Lin Shuo did
not sleep that night.
Unlike the
mercenary on guard duty, he had on him the roe deer skin and he sat away from
the camp fire in the shadow in the corner of the camp ground.
The starling
bird didn’t go looking for fun in the woods that night, but stayed on Lin
Shuo’s shoulder like he was supposed to.
And a recurve
bow leaned against a boulder next to the man and the bird.
When Anne saw
them in the morning after she woke up, she thought she had seen a statue.
But she
didn’t say anything. Quickly she got up and brought back a bucket of water from
the river. She handed the water and a towel to Lin Shuo, “Mr. Lin, please.”
Lin Shou
nodded and accepted the items from her before he turned around and walked into
the woods.
“Shuo-ge, have you noticed,” came the voice of
the starling bird from the woods, “This woman, she and you have synergy.”
“…..”
“Shuo-ge, the Lin’s only have single child for
three generations and now it’s just you. Speaking of, Shuo-ge, you are not young anymore.”
“……”
“Shuo-ge, the birds in this city seem to be
easy to get. All you have to do is nod.”
“Xiao Ba, you
still want to keep your bird underneath?”
“My bad,
Shuo-ge.”
……
Today was
another sunny day. As the sun came up, the temperature began to rise.
The group had
an early start and headed toward the metal chain bridge.
Lin Shuo did
not take the lead today but let Wei Xingshan took three of his mercenaries to
lead the way.
Lin Shuo,
along with Xiao Ba, fell behind the troop and kept a distance of over 100
meters.
Nobody dare
to have any disagreement against Lin Shuo’s arrangement, nor did anyone ask for
the reasons behind it all.
After about 3
kilometers as they were approaching the metal chain bridge, Lin Shuo looked to
have breathed a sign of relief and slowly caught up with the team.
The unknown strange
lifeform that had been staring at the group through the entire night seemingly
observing them had finally departed.
This was the
narrowest part of the river, but even so, it was about 50 or so meters wide.
The metal
chain bridge might have looked alright from a distance, but now that they were
standing next to it, one could tell it had rusted a long time ago. And the
wooden plank of it had rotted so badly that every step would cause it to break
apart.
The bridge
hung about 10 meters above the water, the torrent was rapid underneath and also
have under current. The visible whirlpools on the surface of the river looked
like scary mouths.
Perhaps a
fish could survive the fall, but definitely not a human.
Lin Shou
walked up to the bridge and saw Wei Xingshan shaking the metal chains of the
bridge. He was a strong man, a couple shakes and the entire bridge was rattled
and all the rotten wooden planks broken and fell off as the bridge shook from
side to side.
Seeing that,
Wei Xingshan went ahead and grabbed the chains with both hands and shook it
vigorously. After a short while, all the wooden planks had fallen off, leaving
only 4 empty metal chains – two on the bottom that used to have wooden planks
on top of them; and two on the right and left sides that were the handles previously.
“Okay,” Wei
Xingshan slapped his hands together, “These chains are still quite sturdy. All
the wooden planks were rotted, better off this way.”
Having said
that, Wei Xingshan looked back at He Zihong and said, “Professor He, let me
take a few of my men and cross the bridge first. No need to rush. Let us take
the lead and cross and bridge and checked out the situation on the other side,
then we will hang a zip wire connecting both sides. You, Dr. Yang, and Miss
Anne can cross using the zip wire. It will be safer that way.”
“That’s
right, Professor He,” smiled the vice captain Liu Qing, “These kind of zip wire
is equivalent to three safety ropes, and you slide over using a steel buckle.
Don’t worry, we are very skilled in this. Even though you are hanging off the
ground, but it’s actually very safe and comfortable.”
“Thank you so
much, Captain Wei and Vice Captain Liu,” Professor He smiled and nodded.
Ever since
the team had entered the forest, Wei Xingshan and Liu Qing’s performances had
slowly earned the trust of the two scholars, He Zihong and Yang Ta. Especially
Wei Xingshan, even though he looked like the roughneck leader of the
mercenaries, but he was actually very meticulous in everything he did, and
always put the team’s safety above everything else.
After saying
that, Wei Xingshan put on his back a utility bag holding the zip wire and was
about to take off before realizing Lin Shuo standing between him and the metal
chain bridge.
Yesterday day
time, Lin Shou’s two fingers in front of Wei Xingshan had left an lasting
impression with the mercenaries. In Wei Xingshan’s mind, Lin Shou had gone from
a pretentious phony to an enigmatic eccentric. Not to mention that he still
owed him his life. Which was why he was very polite to him, “Mr. Lin, what
seems to be the matter?”
Lin Shuo bent
down and put his nose close to the metal chain and sniffed carefully. Slowly he
looked up and said, “Something’s not right.”
___
Currently Offering:
Herbivore tier: 2 advance chapter parts (1 complete chapter)
Sirenia tier: 4 advance chapter parts (2 complete chapter)
