Fu Jing Shu refused to leave.
"Let's go!" Ai Qi urged, a hint of panic in her voice. "You can't disregard your safety like this. We can go back and discuss it with everyone; there must be a better way!"
"What if everyone is willing to come with us to find her? There's strength in numbers; it'll definitely be easier than the two of us searching!"
A better way…
Something flashed in Fu Jing Shu's mind. He turned to her abruptly, the dark metallics in his gaze vanishing, replaced by a startling brilliance.
Ai Qi, startled, stammered, "Wh-what's wrong?"
Fu Jing Shu said nothing and turned to leave.
"Wait for me, Brother Fu!"
But Fu Jing Shu's legs were long, and his strides were wide; one of his steps covered three of Ai Qi's. Shaken, and having searched for the person with him for over two hours, Ai Qi was starting to falter.
As she chased, her breathing grew ragged, her steps stumbled, and she fell to the ground.
Fu Jing Shu, however, didn't stop. Seeing his silhouette about to disappear, Ai Qi had no choice but to get up on her own.
"Brother Fu, wait for me. I can't keep up…"
Fu Jing Shu finally stopped and looked back at her.
In the darkness, his already deep-set eyes grew even darker. She couldn't see clearly, nor could she look deeply into them to discern the emotions within.
"What is it?"
She asked weakly.
Fu Jing Shu spoke slowly, "You are troublesome."
Ai Qi felt as if struck by lightning. "I, I'm troublesome?"
Fu Jing Shu looked away from her and faced the darkened sky. "Hurry and catch up. I'm heading back. If you delay any further, you can stay here, and I'll have someone pick you up."
With that, he strode away, his tall, broad back disappearing into the night.
Ai Qi panicked.
With a surge of strength she didn't know she had, she forced herself to catch up. By the time they returned to the camp, she was utterly exhausted and collapsed.
Ai Sen was greatly alarmed. "What's wrong?"
He thought his sister might be injured and began to examine her, but Ai Qi pushed him away. Seeing that she was merely exhausted and not hurt, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Looking at his sister's panting breath and pale face, he couldn't bring himself to scold her and instead turned to Fu Jing Shu.
"You too, you went with my sister; couldn't you have taken better care of her?"
"Shut up."
Fu Jing Shu had no time to waste with them. He scanned his surroundings. "Where's the old man?"
Just as he spoke, the old man's voice came from the cave.
"I'm here. Did you find the girl?"
"No."
The old man's initially cheerful expression changed instantly. "Why haven't you found her yet? I believe with the girl's abilities, even if she fell off a cliff, she'd only be injured at most. Didn't you go down to look?"
His face contorted.
"How could you not go down to look?"
"I did," Fu Jing Shu said gravely. "But I didn't find her. Old man, I remember Qing Qing told me before that you developed something that can track people."
"Right, I'd forgotten about that."
The old man hurried back into the cave, fiddled around for a while, and produced a leech. The little creature was sleeping, lying peacefully in his palm.
Everyone was startled.
They still remembered how Harry had been nearly bitten to death by this worm before. How could this old man actually be keeping it?
Seeing everyone flinch away, the old man pouted. Fu Jing Shu, however, looked at it with evident fondness. He took a small vial from his pocket, poured a drop of blood into it, and fed it to the leech.
It immediately stretched its body and slowly woke up.
It lifted its small head, looking left and right. After a long time, it seemed confused.
"Smell it. Where is the owner of the blood?"
The onlookers' lips twitched.
The old man's gentle tone was like coaxing a child. Could a mere leech understand?
The next second, the leech lifted its head and looked in one direction.
Everyone: "…"
It actually understood.
The old man clapped his hands. "That's the direction. However, it's dark now, and the weather has turned overcast. This kind of weather affects the leech's sense of smell."
This meant that the originally one hundred percent chance of finding her would be discounted.
It would be good if there was an eighty percent chance now.
Fu Jing Shu grunted, knowing this was their last hope. He made a decisive choice. "Give it to me. I'll go again."
He didn't rest, nor did he drink any water, eager to continue.
King stepped forward. "I'll go with you. You have the worm, and I have my methods. We'll split up; that way, the search will be faster."
Fu Jing Shu gave him a deep look. "Alright."
King smiled with satisfaction. As he brushed past Fu Jing Shu, he said, "Consider yourself magnanimous. If you were being petty with me right now, I would have looked down on you."
"I'm not that foolish."
When it came to Shen Qing Qing's safety, let alone going to search with him, if King had said he had a way to find her immediately, Fu Jing Shu would have been happy, not jealous.
What were those petty emotions compared to her safety?
The two left together. The others watched, dumbfounded. Although these two had always gotten along, everyone could sense the inherent discord between them.
Today, they had witnessed something remarkable.
To think that rivals could cooperate for the sake of the one they loved.
The old man hesitated but ultimately did not follow. With Fu Jing Shu and King gone, someone had to stay behind.
If anything else happened, they would be in too much trouble.
The old man suppressed his anxiety and walked towards the beach. He planned to catch a few more leeches; one used for tracking was clearly not enough.
But he stopped after taking just one step.
"Where is Mr. Z?"
His question made everyone subconsciously start looking.
Indeed, Mr. Z was nowhere to be seen. Not only was he absent, but the butler was also gone.
Someone speculated, "Did he go to look for Mrs. Fu?"
"Even if he did, he should have at least said hello to us."
"Maybe he did, and we just didn't hear him?"
Everyone chattered. The old man watched them for a moment, then turned and left without a word. The others were still engrossed in their discussion and didn't notice that the one who had first raised the question had already departed.
The old man caught two more leeches by the sea. With his tools incomplete, three was the maximum.
Any more and he couldn't preserve them.
After all, these creatures fed on blood, so the storage containers had to be handled with care.
The night quietly receded, and the others slowly awoke. The sky was already bright, but soon they realized something was wrong.
Shen Qing Qing and the others had not returned all night.
The places they usually frequented were now empty.
"No way…" Ai Sen murmured.
Ai Qi's face also turned pale. "Brother Fu hasn't returned all night. Has something happened to him?"
Ai Sen couldn't guarantee anything. Seeing that the old man had also woken up, he quickly asked, "Did you see Fu Jing Shu and the others yesterday?"
"I was asleep too. Should I have gone to dreamland to check?"
The old man's tone was incredibly harsh.
But Ai Sen knew he was in the wrong and dared not retort. He swallowed his frustration and turned to Pei Ji. "What should we do?"
He had observed earlier that Fu Jing Shu and the others were gone, and Mr. Z and the butler were also missing.