Chapter 91: Catching a Thief
“Brother Shen!”
Shen San turned around and spotted a familiar face—one of his younger brother’s classmates.
He knew the boy well enough, having crossed paths with him several times back home. “What are you doing here?” Shen San asked, surprised. He remembered clearly that this fellow was a native of the Forest Continent, just like his brother. Under normal circumstances, ordinary people didn’t just hop between continents.
The classmate’s face crumpled into a frown. “It’s a long story. I accepted a quest that required me to cross the sea to find someone. At the time, I had no clue what ‘crossing continents’ actually meant! I thought it was some epic, high-tier mission, so I accepted it in a heartbeat. Who knew a sudden flash of light would warp me all the way here… and now I can’t find a way back!”
He looked like he was on the verge of tears again.
“I was in the middle of dinner with my girlfriend! Then, poof—I vanished. I’ve been stuck here for nearly a month, and I still haven’t found a way home.” The man looked both pitiful and slightly ridiculous as he wailed.
“Only powerful masters or the incredibly lucky get to cross continents. Look at it as a blessing in disguise; you’re seeing sights most people never will,” Shen San said, patting him on the shoulder to comfort him.
Beside them, Lu Yunxi’s heart skipped a beat.
Wasn’t this guy the “Super Awesome Hero” she had helped during the Lantern Festival? The world was far too small! To think he was actually friends with her own apprentice.
As he spoke, the boy’s gaze began to drift toward her. Lu Yunxi’s chest tightened.
“Wait, where did this baby come from? Do they have humanoid pets in this game now? She is absolutely precious!”
When the Super Awesome Hero looked down and saw the baby in the stroller, his heart melted instantly. Literal pink hearts seemed to flash in his eyes.
Shen San shook his head privately. Another one fooled by Master’s appearance. “Baby?” The person in that stroller was clearly—wait.
He looked down, suddenly having a crisis of faith.
Is the baby currently clutching a bottle and sucking on it like her life depends on it really my Master?
Lu Yunxi was oblivious to her apprentice’s judging gaze. She was far too busy trying not to be recognized by the “Hero.” Even though she was tiny, her features hadn’t changed much since her actual childhood; if he looked too closely, he might make the connection.
Desperate for a distraction, she had grabbed a bottle from the display counter and shoved it in her mouth, pretending to be deeply engrossed in her “milk.”
The shopkeeper nearby smiled at the men. “Your daughter really took a liking to that bottle. She kept reaching for it, so I filled it with some goat’s milk for her. She seems to love it.”
Lu Yunxi: …
Shen San was bewildered. He had no idea why his Master had suddenly developed a “passion” for baby bottles. However, a wise disciple knew better than to question his Master’s mysterious ways.
After paying the bill, he pushed the stroller out of the shop. The Super Awesome Hero followed right at his heels.
“Brother Shen, you still haven’t told me about the kid! Where’d she come from? I want one just like her.” The Hero found the baby more enchanting with every passing second.
Shen San glanced at his Master, who was doing a flawless impression of a normal infant, but his internal suspicions only grew. He leaned in closer, trying to see if anything was truly wrong with her.
Thwack.
A chubby little hand shoved his face away. Seeing his Master’s impatient, warning glare, Shen San let out a secret sigh of relief. Thank goodness. Master hasn’t been replaced by an impostor.
He stood up straight and turned to his brother’s friend. “Don’t get your hopes up. It was a special, one-time mission. There probably won’t be another like it.”
“Aw, man,” the Hero sighed, disappointed. He had been thinking about raising a baby with his girlfriend as a sort of practice run. “Well, alright then.” He scratched his head, then perked up again. “So, where are you headed next, Brother Shen? I’m coming with you!”
Lu Yunxi’s heart sank. She desperately wanted to shake this guy. If he stayed with them, she’d be on the verge of exposure every waking second. Shen San knew she was an NPC, but this guy thought she was a player! If they started comparing notes, the truth would come out in no time.
Her eyes grew dark. If they truly had to travel together, she would have to find a way to ditch her apprentice temporarily.
While the three “travelers” were lost in their own thoughts, they failed to notice a pair of strange eyes watching them from the shadows.
“Stop, thief! Someone catch that thief! He stole my silver!” A young man came sprinting around the corner, panting as he chased a masked figure.
Hearing the commotion, Shen San and the Hero didn’t hesitate. They took off in pursuit. The Super Awesome Hero reacted first, lunging forward, but Shen San’s speed was superior; he surged past the boy in an instant.
The Hero blinked in shock. “Wait! Brother Shen! You left the baby behind! Aren’t you worried?!”
Shen San just laughed over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine!”
He knew his Master had a high-level protective shield. Ordinary thugs couldn’t touch her. And if his Master couldn’t handle it, then a mere thief certainly wasn’t going to be caught by him anyway.
They chased the masked thief for several blocks, but the culprit vanished around a sharp corner.
“Huff… huff…” The Hero doubled over, hands on his knees, gasping for air. Once he caught his breath, he slammed his fist against a nearby wall. “Dammit! He got away!”
He looked at Shen San with pure admiration. “Brother Shen, you’re incredible. You aren’t even winded.”
Shen San, however, was frowning and covering his nose. The thief had been cunning; he had smashed a bottle of potent perfume at the corner to mask his scent. The smell was so overwhelming that Shen San couldn’t track which way the man had turned.
He searched the surrounding alleys, but found no trace. As the scent began to dissipate, he raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected someone to escape him so easily. Was the thief a high-ranked expert?
Before they could head back, a blood-curdling scream echoed from the direction they had come.
“Kidnapping! Someone’s being kidnapped!”
The terrified shriek was so sharp the two men flinched. They sprinted back toward the main street. As Shen San neared the spot where he had left the stroller, a cold dread pooled in his stomach.
Isn’t this exactly where the ‘thief’ first appeared? Was that whole thing just a distraction?
He shoved through the gathering crowd. “Move! Out of the way! My child is here!”
One man he shoved began to snarl an insult, but seeing the panic on Shen San’s face, he stopped and looked at him with pity. That look made Shen San feel even worse.
He burst into the center of the clearing. His heart dropped. The familiar stroller was there, sitting empty. His Master was gone.
“Is the baby yours?” a woman nearby asked, her voice hushed with sympathy.
Shen San staggered back a step, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves. “Yes. Please, where is she?”
“A masked man snatched her and bolted. By the time we realized what was happening, he was blocks away.”
Shen San’s eyes sharpened. “Which way?”
“That way, into the alleys. But it’s a maze back there; you’ll never find him.” The passerby patted his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
Shen San ignored the man’s pessimism. He spun on his heel and vanished into the labyrinth of alleys. By the time the Super Awesome Hero reached the scene, Shen San was already gone.
Lu Yunxi felt herself being tucked roughly under someone’s arm as the masked man sprinted through the city.
She had just been yawning, and in the blink of an eye, her surroundings had changed. Really? This again?
She felt a strange sense of déjà vu. She remembered being carried off like a sack of potatoes once before by a senior from the Misty Rain Palace. Whether it was over a shoulder or under an arm, it was an incredibly uncomfortable way to travel.
She cast a quick detection spell. The man kidnapping her was only Level 20.
Even though he was ten levels higher than her current shrunken state, she wasn’t worried. Her combat experience was vastly superior to whatever this thug had practiced.
So, she did the only logical thing. She relaxed her body, closed her eyes, and let herself fall asleep.
There was no helping it; a baby’s body really was a slave to its nap schedule.
