Chapter 705

In the midst of those people was a brazier; inside the second brazier lay a charred severed limb, still clad in fabric that had not burned away, the cloth draped over the limb and slowly charring under the flames' heat.

Ning Chen was unsure what he had seen, but his instinct told him that thing was absolutely nothing proper or reasonable.

The fire in the central brazier burned fiercely; a dozen or so people danced around the brazier and the severed limb within—this must be some kind of ritual.

Ning Chen did not dwell on it; he adjusted himself within thirty seconds.

This was not, in fact, something hard to accept, at least not for someone like Ning Chen.

Ning Chen felt he should have guessed long ago: a vast forest rarely trodden by humans, with people mysteriously vanishing inside it—apart from certain organizations, no one else could manage such a thing.

At this thought, he suddenly felt a headache.

If this were an organization peddling feudal superstition, the matter would be far easier to handle; at the very least, these people might not have practiced martial arts, nor necessarily possessed firearms.

Yet his teammates were all fully prepared; he did not know why they had been so fearful of the people inside the forest beforehand.

Upon reaching this conclusion, Ning Chen decided not to probe further; the best course now was to assemble everyone, ignore whether those people would call for reinforcements, and simply charge in.

So Ning Chen employed the same method as on his arrival, moving at extreme speed to the tree he had previously leaned against; his speed was so great that to others it appeared like a blink.

Upon arrival, Ning Chen immediately made a retreat gesture toward those people.

After Ning Chen proposed retreat, the others raised no objections; all withdrew backward following the same route they had taken upon arrival.

The entire process went completely unnoticed by anyone.

Ning Chen breathed a sigh of relief; at least these people were quite cooperative. Once everyone had withdrawn from the forest, Ning Chen explained the situation to each of them individually.

"I know what the people inside are doing; they are not difficult to deal with. Do you all have guns and weapons?" Ning Chen asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Very well. Since that is the case, just follow me inside."

Even though the words had reached this point, some still did not understand.

Ning Chen had spoken too vaguely; someone said, "Could you explain in more detail?"

Ning Chen glanced at that person, who looked somewhat unfamiliar; he did not know him well, automatically searched his mind for that person's native language, and answered a second later: "My meaning is, those people pose no threat; you only need to follow me, and nothing will happen."

Ning Chen assured them earnestly, yet some remained skeptical: "No, why should we trust you? The people inside are even difficult for real police to handle; if you lead us, aren't we just going to our deaths?"

Upon hearing the word "police," Ning Chen glanced at the uncle, then sighed lightly.

He could not fail to understand their wariness toward him; after all, although Ning Chen was a commander, he had known them for only one day, so distrust was understandable.

But he truly had no energy to waste on such useless explanations.

Ning Chen said with a headache: "Whether you believe me or not is up to you; I am the only one who has seen the situation inside. Moreover, even if you do not trust me, I have no other choice; I will take a team inside and still complete the mission."

The person who had asked narrowed his eyes, looking at Ning Chen with some suspicion.

But Ning Chen's expression was too calm; the person stared for a long while yet could find not a trace of panic.

Clearly, many wished to take a gamble; despite some urging others to stop, it was useless.

More people chose to follow Ning Chen deeper inside, at least to see who had been causing unrest here during this period.

After assembling several dozen people, Ning Chen had them carry their weapons, then took the lead and charged in with reckless abandon.

Ning Chen led the way; those low tree stumps could not conceal anything. The dozen or so people singing and dancing around the brazier also seemed to see figures approaching from not far away; one by one they stopped moving and stared blankly at that spot.

Ning Chen did not fire; after bringing people inside, he directly kicked down the person nearest to him. Some began screaming and fleeing, while others grabbed handy weapons nearby to counterattack.

But how could that compare to firearms? Those who could be restrained were restrained; those who could not were deterred with guns; if that failed, shots were fired into their thighs to first deprive them of mobility.

After delivering that kick, Ning Chen did not participate in the ensuing actions; he walked straight toward the "sculpture" behind, because his intuition told him someone must be hidden inside.

And quite a few people, at that.

Ning Chen looked around; the chopped tree stumps concealed nothing. Somewhat farther away, there seemed to be something resembling a tent.

He narrowed his eyes, confirmed it, then quickly strode toward that side, drawing a gun along the way, ready to attack at any moment.

Only then did he realize that what he had just seen was indeed a tent, but a much larger one; immediately he hesitated no longer and lifted the curtain blocking his path.

What came into view were several people whose hands were bound with ropes.

All those people lay prostrate on the ground in agony; beside them stood several individuals who appeared to be guarding them at that very moment.

After Ning Chen pulled back the curtain, his entire body was exposed to the gaze of those inside; naturally, there was no way to avoid it, but he did not wish to hide either, not even bothering to conceal the gun in his hand, and instead strode boldly inside.

His appearance naturally drew the attention of everyone within; indeed, because Ning Chen's movements were too relaxed and leisurely, the guards felt a hint of doubt.

Is this person truly one of us?

But before they could figure it out, Ning Chen raised his right hand.

In his hand was unmistakably a gun.

At this point, what else could those people not understand? In an instant, they all went on alert.

They too drew their guns, the dark muzzles all aimed at Ning Chen.

But Ning Chen, observing their motions of drawing and gripping the guns, could not help but smile.

