Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Are you feeling better?” Bai Muchuan inquired every now and then.

“I’m much better now.” In actual fact, Xiang Wan did not feel any better.

She would be in pain whenever they touched her wounds.

Her limbs felt stiff and her forehead was filled with perspiration.

However, in order to console him and everyone else, she endured all of these and showed a smile, making it seem as though she was not hurt…

Mei Xin showed an empathetic frown. “It’s actually good to feel pain.”

When the wound felt painful, it meant the injury did not affect Xiang Wan’s nerves.

If Xiang Wan was unlucky, the wound could have made her paralyzed or her leg might even be amputated.

Mei Xin’s heart was hanging in the air when she heard that Xiang Wan was injured, yet she did not hear her complaining about any pain.

Now that she saw Xiang Wan gritting her teeth in pain, she felt relieved.

“We still need to find a way out and bring you to the hospital for a check.”

They had really limited medical supplies. Even though they could handle external wounds, not to mention they were within the area of a natural focal disease… if an infection occurred and worsened…

Mei Xin quivered at that thought and looked quietly at Xiang Wan.

…

Cheng Zheng was sitting by the side and assisted Mei Xin when she dressed Xiang Wan’s wound.

He removed the disposable gloves he was wearing. Then, he took some anti-infection medicine from the medical kit and handed them to Bai Muchuan.

“Let her take this.”

Bai Muchuan took it and looked at Cheng Zheng without saying a word.

Cheng Zheng also gave him a bottle of half-filled mineral water.

Bai Muchuan took the water and took a glance at their other ill teammates lying on the ground. At this time, his eyebrows furrowed.

“What happened to them?”

From his reaction, he didn’t know about the natural-focal disease.

“You and your men are strong,” sneered Cheng Zheng and he proceeded to give an account of the situation to Bai Muchuan. After he finished, he looked displeased. “You people should have given us a heads up when you entered Vulture’s Mouth. Just look at how many people are being implicated now? We don’t even know if there will be any casualties!”

Bai Muchuan replied as he looked at him, “Who would have thought that this place is so jinxed?”

If a person like Bai Muchuan felt that the place was jinxed, then it had to be jinxed.

Everyone fell silent.

As the pain on her leg subsided, Xiang Wan looked up and was surprised at what she saw.

Besides Tang Yuanchu and Ding Yifan, there was another woman with them—Lima?

Lima had sat quietly aside, as though she didn’t exist…

“What happened?”

Bai Muchuan followed Xiang Wan’s gaze and noticed that Xiang Wan was as though staring at him, eyes clear and bright. He suddenly felt a little headache.

“Brother Steel abducted her.”

“I know that…” At Brother Steel’s villa, the police found Lima’s identification card and some personal belongings, as well as the place where she was being humiliated.

The thing Xiang Wan was really curious about, was the reason why Lima was together with Bai Muchuan and his men.

“… It’s a long story!”

Bai Muchuan skipped the unimportant parts and gave a summary of how they met Lima. “In order not to let her fall in Brother Steel’s hands again,” he explained, “we have no choice but to bring her along.”

They knew how inhumane Brother Steel was.

Lima could lose her life at any moment if they didn’t help her.

As police officers, it was their responsibility to ensure the safety of the civilians.

Xiang Wan nodded her head in understanding.

Nevertheless, the way Lima looked at Xiang Wan back then at the hotpot restaurant was strange enough.

Now, her gaze had undergone some changes and became a little hostile.

Could this be a woman’s jealousy? Xiang Wan mulled over this and puffed a sigh.

The root cause was exactly because of Sir Little Bai’s innate ability to attract women.

For a woman whom he had rescued from the den of wolves, it was really difficult for her not to fall in love with him…

It was the same for me, too, Xiang Wan thought. Just a moment ago, Bai Muchuan suddenly appeared out of nowhere and shielded her with his body… when he used his assault rifle against the triad members… she was mesmerized as well.

Sometimes, a woman’s love can be very simple—it’s pure admiration.

…

“What happened after that?”

Cheng Zheng’s sudden interruption brought them back to the topic.

“After that, Brother Steel fled with his men, and we followed him into this awful place. We never expected this place to be this horrible.”

