Chapter 157：Return

Barton sighed and said to Dudian after Barry left: "Dean, don't blame Barry. He has found his happiness in family. At the end of the last 'black snow season' he had a kid. It is indeed difficult to expect him to let his own family."

Dudian quietly said: "I understand."

"Dean," Kroen whispered, "What's the big deal that you were talking about?"

Dudian didn't answer but instead asked another question: "Is there any remaining gold coins from the last time?"

Joseph scratched his head and replied: "We spent some on tuition fees and bought some materials. Later Barton and me got sick so we spent some on treatment. We spent some on eating and drinking. When we saw that you aren't back we rented a house. So now we should have around 19 or 20 gold coins."

Dudian nodded: "After I was framed and sent to jail I was robbed of thousands of gold coins that were in my safe. So I'm going to borrow yours to begin our operations."

Three were in shock.

"Thousands of gold coins?"

"So much?!"

Their eyes went wide. They couldn't even think about thousands of gold coins. What kind of a concept was that? It was enough to make a bed out of gold coins and lay on top!

"Were you framed because of your wealth?" Barton asked.

A killing intent flashed pass Dudian's eyes but he avoided answering.: "You will get to know about it later on. Time is pressing down on me. The arrest warrants are everywhere. The longer we wait the more chance that I will be exposed. We must seize the time and take action. The first step is to enter the commercial district!"

"We gotta get into commercial district?" Three were confused.

"The commercial district is not like residential area. How can people like us get into that neighborhood?" Kroen voiced out his opinion.

"There is no place that we can't get in." Dudian looked at the three: "Now, let's get the money first. "

Three as one nodded their heads.

Dudian let the three lead the way back to their house.

The house was in a remote location. The streets were messy and the rubbish was everywhere. There were tons of flies.

Dudian waited at the door while three went in. A moment later they came out with a luggage and coarse cloth bag. They handed the bag to Dudian.

"Dean, Barry's share ..." Barton hesitated.

Dudian waved in dismissal. In fact he had sense Barry's smell. He had come in advance and just left the front by the time they had arrived. Most probably he has taken out his share from the money.

"Let's go." Dudian counted the gold coins. There were 14 left.

After some time, Dudian gave Barton two silver coins for him to enter the tailor shop and buy clothes for them. Dudian told him to get set of clothes with the finest quality.

Barton came back with four sets of clothes of linen fabric mixed with silk.

Dudian changed the clothes while he ordered them to put on new clothes too. They went to a nearby underground ditch to change the clothes.

Subsequently, Dudian took the three and hired some workers. They went to the abandoned factory and moved all the pre-purcahsed materials out of it and discarded them.

Barton and the other two were surprised and their heart ached as they so materials worth of dozens of gold coins to be discarded. However, their hearts were determined that it was the right choice.

"Dean, why would you want to lose all these materials? We have spend quite a big amount of money to purchase them. "

"It will be exposed here."

"Are you worried about the Barry? Dean, come on, Barry is not a kind of person that will inform on us."

"I am not worried about him. The magistrate! "

"Will they trace it?"

"Hard to say! But just in case if they do we have to be prepared."

After discarding the materials Dudian said them to go to boundary wall and wait for him over there. He went back to the factory and gave give copper coins to the old man to call out Barry.

"De, Dean." Barry was a bit nervous as he saw Dudian.

Dudian founnd a quiet place: "The three of them wouldn't be enough to help me out. I really hope you can come with me for help. Take your time for decision. If you are up for it, you can come to outskirts of Hawk Hill to find us."

Barry hesitated: "I'm really sorry. If it was in past and I was alone I would be willing to accompany you to take risks. But now... I want to live in peace and safety."

Dudian patted his shoulder: "Think about my offer." Dudian didn't give him opportunity to reply as he turned and left.

Barry stared at the back of Dudian left, tightly clenched in the palm of his hand loose.

After bidding farewell to Barry, dudian came to the boundary and through the smell tracked Barton and the others. He said: "Walk behind me and learn."

Three looked at each other in anxiety but still followed after Dudian.

"Stop!" The guard in front of the gate stopped Dudian. He glanced over and saw that the clothing they were wearing was valuable. So his attitude was not cold: "Please, show you identity cards if you want to enter the district."

Dudian nodded and got close to him. He took out a gold coin from his pocket and gave it to guard.: "Thank you."

