Chapter 589: Night Within The Forest

Chapter 589 Night Within The Forest

Flames swept forward and gusts of hot air blew upon them. The gusts were such that they nearly caused Nicole and Soo Soo’s hair to curl up.

Tian Lie stood before the two girls, his head raised as he observed the flames spreading through the forest through narrowed eyes.

One after another, the flames devoured the towering trees… … the raging flames were seemingly painting half the sky a colour of crimson, which became reflected upon their faces. However, there was an inscrutable expression on Tian Lie’s face.

“Too fast, it is burning… … too fast.” The corners of Tian Lie’s mouth curled to form a ridiculing sneer.

“So, have you noticed the issue here?” Nicole stood behind Tian Lie. She did not neglect to put her hand around Soo Soo – even though Soo Soo was not some little child who required protecting, this was a subconscious reaction to protect her. 

“The issue is already too obvious.” Tian Lie pointed at his forehead. “Clearly, this forest we are seeing is created based on this little girl’s ‘understanding’. Thus, once we set fire to it, its flaws become exposed. This little girl lacks some necessary general knowledge. She understands that when wood meets fire, it will quickly catch on fire. However, the truth is, it is generally not that easy to set a lush tree on fire… … after all, it doesn’t matter if it’s a tree or a plant, those things all have a certain amount of water inside them. Besides, even if the ignition is successful, there is no way the flames could spread this quickly. The flames are spreading too fast – this is all an illusion created from this little girl’s lack of general knowledge.”

…

The heavy rain had been pouring for a while now. It was overly heavy, so much so that the rainwater had managed to make it past the dense canopy of the forest and pour down inside.

The four figures making their way through the forest had to brave the rainwater as they did so. Chen Xiaolian had long since retrieved raincoats out and handed it to the others. However, the ground beneath them had turned muddy and they had to plod their way through. Twice now, if not for Chen Xiaolian’s support, Lin Leyan would have ended up with a twisted ankle.

The forest grew increasingly dark. Although the flashes of lightning and thunder would occasionally light up the forest, they only provide a brief moment of illumination.

“We have been moving for nearly one hour!” Hossein shouted through the sound of the rain. “There is something wrong with this forest!”

Chen Xiaolian agreed with Hossein.

Earlier, when they had surveyed the forest from above the mountain, they saw that the forest was only around several hundred metres long. It was definitely no more than one kilometre.

However, despite having spent nearly one hour moving through the forest, they had yet to reach the edge of the forest.

Given the movement capacities of both Chen Xiaolian and Hossein, using one hour to cover a distance of tens of kilometres was something they would consider slow. However, at this moment, they had yet to make it out of a forest that was no more than one-kilometre long.

This was a very glaring issue.

“Up front!” Chen Xiaolian’s eyes suddenly shone and he pointed forward.

Rising up before them was a big tree that would require two to three people to encircle. Surprisingly, there was a small wooden cabin in a clearing behind the tree.

The amount of falling rainwater increased, so much so that it became difficult to even keep their eyes open. 

The small wooden cabin had appeared abruptly. Observing it from afar, they saw that there was a chimney jutting out from the cabin. However, there was a very dismal air to its appearance.

“What is this? A place they prepared for us to rest?” Hossein sneered.

“Who cares? Let’s go check it out first.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “This is their place. If they possess the ability to control the world here, and if they do not want us to reach the castle, it would be useless for us to continue moving forward. Let’s go in and rest for a bit first.”

…

The door of the wooden cabin was not locked. With just a simple push, Chen Xiaolian opened the door to the wooden cabin.

After pushing open the door, they saw that the interior of the cabin was not as they had imagined. There was none of the air of dampness and rot inside – rather, it was quite clean and not unpleasant. 

The wooden cabin was not too small either. There were two doors in the cabin. Entering, they saw a simple and coarse-looking hall; a stone fireplace had been constructed upon one of the walls. The rack beside the fireplace also had a pile of dried firewood in them. Four rattan chairs crafted from tree vines rested in the middle of the living room. A sawed-off tree stump lay in the middle, serving as a table.

There in the corner was a row of cabinets.

After stepping inside, Chen Xiaolian raised the glow stick in his hand and turned around in a circle. After he was done examining the furniture inside the living room, he walked to a door inside the cabin. Pushing it open, he peered in to have a look.

It was a kitchen, complete with stove and wok.

“It seems the host had made due preparations.” Chen Xiaolian gave off a faint smile. He opened up the cabinet inside the kitchen and found a dried lamb leg inside. Sniffing it, he felt that it had not spoiled yet.

The wooden cabin was rather well built. No water dripped down from the roof and the interior was fairly clean.

Hossein closed off the door. The two women had been completely soaked by the heavy rain and they shivered.

Chen Xiaolian walked out of the kitchen to the living room. He quickly made his way to the fireplace and started a fire.

“The firewood is dry.” Chen Xiaolian examined the firewood in his hand.

“Probably freshly split. You can still see the lines,” added Hossein after giving it a glance.

“Clearly, the owner of this place wishes us to stay here for a while.” Chen Xiaolian sighed.

