The First Order

In reality, Ren Xiaosu did not mean to slap Luo Lan’s forehead. His intention was just to open a Shadow Door next to Luo Lan and pull him to a stop. After all, they had a good relationship going. Moreover, Ren Xiaosu also felt a vague sense of respect for Luo Lan and his soldiers. Even though he wanted to save Xu Xianchu, Ren Xiaosu did not want to cause them too much trouble.

It was purely just a slip of the hand that he slapped Luo Lan’s forehead. It was because he still didn’t have full control of the Shadow Door.

However, it was wonderful that it made Luo Lan think it was Luo Xinyu who did it. This girl and Yang Xiaojin had already sabotaged him so many times in the past. If Ren Xiaosu could make the Qing Consortium pay more attention to them, he really would not mind slapping Luo Lan’s forehead a few more times.

Ren Xiaosu kept closing and reopening the Shadow Door. In an instant, the Qing Consortium’s troops felt insecure. They were all afraid the Shadow Door would suddenly open next to them.

All of a sudden, the mysterious Shadow Door caused the Qing Consortium’s troops to fall into disarray. All of them were left wondering where the hand would appear next!

But it wasn’t only them who thought this way. Even Ren Xiaosu himself was unsure of where the Shadow Door would open next.

Ren Xiaosu sighed. By not even knowing where the Shadow Door would appear, he had achieved the highest realm of mystery!

The Shadow Door superpower was really useful since it was impossible to defend against.

In fact, even if Luo Xinyu, who was the originator of the power, used it, she might not be able to use it as effectively as Ren Xiaosu, because she could not open the door as many times as he could. As such, she had always used Shadow Door sparingly.

But Ren Xiaosu did not know that. He thought Shadow Door would not tap into his willpower at all.

Tang Zhou looked at Luo Lan and asked, “Boss, what should we do now?”

Luo Lan said resentfully, “Did you see that? We’re at a huge disadvantage without a supernatural being on our side. Why are all of you so weak? Shouldn’t at least one of you have had your superpowers awakened?”

Tang Zhou replied, “Yes, yes, we’ll try our best to do so…”

Although Luo Lan was disgusted by them, nobody minded it. Boss Luo had always been a jerk anyway.

Luo Lan sighed. “Let’s retreat for now. If we continue chasing him, who knows if monsters might start appearing as well.”

“Boss,” Tang Zhou wondered, “is Xu Xianchu a member of the Saboteurs as well? Why did Luo Xinyu suddenly appear the moment we started pursuing him?”

“That’s impossible,” Luo Lan refuted. “Seeing how pathetic Xu Xianchu looked just now, he’s definitely not a member of the Saboteurs.”

“That’s true.” Tang Zhou nodded.

Ren Xiaosu finally felt relieved when he saw Luo Lan and his men giving up the chase. As long as Xu Xianchu did not get caught by them, everything else would be easy to handle. He glanced in the direction Xu Xianchu had escaped and carefully considered things for a moment before chasing after him.

Ren Xiaosu still felt a little bad for making Xu Xianchu the scapegoat when he was in the Jing Mountains. After all, Xu Xianchu had become the Qing Consortium’s most wanted criminal without even offending anyone. Although Ren Xiaosu had been forced to do so, it did not mean he felt good about it.

Xu Xianchu would have to continue taking the blame, but Ren Xiaosu should still repay him for being the scapegoat, right?

Ren Xiaosu kept looking out for Xu Xianchu’s whereabouts as he made his way forward on the roofs. When he spotted Xu Xianchu, he was surprised to find him hiding on the rooftop of a ranch-style house and gasping for breath. He looked utterly exhausted.

He whisper shouted, “Xu Xianchu!”

Xu Xianchu sprang to his feet and put his guard up. Ren Xiaosu quickly said, “It’s me! Ren Xiaosu!”

Xu Xianchu was stupefied. Then he looked like he had met a family member again. “Ren Xiaosu, what are you doing here!”

“Um, it’s a long story. Stronghold 113 collapsed not long after I got back there, so I had no choice but to flee here.” Ren Xiaosu jumped over to the roof Xu Xianchu was on and asked, “Why did you come here too?”

