It was very quiet at night. Ben Fu was curled up by the fire inside the house on the eastern side. He was the night watch for this house. He was on the second shift. The first shift was Yu Man. There was no talk of chivalry here. Everyone had to create value for the team. The same old rules applied. Everyone would stay guard for two hours and then wake up the next shift.
He stared at the female-style watch placed before him. His shift was almost done. There were twenty minutes left. It was time for him to wake up the next shift, Bei Qian. Ben Fu slowly stood up and worked out the kinks in his body. He rubbed his calves. He had been seated for so long that they felt a little numb. He yawned and glanced casually to the side. There was a large hole in the window. It allowed a perfect view of the courtyard gate.
However, his casual glance made his heart jump. He saw a familiar face in the dark. Even though it was just a flash, he confirmed that it was Zhou Rong.
Zhou Rong was facing away from him. He was close to the fence beside the gate. His tall body was hunched over as he acted suspiciously. There was another figure beside him. Ben Fu stared at the other person. His pupils shook. It was Yi Zhiping!
What were these two doing in the middle of the night?
He immediately thought back to the things that happened at the inn earlier that day. Zhou Rong and Yi Zhiping went upstairs alone with the excuse of returning the keys, but they stayed more than ten minutes upstairs. At the time, he already thought it was weird. Based on what he was seeing, Ben Fu believed the two had come to some kind of agreement.
Ben Fu might have been cowardly, but he was not dumb. His first thought was that the two had found some clues, or else they wouldn’t risk coming out at night… without telling the others.
After thinking about it for a few seconds, he made a courageous decision. Without alerting the others in the room, he silently removed the wooden club blocking the door and silently moved towards the two.
Zhou Rong and Yi Zhiping were very cautious. They chose a difficult path and kept their bodies close to the ground so that they’d fade into the night. The more they acted , the more Ben Fu thought something was up with them.
This shocked Ben Fu. He didn’t think they would be so daring. The building gave him a very bad impression. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it scared him. Half a minute after the two disappeared into the building, Ben Fu silently moved closer. He carefully picked the spot to put his feet, afraid that he’d step on some crackling leaves or branches. At this point, he had to admire the two experienced travellers. Their movement was basically soundless. He hid under the window and took a deep breath. Then, he stood up and peered through the window swiftly. He happened to capture Zhou Rong and Yi Zhiping disappearing right around the corner of the stairs.
Ben Fu frowned… Could the clues be upstairs?
He stared at the spot where the two disappeared. It was completely dark, like a monster’s maw that consumed everything that got too close. At the same time, veins popped on his hands that held onto the window frame. Ben Fu seemed to have turned into a different person. Conflict and madness appeared in his twisted gaze. He was preparing himself to make a braver choice. He wanted to follow them to see what was going on. Even though the thought was brave, it was pointless. He was just a normal person. He could sense the condescension from his teammates. His teammates, this time, were much more capable than his previous teammates. This was both a good and bad thing.
Based on his understanding, the difficulty of this mission was higher since there was no newbie. In other words, no many among them would survive. Maybe three or four of them would survive… He pressed his lips. He didn’t see himself as one of them.
He was too weak, so weak that he wouldn’t know he had walked into a trap willingly. Therefore, to survive, he had to seek another method.
‘Zhou Rong and Yi Zhiping are capable people. They dare to take this risk because there has to be an important clue inside. Perhaps this clue can help me survive,’ Ben Fu thought to himself. He was not scared of being discovered because someone from his last mission revealed that killing one’s teammate would lead to something terrifying. Therefore, even if he was discovered, the two didn’t dare to do anything to him. If anything, they would be in his hands if they didn’t want the others to hear about their little escapade. In other words, there was a high return for this action. He stopped hesitating. After listening for a while and noticing nothing, he tried several times and finally pulled himself over the window.
When he was inside the building, he realised the place was more luxurious than he thought. In comparison, the two houses they stayed in were like the toilets of this place. However, the place was extremely dark. He could barely see the space before him. He found the wall and then slowly moved along it to the stairs.
His focus was on the stairs, so he didn’t realise his legs would knock into something. Even though it was not loud, it was conspicuous against the absolute silence. Ben Fu froze up. He perked up his ears to listen for noises from upstairs.
There was no sound from upstairs. It was like the two had disappeared into thin air. Of course, that wouldn’t happen. Ben Fu believed they had gone into hiding once they heard the sound he made.
At this point, Ben Fu stopped hiding his footsteps. He bounced up the stairs. The moment his head poked up the stairs, Ben Fu’s nervous face became red. He slowed down to make himself look more confident.
“What are you doing here? It’s already so late at night?’
Ben Fu moved towards the two. Zhou Rong and Yi Zhiping stood not that far away from him. They looked at him coolly. Their arms hung lazily, and they were silent.
Ben Fu frowned. This was not what he expected.
He paused and then raised his courage to ask, “Why aren’t you speaking?”
Then, he saw Zhou Rong and Yi Zhiping slowly raise their right hands in unison. They pointed at themselves. Then, their heads suddenly tilted to the right as if their necks couldn’t support the heads’ weight anymore.
Ben Fu turned and ran.