I Received Messages From Future Self!
Chapter 367 - Chapter 367 Chapter 363 Searching for Little Luban

Chapter 367: Chapter 363: Searching for Little Luban Chapter 367: Chapter 363: Searching for Little Luban As the sky grew lighter, Fang Xiaocao pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her somewhat groggy head.

She glanced at her subordinates who were ready and pulled out a smile, “Little Luban is one of us, and now she’s missing. We can’t ignore that. I only have one demand for this mission, bring her back alive or, if dead, bring back the body. Let’s go!”

Saying this, Fang Xiaocao was the first to mount a camel and head towards the sand dunes.

Taotie and Drilling Mouse immediately followed on camels to avoid leaving Fang Xiaocao alone.

Liu Yishou stayed behind in the camp with Thousand Faces and Wen Shi, waiting for news.

Fang Xiaocao had made these arrangements after careful consideration.

First, Thousand Faces was wounded and, just like Wen Shi, was a complete novice in battle.

Being with them would be more of a hindrance than a help to the entire team.

If they couldn’t find Little Luban, and then lost those two as well, the loss would outweigh the gain. It was not a worthwhile trade.

Secondly, this arrangement also prevented the possibility of missing Little Luban if she suddenly came back and didn’t know where to find them.

“Drilling Mouse!”

Fang Xiaocao called out to Drilling Mouse as she reined in her camel at the sand dunes.

“Princess Your Highness!”

Drilling Mouse immediately rode his camel over to Fang Xiaocao.

“Use your skills to look around and see if you can find any traces Little Luban left behind,” Fang Xiaocao ordered gravely.

However, Fang Xiaocao didn’t hold out much hope.

This was the desert, surrounded by the Desert Sea.

Even if there were footprints, they would soon be buried by the rolling sands.

Several hours had passed; the chances of finding any traces Little Luban left were very slim.

“Yes!”

Drilling Mouse replied, dismounted the camel, and began to search the surroundings carefully.

Fang Xiaocao, seated on the camel, gazed at the sand dunes in front of her, noting from afar that the dunes didn’t seem high. But as she approached, she realized that they were actually quite tall.

Almost as tall as a small hill.

“Princess Your Highness, I’ve found something!”

Just as Fang Xiaocao was reflecting, Drilling Mouse suddenly shouted loudly.

His shout pulled Fang Xiaocao back from her thoughts, and she looked towards Drilling Mouse.

“Let’s go, take a look!”

Fang Xiaocao called out to Taotie and immediately spurred her camel towards Drilling Mouse.

“What have you found?”

Arriving beside Drilling Mouse, Fang Xiaocao asked in a deep voice.

“Princess Your Highness, look at this.”

“This is Little Luban’s crossbow arrow. There is one here and two more on the sand dune. It seems Su Wanqing indeed ran towards the sand dune, and Little Luban tried to shoot her here with the Repeating Crossbow.”

“The arrows were off target though, never hitting Su Wanqing. Because of the dim light and weather, Little Luban either didn’t collect them or missed these three crossbow arrows when she did. From this, we can confirm that they indeed ran up the sand dune.”

Drilling Mouse shared his conjectures and deductions with Fang Xiaocao.

Listening, Fang Xiaocao kept nodding, finding Drilling Mouse’s reasoning quite logical, “Makes sense!”

“Let’s go!”

“We’ve got to get up that sand dune!”

“Drilling Mouse, you lead the way.”

With a definite direction for the search, Fang Xiaocao decisively continued the mission.

“Yes!”

Drilling Mouse acknowledged, took the reins of his camel from Taotie’s hands, leapt aboard, and advanced towards the top of the sand dune.

Meanwhile, he kept a vigilant watch all around, not wanting to miss any small clue that Little Luban might have left.

The sand dune was really tall, and even on camelback, it took Fang Xiaocao and the others more than half an hour to reach the top.

Unfortunately, along the way, Drilling Mouse didn’t find any more traces belonging to Little Luban.

Of course, they hadn’t found a body either.

This was good news for Fang Xiaocao and the others, as it at least proved that Little Luban was likely safe before climbing to the top of the sand dune.

“Drilling Mouse, keep looking!”

Standing atop the sand dune, Fang Xiaocao commanded Drilling Mouse as she gazed toward their camp.

Drilling Mouse nodded and jumped off the camel,

beginning a thorough search, inch by inch.

When Drilling Mouse brushed aside some loose sand, his pupils suddenly contracted rapidly, “Princess Your Highness, there seems to be blood here!”

A sense of foreboding sank in Fang Xiaocao’s heart, and she immediately dismounted from her camel and hurried over, “Where is it?”

Drilling Mouse pointed at the sandy ground, “Here, this dark red cluster of sand should have been formed by dripped blood, and the amount appears to be quite significant. It’s just impossible to tell whether it’s human or animal blood.”

Fang Xiaocao nodded, “Carry on searching!”

“It would be best if we could find their direction.”

Fang Xiaocao felt that this was unlikely to be an animal’s blood; there was a good chance it was human.

Either Little Luban had injured Su Wanqing, or Su Wanqing had attacked Little Luban at the top of the sand dune and left the bloodstains.

“Princess Your Highness, there are footprints here!”

While circling the bloodstains searching, Drilling Mouse quickly made another discovery.

Fang Xiaocao and Taotie immediately came to have a look, and indeed there was a footprint made of sand and blood preserved on the ground.

Fang Xiaocao frowned slightly, now certain that it must be human blood.

“The tip of the footprint is facing forward and the weight is downward, indicating the person was intending to descend the sand dune.”

Drilling Mouse, without waiting for Fang Xiaocao to ask, made a judgment based on his own experience.

“Follow it!”

Fang Xiaocao said expressionlessly.

“Drilling Mouse, pay attention to any signs along the way. If the injured person is Little Luban, it’s very likely they pursued Su Wanqing down the slope and, due to excessive blood loss, lacked the strength and rolled down, getting buried under the sand,”

Fang Xiaocao sternly advised.

“Yes!”

Drilling Mouse agreed. Instead of riding a camel, he chose to lead the camel down the sand dune.

This made it less likely to miss any traces.

Fang Xiaocao and Taotie followed Drilling Mouse on their camels, step by step.

The pace was slower since they were walking and because Drilling Mouse had to inspect any suspicious marks along the way.

By the time the three of them followed the direction of the footprint’s tips and descended the sand dune, an hour had passed.

Along the way, Drilling Mouse found several more blood-stained footprints, all with the tips pointing downward.

This confirmed Drilling Mouse’s judgment.

The person had indeed descended the sand dune all the way.

“There’s a body here!”

Just then, Drilling Mouse shouted.

A pang shot through Fang Xiaocao’s heart as she hurried over, and in front of Drilling Mouse in the sandy ground, a human arm was exposed, revealing there was indeed someone buried below the sand, alive or dead unknown.

“Dig it out and see who it is!”

Fang Xiaocao ordered.

Drilling Mouse and Taotie immediately set to work.

Quickly, they unearthed a blood-covered body from the sand.

However, this body was a man’s.

It wasn’t Little Luban or Su Wanqing as Fang Xiaocao had anticipated.

“A man’s body?”

Fang Xiaocao’s brows furrowed.

The only woman who had escaped the camp last night was Su Wanqing, and Thousand Faces had made it clear that besides Su Wanqing, nobody else had run away from his camp.