Disclaimer: I do not own Hero: 108.
Chapter 3:
When Meiren had seen them off, stating that they would start tomorrow, they had wandered around a bit before dinner. Lin Chung, who all of them had chosen as a temporary leader (Second Squad a tad reluctantly), instructed them to break off in pairs and ask around to see if anything was off, or if there was anything anyone could tell them.
Burly stayed behind in order to take care of the planes. As Mystique Sonia had paired herself up with Rosefinch, Lady Green had paired up with Lin Chung. She shot Jumpy an apologetic look as she didn't know anyone else well enough to go with.
Jumpy had smiled and waved it off, but she could see how much he had wanted to go with Lin Chung. Instead, he paired up with NoHands.
Lin Chung and Lady Green took the three houses nearest to the fields. The first house yielded no results, while the second one merely repeated what Meiren had told them. The third house was more interesting regarding answers.
A young farmer answered the door, and seemed more than delighted to allow the visitors to talk to his great-grandfather. The great-grandfather had merely been a babe when the events had happened, yet his memory was sharp as an elephant, allowing him a clear recollection of the events.
When the old man had first caught sight of the pair, his eyes had lit up. "You came back!"
Lin Chung and Lady Green frowned slightly, confused. They glanced at the farmer, who looked just as confused.
"I told them. All of them. You two would come back." The old man had continued.
The farmer stepped forward. "Great-grandfather, you have never met them before in your life. How about you take your nap now?" He shot the pair an apologetic look, but the old man shrugged off his great-grandson's grip.
"No! I want to talk to them."
Lady Green tilted her head in confusion as she looked at Lin Chung, who moved to kneel in front of the old man. His voice was low and soothing, and the farmer backed off. "And who are we?"
The old man laughed in joy. "Hu Sanniang and Lin Chong!"
Lin Chung bit his lip as he glanced down, but turned back to the old man with a comforting smile. "Of course. How have you been?"
"Fine!" The old man beamed. "Ever since you rescued us from the Raiders. I knew you escaped!"
"Oh?" Lin Chung asked.
The old man nodded eagerly. "You escaped through the tunnels in the cave, right?"
"What tunnels?" Lin Chung asked, looking slightly puzzled.
"The tunnels we found when we went back. You had defeated all of the Raiders!"
Lin Chung shot a quick look at Lady Green, who immediately understood. She smiled, kneeling to join Lin Chung on the ground in front of the old man.
"Yes, we did." She looked out the window. "It's getting dark. I'm afraid we have to go."
"Will you come back?" The old man asked.
"We'll try." Lin Chung replied. The old man seemed satisfied with this answer, leaning back on his rocking chair and dozing off.
After thanking the farmer, both of them left.
"What should we do?" Lady Green asked.
Lin Chung sighed. "We'll try and see if we can go and explore the caves that he told us about tomorrow, after we have seen the boy and his crystal later on."
Lady Green nodded. "Do we mention what the old man said at first?"
The sharpshooter considered it temporarily. "No. We leave it undiscussed first, and see if we can solve it for ourselves before revealing anything."
That night, a shadow arrived and killed off the boy, smashing the crystal and running away with the pieces.
"Let's go!" Lin Chong led Hu Sanniang to the direction of the open field. "They won't have any cover in the fields."
Hu Sanniang nodded, leaping aboard her horse, twin blades at the ready.
Lin Chong's spear was already in his hand as he looked out for the Raiders.
Both rode after the Raiders, who were starting to panic after having lost about half of their numbers to the fighters of Liangshan Marsh.
"We're going to lose them!" Hu Sanniang realised in growing dismay as she saw the forest come up in front of them.
"No, we're not!" Lin Chong contradicted, encouraging his horse to go faster. With impressive accuracy, he threw his spear forward, catching the back-most Raider in the back. The horse slowed without the encouragement of its rider, and Lin Chung caught up with him, collecting his spear quickly and following the rest of the Raiders.
Hu Sanniang mimicked his example, aiming one of her blades towards one of the Raiders carrying two children with him.
He fell, and she rode up to catch him and steady the horse. The children safely tumbled down to the ground.
Cliffs loomed threateningly up ahead as they cleared the forest.
If Hu Sanniang would have known that they were being led into an ambush, she would never have charged so confidently in.