“Don’t bring it up.” Xu Xianchu said miserably, “I planned to go to Stronghold 112 at first, but that place collapsed as well. Then I headed to Stronghold 111 only to discover the Qing Consortium had already marked me as a most wanted fugitive.”

In fact, Ren Xiaosu felt a bond of friendship when he saw Xu Xianchu. After all, they had traveled together while they were in the Jing Mountains. Although their time spent together was very short, the adversity they went through got them to know each other better and deepened their relationship.

He said to Xu Xianchu, “So you fled here from Stronghold 111? But how did you bump into Luo Lan?”

Xu Xianchu was speechless. “I was hiding in a smuggler’s truck that just so happened to be used by that Fatty Luo to traffic firearms. Eh, were those firearms brought here to deal with you?! I didn’t expect Luo Lan would actually come here just to arrest you. You should be careful. He’s brought in a lot of firearms!”

From Xu Xianchu’s perspective, he would not know why Luo Lan had brought so many firearms into the stronghold. Since Stronghold 113 had collapsed, Luo Lan, as a member of the Qing Consortium, should have returned to Stronghold 111.

Xu Xianchu was unaware that Luo Lan couldn’t return to the Qing Consortium for now. He would be placed under house arrest like Qing Zhen if he returned there.

Xu Xianchu was also unaware of how great a mess Luo Lan had already caused in Stronghold 109, as well as how he was preparing to deal with the remaining people from the Pyro Company who were still hiding in the stronghold.

He had overheard Luo Lan cursing at Luo Xinyu, so he kind of knew it was probably because of Luo Xinyu that he managed to escape so easily. Before this, Xu Xianchu did not know Luo Xinyu was also a supernatural being. After all, he did not go into the Qing Consortium’s perimeter in the Jing Mountains. But now he realized Luo Xinyu might not be that easy to figure out either.

So Xu Xianchu thought Luo Lan had smuggled in the firearms so he could arrest Ren Xiaosu and Luo Xinyu with them.

Worried, Xu Xianchu said, “It must’ve been hard for y’all to escape the pursuit of the Qing Consortium, right?”

Ren Xiaosu said calmly, “Yeah, it was really difficult….”

“Why do you think the Qing Consortium is sparing no effort to pursue us?” Xu Xianchu brought up the biggest question weighing on his mind.

Ren Xiaosu reacted with a strange expression. “I’m not sure either….”

Now, Xu Xianchu took out half a loaf of cornbread and asked, “Are you hungry?”

For some reason, Ren Xiaosu choked up with emotion. “I’m not hungry. Xu Xianchu, you’re a good guy.”

In that instant, Ren Xiaosu even thought of surrendering himself to the Qing Consortium. He took out a letter and a stack of money from his pocket. “Take this with you.”

Xu Xianchu was taken aback. “What’s this?”

“There’s 5,000 yuan here and a letter.” Ren Xiaosu said, “Take this letter to Stronghold 178 and look for a man named Zhang Jinglin. He’ll see to your future prospects.”

This was something Zhang Jinglin had promised Ren Xiaosu. But now Ren Xiaosu was going to give it to Xu Xianchu.

When he thought about Mr. Zhang, Ren Xiaosu felt that a person like Xu Xianchu would definitely have a chance to shine when he got to the Northern Frontier.

In the first place, Ren Xiaosu’s group did not have much money to speak of. Although their business was slowly getting on track, they had not really made much.

Although he had smelted quite a few gold bars, he could not give them to Xu Xianchu. Otherwise… Xu Xianchu would guess what had happened…

Xu Xianchu asked, “Stronghold 178? I was just thinking of trying my luck there. Although I don’t know who Zhang Jinglin is, let me thank you in advance! Ren Xiaosu, you’re a good guy!”

“Gratitude received from Xu Xianchu, +1!”

When Ren Xiaosu saw the gratitude token, he got mixed feelings.

But at this moment, a few dark figures on a roof were slowly approaching them in the distance. Ren Xiaosu looked around and was surprised to find that they had already been surrounded by those people. However, he had never come across any of them before.

When those people got closer, Ren Xiaosu noticed the logo of a small flame on the bosom of their shirts.