Casualties

Wu Youren found himself dragged into the mess for no reason and felt it was utterly baffling. It was likely born of jealousy, but acting like this over a "potential ability master" showed a pettiness that was truly... He couldn't be bothered to dwell on the guy. Reaching out, he grabbed the large backpack from the motorized tricycle—as if he actually wanted to stick around anyway. Then he glanced at Rossi, offering an inquisitive look: *Aren't you leaving?* Rossi shook his head, returning a helpless gaze: *Go ahead. I can't leave.* He still hoped to join Red Pine, and across the water were his future colleagues at the academy. Had he never shown up, that would have been one thing, but if he walked away right now, he could only pray every single colleague over there died. Wu Youren truly departed this time, heading back along the main road without hesitation. The road was still very muddy, but that didn't matter. What truly bothered him was that, having gone all night without sleep, he was feeling drowsy. Yet he genuinely dared not sleep, because this place gave him a deeply unsettling feeling. Just earlier, he had faintly sensed something watching their group, which was why he had reacted, only to be singled out and targeted. Now, that sensation of being watched hadn't completely vanished either, though it was considerably weaker. Over a hundred kilometers of mountain roads... Wu Youren yawned as he calculated how to pace his physical stamina. With the road currently slick and muddy, running was definitely out of the question—it drained far too much energy. He could only march at a brisk walk. Stopping to rest and eat along the way was also inadvisable; he would have to eat on the move. He needed to cover at least ninety kilometers to clear this mountain stretch before he could be considered relatively safe. Yet sometimes, misfortunes really did come in pairs. He hadn't been walking for an hour when rain began falling from the sky once more. The joke Knight Rossi had cracked earlier had actually come true. Fortunately, the rain today wasn't heavy, just a pitter-patter of drizzle. Wu Youren put on his rain poncho, pulled up the hood, and picked up his pace through the rain. The mountain air was biting with early spring chill, compounded by the drizzle, yet he marched until he was drenched in sweat. After trekking for more than half an hour longer, sleepiness grew increasingly heavy, just as he happened to pass a small mountain village. The village lay over a kilometer off the main road, separated by a ravine. The fine veil of rain obscured his vision, preventing him from seeing whether anyone was in the village. Without the slightest hesitation, he kept moving—this place still didn't feel safe. Another ten-odd minutes later, his communication wristwatch actually rang. It was Rossi contacting him. "You didn't rest in the village?" Did he catch up? Wu Youren wasn't sure what had happened, so he replied, "Didn't feel very safe." "Wait for me," Rossi said, hanging up the communication wristwatch. "Just stay on the mountain road." Wu Youren took a reading of his senses. Sensing no heightened danger, he kept marching forward. Six or seven minutes later, the roar of an engine sounded behind him. Sure enough, that motorized tricycle had caught up. Rossi was very cautious this time, releasing a wisp of battle qi toward Wu Youren. Once Rossi confirmed his identity without error, the two boarded the vehicle and continued on. The vehicle wasn't traveling fast, but it was far better than groping through the dead of night. Wu Youren spoke up and asked, "What about them?" "Don't even bring it up," Rossi replied sullenly. "Not long after you left, fog rolled in." Soon after the fog set in, he lost contact with the six trapped people. Never mind line of sight, even communication wristwatches couldn't get through. They tried many ways, but the flash flood showed no sign of stopping; if anything, the torrent grew even swifter. Coupled with the uncertain terrain, no one dared wade into the water to rescue them. After waiting roughly an hour with no way whatsoever to contact the other side, the youth in white issued a warning: Guizu had appeared in the vicinity. The moment Rossi heard that, he mounted his motorcycle without a word, turned around, and slipped away. When he was leaving, they hadn't wanted to let him go, claiming that if he didn't get to the bottom of things, how would he answer for it when he returned? *The people trapped across the water belong to your Red Pine Martial Academy!* However, Rossi's stance was crystal clear: his trip to Suotu Town wasn't on an official assignment from the academy. Strictly speaking, not even the two groups that went to Suotu earlier had taken an academy mission. They hadn't even gone through the internal mission system process for instructors; it could basically be viewed as private work! Since he had arrived, lending a hand was only human nature. But the other party had lost contact, he had waited an hour, and then learned that Guizu had appeared nearby—what was he supposed to wait for if not retreat? He had already sent an alert to the academy, which settled his obligations, and then casually switched off his communication wristwatch. In any case, he was deep in the mountains; poor reception on a communication wristwatch was perfectly normal, wasn't it? As for the people in that convoy, they had stayed behind in Suotu—they had an actual official mission to investigate the situation in Suotu Town. Hearing this, Wu Youren couldn't help asking, "The military's strength shouldn't be weak, right?" "Military my ass," Rossi scoffed coldly. "They're folks from the Intelligence Bureau, or else they would've commandeered us." He clearly had no desire to talk about those people further and sighed with feeling. "This world is getting more chaotic by the day... Let's head to that Rust Belt you mentioned." Wu Youren had long known that Great Liang's organization was relatively lax—though it seemed Great Jin wasn't much better. Still, he couldn't resist asking, "Aren't you going back to the academy to give an explanation?" "The gatekeeper assigned it off the cuff, why bother answering to him?" Rossi answered nonchalantly. "We already went to Suotu, didn't we?" There was something else he left unsaid: *If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have given that guy the time of day.