In a moment of surprise, by the time these subordinates reacted, they had all been gagged and tied up.
Tied together with them was the leader, whose eyes were closed, seemingly lifeless.
As the group struggled to make muffled sounds, Huo Rou's hand chopped down, and they all fell unconscious. Huo Rou nodded in satisfaction, wiped her face with a piece of paper.
The five people who had come together watched this group fall into deep thought.
Things had happened too fast for them to react.
"Captain Huo," someone asked, "this leader should know something. Killing him, we..."
Their mission was not to eliminate people. While circumstances might force them to, their current situation clearly didn't meet that condition.
He was worried that Huo Rou's actions might lead to her punishment.
After what had just happened, their trust in Huo Rou had grown even higher, and they didn't want her to face punishment for this.
Huo Rou used her dagger to cut a long strip of cloth from the leader's clothes and bandaged his wound simply.
"I didn't wound him too deeply, and the bleeding has stopped. A swift resolution means he won't be in mortal danger."
Of course, this was only regarding mortal danger.
Huo Rou smiled, sheathed her dagger, and stood up to walk inside.
They should have some connection. Before others noticed something was wrong, she could take down a few more groups. Although she didn't cooperate well with the people Zhao Wen had given her, and their reactions weren't sharp enough.
She sighed inwardly, suddenly missing her former comrades. At the time, she hadn't considered entrusting her back to them, but looking back now, they seemed like people she could rely on.
Thinking too much was pointless. Huo Rou shook her head, pushing that trace of nostalgia back into the depths of her memory.
After all, they could still be used. The other party had over twenty people, and here there were already six or seven lying down.
She left one person to brief the team behind them and took four people to disappear into the darker parts of the factory.
Meanwhile, Qin Ningyi and Si Nian circled around to the back of the factory.
With the help of micro-detectors, they successfully avoided the enemy's line of sight and unexpected patrols.
Standing at the factory's corner, Qin Ningyi surveyed the building before him, recalling the factory's layout in his mind.
He patted Si Nian and pointed to a staircase not far away, signaling that they would enter from there.
Si Nian had memorized the factory's layout roughly before they set out, but standing by the factory wall, it differed somewhat from their blueprint. He hadn't expected Qin Ningyi to find an entrance so quickly.
It seemed like a deliberate gap had been left behind, allowing them to enter.
Only one person was on watch, and he was silently dealt with by the two of them.
They reached the second floor. Si Nian looked behind them, while Qin Ningyi planned their route ahead.
Based on the previous scans, all entrances to the smelting room were sealed. If they forced their way in, it might agitate the person inside, and they could be blown to smithereens before even getting close.
Qin Ningyi looked up.
Si Nian noticed his action and almost instantly understood his intention.
He made a gesture: The ventilation shaft above?
After making the gesture, Si Nian thought for a moment and took out a small tool from his bag, signaling Qin Ningyi to find a spot on the ceiling.
Without a word, the two communicated everything with a few simple actions. They moved swiftly in the darkness as if they were ghosts.
Si Nian pressed a switch, and the small tool shot out claws, firmly gripping the wall above. He pulled on the tool, and with a few leverages, he reached the rooftop.
Qin Ningyi looked at the tool in his hand, a flicker of relief in his eyes.
It seemed this tool wasn't entirely useless and could be put to use in actual combat.
After reaching the rooftop, Si Nian scouted the area before returning to support Qin Ningyi.
Perhaps due to a lack of personnel, or perhaps because the higher-ups were determined to have them die here together, no one was stationed on the rooftop for watch.
Once on the roof, they moved with ease, treading along the edges towards the ventilation shaft of the smelting room.
As they passed a section, Qin Ningyi keenly sensed someone approaching below. He tugged at Si Nian, and they both squatted down almost simultaneously to look.