Chapter 223: Chapter 213 Layout
Because of that gust of cold wind, Liang Feng finally couldn’t hold on. After shivering, her consciousness gradually blurred, and if she stayed outside any longer, she would likely be in danger.
Xia Xue had no other options. If that’s the situation, it might be better to let the Poison Dragon Gang catch them, at least they’d be able to save their lives for now. Besides, Xia Xue had heard people from the woodshed leaving; although they hadn’t left the temple grounds yet, judging by their previous behavior, they’d leave here soon.
Liang Feng was already in a semi-conscious state at this moment, with little awareness, so she wasn’t able to sense the impending danger, nor warn Xia Xue.
Additionally, because Liang Feng had little consciousness at this time, she couldn’t consciously move her body. Xia Xue practically dragged her into the cave, making slightly noticeable noises. Of course, if it weren’t for Li Nan and Cheng Fei being experts, who were far more sensitive than ordinary people, relying on the four core members of the Poison Dragon Gang alone, they wouldn’t have noticed anything unusual after checking thrice.
Even Xia Xue wasn’t aware of the noise made from dragging Liang Feng into the woodshed, given the strong wind outside and the rustling of the forest.
However, what Li Nan and Cheng Fei heard was different. Although they couldn’t hear breathing from such a distance, they sensed some movement in the woodshed.
Li Nan and Cheng Fei didn’t immediately alert Xia Xue inside the woodshed, instead signaling the other four core members of the Poison Dragon Gang. After all, when Liang Feng was in the territory of the Poison Dragon Gang, even the Poison Dragon couldn’t intercept her, allowing her to escape with injuries; otherwise, this operation wouldn’t be happening.
Now, Li Nan and Cheng Fei were almost one hundred percent sure that Liang Feng was in the woodshed. Given her skills and the peculiarity of the woodshed, it’s no wonder that these core disciples couldn’t find her. To ensure no mistakes were made, more people were summoned to surround the temple and capture Liang Feng in one fell swoop. Li Nan and Cheng Fei didn’t rush towards the woodshed, but sent a signal to retreat from the temple instead.
At this point, Cheng Fei was baffled and quietly asked, "Why not immediately proceed to kill her? A wounded woman can’t possibly withstand the six of us, right?"
Li Nan didn’t respond, afraid of alerting those inside the woodshed, and hastily gave Cheng Fei a meaningful look, gesturing to discuss once out of the temple.
Although Cheng Fei was somewhat puzzled, Li Nan insisted on his opinion. As the Military Advisor of the Poison Dragon Gang, though he had limited authority over the dozens of guards by the Poison Dragon’s side, he held significant influence over Cheng Fei. Moreover, Li Nan was leading this operation, and although Cheng Fei’s skills in Poison Dragon Gang were second only to the Poison Dragon, he still followed Li Nan’s orders.
The other four core disciples naturally had no idea of the situation happening inside the woodshed, searched around, finding nothing, and returned to the courtyard of the temple, seeing Li Nan and Cheng Fei standing there. The leader disdainfully approached Li Nan, slightly bowing as he said, "Master Li, there’s no one inside we need to find. Do you want us to search again?"
"No need, search elsewhere!" Li Nan said loudly, his voice exceptionally strong, as if conveying something to someone.
Xia Xue inside the woodshed, with her attention on the outside, vaguely heard someone saying to search elsewhere, immediately felt relieved. Liang Feng’s life was temporarily safe, validating her decision. Her phone vibrated at that moment; a message from Xiao Lin arrived. Xia Xue glanced at it, suddenly overjoyed. Xiao Lin had reached halfway up the mountain, and in twenty minutes, he’d arrive at the temple. She quickly replied to his message, instructing him on how to proceed.
"I told you, we’ve checked here three times and found nothing unusual!" another team member muttered.
Li Nan felt frustrated but couldn’t act out at this moment. He secretly cursed: If it weren’t for the hundreds of Poison Dragon Gang elite disciples being involved in investigations due to their criminal records, there wouldn’t be a need for Poison Dragon’s personal guards. As for the Poison Dragon’s personal guards, Li Nan had no authority over them.
Moreover, these people were loyal to the Poison Dragon; even the military advisor Li Nan couldn’t compare. The Poison Dragon’s personal guard originally numbered 108; now, only 48 remained, with none defecting. This showed the importance of the guard to the Poison Dragon. Even someone like Li Nan had no authority over them, nor even the right to badmouth them in front of the Poison Dragon.
Seeing these guard disciples remaining arrogant and domineering, Cheng Fei felt somewhat upset, especially since he also noticed the anomaly in the woodshed. Coldly, he said, "Since nothing was found, let’s head elsewhere!"
Now Cheng Fei had the guts, and his tone inevitably became a bit aggressive, yet these core disciples were quite convinced by Cheng Fei. Since they stopped participating in the gang fights, Cheng Fei rapidly rose, proving his strength with actions, so they didn’t have any resentment towards Cheng Fei and followed him and Li Nan out of the temple courtyard.
