Chapter 436 Extra: Ge Quan x Fang Jinrong 5

Chapter 436 Extra: Ge Quan X Fang Jin Rong 5

Ge Quan had originally planned to rescue the person quietly, but Master Peng wouldn't back down, so he had no choice but to throw a few punches to escape...

The Peng family's guards were sprawled all over the ground. Ge Quan didn't want to spill blood, so he only used his fists.

The visiting relatives and guests scattered, and the hosts had ducked into some room or other. Inspector Wang's knees knocked together—he wanted to leave but dared not move, wishing he could slap himself awake.

*Serves you right for being greedy over those silver ingots. Now look what you've done—you've pissed off someone serious!*

Fan Er pulled his wife along behind Ge Quan and Fang Jin Rong. This was the second time he'd seen Ge Quan fight, and he still couldn't gauge his skill—he just knew Ge Quan was leagues above third-rate fighters like him and Hong Ying.

"So we're not going?" Fang Jin Rong broke the silence, asking Ge Quan.

They were wandering through the Peng estate as if it were empty, and Ge Quan hadn't forgotten his employer. "Gotta pick someone up first before we leave."

Fang Jin Rong skipped ahead with an oil lamp in hand, the light swinging back and forth. He stooped to pick a half-wilted chrysanthemum, pulling off petals as he asked, "Who?"

As they spoke, they'd reached the woodshed where Ge Quan had stashed Fan Xue. Ge Quan pushed the door open, and behind the pile of firewood, the young man in his wedding clothes had tears brimming in his eyes. "Benefactor..." He saw so many people and choked back the rest of his words in shock.

Fang Jin Rong plucked off the last golden petal. "Whoa!"

No wonder Ge Quan had thrown down—he'd swiped the groom right out from under them.

Hong Ying caught on faster. "Brother Ge, does the Peng family's new groom know where Ji Wunian is?"

Ge Quan pulled Fan Xue, who had edged closer, back to his side. "Correct."

The medicine had worn off a bit for Fan Xue by now. He was still weak, but he could talk. He caught their meaning and said nervously, "That tall woman you asked about earlier, benefactor—she really did live with me in a side courtyard. Old Master Peng picked me for my birth chart and sent me here to marry his son. I don't know if they're still around."

Ge Quan glanced at the sky outside—it had gone thick and black as ink.

"Tired?" he asked Fang Jin Rong.

Fang Jin Rong held up the bare stem and chirped, "Nope!"

He might not be sleepy, but as they headed out of town, Fang Jin Rong got worn out.

Ge Quan didn't hesitate even three seconds before hoisting Fang Jin Rong onto his back. Fang Jin Rong was thrilled not to have to walk. Fan Er and Hong Ying had known about Ge Quan's feelings for Fang Jin Rong for ages.

Only Fan Xue, leaning on Hong Ying as he walked, couldn't help staring at Fang Jin Rong. Seeing how bright and handsome Fang Jin Rong was—better-looking than him—he quietly wondered what his deal with Ge Quan was.

"That can't be right... this is the place... right?" Fan Xue stared blankly at the empty clearing, muttering, "There was definitely a row of houses here, with lots of unmarried men and women locked up. Why would..."

He started to doubt his own memory—how could all traces of so many people just vanish? Even the houses were gone. That was insane.

The town was small, so there was no way they had the wrong spot. Fan Er scoured the area but still couldn't find the houses Fan Xue had described.

He said in amazement, "That's seriously weird. No ordinary trafficker could pull this off."

Ge Quan crouched and dug in the dirt with his hands, while Fang Jin Rong, Hong Ying, and Fan Xue grabbed sticks and poked around.

"Benefactor, I found some cloth!" Fan Xue exclaimed in delight.

Ge Quan walked over. It was a thin, short strip of brownish burlap—more like rope than cloth—buried in the dirt and easy to miss.

"Oh, I found one too!" Fang Jin Rong raised his lantern and reached into the earth.

"Don't touch it." Ge Quan hurried over and grabbed Fang Jin Rong's hand to stop him. That group was clearly no ordinary bunch of traffickers or bandits—they might be some creepy cult from the underworld. If the cloth was laced with some powder, that would be bad news.

He was so tense he didn't watch his volume. Fang Jin Rong pressed his lips together, glancing from Ge Quan to Fan Xue, his chest rising and falling unevenly.

Ge Quan didn't catch the look on Fang Jin Rong's face. He carefully picked up the strip Fang Jin Rong had found—same as Fan Xue's, but with three bright red dots on it.

"Fan Er, we found it."

—An hour later.

