Chapter 407: The Final Refuge

"Rest assured, as long as you listen to me, there is a way for you to escape," He Yuzhu said very casually.

"No! You must swear a poisonous oath!" Lin Wanning said, unrelenting.

"I, He Yuzhu, if I break my oath, may I be struck down by the heavens!" He Yuzhu pointed at the sky, his face earnest.

Lin Wanning stared at him fixedly, only looking away after a long moment, and said, "I will trust you once!"

"On what grounds do you judge that Hu Yongan went to the Xishan side?" He Yuzhu asked suddenly.

"Both members have been captured; he will not remain in any place that Mei Feng and I know of. His final refuge is only that place in Xishan." When Lin Wanning said these words, a trace of sadness flashed in her eyes.

"Others don't know, how do you know of this refuge?" He Yuzhu asked with a hint of suspicion.

"I am most afraid of death; every time I act, I think of the worst-case scenario. Once, when Siqiang went out, I flipped through his notebook and saw a map of Xishan drawn on the last page, so I memorized it. I had originally thought that if we were ever separated, I would go to this place." Lin Wanning's tone was sorrowful, as if she were immersed in memories.

"Do you know the specific location?" He Yuzhu continued to ask.

"I know. I have the ability to never forget what I see. Back then, many people wanted to apprentice under Hu Yongan; he chose me because he valued this," Lin Wanning said with a bitter smile.

He Yuzhu basically believed her judgment and immediately told Tian Dan about this matter.

Tian Dan's attitude was very firm: that was to set out immediately and capture Hu Yongan.

Soon, she mobilized three hundred soldiers to participate in the operation.

The group followed the path pointed out by Lin Wanning and arrived at the Xishan area.

The road became steeper and steeper, and in the end, they had to abandon the vehicles and proceed on foot.

He Yuzhu had not slept all night, his face full of exhaustion.

Lin Wanning's spirits were still fine, but the closer they got to the destination, the heavier her footsteps became—after all, this time she had sold out her Siqiang, and there was always something weighing on her heart. Siqiang hadn't treated her particularly well, but after all, he had taught her and helped her.

He Yuzhu saw through her thoughts and said in a low voice, "Life is but a fleeting moment. Although you and Hu Yongan have the name of master and apprentice, in the end, it is just a colleague relationship... you don't need to think too much."

He knew this kind of comfort was nearly nonsense, but sometimes people are just like this, making wrong decisions because of a little bit of emotion. He certainly did not want Lin Wanning to turn against them before the battle.

At ten o'clock at night, the group finally arrived at a mountain hollow in Xishan. This place was not large, about ten-plus mu, covered in wild trees.

The mountain terrain to the west was high and steep, while the mountain peak to the east was lower, only a hundred-plus meters.

Lin Wanning pointed to the eastern mountain peak and said, "There is a tunnel in that Earth Temple on the mountaintop, leading to a natural Cave. Anything else, I don't know."

Tian Dan looked at He Yuzhu: "Zhuzi, what do you want to do?"

He Yuzhu pondered for a moment and said, "They don't have many people, but they have two excellent snipers. Having too many people is useless and will instead become a target. I only need ten people to follow me to capture them and bring them back. However, I only want people who listen."

"You kid, this is 'once bitten, twice shy'," Tian Dan laughed.

She did not hesitate and quickly selected ten people from the Police.

He Yuzhu gathered them to the side, his voice kept very low: "I only have one requirement—obey. As long as you listen to me, I will definitely bring you back alive."

"Understood!" the group replied in low voices.

He Yuzhu waved his hand, and the team sneaked up the mountain in a single file. At the same time, he quietly activated the Scanning System.

When they climbed to the mountainside, a dense jujube forest appeared before them, with only a narrow path, wide enough for only one person to pass, winding upward toward the Earth Temple.

He Yuzhu signaled for everyone to stop.

He went forward alone and slowly dismantled the first set of Trick Mine.

This set was arranged extremely insidiously, with some hanging from trees and some buried underground; once triggered, no one within a ten-meter radius would survive.

The soldiers behind saw He Yuzhu's movements clearly and broke out in a cold sweat, only then truly understanding the weight of his previous words.

He Yuzhu quickly dismantled the Trick Mine. He didn't think much of it, but Lin Wanning was full of shock.

"You can even discover this kind of Trick Mine?" she couldn't help but ask.

