Тhе аррroaсhing figurеs wеrе running аt a fast pасe, and bу rough estimаtе, thеrе wеrе at leаst five of them. The few whо hаd beеn chаsеd аnd bittеn by thе strаngе сrеaturеs the night beforе еxсhanged glanсes, mentаlly cаlсulаting hоw tо dеаl with five or mоrе pаinlеss, biting mоnsters.
"Сlimb the trееs!" Baуunуe instinсtively shoutеd.
As if struck by suddеn сlаrity, еveryonе grаbbеd the nеаrеst trее аnd scrаmblеd upwаrd.
"Bаng!" A gunshot rаng out, fоllоwеd by есhоing rеverberatiоns.
Everyone frоze, momentаrily unablе to dесide whеther the monsters or the armed individuals were more terrifying.
"Police?" Xiang An guessed.
As they spoke, the group arrived—eight people in total, including foreigners and several East Asian faces, all carrying firearms. Their appearance didn’t resemble police officers. Sure enough, as soon as they approached, they aimed their guns and ordered everyone down from the trees—a far cry from how public security or armed police would treat civilians.
Bayunye was the first to jump down. She scanned the group, silently noting their weapons, feeling a surge of unease. At the same time, she felt a sense of familiarity with one of them, eventually fixing her gaze on a man—Li Haozhang. Though they had never faced off directly, she recognized the scar on his hand from laser tattoo removal. His presence among this group signaled trouble. Judging by his position, Li Haozhang wasn’t the leader of the eight, so she remained silent, observing quietly.
Once everyone had descended, Li Haozhang seemed pleased. He stepped forward and whispered something into the ear of a red-bearded foreigner, who nodded in satisfaction, even offering an approving smile. His gaze settled on Bayunye, and he said, "Good."
The red-bearded man looked familiar. Bayunye thought for a moment before recalling she had seen him last year while tailing Zhang Chenguang to Pearl Peak. This suggested that Red Beard’s meeting with Zhang Chenguang at Pearl Peak wasn’t coincidental—they were likely part of the same group. She craned her neck, scrutinizing the others, but Zhang Chenguang wasn’t among them.
Diao Zhuo stepped in front of Bayunye, evidently recognizing the group as hostile. At the same time, he deduced that, like them, these people hadn’t found Brother Long yet, meaning Brother Long was likely still safe for the time being.
"These are no friends…" Bayunye muttered under her breath, reaching out to pull him aside, but he stood firm as a rock.
"You must also be here looking for someone," Li Haozhang spoke up, emboldened by the presence of his companions. "Heh, I wonder if the person we’re looking for is the same as yours?"
Diao Zhuo ignored him, suddenly turning to glance at the members of the mountaineering association. They stood rigidly, their faces obscured by masks, expressions unreadable.
Seeing Diao Zhuo unwilling to speak, Liu Ming—who usually avoided taking the lead—stepped forward. "We’re from the Rescue Team and volunteers, commissioned by the local public security department to search for a man named Renlong Duoji."
"What a coincidence, we’re volunteers too," Li Haozhang shamelessly claimed.
"Volunteers with guns, how impressive," Bayunye sneered. "And even foreign friends have come to help—truly an international collaboration of goodwill."
"There are many wild beasts in the mountains. We’re just protecting ourselves," Li Haozhang replied with a hollow smile."Are there wild beasts?" Diao Zhuo retorted, then feigned sudden realization. "No wonder you've suffered casualties."
The expressions on those men's faces turned grim. It seemed the two corpses and two strange individuals they had encountered earlier were indeed their companions.
"Let's speak plainly." Red Beard spoke up. Since he could speak Chinese, it meant he frequented China often and had to "follow local customs," though his heavily accented Chinese was particularly awkward. His fierce eyes held a trace of shadow, making him seem difficult to deal with. "Since our goals align, and Miss Ba is close to Renlong Duoji, she must know him well. Why not travel together? That way, we can find him sooner."
Bayunye was furious before he even finished, pointing at him and shouting, "Who's his pillow partner?! You better make yourself clear!"
Her outburst prompted the group to raise their guns and take aim. To avoid misunderstandings and unnecessary chaos at such a time, Li Haozhang raised his hand and said loudly, "Please listen carefully. He said 'close person.'"
"Oh, is that so..." Bayunye regained her composure.
