Chapter 61: Walking into the Trap

Following the path Sister Red had pointed out, I walked a few dozen meters with my flashlight illuminating the way before I found a thin plastic bag on the ground. It had a brand logo on it, the kind used for instant bread sold on supermarket shelves.

Without looking back, I frowned and said, "Be careful, Sister Red, there might be people around here."

Strangely, Sister Red didn't answer from behind me.

"Sister Red?" I turned my head to look.

The surrounding area was shrouded in darkness.

Behind me, it was completely empty—not even a trace of Sister Red's shadow was to be found!

She had vanished! Just a moment ago, she had clearly been following right behind me!

I ran back and forth searching, growing more and more terrified with every passing second. I wanted to shout Sister Red's name out loud, but I didn't dare, fearing that that group of people might be nearby. Sound carries exceptionally well in enclosed spaces, so I didn't dare to yell.

Sweat beaded on my forehead from tension as I continuously called out Sister Red's name in a low voice. There was never any response.

Suddenly, I swept my flashlight across the space.

I saw a figure standing in the northwest corner, with its back turned to me. The posture was completely motionless, and judging by the clothes, it had to be Sister Red.

"You scared me to death, Sister Red. Why wouldn't you answer when I called you?"

She still stood there unmoving, as if she hadn't heard me speak at all.

Walking briskly right up in front of her, I shone the flashlight directly at her face.

Sister Red's face was deathly pale, her gaze completely vacant and dull. She showed no reaction whatsoever to the bright beam of the flashlight! Even when I shone the light right into her eyes, she didn't even blink!

"Hoot... hoot..."

At that moment, a few bird calls suddenly echoed from the darkness ahead. The sound was almost identical to the ones we had heard earlier. Sister Red had even claimed back then that they were probably just mountain pheasants and told me not to worry about it.

Right then, several flickers of firelight appeared in the darkness ahead. These lights waxed and waned, drifting near and far like ghost fires floating up from the netherworld.

I tugged at Sister Red, instinctively taking two steps back and wanting to run, but she stood as firm as a statue; I couldn't budge her at all...

Those spots of firelight were also drawing closer and closer to me.

Several faces gradually emerged from the darkness.

Looking at these people, my heart sank into total despair. I thought to myself that I was done for this time, that I was going to meet my end right here, and that our entire team was going to be completely wiped out.

There were five people in total on the opposing side, three of whom were holding burning torches.

Little braid, the tall middle-aged man Sword Brother, Chen Jiansheng, and two others—a man and a woman—whom I did not recognize.

Little braid stood with his hands clasped behind his back, expressionless. Chen Jiansheng was holding a torch, a smile hanging at the corner of his mouth as he stared at me as if looking at a pet.

The woman was tall, dressed entirely in black, with light yellow pupils. What was even more striking was that a leashless, pure white owl was perched on her left shoulder. The owl's pupils were pale yellow vertical slits. The woman's eyes and the owl's eyes bore an uncanny resemblance to each other. I exchanged a glance with her and felt a chill run straight down to the base of my spine; her gaze was terrifyingly cold.

Chen Jiansheng held his torch higher and laughed as he looked at me, "You brat, you've got some nerve. We underestimated you before. To think you actually managed to escape from the snake pit—looks like you've still got a few tricks up your sleeve for someone so young. It makes all our painstaking effort to catch you worth it after all."

Gazing at Chen Jiansheng, I took a deep breath and demanded, "What's going on with Sister Red? What's going on with all of you? How did you track me down?"

"Hoot..." The owl perched on the yellow-eyed woman's shoulder let out a low hoot. Hearing the beast's cry, Sister Red's body actually gave a slight twitch!

Little braid looked at me and said, "Little fellow, let me introduce you. This is Miss Wen Yun, the successor of the Bird-Calling technique from the Eight Lesser Sects. The Bird-Calling sect excels at training owls and wild yao. As long as a person swallows the golden finger pellet beforehand, Miss Wen Yun can control their basic movements through bird calls. This can be considered a kind of heterodox technique from the old society, exactly the same in principle as Old Haigou's soul-bewitching incense."

