Destiny is ashes

Chapter 13 Night Tour
Zhang Ying is missing.

An Jing blinked and looked at the small room, his roommate on his left, his friend and follower.

The hunter boy was not in bed.

His bed was very tidy, even to the point of being abnormally tidy. Both the pillows and the blanket were folded very flatly, like tofu.

An Jing knew that Zhang Ying definitely didn't fold it himself, because that stupid boy didn't know how to fold the quilt. He taught him several times, but he still folded it like a dog.

"Why is Zhang Ying missing?!"

Another hour later, Cang Linzu woke up and discovered this, and couldn't help but screamed.

He and Zhang Ying were the best friends. One was a hunter, and the other was a martial artist. They both had practiced martial arts since childhood, and were both interested in hunting, fighting, swords, spears, and sticks. Although Zhang Ying was not as good as him, he was not much worse. Especially Zhang Ying was good at archery, and she was the best among them in this regard. They could learn from each other.

The two of them usually follow An Jing and are almost inseparable.

"Did you run around everywhere and get locked up?"

Zhan Feng muttered that although most of the children in Xuanming Village were more mature than their peers due to their refugee status, in the safe environment, some children's naughty natures emerged and they liked to run around everywhere, and then they were punished by being put in solitary confinement and not even allowed to eat dinner.

Zhan Feng was most concerned about eating. Although he was tall, he never took risks. Zhang Ying was the opposite. If An Jing hadn't called him several times, that kid would definitely run around.

"Go ask the instructors." Ye Xiuyuan said softly. He was the smartest among all the children. He turned his head slightly to look at An Jing and found that the head of dormitory A had a blank expression on his face. He didn't know what he was thinking. He already had some ideas in his mind: "Maybe... he just left."

Leaving? Could it be that... he was eliminated?

Has the second round of eliminations begun?
A possibility came to everyone's mind, but they didn't dare to say it out loud. It was not until they searched the entire dormitory and the martial arts field and couldn't find any trace of Zhang Ying that everyone had to admit the fact.

Zhang Ying was eliminated, just like the apprentices who left before him.

He wasn't the only one eliminated.

Twenty-seven people were eliminated this time, which is not a large number. Some performed well, while others performed averagely. The specific criteria cannot be guessed.

Before dinner, just like last time, a lecturer announced this to everyone.

"It was expected."

Ye Xiuyuan sighed and said that he knew the result would be like this, but he thought he might leave earlier than Zhang Ying. He didn't expect that the hunter boy would go down the mountain first.

"I think I can still be a bookkeeper."

After dinner, during the evening training at the martial arts arena, he told An Jing and others the truth, "I am not suitable for martial arts training. The recent training has made me feel incapable. Maybe one day I will come down the mountain."

"Maybe I will too." Gu Yeqi sighed. There were a few fewer people in their girls' dormitory, one of whom was a little sister who came with her from the Mingshan City refugee camp. She felt lonely without someone to talk to.

Not to mention, although Gu Yeqi can still accept the current amount of training, she always feels that it is becoming more and more strenuous, which makes her feel a little worried and feels that she may not be able to catch up with An Jing.

"Zhang Ying just doesn't train well. I've told him that martial arts training requires practice, not actual combat!"

Canglinzu was unhappy, kicking the dirt under his feet and said, "Everyone wants to leave, but I wish I could stay as long as possible - they always teach real things. The more you learn, the more you can rely on after you go down the mountain."

"Not to mention, it will be even harder to eat meat after going down the mountain. Zhang Ying will regret it!" Having lost a playmate, he could only pretend to be tough.

"I'll be honest." Zhan Feng smacked his lips, savoring the taste of dinner, and said lazily, "Indeed."

Ye Xiuyuan and An Jing shook their heads together. He also turned to look at An Jing. The frail young man said with emotion: "Perhaps only Brother An can reach the top... I hope he won't forget us by then."

“How could that be?” An Jing said in a deep voice, “We escaped from the Frost Tribulation together, trained together for so long, and lived in the same dormitory. We are all brothers. How could I forget?”

He actually had a lot of doubts in his mind. For example, the owner of the medicine shop was not here the whole day, and many of the teachers were also missing. Could it be that they all went to send the children down the mountain?

Even if he got up an hour later, was Zhang Ying woken up and left in the middle of her sleep? Would he be so quiet and leave without saying goodbye? All these are unknown.

Moreover, today, he also did not hear the sound of cars going up and down the mountain, nor did he see any traces of cars leaving or entering.

The eliminated children are still in the manor, right?

However, these doubts can only be suppressed.

"I've been planning to do this for a long time. Most of the Medicine Manor owners and instructors are not here today... I'll stay up tonight and look around the manor. Maybe I can find those who were eliminated."

An Jing had already made up his mind, but he wanted to comfort everyone: "Everyone should go to bed early today. The better you sleep, the better your spirit will be, and the better the training results will be. This way, no one will be eliminated."

"Brother An is always so calm... maybe a little too calm."

Ye Xiuyuan smiled, his eyes always showing melancholy.

After all, a scholar who came from a wealthy family and whose life goal was to pass the imperial examination and go to Beijing has fallen into his current situation because of a natural disaster. It will be difficult for him to pass the imperial examination, and in the future he will be at most an accountant. Even if he has accepted his fate, he cannot really let it go.

"How can I be your senior brother if I'm not calm?"

Unable to bear this attitude of acknowledging that he had been eliminated, An Jing slapped him on the back of the head in anger: "You are only a few years old, and you are already feeling sad about the passing of time. It's not like we won't see each other again in the future. You're not unsuitable for martial arts training, it's just that you haven't practiced enough. Give me two more moves for leg training tomorrow!"

“Eh?!” Hearing this, even Ye Xiuyuan became anxious: “Leg training? Two moves? That’s going to kill you, brother! I don’t want my legs to still be shaking when I wake up the next day!”

"You're the only one who talks too much, three!"

Under An Jing's violent suppression, time soon came to evening.

After everyone fell asleep, An Jing, who had his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes.

There is no instructor on patrol today, so it is the best time for a night tour.

An Jing walked out of the dormitory quietly, and with a few leaps, he turned over and reached the roof of the dormitory, then came to the wall and observed the terrain of the entire manor.

I couldn't feel it when I lived in Xuanming Manor in the past, but now if I look up, I can find that Xuanming Manor is located between two mountains. The terrain is strange and from my memory of previous life, it seems to be some kind of peculiar feng shui terrain of 'two dragons playing with a pearl', and the manor is the pearl played by the dragons of the two mountains, gathering the essence of the surrounding mountains.

With the area where the children live as the center, there are layers of tower defenses, which make Xuanming Manor so tightly guarded that the entire manor is more like a small fortress than an ordinary manor.

(End of this chapter)