On the night that the Kyung Clan completely lost track of the Experimentals, no one noticed that in a corner of Stronghold 61, where the battle between the A-rank hitmen and the Pyro Company had taken place, a creeper vine was growing along the wall.
That creeper vine had been planted for a long time, and the walls of the houses by the roadside were already covered by it.
When someone passed by in the summer, they would get a refreshing feeling when they saw the green on the wall.
On the day of the battle, a member of the Pyro Company's Dusk Squad had died under that wall. Their blood seeped into the soil from their corpses and mixed with the creeper vine's roots.
At night, a fat rat crawled out of the sewers and carefully searched for food. It was attracted to the creeper vine's side by the smell of blood that had not been cleaned up yet.
However, the creeper vine seemed to have a life of its own as it reached out a tiny tentacle to try and stroke the rat.
The rat took two steps back in fear before carefully scrutinizing the creeper vine's tentacle. The tentacle looked like a human palm.
But when the rat realized it was just a plant, it was no longer so wary. Instead, it approached the creeper vine again.
The creeper vine's soft tentacle touched the rat's head a few times as though it was very curious.
This was probably the first time the creeper vine was seriously trying to understand the world in its own way. When the tentacle scratched the rat's head, it felt like it was tickling it. The rat squinted its eyes in enjoyment.
But a moment later, the creeper vine's tentacle spread out and stabbed into the rat's body like spikes. In just an instant, it pierced through the rat's body and dragged it behind the dense leaves.
The rat only had time to squeak before it fell silent. Meanwhile, the creeper vine attached itself to the wall and looked as peaceful and beautiful as ever.
…
By the time the tour group arrived at Stronghold 78, it was already early in the morning. After fixing their tires, they immediately set off. Just as Ren Xiaosu had guessed, even though the tour group had already arrived at Stronghold 78, the rescue team still had no intention of setting off.
This time, Fang Zhi finally listened to Zhou Yingxue's suggestion and bought two more off-road vehicles at the last minute. They were specifically used to store supplies and vehicle maintenance tools. He even hired a local vehicle maintenance worker with a high salary to accompany him on tour.
What happened last night had left them with a lingering fear.
What if it wasn't a hardcore repair team, but a more ruthless robber? Fang Zhi knew very well that if he was trapped in the unruly wilderness, most men would probably be very interested in Li Ran, a female celebrity.
On this trip to the stronghold, Li Ran brought Zhou Yingxue with her wherever she went. On the surface, the two women looked as if they were sisters who loved each other. If Ren Xiaosu didn't know the truth, he would have believed it.
Li Ran brought Zhou Yingxue to all sorts of events and banquets purely because she did not want Zhou Yingxue to be idle …
Since Zhou Yingxue was tagging along to the events, Ren Xiaosu, as her assistant on the surface, had to tag along as well.
Li Ran even proudly told Zhou Yingxue, "The main reason I came to the Zhou Clan for the tour this time is to meet a movie director at Stronghold 73. It seems like he's going to start filming a new movie soon. If I manage to get chosen as the female lead, I'll help you get a supporting role from the director."
Zhou Yingxue rolled her eyes. She knew Li Ran was just trying to show off to her. Otherwise, she would not have mentioned such a thing for no reason.
However, Ren Xiaosu asked, "Are there still people filming movies these days?"
"Of course there are, and they're even in color," Li Ran said proudly.
Ren Xiaosu had not lived in the strongholds of the Central Plains for long, so he did not know many of the strongholds would have open-air movies. There would be a special projectionist who would pull down a curtain and use a projector to project the movie.
Every time a movie was played, a large group of men and women, young and old, would gather under the curtain. There would also be hawkers selling cigarettes, soda, and melon seeds.
These things did not exist in the Southwest and Northwest, but only in the Central Plains.
But during the banquet, Zhou Yingxue received another text from the Anjing House. However, the mission this time was a little different.
"A large number of members of the Pyro Company have infiltrated Stronghold 73, accompanied by members of the Knight Organization. Their target is suspected to be the ruins of the Pyro Company's Pre-Cataclysm laboratory near East Lake.
"This laboratory is of extremely high value and should be a research topic in the field of life sciences. Furthermore, a technological breakthrough was achieved there before The Cataclysm, so it can be used in a wide range of medical fields.
"This is an open-ended mission. The bounty for the heads of the Pyro Company's Midnight team is 150,000 yuan per person, and the bounty for the heads of the Dusk team is 500,000 yuan per person.
"Only those who succeed in this mission will be qualified to participate in next spring's trials."
On the grass outside the banquet, Ren Xiaosu and Zhou Yingxue were stunned when they saw the mission text. He wondered, "Has the Anjing House ever issued such a ruthless mission in the past? It's like they're asking all A-rank combatants to hunt down the Pyro Company's members. "
Ren Xiaosu took out his newly snatched C-rank cell phone and realized it had also received the text message!
Therefore, this mission was sent out by the Anjing House indiscriminately! Even C-rank combatants would get a share!
"The most ruthless part of this mission is that it's been sent out to everyone." Zhou Yingxue said, "The Anjing House must also know very well that many of the cell phones they've sent out are in the hands of people with ulterior motives …. Master, I'm not trying to insinuate anything."
Ren Xiaosu raised an eyebrow. "Continue."
"The various organizations should have one or two Anjing House cell phones in their possession. Although they can't receive the A-rank mission text messages, they can still occasionally guard against assassinations of important members of the consortiums." Zhou Yingxue said, "Previously, someone from the Zhou Clan was assigned a B-rank mission and even listed his crimes. In the end, that person was arrested by the Zhou Clan for investigation before the assassins could even arrive. Therefore, this mass text message was sent to those organizations in the hopes that more people would come and stop the Pyro Company. "
"Mhm." Ren Xiaosu nodded. "If it were just a simple mission to hunt down the Pyro Company's members, I'm afraid it wouldn't be tempting. But the sky-high price of the data in the laboratory is enough to tempt people. I'm afraid that even the Zhou Clan themselves will be tempted. After all, this laboratory is in their territory. This text message emphasizes the value of the laboratory, yet it seems like they're not interested in the data. How interesting. "
Therefore, the Anjing House clearly knew someone other than the hitmen had gotten their hands on their cell phones. However, they didn't care and were only giving the A-rank hitmen a new cell phone.
In fact, they were deliberately allowing the cell phones to be leaked so that they could disrupt the situation at a critical moment!
"But why would the Knight Organization accompany the Pyro Company when they're searching for the ruins of the laboratory? How did these two organizations get together?" Ren Xiaosu wondered.
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