Obviously, Chen Quanxu was fixated on Shadow-Splitting Yue again.
With that treasure, he could build a powerful animal army and then embark on theft and robbery.
"Senior, let's not talk about the weather," Wu Youren sighed. "Just tell me—without orange seeds, how are we supposed to lure the monsters?"
A vicious cycle, then?
"Actually we could go into the mountains… forget it, pretend I didn't say anything."
"Wait until I advance another stage," the boy said with a serious expression. "We'll go into the mountains together. You don't need to fight; just being able to scout is enough."
"I didn't mean that. Forget it," the horned owl said, shaking his head. "Let me adjust my mindset. I'll give you this stone shoot."
"It's useless to me anyway," Wu Youren instinctively shook his head.
But in the end, he picked up the pouch and walked away. After all, it was a burial object of the queen consort, and if desperate, it could still be sold for money.
He buried the pouch more than twenty meters underground, then turned around. "Any big news in Tianjing recently?"
"Taowuan Kingdom changed its Chief Minister," the horned owl answered casually. "The hostage had a conflict with the New Army and injured several soldiers."
"The Taowuan hostage…" The boy shook his head, laughing helplessly. That guy was a complete oddball.
When he was at Hostage Manor, he had been cut off from news, but he still knew about hostages from other countries.
He didn't want to bring this up, and he understood Chen Quanxu's intent. "Are foreign countries starting to take sides?"
"Who knows about that madman," the horned owl answered casually. "All right, it's dawn. I need to rest. Hope nothing happens today."
As it turned out, some flags really shouldn't be set carelessly. By noon, trouble did come knocking.
First, an off-road vehicle drove over, battered and dilapidated, and with the uneven ground, it looked like it could fall apart at any moment.
What surprised Wu Youren was that the driver turned out to be… Liu Jingming!
There were also two knights in the vehicle, looking vaguely familiar.
He thought for a moment and remembered. Weren't they from the Hostage Manor guards?
Why were these three looking for him? The boy didn't quite understand.
Especially that son-in-law's son—never mind how he got into Red Pine; if there was something, couldn't they just contact him through his wristwatch?
The off-road vehicle stopped about seven hundred meters from the civilian house. The three got out, assumed a guarded posture, and advanced cautiously.
In the Rust Belt, this was the most normal way to proceed.
The location Wu Youren chose had quite a few dilapidated civilian houses nearby, and the camp's camouflage was very well done.
The three searched the surroundings for over an hour.
Suddenly, one of the guards noticed that in a pile of white snow by a corner of a house, a pair of black eyes was looking at him indifferently.
"Damn it," he retreated two steps in fright and couldn't help but curse under his breath, "You damn…"
A flash of snow-bright blade light passed by. The guard's shoulder trembled slightly, and the short knife in his hand fell to the ground.
He instinctively glanced at his shoulder and was shocked to find that his leather armor had been slashed open, with a faint pain coming through.
A boy appeared in the snowpile, wearing a white cape, looking coldly at him.
Liu Jingming and the other guard heard the sound and rushed over. Seeing this, the guard couldn't help but shout, "Youren…"
The boy looked at him indifferently, saying nothing, as if looking at a stranger.
The other guard stepped forward to check, and looked warily at Wu Youren. "He's injured."
The boy's brow furrowed slightly, and he coldly spat out one sentence: "What's your status?"
The guard, suppressing his anger, took a deep breath and slowly answered, "Hostage Manor guard."
"What's my status?"
Wu Youren had wanted to ask this for a long time. Guards were originally meant to protect hostages; their relative status went without saying.
Even while abroad, so as not to be laughed at by outsiders, the two should cooperate and present a united front.
But during his eight years at Hostage Manor, what had he endured?
Being ignored was considered treating him with respect. In the guards' eyes, there was only the Prince—at most plus a few hostages of greater weight.
Back when they competed for the quota to enter the Martial Academy, wasn't it a guard who stepped onto the field first?
Never mind how the other party performed in the field; just ask this: for a Martial Academy that only hostages could enter, by what right did guards compete for a spot?
This guard was stunned and didn't dare answer directly, only muttering softly, "Don't let outsiders laugh at us."
"You dare insult me!" Wu Youren said coldly. "Who gave him the gall? Letting him live is me being generous!"
The injured guard covered his shoulder and didn't dare talk back.
Before coming, he had known that this person was no longer what he used to be, and had been sternly instructed to be respectful.
But it really was… preconceived notions could be fatal. And he had only cursed under his breath because he was startled.
He was extremely resentful in his heart. We were clearly looking for you; you hid and wouldn't come out, and there was no logic to that?
But he had to swallow his resentment. He had experienced this kind of thing before.
The other party's current style of doing things was somewhat like those hostages of greater weight.
Wu Youren's words left even Liu Jingming unsure how to respond—this person was really this domineering now?
He sighed lightly. "Youren, your killing intent is a bit too strong now."
"Finally become the person I used to hate," Wu Youren muttered softly.
