SES Chapter 176 Part 1

Chapter 176

Luo Ren ignored Zheng Mingshan’s advice. He went to his car, grabbed his gear, and headed into the mountains through the fog. Zheng Mingshan didn’t stop him—he simply folded his arms and leaned against the doorway, watching him leave.

Cao Yanhua was torn. After some internal struggle, he ultimately sided with Zheng Mingshan. For one thing, he also felt uneasy about going into unfamiliar, complex terrain in pitch darkness and heavy fog. For another, he’d never even heard of Luo Ren having some kind of “enemy.” Deep down, he thought Brother Luo was making a mountain out of a molehill.

What kind of terrifying enemy could be stronger than his junior master and grandmaster working together?

Zheng Mingshan sat casually on the doorstep. “Just wait. Luo Ren will be back soon.”

“Not necessarily,” Cao Yanhua said. “Brother Luo cares a lot about saving face. If he goes in and then comes right back out, wouldn’t that just be him slapping himself in the face?”

Zheng Mingshan smiled. “Charging in just to save face—that would be brainless. If he comes back, I’ll respect him more for not being reckless.”

He pointed toward the distant outline of the mountains. “Even the tourism companies failed their preliminary surveys. People get lost in there in broad daylight, let alone at night, in thick fog, with visibility this bad. He’ll walk a bit and realize I wasn’t lying to him.”

Sure enough, about fifteen minutes later, Luo Ren returned. Mist clung to his hair, his eyes were heavy with anxiety, and his brows were drawn so tightly they nearly formed a single line.

He radiated a powerful but chaotic energy—untouchable, impossible to restrain, and utterly incapable of being still.

Zheng Mingshan found it almost amusing. Still, seeing how tense Luo Ren was made him feel faintly reassured. “Relax. I know my master.”

Luo Ren let out a cold laugh. “But I know Leopard.”

He strode into the courtyard. Cao Yanhua stood awkwardly, unsure whether he should follow. Zheng Mingshan glanced after him and thought: pointless fuss.

Until the fog lifted enough to allow entry into the mountains, Luo Ren would never be able to sit still. He would search every room, check the front and back of the courtyard, examine every possible trace—burning with frustration, wishing he could smash through the fog itself.

Why waste the energy?

Zheng Mingshan patted Cao Yanhua on the shoulder. “Come on, little fatty. Let’s go to bed.”

Cao Yanhua didn’t move.

Zheng Mingshan looked at him. “What, you’ve got a problem?”

“Grand-Uncle,” Cao Yanhua asked, “do you think Brother Luo is impressive?”

Zheng Mingshan frowned. “He’s decent. Why?”

“If you think Brother Luo is someone formidable, then an enemy who can make him this anxious—unable to calm down—must be formidable too, right? Don’t you think that deserves more attention?”

The kid had a point. After thinking it over, Zheng Mingshan gestured for Cao Yanhua to follow him into the back courtyard.

Luo Ren was standing in a corner by the courtyard wall, his flashlight beam fixed on the top of the wall.

Zheng Mingshan understood why he was focused there. Given the layout, anyone moving across the rooftops would have been noticed from inside. Entering from the front courtyard was impossible. The only plausible route was over the surrounding walls, and one side was blocked by a triangular waterside pavilion.

That left this wall as the only and most likely access point. But old estates were built with theft prevention in mind—the walls were at least four or five meters high. Could Luo Ren’s enemy really be some kind of martial arts expert skilled at scaling walls like a gecko?

He asked, “What’s Leopard’s background?”

“Filipino. The mastermind behind a kidnapping ring. A woman. Skilled with firearms and hand-to-hand combat. Of Chinese descent.”

Zheng Mingshan quickly formed a rough picture in his mind. Someone like that wouldn’t bother sneaking into a remote southwestern town by climbing walls—unless…

Unless she and Luo Ren shared a deeply tangled past.

Thinking of the rose left in Mu Dai’s room, Zheng Mingshan felt an inexplicable irritation toward Luo Ren.

Mu Dai’s phone was still in her room, so there was no way to contact her. And in a place where even instruments malfunctioned, communications couldn’t be relied on anyway. All Luo Ren could think about now was hoping the fog would dissipate sooner.

Maybe Zheng Mingshan was right. Even if it really was Leopard, she might not be able to do much to Meihua Jiuniang and Mu Dai. But Luo Ren couldn’t relax. Until he saw Mu Dai with his own eyes, he couldn’t feel at ease.

At last, dawn arrived. Though the light was still faint and the fog hadn’t fully cleared, Luo Ren and Zheng Mingshan set out together. Cao Yanhua was left behind to watch the house, just in case Meihua Jiuniang and Mu Dai returned and found no one there.

Rather than mountains, the terrain around Youwu Town was more like a maze of valleys and ravines. The paths twisted and branched endlessly; one careless step could lead to a dead end, forcing them to backtrack. Sometimes they would climb for a long stretch only to suddenly plunge downhill—height gained and lost canceling each other out, as if they’d never climbed at all.

Worse still, it was midsummer, when trees and shrubs grew wild. At times, the path vanished altogether, and they had to push through the undergrowth with their bodies.

Had Mu Dai and Meihua Jiuniang really gone into the mountains last night? In pitch darkness like that, how had they even made their way in?

As the sun rose higher and the fog thinned, Luo Ren grew increasingly agitated. They had already hit two dead ends—each time walking until a sheer rock wall blocked their way, leaving no choice but to turn back.

He hurried forward a few steps when his foot suddenly caught on something.

Bending down, he saw what looked like a curved golf club shaft—made of some unknown material, light yet tough. As he stared at it in confusion, Zheng Mingshan, who had caught up, suddenly went pale.

It was Meihua Jiuniang’s prosthetic leg.

But why was there only one? Where was the other? More importantly, where were the people?

They stopped advancing and began searching the area methodically, like setting up a perimeter. When Luo Ren rounded a rock wall, his heart jolted.

Meihua Jiuniang was there—her back to him, seated against a stone.

She looked peaceful. Too peaceful. For reasons he couldn’t explain, a sense of dread washed over him.

Tentatively, he called out softly, “Master?”

Zheng Mingshan came running at the sound.