The guard saw the gold coin and looked at Dudian's face. He was silent for few seconds. However, he took the gold coin and impatiently waved.: "Go, go!"

Dudian was relieved as he waved to Barton and others to follow him.

Barton and the other two didn't expect that Dudian would use bribery to pass into residential district. Moreover he did such a bold act in broad daylight. They were stifled as cold sweat poured down their spines. Their bodies were tight and stiff until they got to the other side.

As they entered the residential district Dudian hired a carriage on the roadside. He said to the coachman.: "To the boundary"

Inside the carriage.

Barton patten his chest and cleaned the sweat from his forehead. : "Dean you are really daring. IF the guard got angry, what were we going to do?"

"He wouldn't." Dudian replied in calm tone.

"We couldn't do that... Yes, we couldn't." Kroen bitterly said.

Dudian smiled: "You are all law-abiding citizens. Its natural that you wouldn't dare to do something like that." In the last three years in the prison it was not only planning the tunnel that he learned. Moreover, everything wasn't just about suffer and torture either.

"I didn't expect that a gold coin was enough for us to enter the residential district." Joseph said. Normally, residential district was out of reach for them.

Dudian faintly smiled: "As long as you have enough money then everything is simple. Even a murder!"

"Wouldn't you be retaliated against if we go to commercial district?" Barton asked.

Dudian was about to speak when he sensed a distinctive smell. He couldn't help but slightly set of the curtain to make an angle to check the place.

After a while, he saw five black uniformed people on black horses running by. They had spear and thin swords on their waists. They passed by the carriage.

Dudian noticed that all of them had Thorn medals on their shoulders through the gap of the curtain.

"Dogs are chasing ..." Dudian watched them pass.

...

...

A moment later, five black horses came to the boundary of residential district and the slums. One of the asked the guards: "Have you seen the person on the arrest warran?"

All of the guards shook their heads.: "Never seen."

"Well!" One of them one the horses said: "You gotta let us know if you get some clues." Finished speaking he pulled the reins of the horse and went into the slums.

After the five left, the guards turned towards them.

"A criminal have escaped from the prison! "

"If it wasn't that our boss ordered to look for the crossing people, I wouldn't even care a bit. "

"You know what is funny?! The Thorn Flower Prison is called the number one prison and they were telling to everyone that no prisoner could run out. Actually a sixteen year old kid have escaped."

They wouldn't dare to chat about this in front of the black cavalry or they would be beheaded on spot.

"Captain, the criminal will come here?" One of the black uniformed cavalrymen asked the youth who was leading them.

Frank replied: "His smell disappeared from the residential area. He had bought two horses and most probably have gone through here. Maybe he had intended to go to his adoptive parents but he wasn't there. So he has somewhere else to hide. The slums is where he originates from. We should check out the Meishan orphanage to see if he had some friends."

"Yes."

After a few hours.

In a factory at north of the slums.

Frank sat on the dark horse and asked the old man, "Barton, Barry, Joseph, and Kroen."

The old man knew that they were not ordinary civilians from their armor.: "Well, please wait a moment." Then he trotted into the factory.

Moments later, old man came out as Barry was following behind him.

The old man replied: "There was a man who had come here and took them away. The other three didn't come back. Its only him who returned."

Frank's shouted at him: "What kind of a person? Was he looking like the man on the arrest warrant?"

Old man was scared: "This, this... I didn't pay too much attention. But I think it was a little different. That person looked very young. Maybe ten or so years old."

Frank sulked down. He shouted at Barry: "Imp! Be honest. Was that Dean?"

Barry's body slightly trembled. His mind was in panic. He didn't think that they would catch up to him as Dudian had escaped not too long ago. He clenched his fists: "No, that person was just my friend."

Frank narrowed his eyes: "Do you know that by covering up for wanted criminals you will get charged by the magistrate? "

Barry turned pale: "I did not cover up, I, I ... ..."

"Well, since you didn't cooperate with us I have to take you to prison. According to the law covering a wanted man will get a sentence of 30 years of imprisonment!" Frank shouted and waved: "Take him away!"

Barry shivered in fear. Yellow liquid dripped form his crotch: "Sir. Mr guard. He said that...He said that he will be in outskirts of the Hawk hill..."

Frank looked at him and confirmed that Barry was not lying. He reined the rope and went away.