"You'd better not act recklessly. We need you to guide us, but the others are useless to us. Cause trouble once, and we'll kill one person." Li Haozhang stared at Bayunye, pointing at Diao Zhuo. "He'll be the first."
Red Beard was far calmer than Li Haozhang and motioned for him to lower his finger. "Haha, Li, be polite to our partners."
Diao Zhuo gave a mocking smile and let out a "hmph," seemingly unfazed by the threat. "You entered the mountains several days earlier than us, yet you're still wandering around here. What's the matter? Lost too?"
Li Haozhang looked somewhat embarrassed, pursing his lips tightly and glaring at Bayunye. "Enough talk. Lead the way!"
Bayunye took out a compass with a wildly spinning needle and showed it to Red Beard. Perhaps influenced by TV dramas, she adopted a tone reminiscent of Japanese soldiers. "He means, we, like you, are lost, too."
Red Beard narrowed his eyes, clearly not understanding and not believing her. Li Haozhang felt the same. "Whether you're lost or not, you'll still look for him, and in the right direction."
Diao Zhuo's heart gradually calmed. It seemed Brother Long's disappearance was more closely related to this group. He must have gotten hold of something—either an object or a secret—that made Red Beard and the others pursue him relentlessly. He glanced back at the members of the mountaineering association, who still stood there inconspicuously. After some thought, he swallowed the words he had wanted to say to Bayunye earlier to avoid further complications.
He looked at Li Haozhang. "We have as many people as you do. Keeping watch over all of us would be difficult. Since you know I pose the greatest threat to her, why not let me stay and help search while the others wait here? They don't know Renlong Duoji."
Da Qin and the others understood that Diao Zhuo was risking himself to protect them. A mix of sorrow and gratitude welled up in their hearts. Looking at the armed bandits and recalling their past experiences in the Uninhabited Area with Diao Zhuo and Bayunye, they exchanged glances for a few seconds before speaking up one after another:
"We are Beidou Rescue. We have a mission. If we go, we go together."
"Now that everyone is lost, we can't find our way back on our own. Besides, we might encounter venomous snakes or fierce beasts. More people mean more help.""Captain Diao, I, Xiang An, am not leaving! Damn it, even though I'm not good at fighting, I can't just watch Master Ba... Hmph!"
To Da Qin and the others' surprise, the few members of the Mountaineering Association, who seemed least connected to this matter, also refused to wait where they were. Their reason was simple—since they were lost anyway, it was safer to stick together.
One of the criminals, a foreigner wearing exaggerated ear studs, spoke in Portuguese-accented English, "Having so many people on the move is indeed troublesome. Why not keep the useful ones and take care of the rest?" As he spoke, he mimed a sweeping gunfire motion. The remaining criminals—some with dyed blond hair, others with blue streaks, and one wearing an army-green vest—all burst into laughter.
The academically challenged Bayunye couldn't understand, but the Rescue Team members grasped most of it. Diao Zhuo furrowed his brow and switched to English so Red Beard could understand more clearly, "On our way here, we encountered several of your companions, some dead, some injured, all seemingly from accidents. Without confirming their identities, we notified the police and sent specific coordinates. Even if the police arrive, they'll likely conclude it was accidental deaths. But if they find multiple bodies with bullet wounds, the situation will be entirely different. Our country has strict control over firearms and ammunition, and since this is the border of Yunnan, Tibet, and Myanmar, stability is the top priority. An emergency response mechanism would be activated, possibly even treated as a counter-terrorism operation. By then, you won't be surrounded by just a few police officers but by the military—perhaps even special forces."
This statement was somewhat alarmist, but the words "special forces" clearly gave the criminals pause. They glanced at their weapons, whispered among themselves, and seemed to abandon their plan for a massacre.
Red Beard looked at them disdainfully, deliberately thumping his chest twice with a dull "thump-thump," showcasing his burly and robust physique.
"Why are you chasing Brother Long?" Bayunye suddenly asked.
The group fell silent at her question. A few seconds later, a burly man wearing a Camouflage Headscarf sneered and rudely pointed his gun at Bayunye, his gaze lecherous. "Women talk too much! Once we find Renlong Duoji, I'll make you so satisfied you won't be able to speak..."
