Aside from Zhou Youlan, many people actually disliked him very much.
Though he didn’t care at all.
“Yes, that’s right,” Zhou Youlan said with darting eyes, stiffening his neck. “You pestered me, that is why I disliked you.”
Wei Yan withdrew his dagger and hauled the goat up. “Let’s go.”
This goat weighed at least a hundred pounds. Zhou Youlan hurried to help him lift the goat’s hind legs, sharing the weight so it felt a bit lighter.
Following behind, Zhou Youlan watched Wei Yan’s back and couldn’t help letting his thoughts run wild.
He thought of how effortlessly and unconcernedly Wei Yan hadn’t even blinked an eye while dealing with Lao Gui. He thought of the confident and dashing spirit Wei Yan had shown when pulling his bow and shooting just moments ago. He thought of how fiercely and proudly Wei Yan’s hair had tossed back when he landed and stood up.
He thought, with a personality as cold as Wei Yan’s, he would actually end up liking someone.
“How long has it been?” Big Mac asked.
Ke Feiyang checked his watch. “Almost an hour.”
They had retreated back to the riverbank, afraid that if Zhou Youlan and the others returned from another direction, they wouldn’t be able to find them.
Everyone’s expressions were heavy and tense. Lifting their eyes to look now, the thicket of bushes ahead was pitch-black, and the croaking of frogs and chirping of cicadas brought no sense of summer leisure, only a feeling of mounting agitation.
“Do you think something happened to them?” Lin Yue said.
“No way!” Big Mac said. “My brother loves exploring and has spent nights in the wild before. He’ll be fine.”
Zhang Tongtong stared fixedly at the forest. “Right, they’ll be fine. Brother Wei is amazing, nothing will happen to him.”
“Tch,” Li Xiaohuan scoffed.
Zhang Tongtong turned his head. Li Xiaohuan spoke from the side in a disdainful tone, “At a time like this, the smartest thing to do is find a safe place by yourself to start a fire first. Even if there’s no fire, you should find a high spot away from wild beasts to get through the night temporarily, instead of wandering blindly in the woods.”
“How do you know Brother Wei and the others didn’t do that? You think you’re the only one who’s smart and understands things, so how come you haven’t managed to start a fire after all this time?”
[Tongtong, you’ve got guts, actually daring to sass people.]
[Everyone in the livestream audience, our Tongtong is still young and inevitably hot-headed. It was just heat-of-the-moment banter, not being impolite or sassy. Gossip media, please don’t clip this out of context. I’m kneeling and thanking you in advance!]
[I’m dying, has Tongtong become Wei Yan’s loyal fan now? Shielding him like this.]
[That Li Xiaohuan, last time Chen Nan fell in the pit and got bitten by a spider, she was so scared she sat on the ground and couldn’t do a single thing. I don’t even want to mention that cowardice.]
[Bro, stop showing off. With that time to spare, you’d better figure out what you’re going to eat tonight.]
[Wuwuwu, I really wanted to see the footage of Wei Yan and Zhou Youlan. I wonder where they went, could they be in danger?]
[Hope they’re safe. So nervous, it’s making my food taste like nothing.]
The cameraman who had been shaken off had long since returned to reunite with them, so none of them knew the actual situation of Zhou Youlan and Wei Yan.
Suddenly hearing a rustling noise, they hurried forward, only to find that the person coming out was Ah Hu.
The expressions on their faces shifted from joy back to tension as they craned their necks to look past Ah Hu.
Big Mac grabbed Ah Hu, accidentally touching his injured hand.
“Sorry, sorry, um, have you seen my brother and the others?”
Ah Hu wore an ugly expression and snapped impatiently, “No idea.”
“If you don’t know, you don’t know, why throw such a big temper?”
A short while later, they saw two figures walking one after the other. It was Zhou Youlan and Wei Yan.
