Chapter 36: A Sudden Reversal

Behind us, the echoes within the cave amplified the sounds of what seemed to be countless half-demons charging toward us; the scene was one of extreme chaos. Our flight this time felt like a desperate, aimless scramble.

Finally, when we saw the man in the bronze mask again, it wasn't just Li Yiran and her group—I, too, felt as if I had seen a savior. Wasn't he a high-level cultivator? A situation like this was perfectly suited for him to cover our retreat.

"Three hundred meters to the east, you will find what you need there," the bronze-masked man said to Li Yiran, before casting a deep, meaningful glance at me. Of course, it was also possible he was looking at the long sword in my hand.

After speaking, the man in the bronze mask headed in the opposite direction. His pace was not fast; one might even say he was strolling along leisurely. But we were in no position to mind such details. Following Li Yiran, we ran for about three minutes before arriving at a room filled with countless scrolls. Every single one of them had a yellowish, aged appearance.

It seemed these were precisely what Li Yiran had been after. She turned on her flashlight, emptied her backpack, and began stuffing the scrolls inside, regardless of their utility.

"Don't just stand there! Help me carry these out, and I'll pay ten thousand for each one!" Li Yiran announced, offering a bounty. There were at least several hundred scrolls in the room. That would mean paying out millions? Tsk, tsk, how generous. The old man, hearing this, rushed to the front and started grabbing them.

I, however, found my gaze drawn to the wall of the room, where there was a square-shaped indentation. I suddenly remembered the seal in Li Yiran’s hand and called her over. When the seal was applied, the entire cave seemed to shake as if hit by an earthquake, and the stone wall before us began to shift. This sudden movement terrified everyone in the cave.

Once the stone door opened completely, all activity ceased. The item we had retrieved from the ancient tomb at the bottom of the river was exactly what was needed here. This only piqued my curiosity further: what could possibly be behind this stone door?

When we approached, we discovered the room was actually empty, save for a few mermaid candles placed around the perimeter. In the very center of the room sat a single scroll and a bronze token. After all that effort, was this all it was for?

"My thanks to you all!"

Before we could regain our senses, a person suddenly appeared before me—it was the man in the bronze mask who had supposedly gone back to intercept the enemy. It seemed he hadn't gone to kill the half-demons at all, but had instead followed us here.

The man in the bronze mask picked up the map and the token from the table and let out a loud laugh. "These items are of great use to me. My mission for this trip is complete; you may all do as you please!"

"Think you can just leave? It’s not that easy." Qin Wuran, standing at the entrance of the room, suddenly began to laugh as well. "I knew you were up to no good. My superiors sent me here to intercept you; otherwise, do you think you could have appeared in the Ancient Capital so safely?" As he spoke, Qin Wuran pulled a handgun from his jacket.

Damn! Was this a complete reversal? Firearms had always been strictly controlled in the Great Xia Kingdom—how did Qin Wuran manage to get his hands on one? And who exactly were these "superiors" he kept mentioning?

"Is that so? Are you certain you can stop me?" The bronze-masked man’s sneer echoed. In the next second, he appeared right in front of Qin Wuran and struck him with a heavy blow from his right hand. Under the force of the strike, Qin Wuran flew backward like a kite with a broken string, slamming hard against the stone wall.

The situation had turned murky. Just as the man in the bronze mask prepared to strike again and finish off Qin Wuran, a series of gunshots rang out through the cave.

*Bang, bang, bang...*
*Bang, bang, bang...*

Was this a firefight? The bronze-masked man halted his actions, stopped speaking to us, and vanished from the spot instantly. He had used his escape art again!

A moment later, someone appeared out of thin air. The man wore green tactical gear and carried a three-edged military dagger. He was impeccable, with sharp, angular features, and radiated an aura that warned others to keep their distance. If Li Yiran carried an aura of cold detachment, this man was like a ten-thousand-year-old glacier in human form.

"Useless. You couldn't even stop a minor bronze-masked man," the man in the tactical gear glanced at Qin Wuran with a disparaging remark, then vanished into thin air just as quickly. Damn it, these people really were like ghosts.

What exactly was this escape art, and how did one master it? I couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy.

The sound of gunfire drew closer, and minutes later, dozens of fully armed soldiers appeared in the cave. The leader, who wore no mask, had a scarred face—a typical, rugged Northerner. "Director Qin, you're pathetic. You keep clamoring for missions, and when the higher-ups finally give you a chance, you squander it like this."

"Stop talking nonsense and give me a hand," Qin Wuran snapped, his temper flared. With the help of the scarred man, he climbed to his feet. I could clearly see a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. It seemed the blow from the bronze-masked man had caused significant internal injury.

"Where is Director Wang?" the scarred man asked.

"He went after that Fangshi," Qin Wuran said, clutching his stomach as he spoke to us. "Everyone, let's get out of here. If you don't leave now, don't blame me for leaving you behind."

In the room, I, the old man, and the Song family members looked at one another, completely confused as to what was going on.

"Are you people from the 749 Bureau?" Li Yiran asked, bewildered.

"Who else would it be if not us?" Qin Wuran retorted irritably. "You really have a death wish, daring to cooperate with a Fangshi. If our people hadn't arrived early today, you’d all be dead here."

The 749 Bureau? Another mysterious term!

"Brother Jiang, come over and help me," Qin Wuran called me over, then turned to the scarred man. "Take your team and clear the site; we can't leave empty-handed. Girl from the Li family, don't get too involved in this. These scrolls aren't good things; they're used to create half-demons."

"That is why we must take all of these back to the 749 Bureau to be sealed away." Qin Wuran continued as I helped him walk. "You can't say you came away with nothing; at the very least, you kept your lives. Don't feel resentful; the man from earlier is named Fang Hui, and he is indeed a high-level cultivator, ranked tenth among the Fangshi. His strength is—well, let's just say he easily ranks in the top thirty in the entire Great Xia Kingdom."

Qin Wuran was quite talkative, rambling on and on. I was extremely interested in these secrets and, standing right beside him, listened intently. Li Yiran, however, was far from calm. Not only had she worked so long only to act as a servant for someone else’s gain, but she had also nearly lost her life in the process!