Fifty meters outside the temple, they reached a grove, and Li Nan and Cheng Fei simultaneously stopped. The leader of the core disciples asked puzzled, "Master Li, Master Cheng, why aren’t we moving?"
"Move? Move where? Don’t think just because you’re helping as guards, you can avoid completing your mission!" Li Nan’s face changed, and he spoke coldly. With Cheng Fei’s support here, there was no need to fear them anymore, and having discovered traces of the enemy, he spoke louder naturally.
The leader was not having it, taking three steps back while saying coldly, "Li Nan, don’t think because you’re the boss’s favorite now, you can boss us around. I was in the underworld when you were still in diapers!"
"How dare you say that! You’ve been in the underworld for so many years, yet you were played around by a woman and still act all self-important!" Li Nan was enraged, having tolerated this group of guards for a long time, finally finding an opportunity to retort, why not insult back fervently? "Didn’t you say there was no problem inside? Checked three times, right? What did you all check? Came to enjoy the night view? Clearly, the enemy is in the temple, only you bunch of naive fools think there’s no suspicion."
At this moment, Cheng Fei was also a bit irritated and said coldly, "Enough, stop talking, the mission is urgent now. At this critical moment, keep watch here, immediately notify others to come over!"
"Cheng Fei, what do you mean?" The leader was a bit angry, "You mean that woman is in the temple? And if she’s not?"
"I don’t mean anything, should I give the boss a call? I’ll call right now!" Cheng Fei gestured to take out his phone to call, another core disciple of the Poison Dragon Gang stepped forward as the peacemaker. Both new stars, Li Nan and Cheng Fei, were convinced there was suspicion inside the temple and even certain the person they were chasing was inside. Although they were the boss’s bodyguards, if they delayed something important, they couldn’t bear the responsibility.
Moreover, although they were part of the earliest followers of Poison Dragon, now largely retired behind the scenes, when it comes to strength, they were naturally far inferior to Li Nan and Cheng Fei, just had much higher seniority, which was why they didn’t want to listen to Li Nan. But now Cheng Fei was angry and wanted to inform the boss, so naturally, it was unwise to fight hard, especially since they wanted to catch that woman too.
"We’re all for the gang, no need to hurt harmony!"
"Alright, Master Li, stay here with the four of you and keep watch, I’ll go gather manpower, don’t let that woman leave!" Seeing someone step up as the peacemaker, Cheng Fei went with the flow and gave the orders. Although these core disciples were no longer in power, they still had the ability to gossip behind the scenes, so he didn’t want to completely offend them.
After Xiao Lin’s taxi reached halfway up the mountain, the driver stopped, and Xiao Lin asked what was going on. The taxi driver stubbornly refused to say anything, even when Xiao Lin offered double the fare, the driver wouldn’t proceed. Xiao Lin naturally wouldn’t force him, simply got out, then sent a text message and learned that Xia Xue was at the broken temple below the mountaintop.
Fortunately, Xiao Lin had visited a few times before, previously led by Hua Qingyi to the Beishan Pass to enjoy the night view. The night view at North Mountain was said to be unique in Yanjing, but it was heard that tourists had become increasingly rare in recent years due to repeated occurrences of gruesome murder and robbery incidents. The city government had even issued notices advising against nighttime visits to North Mountain.
Regarding this, Xiao Lin knew that perhaps one or two such brutal incidents occurred, but absolutely not so many. The city government issued such information, very likely to protect the primitive forest on North Mountain, preserving a pristine land for Yanjing. Although ordinary citizens rarely visited North Mountain for leisure, those with status occasionally went to admire the night view because safety issues were hardly a problem for them.
Relying on memory, Xiao Lin walked the small mountain path towards the ruined temple at the mountaintop. Along the way, he noticed quite a few people moving about, with five or six within a hundred meters, all seemingly heading towards the same direction.
Xiao Lin hadn’t realized the situation was more serious than he imagined. The number of people on the entire North Mountain likely exceeded a hundred. Xiao Lin pondered for a moment and picked up the phone.
Every time Lin Zhifang answered Xiao Lin’s call, he felt both delighted and uneasy because nothing Xiao Lin dealt with was simple. Just the recent two cases Xiao Lin cracked matched the crime-solving statistics of the headquarters for a year. Thanks to Xiao Lin, the municipal and city governments had fiercely cracked down on a batch of gang organizations. These past few days, Yanjing Police Station was simply overcrowded, even mobilizing elite officers from surrounding counties and cities to assist. Now, there’s no one at headquarters who is relaxed, with thousands of gang members combined, how many cases would there be?
"Director Lin, I’m afraid I have to trouble you again!" Xiao Lin was a bit embarrassed to open his mouth, speaking with a hint of awkwardness in his tone. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian () to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)