Shen Feng followed the motorcycle in the darkness, only to find that it quickly entered the mountains and traveled at a high speed. After three hours and over a hundred kilometers, they dismounted and walked into a mountainous area. Looking around, he saw scorched marks everywhere.
Shen Feng recalled carefully and finally remembered. This was the place where he had fought with mutated beasts, causing a large fire. Yue Hengyi had almost been burned to death at that time. Fortunately, he was rescued later, but more than half of his skin was burned, which severely weakened his immunity.
"Why did we come here? Could the two children be hidden here?" Shen Feng thought to himself.
Shen Feng couldn't figure it out at all. Even if they wanted to find a foolproof hiding place, they should have chosen a place with supplies. Hiding in the mountains was too unsafe, and mutated beasts often appeared there. If they encountered danger, who would they turn to?
Thinking of this, Shen Feng followed to investigate.
However, at this moment, Shen Feng suddenly realized that the further he walked, the more familiar the surrounding roads became. He must have been here before.
Finally, upon seeing the small mountain in the distance, Shen Feng finally remembered. A man stood on the mountaintop, holding a gong to keep watch, looking around. The man was wearing a mask, and a large barrel was placed beside him.
Seeing this scene, Shen Feng immediately recalled the golden snub-nosed monkeys that used hypnotic pollen as a weapon. The golden snub-nosed monkeys at that time also stood on the mountaintop to report, and could counterattack with pollen at critical moments. And the place where these golden snub-nosed monkeys lived was a cave!
"They're hidden in a cave. I didn't expect that. It must have been a suggestion from someone on our side, otherwise, how would outsiders know about this place?" Shen Feng thought to himself.
Not many people knew about the hypnotic cypress forest, and many of them were forbidden from entering. After all, the pollen of the cypress could be directly used as a hypnotic agent. If the things here fell into the hands of bad people, they would definitely cause harm. Therefore, not many people knew about this place, and even fewer knew the location of the cave!
Therefore, upon seeing this, Shen Feng immediately guessed that someone from the Yuzhou City Lord's Mansion must be a traitor, otherwise, the matters in the southern mountains of Yuzhou would not have been easily known.
After a large fire, the surrounding forests were all burned. Although a spring and summer had passed, many plants had grown on the ground, but most of them were shrubs and herbaceous plants, which could not conceal their figures at all. It was not easy for Shen Feng to approach the small mountain, unless the sentry on the mountain was blind.
Shen Feng considered carefully and immediately headed towards the cypress forest. He knew the secret passage. The cave was connected in all directions, and one of the passages led to the cave.
Seeing the cypress forest from a distance, under the moonlight, the forest was still misty, and nothing could be seen clearly. Shen Feng activated the "Wind King Barrier" and walked directly into it. Relying on his memory, he arrived at the foot of the mountain. Then, he climbed up along the mountainside and finally found another passage to the cave. There was no one on guard here. They probably thought it was a dead end, so they didn't take any precautions.
Shen Feng entered directly and moved forward slowly, feeling his way. After half an hour, he finally reached the bottom of the cave. From a distance, he saw the firelight in the large cave, so he quickly moved forward, hiding behind a stalagmite, and carefully observed the situation in the cave.
He found that a fire was burning in the cave, with smoke swirling. There were also many dry firewood and water dripping slowly from the top of the stalagmite, making a rhythmic "drip, drip" sound. The cave was indeed very hidden, but there was also a problem, which was that the smoke could not be expelled.
There were about ten people in the cave. One young man was tending the fire, sitting by the fire and lost in thought, while the others were sleeping nearby, wrapped in quilts. Their weapons were used as pillows behind their heads, so they could react immediately if a battle broke out.
Shen Feng's gaze searched the cave and finally found a cradle in a corner. Two children were sleeping in the cradle. One child was older, which was Du Xinshi's child, Xiao Long. The other child was slightly thinner and looked smaller. This was Shen Feng's own flesh and blood, whose nickname was Xiao Hu. It was likely named after Xiao Long, but his full name had not yet been decided.
Seeing the two children, Shen Feng finally felt relieved. The children had finally been found. As long as the children were rescued, he could proceed without any scruples.
However, at this moment, the light of a flashlight appeared in the passage in the distance. The woman who had reported the news slowly walked out, complaining as she walked, "This place is really hard to walk. I keep hitting my head!"
The man by the fire heard this and turned his head to ask, "Isn't this the cave personally recommended by Miss Yin? Why are you still complaining?"
"How are those two little brats? Are they okay?" the woman asked first.
As she spoke, the woman took off her sunglasses and mask. It was inconvenient to move around in the dim light of the cave with sunglasses on. Moreover, the air at the bottom of the cave was turbid, and it was inconvenient to breathe with a mask on, so she had to take off the mask as well.
Shen Feng, hiding in the dark, saw clearly. He saw the woman's true face, which was Yin Li. This woman was one of Chang Jianyi's most trusted women. She and Zhang Xiaoqiang were the first to defect to Chang Jianyi. Chang Jianyi did not treat them unfairly; he made them evolvers early on and entrusted them with important matters. And now, she had actually betrayed them.
