# 391
Chapter 391 – The Gray Rat Lurks Behind
Baili Pangpang hauled the trussed-up beauty onto his flying sword and wobbled toward the shore.
Under the effect of the [Scroll of Seal], she couldn’t make a sound; she could only lie obediently on the sword, staring blankly at the sky and muttering something under her breath.
Boom—!!
At the lakeside, a blue figure and a black figure crashed together again!
Jialan ignored Cao Yuan’s frenzied slashes, elbowed his knife-hand aside, flashed in close, and rammed her palm upward into his jaw, snapping his head back.
Seizing the opening, she sprang up, wide blue sleeves fluttering like a drifting butterfly, and brought her heel down axe-like onto his chest.
Thud—!!
The demonified Cao Yuan was driven into the ground, embedded among the stone slabs.
Black fiend-flames roared; Jialan stepped up expressionlessly and stamped again, sinking him even deeper.
“Heroine! Heroine!” Baili Pangpang coasted over on his sword, gulped at the sight, and tossed her a roll of tape.
“Use this—Cao Yuan’s chastity lock!”
Jialan caught it. She’d seen Lin Qiye use the stuff back in the Emperor of Fengdu’s palace; now she tore off a long strip and wound it tight around the demon-Cao Yuan’s neck. The black flames finally died down.
“C-cough… urk…” As his sanity returned, Cao Yuan felt himself choking; he pointed at the strangling tape, face turning white.
“Uh… heroine—no, Big Sis Lan, Big Sis Lan!” Baili Pangpang ventured. “Maybe a bit loose? He looks like he’s suffocating…”
Jialan started, saw his color, and hastily ripped the tape away.
Cao Yuan lay like a salted fish that had given up on life.
Jialan leaned over, jet-black eyes blinking, full of apology. “S-sorry.”
“’S okay,” he wheezed. “You did great—just, next time, maybe a little less… *cough cough*…”
He clambered up, covered in bruises, and exhaled long—finally feeling alive again.
Jialan suddenly remembered something. She stood and looked toward the roof where the muscle-manipulating member of Team 017 was perched.
She unslung her hardwood bow, nocked an arrow, aimed—
But did not loose.
She hesitated, then lowered the bow.
“Why didn’t you shoot?” Baili Pangpang asked, puzzled.
Jialan pointed to her arrow, then to the already-injured 017 operative who’d been burned by Cao Yuan’s backlash, and mumbled,
“Shoot… him… die.”
“You mean your arrow might kill him?” Baili Pangpang pondered. “True—ordinary folk can’t take your shots. Leave it to me!”
He set the captured beauty down, rode his sword over, and four-five minutes later returned lugging another scrawny man, likewise hog-tied.
“That easy?” Cao Yuan exclaimed.
“Your fiend-qi really messed him up; he passed out before I did much.” Baili Pangpang shrugged, then grinned at Jialan. “Good thing Big Sis Lan was here! Otherwise I’d never have held you down.”
He clapped Cao Yuan’s shoulder. “Now there’s one more person in the squad who can shut you up…”
Where before Baili Pangpang and Cao Yuan had only known Jialan as “can’t get hurt” and “shoots straight,” after this beating they finally realized how terrifying the harmless-looking girl really was…
Can’t be offended, absolutely can’t be offended!
Recalling Lin Qiye’s earlier “death-seeking” remarks to Jialan, Baili Pangpang began to worry for him…
“Rescued two from Team 017—counts as a win,” Cao Yuan said, dusting himself off. “Just don’t know how the other four are doing…”
……
Top of the Southern Gate.
The tower-like man seemed to sense something; surprise flickered in his eyes.
“What is it?” The snake-woman’s vertical pupils slid toward him.
“[Bell Cranel] has met them,” he said slowly. “They’re not any special squad—strong, but not at that level.”
“Oh? Any distinguishing features?”
“Features…” He hesitated. “They all wear masks—one Sun Wukong, one Zhu Bajie, one Tang Monk, one Sha Wujing, and a Red Boy.”
“Journey-to-the-West masks?” The snake-woman chuckled. “What a weird crew.”
“That Zhu Bajing looks like the young lord of the Baili family—lots of forbidden artifacts, matches the rumors…”
“The Baili kid?” The snake-woman’s serpent eyes narrowed, scarlet tongue flicking over her lips. “His bounty is pretty high lately. Since we couldn’t kill Xia Simeng this time, a valuable head would be nice.”
“Not yet,” the man said, frowning. “Sun Wukong and Tang Monk haven’t moved; we can’t gauge them. Wait till we’re sure they’re no threat.”
“Fine.” The snake-woman seemed to recall something. “Those two Team 017 rats—caught them?”
“No.” The man shook his head. “They vanished five hours ago, probably licking their wounds somewhere. Doesn’t matter—even that Sea-realm captain will have his mind polluted by [Bell Cranel] soon, let alone the girl.”
“True.” Her eyes narrowed. “In this fog, the longer we drag it out, the better for us…”
Squeak squeak…
While they talked, neither noticed an inconspicuous gray rat crawl from a pipe in the corner.
It crept to the roof’s edge; its tiny eyes watched them, strangely deep and knowing.