Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 785: 470. The Missing Qing Chen

Why would Fire Pit people come here?

This is indeed the strangest thing.

According to the Federation’s historical records, Fire Pit people left the Southwest Snow Mountain on numerous occasions, given that their adult God’s Children had to complete the “horn cutting ceremony”.

However, the number of times Fire Pit people came to the Central Plains was very few.

After the girl broke into the wolf pack, the previously ferocious pack began to scatter in panic.

Qing Yi noticed that the girl’s black knife, when dragged across the bodies of the wild wolves, seemed to split them open effortlessly.

It was like a candle meeting the hot blade of a knife, crumbling with just a light touch.

Qing Yi recalled the legends of Fire Pit, where it was said that there was a divine gift of a black long knife that had always been held in the hands of successive Grand Elders.

This was even stranger now, since the Grand Elder of Fire Pit in his memory should be an old man of advanced years, so how had he become a young girl?

Inside Qing’s Family, there was indeed information on that old man, Qing Yi had seen his portrait.

At this moment, people from the Fire Pit caravan began jumping off the carts, and as Qing Yi turned to look, he was astonished to see the Grand Elder from the portraits, coming towards the crowd with an unhappy expression.

Accompanying the Grand Elder were Li Ke and Li Yunjing.

Just now, it was the sight of Li Ke in the caravan that convinced Qing Yi that this must be a reinforcement.

However, there was no time for Qing Yi to indulge in the joy of reunion, as he urgently said, “Quick! Mr. Yunjing, to the snow forest up north, Sir Qin Yi was pursued into there, he’s in great danger!”

Li Ke instinctively looked towards Li Yunjing, his face pleading.

He knew all too well that he and Qing Yi alone couldn’t possibly save Qing Chen — Li Yunjing had to take action.

Li Yunjing furrowed his brows; it was the first time he’d seen Li Ke like this, which suggested the boy named Qing Chen must be extremely important to Li Ke.

Without a second thought, he left everyone behind and strode through the snow towards the northern snow forest.

His swift, thunderous movement pushed the snow aside like waves.

A measure of peace settled in Qing Yi’s heart, but to his surprise, when he finished shouting, those who ran towards the snow forest were not only Li Yunjing but also the Grand Elder of Fire Pit and that young girl!

What was going on? Why were these people going there?

Li Ke pulled Qing Yi along to follow them.

“How did you guys get here?” Qing Yi asked while running, “It seemed like you were still in the Southwest when I called you before, and you said you couldn’t make it over and couldn’t help me…”

After a moment of thought, Li Ke spoke softly to Qing Yi, “After I hung up with you, Uncle Jing and I encountered Fire Pit in the Southwest wilderness, their Saint was completing her horn cutting ceremony and wanted to kill me for it.”

“What?” Qing Yi was startled, “Then how come you ended up with them?”

Li Ke lowered his voice, “That goddess… she might have a good relationship with the Sir.”

“What?” Qing Yi was stunned.

Li Ke continued, “After she guessed I was the Sir’s apprentice, she gave me lots of apples and Divine Cow Meat from the Great Snow Mountain. Then I told her that Sir supported you in the Shadow struggle, so I asked them, since they needed to complete the horn cutting ceremony, why not kill a Shadow Candidate to do it; it would surely fit the Saint’s status.”

Qing Yi: “…”

Li Yunjing would never help Qing Yi with anything regarding the Shadow struggle, because he simply didn’t care about those matters; his only desire was to ensure Li Ke grew up fit and healthy.

But the Fire Pit needed to kill an influential Consortium figure, didn’t they?

And a Shadow Candidate was precisely that kind of figure.

Li Ke continued, “Initially, the Grand Elder of Fire Pit disagreed, citing the Central Plains as dangerous for them and mentioning that it’d be difficult to leave without trouble if someone attacked. But Uncle Jing promised that the Li Family wouldn’t target them this time. And when I mentioned to the goddess that Sir really likes you as a student, she brought the Fire Pit people here.”

