Another ten minutes passed, and the car drove past a village.
It was a village akin to a poor mountain village, built around a dirt road, with many villagers emerging to watch, holding their children.
Li Zhonglou's brow furrowed slightly.
In his sight, not only were there no men, but the villagers' gazes towards him held a certain indifference, some even showing traces of hatred!
What was going on?
It wasn't just him; the others had also noticed this anomaly, but no one spoke, as the truck's cabin was only separated by half a pane of glass, making their words clearly audible to the driver.
However, a sudden emergency brake ahead instantly heightened everyone's vigilance.
"What's happening?"
Just then, a pleading voice came from ahead.
"I beg you, please let my man come back!"
Crack!
Old Mad jumped out of the truck with a very displeased expression.
"How many times have I told you not to stop the vehicle when we're on a mission!"
As the group was about to peer out, another burly man spoke up.
"Everyone, stay seated! You don't need to concern yourselves with unrelated matters."
The crowd exchanged glances, but being newcomers, they didn't understand the other rules and could only sit obediently.
At the same time, they subtly perked up their ears.
"Old Captain, if it wasn't absolutely necessary, I wouldn't have stopped the car. If my man doesn't come back soon, someone will die!"
"Is your family's life more important right now, or the lives of the entire village? You can't even grasp this basic understanding? Guards!"
Following the final shout, villagers from a distance finally ran over.
"Sister-in-law Yang, don't make it difficult for Old Captain. Everyone has their troubles; please think of us too."
"Don't pull me! I must see my man today! Little Dog, go lie down under the truck!"
Although the woman's voice was still close to hysterical, it gradually faded into the distance. Before long, Old Mad got back into the truck and sped away.
As they passed, Li Zhonglou finally realized that the "Little Dog" the woman mentioned wasn't a real dog, but a little girl of about five or six years old.
Yes, even the child hadn't seen any men!
It seemed there was some unspeakable secret here.
The crowd's previously relaxed mood suddenly turned grim.
After another dozen minutes or so, Li Zhonglou and the others arrived in front of what appeared to be an abandoned old building.
Old Mad first instructed everyone to get off the truck and form a line.
"It's been a while since so many trainees have come, and I haven't found a good place to accommodate you all at once. We've tidied this place up a bit; you can stay here for now."
Li Zhonglou looked behind Old Mad. What met his eyes was a four-story building at least several decades old. Although the exterior walls had peeled off,
As it stood there, one could still faintly sense its past glory.
This was definitely a military base!
Looking at the narrow windows and a perimeter wall nearly two meters high in front of the building, Li Zhonglou's gaze was thoughtful.
However, what caught his attention even more were the two rows of armed soldiers guarding the wall.
"If I'm not mistaken, they should be holding new types of weapons, right?"
As he saw the peculiar weapons, Li Zhonglou's pupils contracted sharply.
If this were a normal reception, would there be a need for soldiers armed with new weapons guarding the entrance?
One had to know that these new weapons were specifically designed to counter cultivators like them. All of them were experts from all over the country, and they would be living together.
With a little thought, it was obvious who these weapons were primarily meant to deal with!
"No, perhaps they don't know about the existence of new weapons!"
Li Zhonglou suddenly considered this and quickly shifted his gaze to the others.
As expected, among their gazes, there were confusion, curiosity, and for some cautious individuals, even a hint of vigilance.
But not one of them was looking at the guns in the soldiers' hands!
"Alright, you all go inside and rest. We'll discuss the mission tomorrow. I'll have someone come to brief you."
Old Mad waved his hand, signaling for them to go inside.
The two burly men were already stronger than them, and moreover, they had just reported for duty, and the instructor mentioned captain had not appeared before they departed.
With everyone bewildered, they could only comply.
Li Zhonglou, on the other hand, felt increasingly uneasy.
The mission time was limited, only three days. Before setting off, Chen Pingfan had mentioned that the mission was different from usual and, in terms of difficulty, should be of the highest level.
Yet, now, in broad daylight, they were being told to go in and rest until tomorrow?
However, with Old Mad and the other one still present, Li Zhonglou couldn't say much and could only follow the others into the building.
Although it looked dilapidated on the outside, appearing as if it had been abandoned for many years, it was quite clean and tidy inside.
As Li Zhonglou had initially guessed, the layout inside was also simple and efficient, with many walls.
Upon entering, the group quickly split into four groups.
"There are four floors in total, no need to argue; we'll take the first floor."
The first to speak were those from the General Bureau's relatives. Although they had been low-key earlier, they were now the first to step forward.
However, Li Zhonglou could understand; in such a situation, the safest place would naturally be the first floor. The lower they lived, the faster they could escape. No matter what happened, they could react with the greatest speed.
What Li Zhonglou didn't expect was that the other three teams didn't step forward to compete with them.
Besides the first floor, the second, third, and fourth were all similar. Finally, the commoners occupied the second floor, the Warriors occupied the third floor, and Chen Pingfan and the other unaligned individuals formed small teams, while Li Zhonglou could only go up to the fourth floor.
This wasn't to say Li Zhonglou had joined them, but rather that compared to the other three factions, Chen Pingfan and the unaligned small teams had less resistance towards him.
Or rather, their organizational structure was not as strong.
Li Zhonglou had no objections to this. For him, it didn't matter where he stayed, as this was not the main point at all.
Upon reaching the fourth floor, Li Zhonglou chose a room facing the main entrance, tidied up briefly, and then closed the door, silently observing the situation ahead.
As expected, those two rows of soldiers, totaling more than ten men, were still guarding the entrance.
"Strange, why does it feel like the General Bureau's mission is just to dump us here?"
The mission manual clearly stated they were to reclaim a mine, yet they arrived and couldn't even see a shadow of the mine. What kind of mission execution was this?
Another important point was that after arriving, they couldn't see any sign of the General Bureau's personnel, and there was no further explanation on how to proceed with the mission!
Li Zhonglou lay on the relatively clean bed, his hands behind his head.
"Could it be that the mission manual is just a distraction? Is the real mission pointing elsewhere?"
Li Zhonglou's expression was thoughtful.
However, at that moment, a knock sounded from outside the door.
"Just in time!"