Shock and fury surged through my heart! Viewed in this light, Chen Jiansheng and this gang had known about my plan all along!

Chen Jiansheng had deliberately pretended to be clueless earlier, and right when I disguised myself as the man in the white coat to demand Sister Red as a test subject, these people had simply gone along with the act just to play me for a fool!

In other words, from the very moment Sister Red first stepped into the tent, she had already been forcibly fed that so-called golden finger pellet. Sister Red had already been controlled by this woman who handled owls...

No wonder Sister Red had intentionally claimed she knew where Big Brother and Third Brother were being locked up. And no wonder that right after descending, Sister Red had firmly pointed to that left-hand path, ultimately leading me right here, straight into the trap of these people.

This was catching turtles in a jar.

It looked like Researcher An's group was in grave danger as well.

I had fancied myself a Monkey King turning the world upside down, foolishly dreaming of rescuing everyone single-handedly. In the end, I only realized how lacking my underworld experience was, and that the enemy had simply been treating me like a monkey in a circus act. The only thing I couldn't figure out was that since the enemy had discovered my plan long ago, with their manpower they could have easily captured me directly. Why, then, would they go to such great lengths to lure me all the way here? Was there something special about this place?

I looked at the little braid-wearing man standing before me with his hands behind his back, and asked through gritted teeth, "Why? I refuse to believe you went to all this trouble to meticulously set up a scheme behind the scenes just to toy with me, right?"

"Toy with you?" Little braid shook his head and laughed, "Kid, you overestimate yourself. You're nothing more than a small fish. You took the bait on our hook—we were simply fishing, fishing for the big fish behind you."

"What small fish, big fish? I don't understand a single word you're saying. Things have come to this; do whatever you want with me!" A terrible premonition gnawed at my heart, and I vaguely guessed what kind of big fish he was referring to.

"Ha," Chen Jiansheng sneered, "The kid's got quite an attitude. But as I see it... he's just putting on a brave front."

With that, he turned his head toward little braid, wearing an ingratiating smile: "Sir, when will the big fish take the bait? I wonder if it's currently beneath the water's surface or above it. In my opinion, with your elusive four-inch flying daggers, sir, any of these big fish that dare to poke their heads above water will undoubtedly be left in pieces!"

"Don't suck up to me," little braid frowned and said, "If my guess is right, there is at least one person on the other side who matches my level. I just hope it's not Wei Wentong and Beggar Liu..."

Chen Jiansheng cried out in alarm, "Sir, didn't Wei Wentong die of cancer over a dozen years ago?! And I heard Beggar Liu came down with senile dementia and has been paralyzed in a wheelchair for ages!"

Little braid shook his head with a bitter smile: "Thirteen years ago, ever since the vice president seized real power, the grand Changchun Society nearly fell apart. Some of those people either vanished into the common folk or used illness as an excuse to leave the organization and retire to their hometowns. Jiansheng, although you are a descendant of the White Spring branch, there are still too many things you know too little about..."

Hearing this, Chen Jiansheng fell silent and said no more. A heavy expression of gravity could be discerned on his face.

Lifting his gaze toward the darkness ahead, little braid murmured to himself, "Let's just hope the items in the underground palace are useful and can buy Vice President a few more years of life. Otherwise, the pugilistic world... is going to become turbulent once again."

Seeing those people lost in their emotional reflections, I seized the golden opportunity, suddenly spun around, and broke into a mad sprint, running for my life!

Without casting a single glance backward, I pumped my arms and ran as if my life depended on it!

I knew very well that as long as I could reach the ladder ahead of these people and pull the hatch cover shut over it from below, I might still have a glimmer of survival!

Thirty meters! Ten meters! Five meters!

Just as my hand was about to touch the ladder, I suddenly heard the familiar hooting of an owl coming from behind me, accompanied by the flapping of wings.

No matter how fast a human could run, they could never outrun a winged bird.

That owl landed with pinpoint accuracy squarely on my left shoulder.

I looked back... in the darkness, the woman's eyes seemed to be glowing with a faint yellow light.

The owl turned its head to stare directly at me, its pale yellow vertical pupils reflecting my entire face.

And I.

Dared not make a single move.