Chapter 4256 — Wei Zhao's Test
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Perhaps she had been frightened into a psychological shadow by what had happened earlier; the slightest glimpse of anything chilling would send Feng Hongyu into a shrill scream, and the people behind her would grow tense along with her. At first they were merely uneasy in their hearts, but with a woman like Feng Hongyu crying out at every turn, even those who were fine to begin with would surely be frightened out of their wits.
Among the whole group, only Chu Bubai showed not the slightest sign of tension or fear, paying no mind to any of it, striding forward as calmly and confidently as before. Watching this from behind, Wei Zhao could not help but wonder.
Was Chu Bubai truly fearless in his ignorance, or had he long since grown accustomed to such things?
Even if the man truly believed his far-fetched explanation was the truth of the matter, being in such a strange environment, he surely could not show not the slightest trace of unease, could he? Even ignorance-inspired fearlessness had its limits.
However great one's courage, before the unknown and unfamiliar and sinister, fear would ultimately remain in the heart—such is human nature, unless one is no longer human.
Chu Bubai was clearly still human. Thinking it over and over, Wei Zhao could only attribute his behavior to two possibilities.
Either the man was not as composed as he appeared, and was in truth as tense and fearful as everyone else, merely unwilling to let it show and deliberately putting up a brave front.
Or the man had long since grown used to all this, like a coroner who faces the dead every day—habit had made it second nature, and naturally he no longer felt any fear.
What puzzled Wei Zhao even more was that Chu Bubai seemed very familiar with this place, striding along with his head high, almost without any hesitation or delay. Even with the blood moon overhead for light, the illumination now could hardly be called good, and this was his first time in such a place besides—merely consulting the route map alone should take considerable time, shouldn't it? How could he be so utterly free of hesitation?
This in itself was already no small flaw. Chu Bubai had inadvertently let his fox tail show, but everyone was so overawed by the eerie surroundings, so panicked and fearful, that they had no mind to notice his behavior. Unfortunately for him, none of this escaped Wei Zhao's eyes.
"Brother Chu, have you been here before?" Wei Zhao suddenly asked, betraying nothing in his expression.
"Of course I..." Chu Bubai answered instinctively, then paused, as if catching himself, and turned to give Wei Zhao a meaningful look. After a moment he said, "No, I haven't. Judging from the map, this place is not far from our destination. If I had been here last time, even with limited time, I would not have been willing to leave empty-handed. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, it's nothing really. I just noticed that you seem quite familiar with this area, Brother Chu, and that we haven't run into any danger at all under your guidance. I'm sure that would be hard for anyone to believe." Wei Zhao smiled naturally and said, "So I thought you must have made the trip last time. Without you, we might well have been wiped out long ago."
"So that's what it was..." Chu Bubai clearly relaxed, letting out a long breath without a trace, and laughed. "Haha, then you've misunderstood. I'm just like the rest of you—I merely studied the map beforehand. Of course, the preparations I made were certainly far more thorough than yours." (To be continued..) R527