Chapter 248 - Missing (3)
Chapter 248 – Missing (3)
Looking at the golden hair on top of the kid's head and those blue ocean eyes that shone even at night, the armed man was extremely irritated. If only the kid wasn't worth that much when they sell him to their frequent auction house, he would've already gouged his eyes out.
"What are you looking at?!" The armed man shouted at the other captures who were now fully awake and saw the incident taking place.
The others ducked their heads down as if a sword would swing around suddenly and slice off their heads. Their eyes shifted from staring in fear at the armed man to have a staring contest with the ground, hoping that the man wouldn't beat them up.
Although they wanted to help the youngster and stop the man, they would be risking their own lives for another. They simply can't afford it. The selfishness unique to humans immediately took over them and they turned a blind eye on what was going on.
Even the other bandits continued to watch the beating go on. Of course, they would step in and stop their fellow if it gets out of hand or the youngster was about to die, however, as of now, they'd rather watch a good show rather than die in boredom in the middle of the forest.
Chu Chu glared at the armed bandit and bit her lips. Her eyes were tearing up and red from forcing herself not to spill the tears from her eyes. This was too much. What were the men sent by Qu Xing Xu doing? Why weren't they stopping these atrocities and let the youngster take all these beatings?
What she didn't know, Qu Xing Xu's men already had their bows drawn and ready to shoot their arrows. When they saw that the bandit hit Kael, they already stormed forward with their weapons ready to hack these foolish bandits to pieces.
And just as when they were a distance away from the group, the youngster glared at their way and stopped them by mouthing a word. At first, they didn't want to follow him and kill these men, but Kael sacrificed himself and accepted every hit without complaints.
"Stop! What are you doing?" Chu Chu rushed forward but the rope tying her up kept her in place and she could only fall forward to the ground. "Stop him! You're going to kill him if you continue this! Please…"
However, the more she begged, the more the bandits rejoiced as if they were part of a festival hearing women cheer for them.
When the bandit was done kicking and punching him, Kael was already on the border of being conscious and losing his grip of his senses. From within him, he could feel the bandit returning back to where his friends were standing. He could also feel the soft hands that were reaching for him, caressing him as if to wipe the pain away from him.
Chu Chu, who was already crying, grabbed on his clothes and pulled him closer towards her, letting him lie on her lap. She gently put her trembling fingers on the bruises and cuts on his face.
"Why did you do that?" she asked him. "You should have let him hit me. Now you got beat up like this."
Kael replied, "I… ha… i can't do that. It'll hurt a lot if you get hit." He lifted a trembling hand and pointed a finger at his face, "Just look at me."
"I've been hit countless times before and I can take the pain. You don't have to do this again." She told him, partly blaming herself for what happened to him and blaming Qu Xing Xu for planning this.
In the past, Yu Fangzhu would endlessly show up to intimidate her and threaten her with her best friend's life. To get information and hear whatever secrets every court official hid, they would inevitably reveal it in the face of a beauty from a brothel hence, Yu Fangzhu let her stay there for years to gather as much information as she could get.
Yet, in the end, Yu Fangzhu fooled her into believing that her Xiaofei was safe and sound, living a happy life within the prince's residence. But in truth, he had already sent her best friend to the depths of his dungeon to torture and humiliate her for month. It was only after a month did she get the news that Xiaofei died without a grave.
"Then I did the right thing." This was what she heard from the youngster lying on her lap while she had a trip to her memory lane.
Chu Chu frowned at his words but did not persist. She knew that Kael would only continue making her feel less blamed and stressed by owning the fault so she decided to put all her attention in wiping away the blood and dirt that was on his face.
Since the show ended with a bloodied youngster, everyone returned with what they were doing earlier. The bandits took their places around their catch that night, while the people who were kidnapped were all huddled together except for Chu Chu and Kael who thought that it was better to not expect anything from these people but themselves.
Within the forest, noises from crickets, the rustling of leaves, and the crackles of the fire that the bandits created to warm their bodies became the last peaceful sounds they could hear as arrows started to rain down from all around them.
The bandits who became relaxed and complacent in guarding their goods thinking that no one would come after them or find them didn't expect this sudden ambush. Thus, when the arrows started to fall down from the sky, some of them were unlucky and have been pierced with the arrows in several places.
"An enemy ambush!" A bandit screamed at the top of his lungs at his friends and saw how some of them fell prey to the sharp edges of the raging arrows.