Shutong for a very long time, and they didn't even have any blood relation, he knew who was genuinely kind to him.
Li Shutong remained rooted to the spot, the words uttered by the boy echoing in his head. If I grow up fast enough, I might be able to help you when the time comes.
No wonder the boy spared no effort to train even when he returned to the Outside World; it turned out he was racing against time.
Li Shutong smiled and waved his hand, "What nonsense are you talking about, hurry up and go."
"Alright," Qing Chen walked into the woods.
…
Inside the woods, Cao Wei was personally cutting the clothes of a dead soldier, leaving no layer intact.
Just as he cut open the corpse's shirt, a six-winged insect suddenly flew out from the lapels.
Sharp-eyed and quick-handed, Cao Wei threw the dagger in his hand.
With a thud, the six-winged insect the length of a finger was nailed to the ground.
Normally, this type of insect would not attack creatures much larger than them. The venom in their bodies was used to hunt other insects.
Only those who violated the rules of this Forbidden Land would be attacked.
Cao Wei pulled out his dagger and coldly said, "Stop talking about unscientific stuff among yourselves. What killed them was the six-winged insect, not demons or ghosts."
The expressions of the soldiers slightly eased at the discovery.
Cao Wei glanced at Qing Huai, "Sir Qing Huai, how about I bring two combat teams to chase that person?"
"No need," Qing Huai calmly shook his head. "The most urgent thing now is to properly store the sealed pouches we discarded earlier. Tell the soldiers to dig out all the pouches and carry them in their bags. Rashly chasing after him will only lead us right into his trap."
Translator: Zee
