The next day, at the first light of dawn, a terrified scream came from Maple Leaf Temple, startling a large flock of birds in the surrounding trees into flight.
Everyone living in the temple was awakened, and then another wave of screams erupted.
"This! This! Who is this person? It's terrifying!" The man cried out, pointing at his lifeless companion in the room.
The people on the ground lay scattered about, all of them dead without a sound, and he had been in the next room last night.
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. No, he couldn't stay here any longer.
He screamed as he ran outside, yelling, "Go home, go home! Let whoever wants to do this lousy job do it!"
Anyway, I'm quitting. It's not worth it to earn money but not to live to spend it!
The temple was in chaos for a while, but panic was spreading.
Hearing the scream, An Moxue smiled and turned to enter a dark room in the temple.
The comrades in the dark room were still unconscious. An Moxue inquired about the conditions of the conscious comrades, checked on everyone, left enough medicine and food, and then went out to the next dark room. After checking on all the comrades, she found a safe place to rest.
At this moment, a group of about a hundred people was hurrying along, several dozen kilometers away from Maple Leaf Town.
"Comrades, hurry up! There are nearly eighty comrades waiting for us to treat them! If we are even a little late, their lives will be in greater danger."
After the leader finished speaking, he sped up and started running. The other comrades, upon hearing this, also silently quickened their pace.
Wu Sicheng was in town when he saw the people from Maple Leaf Temple return to town and recount some of the events that had occurred from last night to this morning.
It started with people disappearing without a trace, then they found terrified corpses, and this morning they discovered a body that had died unknowingly while spending the night in a temple. In total, more than thirty people have died. However, no one knows who the enemy is, where they are, or how many there are.
Those listening inside the room fell silent. An invisible oppression spread through the room, making it hard to breathe. They had to slow down their breathing, for fear of accidentally causing trouble.
Finally, someone asked, "When you went to the temple, did you check on the people who were detained?"
The person who returned to report was stunned for a moment, instinctively feeling that if he didn't answer well, he would be in trouble. So he said, "We split into groups when we went up the mountain. We were specifically responsible for searching the mountain, not for anything else. We don't know anything about this."
"Which group is responsible for guarding the prisoners?"
“We were the first to receive the mission and went into the mountains without knowing which group was in charge of the prisoners.”
"Anything else?"
The man who answered shook his head honestly this time, looking kind and honest.
The mayor waved his hand, and someone immediately said, "Alright, you can go back now! We'll make arrangements."
The man who delivered the message went out, and seeing that no one was around, he wiped the sweat from his face. He had a bad feeling, so he went back home, grabbed his valuables, and hurriedly and carefully avoided people.
Inside the house, the mayor asked, "What do you think?"
These men were all key figures, including the town's Party Secretary. He said, "Things aren't looking good. But if we act quickly and find and eliminate them all, it's still not too late. However, we need to activate our reserve forces. Otherwise, once the news gets out and attracts a large force, things will get complicated. We won't be able to escape, and even if we do, it's hard to say whether we can keep our positions. If a new leader comes, this area will be out of our control."
“You’re right. Let’s go to Maple Leaf Village, notify the people, and also notify the people hiding in town. Get everyone moving. We can’t delay our important mission.”
"Okay, that's settled, let's get started."
After listening to the whole thing, Wu Sicheng quietly left and went to find Wang Wei and Li Deren to redistribute the tasks.
The people in the town inexplicably became busy, and everyone was in a hurry. An invisible pressure enveloped the entire Maple Leaf Town.
By evening, only two or three staff members remained at Maple Leaf Temple; the rest had all gone into the mountains.
Xu Qingfeng led the support team into Maple Leaf Temple silently. One group of people split up to search for the enemy, while the rest carried a stretcher and followed closely behind Xu Qingfeng.
The first dark room opened, and the people inside saw that Xu Qingfeng had brought people to rescue them. Those who had regained consciousness all had tears in their eyes and helped carry the unconscious person out.
Next came the second dark room, then the third dark room. All the people were carried out, and those who could walk followed.
When the comrades who came to rescue him saw their comrade being tortured to such an extent, their eyes turned red, their teeth clenched, and they were filled with resentment.
Xu Qingfeng followed until he escorted the person out of Maple Leaf Town, then turned around and ran towards Maple Leaf Temple.
In the darkness, the three met again. Xu Qingfeng said, "All the wounded have been evacuated and should be out of danger now. The main force should arrive around tomorrow, so be prepared. Have you heard anything from Duan Qing?"
Several people shook their heads. An Moxue said, "There's another secret passage that we haven't explored yet. I'm planning to check it out tonight. Duan Qing might be there."
Xu Qingfeng asked, "You mean, the main hall?"
An Moxue nodded and said, "Yes, I always felt that it was a network of underground paths. If we don't find out the truth, we'll suffer a great loss. They'll escape, and we won't be able to catch up with them."
Xu Qingfeng said, "We need to check. I'll go with you. How's it going on your end?" He looked at Wu Sicheng.
He said, "I'm leaving the finding of Duan Qing to you! I don't have time. After meeting with you, I have to go back to town. I've discovered their two factions, both of which are in hiding. They usually act like ordinary people, but they are actually descendants of Japanese war criminals. I'm currently collecting a list of their members! We haven't found any clues about their contact with the outside world yet, which is also crucial."
The three of them took out the information they had and began to compile it. Each of them would have a copy. Even if something happened to the other two, as long as one of them could contact the organization, this information would be the key to the operation.
An Moxue took out a topographical map of the Maple Leaf Zen Temple, as well as a map showing the distribution of all the hidden rooms and caves she had discovered, along with detailed information about them.
Wu Sicheng's list of personnel was densely packed, already containing several hundred people.
Xu Qingfeng's information was more mixed, including some from various sources. In short, after summarizing everything, the three of them became even more convinced of their previous guess: this place had become the headquarters of Japanese spies, and there were still many undiscovered spies! They believed there were quite a few.
An Moxue asked worriedly, "Captain, did the higher-ups say where the troops were being transferred from?"
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