"If I didn't have some special skills, how could I have killed so many American devils on the Korean War battlefield?" He Yuzhu said with a hint of showing off.

The group pushed forward another few dozen meters.

Through Scanning, He Yuzhu had already discovered the first enemy.

He quickly took the Sniper Rifle from his backpack and screwed on the Silencer.

A look of surprise flashed across Lin Wanning's face: "You saw someone?"

He Yuzhu pointed ahead: "Behind the thickest tree outside the temple gate."

He handed the Telescope to her.

Lin Wanning looked for a long time and muttered, "Playing mystery, there's no one at all!"

Before the words fell, there was a soft "Puff" sound.

A figure fell to the ground in response.

Lin Wanning almost cried out—in the Telescope, she saw clearly that the person who fell was Sun Li.

She clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging into her palms, a sense of sorrow for the death of a fellow creature surging in her heart.

He Yuzhu didn't notice her emotions and led the team to continue crawling upward.

At the temple entrance, he discovered another set of Trick Mine.

This set actually had more than ten, like a complex Landmine array, designed in a chain where pulling one hair would move the whole body.

While manually clearing the mines, he used his Space Ability to collect all the mine bodies buried underground.

After the danger was cleared, He Yuzhu walked to Sun Li's corpse, looked at it, and asked, "Who is this person?"

Lin Wanning said in a low voice, "Sun Li, he is skilled in earthwork."

He Yuzhu nodded, then suddenly frowned: "Why was he the only one guarding the entrance?"

Lin Wanning shook her head: "I don't know about this either."

Several people entered the temple, and He Yuzhu scanned the location of the cave entrance.

"Lin Wanning, does the map indicate any other exits for this Cave?" He Yuzhu asked.

"This, I really don't know!" Lin Wanning said.

"No choice, we have to go down and scout the path." He Yuzhu turned around and ordered: "Leave seven people to guard around the temple; I will only take three people down. Who is coming with me?"

Several people raised their hands.

He Yuzhu picked three short and agile ones to follow him.

He crawled into the cave first, with Lin Wanning following closely behind.

He Yuzhu's Scanning remained active, but he did not discover any Trick Mine along the way.

This so-called tunnel was actually a natural limestone cave, with a winding and deep path that seemed to have no end.

The further they walked, the more He Yuzhu felt something was wrong; this underground area was like a maze, and if one did not make special markings, an ordinary person would quickly lose their way.

"Everyone stop!" He Yuzhu suddenly issued an order.

Just then, a hoarse voice suddenly came from the depths of the cave: "Who is coming from the other side? State your name."

Lin Wanning's body trembled, and she lowered her voice: "It is my Siqiang."

He Yuzhu took a deep breath and replied in a loud voice: "I am He Yuzhu. Hu Yongan, surrender! Don't think that just because you are familiar with this cave you can gain an advantage; that is not necessarily the case."

The other side was silent for two seconds, then a cold laugh followed: "Then let us have a contest."

Before his voice had even faded, three Mortar shells had already been fired.

"Find cover!"

The shells that were fired did not explode, but instead began to emit smoke.

He Yuzhu quickly pulled five Gas Masks out of his backpack—in reality, he took them from his space—and shoved them one by one into the hands of the people beside him. His movements were dazzlingly fast.

Lin Wanning was clearly stunned when she took the mask—she never expected that so many things could be pulled out of that seemingly ordinary backpack.

"Now is the best time to let you go." He Yuzhu leaned into her ear, speaking at a very fast pace.

Lin Wanning was taken aback: "You want to send me to the other side?"

"You really are silly," He Yuzhu said.

The smoke rose rapidly.

Several people hid behind a protruding stone wall.

He Yuzhu struck Lin Wanning with a palm to knock her unconscious and put her into his space.

The dense smoke spread rapidly, quickly swallowing the narrow passage.

He Yuzhu held his breath, but deliberately made violent and painful coughing sounds, one after another, echoing in the cave.

Gradually, the coughing sounds grew weaker and finally fell into silence.

From the other side of the smoke, Hu Yongan's muffled voice came, clearly sounding as if it were coming through a Gas Mask:

"Ye Guanying, you go over and check. Once those people are unconscious, we will take the opportunity to break out."

Footsteps approached from far to near.

He Yuzhu, behind the stone wall, had already aimed his gun at the approaching Ye Guanying.