This clearly was not professional; such a grip on the gun was completely wrong; the hand holding the gun was even limp, probably given to them by someone at the last moment.

It was merely a fox borrowing the tiger's terror.

Ning Chen paid little attention; he raised his gun and fired at the hands of several people. Ning Chen's marksmanship was excellent; with several shots, every bullet struck those people's arms or fingers, injuring no other part.

Ning Chen did this because he did not wish to get entangled in matters here; if he accidentally killed someone inside, the subsequent series of events would become far more troublesome.

So he simply chose not to kill.

Moreover, keeping these people alive should still be useful; they could be held as hostages.

The cries of pain in his ears remained clear; Ning Chen tossed the gun in his hand as if playing, and in such a serious situation he even leisurely whistled.

He walked slowly to the people bound by ropes, squatted down, and patted that person's face.

"Hey, wake up." Ning Chen looked down at the several people half-paralyzed on the ground. "Do you still have consciousness?"

After Ning Chen finished speaking, someone opened their eyes; the first to open their eyes was an elderly person with a weathered face, who, upon hearing Ning Chen's voice, lifted his head with trembling effort.

Ning Chen locked eyes with the old man, reached behind his back to draw a dagger, crouched down, pressed the chilling blade against the rope, gave it a light flick, and the entire rope snapped.

Ning Chen pulled the old man up, helped him to the side, and said in English: "Rest here for a moment; I'll get the others up."

After saying this, Ning Chen turned back. The old man, supported by Ning Chen to the corner, had nothing to lean on, so he had to rest against the wall, his cloudy eyes fixed on Ning Chen.

Ning Chen returned again, using the dagger to cut the ropes binding the other few people. They still hadn't awakened. Ning Chen glanced at their faces and suddenly frowned.

Their complexions were very poor, looking extremely pale, like signs of severe blood loss. Ning Chen crouched down and turned each person over one by one.

At this sight, his heart skipped a beat.

On their wrists, there were not only rope marks but also a particularly gruesome bloodstain.

Though that bloodstain wasn't deep enough to expose bone, it looked extremely gruesome at first glance; the blood seemed to have flowed for a long time, then been constricted by newly tied ropes, leaving the wounds horrific to behold.

Ning Chen grabbed the left hands of two people and examined them a few times. Fortunately, the wounds hadn't hit the arteries; it seemed the attacker hadn't been ruthless enough. But because the ropes were tied right over the wounds, blood was still flowing, as if it couldn't be stopped at all, and the flow was increasing.

Ning Chen had no hemostatic medicine either; seeing this situation, he felt it was somewhat tricky. These few people were all unconscious; getting them out would be very difficult.

Ning Chen looked back; the teammates outside still hadn't caught up, but inside there were four injured people, one or two of whom were unconscious.

Besides the old man leaning against the corner with impaired legs, even that old man needed someone to support him to walk.

With no medicine in hand, Ning Chen could only find something to bandage the four people's wounds. He looked around and saw a tablecloth in the corner.

But that tablecloth looked unclean, with visible dust on it. Fearing infection, Ning Chen didn't use the tablecloth on the wounds.

Ning Chen walked a few steps outside and shouted loudly for a few people to come in. The first to hear his voice were Uncle and several other team members. Seeing them enter, Ning Chen asked: "Do you have hemostatic medicine? The people here are dying."

Before Ning Chen had called them, the people outside were handling other matters. After entering and looking at the injured lying on the ground, Uncle frowned immediately upon seeing their condition: "How did they get hurt so severely?"

Ning Chen lifted his chin and nodded slightly toward the old man huddled in the corner: "I suspect it's self-harm."

Uncle took a white porcelain bottle from his bag. Ning Chen glanced at the white porcelain bottle and said, "Oh," with a tone of surprise: "Someone actually brought this."

Uncle's expression was serious. He grabbed one person's hand, opened the white porcelain bottle, and sprinkled the powder onto the wound: "This is a must-have medicine; every time we carry out a mission, we bring several bottles."

Ning Chen raised an eyebrow. He saw Uncle sprinkle the powder evenly over the wound. The powder was quite effective; shortly after being applied, the bleeding stopped.

Seeing this, Ning Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He asked the others to help the injured out first, while he walked to the corner, crouched down, raised his head, and looked at the old man shivering and cowering against the wall.

Ning Chen asked in English again: "Are you feeling better? May I ask you some questions?"

A hint of fear flashed in the old man's eyes. He met Ning Chen's gaze but said nothing.

Ning Chen knew he couldn't push the man too hard; the most important thing was to proceed step by step. So he smiled and said: "You are safe now. If possible, tell me about the situation here before."

He asked this because he felt the old man before him was not a mute unable to speak; although his hair was completely white, his expression showed no numbness or dullness.

Ning Chen waited patiently for a minute. The old man seemed to feel he was safe enough now. He looked at Ning Chen for a long moment and finally spoke: "... What do you want to ask?"

Ning Chen's expression brightened. Currently, the old man was the only source of information here; as long as he could speak, Ning Chen's side wouldn't be too passive.

Several questions instantly flashed through Ning Chen's mind. He asked them one by one: "Roughly how many people are in this camp?"

The old man was momentarily confused, but he listened, thought hard for a while, and then slowly said: "Roughly... over a hundred people..."