"Lan Chengzhou, I think you're the one who's out of your mind. The main quest has been going on for a whole month, and now there are only three days left before she leaves. Even if she has any trump cards, she's probably used them all up."

Fang Min, who was walking towards the pond, suddenly stopped, turned around sharply, and looked at the team member who was talking to Lan Chengzhou with a gloomy expression. "What did you just say?"

The team member paused for a moment, then subconsciously repeated what he had just said.

"What's wrong?"

"Captain, what have you found?"

Fang Min frowned. The unease he had suppressed earlier surged up again. He felt like he had overlooked something.

Because of Fang Min's interruption, Lan Chengzhou also shut up. After waiting for a moment and seeing that Fang Min still looked thoughtful, he couldn't help but ask, "What did you think of?"

Lan Chengzhou's voice brought Fang Min back to his senses, and his heart suddenly raced. He heard himself ask in a tight voice, "When and under what circumstances did we first encounter Mo Shuwan and the others?"

"Eight or nine days ago? They were captured by the Bloodthirsty Demon Vine."

Fang Min immediately burst into a curse, "Quick, have Cheng Chun bring that woman over! Mo Shuwan and the others have escaped! We must chase after them immediately."

"They escaped? How could that be? We didn't reveal the slightest flaw."

Fang Min's anger surged, recalling his conversation with Mo Shuwan that morning. He angrily kicked a stone at his feet, shouting, "Our plan for today is flawed!"

Only then did everyone realize that Mo Shuwan and the others might have really escaped. But Fang Min's words still puzzled them. Today's plan was flawless, so how could it be a flaw?

Fang Min suppressed his surging anger and looked at Lan Chengzhou with a gloomy gaze. "The first time we met them, they were almost killed by the Bloodthirsty Demon Vine. At that time, you and I even discussed how they got trapped by the Bloodthirsty Demon Vine."

Lan Chengzhou nodded and began to think. After a moment, his eyes widened suddenly. "Their main quest didn't start at the same time as ours?!"

Seeing that Lan Chengzhou understood, Fang Min closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and clenched his fists, waiting for Cheng Chun to bring the woman over. So what if they ran away? I can still catch them.

The young man pushed the masked woman aside, frowned, and walked up to Lan Chengzhou. "What's going on?"

"This is only Mo Shuwan's fourth mission world. She hasn't opened the forum yet, so she has no way of knowing about the Bloodthirsty Demon Vine. When the captain and I first met her, she was almost killed by the Bloodthirsty Demon Vine. You've all seen her strength these past few days. How could a mere Bloodthirsty Demon Vine force her to that point? Do you understand now?"

The faces of the crowd, who were waiting for an explanation, immediately turned ugly.

Their strength was not weak, and they only fell victim to it because they didn't understand it. This indirectly shows that it was their first time encountering the Bloodthirsty Demon Vine, and in this world, the Bloodthirsty Demon Vine is the one thing that is not lacking.

"Damn, this woman is really cunning."

"Heh, so it seems that when the captain talked to her this morning, she already knew that their main quest wasn't starting at the same time as ours, yet she was still able to remain calm. This woman is very clever."

The masked woman sneered from the side, "I told you to make your move quickly, but you insisted on waiting. Now the person has run away."

"So what if they ran away? As long as we chase them with all our might, given the proportion of incompetent people in their entire team, we can catch up in less than half a day."

After calming down, the group didn't care too much about Mo Shuwan and the others running away. In their opinion, catching up with them was only a matter of time. They had observed them carefully over the past two days and found that apart from Mo Shuwan, Wen Zuo, and Liu Dongcheng, who had some fighting ability, the others were all good-for-nothings.

Fang Min frowned, but he wasn't really at ease.

Half an hour later, Cheng Chun brought over a woman covered in bruises.

Fang Min stood up, took out a dagger, and slashed the woman's arm. A compass appeared in his hand. The woman's blood fell onto the compass, and her face grew increasingly pale. As the grooves on the compass were gradually filled with blood, the woman visibly weakened.

The compass needle wobbled for a moment, then pointed east. Fang Min immediately set off, shouting, "Let's go!"

And so began a protracted battle.

After a harrowing night, the group, who had initially been confident they could catch up with Mo Shuwan and her companions immediately, couldn't help but start cursing.

"Damn, didn't they get any rest?"

Lan Chengzhou was the calmest of them all. "Should we rest and wait for you to come and kill us?"

"Shut the fuck up and stop making sarcastic remarks."

Lan Chengzhou snorted coldly.

“She’s so smart, she must have guessed that we don’t have much time left. If they keep running, there’s a 50% chance they’ll escape, while we can only chase them for one more day before we have to go back, otherwise we won’t have enough time to catch the bus.”

Fang Min held the compass and ran in the direction of the pointer. As time passed, the bloodstains on the compass slowly disappeared. Once the bloodstains were completely gone, the compass would lose its effect. He frowned, stopped, and walked up to Cheng Chun. He slashed the woman's arm with the dagger again, and the grooves on the compass were filled with blood once more.

The woman is getting weaker and weaker.

After walking for about ten minutes, Fang Min, who was running at full speed, saw Lu Xingkai squatting on the ground, almost like a statue. His face instantly turned extremely ugly. He rushed forward, kicked the man to the ground, and asked in a cold voice, "What are you doing here?"

Everyone was staring at Lu Xingkai.

No wonder we haven't caught up after chasing for so long, no wonder the compass needle is unstable—they split into several groups? Or has Mo Shuwan already figured out the compass's secret technique and is deliberately using bait to disrupt it?

Fang Min thought carefully for a moment and confirmed that he had never mentioned the compass to Mo Shuwan.

Lu Xingkai was kicked awake and shuddered when he saw Fang Min's face. He was incredibly lucky; he had squatted there for an entire afternoon and night without getting hurt.

"explain!"

Luo Xingkai was so frightened that his whole body stiffened, and he hurriedly told the truth, trembling.

Fang Min breathed a sigh of relief after confirming with Lu Xingkai that the compass matter had not been exposed. He then ordered someone to take Lu Xingkai with them and continue the pursuit. This time, the compass needle was very stable and did not wobble like before. Lu Xingkai was the one whose blood was taken.

Unaware that Fang Min and the others were already not far behind them, the exhausted passengers collapsed to the ground one after another, and Mo Shuwan had no choice but to stop and let them rest.

After resting for an hour and eating something, they set off again. At this point, Fang Min was less than an hour away from them.

Mo Shuwan's face grew increasingly grim as she felt a growing sense of unease. She hadn't received a reply since sending Fang Min her message last night, which meant that Fang Min had sensed something was wrong as soon as she replied. One night was enough time for him to get closer to her.

The passengers, exhausted, forced themselves to continue their journey. An hour's rest was simply not enough. A whole day had passed since yesterday morning, and they had only rested a handful of times during that day. They hadn't even slept at night, fearing that Fang Min and his men would catch up.

It's no exaggeration to say that now only one last straw is needed to completely break this group of passengers whose strength is already on the verge of collapse.