Chapter 150 - Don't Take The Bait

Shao Fang had heard the sound. Ever since he had entered the forest, he knew that someone was following him. It was only his intention to take that person away from the training grounds. He knew full well what he was doing and yet it still happened as a surprise.

When he shed light on the tree, someone jumped on him, the light catching on the sharp blade. His head connected with a rock and he was dizzy.

He heard something dropped to the floor and Shao Fang opened his eyes and he could see a stream of red, stark from the milky skin of the person. He heard a grunt and the weight above his body lifted.

The person was escaping.

**

Qing Chen cursed under his breath. He had been too far and the black cloth made him miss the neck. His knife only managed to cut the shoulder. As soon as the knife was out of his hand, he was running towards them.

The person did not even look at the damage and took the machete-like blade they were holding and started running.

Qing Chen did not want to stop but he took a millisecond to haul Shao Fang off the ground and dragged him by his shirt as they run through the woods. Qing Chen only narrowed his eyes at the black silhouette jumping the roots of trees.

Shao Fang took a few seconds to make his mind clear and for his legs to run on its own. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Save your breath," said Qing Chen.

It was as if this person knew these woods well. Qing Chen could not even feel a single pain on his body. He was just thinking about catching this person. That person was NOT with Shao Fang. If they were, why on earth did they try to kill him?

Suddenly there was a huge tree ahead and the person disappeared behind it. Qing Chen pushed harder against the ground, kicking up soil and dirt in the air as he went.

But then, three persons emerged from the thick trunk. Dressed in the same cloth and with the same silhouette. They all stopped, as if in mock of the people running after them. Then they all went to different directions.

"What the f.u.c.k!" Shao Fang seemed to have shouted at the top of his lungs.

Qing Chen was certain which one it was. "Follow me. Don't take the bait."

"Are you sure?" Shao Fang asked, untrusting.

Qing Chen knew it was the one. He had sliced a shoulder. That person's cape was a little out of position and it showed on the silhouette that the hem was lower on the other end. "Trust me."

They made a hard turn and ran faster. The person did not even look back at them. They were dressed in a black cape and pants. A hood covered their head. 

No, they could not let this person escape.

Qing Chen wanted to laugh when he saw that the forest opened up and a small clearing appeared. The road had ran out. He pounded his feet faster on the ground. He could taste it, the triumph.

But it quickly turned bitter when the person—without a second doubt—jumped.

"No!" Shao Fang shouted. They reached the edge of the cliff and had the chance to see the person failing in the air.

Then a small parachute shot up the sky. Only then did they see that a speedboat was already waiting for the person. What an expert paraglider. The person lightly landed and quickly dismantled the chute, letting it fall to the water.

Qing Chen and Shao Fang took out knives and threw them. But alas, the boat was already speeding away.

**

Qing Chen did not waste another moment and went back to the building. It was already morning and some of them were already up. He knocked on Feng Xuan's door and he saw the relief that flooded her face.

He wanted to spill everything right then and there. "I'm calling a meeting. Get down in the Master's office now."

He got up to his brothers and knocked on their doors, pulling them off their beds and to the Master's office. Master still had his eyes closed while he was listening to Qing Chen and Shao Fang narrate what happened at the woods.

"Ma Min's gone," Shao Fang said. 

"As expected," answered Master like it did not bother him at all.

"What were you doing in the woods?" Wuming asked Shao Fang.

"I was at night duty once and I saw someone leaving the dorms. I wanted to find out who it was so I took walks in the forest at random."

"But we ran a background check on you. We came up with nothing," said Qing Lok.

"What?!" exclaimed Shao Fang. He was not happy. "You did what?!"

Qing Chen did not care that he was mad. "Why were your records cleaned?"

It was Master who answered. "His records were not cleaned. He did not have records in the first place."

It was as if all the eyebrows in the room shut up.

"Sorry, what?" Feng Xuan asked.

Master sighed. "I did not want to tell the students about this as it might make them feel uncomfortable—"

"Master," interrupted Shao Fang.

Master held up a hand. "Let me, child." Master faced the four questioning faces. "You did not find anything about him because his records are non-existent."

"Why is that?" Qing Chen asked.

"Because I made it so," Master answered. "I am grooming him to be an assassin since he was a child. Records only get in the way—it causes a lot of trouble in the future if you're in this line of work. He was born in the mountains and only had been to the city a few times."

Qing Chen recalled Shao Fang's story. "So his parents gave him to you?"

"He came willingly, of course," Master laughed. "He's my grandson."