Chapter 236: Something’s Off

Zheng Fan rose to his feet and shot Miss Su a hateful glare.

To be fair, perhaps it really was true that once there were enough birds, every kind of forest would eventually appear.

This woman very obviously was not particularly bright.

Then again, perhaps it was because she had been assigned to carry out a “public-facing” mission, so her actual field competence simply wasn’t very strong. As far as Zheng Fan knew, when the State of Qian’s court sent “wives and concubines” to powerful officials and nobles, both sides generally maintained a tacit understanding about what was really going on.

Still, he did not know whether the Blind Man had subtly influenced Miss Su’s emotions with his mental power earlier.

Given the Blind Man’s cautious nature, he probably had not dared make a move at a time like this. Gesang’s strength was clearly troublesome, and any rash little trick might easily attract his attention.

After getting up, Zheng Fan rubbed the left side of his waistband with one hand, making a gesture every man understood, then turned and walked in the direction Hero Chen had left earlier.

To outsiders, it looked as if he simply could not stand looking at Miss Su for another moment.

Yao Zizhan tried to smooth things over.

“To put it in the dialect from my hometown, the dumbest batch in the Silver-Armored Guard are the ones they send out to become other people’s wives. This woman has a melon for a brain, Brother Gesang. Don’t lower yourself to her level.”

Gesang still gave Yao Zizhan face.

He walked back, sat down again, crossed his legs, and began meditating.

A’Tong and A’Mu, meanwhile, knowingly left the area to stand watch farther out.

The Blind Man and the others gathered around Helian Baozhu, keeping distinctly to themselves from Yao Zizhan’s side, as though well water and river water did not mix.

Meanwhile, Zheng Fan walked quite a distance before finally spotting Hero Chen standing alone.

Hero Chen’s shoulders were uneven, the left higher than the right.

“After we leave the mountains, come to Shengle City. I’ll have San’er make you a new prosthetic,” Zheng Fan said.

Hero Chen turned to look at him.

He frowned and asked, “You were promoted?”

“Mm. I don’t live in a chicken coop anymore. I’m the City Defender of an entire city now, with several thousand troops under me.”

Hero Chen nodded.

“Congratulations.”

“No need to be polite. We’re friends.”

“You earned the merit in Qian?”

“Yes.”

“Sigh.”

Hero Chen sighed.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I’m here?”

Hero Chen shook his head.

“Don’t want to.”

“That isn’t your style.”

“What was my old style supposed to be? Draw my sword and kill you right now?”

“Heh.”

Zheng Fan took out a small iron box, removed a cigarette, then lit it with a fire striker.

He took a drag and blew out a smoke ring.

After hesitating for a moment, he said, “I came for the Helian Clan’s treasure vault.”

“You’re here to seize something that belongs to the Jin people. It has nothing to do with me. I only need to ensure Mr. Yao’s safety.”

“He’s a great literary master. I’m not going to do anything to him. I’m only after money. You know how it is—feeding several thousand men costs a fortune.”

“You don’t need to explain yourself so thoroughly to me. I once promised to kill three people for you. You already said that helping conceal your identity this time counts as one of those killings. So you have two names left.”

Zheng Fan reached out and draped an arm over Hero Chen’s shoulder.

Hero Chen turned his head and glanced at it.

“Take it off.”

Zheng Fan awkwardly withdrew his arm.

“Why so serious?”

“Yan and Qian cannot coexist.”

“Too narrow-minded. Look at you—too narrow-minded. You need to change the angle from which you view things.

“Suppose several hundred years from now, some new unified dynasty like the old Great Xia is established.

“Do you know how people in that era will look back at the wars between Yan and Qian, or Yan and Jin?”

“How?”

“Ethnic integration. Communication and mutual understanding between the peoples of Yan and Qian, Yan and Jin.”

The corner of Hero Chen’s mouth twitched.

He spat out two words.

“Bullshit.”

Zheng Fan laughed and flicked away some ash.

“Still, I have to admit, when I saw you show up just now, I was actually pleasantly surprised.”

“There was actually something pleasant about it?”

“Of course. It’s been quite a while since we last met. I really did miss you a little.”

Hero Chen sighed.

“Why are you sighing?”

“You’ve spent too long in Jin.”

“…”

Zheng Fan.

“Well, look at you. You can crack jokes now?”

“I’ve been following Mr. Yao around lately. I do seem to have become a little better at talking than before.”

“That’s good. Keep it up. Look at that old man. When he was young, he was probably the kind of bastard who could sleep his way through an entire street without paying a coin. The girls might even have paid him afterward.”

Hero Chen fell silent.

“All right, let’s leave it there.”

Zheng Fan flicked the cigarette butt onto the ground.

“You still have two names. Who do you want me to kill?”

“Who?”

“For example, Gesang.”

“You can beat him?” Zheng Fan asked curiously.

“His Grade should be roughly the same as mine. But I’m a swordsman. In a one-on-one fight, it shouldn’t be a major problem.”

Zheng Fan immediately shook his head.

“The Sword Saint of Jin thought something similar a while ago.”

“Tian Wujing is different. Besides, how many Tian Wujings are there in this world?”

“Mm. That sounds almost like you’re a Tian Wujing fanboy.”

“Fanboy? The kind you put in soup?”

“Close enough.

“As for the two remaining names, don’t take them too seriously. Back then, I only made that agreement because you came out of nowhere and hacked at me like a madman, nearly cut me to pieces, and then I still had to swallow my anger and save your life. I felt a little unbalanced, so I demanded something in return.

