Chapter 518 (1/2)

Intruder

As soon as they saw Shao Xuan, the men immediately stood straight. Even though Shao Xuan was around their age, or maybe even younger than them, they had their utmost respect for this Grand Elder, especially after the battle with Wanshi. Shao Xuan may even exceed the ranks of the two chiefs for them.

The jobs the guards had was to stop any fights between the travellers, other than that they had nothing else to do so they spent their time chatting with each other. They didn’t expect to meet Shao Xuan then, they felt like students in school who noticed their principal was standing behind them.

Although they weren’t required to do much, they were still too relaxed for the job so they did feel a sense of guilt and fear when they saw Shao Xuan approaching.

At first, Shao Xuan planned to check in on the fields and animal enclosures but when he passed by the travellers’ district he thought why not check in on that too.

He’s coming! He’s coming!

The warriors guarding the area felt nervous. They kept their eyes on the front only stealing a few glances at each other from time to time.

The Grand Elder’s looks angry?! What to do!? Are we in trouble?

As they heard Shao Xuan’s footsteps get louder each second, their hearts beating out of control. When Shao Xuan stopped a few steps away from them, they raised their heads and greeted, “Hello, Gr-Grand Elder.”

“Are you here keeping guard?” asked Shao Xuan.

“Yes, always, I mean, we were free since the morning. Nothing happened in the travellers’ area,” said the leader of the guards.

“What about before this? Was it always your team?” asked Shao Xuan.

“It was always us and another team in rotation. There’s another team patrolling at night,” said the team leader nervously. Did the Grand Elder notice something off? We were here all the time, we didn’t notice anything wrong.

Shao Xuan didn’t continue asking but headed toward a house not too far from where he was standing.

The warriors looked at each other in confusion then looked at the team leader for guidance. The team leader decided to follow Shao Xuan just in case he noticed anything odd, they would be able to help him.

Shao Xuan headed towards the house and looked at its exterior and building materials. It was a standard house in the travellers’ area but it was located slightly further from the other houses. In this plot of land, there was only one house, as if it was ostracised.

There was a visible layer of dust around the doors and windows, the soil around the doorstep was hardened too. It seemed that it has been a long time since anyone stopped by.

Now, with the house isolated as if the plague happened there, it looked extra lonely.

Shao Xuan walked around the house and stopped at the window. There were some light scratch marks on it, one could miss it if they weren’t paying attention. The marks seemed new, and with closer inspection, Shao Xuan noticed the dust around the marks were much thinner than the rest of the window.

“Has anyone entered this place?” asked Shao Xuan.

“No. At least when we are standing guard, we haven’t seen anyone enter,” asked the leader nervously. They knew this place was important so they paid extra attention to the house whenever they passed by. The guards themselves didn’t enter the house too to avoid suspicion.