"Where is their encampment?"

"Halfway up the mountain. There's a village there, not very big, with a few brick houses."

Hearing this, Number 13's eyes lit up. "Are they mountain natives?"

He hadn't expected anyone to live in Xixie Ming Mountain. If they could find former mountain dwellers or hunters, it would greatly benefit their next move.

But Luo Yunshan shook his head, his tone solemn. "Not what you think. This village has been abandoned for a long time. It was a bandit stronghold built in the mountains before the founding of the country. Now it's dilapidated, but it's still a place to rest in the mountains."

Jiang Cheng knew something about this group of bandits. They committed all sorts of atrocities, burning, killing, and looting. Whenever they were surrounded by government troops, they would retreat back into the mountains. The unique geographical environment of Xixie Ming Mountain was their best shield. This continued until after the liberation. It was said that many people were lost in the effort to wipe out this group of bandits.

Number 2 had clearly done more homework than Jiang Cheng, and his introduction was more detailed. But before he could finish, Luo Yunshan interrupted him, his expression turning strange. "I know the information you're talking about, but you don't know the true story about these bandits. They… weren't wiped out."

"After the suppression troops entered the mountain, they were unfamiliar with the terrain, and the local villagers who led the way had never ventured deep into the mountains. They encountered many difficulties along the way. After much hardship, they finally defeated this group of vicious bandits. The surviving bandits took advantage of the darkness to flee back to the village hidden halfway up the mountain."

"The pursuing army surrounded the village. Because it was dark and the situation inside the village was unknown, the commanding officer decided to postpone the attack to avoid unnecessary casualties. Instead, he ordered people to shout into the village, telling the bandits to lay down their arms and surrender, and they would be treated leniently."

"But the bandits had closed the village gates tightly after hiding in the village, and they didn't say a word. No one responded until dawn. The commanding officer was so angry that he threw his hat on the ground and decided to launch a strong attack. After the gunfire, the soldiers rushed in, but they were dumbfounded as soon as they entered. The entire village was empty. They searched every corner, but they didn't see a single person."

"But they had been chasing the remnants all the way, watching them flee into the village in a panic. How could… how could dozens of living people disappear in the blink of an eye?"

"And what's even stranger is that although the people were gone, their weapons were still there, scattered everywhere. You have to know, these guns were the bandits' lifeblood."

Hearing this, Fatty couldn't help but clench his fingers and secretly sucked in a breath of cold air. This scene was so similar to the bizarre disappearance of the expedition team and Boss Lin's group. Could it be… could it be that the problem was this mountain village? Did this mountain village eat people?

Luo Yunshan frowned, not paying attention to the reactions of the others, and continued, "The soldiers didn't think too much about it at the time. After all, finding the bandits was the most important thing. The soldiers' first reaction was that there was a secret passage in the village, and the bandits had escaped through the secret passage. But they turned the entire village upside down and couldn't find the so-called secret passage. The fraternal units patrolling near the village also reported back that they hadn't seen any bandits appear nearby."

"These bandits were all desperate criminals. Once they escaped, the nearby people would definitely suffer. Therefore, the commanding officer didn't dare to be negligent. After confirming again and again that the bandits had escaped from the village, he collected the weapons left behind by the bandits. Those that couldn't be taken away were destroyed on the spot. Before dark, they withdrew from the village and continued to pursue into the depths of the mountains."

"The mountain road was rugged, and the troops had been struggling for several days. They were exhausted, so they found a good location early and set up camp, planning to rest for one night and continue the pursuit after dawn. But in the middle of the night, there was suddenly chaos outside. The commanding officer hadn't closed his eyes for days and nights. He had just fallen asleep when he was awakened. The soldier in charge of guarding rushed over, panting, and reported that he had discovered important military intelligence."

"Following the soldier's guidance, they came to a place with a relatively open view. The commanding officer was shocked at a glance. Fires were lit in the dark mountains, and not just one, but a large area, which was very conspicuous in the dark mountains."

"What made him even more angry was that the lights were not lit anywhere else, but in the village they had left not long ago!"

"The fraternal units couldn't have done such a thing. It must have been that the bandits had sneaked back again. He never expected that these remnants, who had been scared out of their wits, would sneak back, let alone dare to light the lights in such a grand manner. Did they think they were all blind?"

"So without saying a word, he led the main force back again. The mountain road was rugged, and it was late at night. In addition, they didn't want to expose their target and startle the enemy, so they were groping in the dark all the way, and they really suffered a lot. Finally, they sneaked back to the village again at dawn."

"But what was puzzling was that just a short distance from the village, the fires disappeared strangely again. Not all at once, but one by one. By the time they got close to the village, it was already pitch black."

"Learning from the last lesson, this time the troops deployed in advance and surrounded the entire village in a very short time. The lights suddenly went out. The other side must have discovered that the troops were approaching them. The commanding officer couldn't help but sigh that these bandits were not good at fighting, but their noses were quite sensitive."

"Moreover, the gate of the village was open, clearly giving off a hint of the Empty Fort Strategy. This made the commanding officer very angry. These bandits didn't study how to escape properly, but instead studied Zhuge Kongming's military tactics. This was clearly not taking them seriously."

"So this time, he didn't hold back. After surrounding the village, he directly fired light and heavy machine guns and mortars. After a while, none of the bandits in the village dared to fight back. The soldiers, who were full of fire, charged in with their bayonets. They originally thought that they could wipe out the remaining enemies and then withdraw, but what they didn't expect was that there was no one there except for the collapsed fortifications and walls. It was the same as when they left."

"This time, the commanding officer was also confused. He had fought so many battles, but this was the most bizarre. People at that time were generally superstitious, and there were all kinds of theories in the team. For a time, all kinds of strange and bizarre remarks emerged, offending the mountain god, these bandits knew witchcraft, etc..."

"Just as everyone was distressed, an old man from the local area, with a very high status, was carried into the mountain in a bamboo basket, saying that he wanted to find the leader of the army, and he had something to say."