Tomb raiders: You stole my little Qilin?

That evening, after taking a shower, Zhang Qiling, as usual, took the medicated oil and knocked on Wu Wei's door.

Wu Wei and 999 muttered to themselves, "I'm bruised and battered from the daytime beatings, and then I have to get treatment for my wounds at night. I'm practically getting Stockholm Syndrome."

999 immediately chimed in: "Host, think about it from a different perspective. If it were anyone else, he would only attack and not heal."

Wu Wei thought about it and realized it made sense, and strangely enough, he was calmed down.

He opened the door and let Zhang Qiling in, habitually taking off his shirt to make it easier for Zhang Qiling to handle him.

Zhang Qiling's fingers were strong as he massaged the bruises on his shoulders and back with medicated oil.

Wu Wei tried to dodge in pain, but Zhang Qiling held him firmly with one hand.

"Don't move, knead it in."

Wu Wei is most afraid of pain. When he was a child, he had no choice but to practice martial arts because he always had to show his value.

So when he grew up, he didn't want to experience any pain at all.

"My chieftain, please show mercy next time."

Zhang Qiling noticed Wu Wei's form of address and paused, realizing it had been a long time since anyone had called him that.

This identity brought him only responsibility and constraints, which he disliked.

But he didn't mind Wu Wei calling him that.

Wu Wei had no connection with the Zhang family, and like him, he felt no sense of belonging to the Zhang family.

They both possess the same Qilin bloodline, yet both remain outside the Zhang family.

Therefore, he took Wuwei as his responsibility and was willing to become the clan leader of Wuwei.

"There is no mercy when practicing martial arts."

Wu Wei knew Zhang Qiling's personality, so it was only natural that he wouldn't show any mercy.

After the initial pain from the kneading subsided, it started to feel a bit comfortable.

Wu Wei stared at the bedside lamp, then looked in the light at Zhang Qiling, who was giving him a thorough massage.

His expression remained indifferent, but his hands continued moving. Wu Wei involuntarily uttered:

"Hey buddy, you're really handsome."

There is no ambiguity; it is simply humanity's appreciation of beauty.

"Hmm," Zhang Qiling replied calmly, without stopping her work.

He looked down at Wu Wei, who was staring at him, and said very seriously, "You're good-looking too."

Wu Wei smiled confidently, "That's right!"

After massaging the bruises on Wu Wei's shoulders and back, Zhang Qiling placed the medicinal wine by Wu Wei's bedside.

"I'm going out tomorrow, it'll probably be for ten days or so. You'll stay with the blind man for now."

"Where to?" Wu Wei asked immediately.

"A grave." Zhang Qiling didn't hide it from Wu Wei.

"Then be careful not to get hurt."

"Okay." Zhang Qiling nodded and prepared to leave.

"Brother!" Wu Wei called out to him again, "Don't bleed out recklessly, your own safety is the most important thing."

"I understand." Zhang Qiling's expression was not visible, but his voice seemed to soften.

The next morning, Wu Wei was woken up by a knock on the door, as usual.

He yawned and opened the door, only to find that it wasn't Zhang Qiling standing there, but Hei Xiazi.

"Has the young man already left?" Wu Wei looked behind him; the courtyard was empty, and the silent figure under the pomegranate tree was nowhere to be seen.

"Hmm, it's been a while." Black Bear leaned against the door frame.

Since moving into the courtyard house, Zhang Qiling has appeared at his door every morning without fail.

Even though Zhang Qiling had told him about it yesterday, he still felt a little uneasy about the sudden change to Hei Xiazi.

Hei Xiazi's teaching method is a bit different from Zhang Qiling's; he teaches that students should eat first and then practice.

After washing up, Wu Wei sat down at the breakfast table and absentmindedly drank his porridge.

Hei Xiazi glanced at him, put down his bowl, and tapped on the table in front of Wu Wei.

"What are you thinking about? You didn't even eat breakfast properly."

Wu Wei snapped out of his daze, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Is...is he in danger?"

Black Bear leaned back in his chair, adjusted his sunglasses, and gave a knowing smile: "You're worried about him?"

