Chapter 323: The Adventures of Zaizai the Dragon
She maintained her angry expression, while Tongtong looked on helplessly.
The young couple was busy talking, not noticing the two of them in the slightest.
Even if they did see them, they would have just assumed they were the children of the couple behind them.
A bystander sounded a little disappointed. "Ah, so it’s not them. I thought I could go collect some of that bounty."
The inspection was strict, so the line moved slowly. As their turn approached, Fuzai and Tongtong both grew a little nervous, gripping each other’s hands tightly.
"Don’t be scared, don’t be scared," Fuzai whispered. "Sister, if worse comes to worst, we’ll just force our way out."
Her Beast Father had left some of his spiritual power on her, which could protect her in a crisis.
Tongtong nodded, her palms slick with nervous sweat.
Fortunately, the bystander had been exaggerating. The security was only slightly stricter than usual, and when the squad leader wasn’t on patrol, the guards would slack off.
When it was their turn, the guard didn’t even look as he gestured for the young couple to walk through. Tongtong pointed at the couple, indicating that they were all together.
The guard waved his hand lazily, signaling for them to hurry along. It wasn’t like finding the missing children would get him any reward money. Whoever wanted to bother with it could; he certainly wasn’t going to waste his energy.
They passed through without a hitch. The two girls suppressed their joy and followed closely behind the young couple.
’Just a little farther and we’ll be safe!’
"Young Master Tian Fu, what brings you here?"
The Guard Captain in charge of the city gate saw Tian Fu from a distance and hurried over to greet him.
Tian Fu scanned the people coming in and out. "I came to see if those two missing children have been found yet."
The previous night, a man trained by the Tian Family, whose job was to go out and kidnap children, had shown up at their door covered in blood. He said he had abducted two children with extremely high potential, but his partner had gone mad for some reason and tried to hack him to death with a wood axe while he was drunk.
The two children had used the opportunity to escape. The man had been drinking, but he was stronger than the woman and had managed to kill her instead.
The Tian Family immediately sent people to search for the two children. Letting them get away would have been a small matter, but the man said one look at the two children was enough to tell they hadn’t been raised by an ordinary family.
Based on their bearing and the way they were dressed, they had to be young ladies from at least a mid-tier family.
That was why the Tian Family was taking this so seriously, posting men at all four city gates.
Tian Fu was the most concerned of all, and since he had nothing better to do at the Tian Family estate, he decided to come take a look at the city gate.
"Go stand guard over there. If you spot them, point them out to the guards at once."
The man’s arm was wrapped in thick bandages. Upon hearing the order, he quickly limped over.
In truth, he had exaggerated his story. He believed the woman had a drastic change of heart because seeing Fuzai and Tongtong reminded her of the child she once had.
Not only had he lost money on this trip, but it had also caused his partner, with whom he’d worked so well, to turn on him. The man was absolutely furious.
After a physician bandaged his wounds, he learned that Tian Fu was heading to the city gate and volunteered to go along.
By the time Tian Fu and the man arrived, Fuzai and Tongtong had already passed through the city gate. The man could stare until his eyes fell out and he still wouldn’t find them.
Just as they had finally put some distance between themselves and the city gate, several prisoner carts came rolling toward them.
On one of the carriages sat a man and a woman. Fuzai caught a glimpse of them and froze.
’That man... he looks so much like Beast Father Mo Yan!’
The prisoner carts stopped at the city gate. The man in the lead saw Tian Fu and said respectfully, "Young Master Tian Fu, the fugitives Shen Zi and Mo Feng have been captured. They had accomplices, so your subordinate brought them all back as well."
Tian Fu praised him. "Excellent. Lock them up. I’ll deal with them later."
Finished, he turned to the two prisoners. "You’re the first to ever escape from my grasp. But it doesn’t matter. Here we are, meeting again."
Shen Zi rolled her eyes, and Mo Feng snorted coldly. Neither of them paid him any mind.
