Chapter 339: Chapter 339

Who Xiaoyao's parents were couldn't be confirmed; whether they would come back, Xiaoyao couldn't be certain; whether they could, Xiaoyao still couldn't be certain; what they would do in the end was also unknown.

These were all unknown matters, while keeping Xiaoyao imprisoned could stabilize his own position—this was very certain. Therefore, his choice was undoubtedly quite clear.

"Let's go." Xiaoyao said to Hei Xue beside him.

"What? Go where?" Hei Xue asked puzzledly. Did she have any choice at this moment?

"Aren't they going to place us under house arrest? Let's choose a good place. This stronghold's environment isn't bad." Xiaoyao turned and walked inside, regardless of anything else, directly pulling Hei Xue along.

Hei Xue was stunned, looking at Xiaoyao, letting him hold her hand without struggling or thinking of struggling. She would be his wife—holding hands was just normal.

However, why was her heartbeat accelerating?

Hei Xue stared blankly at Xiaoyao...

"Stop. When did I say you could choose the place? Now this location is exposed—how could I possibly let you stay here?" Fan Gao called out to stop Xiaoyao. With his analytical and judgment abilities, he would never put Xiaoyao in this place.

He could receive news and come here for Xiaoyao, so others could do the same. Even if no one came, if Xiaoyao kept not appearing, people would come to investigate here, seeking clues about Xiaoyao.

People would naturally start from the last place he appeared, and obviously, this was it.

"Then where do you plan to take me?" Xiaoyao stopped and asked Fan Gao.

"This isn't..." When Fan Gao was preparing to say something, he found he couldn't continue, because at this moment Xiaoyao directly pulled Hei Xue and ran frantically toward the interior.

Damn, this guy... Usually in such situations, one should wait for me to finish speaking. What's the meaning of asking and then running?.

However, Fan Gao wasn't very anxious to chase them. His lack of urgency wasn't because he had lost his audience, but because he wasn't worried about arranging the pursuit.

Because he had already made preparations. If he couldn't even think of the possibility that they would try to escape and hadn't made preparations, then he might as well not be a leader.

At this moment, all the regular and irregular exits of this stronghold were blocked, and there were quite a few of Fan Gao's people in the stronghold. Those who had gone to handle the aftermath inside weren't just staying inside.

To deal with Xiaoyao and Hei Xue, even with half the people missing, they could easily capture them.

One Xiaoyao wasn't worth fearing. According to their intelligence, Xiaoyao was just an early General Level martial artist. Plus...

"Xiaoyao, don't run anymore. This place is full of his people. This stronghold has been guarded by him for a long time. When you came, he already knew and has been making preparations. He's a very cautious person," Hei Xue said after a long while, having been in a daze just now.

Her knowing about Fan Gao's arrangements was easy to understand—Fan Gao hadn't avoided her when making arrangements because there was no need.

"I know we can't escape, but we won't be caught." Xiaoyao said with a smile. This statement seemed very contradictory—if you can't escape, you should be caught. So why couldn't they escape yet wouldn't be caught?

Hei Xue didn't understand this. Even if she were very clever, she still wouldn't know what others were thinking and wouldn't know what this contradictory statement meant.

"What do you mean?" Hei Xue originally wanted to wait for Xiaoyao's answer, but Xiaoyao had no time to deal with her, just pulling her through the stronghold's buildings. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel·fıre·net

What Hei Xue found strange was that they hadn't encountered anyone along the way. This was somewhat abnormal—with Fan Gao's arrangements, how could he not have people guarding inside the stronghold?

There was only one answer—Xiaoyao had avoided them.

How did he avoid them? Hei Xue didn't know but really wanted to know. She vaguely speculated about some things because she noticed the route Xiaoyao was taking seemed very abnormal.

When there was clearly a straight path to reach their destination, he insisted on taking a detour. If this were to avoid people by deliberately taking a roundabout route due to nearby buildings, Hei Xue could understand. But sometimes there were no buildings nearby, no obstacles at all—just empty ground—and he would still make a turn.

If this were normal times, perhaps she could think Xiaoyao was playing around. But what time was it now? If he were playing around, he wasn't taking the current situation seriously at all.

So this had to be purposeful, but what was this purpose? This required asking Xiaoyao himself, because Hei Xue knew she couldn't figure it out. Perhaps she could think of some possibilities, but couldn't be certain. The final answer still had to wait for Xiaoyao to explain.

