Zheng Zhanglie's Bad Day

After both Fu Tao and Song Qi returned from their daily training, the two groups had their breakfast together. And of course, only Zheng Zhanglie who was forbidden have breakfast as his punishment by his sister, Zheng Yi.

The girls were getting along well, especially because of the topic of conversation about Xiao Wu's white fur - even though both girls suspected that Xiao Wu was a weird-shaped horse, Xiao Wu was already immune with such accusation.

Thus, Xiao Wu showed off her matureness by not purring.

While the girls were having fun, the men were in the awkward situation as they were neglected by their own group. For Fu Tao, it was the usual day - but it was not the same for Zheng Zhanglie.

Thinking about the root of this, Zheng Zhanglie wanted to smack Mingyue, the little devil in his love life - even though his love life hadn't really started yet.

"So, what is your plan after this? Return to the city?" Fu Tao struck a conversation with Zheng Zhanglie, thinking that the latter was in the same situation with he himself. Also, since both of them were male, Fu Tao felt more comfortable rather than talking to girls.

"Nah, I don't know." Zheng Zhanglie had a wry smile when he thought about this. "Even if we will return to the city, we don't know what to do. We are not a mercenary yet, and our money almost depleted. It is not easy to find work there, not to mention that our visitor token is unusable already. If we passed the examination, the three of us will not have to pay for the visitor token anymore, right? But the reality. . . sigh. . ."

"Sigh. Everything revolves around money, right?"

"Yeah. Life in the city is not as dreamy as what I think at first. Too many rules, and the life itself is hard. Maybe, I will bring both of them to return to our hometown first. I can't risk both of them to be in danger, especially both of them are women." Zheng Zhanglie peeked at his two companions. He understood that being a mercenary was a dangerous job, hence one had to have the capability to protect oneself at the very least - and he himself still didn't have that capability yet.

But. . . but he still wanted to continue the journey together with Peng Zhen - while shooing every annoying flies around Peng Zhen.

Not understanding the turmoil inside Zheng Zhanglie's mind, Fu Tao encouraged, "Well, good luck to you."

"Un. Thank you."

Zheng Zhanglie hand shook with Fu Tao, while both of them had a good impression of each other. But, the good atmosphere between them was broken with the innocent voice.

"Do you know the way out?" Mingyue blinked her big eyes toward the two males. "Smelly tofu, don't say that you know since we are already lost from yesterday."

Zheng Zhanglie finally remembered the crux of his problem. Because he and his two companions ran for many hours, they didn't remember the route and place they had passed by. Or more exactly, they didn't care about the road that they passed by. All they knew was running and avoid the chase of black hounds.

He thought that he would be able to find a way out from Fu Tao. But the last sentence from the little girl Mingyue broke his last hope.

Yes.

And in the end, they were trapped in this place.

". . . Sigh. No, I don't."

Mingyue wrinkled her nose in annoyance, "Humph. Stupid baddie, useless baddie. You won't be able to leave this place easily."

After talking with the duo smelly, Mingyue leapt toward Peng Zhen's embrace.

"Big sister! We will be together for some time! Ehehe~ "

Peng Zhen stroked Mingyue's head with a loving gaze. But when her gaze met with Zheng Zhanglie, she lowered her head in embarrassment.

Even though she was kind in nature and a little airhead about her surrounding, she was not someone gullible. She was no idiot, especially the matter of Zheng Zhanglie's nonsense earlier.

She was not young anymore, and she understood those kinds of things. It was not something weird, but she didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to be tied down in the name of the family, she wanted to be free, wanted to spread her wings and soar in the wide sky, unchained by the unnecessary burden. She was she herself, she made her own decision. And in order to achieve her goal, she would never settle down anytime soon.

Her life might not good, or perhaps she would experience many bad things, or even worse. But she just wanted to break through and move forward.

Hence, she dared to leave her hometown in order to achieve her dream, her wish.

Not to be tied down.

But ever since yesterday, after all of that thinking, she was still indecisive. Her will was the same, her wish never changed, but she feared that her heart would melt.

