# 352
Chapter 352 – Wild Hotpot
Baili Pangpang: …
“A-hem, and also the investor for this documentary shoot,” Lin Qiye added.
Li Deyang’s face was written full of disbelief.
Yet if he tried to guess these kids’ backgrounds, he really couldn’t.
In the brief scuffle just now, only Lin Qiye had moved, and he hadn’t shown a shred of supernatural power—pure close-quarters skill, snatching the shotgun from his hands in an instant.
As for Li Deyang’s injuries, they were simply from twisting his waist in over-excitement after losing the gun, then falling on his face…
From that alone, Li Deyang couldn’t figure out how strong Lin Qiye actually was.
Say he’s amazing? All he did was take the gun fast. Say he’s not? He still disarmed a Night Watch…
Facing these four youngsters, Li Deyang admitted he’d underestimated them, and hadn’t planned to use his Forbidden Ruins; who’d expect a green kid to have such moves?
Li Deyang thought hard and came up with three possibilities.
First: they really were here to film a documentary—rich kid hires a tough bodyguard, sounds reasonable.
Second: they were Believers. But that was unlikely; if they were Believers they’d never have saved Li Tingting, and seeing his Night Watch cloak they’d never have let him live, let alone disinfected his wounds.
Third: they were Night Watch too. The moment this idea surfaced he rejected it.
Night Watch usually stay stationed in their own cities; they don’t wander unless necessary, especially not into this primordial forest. Only special squads have that mobility, and these four didn’t match any special squad he knew.
Most of all—if they were a special squad, why hide it?
After turning it every which way, possibility one seemed the only answer…
Li Deyang braced one hand on the ground, the other on his waist, and struggled to stand. Lin Qiye stepped up to help, but Li Deyang waved him off.
“Kid, I don’t care who you are… you can’t go any farther.”
Lin Qiye pondered. “And if we insist?”
“…” Li Deyang opened his mouth, but nothing came.
Right—if they insisted… what could he do?
He could barely walk, his gun and knife gone; Forbidden Ruins he still had, but kill them all? Impossible.
Seeing Li Deyang’s aching expression, Lin Qiye’s lips curled. He shot Cao Yuan and An Qingyu a look; the two understood at once, moved to either side of Li Deyang, and marched him forward.
“Uncle Li, easy now—don’t twist the other side,” Baili Pangpang chirped.
To Lin Qiye, hauling Li Deyang was a burden, but leaving him alone in the woods was worse; any “River”-level giant ant could finish him off. A dutiful Night Watch couldn’t be left to die.
So the four dragged Li Deyang deeper into the forest.
After two hours, the old man’s stomach rumbled loudly. Lin Qiye glanced back to see Li Deyang blush and turn away.
“Set me down, I’ll eat some biscuits,” Li Deyang told An Qingyu and Cao Yuan.
Lin Qiye checked the time. “Let’s all rest. We’re… almost there. Need to be ready.”
At those words, An Qingyu and the other two grew serious; they knew what “there” meant—likely a brutal fight soon.
They sat Li Deyang beneath a tree. He pulled out a crumpled pack of compressed ration, tore it open, and bit hard—only to find the biscuit frozen rock-solid. A corner broke off; he nearly lost a tooth.
He merely frowned and lifted the biscuit again, biting harder.
Noticing the four watching, he hesitated, then broke off most of the pack and held it out.
“You’re out of food, right? Have some. Tastes awful, but it’ll keep you going,” he said earnestly.
Baili Pangpang opened his mouth; Lin Qiye leaned in, whispered, and Baili Pangpang nodded and slipped into the trees.
Li Deyang blinked. “Where’s he going?”
“Hunting,” Lin Qiye answered.
“Hunting?” Li Deyang shook his head. “Not easy in this forest at this hour—call him back. If biscuits aren’t enough, I’ll eat less.”
“No need,” Lin Qiye smiled.
Less than three minutes later Baili Pangpang returned—left hand clutching bags of beef rolls, right hand dangling tripe, arms cradling a bubbling yin-yang hotpot.
“Look! I caught a wild yin-yang hotpot!!!” he declared proudly.
Lin Qiye: …
An Qingyu: …
Cao Yuan: …
Li Deyang: ???!!
A wild yin-yang hotpot?!
Are you freaking kidding me?
Lin Qiye yanked Baili Pangpang aside, head throbbing. “I told you to grab something reasonable, and you bring this?”
Baili Pangpang blinked. “Hotpot is totally reasonable!”
Lin Qiye closed his eyes in defeat.
When the steaming pot was set before Li Deyang, he was petrified. The four silently took chopsticks and sauce dishes, sat, and began eating.
“Wait…” Li Deyang’s face twitched. “Where… did this hotpot come from?”
“Caught it in the woods,” Baili Pangpang said matter-of-factly.
“Caught a hotpot in the woods?” Li Deyang laughed in exasperation—his intelligence felt insulted. “Fine, go catch me another one.”
Baili Pangpang’s chopsticks paused. He stood slowly…
Three minutes later.
Li Deyang stared at the second steaming tomato-beef hotpot before him and fell into deep thought…