Hearing that, Naimu'er could no longer hold back and jumped forward. "Who are you looking down on? I still have a ghost-destroying mine for taking an enemy down with me! It's just ghost-vanquishing bullets that I'm out of."
"Don't make trouble!" Wu Youren was in no mood to put up with it—perhaps growing a little swollen-headed, as the saying went. "I didn't intend to disturb you two in the first place!"
"Then that's where you're in the wrong," Cynthia chimed in, remembering. "Why didn't you sound an alarm when there was danger?"
"A knight-level Guizu," Wu Youren answered calmly. "The three of us might not have had much trouble taking it down, but did you still want to carry out our patrol duty or not?"
"We already agreed during the day that we could wrap up the mission," Cynthia said, wiping rainwater from her face. "The point is... neither of us had any idea!"
Ignorance really was bliss! Wu Youren was completely at a loss for words.
He had deliberately controlled the intensity of the fight the entire time, only changing his attack once he realized his two companions had arrived. But that was not because he felt he had backup; quite the contrary, he had worried their entry would introduce new variables. If they hadn't rushed over, he could have tested a few other things.
Still, there was no point in arguing about it now. "It was just a solitary wandering Guizu. I wanted to see if I could handle it on my own."
Had he spotted a group of Guizu earlier, he naturally wouldn't have tried to play the hero.
Even so, Cynthia and Naimu'er were still speechless: *Who gave you the nerve to fight a knight-level Guizu all by yourself?*
Yet the two of them couldn't help marveling. They were all students of Red Pine, yet without anyone realizing it, someone among them had already reached such a level!
Cynthia spoke up, "Could it be that you've advanced to knight?"
"How could that be?" Wu Youren shook his head. "How old am I even?"
Then he changed the subject directly. "Since you're both here, let's search together and see if any Guizu relics dropped."
Surprised, Naimu'er ventured to ask, "If we find anything..."
He wasn't usually greedy, but during this outing, they had repeatedly stumbled into windfalls. A habit of dependence had formed, and with such substantial sums involved, it was hardly strange for him to ask.
"It splits three ways between us," Wu Youren answered crisply. He was not a petty person.
At the same time, however, he made sure to emphasize, "This is an exception—consider it an apology for not sounding the alarm!"
Whoever slays the beast gets the spoils was universally acknowledged common sense. He was willing to share his gains, but he couldn't let others develop bad habits.
"Then the two of us will take a smaller cut," Cynthia said, shooting a glance at her fellow countryman. "If you run into something like this again, absolutely do not try to be brave."
"As if I could even if I wanted to," Naimu'er rolled his eyes. "I don't have the guts!"
Who wouldn't want to take on a Guizu single-handedly and pocket the relics all for themselves? He was deeply tempted too. But his strength simply didn't allow it, and he hadn't lost his mind after all—fighting a Guizu alone was far too dangerous. Forget an apprentice knight; even a genuine knight might not dare face a knight-level Guizu in single combat.
The three of them conducted a brief search, but found no dropped relics. With the rain still pouring, searching was extraordinarily difficult.
Cynthia could roughly guess that the youth from Jin had his own methods of searching. Since he couldn't find anything now, there was no point hoping to find it later.
She asked, "Since there was a lone wandering Guizu... should we check the surrounding area for other signs of activity?"
Wu Youren nodded. "My thoughts exactly. If things look bad, we pull out."
They didn't venture too far, circling within a radius of three to four hundred meters, and found nothing out of the ordinary.
By the time they returned to the outpost, dawn had broken. Wu Youren retreated into his cave to rest and recuperate, resuming the same meditative posture as the day before.
This Guizu, which was practically a solo kill for him, had yielded a generous amount of experience points. He hadn't even finished absorbing the previous batch; it was truly a happy problem, but one he had to seize the time to digest.
During the morning, Red Pine contacted them again.
This time, Cynthia decisively stated that they wished to withdraw, explaining that they had been attacked by a wandering Guizu the previous night. Thanks to the three of them working together, they had slain the creature, but the situation had clearly taken a turn for the worse.
She could sense that the youth from Jin seemed to be rather enjoying their current circumstances, but she had her own convictions. Without even discussing it with him, she submitted the request.
Yet the academy's reply was simple: the mission reward would be doubled!
Indeed, they were throwing money at the problem again. The prestigious Red Pine did not lack funds; holding onto this outpost was far more critical.
Regrettably, that tactic was far less effective this time.
The three of them had already gathered a small fortune on the side. Compared to that, what was this bit of money worth?
Cynthia had no choice but to stress: their supplies were critically low, ghost-dispelling powder was in dire shortage, and ghost-vanquishing bullets were practically gone.
The instructor on the other end hesitated for a moment before answering: three days—just hold out for three more days! The authorities were preparing a new resolution, and holding out for three more days would earn them a "perfect" mission rating!
A perfect mission evaluation brought numerous benefits, but Cynthia remained hesitant. With their harvest already so bountiful, wouldn't it be better to digest what they had first? Besides, within the academy, as long as one was willing to spend money, perks and conveniences were readily available.
