Even if we can’t bring her back, with Sixth Hoffman and these thirty brothers here, it’s better than leaving Hannah to fight alone.

"Alright, don’t worry, we’ll make it quick."

Sixth Hoffman was an impatient man. He whistled, calling Seventh back.

Seventh circled in the air for a round before landing steadily on a withered tree nearby,

eyes fixed on the situation in the distance.

"Let’s go."

With a wave of Sixth Hoffman’s hand, the thirty brothers promptly stood up from the ground.

They had barely taken a couple of steps when someone ran out of the camp.

"Wait!"

Sixth Hoffman called the team to a halt.

It was Nicholas.

Having run only a few hundred meters, Nicholas was already struggling, his complexion alarmingly pale, as if he might collapse at any moment.

Tree Star quickly supported him, "Why have you come too?"

Nicholas, gasping for breath, answered unsteadily, "I’m going with them."

Sixth Hoffman came over, "Don’t be such a busybody. I reckon you’ll faint halfway there with the state you’re in."

Tree Star frowned with a stern glance at Sixth Hoffman.

"I’m not wrong, am I?" Sixth Hoffman countered in a whisper.

Tree Star shared the same view but would have put it more tactfully, "Your body is not in good shape. If the boss finds out we let you travel so far, won’t he go berserk on us?"

Berserk was perhaps an overstatement, but a beating was likely.

That’s what Sixth Hoffman was thinking to himself.

It took Nicholas a moment to catch his breath and stand up straight again, "I’m aware of my own condition. It’s not great, but I’m not so weak that I can’t walk a few steps."

"This isn’t about walking just a few steps. The journey there and back will take at least three days and three nights," Sixth Hoffman said.

Nicholas had made up his mind, "I won’t slow you all down. If I really can’t go on, just leave me where I am and continue to retrieve Hannah."

Tree Star disagreed, "Nicholas, saying that really makes you sound like you don’t consider us family."

Sixth Hoffman nodded in agreement.

"We, as a group, value loyalty above all else. Abandoning anything but our brothers is out of the question, right?"

Everyone nodded and agreed.

Tree Star waved his hand to quiet everyone and then asked Nicholas, "Why do you insist on following us?"

"I want to persuade Hannah to come back," Nicholas replied.

The night before, Nicholas had explained to everyone why Hannah had risked crossing the Blackwood Forest.

For Tree Star.

Though it was only a conjecture, if Hannah indeed went for Tree Star, then among them all, Nicholas was the only one who had a chance to convince her.

At least to persuade her not to act rashly.

After much thought, Tree Star finally agreed to let Nicholas accompany them to look for Hannah.

...

Crossing the mist of the Blackwood Forest took a whole week.

The injured Black Jiao in the mist, however, had taken three days.

Four people, three days’ time.

The Black Jiao had been forced to retreat back into its lair.

Arnold Simmons’s wounds were the worst.

One had even pierced through his entire shoulder, with blood flowing nonstop, as if it would never end.

Gregory Lawrence was anxious, pacing around, "What do we do? What do we do? Is he going to make it?"

Gregory Lawrence was looking at the desolate figure.

During the fight, the figure’s black robe had fallen off.

Gregory Lawrence had once speculated in private that the reason why this person always wore a black robe was due to an ugly face or an old age that couldn’t be shown.

But in reality, the figure, too, had a face of superior handsomeness.