Initially, Bai Muchuan didn’t expect that the forest would be such a hostile environment. The deeper they ventured into the place, the more worried he became. When they wanted to head back, they realized they had lost their way. After going around in circles, they panicked a little.

Out of options, they decided that they had to focus on the fact that their enemy was their target.

Since Brother Steel dared to come in here, there must be a way to come out of it.

Thus, Bai Muchuan and his men decided to keep a safe distance behind Brother Steel…

Instead of direct confrontation, they played guerilla warfare with Brother Steel. By doing so, they could also make use of the opportunity to figure out what was going on inside this seemingly jinxed forest.

Soon, Brother Steel led Bai Muchuan and his men to this place and noticed that they were having a shootout with Cheng Zheng and rest.

“In other words, those people earlier were Brother Steel and his lackeys?”

“Correct!” Bai Muchuan nodded his head. “We have been following them for a few hours, and he has been going around in circles. We don’t know if he is searching for something or trying to shake us off—but Brother Steel’s cowardice probably got the better of him. After he lost a few men, he did not dare to go head-on with us!”

That could explain why Brother Steel retreated even though they clearly had the advantage when it comes to numbers…

Cheng Zheng looked at Bai Muchuan’s drenched shirt.

“If they can shake you off, they can also let you perish here without wasting any effort…”

The environment there was pretty hostile. If they could not get out, they wouldn’t be able to last for long as they would be out of food and water.

“This place is more than what meets the eye—”

Bai Muchuan squinted his eyes as he looked at the seemingly endless dark forest. After a while, he continued to talk. “Vulture’s Mouth is not just a hostile environment. Brother Steel’s influence here is likely to be deep since he has been here for so many years. The same thing can be said about his drug dealing business. All this while, he had managed to escape unscathed from the police. This place might have played a part in it…”

“Do you mean…” Xiang Wan was struggling to open her sleepy eyelids as she looked at Bai Muchuan. “Are you thinking that this forest contained the hideout where Brother Steel makes the drugs?”

Bai Muchuan turned and looked at her with a gentle gaze.

“Yes. I’ve heard from Captain Zhang that a lot of drugs came out from Vulture’s Mouth, but the police had not been able to find anything…”

As Xiang Wan listened to Bai Muchuan’s account of the situation, a frown appeared on her face. “Their hideout must be here!”

The Vulture’s Mouth had an area of at least hundreds of miles.

The forest was dense and endless—as though it gave them the impression that they could never walk out of it. How were they supposed to find the hideout?

“I have a thought.” Bai Muchuan suddenly turned his head to look at Xiang Wan and the rest. “I just realized something when I saw her earlier—”

Eh? You realize something when you see me? Xiang Wan thought.

She pointed at her own nose.

The group looked at her, and then at Bai Muchuan. They seemed eager to hear more from him.

Bai Muchuan nodded his head with his eyes half-closed. He was donning a mysterious expression.

“Have you heard of ‘ghost hitting walls’ 1 ?”

“…”

Ghost hitting walls!

Under the light from the fire pit, the smile of interest on everyone’s face stiffened in an instant.

Was it really appropriate to talk about this under such circumstances?

Xiang Wan cleared her throat, in an attempt to ease the tension.

“So, are you saying that I remind you of ghosts when you see me?”

“Silly girl!” Bai Muchuan sat right next to her and rubbed her on the head like he always did, but the glint of light in his eyes seemed even brighter. “I’m not referring to the ancient superstitions of ‘ghost hitting walls’… I’m referring to the scientific version.”

There was even a scientific version of that?

Xiang Wan pursed her lips with a dubious look.

“Forget it! I shall give a simpler example. Otherwise, nobody will understand what I’m trying to say!”

Umm…

Bai Muchuan labeled everyone as someone who “would not understand” even though they had not expressed their views yet.

This was a perfect example of him acting cool.

Cheng Zheng replied with a poker face, “Stop beating around the bush!”

Bai Muchuan revealed a sly, mysterious smile. “When all of you were walking around the forest, did you have a feeling that you are heading upwards? Even though everyone was walking upwards, yet somehow, all of you just couldn’t reach the top of the mountain?”