Blondie, Blue Hair, and the one in the army-green vest nodded in agreement, then flashed lewd smiles. The one with the exaggerated ear studs even made a few thrusting motions with his hips, laughing crudely—a truly unsightly display.
Bayunye glanced sideways at the veins bulging on Diao Zhuo's forehead and neck and couldn't help but smile faintly—he was furious.
The group split into two teams, discussing who to guard, then ordered the Rescue Team and the Mountaineering Association members to line up and walk ahead, forbidding them from chatting with each other. The criminals followed behind, occasionally shouting orders or urging them on, acting like prison guards and putting on an air of authority. Li Haozhang was assigned to guard Bayunye. Having suffered at her hands before, he felt no desire for her and merely taunted, "Master Ba, when you were at the height of your power, did you ever imagine you'd end up like this? Do you regret not being nicer to me back then?"
Bayunye walked casually. "Don't act like a life coach feeding me motivational nonsense. I've endured more hardship than you've eaten meals."Compared to the gun-wielding thugs, Diao Zhuo seemed more focused on the members of the mountaineering association. If his guess was correct, Li Haozhang and the others were merely a diversion—what they were up to was likely the real scheme. In truth, the enemy had an overwhelming advantage in numbers, not to mention the guns. What should he do?
After walking for a long time, Bayunye spotted a mark left by Brother Long on a tree trunk, beneath which was a mark she had carved herself, along with a few scattered beads on the ground. She sighed and stopped.
"Why aren’t we moving?" Li Haozhang asked.
"If we keep going, we’ll just circle around and die here." Bayunye plopped down on a protruding tree root to drink water, pointing at the sky. "It’s raining, so we can’t see the sun’s position. Following Brother Long’s instructions, we’ve ended up back where we started. Haven’t you noticed? We’ve circled this area three times already."
"Are you trying to fool us?" Earring Man only half-understood but was still furious, shouting in a foreign language, "They said you were a soldier, yet you can’t even tell directions!"
Diao Zhuo looked around. This bald fir forest was strange—the trees were spaced evenly apart, and every dozen or so steps, there was a tree identical to the previous one, but the direction of the canopy was reversed. If they tried to determine direction by the density of the foliage, they’d get confused every dozen meters. No matter which way they went, they’d only end up back where they started.
Bayunye pouted like a ruffian. "If you don’t believe me, why don’t you lead the way?"
"Wasting time," Li Haozhang said coldly, toying with his gun. "If you try any more tricks, we won’t be kind to your companions." As he spoke, he kicked Diao Zhuo hard to show his absolute dominance. But before he could retract his foot, Diao Zhuo grabbed his ankle and twisted it to the side. Li Haozhang instinctively tried to push back but was thrown to the ground, one leg bent backward by Diao Zhuo. He could even hear the cracking sound of his own joints straining under the unnatural twist.
When it came to Diao Zhuo’s moves, there was never any finesse—just pure physical strength and brute force. You could hit him, and he’d take it, but he was tough and would retaliate without hesitation, aiming to incapacitate you first.
Several guns were pressed against Diao Zhuo’s head, and everyone was so tense they could barely breathe.
Even Bayunye thought Diao Zhuo’s actions were too risky.
Diao Zhuo released his grip, and Li Haozhang lay on the ground clutching his leg, spasming in pain and sweating profusely.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Liu Ming couldn’t help but advise, "Young man, a true man knows when to yield and when to stand firm. Sometimes, it’s better to endure."
Diao Zhuo glanced at Bayunye, as if there was something unspoken in his gaze.
She nodded slightly, indicating that she understood he was just testing them—when Li Haozhang was attacked, the others had all pointed their guns at Diao Zhuo simultaneously. In reality, if even one of them had shifted their aim, it would have forced him to let go. These people weren’t trained killers, let alone disciplined.
But one person remained completely calm. While Diao Zhuo was dealing with Li Haozhang, he neither drew his gun nor showed anger—truly a formidable opponent: Red Beard.
"Alright, alright, harmony brings wealth. No need to fight over every little thing," she waved her hand dismissively. "Everyone must be hungry. Hunger makes tempers flare. Come on, let’s have some rations and then keep moving."The bandits didn't move, waiting for the Rescue Team and the mountaineering association to take out their provisions, then ordered all food and water to be handed over to them for safekeeping.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief—the bandits had not run out of bullets, but their supplies were already exhausted.
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