Chapter 549 - Chapter 549: 343, Spade, see the Spade again

Chapter 549: 343, Spade, see the Spade again

“Why do you say Jiang Yichen has other plans?” Qi Duo asked, somewhat puzzled.

“That young man named Qing Zade, the one who’s slightly older by the old man’s side, they’re all from Qing’s Family,” Hu Xiaoniu said casually. “He’s a detective of the PCE Security Management Committee. After encountering this neighbor, he found that he came to City No. 18 out of the blue, claiming he was planning to take the entrance exam at Qinghe University. But he hasn’t attended any prep classes and skulks around every day. Do you know about the recent Shadow conflict? Qing Zade suspects that he took part in murdering Qing Zhong and is now being hunted by Qing’s Family. He may not mean any harm to you, but it’s very likely he wants to use your team to escape the pursuit.”

Zade is the transliteration of Zard.

The main reason being that Qing Chen really doesn’t know Zard’s real name yet, otherwise he would’ve used his real name directly.

The reason they go by the surname ‘Qing’ is that they drive a car with the Qing’s Family emblem on it; that way it seems more legitimate.

Hu Xiaoniu continued, “You see, in the fight for the Shadow position, if an outsider murders a Shadow Candidate, Qing’s Spy Agency will chase the murderer to the ends of the earth.”

After saying this, Hu Xiaoniu felt as if he were playing a round of Werewolf Kill.

Qing Chen first assigns himself the identity of a PCE Federal Agent (police officer) and then immediately accuses Jiang Yichen, branding him the ‘werewolf’.

At this point, Qing Chen’s NPC identity serves as a natural disguise.

How could an NPC harbor ill intentions?

Qi Duo recalled the events.

Indeed, in the Outer World, they had never actively invited Jiang Yichen. Instead, he approached them on his own, saying he wanted to go see the Wilderness with them.

Thinking about it now, such enthusiasm does indeed seem a bit suspicious.

But Qi Duo wasn’t a fool either; he always felt something was off. “Could it be that Qing Zade is actually here to kill Jiang Yichen?”

“No,” Hu Xiaoniu shook his head. “Who would pursue a target with the elderly and children in tow? I overheard him speaking privately with the old man, and the old man warned him not to get involved in the Shadow conflict, and even if they were certain Jiang Yichen was the murderer, they couldn’t let Qing Zade do the killing. This kind of branch of a financial consortium doesn’t want to get wrapped up in the fight for the Shadow. They plan to part ways with you guys tomorrow to avoid being dragged down by this Jiang Yichen.”

Qi Duo listened, confused. Indeed, if Qing Zade had come to kill Jiang Yichen, he wouldn’t be bringing the elderly and children. That certainly wouldn’t be reasonable.

So, Hu Xiaoniu must be genuinely warning them, lest they get fooled by Jiang Yichen.

After Qi Duo left, Qing Chen slowly emerged from the woods. He smiled and said, “Xiao Niu’s acting skill is not bad, and his logic is sound too.”

Hu Xiaoniu scratched his head, a bit embarrassed, “Actually, Zhang Tianzhen is better suited for this kind of thing. If Tianzhen were here, I’m afraid he could have convinced them to kick Jiang Yichen out of the team tonight.”

“Chen Ge, are you planning to seize the Taboo from Jiang Yichen?” Hu Xiaoniu asked.

“No,” Qing Chen shook his head. “Our main purpose this time is still to fulfill the old man’s wish; everything else is secondary.”

For Qing Chen, whether Jiang Yichen possesses a Taboo or not is not the most important thing.

What he needed was to reach Taboo Land No. 002 as soon as possible.

At the moment, Qing Chen was still not sure of Jiang Yichen’s level, nor the strength of the highest-level students of Freemasonry, and he didn’t plan to directly steal anything.

“Then why did you set him up like this?” asked Hu Xiaoniu, curious.

Qing Chen said, “I want to see if he gets nervous when the news spreads, to confirm whether he is really Lu Ya.”

“By the way, Chen Ge, what exactly are we going to do in Taboo Land No. 002?” Hu Xiaoniu asked in a low voice. “I know it’s for the old man to achieve his final wish. I am asking why you brought me along?”

“You should already have the answer in your heart,” Qing Chen responded with a smile.

…

…

At dawn the next day, when the sky was still not fully bright, Qing Chen took the old man, Li Ke, and Hu Xiaoniu to the Wilderness.

This was the place where Uncle Li Dong had once taken him to practice climbing.

Before reaching the Qing Mountain Cliff, he intended to teach Li Ke and Hu Xiaoniu all the techniques they might need when the time came.

For a long time, both Hu Xiaoniu and Li Ke had been practicing, and even before Qing Chen had entered Li’s School, Li Ke had been practicing in secret with the hope that he would one day be chosen by his Seventh Uncle.

Although what comes later in the Knight’s challenge is unknown to everyone, the Qing Mountain Cliff is no secret in the Li Family.

In the back mountains of the halfway own villa, there is also a cliff dozens of meters high.

The old man, gasping for breath, sat on a rock and watched Li Ke and Hu Xiaoniu climb up unhesitatingly, with the morning sun bursting forth in the background.

