Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Struggling with these worries, she stroked the child’s head. “Alright, Qinghan. I’ll never leave you behind like that again.”
Luo Qinghan turned his big, forlorn eyes up at her. “Then, Zhe Huo… Can we not go back to that inn anymore?”
“Um, but… Wu Shan is helping to look for you too, Qinghan. Let’s meet up with him first.”
Qinghan blinked. “He’d rather you never find me.”
“Qinghan, you… surely you’ve misjudged Wu Shan…” No matter how she tried to keep these thoughts at bay, these suspicions about Wu Shan’s character—that he would not only toss aside Qinghan for no reason, but even allow the boy to be savaged by other demon hunters—neither could she ignore the forlorn tone of the boy’s voice, and that hideous gash across his face.
Before she could figure out what to say to Wu Shan, Qinghan suddenly seemed to lose patience, shaking off her hand and storming off without a word.
Naturally, Zhe Huo couldn’t allow Qinghan to wander around on his own any further, and hurried to catch him. Yet, before she could say anything—
Qinghan turned to look up at her, and scowled.
Though he still wasn’t saying anything, the melancholy in his eyes was unmistakable.
She couldn’t bear the sight of it any longer. Her heart melting like wax, she swallowed her words and nodded her head. “Alright, since we’re in a hurry to get to the next task… but we’ll at least go back and say goodbye to Wu Shan before leaving. That’s reasonable, right?”
Qinghan’s face fell ever so slightly. Quietly, he conceded, “Alright.”
Zhe Huo loosed a sigh of relief, never noticing the triumphant light that flashed through the boy’s eyes.
***
The moment Wu Shan saw Zhe Huo bringing the boy back, with a dressing applied across his face, he knew something was very wrong.
Sure enough, Zhe Huo only spoke to him in stiff formalities, thanking him for the magical relic and for accompanying her on this journey. Wu Shan knew her well enough to know that she had no talent for discretion nor deception. Frowning, he interrupted her gently before she’d finished talking. “Zhe Huo, if you have something to say, just say it.”
Called out like this, Zhe Huo rubbed her nose uncertainly, and coughed nervously a time or two, before she could work up the nerve to say to him, “It’s like this, Wu Shan: I’m thinking of leaving directly, with Qinghan, to get started on the next task right away.”
Wu Shan frowned deeply when he heard this, his gaze cutting past Zhe Huo to the child sitting on the table behind her, busy packing. His gaze hardened. “What did that kid say to you, exactly?”
As though sensing Wu Shan’s glare in his direction, ‘That Kid’ looked up, and the moment they made eye contact, the boy smirked and glanced towards Zhe Huo. When Zhe Huo turned around however, what she saw was the boy wearing a mask of abject terror. She whipped back around to face Wu Shan, and said with consternation, “Why are you glaring at him so fiercely? As I told you, I’m just in a hurry to get to the next job.”
Wu Shan regained his composure, and regarded Zhe Huo solemnly. “It’ll be dark soon. You should leave tomorrow.” He didn’t say it as a question.
“But…” It was hard to argue with that.