The sudden gunfire threw the security personnel at the front into chaos. I inhaled a few puffs of smoke, and my throat felt like it was being pricked with needles, but I felt much better.

In this no-man's-land, besides the mercenaries who captured us, the only ones who could stand up to them were Jiang Man's accomplices.

After this encounter, and considering my karmic connection with Jiang Man (we've even consulted fortune tellers beforehand), it was far better for me to be taken away by them than to fall into the hands of Wei Shengnan and her group.

Just as I was thinking this, a number of people suddenly appeared in the woods behind me. A burly young man shone a flashlight on my face and shouted excitedly to the people behind him, "Brother Que, I've found Big Brother!"

Manjing!

When I saw the person appear in front of me, I opened my eyes wide in disbelief. I never expected that it would be one of my people.

Soon, the monkey emerged from the bushes: "What are you waiting for? Quickly take Young Master Duan away! Let the others hold them off, we're out of here!"

When I saw the monkey and the sparrows beside him, I was completely dumbfounded. I racked my brains but still couldn't figure out why he was here.

Could the backpack by the river really be his?

But the mercenaries kept saying that the company changed its operation plan after receiving orders from the employer. If the backpack wasn't brought out by Song Laosan, then how did he get out? And who was the person Jiang Man's men saw swimming out of the tomb?

In the tense situation, with no one to answer my questions, Manjing bent down and carried me on his shoulders.

When the monkey saw me, its face lit up with immense joy: "Young Master Duan, how are you? Can you still hold on?"

I opened my mouth, but my throat hurt so much that I couldn't speak. I could only helplessly point to Jiang Man on the ground.

The monkey understood what I meant and waved to Lin Que: "Take her with you, let's get out of here!"

The tall and imposing Manjing easily hoisted me onto his shoulder and quickly retreated beside the monkey, while the Russians nearby began to suppress the fire into the distance.

Seeing their clothes and equipment, I recognized them immediately. They were all forest rangers from the settlement, but I didn't know why they were on our side.

After the two sides engaged in a gunfight, gunfire continued throughout the woods. A young man walking ahead of us, leading a hunting dog, circled the woods before finally stopping in an open area.

Several horses were tied to trees at the edge of the clearing, and the guards who remained saw us return and immediately came to greet us.

The young man leading the group exchanged a few words with the guards, then waved for them to fetch the horses, saying to the monkey, "Hey, get out of here..."

The monkey instructed Manjing to put me on the horse's back and asked the young man, "Are you sure this road is safe?"

"There is no absolute safety here!"

The young man shook his head, then added, "As long as we leave West Flash, Women's Renjiu can meet up with Nimen!"

"Mount up, let's go!"

The monkey waved to the others, then took out a syringe from his bag and stuck it into my butt: "This is dimercaprol injection, which can relieve mercury poisoning and works very quickly."

I had no idea why the monkeys were with the sparrows or how they found me. In addition, I was too drowsy to speak. I just lay on the horse's back and was carried away.

As the saying goes, "an old horse knows the way," and the horses raised by these forest rangers have a strong sense of direction and rich experience in navigating the forest. They do not run in the woods, but walk steadily.

I don't know if it was a placebo effect or if the monkey's drug really worked, but after about an hour, although my dizziness worsened while I was lying on the horse's back, I was able to drink water again, and after my throat swelling subsided slightly, I was able to speak.

I endured the sharp pain in my throat and asked the monkey, "Why are you with Lin Que and the others?"

“We met by chance! After Manjing and I arrived here yesterday, we found a guide and headed towards the coordinates you left. But before we even entered the mountains, we heard gunshots from over there.”

Lin Que responded on behalf of the monkey: "Manjing and I heard the gunshots and quickened our pace. We ended up meeting Lord Hou halfway there. When we reached the top of the mountain, there was a group of Russians talking together. Our guide, who understood Chinese, translated and said that they were arresting someone."

When the Marquis heard the guide's translation, he said that the security guards had defected and that you were in danger, so he told us to call for backup. We found this guide in the rangers' settlement; we agreed on a price, and the rangers went into the mountains. Meanwhile, we were secretly keeping an eye on a group of security guards, following them as they wandered the mountains. We just heard the gunshots and went after them, and unexpectedly, we actually ran into you.”

After listening to Lin Que's explanation, I asked the monkey, "How did you escape from the Ze King's tomb? Why did you only leave a backpack behind after you got ashore?"

"Don't even mention it! We had some trouble in the tomb, didn't we? I was knocked unconscious by a grenade, and when I woke up, I was already in the water. I could only swim out for my life, but as soon as I got outside, I found that the space was about to collapse! To survive, I jumped into the water and was dragged underwater by a giant salamander. Later, the giant salamander was hit by falling rocks and ran away. I also ran out of oxygen and just kept sinking underwater. I thought I was going to die here, but then suddenly I was swept away by an underwater current."

As the monkey recounted the incident, a look of relief, as if he had survived a close call, appeared on his face: "When I woke up, I was already floating in the lake. I was all alone in this jungle at the time, and no one responded to my shouts. It really terrified me! My first thought was to go back and find you, so I ran up the mountain as fast as I could, throwing my backpack away without a second thought!"

As I neared the summit, I suddenly heard gunshots from that direction, and then I encountered Lin Que and Man Jing! After that, we've been looking for you... Young Master Duan, speaking of which, how did you manage to escape? Why were you with that woman? If it weren't for her, we wouldn't be in such a terrible situation!"

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later."

My throat was really sore, and I didn't want to go on and on. So I changed the subject and said, "Lin Que just said that you overheard the security guards' conversation. Was there anything that should raise any red flags?"

The monkey sighed, his face turning somewhat dejected: "Young Master Duan, I feel that Third Master is very likely already dead."

I squinted: "Why?"

The monkey wiped his eyes and said, "We overheard the security guards talking. They said they were going to arrest us all, but they only mentioned your name and mine. They didn't mention Song Laosan at all. What else could he be but dead?"

Monkey hadn't contacted the security personnel, so he naturally didn't know the information I had. Seeing Monkey shed tears for Song Laosan, I clenched my fist: "Song Laosan isn't dead, he just betrayed us."