Zheng Quchi arrived at the small woods behind the camp and found people lying on the ground. Her face tightened, but she breathed a sigh of relief after checking them. They were still breathing and had pulses; they were still alive.
Sensing a strange, indescribable smell in the air, she immediately covered her mouth and nose.
"Gan Xin, what's that smell? Can you smell it?"
Over the years, she has discovered that Gan Xin is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. He has traveled all over the country and knows a little about everything. Whenever she encounters a field she doesn't understand, she will consult him for advice.
Gan Xin possessed profound inner strength and was not afraid of these petty tricks. In addition, he was an old hand in the world and had seen many such low-level methods: "It is the fragrance of Toona sinensis and bamboo grass. It is a common kind of sleeping smoke. Those who inhale it will be unconscious for half an hour to two hours."
Sure enough, he knew what it was just by smelling it.
But she felt like she'd smelled this somewhere before...
While he was speaking, Zheng Quchi covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve. The smoke had mostly dissipated by now, leaving only a slight aftertaste, so it didn't have much of an impact.
She looked around and was about to take a few steps forward when she heard Gan Xin, who was checking the situation ahead, suddenly say, "Don't come any closer."
Hearing his stern voice, Zheng Quchi had just asked, "What's wrong?" when she also smelled a foul, rusty odor... The smell of the sleeping gas had masked the smell of blood, so she only realized it belatedly... There must have been a fight not far from the woods.
As darkness fell, many of the fires lit in the woods went out, and the remaining ones could only illuminate a small area. Countless strange and eerie shadows were cast on the ground, making it impossible to see what was ahead.
She obediently stayed still: "There's no danger anymore, right?"
Gan Xin hesitated for a moment, then understood what she meant: "...No."
So Zheng Quchi didn't delay any longer. She took a fire and quickly stepped forward. She bent over and used the firelight to inspect the corpses on the ground.
Gan Xin watched quietly as she rummaged through the corpses, seemingly searching for someone. From her movements, it was clear she was not used to it, yet she still forced herself to endure the discomfort and examined each one.
After searching, it was discovered that all the dead were people from the Kezhu tribe.
It's not hard to recognize that their clothing and style are very similar to Le Tai's.
Suppressing the churning in his stomach, Zheng Quchi stopped looking.
If killing can be defined by its own style, then the current situation of leaving no trace of the body is undoubtedly Yuwen Sheng's method of killing.
"Master, are you alright?"
Seeing her covering her mouth and forcing herself to swallow, Gan Xin couldn't help but worry about her mental state.
"It's nothing, it's just a normal physiological reaction..." She turned her head and saw his nonchalant expression, so she could only force herself to change her words: "Okay, after living a normal life for a few years, I've almost forgotten the cruelty of the exposed bones and the fighting outside."
Gan Xin replied, "You don't need to adapt to this kind of life. You should have been well protected in the royal city."
Zheng Quchi understood Gan Xin's meaning. He had never approved of her taking risks herself, and this time he strongly opposed her coming to the war-torn Wubao. He believed that he could do it for her, take risks for her, and share her burdens.
"Gan Xin, I am not that important. Time is a torrent. Even if I don't move, everything in the world will still be pushed forward. So there is no such thing as 'should' or 'shouldn't'."
"When I learned that there was a person in this world... a person who, in order to protect me and the country I hoped to achieve, bore all the suffering alone, fought for years, was covered in wounds, and lived a life of life and death, perhaps at that moment I was placed on a pedestal by him and became important."
To be honest, apart from having more knowledge than others, her other strengths are negligible. She always felt that she was nothing special, and that she would die just as easily if a knife came down on her.
She narrated calmly, without a happy smile or a heavy burden on her face, but rather with a serene acceptance born of understanding.
"Are you worried about losing him?" Gan Xin tried to understand what she meant.
But Zheng Quchi smiled gently: "I lost him before, but now that I think about it, it doesn't seem like I was heartbroken. I just felt sad and guilty for a long time. He couldn't stop me from moving forward, and he still can't now..."
Gan Xin met her eyes, which were clear and bright, yet the clearer and brighter they were, the more untouched they were, and the more they could contain all things.
"Then why did you insist on coming here?"
Zheng Quchi touched her head. Yuwen Sheng had straightened her usually frizzy hair and tied it into a bun that she didn't know the name of. He then combed it into a small braid from behind her ears to the front, making her look both refreshing and playful.
"I'm not entirely sure why, but I had this vague feeling that I couldn't leave him out there alone forever. I knew that if I didn't come to pick him up, he wouldn't be able to find his way home..."
Zheng Quchi was stunned after she finished speaking. After a long while, she looked at Gan Xin's dazed and absent eyes, and smiled slightly: "Do you know what I'm saying?"
Gan Xin snapped out of his daze and said maliciously, "I know, Master lost a dog and now wants to take it back."
Zheng Quchi: "..." Why does it feel like he has a little bit of malice towards Yuwen Sheng?
Bang, bang... A series of explosions rang out again. The noise was quite loud, but the distance was not close. Zheng Quchi turned his head sharply, listened to the sound to pinpoint the location, and looked in the direction where the firelight had suddenly appeared.
“It was the sound of an explosion…” she said gravely.
Gan Xin knew she was worried, although he wasn't entirely clear about her past entanglements with Prince Yuan: "Master, wait here. I'll go check on things."
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