Shen Feng also recalled how easily Yin Li had gone out of and into Yuzhou City before. Now, everything made sense. Only someone of Yin Li's status would be obeyed by those below, and even when leaving the city, the soldiers dared not question her.
"Another traitor, how detestable!" Shen Feng gritted his teeth. He hated traitors the most. Compared to bullets from the front, it was often the knives from behind that were harder to dodge!
At this time, the man in the cave spoke, "These two boys are fine. They ate and slept, and there are no problems. Why did you come here at the risk of exposure?"
Yin Li said calmly, "Prepare to transfer the hiding place. We can't hide here anymore. Anyway, there's only a little more than a day left. It will be safer after the transfer!"
The man frowned and thought, "Moving rashly might attract attention. Besides, hiding in the mountains means living in caves. What if we encounter mercenaries hunting in the mountains? Wouldn't that be a big problem?"
"This is not my order. Su Liuying sent me. He said to transfer, so he must have his reasons. You can choose not to obey, but that would be violating Mr. Su's order!" Yin Li said lightly.
The man thought for a moment and could only say helplessly, "Okay, let's transfer. Let's consider it as feeding the mosquitoes in the mountains!"
Next, the man looked at the mercenaries who were sleeping around. Some had woken up, while more had turned over and continued to sleep.
"Everyone get up, get up, prepare to transfer, hurry up!" the man shouted.
"I say, Lord Muxiang, can you not be so harsh? We patrolled the mountains all day, and finally got some sleep at night, and you're still making a fuss. This is not moral!" a mercenary couldn't help but complain.
This Muxiang was naturally the name of a medicinal herb, and this name was likely not his real name, but he was called this for convenience.
Muxiang sneered, "Stop talking nonsense. You took so much deposit from us before and said you would work diligently. You also said you would go through fire and water to complete the mission. Now you're complaining. Be careful I don't give you the subsequent payment!"
When faced with the unreasonable demands of the client, what else could the contractor do? At this time, they had no choice but to obediently meet the client's demands. They would only receive their commission after the mission was completed.
Therefore, the mercenaries could only get up, muttering, "It's only for the sake of Mr. Kong Fang, otherwise, who would listen to anyone's command!"
The mercenaries began to pack their belongings, while Yin Li looked at her watch. It was almost dawn, and she had to return to Yuzhou as soon as possible, so she prepared to leave.
However, at this moment, a black shadow emerged from the darkness. In a flash of lightning, a dark long sword pierced through Yin Li's chest from behind. At the same time, the shadow moved to the side of the cradle and reached out to pick up the two children.
"There's an enemy, be careful!" Muxiang reacted first, not expecting an enemy to appear at this time. It seemed their location had indeed been exposed.
The mercenaries quickly grabbed their weapons, most of them holding rifles and started shooting. "Da da..." Bullets flew out, aimed at the black shadow in the corner and fired continuously.
However, Shen Feng had activated the "Wind King Barrier," blocking many bullets. He then unleashed "Furious Wind," and gusts of wind blades flew out. Instantly, the cave was filled with blood. Some mercenaries wore bulletproof vests with a five-millimeter steel plate inside, which could resist rifle bullets for a while. However, even though they had bulletproof vests, there were always exposed parts of their bodies.
Thousands of wind blades crisscrossed the cave, making them impossible to defend against. The wind blades in front were blocked, and then wind blades from the sides shot over. More than a dozen mercenaries were immediately shot into sieves by the wind blades.
The mercenaries could not block Shen Feng's wind blades, but Muxiang could still use his abilities. He instantly waved his arm and summoned a stone wall to envelop himself. The wind blades hit the stone wall, making "ding ding dang dang" sounds, and flying gravel continuously. For a moment, he was unharmed.
"This guy is quite tricky. If Xiao Yue were here to deal with him, it would be much simpler. His whole body is made of stone, and my wind blades can't threaten him!" Seeing the scene before him, Shen Feng felt it was troublesome. The opponent was protected by the stone wall, and the wind blades could not threaten his safety. It was like a turtle retracting its head and ignoring everything.
Muxiang was also stunned by the sudden change. He thought he was just completing an ordinary mission, and it was enough to hide in the mountains with two children for a while. Now he realized that at some point, the surroundings had become full of danger.
Facing a powerful esper, Muxiang could only hide in the stone wall to avoid being hit by unseen attacks.
Shen Feng waited for a while, but found no sign of the guy in the stone wall. The guy had used stones to form a hemispherical shield around himself and stayed inside.
"Damn it, if only I had explosives, I would kill you first!" Yue Hengyi grumbled, looking at the shrinking turtle in front of him.
Since ancient times, attackers had no way to deal with those who defended their positions. Because as long as the opponent held their ground and had sufficient food, it was difficult to break through. It was not until the appearance of explosives that the difficulty of attacking cities changed. The reason why the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could occupy Nanjing was that it possessed advanced demolition technology. Many Taiping Heavenly Kingdom soldiers were miners and were skilled in using explosives. They would dig tunnels under the city walls in the middle of the night, fill coffins with explosives, and detonate them instantly, causing the city walls to collapse.