A Good-for-Nothing

200. Friends with Benefits? (II)

Translator: Dragon Rider

It was at the Wulin Square that this woman had got on a bus bound for the Millenary Islands Lake. As this day was neither weekend nor a legal holiday, there weren’t many passengers on the bus.

She was plain-looking, so nobody paid her any extra attention.

After a quick glance at the couple of people on the bus, the woman directly walked to the last row of seats and sat into one of them. It was a little stifling, but she didn’t seem to care at all. After sitting down, she remained totally silent.

Had the woman’s cellphone not rung, she would probably be able to keep up her pretence of composure.

Clearly the woman was not very happy about the content of the phone conversation. When the bus driver walked over to remind her to buckle up, he was taken aback at the sight of the woman’s complexion.

“Are you okay, Miss? You look so terrible.”

“I’m fine.” The woman averted her face from the driver, suppressing the ferocity in the depths of her eyes.

She licked her somewhat dry lips, her eyes slowly sweeping across the couple of passengers on the bus.

‘I’m hungry,’ she thought.

…

It would take more than an hour to get to the Millenary Islands Lake from downtown. Though not long, the distance didn’t strike people as short either.

The whole scenic area of the Millenary Islands Lake was divided into three zones. Zone A and Zone B had relatively more modern facilities, while Zone C which was in the south-east was famous for natural landscape, and the waterfall in Jiupaojie was majestic. Youngsters were more inclined to go to the Plum Hill to enjoy the islandscape. There were relatively less tourists choosing to take the West Route.

He Zheng and the others got out of the van, walked to the entrance and were all awed by the beauty of the Millenary Islands Lake. Like most visitors, they had also got out of their van at the station, bought tickets and then entered the scenic spot. Coastal City was prosperous, but none of its scenic spots were as breath-taking as the Millenary Islands Lake. Islands here were overlapping each other, heaving waves lashing the shore. On one side was the clean and limpid lake, and on the other side continuous rolling hills. Though the weather was not really clear, the view was still quite stunning.

Several of the trainees were from rich families and were not into this kind of natural scenery. Had they not been brought here to hunt for the Human Devil, they might still find it hard to imagine the existence of such a beautiful place.

But now was not the right time for sightseeing. No matter for what reason had the Human Devil lured them here, they had no choice but to passively accept this challenge.

“This place is too vast. Although we know the Human Devil is in here, how do we find out his exact position?” Zu Zhichong looked around and started to have headaches. In fact, the Millenary Islands Lake was an artificially created lake. Previously this had been a mountainous area. What with the many hills and islands here, searching for someone in this place was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Li Zong fished an item out of his bosom. Zu Zhichong’s eyes lit up at the sight of it. Lips quivering with excitement, he looked excitedly at Li Zong and said, “You actually brought this thing with you, Chief?”

Li Zong was holding a ruler-like thing in his hand. A little tray was attached to the bottom of the ruler, supporting it. One end of the ruler was shaped like a dragon’s head, and the other end a dragon’s tail.

“What is this thing?” He Zheng gave Jin Qianlai’s shoulder a push. “A dragon. Maybe it’s your ancestor.”

Jin Qianlai had indeed felt the sense of power typical of a dragon radiating from that magic tool. As a half-bred dragon cub, of course he couldn’t endure it. Even his voice was tremulous when he spoke. “I guess it’s a Dragon-Locating Ruler.”

“But is Group Leader Li really capable of using this thing?” Jin Qianlai muttered in a disbelieving tone.

He Zheng had shifted his attention away from him some time ago. From the moment Li Zong had produced that thing, he’d been fixing his gaze on Li Zong all along.

“A finger transcends time. A ruler connects to the divine.” Li Zong stood facing a particular direction and recited the spell. Instantly, the Dragon-Locating Ruler started to rotate violently and then stopped pointing in the direction they’d just come from.

“Let’s go.”

Li Zong exchanged looks with them. Zu Zhichong, who was a knowing card, immediately trotted to get the van. They got into the vehicle and began to double back. Halfway through the trip, they chanced upon Zhao Fei’s team. After hearing that Li Zong had a Dragon-Locating Ruler, they all decided to go with Li Zong.

After a few minutes’ drive, the Dragon-Locating Ruler stopped moving, pointing in a direction.

Li Zong and the others got out of the van and found that they had actually arrived at a deserted tin hut.

Not far away, there was a parked bus, which was very new and had a Hang-City license plate. Zu Zhichong took the dog Yōkai onto the bus and searched it. When they got out of it, the dog Yōkai’s face had turned green. Zu Zhichong also had a sympathetic and upset expression on his face. “Chief, there are six people on it. They’re all dead.”

The couple of trainees paled visibly at these words, as though not having expected that the enemy would be so brutal.

Li Zong closed his eyes to conceal the sorrow in the depths of them. When he opened them again, there were hardly any discernible emotions in them.

“The time of their deaths?”

“About half an hour ago.”

Li Zong inclined his head. “Where’s Zhao Fei?”

The dog Yōkai replied sensibly, “Our chief will be here very soon.”

“I see. I want you to go with us. We’ll check out the lay of the land first. Tell Zhao Fei to back us up.”

The dog Yōkai bobbed his head repeatedly and then gave some instructions to his fellow group members.

Li Zong shifted his gaze to the trainees again, all of whom appeared to be utterly fearless.

So they entered that deserted tin hut.

When He Zheng and the others walked inside, there was nobody in the hut, but signs of a struggle could be easily seen.

Chen Qianlin crouched down to scrutinize those traces, his countenance somewhat grave.

“Group Leader Li?”