Chapter 155: The Curtain Falls

Uncle Tong, Zhang Xuan, and Yang Hu stood not far from the stronghold, watching the flames engulf the compound. In another spot, the children also watched the place that had once been their prison gradually turn into ruins. Many of them shed tears, and those tears were filled far more with the joy of liberation.

On the other side of the stronghold, three human traffickers who had escaped through the "dog hole" of the cookhouse were also watching the burning camp. One of them said, "Let's go. Let's find that perverted supervisor together, tell him what happened, and see what to do next. After all, he has powerful connections higher up. If we can't find him, we'll go to the other camps, tell them everything, and let them report it!" The other two nodded, and the three of them vanished into the night.

Looking at the raging fire, Zhang Xuan suddenly realized he had overlooked a critical issue: would this blaze spark a forest disaster? If a forest fire broke out, it would be a catastrophe, and countless innocent living creatures would suffer an unprovoked disaster! Gazing at the flames, Zhang Xuan prayed silently in his heart, hoping the fire wouldn't spread to innocent lives. Perhaps his prayers had some effect, though the bigger factor was that when the stronghold was built, all the surrounding trees had been cleared away. Within a radius of three meters from the compound, not a single tree existed.

When the entire stronghold was nearly burned to ashes and Zhang Xuan realized it was unlikely to trigger a forest fire, he rejoined Old Yang, Yang Zaixing, and the others.

"Everyone is exhausted. Let's make do around here for the night, push through it, and get some rest first. Once day breaks, we still have a long journey ahead!" Zhang Xuan called out to the children.

The children looked at Zhang Xuan, who then shouted, "Get some rest, everyone. Shi Qian, Nie Rong, and Nie Zheng, make sure these kids rest first. If they aren't sleeping, have them sit quietly and make no sound. I'm completely done for and need to go to sleep." With that, Zhang Xuan yawned repeatedly. It seemed that since his reincarnation, he had never stayed up this late. After a whole night of toil and having his nerves taut for so long, he was truly exhausted. He turned around, found a relatively flat patch of ground, and lay down. Yang Zaixing, Yuwen Chengdu, and Yang Hu also yawned, each finding a spot to fall asleep.

Following Zhang Xuan's instructions, the Nie brothers, assisted by Shi Qian, settled the children down to rest. The Nie brothers probably held a certain amount of prestige among these youngsters, so the children heeded their words and sat down. They huddled against one another or lay directly on the ground, closing their heavy eyelids that had been fighting sleep for a long time.

Uncle Tong and Old Yang saw that all the children were seated or lying down to rest. They sat down with their backs against a tree, crossed their arms, and divided the night between themselves. Each would keep watch for a portion of the time until dawn to prevent any unexpected accidents, especially since the two of them were now the tallest people present.

Perhaps due to the sheer exhaustion of the night, when the sun rose, apart from an uninterrupted chorus of snores, there was not a single stir from the group.

Who knows how much time had passed when Zhang Xuan and the others were awakened by a shout. "Look, over here! I found them." Zhang Xuan and the others squinted and saw that it was Zheng Chao's voice. Soon after, a crowd surged forward. Zhao Yun, Zheng Jian, Master's wife Yan Yu, Tong Fei, and several other attendants from the Yan family all appeared before Zhang Xuan's group.

Originally, Zhao Yun had kept his lips sealed in front of Master's wife. No matter who asked about the whereabouts of his master and Zhang Xuan, he only said they were just looking around nearby and would be back shortly. But that short while stretched on until Zhao Yun went to sleep, and Uncle Tong and the others still hadn't returned. He figured they might have gotten lost and were still finding their way back. After all, getting lost wasn't a huge deal for people who traveled frequently, and besides, Uncle Tong and the others weren't children; they were veterans who had roamed the martial world for years. Surely nothing unexpected would happen to them? Based on that reasoning, everyone went to sleep. However, when Yan Yu woke up the next morning and still didn't see Uncle Tong and the others return, she rudely yanked Zhao Yun out of his sweet dream and "subjected him to a rigorous interrogation" about what was really going on. Pressured by his master's wife's "stern might," Zhao Yun had no choice but to recount yesterday's events to Yan Yu word for word. Once she knew the truth, Yan Yu certainly didn't believe that a mere six people like Uncle Tong could destroy a human trafficker's stronghold. They probably hadn't even found where the stronghold was after searching all night. She immediately organized everyone to pack up their belongings and join the search for Uncle Tong's group, intending to persuade them to abandon this unrealistic idea of destroying the stronghold and rescuing the children as soon as possible. While she didn't deny that Tong Yuan was formidable and that it was theoretically possible for him to charge into the stronghold single-handedly and successfully rescue the trapped children—since Tong Yuan's martial arts certainly commanded respect throughout the martial world—still, such matters were better left to the official authorities.

Fortunately, during the three months Zhao Yun had spent following Zhang Xuan, he had learned to recognize the markers left behind. He led Yan Yu and her party along the trail of signs Zhang Xuan had made, successfully locating the spot where Zhang Xuan and Yang Zaixing had slain the traffickers and tortured the supervisor the night before. Seeing the rather bloody scene, Yan Yu hurriedly covered Tong Fei's eyes. Afterward, since Zhao Yun didn't find any more markers, but noticed what looked like numerous footprints on one side of the forest, he suggested searching in the direction the footprints led. This proposal was unanimously approved. Following the footprints step by step, they eventually arrived at the place where Zhang Xuan and the others were resting.