Solving Middle Age Crisis by Intelligence System-Chapter 616 - 411: Fully Prepared

Three hours ago, southeast of Ritu County, about more than two hundred kilometers away, a Gulfstream G700 slowly landed on the runway.

As soon as the cabin door opened, Brother Quan led Chen Wei, Niu Da, and two others as they quickly descended.

The cold wind hit their faces, and without pausing, they headed straight for the two military off-road vehicles parked nearby.

"Hello!" A lieutenant beside the off-road vehicle saluted them and then pointed to the vehicle behind him, saying, "The vehicles are fully fueled, and everything you need is inside."

"The dashboard is equipped with remote radio; if there’s an emergency, you can call for support on our channel."

Brother Quan returned the salute, his eyes quickly scanning over the vehicles. These were Dongfeng Warriors, which looked somewhat like the Hummers often seen in movies, originally modeled after Hummers.

These vehicles are made of one word - durable, adaptable to all sorts of rough roads, perfect for their needs.

"Alright, thank you for your hard work."

Time was of the essence, and without further words, they each got into the two vehicles and drove toward the gate.

...

On the other side, at the foot of Mount Rick.

An Zai was already shivering from the cold.

He shrunk behind a protruding rock, huffing warm air into his palms continuously, the white mist instantly swept away by the cold wind.

Fortunately, the leather water bag Zhuma had given him before their departure contained hot milk tea. Sipping on it now and then, he managed to endure; otherwise, it would have been quite unbearable.

Over half an hour passed, and the eastern sky had a faint hint of dawn, with pale blue light gradually creeping over the snowy peaks.

Those people in the distance also extinguished their fire and were preparing to ascend the mountain.

Actually, the path from the foot to the mid-mountain wasn’t very steep; the key was to choose the right path.

Some ice caps looked dangerous but weren’t exactly unsafe.

However, these people obviously had no such concerns and boldly began climbing up, their pace surprisingly fast.

After a while, An Zai, who was following behind, realized something unusual. The route these guys took was exactly the same as the one he traversed last time.

It took them about three hours last time to get from the foot to the mid-mountain position.

But that was because the team included non-combat personnel from Ignacio and De Gaulle, who needed to be cared for, slowing the pace.

This time was different; upon reaching the cliff in mid-mountain, An Zai checked the time and found it took just under two hours.

He lay in the shadow under the cliff, watching the group rapidly approach the cave entrance.

Given the circumstances, he couldn’t help but suspect these guys had something to do with De Gaulle’s group from last time, otherwise, they wouldn’t be so familiar with the path.

Rubbing his slightly frozen hands, he quickly took out his satellite phone, dialing Brother Quan’s number multiple times before getting through, lowering his voice to say, "They’ve already reached the entrance. How much longer do you need?"

"These guys probably have weapons and aren’t bad. I don’t have the confidence to stop them alone."

The roar of engines could be heard over the phone as Brother Quan shouted, "We’re almost at the foot of the mountain. Stay where you are, don’t approach, and wait for us to join you!"

"Received!" An Zai replied, putting away the satellite phone, and stopped pursuing further.

He wasn’t worried about those people easily getting into the passage because when they left last time, Qi Yun had instructed him to blow up the entrance. Now, it was full of collapsed rubble, not easily cleared.

However, that thought just lasted for a mere ten minutes.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, an explosion sounded in the distance, followed by snow and debris tumbling down from the mountain top, with fine snow grains drifting in the air like mist.

An Zai’s heart sank, quickly turning his head to look toward the passage entrance.

Only to see a plume of grayish-white dust rising there,

Those people were using explosives to clear the path!

"Damn! Aren’t you afraid of getting yourselves buried alive with such a big commotion!"

An Zai cursed softly, but luckily the mountain was solid enough, and there was someone in the group who obviously knew explosives well, so the disturbance wasn’t too huge, only triggering a minor avalanche.

Though he was tempted to go and check the situation, Brother Quan’s orders to remain in place made him hold back his impulse, keeping his eyes glued to the passage entrance from behind the rock.

After about two hours, a rustling sound of footsteps came from behind, and An Zai turned back to see Brother Quan’s five-man team hurrying over.

After regrouping, Brother Quan asked with a stern face, "Was that commotion earlier caused by those bastards?"

"Yeah." An Zai nodded, pointing toward the cave entrance. "The boss asked me to stay behind and blow the entrance last time we left."

"I reckon they’ve blown it open again with explosives, and most of them are probably inside now."

Brother Quan glanced that way, then studied An Zai’s face, flushed from the cold: "Can you hold up? Or do you want to stay outside to cover us?"

"No need, nothing too serious." An Zai dismissively shook his head, then reminded again, "They have quite a few people, around twenty."

Brother Quan nodded, looking back to ask, "Who among you would go ahead to scout and check if they left anyone on watch?"

"I’ll go." Niu Da stepped forward.

"Alright, be careful."

Upon receiving the order, Niu Da lightened his footsteps and slowly approached forward.

Within five minutes, the radio reported "All clear."

Brother Quan gestured and led the group toward the passage entrance.

The area in front of the passage was a mess, littered with rubble, clearly the handiwork of the earlier group.

It seemed these people were well-prepared.

"Let’s go!" Brother Quan took the lead into the cave.

Being about two hours behind the others, they moved quickly, almost jogging through.

They didn’t know how long they traveled before their flashlights began flickering again, losing effectiveness.

They had reached the eerie energy field area once more.

The group took out the glow sticks they had prepared from their backpacks and continued forward.

Without encountering any trouble, they arrived smoothly at the other end of the passage.

It was still the familiar sight of vines entwining the cave entrance, exactly the same as when they came last time.

As soon as they stepped out of the passage, Brother Quan immediately looked at his watch, his expression somewhat complicated.

An Zai squatted down, carefully observing for a while, then stood and said, "Judging by the footprints on the ground, they seemed to have headed to the lake."

Brother Quan didn’t immediately give instructions, pondering for a couple of seconds before handing over the backpack: "There are tools inside, set up a couple of remote-controlled charges around the entrance."

An Zai took the equipment and swiftly set everything up, finishing in no time.

"All set."

"Move out!" Brother Quan stowed the remote, leading the charge.

The team advanced into the forest ahead in tactical formation.