Zhang Ying was gone.
An Jing blinked, gazing across the small room at the bunk to his left—his roommate, friend, and follower.
The hunter's son was not in bed.
His bedding was neat. In fact, it was unnaturally neat. Both the pillow and the wool blanket were folded with sharp, square perfection, looking like neat blocks of tofu.
An Jing knew for certain that Zhang Ying had not folded them himself. The silly boy had never learned how to make his bed; though An Jing had taught him multiple times, his attempts always ended up looking like a dog had scrambled across the sheets.
"Where did Zhang Ying go?!"
Two hours later, when Cang Linzu woke up and noticed, he could not help but cry out in alarm.
He got along best with Zhang Ying. One was a hunter, the other from a martial family; both had practiced martial arts since childhood, and both shared a passion for hunting, fighting, and weaponry—sabers, spears, staves, and swords. While Zhang Ying was not quite as skilled as Cang Linzu, the gap was not wide. In archery, Zhang Ying was unmatched among all the trainees, making him someone Cang Linzu could learn from.
The two of them usually followed An Jing around, practically inseparable.
"Did he run off somewhere and get thrown into solitary?" Zhan Feng mumbled.
Although most of the children in Suspended Fate Manor were more mature than their peers due to their past as displaced refugees, once placed in a safe environment, some of the naturally mischievous ones let their old habits resurface. They liked to run around, only to be punished with solitary confinement, missing out on dinner entirely.
Zhan Feng cared about food above all else. Tall and sturdy as he was, he never took unnecessary risks. Zhang Ying was the exact opposite; had An Jing not stopped him several times, that boy would certainly have gone roaming all over the place.
"Let's ask the Instructors," Ye Xiuyuan said softly. He was among the cleverest of the children. Glancing sideways at An Jing, he saw that the leader of Dormitory A was completely expressionless, lost in thought. A realization dawned in Ye Xiuyuan's mind: "Maybe... he simply left."
*Left? Could it be... he was eliminated?*
*Has the second round of eliminations begun?*
The possibility arose in everyone's minds, yet none dared voice it. It was only after they searched the entire dormitory and drill ground without finding a single trace of Zhang Ying that they had to accept the reality.
Like the apprentices who had departed before him, Zhang Ying had been eliminated.
Nor was he the only one.
Twenty-seven trainees were eliminated this time. It was not a large number, including both strong performers and average ones, leaving no discernible criteria for how they were chosen.
Before dinner, just like last time, a lecturer formally announced the news to everyone.
"I expected it," Ye Xiuyuan sighed. He said he had known this would happen, though he had assumed he would be the one to leave before Zhang Ying. He had never imagined the hunter boy would go down the mountain first.
"I think I could still make a living as a bookkeeper," he said frankly to An Jing and the others during evening training on the drill ground. "I'm not cut out for martial arts. The recent training is already more than I can handle. Maybe one day I'll be sent down the mountain too."
"I might be, as well," Gu Yeqi sighed. A few girls were missing from their dormitory too, including one of her close friends who had traveled with her from the refugee camp at Mingshan City. With one less person to talk to, she felt quite lonely.
What was more, although Gu Yeqi could still endure the current training regimen, she found it increasingly grueling. It filled her with worry, fearing she would never be able to keep up with An Jing.
"Zhang Ying just didn't take training seriously! I kept telling him that martial arts require rigorous practice, not just brawling!" Cang Linzu kicked at the dirt underfoot, visibly sullen. "Everyone's thinking about leaving, but I'd rather stay as long as possible! They actually teach real skills here. The more we learn, the more we can rely on once we leave the mountain.
"Besides, once you go down the mountain, it'll definitely be harder to get meat to eat. Zhang Ying will regret this!"
Having lost a companion, he could only offer tough words.
"To tell the truth," Zhan Feng smacked his lips, savoring the lingering taste of dinner as he drawled lazily, "that's true."
Ye Xiuyuan shook his head alongside An Jing. Looking over at him, the frail youth said with deep feeling, "Perhaps only Big Brother An can reach the peak... I just hope you won't forget us when that day comes."
"How could I?" An Jing said in a low, steady voice. "We survived the Frost Calamity together, trained together for so long, and shared the same dormitory. We are brothers. How could I ever forget?"
In truth, many questions weighed on his mind. For instance, Manor Lord Yao had been absent the entire day, and many of the Instructors were missing as well. Could they really have all gone to escort the children down the mountain?
Even An Jing had woken up two hours late. Had Zhang Ying been woken in the middle of his sleep and made to leave? Would he truly depart so quietly, without even saying goodbye? None of it was clear.
Moreover, An Jing had not heard the sound of carts traveling up or down the mountain today, nor had he spotted any wheel ruts from arrivals or departures.
*Are the eliminated children still inside the manor?*
For now, he could only suppress these doubts.
*I've been planning this for a while. Manor Lord Yao and most of the Instructors are gone today... Tonight, instead of sleeping, I'll search the manor. Perhaps I can find where they took the eliminated ones.*
Having made up his mind, An Jing turned to reassure the group. "Everyone, get to sleep early tonight. The better you sleep, the sharper you'll be, and the better your training results will be. That's how we keep from being eliminated."
"Big Brother An is always so calm... Maybe even a bit too calm," Ye Xiuyuan said with a wry smile, melancholy always lingering in his brow.
After all, he had come from a wealthy family, aspiring to pass the examinations and reach the imperial capital. Yet a natural disaster had reduced him to his current state, cutting off any hope of the imperial exams and leaving him with the prospect of becoming a bookkeeper or estate steward at best. Even if he recognized his fate, he could not truly make peace with it.
"If I'm not calm, how am I supposed to be your Eldest Senior Brother?"
Unable to stand this defeated attitude of resigning oneself to elimination, An Jing smacked him upside the head. "How old are you, wallowing in all this gloom and doom? It's not like we'll never see each other again. And what's this about not being cut out for martial arts? You just haven't practiced enough! Tomorrow during leg training, you're doing two extra sets!"
"Huh?!" Even someone as mild-mannered as Ye Xiuyuan grew frantic upon hearing that. "Leg training? Two extra sets?! That'll kill me, Big Brother! I don't want to wake up the day after tomorrow with my legs still shaking!"
"Keep whining and it's three!"
Under An Jing's firm suppression, night soon fell.
Once everyone was sound asleep, An Jing's eyes snapped open in the darkness.
With no Instructors patrolling outside tonight, it was the perfect time for a stroll.
An Jing slipped out of the dormitory without making a sound. With a few agile bounds, he vaulted onto the dormitory roof and made his way to the outer wall, surveying the manor's layout.
Living inside Suspended Fate Manor, one could never sense it from the ground. But viewing it now from above, he realized that the manor was nestled between two mountains amidst rugged, peculiar terrain. Drawing upon his memories from his past life, it resembled a unique feng shui formation known as 'Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl'—and the manor was the pearl toyed with by the dragons of the two mountain ranges, gathering the essence of the surrounding terrain.
Centered around the children's living quarters, concentric rings of watchtowers guarded Suspended Fate Manor so thoroughly that not a drop of water could leak through. Rather than an ordinary manor, it was more like a small fortress.
Chapter 13