That scene of Zheng Zhanglie sacrificing himself was embedded in her mind. She was not a cruel woman, not a cold woman. And even for a cold woman, it was impossible to not melt the cold-stone heart by that scene. She was touched, a small warmth inside her chest grew, and her face felt as if she was boiled. But that warmth clashed with her will.

She didn't dislike him, and she had a good impression of him - but only that.

But unfortunately, Zheng Zhanglie's rambling toward Mingyue was heard. That timing was very precise because Liao Yun brought she herself and Zheng Yi to hunt some game, while Fu Tao was together with Song Qi in their daily morning training.

That timing felt as if someone purposely let Peng Zhen hear that exact confession, that ulterior motive's confession which shouldn't be known by the little girl.

A certain little girl aka mastermind giggled in secret.

And thanks to that, Peng Zhen's mind was in mess. She didn't know what to do, and she didn't know what would happen.

After contemplating for some time, she would just pretend to not know, pretend to be stupid, and let the course flow like the water in the flowing river.

…

After a few hours of walking, Mingyue and her companion, along with the new companion still didn't meet any people inside the Stone Gaze Forest - as if this place was devoid of people.

No people, no beast, not even Fierce Beast.

Too eerie!

Even though Mingyue, Liao Yun, and Fu Tao didn't really care about it, the trio Zheng Zhanglie, Zheng Yi, and Peng Zhen grew scared.

Since the three of them were only following the trickster's group inside the Stone Gaze Forest, they never realized the eerie atmosphere around.

There was not even one person, even there were not many beast around. Too empty! Which was a little weird.

They could only hear their own footsteps all the time, with nothing more.

But after some more time, they finally found someone. Or more precisely, someone's corpse. And it was someone that the trio was acquaintance with.

". . . It's him." Zheng Zhanglie had an unsightly expression as he stared at the corpse's face.

The corpse condition was a little gory, with mangled limbs and the stomach's content was in mess, as if it became a little feast for some beasts.

But the weird part, only the stomach's content, or maybe innard which was disappeared from the corpse. Even the corpse's face was in a good condition, if one excluded the horrified expression pasted there.

"Who?" asked by Fu Tao.

"Someone from that bunch of bastards." Zheng Zhanglie clenched his fist even though his face was calm enough.

"It is a little weird if this guy is a part of those people." Fu Tao swept his gaze toward the surroundings and continued, "There is no any trace of fight, as if this person unable to do anything. This is too weird. Are you sure that he is part of those people or he is one of the tricked people like the three of you?"

"Since the three of us are the last batch to be recruited, I don't know anything. But from seeing the interaction between those bastards, at least they know each other well enough. So, this dead man should be included in the group of the bastard." Zheng Yi answered in her brother's stance.

"Well, how about look over there? There is another one far over there." Mingyue chimed in while pointing her finger toward one direction.

After leaving the first corpse, the group found another corpse, exactly at the place which was pointed. Fu Tao and Liao Yun were used to Mingyue's quirk, but it was a big surprise for Zheng Zhanglie, Zheng Yi, and Peng Zhen.

Zheng Zhanglie asked with his expression full of disbelief, "Li- little Yue, how can you know?"

"Humph! I don't want to talk with baddie!"

". . ."

"Little Yue, how can you know? Tell your big sis Peng Zhen, okay?"

"I saw it earlier. My eyesight is very good, big sis. Praise me, praise me!" Mingyue's attitude was as clear as day and night between Peng Zhen and Zheng Zhangliu.

"Damn brat, why do you not like me?" Zheng Zhanglie didn't know whether he should cry or laugh. "Look at this handsome big brother, very attractive! Friendly and easy to talk with!"

"Bu- but, you want to do something bad at big sis Peng Zhen!" accused by Mingyue while pouting. "You want to bully big sis Peng Zhen! You baddie have admitted it, right?"

"!@#$%^&"

Zheng Zhanglie wanted to cry, wishing that he could slap his earlier in this morning's self as hard as possible, so the past him wouldn't say anything random like that.

…