After traveling continuously, everyone was exhausted and collapsed to rest. Luo Zheng took on the role of the sentry, and after scanning the surroundings, he ca to the edge of the cliff. Standing atop a huge rock, he looked downwards. His view was obstructed by an outcrop of rocks below, preventing him from seeing anything underneath. Sighing to himself in resignation, he was about to step back when he suddenly saw a light appear across the valley on the cliff opposite.
Luo Zheng was startled and quickly raised his sniper rifle to observe through the sniper scope. The cliff opposite was dim, with the moonlight blocked by the cliff beneath his feet, it was too dark to see clearly. However, the light was conspicuously visible against the dark cliff. Luo Zheng observed through the scope for a while and noticed that the light was flickering, faint yet undeniably real.
The light was very peculiar. Luo Zheng observed for a while and then noticed the light had suddenly disappeared, plunging him into thoughtful amazent. There couldn't be any will-o'-the-wisp above, that could be ruled out. So what else could it be? A moving light, unless man-made, what other natural phenona could there be?
After pondering for a mont and getting nowhere, Luo Zheng woke up Shu Cheng and briefly explained the situation. Shu Cheng also looked at the cliff in front of them with a face full of surprise, unable to understand what it was. The two exchanged a few words when suddenly, the light on the cliff reappeared. Luo Zheng handed the sniper scope to Shu Cheng to observe.
"It's not caused by natural phenona, the light moves quite fast, and besides, the brightness neither decreases nor increases; it remains constant. The trajectory is sowhat irregular, but overall, the range of motion is limited, more like soone walking with a lantern or sothing," Shu Cheng analyzed with surprise.
"A person? A lantern?" Luo Zheng was shocked, his expression growing solemn as he suddenly thought of sothing and exclaid, "Does that an there are people living on the cliff, maybe so kind of cliff cave?"
"Hiss? Are you saying Turul's people might be hiding inside a mountain cave?" Shu Cheng asked in surprise. Seeing Luo Zheng nod with a grave expression, he thought for a mont, realizing it was entirely possible and said, "It's highly likely. The valley below is Dead Valley. If the Governnt Army attacks, by blockading the entrance, Turul can be trapped, and it's impossible that they don't have a way out. Turul chose this spot as his lair; there must be secrets we don't know about."
"Right, the cliff cave is his escape route. Faced with a formidable enemy, Turul could retreat through the cave, launching a surprise counter-attack. With Turul's cunning, choosing this spot as his lair surely has its reasons, and the cave is one of them. Look at this." Luo Zheng pointed towards the valley below.
Shu Cheng moved closer, looking around at the terrain, listening intently.
"This place is a pocket-shaped valley, which looks like a naturally ford pit from the air. The valley is very deep, with a rapid river, so there's no shortage of water. Turul has boats to transport supplies ensuring logistics support. No matter who attacks, there's only one road on the ground, that is the dirt road. The dirt road is narrow, which prevents large troops from entering, reducing the threat. It's also difficult via water route. Turul has several ard boats, and even in defeat, just by blocking one segnt, boats won't be able to get through, making attacks from above futile. Everyone could hide in the cliff cave, how could they attack? Unless they use long-range cruise missiles to flatten the entire valley," Luo Zheng analyzed with a serious expression.
"And there's another point," Shu Cheng mused, "This is Turul's territory, no matter who cos to attack, Turul would know imdiately, having plenty of ti to arrange defenses. The likelihood of a large force making an incursion is very slim. Our small team, hiding here, would not be easily detected, but we have no way to launch an attack from above, especially now we discover Turul's people are in the cliff cave, attacking from above is even more impossible. So what do we do next?"
Luo Zheng did not imdiately answer Shu Cheng's question, and fell deep into thought. Knowing Luo Zheng's habit, Shu Cheng did not disturb him and quietly left to stand guard. After a while, Luo Zheng started to patrol the surroundings, walking along the edge of the cliff, carefully observing the terrain.
Thinking that Turul might be hiding in a cliff cave rather than beneath the canyon, Luo Zheng grew worried. Being in the cave, throwing grenades would be pointless. It would be great if he could find the cave's exit, but the surrounding area was full of winding mountain ridges covered with dense trees and overgrown weeds. The exit was definitely camouflaged and difficult to find.
After a complete patrol with nothing found, Luo Zheng returned to the camp and found a spot to rest. He practiced the family's inherited Breathing Skill to heal his injuries; his rib injury had improved quite a bit but he couldn't be careless and eventually fell asleep unintentionally. When he woke up, daylight had already broken and others who had rested the night were invigorated.
Everyone was busy making a fire and cooking. They had looted so rice and cooking oil yesterday, which ca in handy now. They placed rice in their helts and set them over the campfire. Water was not an issue—in the tropical rainforest, things like Wild Kudzu, grapevines, kiwifruit vines, and five-flavor vines were abundant with water that contained high vitamins and were perfect for direct consumption or cooking.
Soone had caught two wild chickens and buried them with clay beneath the campfire to slow-cook, preparing a dish called "beggar's chicken." These daily living tasks did not require Luo Zheng's attention. He went to the cliff edge, leaned out to look and noticed, with the help of sunlight, that the canyon floor was very flat with heavy artificial traces, all pointing to the presence of a cave. The rocks from digging the cave had been used to flatten the surface.
This ti, Luo Zheng observed very carefully and found the beneath of the canyon was spacious, with two trucks parked and an artificial lake near the river with a tal boat docked. When they arrived it was dusk; they had briefly inspected the area before night march to rob the river, returning again at night. This was the first ti they observed it in broad daylight.
Luo Zheng set up his sniper rifle and started observing the opposite cliff through the sniper scope. While adjusting the focus, he noticed the cliff was riddled with indents that resembled caves, but they were too far away and obscured by protruding rocks, making them hard to see clearly. Luo Zheng moved to a different spot to check, becoming suspicious that those spots indeed resembled caves.
Shu Cheng ca over, and Luo Zheng briefly explained his findings. After observing through the sniper scope for a mont, Shu Cheng's face darkened and he spoke in a low tone, "This clearly shows that the caves are man-made, and the entrances are intentionally camouflaged. Those protruding rocks not only block the view but also serve as excellent cover, providing a perfect hiding spot for attacks."
"Makes sense, and it's good we didn't attack forcefully; otherwise, once we were down there, the enemy would just need to guard the entrance and we wouldn't be able to escape," Luo Zheng said gravely, worry flashing in his tiger-like eyes but overshadowed by anger and hatred towards Turul.
"The river is wide upstream, becos narrow after passing through the canyon, passing through the crevices. Look, in the downstream direction of the river, above the waterline there's a sloping hole that gets more inclined as it goes up until it narrows to a crack no wider than three ters at the top, just like a crevice. I've scouted along this crevice; it's about a kiloter long, leading out of the mountain to a flatland ahead," Shu Cheng said earnestly.
Luo Zheng was familiar with this crevice, the opening was at the mountain top, but he hadn't realized it was over a kiloter long, narrower above and wider below. He looked over, his vision montarily blurred by a beam of sunlight, as if the crevice had shattered, which startled him but then he was delighted as an idea surged to his mind.
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