Lin Leyan and Jenny were seated at a spot closest to the fireplace. They leaned close to the fire; a few moments later, vapour slowly rose up from their wet clothes.

“You two better take off those wet clothes, get a change of clothes.” After thinking for a bit, Chen Xiaolian retrieved two sets of clothes out from his storage equipment. He also took out a piece of blanket. Using two daggers, he hung the blanket up at a corner, turning it into a curtain for a small dressing area.

Lin Leyan’s face was somewhat red. However, Jenny, a Western woman, was not as bashful as this Asian woman. She did not hesitate either. Accepting the clothes that Chen Xiaolian had handed over, she walked past the curtain into the dressing room.

Lin Leyan looked at Chen Xiaolian, who smiled and said, “I promise I will turn around and not look at you.”

Blushing, Lin Leyan accepted the clothes and entered the dressing room.

Chen Xiaolian and Hossein checked every corner of the cabin and determined that there was nothing dangerous inside. After that, they began to go about their tasks.

The fire that Chen Xiaolian started burned brightly. At the same time, he also brought out some food. He used the pots from his storage equipment – he did not use the items inside the kitchen.

However, he did not reject the piece of lamb leg.

“At any rate, we have already eaten the snow sheep that the hosts sent. If they had wanted to poison us, we would have been poisoned long ago.” Chen Xiaolian shrugged and continued, “Besides, I have already tested it. I used the poison tester from the Exchange System. There is no poison inside this lamb leg.”

“Then we will eat. We do not have much supplies. If we do not eat the things that the hosts give us, we will be unable to last long.” Hossein sighed.

The fire from the fireplace filled the room with warmth and the chilly feeling, the result of braving through the rain, was finally cleared.

Lin Leyan and Jenny walked out of the curtain. Seeing that, Chen Xiaolian’s eyes subconsciously flashed.

Lin Leyan had taken off her shoes and socks and she rolled up her trousers above her knees, exposing her calf.

The straight and slender calf came into Chen Xiaolian’s view and he subconsciously paused before turning his eyes away.

Lin Leyan moved to sit beside Chen Xiaolian. She noticed that there was a hint of red on Chen Xiaolian’s face.

“My shoes are completely soaked, so I took them off to dry.”

“Mm,” Chen Xiaolian replied faintly.

“… … did it look good?” 

“Eh?”

“You were looking at my legs.” Blushing, Lin Leyan whispered.

“… … must I answer that question?” Chen Xiaolian felt slightly awkward.

Seeing the expression on Lin Leyan’s face, Chen Xiaolian finally gave a sigh and nodded his head. “It looks good.”

Lin Leyan revealed a light smile and there was something of a shy look there.

“Enough, you two love birds,” Jenny suddenly spoke with a smile. “Lin, the relationship between you and this lad is really shocking.”

Jenny appeared more energetic. Perhaps it was because she had been away from Tian Lie and Nicole, her two ‘kidnappers’, for more than one day now. Thus, she felt less stressed. At present, the people around her were her own husband, Lin Leyan, who was a friend, and Chen Xiaolian… … he appeared very kind, seemingly not a terrifying person. Due to all these factors, Jenny was able to more or less grow relaxed.

Hossein cut a piece of potato into several cubes before tossing them into the pot to let them boil. Next, he cut out a few pieces of lamb meat and tossed them inside the pot. After doing all that, he sat down beside Jenny.

It was obvious that this fellow really loves his wife. He wrapped one hand around Jenny’s waist and said in a hushed tone, “The relationship between the two of them is really quite complicated.”

“I feel that Lin must really like this lad,” said Jenny with a smile.

Chen Xiaolian sighed. He turned to look at Lin Leyan, only to find that Lin Leyan was also looking at him. A faint look of expectation could be seen within the young woman’s eyes.

He sighed again and turned his gaze away. Then, he said, “After we have had our fill, we should get some rest. It would be best if we could get some sleep to recover our strength.”

There was a trace of disappointment in Lin Leyan’s eyes.

…

Even during night, the rain outside did not come to a halt. Rather, it would appear that the rain was getting heavier.

Chen Xiaolian and Hossein split the responsibilities. They were to take turns keeping watch. For the first half of the night, Hossein would be in charge of keeping watch. As for the last half of the night, Chen Xiaolian was in charge of keeping watch.

In the middle of the night, Chen Xiaolian was roused up by Hossein.

Chen Xiaolian had assumed that it was a simple rotation of watch. In the middle of the darkness, however, he noticed Hossein putting a finger on his lips, signalling for him to remain silent. 

He quickly sat straight and held his breath.

Hossein pointed with his finger and Chen Xiaolian turned to where he was pointing at.

The fire in the room was still burning, but the light was weak. Even so, for Chen Xiaolian and Hossein, that weak amount of illumination was enough for them to clearly see everything inside the room.

The direction pointed out by Hossein led to a corner in the room. It was the makeshift dressing room he made using the blanket. As it so happened, that blanket blocked their view of what was beyond.

However, Chen Xiaolian understood what Hossein meant.

