SES Chapter 86 Part 1

Chapter 86

When the savage woman entered the cave, this was the scene she saw:

Cao Yanhua was facing her, his arms hanging loosely at his sides, smiling gently and warmly, his eyes curved into little crescent moons. Yi Wan-san, however, had his back completely turned, a stone in his hand as he sketched on the cave wall.

He was drawing her.

To be precise, he was drawing her handing over an apple. The lines were simple, just a few strokes, yet vivid and lifelike. She had never looked in a mirror before, but she had seen her reflection on the water’s surface. Yes—this looked exactly like her.

It felt so fresh, so new.

The savage woman stared at the drawing on the wall, her eyes lighting up.

Yi Wan-san, though trying hard to look calm and detached, was trembling—hands, feet, even calves.

He whispered, voice shaking, “Brother Cao, what’s going on?”

“Eh!” Cao Yanhua kept his smile, trying not to draw attention, muttering under his breath, “Whether you stick your head out or keep it down, the blade still falls. Just keep going.”

Then he suddenly let out a soft “huh,” as though he had noticed something, and passed along an important bit of intel: “She can’t walk steadily, there’s blood on her leg. Odds are my brother Luo did that!”

His tone was full of excitement.

Yi Wan-san thought to himself, What’s there to be excited about? Sure, Luo Ren fired those two shots, but the savage came back alive. Who knows if Luo Ren is in trouble himself?

Worry aside, there was no time to dwell on it. He had to keep going. After finishing the drawing of the savage, he added Cao Yanhua and himself.

The savage woman walked over, her heavy footsteps echoing. Cao Yanhua nervously shifted aside, subtly maneuvering himself behind her.

She reached for Yi Wan-san’s hand.

Oh, hell! Is she about to snap his wrist for messing up her drawing board?

Yi Wan-san’s scalp prickled, his whole body shaking, eyes screwed shut tight.

Seconds ticked by, but the expected pain never came. Slowly, Yi Wan-san squinted his eyes open.

The savage woman was studying his hand, turning it over and over, sometimes pinching his fingertips with her big, furry hand, as if curious how such hands could create drawings.

Behind her, Cao Yanhua frantically shot him winks and mouthed: Good. Just like that. Keep it up.

Seemed like the bait had worked. Time for the next step.

Yi Wan-san picked up another stone from the ground and handed it to her. She didn’t take it at first. He tapped the cave wall with the stone, mimed the motion of drawing, then offered it again.

This time, she accepted.

After a short pause, as if deciding what to draw, she plopped down cross-legged with a loud thud and began scratching away at the wall.

Her drawing was crude, but Yi Wan-san recognized it instantly.

She had drawn two people. One was tall—much taller than most men—and covered with a few strands of hair, clearly meant to be herself. The other, though oddly shaped, held a horizontal stick that looked suspiciously like a rifle.

A long-barreled hunting gun.

Yi Wan-san and Cao Yanhua exchanged a glance. Cao looked nervous, uncertain. Yi Wan-san forced himself to stay calm, an idea flashing in his mind. He quickly scratched out another drawing, hand trembling, stone scraping stone, flakes falling to the ground.

He drew Luo Ren lying on the ground, while the savage woman hammered her fist down on his head—a glorious victory scene.

The savage stared at it for a while, then hesitantly began drawing again.

Yi Wan-san’s heart pounded. He saw her sketch herself slumped in defeat on the ground, while Luo Ren was darting off… into the distance.

Perfect! Yi Wan-san was overjoyed. He shot Cao Yanhua a knowing look: Luo Ren escaped!

Cao Yanhua, thrilled, also felt a surge of admiration: My Brother Wan-san is a born intelligence officer—he actually tricked her into revealing such a critical piece of intel.

Of course, they also had to thank this savage woman for being such a simpleton, all brawn and no brain…

Wait, no!

Cao Yanhua suddenly realized something. For someone supposedly so dim-witted, how could she have carved misleading marks on trees to throw them off, or used a hornet’s nest to attack them?

Meanwhile, the savage woman didn’t stop drawing. In her picture, she added another figure beside herself—a small woman with disheveled hair.

The hell? What’s this supposed to mean?

Cao Yanhua leaned close to Yi Wan-san and whispered, “Find a way to figure it out. Is that my junior sister, or is it Hongsha?”

Yi Wan-san thought it was Yan Hongsha. “The boss’s daughter—she’s his girlfriend, right? Dumping her to save his own skin would be low. But that rich lady… if it were me, I’d toss her without a thought.”

Still, they needed to be sure.

Yi Wan-san tapped the figure of the small woman with his finger and put on a confused look. Surprisingly, the savage woman understood. Her eyes flicked over the wall, then she pointed at another drawing.

It showed a cross-section of a well, its opening sealed shut. A woman was hanging upside down in the middle, not touching the ground, swinging like a pendulum.

That was the woman the savage pointed to.

Cao Yanhua’s vision went dark. “What… what does she mean? Is she saying she’s going to hang my Hongsha? Or that she already has?”

A chill ran down Yi Wan-san’s back. After a long moment, he turned to Cao Yanhua and whispered, “I think… that woman from back then… she’s still alive.”

Meanwhile, Luo Ren, Mu Dai, and Yan Hongsha were discussing the top priority: figuring out whether Yi Wan-san and Cao Yanhua were dead or alive.

“The savage’s lair and that woman’s dwelling are in different places. If they’re not just lost in the mountains, odds are they’re with the savage. But the savage comes and goes like a ghost—we can’t just charge in blindly. We start with that woman.”

Luo Ren’s plan was simple: first, capture the woman. From yesterday’s experience, she had ways of communicating with the savage through sound. Once they lured the savage in, they could demand to know Yi Wan-san and Cao Yanhua’s whereabouts.