Qiao Huanxuan couldn’t help but ask, "Did he give you some secret manuals like ’Tathagata Divine Palm’ and ’Nine Yang Divine Skill’, saying he wanted to entrust you with the task of maintaining world peace?"

"Don’t interrupt, I’m being serious."

"Alright, alright, continue..." Qiao Huanxuan thought it was all too dramatic and couldn’t help but suspect that Li Yan was pulling her leg again.

"You know, at that age, it’s full of fantasies. Everyone’s read a lot of novels; girls might fantasize about Cinderella putting on the glass slipper, a princess meeting her Prince Charming, or a sparrow turning into a phoenix; while boys’ fantasies are more passionate and miraculous. Some would hope to form brotherhoods and cliques, run rampant across the school and streets, drink, smoke, fight, becoming the leader; others hope for various serendipitous encounters, either being chosen by a martial arts master, finding a cultivation manual while traveling, or gaining supernatural powers from a mishap..."

Qiao Huanxuan was a bit surprised. "You were the most mature among our peers, or relatively mature, and you had such thoughts too?"

"Of course, my so-called maturity back then was just reading more books than others. And among those books, many were all sorts of novels. At that adolescent age, there wasn’t yet the fantasy of having three wives and four concubines, but more of the desire to control everything after encountering a miracle. That’s why I wasn’t panicked and didn’t think of encountering bad guys and stuff. Instead, after witnessing him displaying some abilities, I began to be somewhat tempted by his words."

"So you ran away with him?" Qiao Huanxuan found it a bit unbelievable; it seemed like a troubled student’s trajectory, unexpected for the then exemplary class leader.

"No. What he told me was all mysterious and exciting. Learning that I was the choice they made after considering many people, I was quite proud. But at that age, being slightly more mature than my peers, fantasy is fantasy; when truly faced with such a situation, I was still cautious, and I refused his request," Li Yan recalled the events.

Qiao Huanxuan nodded. "Understandable; just like you said, girls at that age might fantasize about a handsome, powerful, mature, and wealthy Prince Charming as a boyfriend, but if such an ideal person suddenly appeared and wanted to take her away, most people wouldn’t, and wouldn’t dare, to go."

"As a result, I was abducted. I lost consciousness and was forcibly taken away. The note saying I ran away from home was actually forged by them, not written by me."

"You were actually kidnapped!" Qiao Huanxuan could never have guessed that the mystery which had troubled her and her classmates back then was actually this strange truth. "Did your... parents... really not notice?"

"Recognizing someone’s handwriting at a glance, that’s just inaccurate portrayal from novels and TV shows. Even for expert identification, it requires careful comparison of many texts to confirm. And in reality... who often pays attention to the handwriting of those around? One would only have a deep impression if it’s as brilliant as a calligrapher’s or as bad as an elementary student’s. Generally, it’s just simple words often seen, like a leader’s approval ’agreed,’ and then signatures."

Qiao Huanxuan thought it made sense; nowadays, with so many people reading and working, even with everything digitalized, there are times for handwriting, but other than specially practiced signature styles, there’s really no distinct impression of classmates’ or colleagues’ handwriting.

"Back then, with loads of homework and no dedicated practice for handwriting, there was no style; one page could differ from the next. There were no fixed commonly written words or signatures, and since it was at home, leaving a message for parents wouldn’t include signing anything. As long as the writing looked somewhat familiar, the parents wouldn’t suspect or deeply verify the handwriting."

Li Yan felt a bit regretful when talking about this. Certainly, such an incident slightly hurt his parents’ feelings, making them worry. But if it wasn’t for the note about running away, and they knew he was kidnapped, the worry would have been on a whole different level.

"What happened afterwards?" Qiao Huanxuan lightly touched his chest, soothing his slightly accelerated heartbeat. "Was it a martial arts master who took you to become an apprentice?"

Although she noticed Li Yan’s skills were far better than an average person, her instinct told her things weren’t so simple; otherwise, mentioning this wouldn’t trigger such a strong reaction from Li Yan.

"If a martial arts master truly selects apprentices, would they pick high school students? However, when I woke up and reached the place, it indeed marked the beginning of a long and arduous training for me..."

Qiao Huanxuan felt his body slightly trembling; she guessed that young Li Yan must have endured a lot in those years, even experienced inhumane tortures, otherwise he wouldn’t react so strongly after so many years.

...

At this moment, Li Yan had already closed his eyes, and scenes from back then flooded into his mind. At that time, young Li Yan was just an ordinary freshman in high school, still developing, but upon reaching that place, there was no time for him to adjust to the tension of leaving home and fear of unfamiliar environments; instead, he was directly subjected to extremely rigorous and intensive training.

He had never been a soldier, nor attended a martial arts school, so he didn’t know how those places trained people. However, the experience made him think that even soldiers and martial arts schools were not as exhausting as this!

For a long period in the beginning, he could hardly have a bowel movement for days, and when he did, it was very minimal, not due to constipation, but because the food he ate each day was mostly converted into energy to sustain the immense physical exertion; he had no time to think about home, parents, school, or classmates, nor was there any insomnia since every night he would collapse directly into a deep sleep from exhaustion.

From the beginning, his training included not only physical training but also training in assassination techniques! There were no superfluous or inefficient training plans. And he wasn’t alone; there were dozens of other youths around his age undergoing training. They were all brought here in similar ways. During training, those who couldn’t keep up or fell ill didn’t receive rest or care but faced whippings and doubled challenges!

Back then, Li Yan saw with his own eyes a companion who could not keep up physically, exhausted to death!

During the first assessment, dozens of youths were paired into groups of two and locked inside individual houses. The assessment time was set for one hour. After one hour, only one person from each pair could walk out alive! If the time was up and both were dead or both still alive, a pack of starving wolves would be released inside!

That was the first time in Li Yan’s life he faced the most difficult decision. He once thought that choosing a college preference would be the first major decision of his life, but unexpectedly, he was confronted with a choice between killing or being killed!

(Thanks for yesterday’s rewards: dongmin8061, kipagod, Loli is the way, zjun971210, iluboreas, .〇h Godа!ヽ, Ken Lu2010, Cp Pampas, Book Friend 71162410) (To be continued, if you wish to know what happens next, please log onto www.qidian.com for more Chapters, support the author, support legitimate reading!)