"I know you have experience, but you can't rush things," Jian Ning still advised. Then she sat quietly.

The snowflakes in the sky had become quite dense. Although it affected visibility somewhat, Xiao Lingfeng was quite experienced. These were minor issues.

We drove smoothly all the way to Changzhou, which was marked on the map.

This was their first time here, and the damage to the buildings here was even more severe than in Jiang City. Most of the buildings had collapsed.

From the sky, it looked like a snow-covered ruin.

The base was also built inside the mountain. Xiao Lingfeng found a suitable spot halfway up the mountain and landed the helicopter.

"According to the map, the base should be nearby. Let's split up and search around."

The mountain was covered in snow. There was no sign of human activity at the moment.

"No need, it should be over there. There are people inside the mountain." Jian Ning pointed to a spot about twenty meters ahead. The entrance to the base was not visible from the outside at all.

It was done in a pretty discreet way.

"Let's go take a look." Xiao Lingfeng put away the helicopter and led the soldiers toward the section of the mountainside.

The mountain path beneath their feet was quite flat, and because it was covered in snow, it was impossible to tell exactly how wide it was, but Jian Ning estimated that a car could probably drive on it without any problem. It seemed that the terrain here was relatively gentle.

As they were walking, the mountain in front of them suddenly shifted and opened up a small doorway, just big enough for one person to pass through. Two fully armed soldiers with guns walked out.

"Halt! Which unit are you from?"

"We are from the 36th Army Corps, and my name is Xiao Lingfeng."

"I received the rescue order and just arrived here. This is my letter of introduction." Xiao Lingfeng took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to the other party.

"Welcome, welcome, Captain Xiao, right? Please come in." A soldier took the letter, opened it, glanced at it, and then warmly ushered them inside.

As soon as they entered the mountain, everyone was stunned. It was brightly lit inside.

Moreover, the temperature was around ten degrees Celsius, much warmer than outside. What surprised them most was that the mountainside had been hollowed out, creating three distinct layers.

Inside were all movable prefabricated houses, arranged very neatly.

"You can see a lot of people coming in and out, moving around inside."

"Your construction here is quite good. Is the house well insulated?" Xiao Lingfeng asked.

"Yes, we have a factory in Changzhou that specializes in producing these mobile prefabricated houses."

There used to be air-raid shelters and natural lava caves here.

The space inside is quite large, so after the natural disaster, we renovated the place and moved the prefabricated houses over to use as a temporary base.

There's also an underground river here, so water isn't scarce. The only drawback is the limited sunlight. The climate here is mild in winter and cool in summer, and it's not greatly affected by outside air pollution.

“You have natural advantages here. Compared to your place, our base’s shelter in the mountains is much worse. It’s just a large kang bed.”

Xiao Lingfeng was genuinely envious of this place. Although he lived in a villa, the ordinary people and soldiers were constantly suffering.

"Conditions are very tough right now, it's not easy for anyone," the soldier sighed.

They were led to a prefabricated house with a sign that read "Regiment Headquarters Office" hanging above it.

Upon entering, one finds more than ten desks, but only one desk at the back has a middle-aged man sitting behind it. He has a long face and a furrowed brow, clearly facing some unresolved problem.

"Company Commander, these are the rescue personnel sent by the 36th Regiment. They just arrived," the soldier shouted, saluting as he spoke.

"Hello, you've arrived just in time. Please have a seat. Which one of you is the team leader? Let me explain the situation to you." The company commander stood up and strode over.

"Hello, I'm the team leader, Xiao Lingfeng!"

He stepped forward and shook hands with the company commander.

"A few days ago, we discovered a cave in the mountains with a hot spring inside. We were all very happy. Although we can use melted snow water here, it's still inconvenient to take a bath or something."

After testing, there was no danger inside. So we wanted the leader to go and soak in it to relax.

Unexpectedly, his trip led to trouble. The orderly only went out to get some clothes, and the commander disappeared. We sent people down to search the entire hot spring area, but we couldn't find him.

There weren't any wild beasts or anything like that in there, and soldiers were on guard outside. This person just vanished into thin air. The regimental commander is still leading a search party there. It's been 19 hours now.

"Where is it? Take us to see it." Xiao Lingfeng was also quite puzzled. How could a perfectly healthy person just disappear in a hot spring?

He exchanged a glance with Jian Ning. He thought to himself that there must be something going on that no one else knew.

I was very worried about the leader's safety. In this cold weather, even if there was no danger, he would be in great danger just from being cold without clothes.

"Okay, I'll lead you there. This way."

The company commander quickly led them out of the cave; it turned out there was another exit on the other side. The terrain here was much steeper. They climbed the stairs for more than ten minutes.

We arrived at a cave entrance on another hillside, less than two meters wide.

"It's right here." After saying that, the company commander imitated two bird calls towards the cave.

A soldier quickly ran out from inside.

"Company commander, who are they?"

"How are things inside, those who came to rescue us?" The company commander was hoping to hear good news.

"Still no findings. Please come in. Our commander has been eagerly awaiting your arrival."

There was no time for pleasantries; time was of the essence.

Xiao Lingfeng and the others quickly went inside.

The space here was quite large, with torches lit all around. There was no electricity, and the path wound its way downhill. After walking for five or six minutes, we finally saw an underground river emitting steam.

People were searching tirelessly both on the shore and in the water.

"Commander, Commander, the rescue team is here!" the soldier shouted as he ran over.

Upon hearing the shouts, Commander Wu, who was standing on the shore, quickly turned around, looked at the approaching group of people, and hurried over to greet them.

"Comrades, you've worked hard. The commander disappeared at that location, and we haven't found any useful clues yet."

Holding Xiao Lingfeng's hand, she got straight to the point.

Everyone understood his feelings; who wouldn't be worried if their leader was lost?

"Let's go into the water and take a look! Xiao Ning, you look for it on the shore."

The water was full of shirtless men, and Xiao Lingfeng didn't want Jian Ning to go in.

"Okay, here you take this." Jian Ning handed him a water-repelling talisman.