CHAPTER 1328: INFORMATION GIVEN, INFORMATION HIDDEN

After seeing Xia Fang disappear into the horizon, Yang Qing let out a silent sigh as a huge burden lifted off him, even though he still carried the weight of other boulders. As someone long accustomed to taking the small wins however they came, he felt cheerful, or at least hopefully cheerful with a healthy dash of worry.

He still wasn’t sure how things would play out for Xia Fang. All he could do was hope life turned out well for her, or at the very least, that the worst-case scenarios he feared never came to pass. Hopefully, the items he gave her would help with that. If he were to count present wins, she had handled the news much better than he expected. If there was one thing to celebrate, it would be that.

Sighing once more, Yang Qing sent another silent well-wish toward her before turning to face yet another of the boulders he still carried.

Duan Ting and Liu Ying had joined them in escorting Xia Fang, though escorting here only meant covering the distance from their building to the entrance gates of Gold Eagle Town, where Yang Qing had stopped as well.

Being mindful that Yang Qing might have wanted to trade a few more words with Xia Fang before she left for good, the two escort supervisors, after offering their polite farewells, stepped back to give them some privacy. The fact that they didn’t return to their building made their intentions clear, if the anxious looks on their faces weren’t already an indicator.

Yang Qing sighed when he noticed their expressions. They tried to conceal it with smiles, but worry and anxiety were clearly written across their faces.

"Judge Yang Qing..." Duan Ting hesitantly began, his face worn and a forced smile stretching his lips. "If it’s not too much trouble," he continued before pausing, "about our boss and Jiang Hu..."

"We can talk in your building," Yang Qing suggested, saving Duan Ting and Liu Ying from the tense awkwardness. They were desperate to learn what had happened to Bai Chen and the rest, yet at the same time tried to restrain themselves, mindful not to displease Yang Qing by appearing impatient. After all, he was their only lifeline at the moment in finding those two.

Other than that, they were also afraid. Afraid of the answer Yang Qing might bring back from the search. Though they hoped for the best, more often than not, situations that demanded hope were also the ones rife with reasons not to. And in the world they lived in, those reasons were in abundant supply.

Duan Ting and Liu Ying thanked Yang Qing for his accommodation as they led him back to their building, where they served him their customary jade rabbit jasmine tea. Despite its stellar taste, Yang Qing could hardly enjoy it given the heavy mood.

With a sigh of understanding, Yang Qing didn’t keep them waiting. He shared what he had uncovered in the search for their missing colleagues, though he was careful to keep certain things to himself—like his suspicion that Bai Chen might still be alive. Even though his confidence in that assumption had grown after what he uncovered about the kidnapper, he believed it was premature to share when he wasn’t completely certain.

He still had not seen Bai Chen, and all he had uncovered so far were only ghost footprints of where he might have passed through. Yang Qing believed Bai Chen had likely set foot into the Velvet Orchid in Hebei, given the message from the gorge, but he had no real tangible proof that he made it there, despite the message. All he really had was the sense that the chances were high he was there, and the spirit of the enigmatic painting bore witness to it.

As such, it was better to keep that kind of information to himself, given the fluidity of the situation. The kidnapper might not have been someone who took life lightly, but who was to say the circumstances they needed Bai Chen for were not life-threatening? The fact that they had resorted to kidnapping already showed how desperate the situation was for them to attempt such a thing, and in Yang Qing’s experience, desperate situations almost always equated to dangerous ones. Those two tended to go hand in hand.

And if that was the case, Bai Chen might be alive now, but who could say whether that would remain true in the next second, minute, hour, or day? Even if he was alive, what state of alive was he in, or be in when or if Yang Qing found him?

In his years as a judge, or even just since he joined the Order and stepped into its world, Yang Qing had seen and read things he wished he never had. As such, he knew there were fates far worse than death. The ingenuity the world showed when it came to cruelty never ceased to surprise him, no matter how much of it he learned.

It was safer for the two escort supervisors to hold on to whatever assumptions they had about their colleagues’ mortality than for Yang Qing to tell them they were alive, only for their hopes to come crashing back down into the abyss if he returned with Bai Chen and his disciple in such a sorry state that the two would hardly believe it was them.

Yang Qing had personally seen what human pill survivors and victims of fiendish cultivators looked like, and let’s just say a rotting corpse had more life and beauty compared to those victims.

While he didn’t share his suspicions about Bai Chen’s state, he did share what he had uncovered about the potential kidnapper and his guesses on their temperament. Even then, he kept certain things to himself, such as his suspicion that the kidnapper might be a member of a mythical race. If he mentioned that, he was sure the two escort supervisors would look even worse than they already did.

"That is all I have uncovered. If I find out more, I will share it. In case you have questions or anything that makes you want to reach out, please don’t hesitate. It is not trouble at all," Yang Qing told the two escort supervisors, who nodded their heads.

"I don’t know if it helps in any way, but things are not as bad as they usually are in situations like these," Yang Qing gently continued. "At least there are clues to uncover and threads to follow, and as long as they are there, I will keep following them," he assured.

"Thank you for everything," said Duan Ting as he bowed his head slightly, with Liu Ying mirroring his actions.

Yang Qing smiled comfortingly at the two before nodding, offering his goodbyes and a few parting words, then left for his abode.