Back then, it was indeed Hong Yan who had witnessed the debt... Facing the youth, Sister Hua forcefully suppressed her killing intent, searching for possible reasons.
She had an intuition that there might be gaps in her understanding.
Yet at this moment, she had no wish to overthink it. She merely sneered coldly, "Firing a shot just to say that? Let's go!"
No matter how fierce your bluster, you still didn't dare make a move, did you? Who are you trying to bluff!
The three motorcycles banked slightly and drove off, leaving him behind.
Seeing Sister Hua's sour expression, the others didn't dare say anything.
Only after quite a while did a middle-aged knight speak up. "Hua'er, who was that?"
Sister Hua fell silent for a few seconds before slowly uttering three words: "Wu Youren."
The middle-aged knight thought for a moment, then realized, asking in astonishment, "That Jin hostage?"
He instinctively glanced back; in the distance, the youth's figure was growing smaller and smaller.
"Holy shit..." an apprentice knight couldn't help muttering. "He fucking dared to shoot at us?"
An older one spoke in a muffled tone, "A hostage who is permitted to carry a gun!"
Whether a hostage could carry a gun and whether they would be held accountable—they knew better than anyone.
"Hah," the middle-aged knight let out a breath. "That whole tax exemption thing—he was the one who proposed it?"
He didn't even feel comfortable saying the words "knight tax exemption" out loud, lest gossips wag their tongues.
Working in intelligence, they understood the sensitivity of such matters best of all.
"Yeah," Sister Hua grunted dully. Someone from the Intelligence Bureau had seen Wu Youren at the Mount Xuanling military camp.
And she had been paying rather close attention to the youth.
Only, thinking of his attitude just now, she still found it hard to stomach. "He is the root of Great Liang's turmoil!"
"Mmh," the middle-aged knight hummed softly. There was no good way to respond to that, so not denying it was enough.
The apprentice knight was still full of youthful brashness. "Acting this crazy... does he know he hasn't got long to live?"
"You dare go kill him?" Another seemed deliberately set on opposing him, yet let out a faint sigh. "Who lives longer is hard to say."
The middle-aged knight glanced at Sister Hua, considered briefly, and said, "Stay far away from him in the future."
Wu Youren watched the three motorcycles disappear, shook his head, and resumed his journey.
It truly wasn't out of youthful impetuousness; he had had his reasons for firing that shot... Well, all right, he genuinely hadn't felt all that pleasant either.
Just as he had expected, the backbone of this bunch from the Intelligence Bureau felt slightly stronger than the night execution squad's, but not by much.
If the other party had been a group of soldiers, he would never have probed them like this.
Playing too many schemes and intrigues truly warped a person's disposition!
By the time Wu Youren returned to the quarantine post, dusk had nearly fallen.
He didn't go inside the quarantine post. Instead, after taking a test, he found a spot in the open clearing and cobbled together a crude lean-to shelter.
Before long, Manna sent a message: "Back so soon?"
What the fuck... Wu Youren was left completely speechless. From now on, the concept of "privacy" was probably going to become a thing of the past for him.
He could only reply, "Resting and regrouping. I won't be heading back to Red Pine for now."
"Why aren't you coming back?"
"Haven't earned the tax money yet!"
Wu Youren had fired that shot at Sister Hua out of many considerations, but demanding money had undoubtedly been one of his primary objectives.
If she couldn't repay the money, supplies would do as well. In his plans, his main area of activity in the future would gradually shift outside the Martial Academy.
Stockpiling supplies was utterly essential.
Watching the sky gradually darken, he went to a vendor at the edge of the quarantine post and bought a large pile of food.
The quarantine post had a cafeteria with poor quality and high prices; these food vendors charged even more, but their quality was decent.
As he squatted before his lean-to, wolfing down his meal in huge mouthfuls, a burly man walked past.
The man crouched down and, without a word, reached out to snatch his food.
The next instant, a snow-bright flash of a blade swept past.
Fortunately, the burly man had decent reflexes and jerked his hand back abruptly, glaring at him in shock. "What the fu—"
Before he could finish, the snow-bright scimitar was already resting against his neck.
The youth spoke expressionlessly, "One more word... and you die."
Helpless, the burly man had no choice but to clamp his mouth shut, then raised both hands to show he yielded.
Wu Youren put away his blade, squatted back down, and uttered a single, calm word: "Scram."
The burly man touched his neck and looked at the youth, somewhat baffled. There was no mistake; this guy was definitely just a fucking apprentice knight.
While he himself was an actual knight!
He backed up two steps and spoke again, "Young man, I—"
The youth lifted his head and gave him an indifferent look. "I said, scram."
The burly man froze, lingered for a dozen seconds, and finally turned to leave in resentment.
Wu Youren didn't have a violent temper, but someone of unknown origin blatantly trying to bully him was something he absolutely would not tolerate.
Such was the social climate of Liang in the first place; earlier, Instructor Ranxue had smashed a butcher shop over a single remark.
Weaklings were looked down upon, and what kind of scoundrel wasn't present in this quarantine post?
Not to mention, there was a fair chance this had been someone sent by some faction to test him.
He didn't notice that in the distance, a student watching this was utterly dumbfounded. "Isn't that... the guy who grows vegetables?"
