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墨書 Inktalez
Before I could speak, my senior sister's patience had already reached its limit. She aimed the Nine Section Whip at Old Qiao and shouted, “You old fool, I'm sending you down right now!”
Old Qiao let out a loud cry and shrank behind me. I quickly raised my hand to catch the whip before it could hit him; if it struck Old Qiao on the head, he would truly be a fool.
I defended him, saying, “Senior Sister, he might be too deeply poisoned and hurt his... brain. Please show some mercy. Besides, in our hearts, although Nie Qian is a ghost, she is also an unparalleled beauty. Old Qiao is actually trying to compliment you on your looks!”
With a sharp “thwack,” the Nine Section Whip struck the back of my head before she retracted it.
I touched the spot and felt a walnut-sized bump forming. I looked at her in frustration and asked, “Why did you hit me?”
She huffed in response, “I’d rather you learn martial arts than just be smooth-tongued and annoying. Stay away from these dubious characters in the future!”
At this moment, Old Qiao seemed to have regained his senses. Realizing the situation was dire, he cleverly volunteered to help treat our junior brother’s wounds.
Seeing this, I felt inspired and hurried over to assist. Old Qiao and I exchanged a knowing glance as I asked him what had happened earlier.
“Did you see that?” Old Qiao pointed at the wound on our junior brother's neck.
The injury was right on the carotid artery, with three claw marks about the width of fingers. The center of the wound was red while the surrounding area was blackened, showing signs of infection. Fortunately, it wasn’t too deep, and the bleeding had mostly stopped; otherwise, our junior brother would be a corpse by now.
Old Qiao leaned in mysteriously and said, “Guess what kind of creature did this? You won’t believe it when I tell you—”
Old Qiao was about to show off when he was interrupted by a sharp remark from his senior sister, “Frugivorous Civet?! Hmph, who told you to eat what you shouldn’t? You killed her son; a slap from her would be considered light punishment.”
Old Qiao was immediately left speechless, spitting out a couple of mouthfuls of saliva and wiping his neck. With the current limited medical conditions, the only thing he could do was use saliva for disinfection temporarily.
I awkwardly cleared my throat a couple of times; it was best to find something to say at this moment. I then asked Old Qiao, “So how did you all end up here? What about the others?”
In front of his senior sister, Old Qiao completely lost his courage to show off again and recounted everything honestly, “I don’t know either. I was sleeping when suddenly I smelled a horrible stench. My head started spinning, and as I struggled to run outside, I saw a Frugivorous Civet as big as a bear rummaging through your tent. At that moment, A Li also ran out, and I was about to go help you all, but before I could take two steps, everything went black, and I fainted. When I woke up, it was just now. What kind of place is this?”
I replied, “So you didn’t see where the others were taken… By the way, Old—Qiao Master, was Zhao Qian with you when you ran out?”
Old Qiao secretly glanced at his senior sister, realizing she still didn’t know our relationship, and cooperated by saying, “Brother Zhao Qian… let me think. At that time, I was panicking and running outside; I didn’t really pay attention to whether anyone else was around… What happened? Is something wrong with Brother Zhao Qian?”
I quickly calculated in my mind how to discuss this matter with Old Qiao. While Cold Bench ’s actions were indeed suspicious, I still regarded him as one of us, which even surprised me.
If I brought up the matter we discussed with my senior sister to a third party, it would mean I suspected Cold Bench. Old Qiao wouldn’t necessarily provide any constructive opinions on this; rather than doing that, it would be better to ask Cold Bench directly. Furthermore, I wasn’t the type to gossip unnecessarily. Cold Bench always acted discreetly and surely wouldn’t want others to know what he was doing; why should I make it common knowledge?
Another point crossed my mind: Cold Bench belonged to Old School, and all the doubts surrounding him were closely related to our Shimen. Although I considered Old Qiao one of us and didn’t mind sharing Shimen’s secrets with him, my senior sister would definitely care—especially since she held such disdain for Old Qiao.
In an instant, my mind raced through several thoughts before I said to Old Qiao, “It’s nothing; just asking casually. Aren’t you two in the same tent? I thought you were always together.”
Old Qiao had no idea about my complex mental shifts and sincerely analyzed the situation for me: “That’s true! Brother Zhao Qian usually sleeps lighter than me; it doesn’t make sense that I was awakened by the stench while he didn’t react at all! Oh right! Qian Yi! Now that you mention it, it does seem strange; not only did Brother Zhao Qian not come out, but even Boss Sun and his two apprentices haven’t shown up. They wouldn’t have… already met with misfortune, would they?”
Since joining up with the junior brothers, Old Qiao had become increasingly irreverent. I shot him a sidelong glance and couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. However, the information he provided was indeed quite valuable.
I suddenly had a bold guess: could Third Granduncle Master, Liu Zi, A Chen, and Cold Bench have left before the Frugivorous Civet attacked the base, just like my senior sister and I did?
Among the four of them, only Cold Bench was carrying a bag; the other three hadn’t even had time to pack their belongings. It was clear that Cold Bench's departure was premeditated, while the other three had acted on impulse and likely hadn’t anticipated that they wouldn’t return. They only took flashlights and their personal weapons.
My speculation was as follows: Cold Bench must have had something urgent come up and took the opportunity to leave during his scheduled watch, likely for a short duration, just during that time he was on duty. However, this scene was inadvertently witnessed by Third Granduncle Master's people, who immediately decided to follow him quietly. When the four of them returned after finishing their business, they would find that none of us were there and were probably searching for us throughout the forest.
Cold Bench handed over the meteorite he had been carrying to Old Qiao, which confirmed my guess. While ambushing in Spider Cave, Cold Bench must have already known about the secret between the two Moon Meteorites. Fearing that his whereabouts might be exposed, he placed the meteorite on Old Qiao.
The destination of Cold Bench's journey should be nearby because he would never miss the opportunity to head to Wan Poison Palace; he merely temporarily left the group. Yet, even someone as meticulous as Cold Bench could not have anticipated that so much would happen that night.
I shared my thoughts with my senior sister Old Qiao, who immediately expressed her agreement. I knew she didn’t want to interrogate me further.
I also didn’t want to dwell on this matter any longer. Since those four hadn’t encountered any danger, they should be fine. The most crucial thing now was how to resolve the poison affecting my junior brother and A Li. (To be continued.)
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