Surviving war only to die from an unseen disease. That's what Zhang Han felt in this situation.
Because when Zhang Han turned around all he saw was a burly silhouette of the wolf and its bloodthirsty eyes before he shut his eyes tight awaiting those sharp teeth to pierce through his flesh. What a pity that he who managed to kill a whole pack was now caught so unprepared that he was gonna die at the hands of a puny lone wolf.
However, the pain he expected never came, instead, he got to hear a loud wolf cry and felt something splashing on his face.
\"A warrior should never close his eyes before death.\"
A very calm and pleasant voice fell into his ear. His eyes shot open in an instant and he looked at his front. The wolf before him had a sleek sword pierced right through its neck. He moved his eyes slowly upward towards the golden hilt of the sword then moved upwards towards the fair hand that held it and finally saw the youth looking back at him with indifference.
There was an almost imperceptible smirk plastered on the other person's face and as he inclined towards Zhang Han's frozen figure, he added, \"If you have the courage to provoke death, have the courage to face it as well.\"
Meanwhile...
Everyone in the monitoring room had gone into a frenzy as they tried to look for Zhang Han and Lily's figure. The cameras and traps were everywhere in the mountain, they were certain that both youngsters couldn't possibly escape that easily.
\"What's happening?\" came a stern voice and everyone held their breath in fear. Seeing all the heads down and nobody willing to answer her, Ling Qiaolian was infuriated, \"I asked something? Did you all lose your tongues?\" She looked at the captain of the team and inquired, \"Yu, what's going on?\"
Yu who had been silently immersed in trying to link Zhang Han's movements to a certain someone in his memory was suddenly shaken awake from his trance. Instead of answering her, he moved towards the computer and replayed the video of Zhang Han's fight with their people and the wolves pack.
Ling Qiaolian's brows furrowed up as she saw the smooth actions of Zhang Han. She really didn't expect that at all. The only reason why she ordered her people to take him out was that she wanted to use Zhang Han's brutal death from the wolves to teach Lily a lesson. She wanted her text subject to see that freedom could only bring her deaths of the people she cared for.
She knew for certain that Lily would break after encountering such a thing. After all, the death of your loved ones right before your eyes is the worst price one can pay for freedom.
However, she never expected that someone would challenge her gameplan and that too right in her territory. Moreover, that someone would turn out to be a mere teenager? Who barely stepped into adulthood?
\"How did this happen? Didn't you already know who he is?\" she screamed at the people around the room. \"Everyone of you had been keeping a watch on him for weeks and couldn't find a single abnormality? Are you that dumb?!\"
\"Reporting to Madam, the reports that Ms. Tang sent didn't indicate anything special about this little nephew of Xiao Zhiren. In fact, he was considered so ordinary that oftentimes Ms. Tang even forgot about his existence.\" Yu started explaining the report that Tang Yiyi had been giving for years. It wasn't their fault that Tang Yiyi was the brainless one who didn't notice Zhang Han's abnormalities.
\"But we caught him two weeks ago? How come he didn't resist during that time?\" fumed Ling Qiaolian. She knew the main problem lied with her own niece's report but that said niece was nowhere to be found. So, she could only dump all the blame on the people who were present.
\"From the moment we caught him, he had been constantly put on drugs. He slept for two weeks, he only regained his consciousness yesterday. And when he did, he was already locked in our dungeon. There is no way he'd think about resisting during that time. That's why none of us actually noticed anything.\" Yu again stated the whole thing calmly.
Ling Qiaolian thought about something before saying, \"Why are you all frozen? Look for both of them!\"
\"Yes, Madam!\" came the reply as everyone got busy looking through the screening monitors spread all around the mountain.
\"Yu, send people out! Now I want that little boy back alive as well!\"
Yu nodded his head and went out to send several teams out to look for both Zhang Han and Lily. Although something told him that they wouldn't be able to find them now. From what he gathered, Zhang Han didn't seem as simple to him as everyone thought of him to be. He already found it weird that Ji Family was willing to raise Zhang Han even when he was not directly related to them.
When he came back inside the monitoring room, he saw Ling Qiaolian giving orders left and right. So, he silently stood at her side.
\"Yu, do you find anything peculiar about this boy?\"
Yu's heart jolted a bit but he still answered, \"Nothing so noteworthy, Madam. Even his movements aren't that fluid. He's at most a rookie in martial arts.\"
She scoffed, \"Oftentimes the people or problems that we tend to overlook are the ones who come to bite us so blatantly. I really underestimated the Ji Family's cunningness.\"
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
Suddenly, the sound of two blasts was heard and both Yu and Ling Qiaolian turned to look at the screen.
\"What is that?\"
\"Madam, it seems like two landmines exploded. Someone must have stepped on the landmines.\"
Ling Qiaolian frowned again.
\"It isn't that surprising. No matter how talented both youngsters are, our territory is filled with untold dangers. There is no way they could escape unscathed,\" chimed in another person.
\"Yu, ask your scout teams to check up on the landmines. If they both are dead we can't do anything about that but if not... I want both of them alive!\"
\"Yes, Madam!\"
Yu bowed to her slightly as he saw her leaving the room. He turned on his transmitter and send the location to his teams to check out. Now, he really was intrigued to know what was to come.