Because our town is so remote, there isn't even a police station in the town. The nearest police station is more than 30 kilometers away.
The melee lasted for about ten minutes before it ended.
After the attackers left, we didn't leave immediately. Instead, we hid in the woods for another hour until there was no further noise outside. Only then did we leave the town and ride away on our motorcycles.
At seven o'clock in the morning, it was already bright outside.
We were in a mountainous area, and after cycling for more than 30 kilometers, there were no roads at all.
The Jiang family's security team provided us with ample supplies, including food, drinking water, a large quantity of medicine, insect repellent spray, tents, sleeping bags, and more.
At the foot of a towering mountain, the monkey looked at the dense forest in front of him and our several large backpacks, his face almost turning green: "Young Master Duan, you've made a terrible mistake this time! Why did you need a motorcycle! You should have gotten a cow! Look at this road, a motorcycle can't even get through!"
"The cart can't move, and the oxen are in trouble too!"
Lin Que also spoke with some concern: "Brother, why don't we just give up on this equipment and take some medicine and food instead? Otherwise, just climbing this mountain will be enough to exhaust us!"
"We don't need to bring a change of clothes, but we must bring a tent and sleeping bag. There are many poisonous insects and snakes in the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan area, and it is currently the rainy season. It would be troublesome if someone caught a cold."
As I spoke, I started checking my backpack: "Everyone, pack up what you need. Manjing and Linque, set up the tent. We didn't sleep well last night. Let's go into the mountains after we've recovered our strength!"
In the sweltering heat of July, even early in the morning, the high temperature made it difficult for me to fall asleep.
At this point, we were still fifty kilometers away from the coordinates provided by Fengmen Village.
I compared the satellite cloud image of Fengmen Village with my tablet and found that the village marked on that paper was not on the satellite map we use every day. Instead, it was a large forest. I don't know where the map of Fengmen Village came from.
Everyone was exhausted last night, and by noon, they were all woken up by the high temperature.
The monkey squatted under the shade of a tree, constantly fanning itself with its hand, and couldn't help but complain, "In this heat, just lying here makes me feel like I'm about to be dried out. I'm covered in sweat even when I'm breathing. How am I going to make it through the next fifty miles of mountain road in this condition?!"
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Complaining is useless. Do you think you can make the sun hide by grumbling?"
I lit a cigarette, looked at the blazing sun overhead, and said, "It's 12:10 now. Let's rest a bit more. We'll set off at 3:00 sharp, and then rest again after five hours. If we travel at a normal pace, we can cover six kilometers per hour. At this rate, we should reach our destination before sunset tomorrow."
Jiang Man sprayed some sunscreen on herself and said, "Security just called me. The incident in town last night alarmed the police, but our lawyer has already negotiated with them. Apparently, the police originally wanted to check the surveillance video of the scene, but they found that those people destroyed all the surveillance cameras along the way before they took action."
After listening to Jiang Man's explanation, I asked, "Cases involving firearms are no small matter. Can your lawyer handle this?"
Jiang Man nodded: "We were the ones attacked last night, and we didn't fire the gun, so we won't be under too much pressure. I just didn't expect the Black Robe Organization to be so audacious, resorting to such a sneak attack even knowing we have so many security personnel."
"Yes, it's fortunate that we brought so many security personnel last night, otherwise even if the other side used a human wave tactic to rush up, we probably wouldn't have been able to hold them off."
Thinking back to last night, I still feel lingering fear: "Since the Black Robe Organization has its eye on us, last night's raid is definitely not the end. Everyone should be more careful."
At 3 p.m., except for Jiang Man, each of us carried a large travel bag and began our trek in the deep mountains.
There was absolutely no cell phone signal in these continuous mountains, but fortunately the Jiang family had prepared handheld positioning terminals and satellite phones in advance, so we didn't lose contact.
After a period of adjustment, the people in our team have become quite experienced in wilderness survival.
The next day, around dusk, everyone arrived at their destination as planned.
On a small hill, the monkey looked at the vast open space in front of him and asked me with a bewildered expression, "Young Master Duan, are you sure the place we're looking for is this empty grassland in front of us?"
Looking at the coordinates on my handheld terminal, I confirmed them once more, then nodded, equally bewildered: "If the equipment isn't malfunctioning, this is the place we're looking for!"
Jiang Man looked at me: "Could it be that my dad was right? In fact, Fengmen Village didn't know anything about the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace at all, but instead spread a false message to deliberately lure Duan Jinyan out?"
"Impossible! Even if Fengmen Village really wanted to spread false information, they wouldn't do it this convincingly! They would simply place the coordinates in an open area, so that when others arrive here, they would immediately see through the deception!"
I took out the cloud map distributed by Fengmen Village and glanced at it, but since the cloud map was an aerial view and we were in a dense forest, it was impossible to compare it. However, I still felt that Fengmen Village would not do something so pointless: "Perhaps the coordinates given by Fengmen Village have been offset. Everyone take a half-hour break and then search within a few kilometers around us."
Just as we were about to rest, another group of people appeared in the woods ahead.
The man leading the group wasn't afraid when he saw us. Instead, he greeted us with a smile: "Gentlemen, you're here to dig for mushrooms too, right?"
They were using coded language, meaning they were asking if we were also looking for a burial site.
We haven't even found Ping'an Village yet, so there's no competition between us. When the other person spoke, I nodded and said, "Yes, I heard there was a mushroom field here, but after coming here, I didn't find a single mushroom."
"Haha, then we really are in the same boat!"
The man, familiar with the rules of the underworld, did not approach us. Instead, he spoke from a distance, saying, "We arrived here early this morning and have been searching the area all day, but there's nothing in this godforsaken place. I think the film we got this time might be problematic."
When the man said there was a problem with the map, I asked him, "Brother, how far have you gone from here?"
"How far? More than ten kilometers!"
The young man next to the man gestured to the briefcase: "Both sets of spare batteries for the drone have run out of power!"
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