Chapter 130: Want to Run?

In a desolate, uninhabited wilderness, footprints crisscrossed the ground in a chaotic, disorganized mess, and the depth of the prints varied; judging solely by their size, they could by no means have been left by a human.

Scattered around were various weapons, along with fragments of clothing stained with spots of blood, and a few lonely shoes.

Several figures appeared here, staring blankly at the scene of devastation before them, a strong, ominous premonition rising in their hearts in unison.

"What is that?" Li Qiang seemed to have discovered something, hurriedly stepping forward to bend down and pick up half of a black sneaker.

"Lao San's shoe!" It was as if all the strength had been drained from his body; he collapsed onto the ground, the color on his face vanishing without a trace in an instant.

In an instant, the eyes of the few people behind him were filled with shock.

Could it be that Li Laosan and his men failed to return on time because they had met with a mishap?

Li Meng stepped forward and snatched the half-shoe from Li Qiang's hand, his entire body jolting violently.

Immediately following, his gaze searched the surroundings rapidly, and soon, he found the other shoe.

The few people behind him saw this scene and dared not even breathe loudly, as if making the slightest sound would invite a greater disaster.

"Big Brother, could it be that Lao San, Lao San he..." Li Qiang's lips trembled, and he dared not continue.

After a long while, Li Meng's voice sounded in a low tone: "It is Lao San's shoe."

"!!!" At this moment, the few people present felt as if they had been struck by a bolt from the blue, standing frozen on the spot.

In truth, they had already had a vague premonition in their hearts. After all, the number of weapons and shoes scattered here was large; a rough estimate suggested that only a team of at least twenty people would have this many.

And in this vicinity, the only one possessing a Hunting Team of such scale was their Li Family Fort.

Coupled with the fact that Li Laosan's shoe appeared here while the person was nowhere to be found, what had happened was almost self-evident.

"Lao San! Lao San!!!" Li Qiang was overcome with grief, slamming his head against the ground and letting out a heart-wrenching cry.

"Lao San!!!" He wailed hysterically, his entire being immersed in extreme sorrow.

This scene caused the eyes of the few who had followed to turn red as well.

"Second Brother, you must take care of your health."

"That's right, Second Brother, who could have imagined that Third Brother and the others had hunted so many times and were always safe and sound, but this one time, they just..."

"Get lost!" Li Qiang angrily pushed away the person who had come to support him and cried out: "Lao San, it is Second Brother who failed you! If Second Brother had come out hunting with you back then, how could this have happened? Lao San!"

Seeing Li Qiang in such grief, the others did not know how to comfort him.

After all, people face unpredictable misfortunes, and no one knows when disaster might suddenly descend.

Li Meng's expression was as gloomy as the sky before a storm, making one shudder with fear.

He scanned the surroundings with a cold, stern gaze and suddenly said slowly: "It might not be the work of a Fierce Beast."

This sentence was like a heavy bomb, completely exceeding the expectations of the others.

Even Li Qiang, who had been sobbing until his body convulsed, stopped his crying instantly and looked at Li Meng in shock.

"Big Brother, what did you just say? Not the work of a Fierce Beast?"

"How is this possible?" The few people beside them all opened their mouths in surprise.

"Third Brother was a Body Tempering Third Layer Martial Artist, and he brought so many people; if it wasn't a Fierce Beast, who in the nearby Zhai could have this strength?"

"That's right, like the Wang Family, Lu Family Stockade, or Qin Family Stronghold, they absolutely could not have this strength, let alone the guts. If anyone could do it, I'm afraid it would only be Zhou Family Fort."

"Zhou Family Fort? That doesn't seem likely, does it?"

"It is merely a possibility." Li Meng's voice was ice-cold, as if it had come from the Nine Nether Hell, "Did you not notice that the number of weapons on the ground does not match up?"

Hearing this, the few people hurriedly looked carefully and began to count.

Indeed, the number of weapons was missing a few pieces; it seemed that bows and arrows were what had been lost.

"Could they have been dropped elsewhere?" someone asked cautiously.

After all, the scene at the time could have been the group fighting while retreating, with people constantly losing their lives under the attacks of Fierce Beasts, and the weapons being dropped as a result.

"Go search the surroundings." After Li Meng finished speaking, he walked straight toward the north.

His third brother's death caused him equal, immense grief, but given his status, he absolutely could not show this grief on his face.

The most urgent task was to clarify the cause of Lao San's death.

If he died at the hands of a Fierce Beast, he would surely kill every Fierce Beast he saw from now on; if he died at the hands of a person, he would definitely have that person carved into ten thousand pieces, skinned, and deboned to satisfy the hatred in his heart!

Not long after, the few people gathered together again.

"Brother Li Meng, I searched the east thoroughly, but found nothing."

"I searched the west, and likewise found nothing."

"The south is the direction we came from; I went back and checked it carefully again, but still found nothing."

"Big Brother?" Li Qiang looked at Li Meng.

Li Meng shook his head helplessly, "Nothing in the north either."

For a time, the atmosphere became unusually quiet; the few people looked at each other, their eyes filled with astonishment.

Even if a Fierce Beast were stupid, it wouldn't be stupid enough to swallow weapons, so where exactly did the few sets of bows and arrows missing from the scene go?

Could it really be the work of a person? But the question is, who exactly has such strength, and why would they do this?

"Brother Li Meng, could it be that after Third Brother and the others met with trouble, someone passed by and took the weapons from their hands while they were at it?"

Li Meng looked at the person who spoke and said coldly: "If someone passed by later, since they wanted to take the weapons, why only take the bows and arrows and not take the other weapons as well?"