Xiaoyao walked while answering, "I've also figured out this stronghold these past few days. This stronghold is very interesting—you'll understand later."

"Oh," Hei Xue responded. Although she wanted to know, with Xiaoyao saying this, she could only wait quietly first. This was a behavioral standard she had derived from some rules about wives—respect your husband, don't talk too much.

Even without this perspective, in fact, if encountering such a situation, even if it were other people, she could only wait quietly first, because Xiaoyao had told her to continue watching and she would understand.

Continuing along this winding path, weaving through the stronghold's irregular buildings, after a long time, Xiaoyao stopped and also released Hei Xue's hand. This seemed to make Hei Xue feel more natural. Previously she had just been compliant, but was somewhat uncomfortable, though only a little, it still existed.

"Here?" Hei Xue looked at the building ahead—a very antique building, and that somewhat elegant courtyard. Very dilapidated, but very tidy.

Hei Xue was somewhat puzzled. How could such a place exist in a bandit stronghold? It felt out of place. However, thinking about it, this bandit den seemed quite special too, as if it had a deep cultural atmosphere.

Why "as if"? This was because you could only see these atmospheres from some places, not the whole. This gave people the feeling of a cultural relic that had been damaged and rebuilt.

That's right, this feeling. This place probably wasn't originally a stronghold, just chosen by this group of bandits and then transformed into its current appearance. No wonder—earlier she had wondered how these bandits could be so elegant. This stronghold was a bit unlike a bandit den, more like a scenic spot.

This should be the reason. Even if bandits had transformed and rebuilt this place, they still couldn't conceal its previous foundation. This could prove this place wasn't simple originally—it might have been a reclusive dwelling of worldly experts.

Some worldly experts liked to live in seclusion in such places, especially in countries like the Eastern European Kingdom. This was very common in continental history, with many precedents—not strange at all.

"This place didn't originally belong to a bandit den, right?" After seeing Xiaoyao nod in response to her, Hei Xue didn't ask anything more, just continued asking.

"That's right. This place was originally the secluded dwelling of an expert skilled in architecture. Everything here came from his handiwork," Xiaoyao nodded and answered. What this expert was called, he was too lazy to mention, because although this expert might have been very famous in his era, his weight in history wasn't very significant. Like many experts, he had been forgotten by history.

Such people were countless. Xiaoyao believed Hei Xue also wouldn't waste time understanding these people already forgotten by history. Therefore, even if he told her, she wouldn't know.

"Oh, so that's how it is. Then what are we doing here?" Hei Xue perhaps understood Xiaoyao's meaning, or perhaps she simply didn't care about such characters. She straightforwardly didn't pursue the question. What she cared about was only what she would do next.

"Wait." Xiaoyao replied with one simple and clear word.

"Wait for what?" Hei Xue didn't understand—how could she understand?

"Come with me, I'll show you something," Xiaoyao smiled, entering the building first, while Hei Xue naturally followed behind him.

At this moment, besides following Xiaoyao, what else could Hei Xue do? They were now surrounded by enemies, and she had been caught at a weak point. If she went out, she would definitely be captured, while following Xiaoyao at least still had a chance to escape.

Moreover, marry a chicken and follow the chicken—according to her considered behavioral standards, at times , she should follow him.

Most importantly, if she wanted to know the answer, she definitely had to follow Xiaoyao. Only this way would she have a chance to understand what exactly Xiaoyao wanted to do, what was up with this building, and what secrets this stronghold held.

Soon, Hei Xue understood a bit, but gained even more questions—

"Look over there..." Xiaoyao brought Hei Xue to the balcony upstairs, indicating for her to come closer and look outside.

"Look at what? They... quick, hide, or we'll be discovered," Hei Xue said when she approached the balcony and looked at the situation outside. She discovered there were quite a few people nearby who should have appeared—those people waiting for Xiaoyao and her in the stronghold.

These were left by Fan Gao to guard this place. They were watching every location here. Under normal circumstances, both Xiaoyao and her would have no escape, but the current situation was very strange—previously, Xiaoyao and she had never encountered these people.

Previously she might have had an illusion that Xiaoyao had led her away from where these people were guarding, but now it seemed this was obviously wrong. She and he had always been among those people, but for some unknown reason, they surprisingly hadn't encountered them.