Qing Yi then understood, the Fire Pit people had been coaxed by Li Ke to come to the Central Plains!

He had convinced a seemingly unrelated power to help eliminate his competitors in the Shadow struggle.

This is what a Knight is…

But it wasn’t time for Qing Yi to rejoice yet; he just wanted to know if Sir was safe and sound at the moment.

The crowd surged into the snow forest.

But all they saw were the scattered bodies of wild wolves.

Following the tracks of the wolf pack, they chased deep into the forest and finally came upon the last battlefield of Qing Chen and the wolves.

There, the bodies of wild wolves lay in a radiating pattern like a circle, the nearer to the center, the more the corpses piled up.

Anyone with battle experience could tell that there had been a desperate fight here.

The person at the center had stood their ground against the wolf pack until the last moment, never moving or fleeing.

Of course, the strength of the wild wolves could not overcome a C-Class Expert, but the issue was the sheer number of wolves here was overwhelming, even a B-Class facing an attack of hundreds of wild wolves would surely die.

Seeing this scene, Qing Yi slowly became dumbfounded as he frantically looked around, shouting hoarsely, “Sir!? Sir, where are you?!”

Li Yunjing slowly circled the battleground, “There are tracks of wolves leaving, and several human footsteps too. Qing Chen lost, but he might not be dead yet.”

As there was no body of Qing Chen here, the adversary likely needed him alive.

Before he could finish, the Grand Elder spoke to Qin Yiyi, “Girl, this must be the midst of some conspiracy; there are many schemes among Central Plains people. We Fire Pit people would be better off not getting involved; let’s head back to the Southwest Snow Mountain. As for the horn cutting ceremony, I’ll find you another worthy prey. How about that…”

There was also conflict within Fire Pit.

If a God’s Child could kill a significant Federation figure during the horn cutting ceremony, the kind that everyone knew about, they would return to the Snow Mountain with great prestige.

And a Shadow Candidate certainly met that criterion.

In the wilderness and within the Federation, there were few forces that dared to attack a Shadow Candidate, but the Fire Pit people, who knew no rules, were one of them.

After all, the Federation wouldn’t likely send troops to besiege them in the Great Snow Mountain.

Yet, Qin Yiyi shook her head, following the departing wolves’ tracks northward, “Whether the horn cutting ceremony is prestigious does not concern me; I just want to save him. Grand Elder, I won’t insist on going alone. Please help me, and I promise to return to Fire Pit and dutifully serve as the Saint afterwards.”

The Grand Elder asked, “Are you and that boy…”

Qin Yiyi shook her head, “I just like him and want to rescue him.”

In the world of adults, everyone is restrained.

Of all the people Qing Chen met in both the Inner World and the Outer World, only Qin Yiyi was always straightforward—liking was liking, and not liking was not liking.

If she wanted to catch up with the distance between her and Qing Chen, she made her way alone to the Great Snow Mountain.

When the Fire Pit people found her in the mountains, she was nearly delirious with exhaustion and close to starving to death in the depths of the hundred thousand snow-capped peaks.

Perhaps it was overambitious, perhaps impulsive, or perhaps she was still just a little girl, but to her, everything was simple, with no need to mix in any interests or complications.

The Grand Elder of Fire Pit followed her and was so angry he almost jumped up, “What a sin, why save him! There are so many young lads in Fire Pit!”

As he spoke, the bone necklace on the Grand Elder’s neck swung back and forth, making him look incredibly irritable.

For the Fire Pit Saint to go to such lengths to rescue a Knight, how could this be reasonable?!

At that moment, Li Ke looked towards Li Yunjing.

But he heard Li Yunjing shake his head and say, “I would go look for him even without you asking; these people might not have gone far, and maybe we can still save Qing Chen.”

Li Yunjing would not help Qing Yi join the struggle for the Shadow, but Qing Chen was the one who helped Li Xiurui fulfill his dying wish; he couldn’t just stand by and watch him die.

