The First Order

Everyone was at a loss for words when they heard Luo Lan say that. Could he get any more shameless?

But someone suddenly realized something. “Aren’t there five ladies in total? Did you miss out on counting one of them? The five of them are just enough to form a group.”

Luo Lan was stunned for a bit. Only at this moment did he realize he had left out Yang Xiaojin.

As he knew about Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin’s relationship, he had filtered her out of his mind and did not treat her as a woman!

Luo Lan gave an awkward laugh and said, “Hahaha, I counted wrong.”

“Has Luo Lan always been this thick-skinned?” Yang Xiaojin asked Ren Xiaosu in a low voice while everyone’s attention was on Luo Lan.

Ren Xiaosu lamented, “He’s always been this thick-skinned.”

After all, when Luo Lan tried to recruit Dong Funan to join him, he kept running down to their clinic every day to look for her.

“We should be more careful. Not even ‘Old Xu’ was able to find out what has been loitering around us.” Ren Xiaosu said, “The other party might have some way to avoid Old Xu’s detection. I didn’t even notice anything when those two were killed just now.”

“Mhm.” Yang Xiaojin said, “The Great Hoodwinker and I will be keeping watch tonight. You should have a good night’s rest to conserve your strength. But what’s with that fox? Why are there human organs in its stomach?”

“I’m guessing that it might be following something around to find food for itself. Whatever that thing is, it only cares about killing people. It must have gone away after ripping off the neck of its victim and left the fox to feed on its kill. That was why Luo Lan and his group discovered the corpse with its organs consumed. We had assumed it was done by one creature, but in fact, there were actually two of them. There are many symbiotic relationships in the wilderness and…”

“And what?” Yang Xiaojin asked.

“And if I guessed correctly, the perpetrator might very well be a person, and this fox could be their pet.” Ren Xiaosu frowned and said, “If that’s really the case, it’ll be a little troublesome.”

“Why did you come to such a conclusion?” Yang Xiaojin wondered.

“Did you notice that the fox’s fur is very clean? Like someone’s washed it before? Even for the animals in the wilderness that are particularly clean, they wouldn’t be as clean as this,” Ren Xiaosu explained.

The others might not have noticed this, but how could Ren Xiaosu not notice it when he had been venturing into the wilderness for so long?

If this fox were really someone’s pet, the other party would probably hate him to the bone for using “Old Xu” to kill it. There would be some form of retaliation waiting for them later on.

At this moment, “Old Xu,” who was scouting about one kilometer ahead of the group, suddenly turned around and saw a stone flying at him from out of nowhere in the wilderness.

The stone was extremely fast and hit “Old Xu” in the chest like a bullet, causing it to stumble a little. If a normal person got hit like that, they would probably vomit blood on the spot. Even supernatural beings might not be able to withstand it.

But when “Old Xu” went around to investigate, it could not find the culprit who threw the stone.

Ren Xiaosu’s back was hurting so much he started sweating. “The culprit’s already started taking revenge on Old Xu. But I can’t identify their location yet, so I can’t determine what it really is.”

But at the very least, Ren Xiaosu had guessed something right. The fox was indeed the other party’s pet. Otherwise, they would not be so anxious to take revenge on Old Xu.

“How’s it taking revenge? What did it do?” Yang Xiaojin asked.

“It threw a stone at Old Xu,” Ren Xiaosu replied.

Yang Xiaojin was stunned. Hitting someone with a stone? Why did that sound like something a child would do?

When they continued the journey again on the same day, everyone obediently followed the instructions and tightened their marching formation due to their fear.

Not only that, but Luo Lan also divided the group into several smaller teams so they could take turns to guard the rear and protect the flanks as they made their way forward. At this moment, Luo Lan felt like he had returned to the days when he was leading fresh recruits at the Qing Consortium. He even found this quite fun.

It had to be known that the brigade Luo Lan had led previously was one of the most fearsome fighting forces in the Qing Consortium.

In the afternoon, when the enemy seemingly realized there was no suitable opportunity to kill anyone, it did not make any further moves.

Some people in the group wanted to leave, but how could they possibly get away now?

If anyone tried to turn back at this moment, they might even get ambushed by that monster. Without knowing what and how strong it was, leaving the group on their own was as good as suicide.

When they set up camp again at night, Luo Lan arranged for each of the teams to take turns keeping watch. He even drew up the night watch areas himself and specified the positions where the sentries had to be stationed, how to rotate duties, and when to change shifts. Everything was well-organized.

Ren Xiaosu watched quietly. He realized Luo Lan’s assigned night sentries were particularly thought out. Anyone who tried to sneak attack the campsite would not be able to escape the sight of these sentries.

If something happened to the sentries at any of the positions, the others would find out very quickly.

Regarding this matter, Cheng Yu and Song Qiao also felt a little ashamed of themselves. Although they were supernatural beings, they did not have any experience in leading troops into battle. They might be able to kill people, but they were far worse than Luo Lan when it came to organization and coordination.

Sometimes, the way Luo Lan portrayed himself could easily cause others to overlook his talents. A long time ago, someone from the Qing Consortium had mentioned Luo Lan might be more suitable to be the organization’s Shadow than Qing Zhen. But because Luo Lan was an illegitimate child, no one brought this matter up again.

After making arrangements for the night sentries, Luo Lan swaggered back to his campfire and got ready to sleep.

Cheng Yu quickly stopped him. “Aren’t we going to discuss how to deal with the thing that attacked us?”

Luo Lan gave him a strange look. “That’s something for you supernatural beings to handle. What’s it gotta do with me?”

After that, Luo Lan ignored Cheng Yu and went straight to sleep.

Cheng Yu looked like he could do nothing about Fatty Luo. Then he asked Song Qiao, “Just what the hell is that fatty planning? Why the fuck does he even want to go to the Sacred Mountains?”

“Who the hell knows?” Song Qiao sighed.

But a minute later, Luo Lan’s snoring reverberated loudly throughout the entire campsite. He was sleeping so soundly his breathing even made a beat.

Next to Luo Lan, Zhou Qi was already sprawled spread-eagle, asleep.

Cheng Yu found this a little strange. He asked Song Qiao, “Wait a minute, aren’t those two together? Why didn’t one of them stay up to keep watch? They just went to sleep like that? Is that Fatty Luo not afraid we’ll plot against him? Were they also like this before?”

Song Qiao was taken aback. He thought back for a bit and said, “No, when he was traveling with our group, he was extremely vigilant. The two of them would never sleep at the same time.”

“That’s strange.” Cheng Yu looked towards the campsite and said firmly, “This means that Luo Lan and Zhou Qi must have someone they can trust in this camp. The level of trust they have is even allowing them to fall asleep in an environment like this without having to worry for their own safety. Luo Lan would only dare to sleep so soundly if he believes no one here is capable of killing him!”