Despite being annoyed by Yun Huizhou’s staring earlier, curiosity ultimately triumphed over that trace of irritation. With a couple of huffs, Lian Li followed Yun Huizhou into the room.
Once Lian Li was inside, Yun Huizhou habitually locked the door and even closed the windows.
The weather was already getting a bit warm. With the doors and windows shut, the room inevitably felt a little stuffy. Yun Huizhou walked to the table, picked up the teapot, and poured two cups of tea. He pushed one across the table and took the other for himself.
Lian Li sat down opposite him, waiting for him to finish his drink and explain things.
Yun Huizhou didn’t stop until he had downed two cups of water. Then, looking at Lian Li, he spoke: “For the next two days, eat well, drink well, and sleep well.”
Lian Li’s mouth twitched. He subconsciously touched his own neck before saying to Yun Huizhou, “The way you said that makes it sound like I’m about to go to the chopping block, and you’re telling me to eat something nice as my last meal.”
Hearing him say this, Yun Huizhou also felt his words carried that sort of implication. After a moment of contemplation, he added, “The task you have to do next is not simple.”
Lian Li: “…”
Lian Li: “Oh, now the feeling that you’re sending me to my death is even stronger.”
Seeing Yun Huizhou rest his hand on the table and frown as if searching for the right words again, Lian Li couldn’t take it anymore. He said directly, “Just say what you have to say. Don’t be a riddle-maker. What exactly did you go out to investigate today? If you’re not going to talk, go back to your own room. I’ve been waiting for you until the middle of the night; I want to sleep.”
Seeing that Lian Li had stood up and looked ready to kick him out, Yun Huizhou stopped teasing him and said, “I went to ask around if there were any bandits in the vicinity.”
As soon as he said this, Lian Li stopped his movement to usher him out. Connecting this to the two sentences Yun Huizhou had said earlier, Lian Li understood—there were definitely bandits, and specifically the kind they could go and suppress.
He immediately plopped back down into his seat. He was just about to ask why Yun Huizhou had suddenly investigated bandits in this small town—since they had passed through other towns and villages after leaving Fengyi City without seeing him look into such things—when he thought of the family of three they met today.
He remembered the strange behavior of the two adults when he mentioned the little tyrant growing up to be a mountain bandit, and how the surrounding townspeople had shifted from merely watching the fun to speaking up.
It was likely that Yun Huizhou had suspected there might be bandits nearby since then, which was why he had suddenly gone to investigate in this town.
Judging by Yun Huizhou’s behavior upon his return, he had likely confirmed it.
Lian Li subconsciously straightened his back, then leaned forward slightly, staring at Yun Huizhou as he asked, “So, are we going to suppress bandits? We didn’t see anything about bandits being in this area back at the Martial Arts Alliance.”
Seeing Lian Li’s mix of anticipation and trepidation, Yun Huizhou said, “They probably appeared recently and the scale isn’t large; otherwise, it would be impossible for this town to still have its current atmosphere.”
He paused for a moment before continuing, “I’ve already sent word to the Martial Arts Alliance in the nearest city. However, we need to scout the background of this bandit den first. If it’s not suitable for us to handle directly, it’s best to wait for the people from the Martial Arts Alliance to arrive and let them deal with it.”
“If it is suitable for us to solve directly, we’ll just take care of it ourselves. We can wait for the Martial Arts Alliance people to handle the aftermath, take the bounty, and leave.”
Lian Li nodded. He recalled that during the Martial Arts Assembly, Yun Huizhou’s first opponent was a second-class martial artist named Yang Jiang.
That man had made quite a name for himself by single-handedly suppressing a den of evil mountain bandits.
Lian Li felt that when Yun Huizhou said it might not be “suitable” for them to handle directly, he didn’t mean the two of them couldn’t defeat the bandits together. Rather, he meant the bandits might be the type they shouldn’t personally suppress.
However, thinking back to that family of three, Lian Li still felt the reaction of those two adults was a bit strange. Yet, he felt that suspecting them based solely on that was a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless, he decided to share his thoughts with Yun Huizhou.
“Don’t you think the two adults from that bully’s family acted a bit strange when I mentioned the little tyrant becoming a mountain bandit?” Lian Li’s brow was furrowed tight, yet he still spoke his thoughts hesitantly. “I just feel like those two adults looked a bit guilty at the time.”
Yun Huizhou didn’t directly dismiss his idea, only saying, “We’ll see. Regardless, our goal at this stage is the bandits nearby. Once the bandit problem is solved, it won’t matter what that family is thinking.”
Lian Li thought about it and agreed.
If the nearby bandits were the type that didn’t need to be suppressed, the Martial Arts Alliance would contact them to handle the situation, which meant the Alliance would be keeping an eye on things here from then on.
If the nearby bandits were the type that needed to be wiped out, then there was even less of a problem. They would just be suppressed, letting people know that being an evil bandit was a path to self-destruction.
Seeing that Lian Li was still dwelling on the matter, Yun Huizhou called his name.
Lian Li looked up, and their eyes met. Lian Li felt a very strange sensation flash by; he wanted to examine it deeper, but he couldn’t grasp the thread of it.
“Get some rest,” Yun Huizhou said, looking away and standing up. “Tomorrow night, we’ll go scout the situation.”
“Okay,” Lian Li responded in a low voice.
Yun Huizhou quickly left the room. Lian Li lay on the bed, covering his face with the quilt. After a while, he felt stifled.
He threw off the quilt and realized the window was still closed. Yun Huizhou had closed it and didn’t open it before leaving; no wonder it felt so stuffy.
He got up and walked to the window, intending to open it to let the air circulate.
To his surprise, just as he pushed the window open, he saw a dark shadow running across the opposite roof in a certain direction.
The shadow had a large object tucked under its arm. It was too dark for Lian Li to see clearly what it was, but his mind automatically judged that if it was a large bag, it could definitely fit a person inside.
The window was old. The moment he opened it, it let out a “creak—” sound.
The sound wasn’t loud, nor was it an uncommon noise to hear.
But in this silent night, it sounded incredibly piercing.
Lian Li felt that this sound, which he had never paid much attention to before, was like a clap of thunder exploding in his ear this time.
He knew that if an ordinary person heard this sound, they would just hear it. Under normal circumstances, if a martial artist heard it, they would just hear it.
But the current situation didn’t fit either of those two possibilities.
Sure enough, in the second after the sound rang out, he saw the dark shadow turn its head. Their eyes met.
Lian Li couldn’t judge who was stronger between him and the opponent. So, after thinking for only a split second, he opened his mouth and shouted: “Yun Huizhou! I saw a man in black kidnapping someone! He saw me! Come quickly!”
