Chapter 86 - Fleeing
Song Xiao had been tied up for quite a long time and his limbs were numb, so he was somewhat unsteady when he stood up. Yu Tang ma.s.saged his arms and legs as he held him, then indicated for Song Xiao to stay still first while he took a look at their surroundings.
The sky was already completely dark. This warehouse wasn’t very big, and contained some old wood; this had probably been a lumber warehouse before. While the two bosses were discussing matters inside the building, the other small bandits were in the courtyard. Next to the window, Yu Tang leaned forward slightly to look outside. There were bright lights in the courtyard and the bandits were holding guns as they chatted among themselves.
Behind the warehouse was a dark and dense forest. It was already autumn, but the temperature here was still sizzling hot; it was likely that they had fled all the way to a tropical region. Cars could be driven in, which indicated that this place wasn’t far from the road. However, they couldn’t head for the road. There was only one road in the wild; if they ran toward it, they would be sitting ducks, and the kidnappers would be able to catch up to them very quickly.
There were a lot of people in the courtyard – more than twenty at the very least – and half of them had guns. There was no way that with his strength alone, Yu Tang would be able to take Song Xiao with him and run off. Bearing all this in mind, they could only choose to flee into the mountains.
Song Xiao exchanged looks with Yu Tang, then lowered his head. He picked up one of the kidnappers’ shabby canvas bags and filled it with all the usable items from the room, taking Scarface’s lighter, cigarettes, and phone while he was at it.
Yu Tang took out the pistol that was in the bag and stuck it into his waistband before slinging the canvas bag over his shoulder. With his bare hands, he dismantled the simple and crude back window, and jumped out with a whoosh.
“Who…” Someone was p.i.s.sing against a tree in the shadows. By the time he turned around, Yu Tang had already twisted his neck.
After ensuring that no one else was around, Yu Tang turned to the window with his arms wide open, hinting to Song Xiao to jump.
Song Xiao nimbly jumped out and Yu Tang caught him firmly, then the two of them ran noiselessly into the forest.
There wasn’t any light in the mountains; they couldn’t even see their fingers stretched out in the pitch dark. They groped their way through the tall forest trees, and only then did some faint moonlight shine through the leaves.
Yu Tang held a dagger in one hand and pulled Song Xiao along with the other. Because he couldn’t see the road, he hacked out a path through the bushes in front of him.
“This is a tropical rainforest; there are snakes and poisonous insects in the underbrush.” Song Xiao was a little worried and indicated for the emperor to wait a moment as he fumbled around in the bag before taking out two canvas strips. He then crouched down, planning to wrap them around the emperor’s legs.
“I’ll do it.” Yu Tang understood Song Xiao’s intention and took the canvas strips to wind them around his lower legs and ankles in two or three seconds with nimble movements; he had done this often when he had been on the march in the past.
With his legs tightly wrapped, it was easier for him to keep walking. Yu Tang looked at the moving lights in the warehouse in the distance; the kidnappers had probably discovered their disappearance.
Not daring to tarry, Yu Tang pulled Song Xiao along with him and continued to run further into the mountains.
“Useless! You’re supposed to protect the young master, but you came back on your own!” The Yu family banquet was forced to come to an end, and the family head looked furiously at the bodyguards.
“Calm down, family head. I’ll take people to look for him right away.” The chief of the bodyguards, that was, our great general, volunteered his services. The emperor and empress had been kidnapped; things couldn’t get any worse. They had to be found immediately!
“Dad, should we make a police report?” third aunt asked anxiously.
Until now, the kidnappers still hadn’t called. They didn’t know if being hasty about making a report would endanger Yu Tang.
“Report ba. We still don’t have leads, so it’ll be quicker to leave the investigation to the police,” second uncle walked over and said with an anxious face. After speaking, he gave Yu Lang, who was sitting in the corner, a meaningful look.
If they made a police report first and delayed the Yu family bodyguards from taking action, then they still had time to deal with that group of idiotic bandits and order them to let Yu Tang go as soon as possible.
The Yu family hall was in a complete mess as Yu Tong secretly walked out to give the kidnappers a call.
“Ring ring ring—” The handphone in the bag suddenly rang, and Yu Tang staggered in shock.
Song Xiao hurriedly took out the handphone to silence it, and realised that it was the kidnapper’s phone that was ringing. There was no caller ID, just a string of numbers on the screen.
Yu Tang glanced at the number, then picked up the call and said “En” in a gruff tone.
“I’ll send you a sum of money in a moment, so hurry up and send Yu Tang back.” A familiar voice rang out over the phone. Yu Tang narrowed his eyes and remained silent as he listened to the other person continue. “Before you let him go, torture that lover of his in front of him for a bit, then move him to Brazil; I’ve sorted out the transit procedures for you.”
Yu Tang’s eyes became increasingly cold. How could he not recognise this person’s voice? It was none other than his second uncle. Smoothly pressing the record b.u.t.ton on the phone, he recorded the last few sentences. When the other party was done speaking, Yu Tang simply hung up and turned off the phone before he took out the battery and put the phone in the backpack.
“Hou —” There was the low roar of an animal. When Song Xiao turned his head to look, he saw a pair of animal eyes gleaming in the dark, and couldn’t help being frightened.
“It’s a leopard,” Yu Tang quietly said, keeping a hand on Song Xiao to keep him still. With this sort of large feline, it was fine if they didn’t move; if they did, the animal would definitely chase them.
They couldn’t see too clearly in the dark, and could only stare intensely in the leopard’s direction. Yu Tang took off the knapsack for Song Xiao to carry, and had Song Xiao get on his back. Grabbing a vine growing on a large tree next to him, Yu Tang leapt.