Sound!

Beyond the blanket came a faint sound of something crawling across the floor.

Chen Xiaolian stood up slowly while Hossein, with a blade in hand, moved forward with a forward crouching posture.

Reaching the curtain, Hossein extended his hand to pull the curtain. Suddenly…

Swoosh!

The blanket flew up and twisted toward Hossein.

Hossein reacted quickly. Instead of retreating, he moved forward. Taking a step forward, he hacked down with the blade in his hand.

With a “ca”, the blanket was cut into two and they quickly split away. A black silhouette rushed forward from behind the blanket, only to receive a hack from Hossein’s blade.

The black silhouette was struck and it immediately issued out a sharp scream. It rolled backward, but Hossein pressed on.

The blade in his hand hacked out once more. This time, however, the blade was blocked by something tough. A clashing sound rang out; a sharp claw was blocking off the blade. Next, the black silhouette engaged in a tussle with Hossein.

Chen Xiaolian did not make any moves.

Then, the door of the wooden cabin, which was behind Chen Xiaolian suddenly slammed open and another black silhouette rushed in.

However, it would appear that Chen Xiaolian was ready for it. Although he had his back against the door, a sword beam had already shot out from the area under his ribs.

The sword beam struck the invading black silhouette, piercing it and pinning it onto the wall, eliciting a sharp cry from it in the process.

Chen Xiaolian turned around. However, he did not rush forward. Instead, he continued to stay beside the two women to defend them.

Lin Leyan and Jenny had seemingly fallen into a very deep sleep. Despite the massive amount of action going on, the two women remained asleep. Seeing that, Chen Xiaolian sensed that something was amiss.

Thanks to the illumination from the fireplace, the characteristics of the black shadow pinned to the wall gradually grew clear and Chen Xiaolian was able to see how it looked like.

Surprisingly, it was a huge bat.

Kacha!

Behind him, Hossein stood up. Using his hands, he lifted up a huge bat. However, he had already torn out the claws on each of the bat’s wings. The bat snarled, revealing its sharp fangs. Hossein simply sneered before viciously slamming the bat on the floor. Next, his leg stamped down on the bat’s head.

The two bats were very large. They were close to one metre in height while their entire bodies were black.

Chen Xiaolian and Hossein exchanged glances. After that, Chen Xiaolian stood guard by the door while Hossein stood in the middle of the room, his eyes staring intently at the dressing room area.

The wall there had a wooden window – when the four of them reached this cabin earlier, the window was sealed shut. It had, at an unknown moment, opened up. The bat hiding behind the blanket just now must have slipped in through the window.

“No more, there are only two of them,” said Chen Xiaolian grimly.

“There might be more outside.”

“Don’t go out. The enemy is hidden while we are exposed.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head.

Hossein agreed. The two of them stayed on guard, one guarding the door while the other guarded the window. After a few minutes had passed, they saw that there were no movements outside.

The bat beneath Hossein had had its neck broken and it no longer breathed. The bat on the wall, on the other hand, continued to struggle. However, it obviously no longer had much strength left.

“You stay here. I will go out and have a look,” Hossein said quickly. “I won’t be going far. I will return soon.”

“… all right.” Chen Xiaolian sighed.

As quickly as Hossein had left, he returned. There was a grim look on his face. After entering, he said in a hushed tone, “There are no movements outside.”

After saying that, he closed the door and locked it. Next, he made his way to the window and closed it tightly.

“They are still asleep?” Chen Xiaolian frowned as he looked at the two women on the floor.

Hossein’s face was ugly to behold. He moved over to Jenny’s side. Then, he nudged her with his hand and patted her face.

After a while, Jenny slowly woke up with a look of confusion on her face. “What is it?”

Hossein then breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Xiaolian, too, went over to wake Lin Leyan up.

It would appear that the two women were not suffering from any maladies. They seemed to have unexpectedly fallen into a deep sleep – although it was very strange, now that they had woken up, everything was good.

Next, Chen Xiaolian performed a simple check-up on the two women. He found that there were no issues.

When Lin Leyan saw the large bat on the floor and the one pinned to the wall, she paled and leaned close to Chen Xiaolian.

“It is all right. We have already subdued it.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head and patted Lin Leyan’s back.

Hossein walked to the wall and used one hand to pull out the sword pinning the bat to the wall. Next, he gripped the bat by its neck and carried it over.

Looking at it from up close, the bat looked even more terrifying. Its entire body was covered with brown coloured fur and it had sharp fangs and claws. With Hossein gripping its neck, its eyes glinted with a red colour.

Hossein released his grip, allowing the bat to fall to the floor. The large bat flailed about on the floor for a moment before raising its head to utter a word.

Although it was a very short word, all four of them could clearly hear it.

The bat shouted in a hoarse voice. 

“DIE!!!”

However, that was all it said. With one foot, Hossein stamped down on its neck, breaking it instantly.

“Do you know what this is?” asked Chen Xiaolian with a frown.

Hossein’s face turned slightly contorted. After a pause, he said slowly, “The Bloodclan!”

…