Volume 1, Chapter 40: A Tiger Begets No Dog Sons, My Boy is a Dragon Among Men

Afterward, Robin continued on his way.

He put away his pocket watch and dismissed the clutter of complicated thoughts from his mind.

Only one thing mattered now: he had to make Zhang Li find Zhong Zhicheng so he could learn the shaman woman’s whereabouts.

They were heading into the mountains to scout the path tomorrow, which meant he had to see Gu Yiren beforehand.

When Robin reached the bamboo grove, the courtyard appeared entirely deserted at first glance.

The ground was littered with fallen bamboo leaves that had not been swept; in fact, one could tell that even the fallen leaves remained completely untrodden.

"Zhang Li!?" Robin shouted at the top of his lungs.

The feeling of panic reached its absolute peak!

Silence...

A silence without the slightest echo...

His panic suddenly plunged into a void.

Zhang Li... was not home again!

No... he hadn't been there since yesterday when Robin came by. Had he... never returned home at all!?

Robin stepped over the wicker fence and entered the main room. The oil lamp was still there, left behind.

Where on earth had Zhang Li gone!?

Robin’s brows furrowed deeply, and his expression turned exceptionally grim.

Staying out after dark in a place like this was practically asking for death.

Zhu Qianqian had wandered off for no reason, and now Zhang Li was gone too...

Could it really have something to do with Gu Yiren?

What had she said to Zhang Li and Zhu Qianqian earlier?

Yet Zhu Qianqian had been killed by an evil spirit.

What about Zhang Li, then?

Robin did not linger in the courtyard any longer and silently walked away.

Chances were high that Zhang Li was either already dead, or perhaps his body was lying undiscovered in some remote spot right now.

For a moment, a suffocating tightness gripped his chest. Was this the classic case of "kind words cannot persuade a ghost bound for death"?

He hurried past the small alley and strode along the village path.

There was no help for it.

Without Zhang Li to lead him to the village chief, and without knowing the shaman's location, could he just go about asking and searching on his own?

That would be entirely inappropriate.

Especially since the village chief had just warned him that very morning.

Doing so would make it even more inappropriate.

...

At Chen Xianxian's house.

In the basement.

Zhang Li was tied to the wall on the opposite side, his hands and feet still completely immobilized.

Though the rag was gone from his mouth, it was now stuffed with chunks of food.

With bright eyes, white teeth, and long hair tangled around her neck, Chen Xianxian kept her gaze fixed on the opposite wall.

Her older twin sister, who should have been peacefully asleep, had woken up again and stood there chuckling.

"Robin keeps walking past my front door. Who could he possibly be looking for? He was never a good person before, but now he suddenly wants to help you all, and he's been looking everywhere for you." Chen Xianxian turned her head again to look at Zhang Li.

Zhang Li was completely baffled.

Why on earth was Chen Xianxian suddenly bringing up Robin?

And how on earth did she know that Robin had walked past her house?

"Hey, tell me, does he really have that much benevolence, or is it because Gu Yiren said something to him that night?" A thoughtful look crossed Chen Xianxian's lovely eyes.

"I... I don't know..." Zhang Li’s face was utterly wretched as he shivered involuntarily.

"Oh..." Chen Xianxian pouted, saying petulantly, "You don't know anything. You're supposed to be a university student in archaeology, yet you're so dense."

Zhang Li felt like crying.

No matter how one looked at it, the girl in front of him seemed like an innocent, delicate maiden.

Yet she kept an evil spirit.

She kept her own twin sister...

Zhu Qianqian had been eaten.

He should have met the exact same fate yesterday, but just as Chen Xianxian was struggling to push him toward the wall, his face happened to brush against the ground, dislodging the ball of cloth in his mouth, and he managed to blurt out a single sentence.

He said he knew how to leave the village.

That was the only reason Chen Xianxian had paused her actions.

Zhang Li had told her that the exact moment between nightfall and dawn, if one followed an evil spirit, one could escape the village.

Chen Xianxian had immediately moved to push him toward her evil spirit sister again, declaring that all men were fickle scoundrels who only lied.

Terrified out of his wits, he had no choice but to blurt out everything he knew about Gu Yiren.

