Xia Yunting felt a pang of sadness.
What was it like to have a partner with superior martial arts skills? It was likely that the moment his fingertips brushed against her ear, his vital point was already being seized.
The scene at that moment could truly be described as perilous. Had his reaction been any slower, had she struck any harder, or had he woken up any later, he might have woken up crippled.
The next day, Xia Yunting, who had almost been choked to death in bed, saw Rong Zhi off with a mournful expression.
Rong Zhi slung her herb basket over her shoulder. After their eyes met several times, she couldn't help but speak.
"Perhaps I should sleep in the side room from now on. Your sleeping posture is too poor."
"..."
Well, it was a case of trying to steal a chicken and ending up losing the rice.
Watching Rong Zhi's retreating back disappear down the dirt path, Xia Yunting let out a heavy sigh.
Suddenly, a voice rang out.
"Brother Xia, is Miss Lin at home?"
Liu Hong had arrived at some point, holding a bow and arrow.
"I'm about to head into the mountains. If Miss Lin needs to collect herbs, I can take her along."
Xia Yunting collected himself and replied, "Xiao Mo has gone to town to deliver medicinal herbs."
"Oh, she left this early."
Liu Hong didn't seem to mind.
"Brother Liu, from now on, I'll handle the herb gathering in the mountains. You're familiar with the area, why don't we go together?"
"Ah, that would be wonderful. I was just hoping to have someone to talk to. Let's go then."
Liu Hong's face lit up, and he enthusiastically led the way.
The mountain path was steep. The two men were tall, making them particularly conspicuous on the slope.
"Brother Liu, where did you see that wild person last time you were chasing it?"
Along the way, Xia Yunting asked as if casually.
Liu Hong recalled, "I'm not sure if it was a wild person. I just saw a shadow and chased after it, but I lost it."
He sounded a bit regretful toward the end.
"Is that so..."
Xia Yunting mused.
Yunshui Village was built against the mountains. Almost every household had a mountain right outside their door; it was only a matter of distance.
If the wild person wanted to escape into the mountains, it could have directly entered from Liu Hong's doorstep. Why would it go to the haunted house unnecessarily?
He wasn't certain that the hunter before him was problematic, but when encountering suspicious details, he couldn't help but overthink.
Perhaps following him would lead to more clues.
"Brother Xia, the place ahead is where I often hunt. There are fierce beasts there, and it's quite dangerous. If you're collecting herbs, try to avoid that area. Also, be careful not to step on any wolf traps."
Liu Hong pointed to the area ahead and cautioned.
Xia Yunting nodded. "Alright, thank you."
The two parted ways. Xia Yunting began searching for medicinal herbs, but his peripheral vision remained focused on Liu Hong.
Before long, Liu Hong's figure had disappeared into a patch of green.
Xia Yunting stopped his movements and quietly followed.
He was well-hidden. Although tall, he betrayed no flaws. He moved and stopped in time with the rustling wind, his movements masked by the sound. Even the keenest ears would have difficulty detecting him.
Along the way, Liu Hong's figure was always cleverly on the edge of his vision, just about to disappear, or not too close.
Liu Hong arrived at a mountain valley. He glanced around, seemingly checking the traps there. Finding nothing amiss, he hid behind a tree with his bow and arrow.
Xia Yunting suppressed his aura and also waited.
The waiting was incredibly boring. The mountain was filled only with the rustling of wind through grass and the occasional chirping of insects and birds, their echoes faint in the empty valley. The trees and branches swayed leisurely, like a surging green tide that could lull one to sleep.
After about an hour, Xia Yunting was gradually losing interest.
Suddenly, Liu Hong drew his bow and arrow toward this direction. In an instant, an arrow whizzed through the air, hitting the spot where Xia Yunting had been. But Xia Yunting was no longer there; only a rabbit, pierced through its body, lay on the ground.
Liu Hong walked over and saw that the rabbit was dead. He picked it up, a look of regret on his face.
"The fur is torn. Otherwise, it could have made a nice hat."
On the tree, Xia Yunting narrowed his eyes, a sense of vigilance rising within him.
Was that just a coincidence?
Suddenly, a scream erupted not far away.
"Ahhh!"
The wild person clutched its leg, writhing in pain on the ground. An iron trap had deeply bitten its ankle, and bright red blood streamed along the shape of the trap, forming a red line.
Its hair was disheveled, adorned with a wreath of leaves. It wore the old clothes it had snatched from Xia Yunting's home last time, which were torn in several places, revealing its dirty skin underneath.
Suddenly, its body lightened as it was lifted up.
Liu Hong looked at the wild person with a complex expression.
"You're here?"
"Brother Liu, you caught the wild person!"
Xia Yunting suddenly appeared behind him, startling Liu Hong.
"Brother Xia, what are you doing here?"
"I heard noises this way, so I came to check."
Xia Yunting's gaze fell upon the wild person, observing the large tear on its chest that exposed a slight bulge beneath.
It was a woman...
Liu Hong's tone was somewhat disapproving. "Brother Xia, didn't I tell you this place is dangerous? If anything were to happen to you, how would I explain it to Miss Lin?"
"It's alright, I'm fine now," Xia Yunting said with a smile.
"I didn't expect you to find this wild person. What a coincidence. Let's take her back quickly and let the villagers identify her."
"Alright."
Liu Hong nodded. "I wonder whose daughter she is."
He squatted down and removed the trap from the wild person's ankle.
The wild person's brow furrowed, and it let out a piercing cry.