That person was left speechless by the question and lowered his head.

"Big Brother, could it really be the work of people from Zhou Family Fort?" Li Qiang asked nervously.

If it really were the work of Zhou Family Fort, then there would be trouble. Although the two brothers were not weak in strength, compared to Zhou Family Fort, they had no chance of winning.

But besides Zhou Family Fort, who else nearby has this strength?

Li Meng only shook his head silently. He also did not know the ins and outs of this matter; for now, he could only speculate based on the clues before him.

While the others were lamenting, there was actually a faint sense of joy in their hearts.

Li Laosan and his men had undoubtedly perished in the bellies of Fierce Beasts; one must know that these people were all the strongest batch in the Zhai, basically all Martial Artists, and they had all perished in a single night.

In other words, their opportunity had arrived. Although there were many young and able-bodied men in the Zhai, the vast majority were ordinary people; Li Meng could only rely on them from now on, which was both a pressure and an opportunity.

Not knowing how much time had passed, Li Meng said in a low voice, "Let's go back."

Several people exchanged glances.

"Brother Li Meng," someone said, emboldened, "with Lao San and the others having met with misfortune, the prey will surely be much less from now on. I think the food distributed to those people in the Zhai should be reduced by half."

"Reducing it by half is still being generous. I think those old, weak, women, and children are of no use anyway; it would be better to just drive them out."

"That's right, that's right, they are just wasting food." As they spoke, they carefully observed Li Meng's reaction.

Li Meng, however, said nothing, his face devoid of any expression, making it impossible for anyone to guess what he was thinking.

Li Qiang remained immersed in grief, looking utterly dejected.

The few people shrugged helplessly, then followed the path they had come by to head back.

After about half an hour, the outline of Li Family Fort gradually appeared before their eyes.

Li Qiang was moved by the sight, and his eyes turned red once again.

This place was built by the three brothers with their own hands; the three of them had contributed significantly to the scale Li Family Fort had today. But now, Lao San had left forever.

As the distance to the Zhai grew shorter—600 meters, 500 meters, 400 meters...

Just then, Li Meng's footsteps suddenly stopped, his pupils contracted sharply, and he said in a low voice, "Something is wrong."

The gate of the Zhai was wide open, exactly as it had been when they left. There were also figures on the Watchtower.

But strangely, even though they were already this close, not a single person came out from the Zhai to welcome them.

Moreover, the person on the Watchtower had remained motionless from the moment he noticed them. This was truly too abnormal.

"Huh?" The few people behind him were stunned, not understanding what Li Meng meant by "something is wrong."

Just then, a series of firecracker-like sounds suddenly rang out from not far away, and immediately after, something came flying toward them at high speed with a sharp whistling sound.

"Dodge!" Li Meng instinctively roared, his body flashing rapidly to the side.

"Puchi!" A sound of fabric being torn came through. An arrow grazed his arm, leaving a wound one centimeter deep.

Looking at the others, they were not so lucky.

Two of them were pierced through the chest by arrows, their bodies flying high into the air, their eyes wide open, with expressions of disbelief still on their faces; clearly, they hadn't yet reacted to what had happened.

Among them was Li Qiang, who had been immersed in grief; the other three, while not hit in the chest, were in no better condition, as if a large hole had been blown open in their bodies, with blood gushing out like a fountain.

"Second Brother!" Li Meng watched this scene with his own eyes, so angry that his eyes were splitting.

He cast an angry gaze toward the wall, only to see a figure standing atop it.

Before he could see clearly, another explosive sound rang out in the air, and three arrows shot toward him like lightning.

"This time it's aimed at me?" Li Meng's heart tightened. Immediately after, he discovered with horror that these three arrows had completely sealed off all his paths of retreat!

The next moment, he gritted his teeth and exerted all his strength, his figure suddenly accelerating. He dodged them thrillingly, almost brushing against the edges of the arrows.

"Hmm?" A flash of surprise appeared in Chen Fan's eyes.

He had originally intended to wait until the target was closer before making a move; after all, the closer the distance, the less reaction time left for the target.

Who would have thought the target seemed to have sensed the danger. Fortunately, his position was good, allowing him to shoot six arrows at once; if he was lucky, he could wipe them all out.

As it turned out, this Li Meng—whether his reaction was too fast or his luck too good—had actually dodged the arrows.

He shot three more arrows for the second time; logically, these three should have hit, and even if they didn't hit a vital spot, the target would certainly be dead soon after.

Yet the target had actually dodged them once again. It seemed the target must have used some trump card, consuming Blood Qi Power to increase his speed in a short time.

"Not good, he wants to run!"

Chen Fan's expression changed, and without hesitation, he leaped down from the wall, simultaneously activating the Eight Directions Extreme Distance characteristic of the Baji Fist.

In an instant, his Strength and Agility attributes doubled!

The wind whistled in his ears, and in just one second, he sprinted over a hundred meters.

"Run! Run quickly!"

Li Meng ran for his life like a madman, even throwing away the long spear in his hand.

Although he knew how to shoot arrows, firstly, he was completely unprepared with his bow still on his back, and the opponent would never give him the chance to draw it.

As the saying goes, one step slow means every step is slow; taking the initiative is no empty phrase. Secondly, and most importantly, the opponent's Arrow Technique was clearly superior to his!

As the saying goes, as long as the green hills remain, one need not worry about firewood; he realized in an instant that the person shooting the arrows was likely the murderer of his third brother!

He didn't know why the other party would do this, but as long as he had enough time, he would definitely get to the bottom of this matter, and when that time came, he would make the other party pay in blood to avenge this deep blood feud!