Bright Sword: Conquer the monk at the beginning and take down Zhou Weiguo

Although these sentences were intermittent, they were enough for Qin Cang to determine their identities - they were indeed accomplices, and the drawings were some kind of "key", and they were still waiting for "someone to send them".

A chill ran down his spine. He suddenly realized that Liu San might not be being scrutinized, but rather being stalled for time. The enemy had no intention of letting him go, but rather waited for these men to return with the blueprints before dealing with them all together.

"They did it on purpose." He gritted his teeth. "They never trusted us from the beginning."

His eyes flashed, his mind racing. He couldn't stand by and watch Liu San get trapped, but he couldn't rashly attack the four men. The enemy likely had firepower advantages, and if a conflict erupted, not only Liu San but Xiaohu would also be exposed.

He retreated quickly, leaving a piece of cloth on the bush as a mark, and then turned back to the hillside observation point.

The door to the house was still closed, but the light inside was dimmer than before, as if they were getting closer to evacuation.

He gritted his teeth and pulled a tinder fuse from his backpack. This was a makeshift signal device he had made, emitting a bright blue light that, when triggered, would illuminate the entire hillside for a few seconds. He had to create an "accident," disrupt the enemy's rhythm, and give Liu San a chance to escape.

He tied the fuse to the base of a small tree and lit it.

“Swoosh—bang!”

A blue light suddenly rose up, like an electric snake leaping into the night sky, illuminating the entire mountainside.

There was a sudden cry of surprise from inside the house.

The door was opened, and three people rushed out, looking cautiously towards the mountain. At the same time, the people on the other side of the mountain road also quickly changed direction and rushed towards the village.

The chaos began.

Qin Cang had already drawn his dagger, and as swift as the wind, he took advantage of the darkness and the chaos to swiftly move towards the back of the house. He had only one goal:

But as he crouched low and, taking advantage of the chaos, flanked his way to the village's back wall, he heard not screams, gunfire, or the chaotic sounds of fleeing footsteps, but an eerie stillness after a period of silence. Although the three men had rushed out of the house, they didn't search everywhere. Instead, they quickly dispersed and deployed defenses in several directions in front of the village. Their rhythm was orderly and their reactions were calm, completely unlike those who had been temporarily disrupted.

Qin Cang narrowed his eyes, and an indescribable chill rose in his heart - these people did not look like temporary members stationed here temporarily. They were more like... sentinels stationed here permanently who had undergone many drills.

This is not just a temporary base, it is an outpost, a quiet forest where stingers lie in wait.

He crouched behind the house, close to the mud wall, peering through the cracks in the wood. The lights were out, leaving only a small, dim oil lamp flickering in the corner, like a silent heartbeat. Liu San was nowhere to be seen. Only a tall man remained in the house, his head bent, sorting something out, as if he were packing something into a cloth bag. His movements were quick and calm.

He instinctively felt something was wrong. He knew Liu San; he would never disappear without a word. If he were still in the room, even if he was pretending, he would have made some noise. But now the whole room was as quiet as a well, bottomless.

Qin Cang couldn't take any chances. He couldn't alert the enemy while they were on alert.

He evacuated.

At that moment, reason overwhelmed impulse. He knew that this was not the time to rush in. He needed more intelligence, more preparation, and even... a more precise plan than he had now.

When he finally returned to the camp, the mountain wind had gradually died down. Little Tiger was still curled up in the pile of straw. He seemed to have just woken up, rubbing his eyes and looking at him with a little confusion.

"Brother Qin?" Xiao Hu lowered his voice, rubbing his eyes, and asked, "What took you so long? Where's Brother Liu San?"

Qin Cang frowned and said nothing. He threw his backpack aside, reached out to touch Xiaohu's forehead, and found that he still had a low fever. He took out some dry food and water from the bag and handed it to him.

"Eat something first and don't ask." His voice was a little hoarse.

Xiaohu nodded tactfully, took the water, secretly glanced at him a few times, wanted to ask something, but swallowed it back.

Qin Cang sat by the fire, silently watching the sparks rise from the woodpile and then turn into ashes. However, his thoughts had already drifted towards the village.

The calm reactions of those men, the methodical deployment of their defenses, the collection of the blueprints, and the mysterious connection of the four men from the mountain path all suggested that this was not a random event, but a carefully planned, long-term operation with a clear division of labor. And Liu San's whereabouts at this moment weighed heavily on his heart.

"Liu San, if you were still alive now..." He muttered to himself, his eyes tightening inch by inch, "then you would definitely find a way to leave me a clue. You wouldn't just sit there and wait for death, right?"

He never thought Liu San was a reckless man. When he was calm, he was even steadier than him. Even if he fell into the hands of the enemy, he would never do nothing.

Thinking of this, he stood up, took out a pen and paper by the fire, and began to sketch. He recalled the paths taken by the enemies, the positions of their guards, possible ambush locations around the village, where the map might be hidden... every detail he could think of was described one by one.

He drew with incredible speed, his thoughts racing. Every stroke was an extension of logic, a conclusion of judgment. He even marked the escaped dog outside the village, sketching its flight path on the map—no meaningless act. Dogs have a keen sense of smell; the direction it ran in might have avoided a trap, or perhaps it had picked up a scent that humans couldn't.

By the time he finished, daylight had already begun to break, a faint bluish-white hue visible in the east. Chickadees began to chirp, and the forest returned to its daytime stillness. Little Tiger had already fallen asleep nearby, the straw mat flattened from his tossing and turning, biscuit crumbs still clinging to the corners of his mouth.

Qin Cang looked at the mist in the distance that had not yet dissipated and sighed softly.

"Today is not the right day to take action," he said to himself, "We have to wait... we have to wait for an opportunity."

It's not that he isn't anxious, but he knows better than anyone that sometimes what's more important than charging is striking at the right time and killing with one blow.

And to do that, he has to rest, recover, and calm down.

He turned back to the depths of the camp, rolled up the map and hid it in the bottom of his backpack. Then he dragged a tattered blanket from the corner, wrapped it around his body, and lay on his side on the straw. His eyes closed, but his mind was still racing through every detail, every possible way to rescue Liu San. He couldn't let this thread break.

Just as he closed his eyes to rest, the shortwave receiver in his bag suddenly emitted a series of trembling beeps. He opened his eyes, his body tensing almost instinctively, and he leaped forward, moving as fast as a bobcat. His fingers fine-tuned the frequency dial until the signal jumped out clearly.