The muscular man jolted awake!

He looked around inside the cave, then looked outside, his face a mask of bewilderment and terror!

“It… it can’t be?”

He even scraped at the dirt on the ground in a rather absurd way, as if Tan Xiao had tunneled an escape route.

“He really ran?” The muscular man couldn’t believe it. The color drained from his face. “…He was wounded so badly — how could he have run…”

“Doesn’t matter. We have to inform the king immediately!” Tian Li raised his wrist to hit the call button.

The muscular man was so frightened he shook like a leaf. He dropped to his knees in front of Tian Li and grabbed his legs, begging, “Don’t tell him! I’m begging you! Don’t tell him under any circumstances!…”

Tian Li was desperately tired of it, and couldn’t pry the muscular man loose. He snapped, “Even if I don’t tell him, there’s no way to hide it! You were responsible for guarding this place — you fell asleep and let him escape, so you bear full responsibility!!!”

“I’m begging you! Don’t tell him — he’ll kill me! I’ll definitely die!!!”

In the middle of their argument, Ye Chong walked in from outside and swept a cool glance around the room.

The atmosphere froze solid in an instant.

The muscular man seemed to be paralyzed by that one look, his entire body going rigid where he was, not daring to move.

Ye Chong’s gaze lifted slightly and ultimately settled on Hu Dashan. “Tell me. What’s going on?”

Hu Dashan stuttered through an explanation: “He… he fell asleep on watch and let the hostage escape…”

Then quickly added: “Wounded as badly as that, he can’t have gotten far. If we split up to go after him now, we might still be in time!”

Tian Li, afraid of being implicated, also nodded along. “I agree with Hu Dashan — when we both came in just now, this fellow was already asleep! No idea how long the hostage has been gone. Why don’t we go look? The forest is so large — he can’t have made it out.”

Ye Chong, unexpectedly, did not lose his temper.

He mulled it over for a moment and said mildly, “All right, then. Split up and look.”

The forest was vast. Everyone scattered to search.

Hu Dashan wandered in random directions through the forest, heart clenched tight inside him, like a rag wrung to the point it couldn’t be wrung any further.

His plan had already succeeded halfway.

Only the second half left.

He looked left and right, confirmed there was no one nearby, then changed direction and sprinted toward where Tan Xiao was hidden!

He ran in one breath to that familiar stretch of undergrowth, reached in with his hand to sweep away the thick covering of dead branches and leaves. Tan Xiao’s faint voice came from underneath: “What exactly are you doing… running back and forth like this…”

Seeing that he still had enough energy to speak, Hu Dashan felt something between laughter and exasperation, and cursed him: “You little punk! So high and mighty after a few labyrinth runs, are you? Took wounds that bad and somehow you still haven’t died!”

Even as he cursed him, he felt light inside.

Hu Dashan dragged Tan Xiao out from the undergrowth, hoisted him onto his back, and had just started walking when footsteps sounded behind him —

His heart lurched. His feet froze. He didn’t dare turn around.

Judging by sound alone, those footsteps were moving steadily, one step at a time, walking straight toward him…

“Now it all makes sense.” Ye Chong stepped out from behind a tree, smiling. “Wounded this badly, if he managed to escape, there must have been an accomplice helping him — isn’t that right?”

Hu Dashan closed his eyes in despair…

Caught.

This time it was finished. The White Glove wouldn’t let him off — and certainly wouldn’t let Tan Xiao off.

What to do?

…Rather than keep playing the coward, maybe better to run?

Run…

If he ran now, there might still be a sliver of a chance.

Hu Dashan drew a breath, clenched his jaw, gripped Tan Xiao tightly on his back, and suddenly lunged forward as if his life depended on it!

He ran at full speed! Terrified that bamboo spikes or steel rods would come flying from behind at any moment, he ran and turned, using the great trees as cover, desperately searching for a way out through the forest!

The trees ahead grew sparse. The light grew brighter. That sliver of brightness gave Hu Dashan hope.

He was almost out of the northern forest!

Whoosh!

A rush of air — and a sharp bamboo spike drove straight through his ankle.

—