“Does the sunrise over Qing Mountain Cliff look even better than this?” the old man asked softly.

“Yes,” Qing Chen replied. “It’s the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen.”

“Thank you,” the old man suddenly said.

“Why do you suddenly say that?” Qing Chen laughed. “You’re my master’s father, and it’s only right to help you fulfill your last wish. If he were still in City No. 18, he would do the same.”

“Actually, I never had such a hope,” the old man shook his head. “Not until you appeared in the villa halfway up the mountain did I see a glimmer of hope.”

At that moment, he pointed at Li Ke and Hu Xiaoniu and said to Qing Chen beside him, filled with emotion, “I practiced this too back in the day. The place where that rascal Li Ke secretly practiced climbing in the back mountain, that was also a spot I frequented.”

“So that’s why there’s a place set up specifically for climbing practice. Did you have it constructed?” Qing Chen asked, curious.

“No, it’s been around for hundreds of years. The Li Family has had successive generations of knights,” the old man said, laughing.

By 9 a.m., Li Ke and Hu Xiaoniu, drenched in sweat, stopped practicing.

Li Ke said, “Master, although I have rock climbing skills, the sheer cliff of Qing Mountain is 600 meters. I might not have the stamina to make it.”

Hu Xiaoniu thought for a moment and said, “Same here. I’ve roughly estimated and think I might run out of strength after climbing more than 200 meters.”

Qing Chen shook his head, smiling, “Don’t worry about that, it’s not a concern.”

He thought that since he was bringing two knight successors at once, it was only right for those old geezers in the Taboo Land to dig into their savings a bit.

At that moment, the old man said, “Let’s rest a while longer. I’m getting a bit tired of walking.”

After pondering, Qing Chen said, “I’ll carry you.”

With that, he hoisted the old man onto his back and slowly headed towards the camp.

The old man weighed very little, like a feather that could float away if one wasn’t careful.

Suddenly feeling a pang of sorrow, Qing Chen didn’t know when he had started to see the old man as his own grandfather, and even wished their journey to the Taboo Land could be slower, to keep the old man’s spirit hanging on for a few more days.

Back at camp, the Freemasonry students curiously asked, “Where have you been?”

However, before Qing Chen could explain, he saw the old man swiftly get off his back and then walk over to the female students: “I saw you packing up; are you about to leave? I’ll join you in your car today, so I can continue to tell you stories about the Upper Three Districts on the way.”

The female students exclaimed joyfully, “Sure!”

Qing Chen watched the old man’s retreating figure expressionlessly, realizing that the latter’s exhausted appearance, as if he was on the brink of death, had been a ruse to trick him into carrying him back!

Is this old man really the Master of Li Family, the one with the dignified face on the news?

Right then, a SUV approached from the north. What was odd was that it wasn’t following the main road, but driving up the dirt track instead.

Qing Chen frowned. It was clear that the vehicle was headed for them.

He stepped back, opened their car door, and also slipped his hand into the gun holster.

The next moment, the SUV came to an abrupt halt in front of everyone and a brawny bald man jumped out, surveying the surroundings before smiling at Nangong Yuanyu, “Folks, where are you all heading?”

Nangong Yuanyu replied, “South.”

The bald man asked with a smile, “What’s down south?”

Nangong Yuanyu said, “Just going to take in the scenery.”

“Great, I’m also going south. How about we travel together? There are bandits on the road, it’s good to have company for protection,” the bald man said.

Nangong Yuanyu responded with a smile, “Sure.”

At this moment, Qing Chen had taken his hand out of the gun holster.

Because he recognized the bald man.

Spade, Guo Huchan!

That iconic bald head was all too familiar to Qing Chen!

Although the man pretended not to know Nangong Yuanyu, his acting was so poor that anyone with eyes could see they were there to meet up.

By now, Qing Chen had a revelation. The Freemasonry’s trip to the southern wilderness must have some connection to Spade.

He had observed the convoy; even though none of the cars were full, and there were actually quite a few empty seats, they insisted on bringing so many vehicles.

They were transporting something!

As for what exactly they were carrying, Qing Chen wasn’t quite sure yet.

According to Uncle Li Dong, Spade was now the patron saint of the wilderness people and also had great relations with Fire Pit. These people were likely smuggling supplies to support the wilderness people.

Spade had been wandering the wilderness and did not hold any real power within the Federation, thus for the Freemasonry to be able to smuggle out so many resources, there must be some deal struck between Mr. Shadow and Spade in the background.

But the issue is, aren’t the wilderness and the Federation in opposition?

They deal with Uncle Li Dong on one hand and Spade on the other.

What exactly does Mr. Shadow want?

At this moment, Guo Huchan also noticed Qing Chen and the others, and when he saw the ginkgo leaf emblem on their vehicle, he raised an eyebrow, “Who might these be?”

“Just passing by and traveling together,” Nangong Yuanyu explained.

“Oh,” Guo Huchan rubbed his bald head, “Good, good, meeting is fate, let’s travel together.”

Qing Chen thought to himself, if this guy knew that he had once impersonated his boss Xu Linsen and almost got him beaten up, he wondered if he would still be willing to call him a friend…

Wait a second, traveling this way south, could it be that they’ll run into Yan Yan?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co

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