Chapter 290: Su Hanshan! (1/2)
Chapter 290: Su Hanshan!
”There are traces of blood on the ground!”
”There has been a battle here!”
Wang Chong and Old Eagle stopped exactly where the masked man had encountered the huge group of men. There was a huge puddle of blood on the ground, and marks of battle could be seen across the entire area—holes all over the ground, the severed trees, and the wooden shavings here and there.
”The amount of blood here isn't normal. Most probably, someone died in the encounter.”
Old Eagle stood up and glanced at the clear human silhouette formed using blood just a few steps away. Most probably, the pool of blood had flowed from the victim's body to mark out his shape on the ground.
Judging from the amount of blood that person had lost, even if he was still alive, it wouldn't be too long before he breathed his last.
”They have already carried the corpse away.”
Wang Chong nodded in agreement to the other party's words. The men from the Duke of Liu Residence seemed to be intent on hiding this matter from everyone else. Thus, they carried the corpse away as soon as they could.
However, due to the limited time they had, not to mention that they had to dispatch most of their personnel to pursue the masked man, they hadn't been able to clean the blood traces and marks of battle in the area yet.
”Hmm?”
Suddenly, a glint flashed across Wang Chong's eyes, and he walked swiftly to the edge of the forest. He bent down and picked up a piece of black cloth.
”This is the mask of that lad!”
Old Eagle walked over, and upon seeing blood dripping from the black cloth, worry immediately filled his eyes.
”To be even throwing up blood, it seems like he has suffered grievous internal injuries.”
Old Eagle had been following the fellow who had been sneaking around Duke of Liu Residence for some time already, so he harbored some feelings for the latter. Besides, that lad was a person whom gongzi specially entrusted him to look into.
Even though he didn't understand why gongzi asked him to investigate that lad, he could sense that gongzi seemed to regard him as a friend rather than a foe.
Holding onto the blood-soaked cloth, Wang Chong fell into deep thought.
”Let's go!”
A moment later, Wang Chong tossed the black cloth to the side and advanced into the forest.
He was becoming more and more curious about the relationship between that fellow and the Duke of Liu Residence.
That fellow left Kunwu Training Camp just so that he could visit the Duke of Liu’s residence in the middle of the night to search for something.
What item in the Duke of Liu Residence could possibly belong to him? And also, the Duke of Liu didn't seem to regard him as an ordinary thief, either.
The Duke of Liu seemed to know that the other party would make a move and prepared such an elaborate trap for him: a trained eagle in the residence, as well as a team of experts that was ready to move at any moment.
Would the Duke of Liu need to go through so much trouble to deal with a common thief? There was surely something deeper beneath the surface.
With such a thought in mind, Wang Chong hastened his speed.
Old Eagle glanced at the bird above him, who was giving him an update on the situation. It seemed like the situation in front was getting worse and worse for the masked man. Even though the masked man was not an easy figure to deal with—just the fact that he could break out of the encirclement in the first place was a testimony to his prowess—it was unlikely that he could hold on for much longer against so many people.
”Don't let him get away!”
”If he escapes, I'll hold all of you accountable!”
”Capture him!”...
From afar, anxious voices accompanied by explosions echoed in the air. Judging from the commotion, there seemed to be quite a few people gathered in front of them.
Wang Chong's heart tightened. He immediately picked up his pace again.
Moving through the dense forest, Wang Chong saw many brawny men carrying powerful killing intent with them. Even though most of them weren't dressed in the uniform of the Duke of Liu Residence, it was clear that all of them were experts the Duke of Liu had hired.
At the center of those men was a young man who was sitting on the ground in desolation. His face was as pale as a sheet.
Blood was seeping out from his lips, and his entire body was soaked. Crimson wasn't a color that would show easily on the black clothes that he wore, but even amidst the darkness, Wang Chong could still clearly see the viscous, fresh blood that drenched it.
His body was inflicted with many cuts from different weapons, and some of them weren't superficial, either. Some of them were holes that went through his body, and some parts of his bones were exposed as well. Were it an ordinary man who had sustained such injuries, he would have already fainted from the excruciating pain by now.
But that masked man still held onto his consciousness.
With calmness so deep that it even induced fear, he sat on the ground, assessing his opponents. It was almost unimaginable to think that this was even possible.
But that man was indeed doing so.
In fact, Wang Chong couldn't feel the slightest emotion from the masked man.
Calm so deep that it induced despair, perhaps even callousness would be a more appropriate term.
The group of men encircling the masked man didn't notice Wang Chong or Old Eagle's arrival. Every last one of them had their entire attention focused on that young man before them, all of them infuriated and frustrated.
This was especially true for the leader of the group. He had initially surrounded the masked man just slightly beyond the tall walls of the Duke of Liu Residence, but who knew that this lad would actually slaughter a way out of their encirclement, killing many people in the midst of his escape.
This had left him extremely angered.
”Charge! Kill him!”