Chapter 4004 — A Strange Disappearance

At this point, Shangguan Lan'er lowered her head and looked at her loosened belt, and only then did she finally notice that her clothes were somewhat disheveled. All at once she covered her chest with a bashful expression and said, "Little Junior Brother, you've been a naughty boy. Come on, tell me—what did you do to your senior sister just now?"

"Uh, nothing at all..." Wei Zhao broke out in a sweat. By heaven and earth, he had done absolutely nothing from beginning to end.

Still, the girl really was thick-skinned—her clothes had gotten into such a state, and it had taken her this long to react.

"Really nothing? Then why are my clothes like this?" Shangguan Lan'er swept a suspicious glance around the room, then suddenly blinked and giggled. "Just admit it, Little Junior Brother. Don't worry, your senior sister won't blame you."

Wei Zhao was speechless, and could only tell her the truth. "There really was nothing. Someone else undid your belt—Xu Lingchong. He's also the one who knocked you out just now. He's probably still crouched in the room as we speak."

"That pest?" Shangguan Lan'er's expression changed at once, the playful teasing of a moment ago gone. Her little face turned tense and anxious. "He... what did he do to me?"

"Actually, not much. After he knocked you out, he poured some Immortal Drunk down your throat and undid your belt, but he didn't get any advantage out of it—instead he ended up a eunuch." Wei Zhao chuckled.

"A eunuch?" Shangguan Lan'er was utterly baffled.

Wei Zhao had no choice but to recount the whole affair from start to finish. It was a good while before Shangguan Lan'er came back to her senses, still scarcely able to believe it. "Little Junior Brother, you mean... Little White cut Xu Lingchong's thing off?"

"Mm. To be precise, it snipped it off." Wei Zhao nodded. Seeing that Shangguan Lan'er seemed a little worried, he reassured her, "Don't worry, Senior Sister. Xu Lingchong brought this on himself. He had it coming."

To his surprise, Shangguan Lan'er sprang up in excitement and gave the little curly bear a thumbs-up. "Nice work, Little White! For the next month you absolutely must be rewarded and pampered! I've been wanting to do that for ages—I just never got the chance. Now at last my wish has come true!"

Hearing this, Wei Zhao felt a chill run through his loins. Standing next to this young lady, who was ready to cut a man down at the drop of a hat, he honestly felt a little uneasy.

Xu Lingchong had pined for her all these years, and yet this girl spent every waking moment nursing such dangerous thoughts. Just thinking about it made Wei Zhao shudder on behalf of the esteemed Young Master Xu.

"So where's that pest? Didn't Little White cut him into a eunuch? Hurry up and take me to see!" Shangguan Lan'er was raring to go, her eyes shining as she urged him on.

Wei Zhao broke out in a sweat once again. It seemed he would have to get to know this senior sister of his all over again. Beyond her usual sweet, guileless charm, she apparently had a taste for the gruesome—truly beyond anyone's expectations.

Though he remained deeply wary of Xu Lingchong, he could not withstand Shangguan Lan'er's repeated urging, so Wei Zhao had no choice but to lead her and the little curly bear back to the room. In any case, Xu Lingchong was hardly in any state to fight now; even if he could not beat the man, Wei Zhao reckoned it should not be difficult to stall long enough for Shangguan Lan'er to call for help.

As they entered the room, Wei Zhao's eyelid gave a slight twitch. All his careful precautions had been for nothing—Xu Lingchong had vanished at some point, leaving only the pool of blood in the corner to prove what had happened earlier.

"Where's that pest? Hiding?" Shangguan Lan'er searched the whole room for the newly made eunuch, but could not find him anywhere, and the disappointment on her face was plain to see.

"Maybe..." Wei Zhao's tone carried the same note of elusive doubt.

To suffer such a colossal blow—one that could change the entire course of his life—it would be no surprise for Xu Lingchong to do anything at all in his current state. But to vanish into thin air so silently and without a trace—on reflection, that was a little strange.

Even if Xu Lingchong could not accept reality for the moment, even if he were utterly despondent, once he came to his senses there were only two paths open to him: either give himself up to despair, or swallow his humiliation and bide his time.

But one thing was perfectly clear: whichever path he chose, Xu Lingchong would never let Wei Zhao and Shangguan Lan'er off so easily. He might still harbor some misgivings about dealing with Shangguan Lan'er, but as for Wei Zhao—a newcomer to the Qingyun Pavilion with no background whatsoever—in Xu Lingchong's current, deeply provoked state, there would be no such qualms at all.

Wei Zhao had even considered that, upon seeing the three of them return, Xu Lingchong might well throw caution to the wind and go on a killing spree. Even if he could not kill Shangguan Lan'er, Wei Zhao himself would surely be buried with him.

Yet he had never expected Xu Lingchong to vanish from the room without a sound.

After all, from the moment Wei Zhao had left the room until now, he had been standing at the only staircase entrance the whole time. Whether Xu Lingchong went up or down, as long as he left by normal means, he could not possibly have escaped his notice.

The only explanation was that the man had jumped out the window. But when Wei Zhao glanced outside, the guards above and below were deployed in such tight formation that there was scarcely a blind spot, and at this moment they showed no sign of anything unusual.

With so many guards, they might not dare to monitor the interior of the Huayang Residence, but if anyone broke out through a window, he could never escape their eyes and ears.

Never mind Xu Lingchong in his current wretched state—even at the peak of his great perfection of the Foundation Establishment stage, it would be very hard for him to slip past all these people completely and vanish into thin air.

This outcome left Wei Zhao utterly bewildered. After turning it over and over in his mind, the only explanation he could come up with was that the Huayang Residence might have other hidden compartments and passages that ordinary people simply could not discover.

"Hmph, turns out he's just a coward!" Shangguan Lan'er pouted in disappointment, then brightened again. "But this is good too—that pest has become a eunuch, so he'll never dare pester me again!"

Beside her, the little curly bear, which seemed to have begun returning to normal, obligingly made the snipping gesture again, wearing a ferocious look that said, Whoever dares provoke Shangguan Lan'er, I'll snip him off. Wei Zhao could not help but laugh.

Still, the prized possession of the illustrious Young Master Xu had been ruined by this little creature, and the little curly bear could indeed boast a brilliant battle record. Anyone who underestimated it might well end up like Xu Lingchong.

"Senior Sister, shouldn't you give your grandfather a heads-up about this first? If the other side uses it as a pretext to make trouble, it could get rather messy," Wei Zhao cautioned.