This included how Gu Yiren had first predicted the deaths of their group, and how she had even foreseen that the Luo family had left their window unlatched!

That was why Chen Xianxian hadn't killed him, though she still refused to let him go, periodically feeding him food and water.

Even when he suggested they cooperate to escape Guishan Village together, Chen Xianxian remained utterly indifferent, pulling his ear and declaring that she would never fall for a man's sweet-talk.

"Sigh... Look at you. Your limbs are well-developed, but your brain is underdeveloped. Aside from having a decent face, you're just dim-witted and completely useless. Gu Yiren has been left with the shaman; how on earth are we supposed to get her out?"

"You even said she was crazy, so even if she says anything, the shaman probably won't believe her at all, and might even subject her to harsher punishment..."

"Calling you a fickle scoundrel is giving you too credit; you're just a block of wood. If my sister ate you, she'd probably turn stupid too."

Looking profoundly exasperated, Chen Xianxian shoved another mouthful of food into Zhang Li's mouth.

...

When Robin returned home, the sunlight had grown piercingly bright—it was already late morning.

Gu Ya was sitting in the courtyard making shoe insoles.

Luo Feng had actually returned.

A wide piece of leather lay on the ground, with numerous sheath-like pouches stitched onto it.

He was in the midst of inspecting various blades one by one and sliding them into the leather scabbards.

"Didn't you say you were going out to catch a breath of fresh air? Why were you gone for so long?" Luo Feng looked up.

Gu Ya looked up as well, her eyes slightly red.

"As long as Xiao Shan is fine, don't scold him."

A knot of melancholy lingered between Luo Feng's brows as he continued to gaze at Robin.

"I found the killer." Robin walked forward, lowering his voice considerably.

Luo Feng's expression shifted in shock, and he sprang to his feet.

"When!?"

"Did he realize that you noticed him?!"

"Dad, don't panic yet. Just listen to what I have to say." Robin stopped right in front of Luo Feng.

At that moment, Gu Ya’s face turned pale with anxiety; she hurried over to the courtyard gate and threw the deadbolt.

Only after Gu Ya returned did Robin begin to organize his thoughts.

He first took out the pocket watch, handed it back to Luo Feng, and then explained: "I didn't realize it right away. It was while I was eating breakfast that I suddenly remembered—when I opened the door this morning, I seemed to have vaguely caught sight of a figure."

Luo Feng did not interrupt Robin's account.

"I woke up around 5:10, and when I pushed the door open, I saw him far off in the distance..."

"Then I walked from the position of the window to his position, and it took me two minutes. Calculated proportionally, it would have taken him two minutes to walk over, making a total of four minutes."

"Assuming it took him one minute to drop off the body, that leaves five minutes. Within those five minutes, he would have had to make it back home from where I spotted him, and also walk from his house to that spot—only then would everything make sense."

"Therefore, the killer must be located within a radius of roughly two and a half minutes' walking distance from the place where I spotted him. The danger in this village isn't as unknowable or terrifying as we think; he is human, and being human, he is bound to leave a trace."

Robin spoke with absolute conviction.

Gu Ya's eyes held a trace of bewilderment, a trace of incomprehension.

"Xiao Shan... you..."

She started to speak, but her mouth remained slightly parted in silence.

Luo Feng's expression shifted through a succession of shocks once more, his eyelids twitching faintly.

"Dad, you can rest assured too. I remember clearly that that person never looked back; he didn't know anyone had seen him. I made a small mark on the roadside as a sign, and I didn't wander around that vicinity to avoid arousing suspicion, so I went to other places and walked around for a long time instead."

"You know the village well; just by taking a look over there, you should be able to figure out which households are suspicious, right? As long as we steer clear of them, we'll naturally be safe," Robin explained further.

Luo Feng let out a heavy sigh, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.

Gu Ya actually began wiping the corners of her eyes, appearing to shed tears.

"Mom..." Robin didn't know what was wrong with Gu Ya, and a wave of panic began to rise in his chest.

Gu Ya choked out, "You've grown up, Xiao Shan, you've really grown up..."

"Like father, like son; my boy is a dragon among men! Whoever dares to look down on you is simply blind!"