Tian Fu didn’t get angry. He just waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to take them into the city.
Fuzai hid behind a tree, her big eyes wide as saucers.
’Hearing those two names, I know who they are!’
’They’re Beast Father Mo Yan’s Female Mother and Beast Father! They’ve been captured by the Tian Family!’
Fuzai had never met Tian Fu, but from Ao Wu’s constant nagging, she knew that no one with the surname Tian was a good person.
She was very worried something would happen to Grandma Shen and Grandpa Mo. They looked completely powerless to resist.
Tongtong didn’t understand why Fuzai had stopped. "Fuzai?"
Fuzai snapped back to her senses and said gravely, "Sister Tongtong, I have to go back. Those two people are my grandmother and grandfather. I have to go save them."
"You can’t!"
Tongtong said disapprovingly, "It’s too dangerous. You’re just a child."
"How about this? Let’s go find my family first, near where I was abducted. Then we can go rescue your grandmother and grandfather."
Fuzai shook her head. "No. If the bad guys decide to kill them, they’ll be dead."
"Don’t worry, Sister. I can shrink down, become as small as an earthworm. No one will be able to find me."
"But..."
Fuzai waved her little hand. "It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m going back now. You be safe on your way, Sister."
She tore a small piece of cloth from her clothes, poured half of her sugar pills onto it for Tongtong, and then the two said their goodbyes.
To get back into the city, she didn’t use the gate. Instead, she circled the city walls until she found a small gap.
Fuzai shifted into her beast form and squeezed through. She didn’t change back, continuing toward the Tian Family’s estate in her beast form.
She deliberately found a mud puddle to roll in, coating her brilliant golden body in a layer of gray. Hugging the base of the walls as she walked, she wasn’t the least bit conspicuous.
’Where is the Tian Family’s estate?’
After walking for a while, Fuzai belatedly realized, ’Hey, I don’t know the way!’
After moping for a moment, she decided to head toward the most prosperous part of Tianhuan City to have a look.
Luckily, her hunch was right. She just had to walk toward the most magnificent area, and she soon spotted a residence with the two large words "Tian Mansion" written above the entrance.
Fuzai wasn’t an illiterate dragon; she could recognize many characters. She did the same thing as before, finding a crack in the Tian Mansion’s wall and squeezing through.
But...
The Tian Family estate was enormous. For a single young dragon to enter it was like tossing a sesame seed into the ocean.
Fuzai was completely lost, with no idea where to even start looking for them.
Just as she steeled her resolve to pick a random direction and start searching, a magnified human face appeared right in front of her.
"Is this an earthworm? Why does it have claws?"
Startled by the man before her, Fuzai was about to flee when he snatched her up.
Tian Pingyue brought her closer for a look. ’This isn’t an earthworm at all,’ he realized. ’It’s clearly a tiny dragon!’
He had seen a dragon before, but that was a very, very long time ago.
The Heaven and Earth Stone was guarded by a Golden Dragon and a Phoenix. Of the two, the Little Phoenix had once raised hell at the Tian Family estate, burning down their ancestral hall. As punishment, the Heaven and Earth Stone had sent it away to gain experience.
That Golden Dragon, who seemed to be the Phoenix’s partner, had returned many days later to cause another disturbance at the Tian Family estate.
That was the first time Tian Pingyue had ever seen a dragon. And the last... ’No, wait, isn’t there one right here in front of me?’
The little golden dragon seemed terrified and didn’t dare to move a muscle. Tian Pingyue did his best to put on a kind expression.
"Don’t be afraid," he said, taking out a handkerchief to wipe the mud from Fuzai’s body. "I’m not going to hurt you."
Fuzai sensed the goodwill radiating from him and relaxed slightly.
Tian Pingyue seemed to notice her change in demeanor and smiled. "Little one, are you lost? Where’s your home? I can take you back."