Having said that, he also chased after them towards the north.

However, strangely enough, after running wildly northward for ten kilometers, the tracks of the wolf pack suddenly turned westward.

Li Yunjing and the others chased to the west, and by evening time, they found that all the wild wolves had jumped into a cliff, crashing to their deaths.

No Qing Chen, no human traces.

The people who captured Qing Chen, and Qing Chen himself, seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Li Yunjing furrowed his brow, “It was an airship that appeared halfway to provide support and took everyone away.”

A sense of foreboding surged in Qing Yi’s heart; airships could move at great speed through the airspace, definitely not something they could keep up with on the ground.

More crucially, once the other party left on the airship, it meant that they would have a hard time finding any trace of them again.

The people had gone to great lengths to capture Qing Chen and leave, but what for?!

Initially, Qing Yi thought someone wanted to kill Qing Chen, but now it seemed that was not the case.

Why they did not kill Qing Chen was a mystery in many people’s minds.

…

…

Yan Chunmi kept her best pace, sprinting more than a hundred kilometers across the snowfield.

When she finally saw the small town in the distance, night had already fallen.

The third-tier actress had never been so haggard before, her hair scattered on both sides of her face, beyond her concern to tidy.

Life in the town was as boisterous as usual, with gamblers’ shouts still audible.

Those who lived here were all outlaws of the Federation, and perhaps one day, if the Federation decided not to tolerate the existence of this town anymore, they might all be killed.

Therefore, everyone lived uninhibited lives, getting drunk when there was wine today.

Yan Chunmi hurried into town and pulled aside a man to ask coldly, “Who in this town has a satellite phone?”

There was no signal here; contacting the outside world required a satellite phone.

She was well aware that there were many powerful individuals among the residents here trading in information, so there must be satellite phones available.

But the outlaws laughed when they saw Yan Chunmi, “Yo, looks like a refugee has run all the way here. What, do you want to use a satellite phone to call for rescue? Just call me ‘brother’, and I’ll tell you who has a satellite phone.”

Click.

Yan Chunmi twisted the man’s neck, then turned to the next one, “Who has a satellite phone?”

The outlaws were all stunned; only then did they realize that this woman who had fled to their town was no helpless little bunny, but a fierce dragon crossing the river!

The outlaws tried to run, to get away from this new scourge who had just burst into town, but before they could take two steps, Yan Chunmi caught up with each of them, knocking them to the ground.

Yan Chunmi stood on an outlaw’s face with her foot, asking calmly, “I’m asking which one in this town has a satellite phone. I’ll give you three seconds.”

Her patience was wearing thin; she had just found a powerful new boss and planned to cling to his coattails to become an important figure in the Qing’s Family. However, her new boss was now being hunted with sinister intentions.

At such times, anyone who delayed her would pay the price.

“Changsheng Inn!” one of the outlaws said, “Changsheng Inn is where people normally trade information. If they want to send out information, they definitely have a satellite phone!”

Yan Chunmi walked towards Changsheng Inn, causing chaos inside the establishment.

After ten minutes, Yan Chunmi made a call to Shadow with an encrypted satellite phone, and it was quickly answered, “Boss, my new boss is being hunted by someone suspected to be an A-Class expert. They know about his disguised identity, and the target is very clear. Now, I’m not sure if the new boss is still alive, but it’s more likely that he isn’t.”

This message was brief but contained enough information.

Her message was clear, meant to inform Shadow that there was an insider beside him.

The kind of person who could place an insider next to Shadow must be a truly significant figure.

Shadow said, “Understood. Action code 8271, you’re granted special authority to use the local spies in town.”

After that, Shadow hung up the phone.

He looked expressionlessly behind him where over forty assassins, just captured from the lakeside, hung on the execution rack.

Shadow said calmly, “Kill them all, I don’t want to bother with interrogation.”

Those around Shadow could tell that their boss was angry.

…

There’s another chapter coming up, still writing