* Wu Youren also knew well that the knight had been dragged into this because of him, so he said nothing more. Yet a doubt lingered in his mind: with Liang's martial artists being this undisciplined, how on earth did Great Jin lose that war back then? Could this also be an azure world? After riding for a while longer, Rossi had a lapse in attention, and the tricycle nearly tipped over. He yawned, saying he was getting drowsy. "Should we take a break and rest at yesterday's supply depot?" He hadn't slept since setting out yesterday morning. "Teach me how to ride the motorcycle," Wu Youren replied. "I feel we'll only be relatively safe once we're out of the mountains." An hour later, they passed yesterday's supply depot. The motorcycle didn't stop at all, pressing onward. There were people taking shelter from the rain there again, who looked on with surprise. "That motorcycle is hardcore, huh?" The weapon shop owner furrowed his brows. "That vehicle... couldn't be the one from yesterday, could it?" Five or six minutes later, another convoy drove up. Sure enough, it was the other group that had departed yesterday. Someone got out to ask whether they had seen the pair from yesterday. Upon learning the motorcycle hadn't stopped, they drove off in pursuit once more. The weapon shop owner was truly perplexed. "Just what happened?" The convoy eventually caught up with the tricycle, honking their horns frantically. Rossi paid them no heed whatsoever, keeping the throttle open in a wild dash. "Tch. Four cars and three motorcycles, and now only two cars and one motorcycle are left. That's what you get for not listening to advice." However, the other party's vehicles had superior performance to the motorized tricycle, managing to pull up alongside them. The female warrior rolled down the window. "Slow down! Don't the two of you need to rest?" "The mountains aren't safe," Rossi's voice came muffled from inside his helmet. "If you want to rest, be my guest." After a desperate rush the entire way, three hours later, both groups finally burst out of the mountains. There were still hills outside, but it was far better. After speeding ahead for another ten-odd minutes, Rossi stopped the vehicle. "Can't do it. I really can't hold out any longer. There are a few cabins over there. Let's go in and rest." The cabins were abandoned and small, but they had eaves where the motorcycle could be parked. The two stopped to rest here, and that convoy also pulled over—everyone was exhausted to the bone. Wu Youren began setting up various traps and mechanisms inside and outside the cabin; even for a temporary rest, he wouldn't let down his guard. The convoy took another cabin. That youth in white... was carried out of the vehicle. The female knight didn't go inside. Standing beneath the eaves, she watched Wu Youren bustle about. "If everything's fine, I'm going to sleep for a bit," Rossi yawned. "Hold the fort for an hour first." For over a full day now, he had been the one driving the motorcycle, which was not only physically exhausting but also took a brutal mental toll. He didn't acknowledge the female knight, nor did he ask what happened afterward, avoiding bringing trouble upon himself. Yet the female knight wasn't letting him off. "Leaving a child to set up traps—you really have no shame!" Rossi shot her a glare. "At least this kid is alive and kicking, not being carried around by others!" He had originally been inclined to build good relations with them, but that didn't mean he couldn't manage without them. Since the woman tacitly permitted the white-clad youth's arrogance, he naturally made his own choices. The female knight didn't take offense at his words; people from the Intelligence Bureau were long accustomed to the vagaries of human nature. "This kid's predictive ability really isn't bad... Earlier was just a misunderstanding; I didn't take it to heart!" Rossi had intended to rest, but seeing them carry out three people in succession, how could he sleep now? "Suffered heavy losses?" "Lost five, and four more injured..." the female knight stated flatly. "You two ran fast enough!" "Holy shit," Rossi cursed, his hairs standing on end. All trace of sleepiness vanished instantly. "What the hell was over there?" The female knight rolled her eyes at him. "Are you sure you want to ask?" "Never mind then," Rossi replied crisply. Pausing, he couldn't help asking, "Aren't you afraid they'll catch up?" Many Guizu were fiercely vengeful; provoking them made them terribly troublesome to shake off. "Even so, we still have to rest a bit," the female knight answered casually. "Didn't the two of you also think it's relatively safe here?" "He wanted me to at least get out of the mountains," Rossi said gravely. "Now, I want to sleep for a bit." A knight's short-term recovery ability was formidable, far exceeding that of ordinary people. With just an hour of sleep, he could hold out for another full day and night. "What is... his ability?" the female knight couldn't resist asking after all. Rossi yawned, ignored her, and went straight into the cabin to sleep. Wu Youren had heard every word of their conversation loud and clear while busy with his work, but had no interest in joining in. Taking half an hour, he set up dozens of traps and mechanisms. The female knight watched him work with keen interest. She had been drowsy earlier, but now her sleepiness had dissipated somewhat. The martial artists of the Intelligence Bureau routinely faced all kinds of perilous situations, so they were no strangers to traps, nor did they lack experts in them. She could gauge the caliber of his trap-laying, which genuinely surprised her. She had seen plenty of trap masters, but he was merely a teenager—what family could possibly have trained such a youth? Holding out for twenty minutes, she decided to get into the car and nap for a bit. Who could have expected that before long, someone called her awake? "There's movement over there."