I Sell Bottled Water for Gold in Another World!-Chapter 222: Extraction Successful!!

The bearded man stepped out from the entrance of the cave into the cool night air of the mountains, panting heavily from his hurried exit.

His conscience was in conflict with his desire for survival.

What those men were going to do with that girl was wrong.

He knew that. But bandits had certain codes of conduct and certain boundaries that were not supposed to be overstepped under any circumstances.

However, if he tried to physically resist them, they would turn on him in an instant. In a fight of three against one... He wouldn’t last in that battle for sure.

And what would happen if Mei found out that he had been there when all this happened and he hadn’t done anything to stop it?

"No!" he shook his head vigorously in an attempt to force the conflicting thoughts out of his mind. And anyway, he really did have to urinate.

He walked about twenty meters from the cave entrance, moving toward a cluster of rocks that would provide some privacy from anyone looking.

As he fumbled with his trousers in the darkness, he noticed how quiet the night had become around him.

Too quiet.

The usual sounds of nocturnal insects and small animals were completely absent. Even the wind had died down to nothing but stillness.

An uneasy feeling crept slowly up his spine like cold fingers.

Something was not right about this night today.

He finished quickly and turned back toward the cave, suddenly eager to be inside where there were other people and firelight for safety.

That was when he saw it.

A small cylindrical object was flying through the air above him, straight for the cave entrance.

It landed just inside the entrance to the cave with a sharp metallic clink on stone.

Then it started hissing very loudly.

The thick white smoke burst forth from the cylinder with an unnatural violence, quickly filling the cave mouth at an impossible speed.

"What the—" the bearded man began to exclaim in shock.

Then a second canister sailed through the darkness, exploding deeper in the cave, beyond the entrance.

Then a third.

Then a fourth.

In a matter of seconds, the entire cave entrance was covered with thick white smoke, which poured out in massive quantities, taking the form of fog, in all directions.

The bearded man’s first instinct was to shout a warning to his companions inside.

But before he could breathe to yell, a hard and heavy object collided with the back of his skull with force.

A million stars exploded across his vision. His legs collapsed from under him. The world tipped sideways as he fell.

He struck the ground with a loud impact, forcing all the air from his lungs.

The last thing that he saw before the darkness consumed him was a pair of boots standing alongside his face.

Then nothing.

---------

Within the cave, Lucy had been observing the three approaching her with increasing fear that threatened to consume her completely.

The big man was nearest, his mean grin visible even in the torchlight. His hand was reaching up to her face, his fingers extended to grasp—

Then suddenly, white smoke erupted from the cave entrance with a loud explosion.

It spread at impossible speed, filling the large hall in mere seconds. The bonfire was hidden from sight within moments, its light dulled to a mere orange glow lurking deep within the fog.

"God damn what is that?" shouted the scarred man in alarm.

"Some kind of attack!" screamed the young one as he stumbled backward. "We are under—"

His shout was cut mid-way because he took a deep breath of the unusual smoke in the process.

Lucy noticed him swaying in his feet, his eyes rolling back in his head until only the whites were visible. And then he fell like a puppet whose strings have been severed, with a heavy thud that echoed in the cave.

The scarred man managed three stumbling steps toward the entrance before he too fell, his body going completely limp mid stride and crashing down hard.

The big man, who had been holding Lucy with his hand only inches away from her, turned away from Lucy and tried to make a run for the door.

He made it perhaps five meters before a dark figure materialized from the smoke like a ghost.

A strong hand grabbed him, spun him around effortlessly like a child’s toy, and slammed him into the cave wall with great force.

He crashed heavily and slid down slowly, unconscious before he even hit the ground.

The smoke was everywhere now, thick and white and completely obscuring her vision beyond a few inches.

Lucy could not see anything through the dense fog that surrounded her.

Her eyes were wide with shock and confusion at what was happening, although she could not see what was happening in the thick fog, still she could make out from the sounds that there is someone fighting the bandits.

What was this? Was this rescue?

Or an attack from a rival bandit group? Maybe something else entirely?

Although her mouth was gagged by the dirty cloth, she tried desperately to scream anyway for help.

The sound came out muffled and weak, barely audible over the loud hissing of the canisters still releasing smoke.

Is Anyone there? I am here! Please help!

But even as she tried to cry out, she realized she was breathing in the strange smoke through her nose with every panicked breath.

The sweet smell was stronger now, almost cloying and thick. Her head began to feel light and fuzzy, her vision swimming and blurring. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"No," she thought desperately, struggling against it. "No, I have to stay awake. I have to."

Out of the thick fog, she heard footsteps approaching her.

Not fleeing or running like a person running for their life but steady, regular, as if....

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

A person was walking through the smoke with utmost confidence, as if he could see clearly despite the complete lack of visibility on all sides.

The footsteps drew closer to where she was standing.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Lucy’s heart pounded wildly in her chest. Friend or foe?

Oh! How I hope it would be Brother Alex!

She tried desperately to focus on the approaching figure through the thick smoke, tried to make out any identifying details at all.

There was a shadow in the white fog a tall, moving figure heading toward her.

Lucy was fighting to keep her eyes open.

The smoke was doing its job well, dragging Lucy down into unconsciousness despite her best efforts to fight it.

Please, she thought fuzzily as her mind slipped away. Please let it be.

The shadow crept closer via the smoke.

Closer

She could almost make out features now, could almost see who—

Her vision went completely dark.

The last thing Lucy heard before unconsciousness finally claimed her was the sound of those steady, confident footsteps stopping directly in front of where she was bound.

Then silence.

Then nothing at all.

---------

Reddy emerged from the dense smoke cloud, his night vision goggles cutting through the fog like it was not even there.

The thermal overlay showed him everything he needed to see in the thick fog, four heat signatures on the ground, unconscious.

One heat signature still upright, bound to a stone pillar.

The target.

He moved forward with practiced ease of soldier, his training taking over completely. Every movement has a motive, no wasted motion.

As he approached the bound woman, Reddy could not help but feel impressed with the production quality of this show.

The actress playing the kidnapped person looked genuinely terrified before she had passed out from the sleeping gas.

The dirt on her face, the torn dress, the rope marks on her wrists all incredibly realistic.

These Makeup artists have spared no expense on authenticity of the scene.

He knelt down beside her, taking his tactical knife that he rapidly used to slice through the ropes that bound her hands. The rope was thick and coarse, obviously designed to have ’realistic effect’ rather than being practical to remove.

The rope was stubborn against the blade, taking several slices to break through.

With her hands loose, he turned his attention to her ankles, loosening those ties too. Next, he delicately extracted the soiled cloth from her mouth, throwing it away.

He put his knife back in its sheath and carefully picked up the unconscious woman.

Reddy knew better than to rush his extraction, even as he had completed his initial objective.

He turned and began moving through the darkness towards a cave entrance, his NVGs leading him through the smoky cave, which was still full of smoke.

He emerged from the cave opening, stepping out into the clean night air.

The contrast was immediate. Inside, it had all been smoke and confusion. Out here, the mountain air was clean and sharp under the stars.

As he walked the extraction route back to the staging area, more bodies came into view lying scattered across the ground.

Reddy had carefully eliminated every bandit’s position before proceeding to attack the cave itself.

There was no killing. But no one had been spared the impact of the non-lethal gas as well.

All hostile entities on site were now rendered unconscious and would remain that way for several hours.

The whole incident from the time of assault to the time of target extraction had not taken more than eight minutes.