Chapter 10

"Little girl, may I ask you a question?"

"Yes, of course."

The girl had two long braids and looked nine or ten years old. Her cheeks were rosy. Probably because she had often played on the streets, she didn't seem timid towards a stranger like Le Xaan.

"Did you happen to see that the 'Central Land Likey Cosmetics 'handcart went past here and into the alley?"

Le Xaan stuffed two copper coins into the little girl's palm.

She wore a happy face at the sight of the copper coins.

"A handcart just now? I don't see it. We play here everyday. Usually, those handcarts would sell cosmetics here in the morning. Once past noon, they would head for another street a bit further away."

"You don't see it?"

Le Xaan was dumbfounded and figured that perhaps the girl was lying to him.

Seeing Le Xaan's unconvinced expression, the little girl seriously replied, her round eyes staring at him,

"I'm not lying. There are no handcarts on the street. If you don't believe me, you could go and ask someone else. The street is empty all around today."

At that moment, the rest of the children ran up.

"What she says is true. My mom originally plans to buy some something here, but, strangely, the handcarts had all disappeared."

"This big brother said he saw a 'Central Land Likey Cosmetics' here just now." the little girl said with her finger pointed to Le Xaan.

"Where is it? Where?"

"Why did I not see it? The street is not wide, after all."

"This big brother must have been daydreaming! Hehehe..."

The group of kids started giggling among themselves as the conversation dragged on.

The smiling expression on Le Xaan's face gradually vanished.

He turned and gazed at the Goldfish restaurant.

Its entrance was bustling with patrons, a sign of its flourishing business.

"Then, have you seen..."

His voice came to a halt as Le Xaan turned around.

It was unknown when, but the group of children were gone without a trace.

The street was deserted and empty, with no passers-by.

The frolicking noises of the kids had completely disappeared.

Le Xaan was weirded out. He had practiced the Black Tiger Blade Style and therefore was even able to detect the location of a wild wolf by feeling the flow of air, yet now he didn't sense the disappearance of a group of kids.

As he watched the abandoned and deathly silent street, a chill crept up his spine. He walked toward the restaurant in hastened footsteps.

Pa, pa, pa, pa ...

His footsteps were discernible. And as he drew near the restaurant, he felt warm air wafting over.

Po!

In an instant, Le Xaan seemed to have returned to the water surface from underwater: everything around him became lively, vivid, and noisy once again.

Many a patrons with a warm body temperature brushed past him. One among them accidentally bumped into him, promptly offering an apology.

Some clients went down from their horse carriages and were ushered into the restaurant by some waiters.

The bustling place was far different than the abandoned street.

Le Xaan drew a gasp of air and waved a horse carriage at the roadside.

"Let's go to the Le Mansion."

"No problem. Take a seat and make yourself comfortable."

The coachman whipped the horse before the thin old horse began to take strides forward.

Seated in the carriage, Le Xaan kept dwelling on his experiences not long ago.

The hawker and the group of children all seemed too strange.

As he recalled now, the smile on the vendor's face appeared rigid and gave a hint of falsehood.

And then he thought of the Xavir family's slaughter and sensed that an ugly situation might take place again.

"Gourian City is becoming more and more dangerous..." He mumbled to himself.

Soon, the horse carriage made its way to the Le Mansion.

The gatekeeper saw Le Xaan in the horse carriage and rushed over to welcome him.

"Eldest Young Master, welcome back home."

The gatekeeper was named Wane Balir with a pet name of Little Balir. He was a smart guy, aged seventeen.

Little Balir was quite familiar with Le Xaan and often told him about the latest matters that happened all around Gourian City.

And Le Xaan was quite interested in these stories.

"Is my father home now?"

Le Xaan asked while covering the bill for the trip.

"Lord Le Finn headed to the City Government at the summoning of the City Chief. The City Chief seems to be in search of something."

Little Balir replied.

"What do you mean by something?"

"I don't know. Lord Le Finn summoned his subordinates home yesterday. As they were leaving, they spoke loudly about needing everybody to search for that thing with concerted efforts. I wonder what would take so much manpower to find."

Little Balir sighed.

Upon hearing this, Le Xaan kept silent with a gloomy expression.

As he walked inside, he asked,

"Anything abnormal recently?"

"Well... Young Master, no, I don't hear of that type of thing these few days." Little Balir said with a shrug.

"But I heard that a street close to the Goldfish restaurant, your favorite haunt, was set on fire. Half the street was turned to ashes. Last night, I was able to see the blinding flame blazing there even from our mansion. Tsk, tsk... "

"A flame..."

Le Xaan was weighted down with concerns and wised up to something.

"Are you talking about the street with many cosmetics shops?"

"Yes, it's right that street!" Little Balir nodded seriously. "Many residents died there last night, including adults and children.

Too tragic... The evil bastard who started the fire must be held to account! "

Le Xaan remained silent and decided to keep all his experiences today to himself.

The Underground Gathering would start in the evening three days later in a cellar.

During the three days, Le Xaan's life was peaceful, eating and sleeping well. He felt that his body had become stronger a little. It seemed that his constitution was improved in the wake of the modification on the Black Tiger Blade Style.