Wu Wei nodded, without denying it.

Black Bear laughed.

"Don't worry, you know how skilled the mute is."

"But he's all alone..."

"He's been alone for a long time," Black Bear interrupted him, adding:

"He's not a tactless person; if something really happens, he'll say so."

He's been alone for a long time.

These words made Wu Wei feel as if his heart was soaking in sour water, constantly surging with bitterness and heartache.

Immortality did not bring Zhang Qiling happiness; instead, it brought him prolonged suffering and displacement.

Even knowing that Zhang Qiling was powerful, calm, and experienced, I still couldn't help but worry about him.

Wu Wei looked up at Hei Xiazi, who was also immortal but had suffered many hardships, and the emotional projection made him soften his voice:

"Hey Blackie, how about I send you a gift in a few days?"

Hei Xiazi was puzzled as to why Wu Wei had suddenly shifted from worrying about Zhang Qiling to wanting to give him a gift.

But that didn't stop his heart from racing, and his usually fluent speech seemed to suddenly freeze.

He just nodded blankly.

After finishing breakfast, Hei Xiazi cleaned up the dining table and took out a wooden plaque from the room.

The wooden sign is about the size of a palm, rectangular, with smooth, rounded edges. The front is the natural wood color and has no markings or patterns.

Wu Wei took a wooden plaque, flipped it over, and looked at Hei Xiazi with a puzzled expression: "What's this? A new training program?"

Hei Xiazi didn't answer. He pulled out one of the cards from a stack of wooden cards and pointed at the card with his finger.

Wu Wei took a closer look and saw a deep scratch in the center of the card, which must have been deliberately made by the blade.

"This is today's lesson." Hei Xiazi held the scratched card and the blank card in his hand at the same time, then took out a dart from his waist and handed it to Wu Wei.

"Watch closely."

With a flick of his arm, Hei Xiazi sent both cards flying.

They didn't tumble too fast in the air; their speed was uniform, indicating that it was deliberately controlled.

The two cards spun and rotated in each other's sight, the unmarked one slightly forward, the scratched one half a body length behind.

"That one with scratches."

Wu Wei took the dart, squinted, locked onto the target, and flicked his wrist.

The dart, with a short, sharp whistling sound, landed firmly on the scratched wooden sign, pinning it to the courtyard wall.

"Beautiful," Black Bear exclaimed.

Without pausing, he bent down and picked up four more cards from the table.

"Again."

He raised his arm again, and all four cards flew out at the same time.

This time their trajectories were more dispersed, forming a small fan shape in the air.

Wu Wei made his move again.

The dart traced a tiny arc, piercing precisely through the scratched card.

But this time he could sense that the dart was very close to the other blank card, and the choice was made almost by millimeter.

Hei Xiazi saw this and took out six more cards.

"continue"

The moment the six cards were played, Wu Wei felt the pressure.

The amount of information in my field of vision doubled instantly, with six cards spinning, intersecting, and obscuring each other in the air.

The scratched card was only partially visible for a moment before being obscured by another card.

In those brief fractions of a second, he made his judgment, threw the dart, and pinned it down.

Hei Xiazi walked over, pulled the wooden sign off the wall, and turned it over to show him. It was a blank sign.

The scratched one lay quietly on the ground.

Wu Wei sighed, shook his wrist, and his gaze involuntarily fell on the wrongly nailed card by the wall.

"This is much harder than shooting a gun."

Black Bear picked up the cards from the ground one by one and gathered them together with a card from the table in his hand.

He looked up, and the unseen gaze behind his sunglasses fell on Wu Wei, a faint smile playing on his lips.

He pulled the darts off the wall and shoved over thirty wooden cards into Wu Wei's hand: "You come here, shuffle the cards first."

Wu Wei flipped through the thirty-odd cards in his hand more than a dozen times, then inserted the scratched card into the middle, slightly towards the back.

"Begin." Hei Xiazi was ready.

Wu Wei nodded, took a deep breath, and suddenly threw out more than thirty wooden plaques at the same time.