“Hou —” Hidden in the dark, the leopard let out a low roar and rushed out, but Yu Tang had already used three times his strength to leap to the top of the tree.
“Look over there!” The voices of the kidnappers could be heard in the distance. The leopard, who had been climbing the tree, instantly jumped down and turned to run.
Song Xiao leaned against Yu Tang’s back and sighed in relief. Raising his head to look at the distant lights, he saw that it was the kidnappers holding flashlights. “What should we do?”
The kidnappers seemed very familiar with this forest and were headed quickly in their direction.
“They probably found us because of the bushes.” Yu Tang frowned. They had been hacking their way through the bushes, which was pretty much a glaring road sign. Indicating for Song Xiao to hold on tight, Yu Tang broke off a large branch above his head, and bright moonlight poured in, lighting up a small part of the forest.
Swiftly calculating the route, Yu Tang rubbed his face against the empress, who was leaning on his shoulder, and released his strength explosively as he leapt gracefully from branch to branch.
Song Xiao’s eyes widened. He never thought that the emperor would still have his qinggong.
Unable to see the path clearly, Yu Tang slipped for one unsteady moment when he jumped to the fifth tree. Quickly grabbing a tree branch, he used the momentum to spin around and leap to the next tree.
“Hu…” Yu Tang crouched on the thick tree branch and gasped before he continued moving.
Their flight lasted well into the night. The two of them fled deep into the mountains, and the kidnappers had already completely lost their trail. Yu Tang finally relaxed with a sigh when he saw that there wasn’t a trace of light, then looked for a thick and solid tree to sit against.
Song Xiao got off Yu Tang’s back to sit next to him, and slowly embraced the emperor, who was gasping for breath.
Yu Tang was truly exhausted. He hadn’t cultivated his qinggong from young in this world. Using it was already taxing, to begin with, but he had also been running for so long with Song Xiao on his back. He couldn’t even say a single word at the moment, and simply leaned into Song Xiao’s embrace for a short rest.
Song Xiao sat astride a tree branch with his back against the tree trunk as he held the emperor and stroked his back once in a while. He took out a canteen from the bag and fed the emperor a mouthful of water.
The mountains were chilly at night. Fortunately, they were both dressed in autumn wear, and this was the tropics, so it wasn’t too cold.
Yu Tang finally got his breath back but was a little unwilling to get up. He continued to lie in Song Xiao’s embrace and wrapped his arms around his waist. “Hungry?”
“Not too bad.” Song Xiao pursed his lips. Honestly, he was a little hungry. He had been taken in the morning, and it was the middle of the night now. The two of them hadn’t eaten anything and had been running for so long.
Putting down the knapsack, they felt around inside for a while and couldn’t find anything to eat. There was only a small can of ground pepper and some instant coffee sachets.
Yu Tang took out the instant coffee and indicated that Song Xiao should have it. “In any case, it has some sugar in it. We’ll look for something to eat when the sky brightens.”
Song Xiao took the coffee powder, poured it into his mouth, and swallowed it with his saliva. The bitterness carried a trace of sweetness. Fortunately, it was premixed instant coffee and wasn’t that bitter. Yu Tang also had two sachets of coffee, then switched places with Song Xiao. Lying against the tree trunk, he held Song Xiao in his embrace.
“Sleep for a while ba.” Yu Tang lowered his head and kissed Song Xiao’s forehead. Since he had martial skills, he wouldn’t fall even if he slept in a tree, but his empress’s sleeping posture had never been good, and he might fall out of the tree in his sleep.
Song Xiao received a warm kiss and felt his nose turn sour for some reason. Burying his head in the crook of Yu Tang’s neck, Song Xiao hugged his waist. “Your Majesty is tired. You sleep ba, I’ll keep watch.”
“It’s fine, I’ll sleep too.” Yu Tang took off his jacket and wrapped it around both of them. “Before, during battle, it was normal to sleep lightlyZhen can even sleep standing up.”
Caressing Song Xiao’s cheek, which was slightly bruised from the kidnapper’s blow, Yu Tang sighed. If he hadn’t arrived in time today, he was afraid that it would have been even harder to look for Song Xiao. He had some lingering fear at this thought.
They slept until the first glimmer of dawn started to break. When Song Xiao opened his eyes, he discovered that the emperor was already awake and staring attentively in a particular direction.
“Your —”
“Shh —” Yu Tang hurriedly kissed Song Xiao’s lips to stop him from talking. He flung the dagger in his hand with a ‘whoosh’ and accurately struck a fat bird that had been resting on a tree branch.
“Ga —” The bird was as large as a goose. With a shriek, it fell to the ground.
Yu Tang laughed and leapt down from the tree with Song Xiao in his arms. Picking up the bird that wasn’t completely dead yet, he shook it at Song Xiao. “Breakfast.”
When it came to surviving in the wild, even a camping expert was nothing compared with the emperor, a person from ancient times who went out on battle campaigns for years on end. Taking Song Xiao with him, they soon found a brook and sat down on the pebble bank. Yu Tang plucked and cleaned the fat bird within moments, and stuck it on a stick to roast.
Song Xiao found some decent firewood and gathered some dry leaves. Using the kidnapper’s cigarette as a firestarter, he took out the lighter he had taken from the kidnapper and lit a flame.
Little Theater
Kidnapper A: Not good, the hostages fled
Kidnapper B: Hurry up and chase them, there’s a trail here
Kidnapper A: Aiya, the trail has disappeared
Kidnapper B: How did that happen?
Kidnapper A: They probably turned into b.u.t.terflies and flew away ba
Kidnapper B: …
Baobao Notes
The kidnappers in the little theaters are kinda cute