Out in a remote mountain area beyond Yong'an Town, three connected peaks loomed in the dark. The closer they got, the louder the faint insect chirping in the woods became, and even the rustle of wind through dead leaves sounded like thunder. Three dark shapes of different heights loomed overhead, like sleeping monsters from the deep, terrifying just to look at.

An oil lamp wrapped in oilcloth cast a dim yellow glow that flickered over the rough mountain path, barely lighting a few feet ahead.

A group in white masks moved slowly forward, led by one in a pink mask carrying the lamp. Behind this creepy procession came eight red-mask people, their steps light and nearly silent—even the sway of their hair seemed to carry force.

"Eight of them—all pros?" Fan Er asked in a lowered voice.

Hong Ying and Fan Xue were in the back. He and Ge Quan lay flat in the dead grass under the trees, not daring to twitch.

Ge Quan hitched Fang Jin Rong, who was slipping off his back, back up. "Right—all second-rate fighters. And that broad-shouldered one at the back is the cream of the second-rate crop."

"Hiss..." Fan Er drew in a sharp breath. The Green Gang, including their dead leader, only had two second-rate fighters, and the other was an elder who barely made the cut—almost sixty years old. He'd never seen anything like this.

Ge Quan's eyes were sharp as an eagle's, scanning the white-mask people stuck in the middle like puppets on strings. One of them was clearly a woman—she stood out like a crane among chickens. Even with the mask, Ge Quan knew it was Ji Wunian.

The person on his back had gone quiet, only the steady rhythm of breathing brushing his ear, warm and soft. He could tell the one on his back wasn't sleeping well—maybe from the bumpy path, or maybe the cold, creepy woods were getting to him.

"Let's follow and see," Ge Quan said, getting up nimbly. Even with someone on his back, he moved steady as anything.

Fan Er wasn't in Ge Quan's league, and afraid the experts might spot him, he signaled Hong Ying to stay put, then fell behind Ge Quan and trailed at a distance.

The masked figures kept climbing toward the peak. The little paths villagers had cut for firewood worked in their favor, while Ge Quan and Fan Er's route was full of brambles.

Fang Jin Rong got pricked by a thorn and grunted softly, almost waking up. Ge Quan glanced over and could barely make out a bit of Fang Jin Rong's pale cheek. He suddenly gathered his qi and leaped, landing in a big tree ahead. Luckily, the dark hid them—the trees were bare this time of year, and in daylight they'd have been spotted for sure.

Fan Er craned his neck up, eyes full of envy, then ducked his head and kept shoving through the brush.

The path ended at a cliff, its face so smooth and flat it looked like someone had chopped it out with axes. The pink-masked leader stopped, craning his neck to look down—just endless dark, like it led to some other world.

Four of the eight red-mask people in the back stepped up and, without a second thought, jumped into the bottomless pit.

A tiny gasp sounded. Ge Quan turned—Fang Jin Rong on his back had been shocked awake by the cold and was covering his mouth. At least he knew not to be loud; wisps of white breath slipped through his fingers.

But that tiny sound still got picked up by the top second-rate expert. He warily turned his gaze to the woods behind him, just as a bird dozing on a branch flapped off.

"What is it?" another red-mask person asked.

The man said "Nothing," but he was already on high alert.

By now, the white-mask people were being shoved off the cliff one by one. One tall, slim figure really didn't want to jump, hanging back—but in the end, he got shoved off anyway. Despite how brutal it was, not one person made a sound. It was beyond creepy.

Only after everyone had jumped did the last red-mask person scan the area warily, then leap down too.

Ge Quan carried Fang Jin Rong over, set him down, and stood at the cliff's edge. Staring into the bottomless dark, he jumped without warning.

"Ge Quan!" Fang Jin Rong's heart slammed, jumping into his throat. He instinctively stepped forward, but Fan Er, who'd just caught up, grabbed him fast. "Don't worry—there's gotta be something tricky down there. Even if there isn't, at this height, he won't die from the fall."

A first-rate expert could use leaves and flowers as weapons. Ge Quan could float onto a three-meter tree with one breath of qi. Even if he couldn't tell how deep the cliff was, with Ge Quan's skill, he could easily use something halfway down to leap back up.

As if proving Fan Er right, the sharp clang of weapons rang out from below, mixed with a few muffled grunts.

The group had been lying in wait, hoping to catch someone off guard, but they never expected to run into someone as formidable as Ge Quan.

Fang Jinrong's [Jinrong] nerves eased a little, only to be tightened again by the unknown danger. Not caring about the dirt, he dropped to his belly and cautiously peered downward. The night was too dark, and he could only faintly make out a few weak glimmers flickering below, accompanied by sparks from clashing blades, flaring up and dying down.

