Chapter 56: The Clever Qi Lin

Damn!

I swallowed hard, looking at the figure standing by the small stream, half-hidden in the swirling snowy mist. I muttered to myself, "No way, this has to be fake, right?"

You must know, I had seen it with my own eyes—Old Chen had shot that man squarely in the chest. I had personally thrown his corpse into the flowing stream, watching it drift further and further away...

Yet, here he was again, reappeared.

Standing right there, expressionlessly gazing straight at me...

I slowly reached out to grab the hunting rifle by the door, thinking: even if Old Chen's bullet failed to kill you the first time, what about a second shot?

Just as my fingers brushed against the barrel of the rifle, Old Chen’s voice sounded right behind me: "Sanqi? What are you doing?"

I froze instantly.

Involuntarily turning my head, I saw both Old Chen and Qilin looking at me with puzzled expressions.

"Old Chen... outside... he..."

I raised a hand to point outside, but before I could finish, I locked up completely. The man who had been standing by the stream a moment ago had inexplicably vanished.

"What's wrong outside?" Old Chen clearly sensed something was amiss. He gripped his knife with a reverse hold, narrowed his eyes, and walked straight toward me.

Reaching the doorway, without waiting for me to speak, he pulled me behind him and poked his head out to scan the surroundings thoroughly. After a long moment, he turned back to look at me and asked, "Sanqi, what just happened to you?"

I hesitated for a brief second, then decided to tell them everything I had just witnessed...

......

"What did you say? You just saw him?"

As soon as I finished speaking, before Old Chen could respond, Qilin blurted out from the bed, her face a mask of shock.

I nodded heavily. "Yes! I'm certain, I definitely saw him just now..."

To my utter surprise, however, Old Chen flatly contradicted me, saying coldly, "That's completely impossible. My shot hit him square in the chest; he is definitely dead! Sanqi... you saw wrong."

I opened my mouth to argue that I couldn't possibly have been mistaken.

But...

Old Chen gave me a subtle, pointed blink.

Though somewhat baffled, I wisely kept my mouth shut...

"Let's get back to eating! Finish up and get some rest early!" Dropping those words, Old Chen went back and sat on the edge of the bed.

Qilin looked like she wanted to say something more, but under Old Chen’s gaze, she ultimately let out a soft, resigned sigh.

With the door firmly shut once more, the interior of the cabin was wonderfully warm.

I lay half-reclining on the bed, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling, trying to figure out why Old Chen hadn't let me finish. After pondering for a while, my gaze drifted toward Qilin.

Naturally, it still had to do with this woman.

Several hunting rifles hung along the wooden wall of the room, and in the dim light, I noticed one of them was positioned terrifyingly close to Qilin...

Right at that moment, Qilin took a sip of soup and spoke softly, "Sanqi, are you worried I'm going to grab that hunting rifle right beside me and shoot you?"

I looked at her, noticing she wasn't even glancing my way, keeping her head lowered over her bowl.

After slurping down a mouthful, she raised her head and smiled at me. "Sanqi, you really are just a kid! A gun? Without ammunition, that thing is nothing more than a firewood stick. Look at Old Chen—he isn't worried at all."

I glanced over and saw that Old Chen had indeed closed his eyes and was dozing lightly.

Qilin continued, "Sanqi, all the bullets are currently on your side. If I actually dared to touch that gun, Old Chen beside you would turn me into a sieve on the spot."

Old Chen let out a couple of low, rumbling hums and chuckled.

Seeing this, I tilted my head and said nothing more.

It seemed that following Old Chen meant I truly didn't need to overthink anything, because no matter what happened, Old Chen would ultimately handle it properly.

Lying on the bed against the wooden wall, I stroked Dahan [Note: 'Dahan' refers to a pet dog or companion] while watching the steam rise lazily from the pot...

Perhaps feeling a bit bored, Qilin said, "Tell me, I’ve told you both all about my background, but you two haven't told me anything about yours, have you?"

Hearing this, Old Chen parted his lips and gave a faint smile. "We're just hunters! We came into the forest to hunt; there's no grand background to speak of!"

"Do you expect me to believe that?" Qilin rolled her eyes, sounding somewhat speechless.

"Whether you believe it or not is your own business," Old Chen replied indifferently.

Qilin thought for a moment, then suddenly looked right at us and said, "If I'm not mistaken, the two of you... you must have... fled into the Greater Khingan Mountains, didn't you?"

As soon as those words fell, my brows furrowed tightly. The tipsy expression on Old Chen's face vanished instantly. He sat back up straight, staring directly into Qilin's eyes, and demanded, "Why would you say that?"

Qilin raised an eyebrow and said softly, "At first, I thought you two were father and son, but later something felt off! You look much more like master and apprentice. Besides, when we entered the mountains, we did find signs of a firefight on the outer edges, and there were even shady characters guarding the exits... Now, seeing you with so many hunting rifles, and your absolute determination not to leave the Greater Khingan Mountains even with heavy snow sealing the peaks—this looks nothing like a normal hunting trip... So I guessed that the two of you might be on the run, hunted down, and forced to escape into the Greater Khingan."

As she finished speaking, both Old Chen and I were utterly astonished.

Good grief, I had to hand it to her—Qilin was extraordinarily clever. To be able to deduce all of this from just a few scattered clues was truly impressive!

I was still dazed from smoking when the burning ember of the cigarette butt scorched my finger. I snapped back to reality and quickly extinguished the glowing tip...

Whether Old Chen was drunk or not, he squinted at Qilin for a long time before speaking in a raspy voice, "I have to admit, you are very smart."

Qilin curved the corners of her lips. "Thank you! People say that to me all the time."

"That's right! We were indeed hunted and forced in here," Old Chen admitted directly.

Qilin smiled. "As I thought, the depths of the Greater Khingan Mountains are truly harboring Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons! Since we're all being honest with each other now, I'll be a bit more direct myself."

With that, she pulled her backpack over and set it right beside her.

Slowly and leisurely, she unzipped the main compartment and slid her hand inside.

Old Chen’s brows knitted together, and his hand instinctively gripped the hunting rifle nearby. I slid my hand beneath my body, flicking off the safety of the automatic pistol and gripping it tightly.

If Qilin pulled out some sort of hidden weapon or contraption, I could, in less than two seconds...

Turn her into swiss cheese.

Three seconds later, she withdrew a pale purple, tiger-shaped jade pendant from her backpack. It was small—about the size of half a steamed bun—and quite thin...

"Tsk tsk, look how tense you two are!" Qilin held the object in the palm of her hand, chuckling as she looked at Old Chen and me.