That's Close

No offense to buff people out there with good brains. Just want to clarify that. It's just that you were as rare as a blue butterfly or perhaps not.

Either way, Xu An was not in a hurry to change his position. The dangerous place was the safest position. They probably did not guess he was right above them.

However, it would be lying if he wasn't worried. The man was as good as any book detective.

Many speculations could pass by him and if he was serious and genuinely wanted to find Xu An. He would try each guess he got until he proved his point.

Following this line of thought, Xu An said to himself, what a troublesome fellow.

Xu An observed the man as the latter looked to the left and right.

Let's see and wait, Xu An said to himself. He breathed as slow as he could and tried his best not to make any movements.

"Let's try and look for them. They may be around here somewhere," the woman suggested. Of which the man simply nodded.

The woman felt something off with him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Have you ever heard that the most dangerous place is often the safest?" The man asked. The woman shook her head.

"It's reverse psychology. If I'm in this position, I would rather stay at a place where my enemy expects me the least."

"You're saying?" The woman did not understand.

"I'm saying that the enemy is closer than we thought. Even closer." The man narrowed his eyes.

While they were conversing. Xu An up here was a bit nervous but still has his calm.

Looks like they've found out, it is only a matter of time, Xu An silently pondered and considered his options for his next move.

Fight them all? That sounds like a suicide mission. Flee? That only wastes my energy and they could catch up within seconds… Hum? Wait, it might work, Xu An explored his options one by one before coming to an answer.

Just as he was about to do it.

"Hey! This is where you guys are! I've been looking around you guys!" A man rushed into the forest as he gasped the air. He had an average build and a burn mark on his right eye.

The man and the woman stopped what they were doing and shifted their line of sight to the man.

"What's wrong, Zen?" The man asked the burn mark man.

"You guys have to go back, now!" The burn mark man, Zen, urged them.

"What happened?" The woman pondered as she frowned. There was a sense of emergency coming out of Zen's voice.

"No time to explain. We must hurry!" Zen grabbed the woman's hand and ran. Before that, however, the woman said, "Hey, wait!"

But Zen did not care as he kept running.

The man watched both figures disappear into the distance. As well as the light exuded by the lamp, getting smaller as it turned into a dot and vanished.

The man gradually looked up. He found no man but he indeed felt qi and space fluctuation. As he was occupied by that, a faint rustle far to his left could be heard.

Luckily, on this side. Many bugs exuded their unique noises and owl noises.

So it was almost impossible to pick the noise that Xu An made.

"You're in luck but that will run out." The man sneered as he walked away.

Xu An in the distance watched the man's back as the distance between them slowly increased. A few seconds later, the man could not be seen anymore.

At this point, Xu An finally felt safe and relieved. He should have teleported to this place but it was rather far.

Usually, in the forest. The noise should be spread out but in the Great Spatmension Forest, due to some unknown reasons. Bug and any other noises were suppressed in random areas.

Like Xu An's latest position. He saw many bugs but they did not produce any sound or to be precise, he did not hear them. A single movement would lead him to be undiscovered.

How he could throw the last wooden figurine was because he threw it by not making any noises. It was incredibly hard and Xu An was incredibly nervous like performing on stage for the first time but a failure could lead to death. The nervousness he felt should have multiplied but Xu An's calmness prevented that.

"Why troubles always come and go like it's nothing?" Xu An whined as all of his muscle tissue relaxed from the intensity of what he just felt. He collapsed to the ground as he felt incredibly relaxed and relieved.

"Those two guys, they must be the one stealing tamed beasts, right? But why did they want to kill my little brother and even go to this place to kill me?" Xu An pondered and felt something was missing. Why did he feel it? The answer lies below.

"They said I must be killed so as to not disrupt their plans but then they said there are bigger fishes with a high probability of messing things up.

"From their words, I'm just a small fish with a low chance of causing trouble to their plans but the fact they send some guys to deal with me is odd…" Xu An narrowed his eyes as he found the source which was bugging his mind.

In the next moment, he continued, "I need to find out why. Although curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back. It's worth it and maybe I'll get a precious intelligence along the way."

That was Xu An's original plan anyway but it never hurt to have a target in mind. His little brother give him a lot of information and he was slightly confused about what he should do.

He figured it out but it was not specific enough. Now that it was, he could do so without hesitation and was filled with confidence.

Getting up from his position. Xu An patted his clothes so as to get rid of the dust.

Quickly afterward, he quickened his pace as he went to his home and it took around an hour as he took another route, as he was afraid of meeting those guys again.

Halting his steps as he found his hut, Xu An entered as his breath was heavy.

Opening the door as it let out creaking noises, Xu An saw Heileen sitting on his bed with one of the wooden figurines in her hands.

It was a rather detailed animal figurine that looked like a pterodactyl. Heileen turned it to the left and right as she looked at it from every angle.

Noticing a figure entering the house, Heileen stopped what she was doing as she shifted her line of sight to Xu An.

"You're late." Heileen smiled.

"Huff… huff…" Xu An was breathing hard, which led to him not being able to respond. He went to the desk as he grabbed a wooden chair and sat before Heileen.

He took his time to relax and calmed his breath down.

"You're early. How do you find this place anyway?" asked Xu An.

"Master underestimated my existence as a Paladin. I could control the sharpness of my nose and as I was flying in the wind, this hut had your scent. A quite thick one at that so I figured this must be your home.

"However, I did not expect to be this small. Aren't you a young master of a prominent clan, Master? Here I am so excited to be greeted with a feast."

"Sorry to disappoint you," responded Xu An lazily.

When one of the clan members had a Paladin on their side. It was worth celebrating as Paladin was akin to having a powerful guardian.

They could and would not betray their Masters. It was a great to– bodyguard. Oh, did one forget to mention they were unafraid of death?

Come and get one now in your nearest grade 02 dungeons or any other places like mazes, labyrinths, etc…

"Master, did you create this?" Heileen asked as she slightly shook the figurine.

"Yeah, that point aside. Have you seen someone entering?" Xu An pondered. With hose guys looking for him, it was certain they did proper background info on him, thus knowing his home was not weird at all.

"Oh? Do you mean those guys that just flee in fear? I did see them enter this tiny place but upon my arrival, they hurriedly ran away as if I'm a monster. 

"Aiyayai, humans these days have no courtesy when meeting a new creature." Heileen shook her head.

"Eh, why?" Xu An blurted out. Heileen was a beautiful fairy and her wings were no exception. Shouldn't they stay as they were immersed with her beauty? Something was not right but probably Heileen could answer it 

"Have no idea," simply replied Heileen as she shrugged her shoulders lightly.

Xu An let out a slow sigh. Without any clues, it was impossible to reach the answer and so, Xu An placed the thought at the back of his mind.

"Who are they, Master?" Heileen wondered.