Then he asked, "Wristwatch? Just tell the truth!"
He watched coldly from the sidelines and didn't take the initiative to meet them. There were many reasons, and this was one of them.
"I was called out temporarily," Liu Jingming suddenly realized and explained hurriedly. "You only turn your wristwatch on for a short while every day."
"Temporarily?" Wu Youren coldly swept the two with his gaze again. Who the hell gave them the power to force a hostage to cooperate?
He really had become the person he used to hate, but he couldn't resist—peace of mind!
"It has nothing to do with them," the son-in-law's son could only smile bitterly. "They're protecting me."
Then he glanced at the two. "You two go farther away and bandage up."
The two guards left resentfully. Then Liu Jingming said that he had come specifically to locate Wu Youren's position.
The order came from Hostage Manor, saying they couldn't get in touch and asking him to find a way to send a location.
In short, there were definitely many twists and turns. If Hostage Manor really wanted to investigate, it couldn't fail to find Wu Youren's location.
Jin, while in Liang, also had intelligence agencies, though they operated in the shadows.
So Liu Jingming's visit was basically just going through the motions. As for any deeper meaning, there probably was some.
"I can change locations at any time," Wu Youren felt that Hostage Manor's move was truly baffling.
But he had no intention of thinking too much about it. Just now, drawing his blade against the guard was itself an attitude of cutting ties.
He was actually a bit curious. "Our Prince—what illness did he get?"
"Didn't ask," Liu Jingming shook his head very directly. "You know how to avoid trouble, and I do too… unless you want me to ask."
"Then no need to ask," Wu Youren waved his hand. "Fine, I won't see you off."
The two communicated for less than ten minutes, and then the off-road vehicle left again.
Although Chen Quanxu had been a guard before, he felt no aversion to the boy drawing his blade.
"Try not to get involved with these people. They can't accomplish anything but can ruin things."
"Even with Hao Wei, don't let him set the pace."
This person really had a hint of acting as if his word were law. That very night, the Guard Captain came over.
He came alone, from far away, and yet actually extended his perception.
This maneuver was meant to sense potential threats, but his aura was very gentle, as if telling the other party: I'm coming.
Since he was polite, Wu Youren wouldn't be rude. He flickered and appeared at the doorway. "Greetings, Guard Captain."
The illegitimate son of the Duke of Wei came masked this time, but his aura couldn't be hidden.
He removed his mask and spoke with a serious expression. "This time I came behind everyone's back."
You've got a sense of humor! Wu Youren nodded slightly. "Thank you for your consideration."
"This time I have a few matters," the Guard Captain said seriously. "Can you contact Chen Quanxu?"
The boy shook his head and didn't say a word—my meaning was, it's inconvenient.
At this moment, the horned owl was stopped not far from the camp. Whether he was willing to see you depended on his own decision.
Hao Wei's expression turned serious. "How much do you know about parasitic ghosts? Can you deal with them?"
Wu Youren hesitated, then slowly shook his head. "I've only heard of them."
This kind of Guizu could directly possess a person and eventually completely take over their body. What was deadly was that it was a gradual process.
At first, the Guizu aura wasn't severe, and lower-level biguijue had poor protective capabilities.
The Guard Captain came precisely because among the hostages entering the Martial Academy, someone had been tainted by a parasitic ghost.
Previously, the Seventeenth Prince had been unwell and recalled all the hostages, only to unexpectedly discover someone had been afflicted.
Hostage Manor was shaken, because this was a Guizu hidden among the human race, and those tainted with Guizu aura were hostages of sensitive status!
After a thorough investigation, everyone discovered that one of the Prince's close attendants had actually also been tainted by a parasitic ghost.
And this close attendant had never gone outside.
This was equivalent to a diplomatic incident.
However, this couldn't be made public. Hostage Manor privately notified their own Court of State Ceremonial, and through normal channels, secretly protested to Liang.
Liang responded: Guizu aura—who the hell can guarantee anything? You investigate yourselves first.
That was why it couldn't be made public. As long as they didn't admit it, it was a natural phenomenon.
Hostage Manor certainly wouldn't accept that answer. Now they were searching everywhere for clues, wondering if Liang had been negligent.
Calling it negligence was putting it nicely. Strictly speaking, it was more likely a case of diverting trouble to the east.
Put it this way: even the barbarians knew that when encountering a Guizu they couldn't defeat, they could lure it to someone else's camp. Could Liang not understand that?
Liang also sent people to investigate, confirmed that Hostage Manor indeed had an incident, and took the close attendant away for research.
Because of this incident, Hostage Manor's range of activity could now be somewhat larger.
—Liang couldn't give an answer, could they forbid Jin natives from investigating themselves?
If not for this change, Liu Jingming and the others would have had difficulty getting approval to openly come find Wu Youren.
The reason the Guard Captain came now was to try to contact Chen Quanxu and see if he could help deal with the parasitic ghost.
Chapter 219