Release that Man

Changing career paths was not going to be completed in a day or two. The most immediate concern now was to confirm the military arms’ location and then slip away as soon as possible.

They climbed to the top one after another. When the narrowed view in the mines opened to a plateau, everyone realized that there was another hole that was opened up about three meters above the cave wall. This was a new path, and at the end of the path, which was three hundred meters away from the mouth of the mine, was a spacious stone room filled with wooden boxes. After opening them, one was greeted by guns and weapons that were burnished to a shine.

“We’ll need quite some manpower to transport all of these out.” Han Chu made a rough calculation of the wooden boxes in the room. He frowned as he closed up one of the open boxes. “Vehicles cannot reach this place. Even mine carts can only move things to the mouth of the cave, and then we’ll need people to move them physically. That is merely step one of the problem. After moving them out, we need to find discreet transport that can transfer them out of the mountains without people knowing.”

“Master Five, are you sure that the news won’t leak out of the village?” Ye Shuang asked. “I mean, assuming we plan to drive some trucks here, how can we ensure that we won’t be discovered?”

“There’s no guarantee.” Master Five did not speak, but one of the young men also shook his head and answered. “At most, we can stop people from coming too close to Nature Village, but if people insist on strolling around the surrounding area, we do not have the power to chase them away. Plus, the area we need to cover is too big. Other than that, we’ve been using subtle methods to chase people out of the village. If we escalate the method, it’ll only attract the attention of law enforcement.”

Xenophobia could be explained as the culture of some backward village, but to set up a large quarantine area to prevent people from entering, that was not so different from establishing a local clan. One wrong step, and the police would get involved.

Han Chu was caught in a conundrum. “Nature Village doesn’t have any connection with the outside world that requires a large transport? For example, people coming in to purchase a large amount of local produce or you going out to purchase everyday products in bulk.”

“No!” the young man said with pride. “We are living in hiding after all.”

Han Chu shared a look with Ye Shuang. They realized that there was no opening, so they could only temporarily abandon the idea of moving the stuff out instantly. “If that’s the case, then we’ll have to ignore these things for now. After Master Eight rescues the girl, we won’t need to do things with such discretion anymore. By then, even when people notice that something’s wrong, it will be too late.”

Master Five sighed. “I had the same thought, but in that case, we’ll need to move to find another sanctuary.”

“Well, you can always rebuild,” Ye Shuang said with empathy. Money and savings could be moved, but the houses and furniture would have to be abandoned.

“Money is not the issue.” Master Five sighed again. “The main issue is the children in the village. They go to the nearby school, and changing school is going to cause so much trouble.”

The young men started to mumble with worry as well. “This reminds me. When we find a new place, we need to come up with a new temporary identity as soon as possible. Then, we have to liaise with the new schools. It’s going to be hard. There are about thirty children in the village, ranging from kindergarten to high schoolers…”

As they talked about this, they packed up their things and left the cave. The man who came to intercept them stayed behind. It was worth noting that it was not until she arrived there in person that Ye Shuang realized that there was another team of young men who were stationed here. Based on the breathing sound, there were about twenty of them. Beside the stone room, there was a bunch of stone cubicles. There were probably where they stayed.

There was no smell of fire inside the cave. Other than sleeping, their other basic needs should be accomplished outside the cave. From the looks of it, those people would not be stationed there if not for the military arms.

After returning to the village, they summoned Xiao San to ask about the girl. After the latter woke up, she was surprisingly calm. When they heard that, both Master Five and Han Chu looked concerned.

“We’re not afraid of her making noises. After all, there’s not much that she can achieve by making a commotion. We’re more afraid when she’s not making noises. It looks like she has something else planned.” Master Five sat quietly in the room for a while before frowning and giving this order. “Add a few more patrols. Other than the guards that looked over the door, add one or two more people to watch over her carefully. One to follow her closely, and the other to observe from afar.”

Han Chu had a more inhuman solution. He took out a small glass vial calmly. “This is the latest anesthetic. It’s harmless, with zero side effects and completely natural.”

After Master Five accepted it, he passed it to Xiao San. “Go to the pharmacy and get a syringe.”

Han Chu watched Xiao San take the vial and turn around to say, “Even though I have the medicine, we have to consider the possibility that she has been trained to resist these toxins. The guards have to be posted, but at the same time, we will have to move faster.”

What kind of movement should be faster?

Very simple, one was Master Eight’s rescue, another was to transport the military arms, and the last was Master Five’s uprooting of his whole clan to another location.

The final one was the simplest. After packing the valuables, they could migrate whenever they wanted… although the number would be a bit large.

However, for the former two, it would be hard to put them into action. Their difficulty aside, there was one another crucial criteria, and that was timing and uniformity. If one party made the move, it would easily influence the other party and cause the enemy to become alert and try to stop their plan.

“According to Master Eight, they’re supposed to make their move tomorrow night.” Han Chu looked at the time and stood up to bid his farewell. “Even though that is what they say, to prevent any accidents, we need to stay in touch constantly… I’ll move to the adjacent village for now; Xiao Shuang will stay here. When it’s time to make a move, I’ll contact Xiao Shuang.”

Master Five nodded, understanding why Han Chu was doing this. “Okay, someone has to stay back after all.”

Other than to be a third party contact, this person needed to have the contact and channels to deal with various sudden incidents, like the location from where the transport could be found, and if there was an accident, what they should do to stop the enemy and assist allies. Even though Master Five was a local boss, his territory did not go beyond Nature Village.

And to speak of one’s ability to converse with people from all walks of life and the one with the experience to deal with an assortment of situations, of those present, there was no better choice than Han Chu.

Han Chu nodded. “Tonight, everyone should rest well and leave only the necessary people posted. Tomorrow, we’ll start to get busy, so please be ready at any time.”

Ye Shuang had no objections, and Master Five looked quite excited. “This is the first time I’ve listen to another person’s command… This should be quite fun. Let’s see what you can do.”