"Everyone fucking claimed he... and they call this an easy target?"
Wu Youren finished off his meal like a whirlwind, took out a few strips of dried meat, and fed them to Xiao Ha on his shoulder.
As he was feeding the bird, a scrawny man slinked over suspiciously and lowered his voice. "Want crystals? Cheap!"
Wu Youren glanced at him, feeling a pang of longing for Liu Jingming—that guy was good at handling this sort of business.
He shook his head. "Don't bother me. Get lost."
He felt a touch helpless inside. He had originally returned to the quarantine post hoping to acquire some supplies and pry for some news along the way.
Yet he could feel that his current mindset was off—everyone looked like they had ulterior motives. How was he supposed to gather intelligence like that?
He truly missed that little earth snake a bit!
After a while, another man walked over and plopped down beside him. "I know who you are. I'm from Count Jing'an's estate."
"Count Jing'an..." The youth pondered for a moment, then remembered. "I gave up my room to your people."
"I wasn't at the military camp back then," the man said casually. "Red Pine's bird-carrying youth... the description is quite distinct."
Wu Youren remained silent. He truly hadn't expected the day would come when he became famous because of a bird.
Seeing him say nothing, the man continued, "Do you know how many people want to kill you?"
The youth tilted his head to look at him and smiled, his eyes clear. "Does that include you?"
Once certain things were done, there was no turning back. Cowering and laying low at every turn... wouldn't solve the problem!
"Nothing to do with me," the man replied offhandedly. "I'm a knight as well. I hope you stay alive and well. Is there anything you need help with?"
A knight as well... The youth smiled again, his gaze still clear. "No need. Thanks."
The man fell silent, shook his head after a while, and asked, "Would you be willing to offer some advice to the nobility?"
Sure enough, that was what this was about! Wu Youren chuckled, his smile carrying a bit more helplessness this time.
He spread his hands. "Truth be told, I was just speaking off the cuff. I wonder if you believe me?"
The man gave him a deep look, stood up, and walked away. "Be careful when you head out!"
The youth sat there blankly. Only after a long while did he smile again, shaking his head with a sigh: he had still made things out to be simpler than they were!
Near midnight, an acquaintance appeared—none other than Instructor Ranxue.
The quarantine post was brightly lit day and night. Even though Wu Youren had set up his lean-to out in the open dirt, the instructor had still tracked him down.
"I have inspection duties outside the academy as well. Swapped a shift and came over."
Wu Youren had been dozing and now yawned repeatedly. "It's fine. I'm staying for two days and leaving again."
"I'm at the center of the storm right now. Associating with me carries some risk."
"A trivial fart of a matter," Ranxue snorted contemptuously. "Those with ulterior motives call it entering the game or picking sides. For me, it's just my job!"
"Besides, if someone truly wanted to come after me with everything they've got, it'd already be too late even if I transferred to Tianjing Martial Academy right now!"
He had figured things out: regardless of the actual situation, his interactions with the youth had begun back at the Mount Xuanling military camp.
A sensitive time, a sensitive place—if anyone deliberately tried to make an issue of it, not even Instructor Hong could escape scrutiny, let alone him.
Worrying about so many things was completely useless. If he went out of his way to distance himself, wouldn't that also be a form of picking a side? So doing his own job was all that mattered.
"Tianjing Martial Academy..." Wu Youren murmured yearningly. "I've long heard its great renown. I might go take a look in a couple of days."
However, as a discipline inspector, Ranxue had seen more than his fair share of lawbreakers and troublemakers; his read on matters was exceptionally sharp.
He shot the youth a sidelong glance. "Didn't you come out here to slay anomalies? Now look at you... having other ideas already?"
"Someone just warned me," Wu Youren replied casually. "Said too many people want to kill me."
"All talk," Ranxue scoffed. "If someone truly wanted to kill you, a quiet slash of a blade would be all it takes!"
"I'm not looking down on you. Even if it were Hong Da, caught off guard, a single blade would be enough."
A raspy, smoky voice drifted in leisurely, neither loud nor sharp: "Oh? So I'm that fragile... Why don't I quite believe that?"
"Hong Da!" Ranxue's eyes went wide in an instant, his entire body trembling slightly. "You are... inside the academy?"
To be located at Red Pine and silently perceive what was happening at the quarantine post was not something just any grand knight could pull off.
"The barbarians haven't been behaving lately, so I'm keeping an eye on things," the smoky voice said languidly, taking no issue with Ranxue's slight.
Ranxue's expression lit up with joy, and he asked in a trembling voice, "Are you... close to a breakthrough?"
"Still far from it," Hong Da remarked unhurriedly. "Still, a single blade might not necessarily finish me."
Pausing briefly, she added, "Mm. If you're out to slay anomalies, just slay anomalies. Don't get mixed up in anything related to Tianjing!"
After those words, absolute silence returned.
Ranxue waited for a good while before glancing at the youth beside him. "It really was because of you."
His expression was somewhat strange as he muttered under his breath, "I knew it. I'm not that important."
The outside world said Instructor Hong had a foul temper, but the rumors within the Martial Academy said otherwise.
Chapter 188