SES Chapter 215 Part 1

Chapter 215

If conditions allowed, Yan Hongsha would probably have laughed herself into rolling on the ground. All her schadenfreude and curiosity had now fully transferred onto Wan San and Cao Yanhua.

“Didn’t you say it’d be a peak showdown? Didn’t you say you’d give us a huge surprise?”

Wan San shot her a sideways look, busy moving the detector tray, like vacuuming dust with a household vacuum cleaner.

“Blame me? Isn’t this your Yan family’s method? The instructions weren’t clear at all. Now that it didn’t work, what, you’re still proud of it?”

Cao Yanhua trudged along behind them, carrying Cao Jiefang. “Forget it. Stop fighting among ourselves. Let’s just get to work.”

He was worried sick. Who knew if Cao Jiefang would wake up? If something really happened, they’d have to go see a… vet.

Operating the bounty hunter wasn’t simple, and using it for long periods was hard on the arms. So, usually Luo Ren handled one unit, while Wan San, Cao Yanhua, and Yan Hongsha rotated using the other. Like sweeping for mines, they steadily advanced deeper into the mountains.

Mu Dai stayed up high, watching all directions. When the people below moved farther away, she quickly came down and switched to another suitable tree. From her high position, the wind pushed against the treetops right beside her. After standing there a while, she felt chilled to the bone.

Fengzi Ridge was enormous. A single glance revealed nothing but endless darkness. Looking down again, the four of them were insignificant compared to the mountains.

At this pace, when would they ever get results?

Luo Ren frowned just as deeply.

At first, it was easy to be overly optimistic—push harder, rush the work, sacrifice sleep—but reality crushed it all. The bounty hunter’s detection range was simply too limited. To comb the mountain inch by inch was no easy task. Even if they spent the remaining nine days, there was no guarantee of success.

Thinking about it now, the previous six roots had been found almost too easily. The final step was so difficult it made people restless and irritable.

Just past ten o’clock, he signaled to stop work and set up camp.

His tone felt off. Wan San and the others all noticed. They exchanged looks and fell silent, automatically pitching tents, laying ground sheets, and driving stakes.

Luo Ren sat a bit away, the bounty hunter set by his feet. His arm rested on a bent knee, head lowered, tiredly leaning against his clasped hands.

Mu Dai walked over and sat beside him without a word. She noticed a dry leaf stuck to his collar, gently picked it off, and tossed it away.

Luo Ren said quietly, “This method doesn’t really work.”

Mu Dai replied, “If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”

Her tone was light, which surprised him. “You’re not anxious?”

She answered, “Worst case, we don’t find it and miss the deadline. So we miss it.”

Luo Ren reminded her, “Once we miss it, the other six roots won’t hold anymore. By then, all the ferocious slips will be aimed at us.”

“Then let them come. Who’s afraid of who?”

Luo Ren stared at her. “Since when did you become so open-minded?”

Mu Dai casually pulled a dry blade of grass from the ground, bending and folding it in her fingers for a long time before speaking. “I don’t want to see you worrying.”

Luo Ren chuckled. “Worrying isn’t quite it.”

After a pause, he said softly, “It’s just… everyone listens to me. The ideas were mine. If it all turns into wasted effort and delays things, it’s hard not to feel sorry.”

He meant it. He’d been the leader for too long—whether in the Philippines or on this trip back. Giving orders wasn’t glamorous. Big decisions affected lives; small ones affected morale.

It was exhausting. When you did things right, people thought it was only natural. When you did them wrong, you couldn’t forgive yourself—and still had to hide it.

Mu Dai tossed the grass aside, hugged his leg, and rested her chin on his knee. “Luo Little Knife, look at me.”

He said, “What, are you very pretty?”

In his heart, he admitted it. She really was. Pretty was secondary. Her small face tilted up, long hair loose, eyes dark and bright—she was irresistibly cute. He always called her “little girl” or “kid,” not because she was young, but because, despite everything she’d been through, she never lost that innocent, lovable spark.

Mu Dai spoke very seriously.

“Luo Little Knife, I’m not very smart. Unless it’s a matter of life and death, I don’t like using my brain. When things happen, I can’t come up with good plans, and I can’t arrange everything. I accepted that a long time ago. I’m not leadership material. I can only follow others—go wherever they point.”

Luo Ren laughed and reached out to gently rub her cheek.

“So I know very well. You put in the effort and take on responsibility. If it works out, great. If it doesn’t, that’s normal. The situation is so tricky—no one can guarantee finding the right direction immediately.”

“So why feel sorry? No one would blame you, and no one has the right to. You can’t just stand aside, do nothing, and then criticize. There’s no such easy thing. If doing more means more mistakes and doing nothing means no mistakes, then eventually no one would do anything.”

Luo Ren looked at her for a long time before saying, “Mu Dai is like a warm little cotton jacket.”

“Do men like little cotton jackets too?”

“Anyone’s heart gets cold if it’s not warmed.”

Mu Dai smiled. After a while, she said softly, “Luo Little Knife, can I tell you a secret?”

“Go ahead.”

“I used to really want to be a heroine. Really cool. Really impressive. Especially after Wenwen died.”

When she mentioned Wenwen, she sniffed, her eyes growing moist.

Luo Ren placed his palm on her hair. It was fine and soft, fitting neatly against his hand, warming it.

“I told my master that. I told my senior brother too. Later, when I met you, I thought you were amazing, and I wanted to stand beside you, not be a little girl anymore. My master also told me I had to stand on my own.”

“But later, after going through so much, I realized…”

She frowned, hesitating whether to continue. “I realized… I actually really like you taking care of me. You do things in advance for me—cooking, setting up tents, putting a jacket on me, and reminding me what to watch out for when using the stun gun. I secretly feel happy about it for a long time.”