"Did they spot Ge Quan?!" Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] said urgently, "Hurry up and get down there to help him!"

Fan Er [Fan Er] rubbed his nose, "If I go down, I'd just be adding to the chaos. What if I fall and die halfway down? That'd be a real waste."

Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] whipped his head around and glared at him.

Fan Er [Fan Er] glared right back, not a shred of guilt on his face.

While they were having their little stare-down, the fight below had already wrapped up.

"Rong'er [Rong'er], jump down." It was Ge Quan's voice.

Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] stood up, staring into the pitch-black chasm like it was a man-eating beast.

Fan Er [Fan Er] heard him mumble, "So scary."

Before he could even laugh at him, the kid jumped without a second thought, catching Fan Er [Fan Er] off guard.

Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] closed his eyes and counted to three, and he was caught in someone's arms. Only then did he dare open his eyes, meeting Ge Quan's chiseled jawline.

"You scared?" Ge Quan kicked off the sheer cliff face and landed solidly on the ledge below.

Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] wrapped his arms around his neck and whined softly, "Scared to death—I didn't even dare open my eyes."

He was scared, sure, but he trusted Ge Quan even more.

Ge Quan ruffled his dark hair. "Good boy."

Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] couldn't shake the feeling that Ge Quan's eyes were full of the same tender look his dad gave him when trying to soothe him.

The ledge below sat about five or six meters beneath them, and beside it was a man-made cave. Right now, four bodies were strewn across the ground, with a fifth stuffed in the big basket near the cave mouth.

"What about those guys? Did they all head into the cave?" Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] kept his grip on Ge Quan, craning his neck to peer into the cave. It was pitch black—couldn't even see his hand in front of his face, even deeper than the darkness outside.

Ge Quan set him down, unclipped a fire striker from his waist, and blew it alight. The weak light barely pushed back the darkness at the cave entrance. "Mm. I handled the ones outside. There's probably more inside."

But he didn't feel right leaving Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] up there alone, so he called him down first.

Ge Quan kept Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] close as they moved deeper in. He moved without a sound, but Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] couldn't pull that off. After two steps inside, Ge Quan suddenly scooped him up and whispered by his ear, "Shh."

Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] had been carried a few times by now and was somewhat used to it. He wrapped one arm around Ge Quan's neck and covered his own mouth with the other hand, cooperating seamlessly.

The cave was silent, with no sound except the wind passing through. Ge Quan had extinguished the fire striker before entering. With his inner strength, even with obstructed vision, he could see far better than an ordinary person, and his steps were as steady as on flat ground, nimbly dodging the jagged rocks below.

Carrying Fang Jinrong [Jinrong], he moved even more softly, almost gliding along the ground. The deeper they went, the more damp and cold the air became, tinged with a faint, elusive... sweet scent, like the smell of some rotting flower, mixed with a strange incense.

Fang Jinrong [Jinrong] couldn't help wrinkling his nose and huddled closer into Ge Quan's arms.

Ge Quan took a step back. He sensed the calm breathing of someone ahead—a master deliberately holding their breath, and more than one.

He bent down, scooped up a handful of pebbles, and the next second, a sharp whistle cut through the air as he flicked one out, faster than a bowshot, straight at the nearest person.

Footsteps scattered as the man dodged. Knowing they were exposed, four of them charged out together, one being the top-tier second-rate expert Ge Quan had mentioned.

The two sides clashed without a word. The group relied on their familiarity with the cave's terrain, but the more they fought, the more alarmed they became. One of them began to waver, and Ge Quan noticed, snapping his neck with a palm strike.

The remaining three immediately summoned their full focus. The most skilled among them noticed Ge Quan was protecting someone on his back and quickly changed tactics, constantly seeking openings to attack from behind.

Ge Quan caught on to his intent at once, and his moves turned fierce. He wasn't just skilled in palm techniques—his fists, kicks, and every other style were all sharp. Even without a proper weapon in hand, he killed the remaining three one by one, leaving only the most powerful one.

"Where are those people with the white masks?" Ge Quan gripped the man's neck, his foot pressing down on his knee, and asked coldly.

The red-masked man [red-masked man] flashed with shock and fear in his eyes, struggling to breathe, his whole body immobilized, "She... they..."

"Ge Quan? Is that you?" A rough voice echoed from deep within the cave, and at the same time, the rotting, incense-like smell grew stronger. Fang Jinrong [Jinrong], who had already been jostled on Ge Quan's back for a while, turned pale and nearly vomited.

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