“And at the time, weren’t you making a fuss about wanting to kill yourself? If I hadn’t asked something of you, you wouldn’t have been able to accept being rescued either.

“This time, just pretending you don’t know us is enough to settle the matter. Like you said, you’re from Qian and I’m from Yan. Our two states just fought a war. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to keep troubling you.

“Just remember to come to Shengle City once we leave the mountains. Get that prosthetic replaced first. Then we’ll have a meal and drink together. After that, whether you want to return to Qian or wander the world is up to you.”

Hero Chen nodded.

Easy to coax.

So very easy to coax.

Zheng Fan felt that this was exactly why he liked making friends with honest people.

Wouldn’t the world be wonderful if everyone in it were honest?

“All right. Let’s head back. You return first. I’ll go afterward. We should go separately.”

Hero Chen turned and started walking back.

But after only a couple of steps, he suddenly stopped.

He raised his head toward the mountain in the north—

Geda Mountain.

Zheng Fan looked in the same direction and saw a string of firelight appear halfway up the slope.

“Are they celebrating some kind of Torch Festival?” Zheng Fan muttered.

Then the flames grew larger and spread wider.

Gradually, they began rolling across one section after another.

The mountain was on fire!

Geda Mountain was under attack.

And the attackers had set the place ablaze!

Hero Chen immediately turned toward Zheng Fan and asked outright, “You brought troops?”

“Heh. If I’d brought troops, would I need to sneak away in the middle of the night under the excuse of taking a piss just to reminisce with you?”

If my army were here, I wouldn’t care whether it was the Silver-Armored Guard, Gesang, A’Tong, A’Mu, or whoever else.

I’d simply wrap the whole lot of you up in one net.

Why the hell would I need to smile and pretend?

When Zheng Fan and Hero Chen returned to the campfire, they found that the fire had already been extinguished.

Fan Li had placed Helian Baozhu on his shoulders.

Gesang clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

“We retreat. Head south!”

Geda Mountain lay to the north.

Yet Gesang wanted to move south.

His meaning was obvious.

Judging by the scale of the fire, the stronghold on Geda Mountain had clearly already been breached.

Heaven knew how many enemies were up there.

At a time like this, shouting about returning to rescue the settlement would be the stupidest possible choice.

There was an overwhelming chance it would simply mean running back to die.

A’Tong and A’Mu’s eyes were bloodshot, but they still immediately obeyed Gesang’s order and began packing up.

Their parents were still in the stronghold.

“The Young Master’s safety comes first. Withdraw!”

Gesang gave the order again and took the lead.

This time, even Yao Zizhan did not ride in his cart.

He ran with everyone else.

No one knew exactly how long they fled before Gesang finally signaled for them to stop.

He pointed toward a cave ahead.

“We rest here. A’Tong, A’Mu—you two stand watch.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

Fan Li set Helian Baozhu down.

The girl leaned against him.

It was deep into the night, and a child could not endure staying awake that long. She had already drifted into a hazy sleep.

That in turn made Fan Li’s eyelids begin drooping too.

Yao Zizhan crouched on the ground, gasping for breath and coughing from time to time.

At that moment, Miss Su glanced at Gesang.

She hesitated, then still said, “It was the Yan people.”

“Impossible,” Zheng Fan rejected immediately.

“Three days ago, we encountered Yan’s Secret Intelligence Department. We killed them all, then immediately met up with A’Tong and A’Mu. We traveled almost without rest for three days straight and only arrived here today.

“Even if the Yan people picked up our trail and mobilized troops to come after us, they could only be behind us.

“They could not possibly have overtaken us and attacked the stronghold before we arrived.”

Most importantly—

I’m the commander of the Yan troops in Shengle City!

Yao Zizhan finally seemed to have caught his breath.

“If it wasn’t the Yan people, could it have been wild savages from the surrounding area?”

Gesang immediately shook his head.

“We’ve spent years maintaining relations with the wild-savage settlements nearby, and we have people planted among quite a few of them.

“First, they could not suddenly gather together and attack Geda Mountain without warning.

“Second, even if they did attack, I only came down the mountain this morning to meet you. The earliest the enemy could have gone up the mountain would have been around noon.

“In barely half a day, they couldn’t possibly break through the stronghold.

“Unless…”

“Unless what?” Yao Zizhan pressed immediately.

“They’re regular troops,” Gesang answered.

Anyone who had seen savages fight understood what their combat ability looked like.

It was one thing for the unified State of Jin to beat them down repeatedly in the old days.

But even after the Three Clans divided Jin, the savages still continued getting beaten down all the same.

“Troops… from the State of Dacheng?” Yao Zizhan asked in disbelief.

Zheng Fan was equally astonished.

What the hell kind of situation was this?

He had originally thought he’d simply stumbled upon news of the treasure vault through sheer luck.

But now forces from Yan, Qian, and Dacheng had all stuck their hands into the affair?

Just then, the Blind Man’s voice suddenly sounded in Zheng Fan’s mind.

“Master, move closer to the cave entrance!”

“What is it?”

As he asked, Zheng Fan tugged irritably at his sleeves as though feeling overheated and stormed toward the cave mouth to get some air.

“There are quite a few people closing in from outside.

“There’s something wrong with Gesang!”

At that exact moment, Fan Li, who seemed to have been dozing, suddenly opened his eyes.

Still half asleep, he muttered, “Oh. There’s something wrong with Gesang.”

“…”

The Blind Man.

“…”

Zheng Fan.

“…”

Gesang.

[End of Chapter 236]