Several of them jogged forward to meet them. Whether they caught any prey or not was no longer important to them. After all, in an environment like this, they hadn’t held out any hope, and returning safely was already a supreme blessing.
The whole way back, Zhou Youlan had followed behind Wei Yan, retracing their steps along the path they came without taking a single wrong turn, because Wei Yan had marked the trees the entire way.
He had made marks too, but once night fell without lighting tools, they were impossible to see clearly, and he wouldn’t have been able to find his way on his own. Yet Wei Yan only needed to sweep his gaze around to spot his own marks, leading him accurately back to the riverbank.
The cameraman finally deigned to turn on his light. The two of them hauled the goat over and dumped it on the ground, at which point Zhou Youlan noticed that Wei Yan was stained with a lot of blood from his chin down to his neck, looking rather fierce.
After tossing down the prey, Wei Yan turned aside to the riverbank to wash the blood and sweat from his body.
The group stared blankly at the goat on the ground before bursting into loud cheers.
“Oh my god!”
“Brother Zhou, you guys actually managed to hunt something?”
“Too awesome, we have meat to eat tonight.”
“Oh my god, you guys are incredible. I thought you’d come back empty-handed.”
“So amazing, Brother Zhou. Good thing you were there.”
Big Mac laughed heartily and slapped his thighs in excitement. Heaven knew how badly he wanted meat; he was ready to gnaw on raw mutton.
While that side was filled with a chorus of joyful shouts, the situation on the other side was bleak.
Wang Ren looked at Wei Yan squatting by the riverbank and asked Ah Hu, “Your injury was also caused by him?”
Ah Hu didn’t want to admit it, but facts were facts.
“Where did he hurt you?” Lao Gui asked.
“Took out my right hand, and almost crushed the bones in my left wrist.”
The two of them couldn’t help narrowing their brows for a moment. They knew Ah Hu’s combat skills. Even mercenaries with rich brawling experience wouldn’t necessarily come out on top against Ah Hu.
Yet judging by the looks of it, Ah Hu had been completely on the losing end against Wei Yan.
What Ah Hu didn’t mention was that he hadn’t even had a chance to truly strike back before he was rendered completely powerless.
Wang Ren picked up his backpack and slung his hunting rifle over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
As Wang Ren and his group left, Wei Yan slowly raised his eyes to watch the backs of those three figures, deep in thought.
The group jubilantly carried the goat back to the campsite. Seeing the goat on the ground, Zhao Guanjun and the others were too shocked to speak.
“This… we thought that since you were so late, you might find a bit of food, but we never expected such a huge surprise.”
“Good heavens, you guys are way too awesome!”
“You guys have no idea, Brother Zhou and the others chased that goat right into the forest and scared the life out of us.”
Zhao Guanjun patted Zhou Youlan’s shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up. “Not bad, not bad, too awesome.”
“I didn’t hunt it,” Zhou Youlan said. “I just helped carry it along.”
He looked at Wei Yan. “Wei Yan hunted it. I didn’t really help with much at all.”
“It was Brother Wei who hunted the prey. None of us dared to enter that thicket and just waited until dark for them to come back. It’s all Brother Wei’s credit,” Zhang Tongtong said.
This came as a real surprise to them. In fact, back at the riverbank when Zhou Youlan said Wei Yan had caught the prey, Big Mac and the others had been just as shocked.
“You hunted it?” Zhao Guanjun questioned.
Wang Qinqin and Chen Nan were even less inclined to believe it when they heard that. Such a big goat, how could Wei Yan possibly handle it all by himself?
“No way, how did you catch it?” Chen Nan asked.
“Wei Yan?” Wang Qinqin couldn’t fathom it no matter how she thought about it. The goat looked quite heavy, and with Wei Yan’s build, “You couldn’t possibly take down a goat like this without two or three people.”
Chen Nan let out a hum of laughter, dripping with sarcasm. “Must be good luck again, scavenging someone else’s leftovers.”