Right at that moment, however, Naimu'er spoke up. "If we insist on withdrawing, Aslan's weapon..."
That greatsword was meant to be turned in as mission contraband. If they displeased Red Pine, a slightly lower appraisal wouldn't be the worst of it; what if the academy refused to accept it at all? Behind Aslan stood that Ca-whatever family!
When you were broke, you wouldn't mind gambling with your life. But now that they had reaped so much and had everything to live for, why take the risk?
Cynthia thought it over and left some wiggle room: "We'll do our best to hold out for three days."
Wu Youren was inside the cave, but the commotion outside did not escape his notice.
A sense of urgency welled up within him: *Three days... I really don't have much time left.*
In the afternoon, Naimu'er offered a new suggestion: "Now that the weather has cleared, why don't we burn the three bodies?"
Previously, they had considered preserving the evidence to prove their innocence. But after Guizu appeared last night, keeping corpses around could easily invite trouble.
Toward evening, when Wu Youren emerged from the cave, wisping smoke still curled in the air alongside the scorched stench of burned flesh.
"You're just in time," Naimu'er said at once upon seeing him. "Bury them."
He was wounded, and Cynthia was a woman; shouldn't the guy from Jin be the one to do the manual labor?
Wu Youren glanced at him, pondered for a moment, and began setting up explosives on the nearby rock face.
He was not going to dig a pit with his own hands. As for the reason... he refused to believe the other man didn't understand. Once he took action, he would leave behind physical traces; if someone with ulterior motives used that against him, he might not be able to bear the consequences.
Naimu'er indeed understood his intention and sneered inwardly: *So little courage!* He didn't think his petty scheme was excessive; people of Liang and Jin had never been particularly friendly to begin with.
Cynthia didn't think that deeply, simply asking, "Isn't detonating the rock to bury them a bit of a waste?"
Their current supplies were running low, and explosives could be used to build formidable traps.
*Are you genuinely oblivious or just playing dumb?* Wu Youren smiled. "I'm testing the explosive power."
"You need to test it?" The female martial artist was flabbergasted. Their previous explosions had already ruined more than one opponent!
Wu Youren replied in all seriousness, "We might need to block the mountain path in the future to facilitate our retreat."
"Well... alright," Cynthia hesitated, but nodded nonetheless. She suspected he wasn't telling the full truth. Still, the youth from Jin never acted without purpose, and making a fuss over such a small matter wasn't worthwhile. After all, they would be pulling out soon anyway, and she trusted that he wouldn't intentionally waste supplies...
Before long, a detonation boomed. Rocks and rubble came crashing down, burying the three corpses.
Yet matters did not end there. About ten minutes later, two figures flashed into sight, appearing right at the blast site.
Dusk had already fallen, but it was still possible to tell that the two had come from outside the mountains, and both were unmistakably at the knight realm.
The slightly leaner of the two was clad in a military uniform. Releasing his perception, he gave a cold snort. "Come out, all of you!"
The trio had only just concealed themselves. Seeing that they were discovered, they had no choice but to show themselves.
As before, Cynthia took the lead. "Greetings, seniors. We are carrying out a mission for Red Pine."
Regardless of the newcomers' intentions, hoisting the banner of the martial academy was never the wrong move.
The leaner man snorted and turned to his companion. "Red Pine has a mission around here?"
His companion was burly and dressed in ordinary civilian clothes, yet his eyes were fixed intently on the three students, displaying extreme vigilance.
He replied, "I haven't heard anything. Three apprentice knights—highly suspicious!"
"My name is Cynthia, under Instructor Keli," the female martial artist said, shaking her comm watch. "I have the communication logs right here."
"Keli... hasn't he gone to the Suotu front?" The leaner knight had indeed heard of him. "Why are you here?"
"I see," the burly knight nodded slightly. "Red Pine does have a small patrol squad out here. But shouldn't they be further along the perimeter? Why are they so deep inside?"
This spot was only about a kilometer from the edge of the mountains; crossing a single ridge would bring them out. He had simply assumed the patrol squad would stay closer to the exterior, not expecting them to turn up here.
In short, Red Pine had never paid much attention to this small squad, and the military had disregarded them entirely.
Once the situation was cleared up, the leaner knight stated bluntly, "Very well, you have been requisitioned. First, we need to conduct a screening."
Cynthia argued her case firmly. "We have held out here for many days. We are completely exhausted, and our supplies are depleted. We already submitted our request to withdraw to the academy this morning."
Naimu'er couldn't resist adding, "We are only apprentice knights, and I'm injured!"
Students from an intermediate martial academy were not so easily requisitioned; standard procedures usually had to be followed. Even with the Guizu crisis being so severe, students could still raise objections—especially when their grounds were more than sufficient.
"Heh," the leaner knight chuckled in irritation. "You academy students certainly have quite the temper. Do you have any idea what 'military emergency' means?"
"Forget it, Keli is lending a hand after all," the burly knight spoke up. "Let's show a little courtesy."
Chapter 65