Vol 9 Chapter 38 (2/2)

“Lu Kuang! What happened to you?!” The voice continued.

Lu Kuang? That’s one of the generals Yuan Shao sent right?

“Lord Cao Ren.”

“Un.” We looked at each other and dashed towards the last main hall at the same time.

Could it be that Yuan Shao’s general was attacked? Or did something else happen?

Heat stroke? Old injury acting up? … Un, that is not impossible.

*Tatatata*– *Bang*!

“What’s going on?!” As we rushed to the door, I kicked it down and yelled into the room, “Un?! This is–” As I glanced into the room, I frowned.

Looking down, we saw a man and a woman on the ground. The man was lying down on the floor with his eyes closed and looked like he was in pain while the woman knelt down beside him and seemed very anxious.

“Lord Shen Pei?” Cao Ren immediately recognised her and called out as she went over.

“Eh?” The woman kneeling down looked up. She had natural, curly hair that spread all over her face with 1 lock of hair covered her eyes. Her face was pale and her eyebrows were creased, looks like she’s panicking.

“Are you both Lord Cao Ren and Lord Li Dian?” She asked as she looked at us.

“Un.”

“We are indeed.”

We were both at a loss as to what to do and hurriedly nodded. Cao Ren then got down to the man and began inspecting him, “What happened to him?”

“I, I don’t know either… He just suddenly…”

Suddenly huh?

“Could he have gotten a heat stroke?” I asked after a moment’s thought.

“Possibly,” Cao Ren said with a serious look as she continued to ask, “I’ve learnt a bit of medical examination and diagnosis from the travelling physicians. Let me have a look.”

As she said so, Cao Ren laid down her spear and picked up the man’s hand as she read her pulse and surveyed his body for any wounds or peculiarities.

“Ah…”

Un? When I looked up, I saw Shen Pei who still seemed anxious as before. She was also holding up her hands as though she wanted to stop Cao Ren and seemed like she wanted to say something.

When she noticed that I was looking at her, she immediately turned away. From what I have seen so far, the only explanation for her behaviour and her actions is that she is feeling anxious about being found out that she has ulterior motives.

Could it be…

I began to feel suspicious and tightened my grip on my spear as I reached out to my sword with the other hand. I then surveyed the room, watching everything that could be used as cover.

If my memory serves me well, there should be 3 people. The one over there is Shen Pei and from what she said, the one lying on the ground is Lu Kuang. That means there is one more person unaccounted for…

“Eh?” Just as I was putting 2 and 2 together, Cao Ren exclaimed and turned to Shen Pei, “Lord Shen Pei, this man has normal vital signs, his cheeks are red and he should be in the pink of health. Moreover, he does not have any perspiration on nor does his forehead feel hot. There are no signs of heat stroke at all.”

As Cao Ren explained, I began to feel discomfort by the time she was halfway done.

“Shen Pei!” I yelled out, “Where is Lu Xiang?!”

In the next instant, Shen Pei blanched and she seemed like she was dealt a mental blow. When I saw this, I instinctively yelled, “Cao Ren! Watch out!”

“Eh?” Cao Ren turned back and looked at me. At the same time, the man on the ground raised his arm.

“Wu!” Cao Ren managed to detect his movements somehow, thanks to my warning or her instincts, and dodged. What impressed me was that she did not forget her spear at the same time and remembered to grab it.

As Cao Ren leapt away, I saw the man get up while holding a long dagger in his hands. If he had managed to stabbed Cao Ren, she would probably be dead by now.

“What’s going on?!” I yelled out at the 2 of them seeing that Cao Ren had yet to recover from her shock.

“Hmph! You mongrels!” Lu Kuang yelled out as his expression darkened while drawing a long sword from underneath him and pointing it at Cao Ren.

“What are you all–“

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