When the two pickup trucks from Elder Qin's Family turned onto this small mountain road and saw the Jindai family's convoy, it was too late to back out.
It was on the eve of returning tonight, and no one expected to encounter such complication.
Qing Chen didn't understand why the teacher had to smear ash on his face.
At this moment, as the two convoys met, if the one in front was from the Jindai family, even if they didn't recognize the teacher who had been in seclusion for many years, Jindai Kongyin would definitely recognize him.
Smearing a bit of ash would be of no use.
Uncle Li Dong seemed to see through his thoughts and said in a low voice with a chuckle, "Don't worry, the one who can recognize you has already returned to the north."
Qing Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
In the Outer World, China has 19 cities corresponding to the Inner World, but in fact, the entire Federation has 25 cities, six of which are controlled by the Jindai and Deer Island families, corresponding to six cities in Korea and the Island Country.
However, these two clans had migrated due to tectonic movement, so the Li Family, Chen Clan, and Qing's Family never acknowledged them.
As a result, there were always factions within the three families that supported going to war with firm stances.
In recent decades, pro-war factions within the three families had gained increasing prestige, which led to the Jindai family's initiative to intermarry.
It looked like intermarriage, but in fact, it was offering their daughter in a subservient gesture.
Uncle Li Dong said to Qing Chen, "At first, the Jindai family seemed to be the royal family on an island. Although they no longer had feudal traditions after the migration, there were still several major surnames supporting them, including the Takahashis, the Yamaguchis, and the Inoues. For centuries, these three surnames have always been Jindai's retainers."
Qing Chen asked, "Is the Jindai family large?"
"Their business spreads across all industries," said Uncle Li Dong, "But it's strange, in earlier times, the Jindai family had thousands of members, but now the number has decreased, leaving only a few hundred."
While they talked, Qing Chen caught glimpses of a large tent and flickering campfire in front of the black SUV, suggesting the other party had already set up camp here.
A few men in black suits approached Elder Qin's Family convoy. They wore communicators on their ears, and as they walked, Qing Chen could hear the metallic friction of mechanical limbs beneath their clothes.
Qin Cheng said over the intercom, "Everyone stay in the car and don't move."
It seemed when ordinary people met with conglomerates, the best they could do was stay still and try not to provoke the other side.
Over a dozen men in black suits surrounded the two pickups. One of them noticed the Hunter symbol and serial number on a car and muttered something into his earpiece.
Soon, one of them approached with an amiable smile and asked, "Which one of you is the captain of this Hunter team?"
Qin Cheng raised his hand, "Hello, that would be me."
"It is , our boss would like to invite you all to step out for a gathering to discuss a matter," said the man in the black suit, his tone very friendly and polite.
Uncle Li Dong got out of the car grumbling softly, "It's always this fake politeness."
Qing Chen quietly followed behind him, suddenly feeling that the Jindai family must have offended his teacher in the past.
As they all departed from the pickup trucks, the men in black suits immediately started a comprehensive search of the vehicles. Some even pulled out daggers to slash open the leather seats to check if there were dangerous items inside.
After these thorough checks, Jindai family's bodyguards took out a device from the black SUV and began to scan the gas tanks and tires of the two pickups.
Then, someone with a handheld detector began to methodically scan each person in Qin Cheng's group.
When it was Qin Yiyi's turn, a girl of her age, they even had a female guard to perform a one-on-one body search.
Only after the guards were sure all weapons had been found, did they kindly apologize, "Sorry for the inconvenience, just routine procedure. Please don't take offense. We'll temporarily keep the weapons and firearms, and they will be returned in their original form later. Also, we will compensate for any damaged items at their full value."
Honestly, Qing Chen felt this inspection was quite redundant, considering there was someone in the team capable of shattering others' bones with his bare hands...
At this moment, Qing Chen also experienced what Uncle Li Dong meant by "false courtesy."
Call it courteous, and these people inspected everyone without explanation, even conducting thorough searches and damaging the seats.
But on the other hand, when searching women, they were polite enough to have female bodyguards do it and even promised to compensate for the damages.
Qing Chen had never dealt with such people before, always feeling a strange sense of dislocation.
More than ten people gathered by the bonfire, only to see a middle-aged man in a kimono sitting on a foldable chair, accompanied by a young girl staring blankly into the fire.
Upon closer inspection, there were even tear streaks on her face.
The middle-aged man immediately stood up with a smile to greet the newcomers from Qin Cheng, but the girl remained seated without moving a muscle.
The man's expression turned stern as he said to the girl, "いつまで泣くんだ.お客さんが来ているんだぞ.せめて陳氏のエリートと結婚して欲しかった,神代空音の旦那は慶氏のゴミだ,こんな結果でも喜べ."
It was Japanese again.
They obviously did not want Qin Cheng and the others to understand what they were talking about.
However, at the moment the middle-aged man spoke, Qing Chen noticed his teacher subtly raise an eyebrow.
He asked in a low voice, "Teacher, can you understand what they are saying?"
Uncle Li Dong glanced at him indifferently and said, "You know nothing of your teacher's erudition."
Qing Chen was truly astonished," So, what are they saying?"
After some thought, Uncle Li Dong said, "This old boy is telling the girl to stop crying. He says she married an elite of the Chen Clan while Jindai Kongyin married garbage from Qing's Family. So the girl has nothing to cry about since her life is at least better than Jindai Kongyin's."
Qing Chen was stunned; it turned out the girl was crying over an arranged marriage issue.
Then he heard Uncle Li Dong say emotionlessly, "This old boy called my student trash, shall I kill them all?"
Qing Chen was at a loss for words, wondering to himself if the teacher really understood or if he was just bluffing.
However, Uncle Li Dong sounded so confident that Qing Chen felt the teacher must not be spouting nonsense.
At that moment, the girl also wiped her tears and stood up.
The middle-aged man introduced himself to everyone, "Good afternoon everyone, my name is Jindai Yasuhito. Please take care of me as this is our first meeting."
Qin Cheng, having never seen such a lineup, quickly said, "It's you who are being courteous. We were just passing by."
Jindai Yasuhito asked, "May I inquire where you all are headed?"
Qin Cheng politely replied, "We received a task to look for the Kite Falcon and Golden monkey. Unable to find them in the north, we're trying our luck in the south."
Just then, a man in a black suit from the Jindai family walked over, apparently finished checking their pickup truck. They had confirmed these were just ordinary Hunters with no special identities, hence expendable.
Jindai Yasuhito carefully weighed his words and said, "As our itinerary has changed on short notice, to keep our whereabouts secret, we must regrettably ask you all to stay here forever."
Uncle Li Dong whispered to Qing Chen, "Let me translate for you. What he means is, he wants to die here."
Qing Chen was shocked, "Teacher, that was in Chinese. I can understand it without translation."
And that's not what they mean!
Now, Qing Chen suspected that the previous sentence had been the teacher messing with him too!
Before Uncle Li Dong could say anything else, the sound of engines roaring and loud music came from the mountain road outside.