Elder Nie’s Pleas

“That’s right. Look! They’re all wearing black clothes. If you don’t look closely, you might think they’re huge rats scurrying around!” Liu Feng’s eyes flashed with disdain as he taunted the enemy.

He didn’t know where these scum from the Green Cloud Pavilion got their confidence, for them to actually challenge the Cabinet.

They only knew how to fight through deceit, after all.

But Liu Feng had a point—everyone from the Green Cloud Pavilion was dressed in black. They did look like oversized rats.

“You!” Vice-President Tang exploded and lifted an angry finger to point at Liu Feng. He refused to bear such insult!

But then his eyes drifted over to a girl standing beside the elders. His gaze sharpened. “It’s you, right? You’re Yao Tang. You’re the one who captured Elder Nie.”

He glared at her with all the loathing and malice he could muster.

If he could, he would lunge at her right there and then, and tear her to pieces.

Noticing this, Elder Wang stepped in front of Yao Tang and shielded her from Vice-President Tang.

“What are you wasting time for? If the Green Cloud Pavilion doesn’t want to proceed with the exchange, then say so at once! Stop dawdling.”

They had already wasted a few precious minutes in this bickering nonsense.

“Ha! Do you think I want to be here? I don’t like seeing your old mug, either.”

After saying this, Vice-President Tang turned and gestured at his men to bring their prisoner out.

One of his lackeys, a lanky guy, nodded and barked a few orders to his comrades.

In the next moment, four burly men appeared, lugging a stretcher between them. Sure enough, the person lying on the stretcher was Elder Chen.

He was motionless, and his eyes were closed. He appeared to be in deep slumber.

Still, the Cabinet Elders didn’t sense anything wrong with him.

“There you have it,” Vice-President Tang announced.

He smirked at the Cabinet Elders. “Well? Your precious Elder Chen is alive and well. You’d better not be pulling any tricks behind my back.”

Behind him, the men snarled in agreement.

Elder Wang clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes in disdain.

He motioned for their disciples to bring Elder Nie out as well.

Unlike the listless Elder Chen, however, Elder Nie seemed to be lively, and his face was ruddy.

He was gagged, though, and therefore couldn’t speak.

When he saw Vice-President Tang, he cried out frantically, his body twisting here and there.

He seemed to be excited about something.

The people from the Green Cloud Pavilion naturally presumed that it had something to do with his inevitable rescue.

And so, they weren’t as affected by his reaction as they probably should be.

Unbeknownst to them, Elder Nie was trying to express a desperate plea.

He didn’t care about returning to the Green Cloud Pavilion. Instead, he wanted to tell them to cancel the exchange.

Once they were back in the Green Cloud Pavilion and the rest discovered that his men were all disabled, Elder Nie was certain that he would suffer the consequences.

He would no longer hold any value in the organization, and the Pavilion Master might even kill him!

On the other hand, if he stayed here, he still had a chance for survival. The Cabinet Elders wouldn’t dispose of him, if only for the sake of their previous friendship.

Elder Nie blinked his eyes rapidly in an attempt to grab Vice-President Tang’s attention. He blinked and blinked until his eyelids started to cramp.

But Elder Wang spoke then, much to his dismay.

“Take him away.”

Those three simple words crushed all the hope that Elder Nie had left.

Even so, he struggled with all his might as he was brought back to the van.

It was a pity that no one from the Green Cloud Pavilion took notice of his strange behavior. In fact, no one seemed to care much about him at all.

Vice-President Tang, in particular, didn’t appear happy nor relieved to see that Elder Nie was alive.

If anything, he looked like he was plotting something else.

With a wave of his hand, another one of his subordinates walked forward carrying a laptop. He turned it on, and the screen displayed a man sitting under a massive tree.

This man was tied up and had a bag over his head. Even with the grainy resolution, it was obvious that he was trying to break free from his binds.

It was none other than Elder Chen’s disciple, Zhang Yi.

Vice-President Tang cut the feed short and gave relayed Zhang Yi’s location to the Cabinet Elders. He then demanded assurance that the other hostages were fine.