Wei Ying opened his eyes and screamed. The sound was a quite natural reaction to what he saw, which was a mangled face with a broken, misshaped nose and a black patch covering one eye at an angle, looming over him.

"Step away from him." A cold serious voice said behind them.

The man stood up and moved back, laughing. It was a sinister sound, not the usual one of mirth but something else.

Wei Ying was struggling to get his heart beating slower, but Lan Zhan+Bichen made him feel much better.

"Are you alright?" He said next to his ear, taking Wei Ying into his arms.

"I am now." He replied into his neck.

"I hope you don't mind, but I moved the Young Master here," he gestured with both hands open, "to the furnace room."

Wei Ying was extremely uncomfortable that someone else, a stranger had touched him.

"If you touch him again, you will lose those hands." Lan Zhan told him clearly, feeling the same way.

"I mean you no harm." He laughed again, the same rasping cackle. "If I wanted to kill you, I could have done it at any time."

"Why are we here? I mean here, here?" Wei Ying whispered, not wanting the stranger to hear.

"You don't remember?" Lan Zhan looked at him, concerned.

"Um, no?"

"You passed out because of a high fever, just outside this town."

"Oh. But why are we here?"

"He's the only person living in this town." Lan Zhan looked distastefully at the stranger.

He smiled back, a curl of the lip, undaunted.

"The only one? Are you sure? Did you check properly?"

Lan Zhan smiled back at him. "We can leave as soon as you can walk."

"I love you."

The stranger shoved a bowl of a questionable liquid towards him, intercepted by Lan Zhan.

"What is this?" He asked suspiciously.

"It's just a soup. Try it." He brought them another bowl.

They watched him pile more bowls onto a tray and take them into the adjacent room.

"Wait." Lan Zhan told Wei Ying as he was about to take a sip. He tried it first and they waited.

When nothing happened after five minutes, Lan Zhan let him drink.

It was curiously tasteless, Wei Ying thought, but politely refrained from voicing it.

"He's a bit creepy." He whispered.

"Mn. I do not trust him."

"Me neither. But he has helped us." Then another thought occurred. "Lan Zhan? How long have I been asleep?"

"Two days."

Wei Ying lay back down and studied the room. Various weapons and tools hung from the ceiling on chains, long enough for them to touch the stranger if he moved. A huge furnace shooting out sparks was the focal point in this place, the work station centered around it.

"If there's nobody else living here, who's he making all this for?" Wei Ying wondered out loud.

"My customers come from all over. Everyone knows my name." The stranger had materialized out of nowhere.

Wei Ying was definitely going to be more careful.

"What is your name?" He asked.

"I don't remember, but I am called Blacksmith."

"Easy to remember." Wei Ying replied, amicably. After his initial shock at the blacksmith's appearance, he could look at him a little easier.

"May I ask another question?"

"Go ahead."

"How is it that no one else lives here?"

"It was a mining town. People stopped mining, and then they left." He shrugged and got back to work.

Wei Ying raised a brow at Lan Zhan. "Do you believe him?" He mouthed.

Lan Zhan shook his head slightly.

The man began banging on a piece of metal methodically, each hit of his hammer resonating in time with every beat of his heart.

"How are the others?"

"Same. Worried about Wei Ying."

Wei Ying moved the cover off his body and stood up, testing his strength. Lan Zhan helped him to the other room where some of them were awake.

Jiang Cheng marched up to him and gave him a bear hug. "You scared me." Then he lightly punched his shoulder.

There was a bucket of water which he used to clean his face.

"What do you think of our friend?" He jerked his head towards the noise outside.

"Weird. Not in a good way."

"Hmn."

"How are you feeling?" Jiang Cheng held his palm to Wei Ying's forehead.

"Much better actually. I think we can leave tomorrow."

"Weren't we supposed to find out more about this town?" Jiang Cheng said, irritatedly.

"Do you suppose he knows anything?" Wei Ying sat down, scratching his arm.

Lan Zhan pulled out a packet that Wei Ying recognised from Cloud Recesses. He mixed up the medicine and made him drink it.

"That's disgusting, you know." He wrinkled his face.

"Mn. Good for Wei Ying."

******

Time passed slowly for all of them. It was still raining outside so they were stuck indoors.

Wei Ying tried to move his bedding with the others but he was stopped by a growl. Lan Zhan promised to sleep with him, and that made it better. The furnace room was much warmer, in this, the blacksmith was correct.

Some time in the night, he woke and was disconcerted to find the stranger staring intently at him.

Wei Ying stared back, unsure what to say.

"You have something that doesn't belong to you." The blacksmith came towards him.