The mission had progressed to this stage, and everyone knew the opportunities were slim, and they had to finish as fast as possible. Once the terrorist organization realized everyone was charging for Tiger King, future rescue attempts would be very difficult—it goes without saying that they might not be able to find him after a transfer. Worse still, the terrorist organization might kill him in a fit of rage, resulting in a loss far outweighing the gain. Thus, everyone was ntally prepared for one final attempt, although no one spoke this aloud.
A group of four people arrived at the mouth of the pit; several guns were pointed upward from below, and soone down there was jabbering away in a foreign language. Heeding Luo Zheng's words, Tiger Girl remained silent. Luo Zheng pushed past her and stepped forward; the people below, seeing Luo Zheng, suddenly paled, not daring to say another word, and quickly beat a retreat. This showed how high the standing and fearso the reputation of the man in the black robe was. Seeing this scene, everyone knew they'd taken the right gamble and breathed a sigh of relief in secret.
When Tiger Girl witnessed this, hope flickered within her. Thinking of Tiger King's daily longing to return to Huaxia, her heart filled with sorrow. The chance was right before her eyes, and without hesitation, Tiger Girl leaped down. Luo Zheng and the others followed suit, jumping down to find the ard militants standing in deference on both sides of the passage, not daring to so much as breathe too loudly. Luo Zheng snorted coldly and glared at a few of them, scaring them pale.
Soone bowed respectfully and motioned for them to proceed. Luo Zheng shoved Tiger Girl slightly, and she reacted, stepping forward. They kept encountering ard militants on their way, all of whom stopped to make way for Luo Zheng and his group, dressed in black robes. After they had passed, the militants resud their chatter; none dared to approach for an inspection.
The group followed Tiger Girl deeper, through man-made connecting stairs between the upper and lower caves. Unfamiliar with these, they would certainly get lost. After traveling a distance, Luo Zheng and the others beca dizzy with the confusing routes, unable to discern the direction in this vast, winding underground system. Fortunately, the way was smooth, not only that, marks were made on the cave walls to ensure they could find their way out when the ti ca.
Because there were so many openings to the surface inside the cave, ventilation and lighting weren't much of a problem. Oil lamps lit the darker areas; descending further and without realizing it, they arrived at a vast corridor. Tiger Girl pointed ahead and said, "This way leads to Godfather's place, there's only one cave, the others lead elsewhere, which I haven't visited."
Luo Zheng gave Lan Xue and Ghost Hand a aningful look, and they nodded in understanding before turning to leave. Luo Zheng signaled for Tiger Girl to lead the way. Perhaps it was returning to familiar territory that improved Tiger Girl's mood; she happily went forward with Luo Zheng following closely behind. After walking about fifteen ters or so, they heard voices ahead and the clanging sounds of a scuffle.
"What's going on?" Luo Zheng was taken aback and held onto Tiger Girl.
"Just practicing with knives," Tiger Girl said indifferently as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Eh? Be careful," Luo Zheng was caught off-guard and admonished her seriously, his heart racing with excitent as they were about to rescue the legendary Strongest Soldier King. He quickened his pace; it didn't matter if there was soone ahead practicing with knives, even if there was an ambush, they would have to push through.
Filled with excitent, Luo Zheng followed closely behind Tiger Girl and after a short distance, the space ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a massive cave. The cave was so high that the ceiling was out of sight, but there was a crevice allowing a sliver of light to penetrate, illuminating the interior. The cave was as flat as a plaza, devoid of any furniture, but there were two people practicing with knives.
Luo Zheng glanced at the two people practicing swordsmanship, dressed in a black robe himself, he didn't pay much attention to them; his gaze was drawn to a large iron cage not far away. The cage was made of steel bars as thick as an arm, spaced no more than half a foot apart, forming a square. Inside was a simple wooden stool, a basic table, and a wooden bed.
Sitting on the stool was a person wearing a washed-out and old military uniform with very short hair, casually eating so food at the table. He had a square face with thick eyebrows arched like silkworms and bright, spirited eyes underneath, a straight nose, and wide lips. He emitted an air of authority characteristic of a military figure.
Perhaps noticing Tiger Girl, the stern face in the cage briefly flashed with surprise; he gestured for Tiger Girl to co over. A figure in black tried to step forward to block her, but Luo Zheng saw a flash of black, and imdiately after, a chopstick plunged into the thigh of the figure in black, and blood spurted out.
"Considering you are new and unaware, I'll spare your life this ti. Make sure to act smarter next ti," the person inside the cage said disdainfully, speaking in perfect Huaxia language, with clear enunciation. He continued to beckon Tiger Girl over.
"Dominant." Luo Zheng couldn't help but admire the display. Truly befitting the Strongest Soldier King, so arrogant and commanding wherever he went, not a shred of compromise or bowing down even in an iron cage. Such unyielding spirit was admirable; this was what a real soldier looked like.
The one hit by the chopstick glared at the man in the cage with clenched teeth. A black-robed figure ca over and slapped him rcilessly, coldly ordering, "Get lost." Insulting their own, the black-robed person looked coldly at the man in the cage, his eyes filled with murderous intent, and equally coldly retorted, "Old man, if you weren't still useful, I'd be the first to kill you."
The man in the cage continued eating, completely ignoring the other as if he didn't exist. This level of disregard for powerful adversaries was impressive. Luo Zheng felt his blood boil and clenched his fists, ready to make a move when suddenly the man in the cage shouted, "Call that bastard Shijing over here, I'm in a bad mood today. I want at, I want wine, or else don't expect to teach you the sword techniques."
"Damn it!" The black-robed person exploded with anger, drawing a Japanese sword with the intent to kill, but perhaps recalling sothing, he half-drew the sword before sheathing it again. Turning around, he spotted Luo Zheng and demanded, "You, go find the captain." He spoke in Japanese.
"Yes, sir!" Luo Zheng snapped his heels together and nodded in seemingly respectful agreent. Seeing no hint of suspicion from the other person, he turned around. Knowing that the opportunity was rare, Luo Zheng felt a surge of excitent, swiftly pulled out a hand crossbow from his chest, aid at the man, and pulled the trigger like lightning.
The essence of a surprise attack was silence, speed, precision, and ruthlessness. Once discovered, it would be too late. A black flash shot out like lightning, without any warning, but terrifyingly swift. The black-robed person was ruthless enough to instinctively sense the danger and evade by throwing himself to the side at the last mont.
Luo Zheng knew these people were formidable; they could even dodge bullets, let alone crossbow arrows. Anticipating that his sudden strike might miss, he was already psychologically prepared for it and had a backup plan lined up.
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