Fortunately, Liu Hong, being a hunter, always carried wound medicine. He applied it to the wild person's wound and tore off a strip of his own clothes to bandage it.
The pale-faced wild person was lifted by Liu Hong with one arm. He hung his bow and arrow on his body and nodded at Xia Yunting.
"Let's go."
They descended the mountain in the afternoon. Liu Hong walked in front, with Xia Yunting following behind to prevent the wild person from escaping again.
However, it seemed the wild person was incapable of escaping now.
The wolf trap had bitten deeply. Although the wound was bandaged, it soon began to bleed again.
The wild person gritted its teeth, its brows knitted together. It curled up in Liu Hong's arms like an infant, trembling with pain, letting out suppressed cries.
Unknowingly, they reached the foot of the mountain. Xia Yunting's haunted house came into view.
Xia Yunting said, "Brother Liu, this is closest to my home. She's injured, why don't you take her to my place to rest first? I'll go call the villagers to see whose daughter she is."
"Alright."
Liu Hong agreed.
At this moment, the wild person suddenly opened its mouth and bit down on Liu Hong's arm with a muffled growl.
"Ah!"
Liu Hong cried out in pain and loosened his grip. The next moment, the wild person shot out like an arrow. Although her steps were staggering, her speed was incredible. Before either of them could react, the wild person had vanished into the mountains.
Xia Yunting was shocked and quickly went to check Liu Hong's wound. "Brother Liu, are you alright?"
Liu Hong's wrist bore several bloody bite marks, with blood flowing freely.
He frowned and shook his head.
"I'm fine."
"Strange, why did she suddenly go berserk?"
Xia Yunting gazed in the direction the wild person had fled, his mind filled with questions.
If she wanted to escape, why didn't she do it earlier?
"Does she not want to reunite with her family?" Liu Hong offered a guess. "Or perhaps, she's not from Yunshui Village at all?"
That was not an impossible scenario.
When Rong Zhi returned, Xia Yunting told her about the day's events.
"The wild person doesn't want to return to the village?"
Rong Zhi was also somewhat surprised. Then she thought that if the wild person could move freely, she could have returned on her own if she had wished.
"Perhaps she isn't from Yunshui Village. We might have all been mistaken before."
Xia Yunting felt a touch of regret. "It seems this wild person won't appear for now."
"Haste makes waste. We can't rush these things. We just have to wait patiently."
Xia Yunting nodded. Seeing Rong Zhi preparing to go to the kitchen to wash up, he asked, "Going to sleep already?"
"Yes, why else?"
Xia Yunting curved his lips.
"Let's do something interesting."
Late at night, at the yamen.
The night was utterly silent, with only two constables dozing at the entrance, their heads nodding.
Suddenly, a faint breeze blew. One of them opened his eyes and asked the other.
"Did something just pass by?"
"No, it must have been the wind."
The other yawned, his voice soft and listless.
Two figures in black landed silently. Rong Zhi looked at the several identical rooms inside and made a gesture to Xia Yunting to split up.
Xia Yunting nodded, and they moved in different directions.
Their footsteps were incredibly light; not even a sound was made in the dead of night, where a pin drop could be heard.
Occasional constables patrolled the courtyard, but their patrols were perfunctory. They failed to notice the black-clad figures plastered against the walls in the darkness, brushing past them.
After about fifteen minutes, Xia Yunting, emerging from a room, saw a small hand reach out from across the way and beckon him.
He moved in that direction and, catching them off guard, silently pushed open the door. He found himself in a large room filled with rows upon rows of bookshelves. This must be the yamen's archive, where yearly case files were kept.
Finding the population disappearance case from years ago among so many files would not be an easy task.
Rong Zhi glanced around and suggested, "The bookshelves are labeled with dates. Let's search by date."
"Mm."
The two lit their fire starters and began searching according to the dates.
In the vast room, only the faint sound of turning pages could be heard. Constables occasionally passed by outside, glancing into the room. The two would simultaneously conceal themselves, and the constables would only see darkness.
This was due to their excellent hearing and concealment abilities.
Time ticked by, and the two unknowingly reached the center of the room.
Their hands simultaneously reached for the same case file. They paused, and Rong Zhi ultimately took it down. Xia Yunting held the light for her, and they stood close together, their breaths audible.
Rong Zhi flipped open the file and began to search page by page. The rustling of paper mingled with their breathing, making the surroundings seem even quieter.
"Did you hear anything?"
A doubtful voice came from outside.
Suddenly, a weight pressed down on Rong Zhi. Xia Yunting pulled her into his embrace, leaning over to hide them.
The fire starter was extinguished as the door was opened. The person outside glanced inside and then closed the door.
"What noise could there be? Don't talk nonsense, it's spooky in the middle of the night."
The footsteps gradually faded away. Rong Zhi breathed a sigh of relief, and the fire starter was relit.
To avoid being discovered again, they did not get up. Rong Zhi was almost lying in Xia Yunting's arms as she finished reviewing the remaining contents.
Xia Yunting's breath on her ear was warm and ticklish.
They discovered an unexpected result: there was absolutely no record of the population disappearance case within.
"Strange, didn't the village elder say they reported it to the authorities? Are they lying?"
"I don't think it's likely," Xia Yunting's expression turned grim.
"We looked very carefully just now, it's not like we missed anything..."
Just as they were wondering, the door was suddenly kicked open with great force, and a figure rushed in like a gust of wind.
Their expressions changed. Had they been discovered?