Chen Nong took off the sachet, stuffed a piece into the leader's mouth, then cut a hole in the rope tied to his side, and the rest of the group did the same.
After Shirakawa untied the child's rope, he also helped untie the ropes of his own men first. They didn't dare to rescue the rest of the people rashly, so they assessed the situation first.
The child suddenly spoke up, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Shirakawa glanced at him and said, "Just keep crying, don't stop."
The child: "..." He didn't want to cry anymore.
Chen Nong turned his head and said, "Bai Chuan, do you still have any licorice tablets? I've run out."
"There's still some left." Fei Chuan poured some licorice slices from his sachet and handed them to Chen Nong.
After finishing their work, the two of them lay down sprawled out.
Chen Nong said, "I'm so tired!"
Shirakawa said weakly, "I need to eat something first, otherwise I won't have any strength left."
The crying child next to them had been watching the two of them, and stopped crying as soon as he heard about food.
Shirakawa turned his head and said, "Don't stop, keep crying, or you won't get a turn."
"Waaaaah—" the child continued to cry and fuss.
After resting for a while, Bai Chuan and Chen Nong went to a corner, turned their backs to everyone, and secretly took out the water from their space.
Both of them used mineral water bottles, and they gulped down half of the water as soon as they opened the bottle.
Then he took out the food and began to wolf it down.
After eating and drinking their fill, the two patted their round little bellies.
"I'm finally alive!"
"Keep working!"
Shirakawa walked towards the child with a mineral water bottle that was only half full. The child stared at the water in the bottle with bright eyes. Although the bottle looked strange, it was definitely full of water.
"Open your mouth."
The child obediently opened his mouth.
Shirakawa picked up the bottle, put the opening to the child's mouth, and squeezed hard. A small stream of water shot out from the tiny crack in the bottle cap.
Poke a hole in the cap of a mineral water bottle, fill it with water, and squeeze the water out. No one teaches this kind of game; mischievous kids learn it on their own.
Chen Nong and his friends, who all got mineral water bottles, would play like this. Unless they were thirsty and needed to drink water in big gulps, they usually liked to drink water like this and show it off to their friends.
After wetting the child's mouth, Shirakawa stopped giving him water, saying, "We have companions to rely on, so we need to conserve this water."
After saying that, Bai Chuan took out two multigrain cakes from his pocket and handed them to the child. He had taken them out of his spatial storage beforehand.
The child took the food and began to wolf it down.
Shirakawa asked, "Do you know where this is?"
The child shook his head.
Shirakawa: "So how many days have you been here?"
The child mumbled indistinctly, "Two...days."
Shirakawa: "Do you know how many of these bandits there are?"
The child shook his head.
Shirakawa: "Then do you know who the bandit leader is?"
The child continued to shake his head.
Shirakawa: "Do the bandits patrol this cave regularly?"
The boy swallowed the last mouthful of food and said, "They come to check once in the evening. They also come in when they've tied someone up, and when the people in the cave make a ruckus. They're wicked. Every time someone makes a big fuss, they throw sleeping gas into the cave and don't give us food or water."
Shirakawa frowned and asked, "Did anyone starve or die of thirst?"
The child said, "It seems not. Whenever someone is about to starve or die of thirst, they drag them away and never bring them back. I heard the adults say that those people who were dragged away were eaten by the bandits, so you can't fall down."
Shirakawa: "How long has it been since they last threw out the sleeping gas?"
The child said, "They threw it once about an hour ago."
Shirakawa was asking for information that would be of interest to them. Chen Nong took a mineral water bottle and sprinkled some water into the mouths of everyone in the team. The licorice tablets would dissipate their flavor more quickly when they came into contact with water.
Old Man Chen had caught up to a place not far from the dilapidated temple. Gouzi led them along a mountain path. After walking down this mountain path for a while, they would turn onto a side road and reach the dilapidated temple. They had observed the surrounding terrain when they rested at the temple before.
Zhou said, "Old man, why don't we go and check out the dilapidated temple? It's the most conspicuous landmark along this stretch of road. What if Chen Nong and the others escaped there and are waiting for us?"
“Let’s go take a look at the dilapidated temple,” Old Man Chen said.
Upon arriving at the dilapidated temple, I discovered that there were many familiar faces inside.
"Weren't you following behind us? What are you doing here?"
That's right, these familiar faces were the members of the Peach Blossom Village Alliance who were following behind them; there were even two people from Peach Blossom Village.
"We all had family members who went missing. We borrowed a hunting dog from Peach Blossom Village and tracked them here. We just arrived. We were originally going to take the mountain path, but we thought of this dilapidated temple and decided to try our luck to see if we could find someone. What, you also have someone who went missing?"
"Hmm, I don't know where they were taken," Old Man Chen said.
Zhou and the village chief's wife led a group of people into the dilapidated temple to look for the person, but they couldn't find him. So, they continued to go up the mountain to search for him.
After walking for a while, Old Chen said, "We came here before to look for water."
Old Man Chen said, "It seems that there are indeed bandits in the mountains around here. I wonder if they are the same group as the people who attacked us last night. If they are here for revenge, then we will be in trouble."
The people from Peach Blossom Village and the Alliance Village noticed that they were on the same route, so they followed them. This time, Old Man Chen and his group didn't chase them away, probably because the same group was arresting them and they had a common enemy.
In the mountains, the team leader had already woken up, and Chen Nong and Bai Chuan told him about their current situation.
After understanding the situation, the team leader looked at the people in the cave. They needed to find help, otherwise, with so few people, the chances of them escaping were slim.
"Where did you get these kitchen knives and hammers?"
Currently, they only have these two weapons; it would be great if they had more.
Shirakawa whispered, "They found it in the cave. They probably hid it secretly. Don't worry, they're all unconscious, no one will notice."
The team leader picked up the mineral water bottle in his hand and asked in confusion, "Then what about this water?"
Bai Chuan explained, "I just kowtowed three times to my ancestor, and he rewarded me with two steamed buns. I'll give you one, but you're not allowed to take the rest."
The team leader believed him. He had become familiar with the people of Anping Village and had seen all sorts of outrageous things.
He had the privilege of visiting the ancestral worship ceremony of the Xu family in Anping Village and personally witnessed the Bai family ancestor manifest his power, with a pile of treasures appearing out of thin air in front of the memorial tablet.
Old Man Chen liked to use up his chance to release garbage at the beginning of each month, and also operate the sub-system. As a result, several core members of the Bai family figured out the pattern of the ancestor's manifestation and held a sacrificial ceremony to thank the ancestor for his protection. The ceremony was held for three consecutive days at the beginning of each month.
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