Jiang Cheng turned and walked away.
“Doctor,” Fatty jogged to follow him. He frowned and asked, “If we leave, what… about them?”
“They can do whatever they want.” Jiang Cheng answered as he walked down the stairs, “I’m not their parents. Why should I care?”
Fatty thought about how innocent Su An was and how he needed a parent…
“When did they leave?”
Fatty replied, “One hour ago.”
“Did they leave together?”
Jiang Cheng slept when the sky brightened. In other words, they left one hour after he slept. This timing was very interesting. From Jiang Cheng’s understanding, they left after they confirmed he had fallen asleep, or else they could have waited for him to wake up and leave together. Based on what Fatty said, they didn’t say anything when they left. They only told Fatty to stay behind at the lighthouse.
“Continue.” Jiang Cheng walked ahead.
“Why would she leave her little brother behind with… that aged woman?” Fatty shivered, thinking about how that woman looked the night before. Fatty swallowed nervously, “Isn’t she worried something might happen to him?”
“What do you think?” Jiang Cheng’s voice travelled back.
Fatty licked his lips. He answered in a lower volume, “I believe she either had noticed some important clues that could end the mission early for her to take the rest… or Su An wasn’t her little brother, to begin with. Now that the situation is so dangerous, she has decided to abandon him.” Fatty still had his suspicions about the identity of the Su Siblings.
“It’s the first.” Jiang Cheng said, “But she didn’t notice anything. It was Chen Ran. Chen Ran was the one who persuaded her to abandon her brother and explore the clue with him.”
“How would you know that?” Fatty was confused.
Jiang Cheng paused. “Fatty, think about it. If Su Xiaoxiao had discovered a crucial clue, would she have waited until now to do something about it?
“How much longer can her brother hold on?
“Chen Ran has found some important clues and approached Su Xiaoxiao. Su Xiaoxiao needs his clues, and he needs Su Xiaoxiao to take the risk for him. They need each other.”
“However, Doctor, you also know that Su Xiaoxiao is not dumb,” Fatty was shocked.
“She is not dumb.” Jiang Cheng slowly explained, “But she had no choice. I believe the clue revealed by Chen Ran had to be very specific and accurate, or Su Xiaoxiao wouldn’t agree to take the risk.”
They chatted as they walked. Soon, they came to the first-floor lobby. Even though the place was scattered with broken pillars and statues, it was not hard to see how impressive this place once was.
Liang Long’s strange disappearance made Fatty wary of this place. He looked around carefully. Even though there was daylight, due to the geography of the place, there were still spots fully shrouded in darkness. It was as if black mist wouldn’t disperse at certain locations.
“Doctor,” Fatty asked softly, “Could Chen Ran have found something at the spot where Liang Long disappeared? The place where he found the watch.”
Fatty didn’t get the chance to elaborate when Jiang Cheng walked to that spot. Soon, they found the watch Chen Ran tossed away casually around a burned-out campfire. However, other than that, Fatty didn’t find anything else. There was no blood or shreds of clothing. There were only dust, rocks and broken statues.
Jiang Cheng slowly stood up. With the watch’s location as the centre, he slowly looked around. Fatty noticed the Doctor frown.
“Doctor,” Fatty was nervous, “Did you find anything?”
Jiang Cheng didn’t answer him. He walked to the dead campfire. He climbed on a nearby broken pillar and looked around. Fatty didn’t dare to disrupt him. He waited patiently. Eventually, Jiang Cheng jumped down from the pillar.
“Doctor…” Fatty had just opened his mouth when he was interrupted by Jiang Cheng, “Fatty, did you notice something has changed about this place?”
Fatty blinked. He looked around. After a long time, he whispered back, “Doctor, I don’t really get it.” He probed, “Did you… discover something?”
Jiang Cheng lowered his head to think. Suddenly, his gaze focused. He walked back to the ash of the campfire and turned to Fatty, “Give me the torch.” Fatty immediately followed the order. With the aid of the torch, they could see clearly. There were fragments of stone porcelain in the ashes. Jiang Cheng picked up the fragments. The fragments’ colour and material were similar to the stone pillars and statues around them. It felt like they had been peeled off from them.
The fragments had a strange arc. They looked like the shoulder armour used by ancient warriors. The handiwork was not great, but they were large.
Jiang Cheng studied the fragments. Then, he discovered… or rather, sensed something. He moved the fragments closer to his face and then lightly twitched his nostrils. The next second, a fishy smell entered his nose.
Jiang Cheng whipped his head and looked around. Then, his breathing quickened.
Fatty rarely saw this expression on the Doctor. He was so scared that his face paled. He followed the Doctor’s eyes and looked around. However, other than the darkness, he noticed nothing else. After a while, he opened his lips to say weakly, “Doc…”
“Shut your mouth.” Jiang Cheng’s voice shuddered. He took a deep breath and let it out, “Stick close to me. We… are leaving.”
Fatty practically stuck to Jiang Cheng’s back as they moved away. Jiang Cheng didn’t run, but Fatty had to shuffle a few times to keep up with him.
The Doctor must have sensed some kind of danger to react . However, the thing that confused Fatty was… what was the danger?
Plus, based on how the Doctor was reacting, the danger was very close to them.