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

Those men were very professional. They were no ordinary sentries, but rather those who had undergone rigorous training. They rotated their positions, maintaining a tactical dispersion. They were definitely not ordinary bandits. Qin Cang's heart tightened, and he immediately determined that these people were most likely from a hidden force with only one goal: to destroy the hiding place.

But they hadn't yet entered the mine, perhaps waiting for instructions or perhaps unsure whether it had been discovered.

Qin Cang decided to retreat first. He had to take this message back. He couldn't attack alone, otherwise, no matter how strong his skills were, he would not be able to deal with two well-prepared people.

He walked back even faster than he had on the way there, his footing as steady as a tiger descending a mountain. He constantly adjusted his breathing, suppressing the rage that was raging within him—not at the enemy, but at the fear of the unknown, the unprecedented complexity of the unfolding situation.

When he returned to the cave, the fire had gone out and Xiaohu was still dozing against the rock wall, but Liu San had his eyes open, looking at him as if he were reading an old book whose mystery was about to be revealed.

"You go." Liu San said lightly, as if he had known that he would act alone.

"I'm going." Qin Cang sat down and patted the dust off his legs. His tone was calm but sharp. "There are two people outside the mine, equipped with professional equipment. You said it was a hidden spot that no one knew about. Now it seems that it no longer belongs to you."

Liu San didn't panic. Instead, he chuckled softly, "I guessed that too. I felt that place was exposed three months ago. But if even you can see it, it means they haven't removed all traces."

"What else are you hiding?" Qin Cang's eyes were as sharp as a blade.

Liu San didn't answer, but slowly untied a piece of cloth from his waist, which contained a heavy metal box. He opened the lid and found a tattered document with a blood-stained cover and blurred writing.

"This is one of the real things I hid in the mine. They thought the hiding places were all in the mine, but they were just false signs I left behind. The real clue is here."

He handed the document to Qin Cang, his eyes heavy. "You can still get away now, but I can't. I've been under surveillance for too long, and I'll be exposed if I move. But you... you can still get around and pull the truth out from where they're least prepared."

He pushed the document back to Liu San intact and said in a low and firm voice: "I won't do what you say."

As soon as the words fell, the cave suddenly became so quiet that the subtle crackling of the fire's ashes could almost be heard. Xiao Hu opened his eyes wide in astonishment, his mouth slightly open, as if he couldn't believe that Qin Cang would actually reject the "key to the truth" they had been pursuing so hard.

Liu San's hand froze in mid-air, and he paused for a few seconds as he took the document before slowly withdrawing it. He looked at Qin Cang with a complicated gaze, not angry, but with a sense of loss, like an old friend being chilled by a cold wind.

"You saw it," he whispered. "You knew they were there, and you knew this was too good to be missed."

"Precisely because I know," Qin Cang stared at him with eyes as sharp as knives, "I won't do what you say. I don't know how much you have hidden, nor do I know which side you are on. But why did you wait until now to take out this document? Why didn't you take me to the real hiding place from the beginning?"

Liu San fell silent. His eyes were dim and unclear, as if thousands of words were stuck in his throat, but he couldn't say a single word.

Qin Cang turned his head to look at the fire, his voice as low as the night wind brushing against dead leaves: "You are right, I should believe the evidence. But the evidence also depends on who handed it over. In my eyes, your thing is not as good as a bullet shell I found myself."

Liu San wanted to speak, but in the end, he didn't. He knew Qin Cang too well. Once he made a decision, he wouldn't turn back, even if it meant facing an abyss. He had admired Qin Cang's stubbornness, but he had also suffered for it.

"Do you really want to investigate alone?" Liu San asked with a dry voice.

"Yes." Qin Cang's voice was cold and emotionless. "But I'm not following your clues. I'm looking from a place I trust."

Xiao Hu felt like he was caught in the middle of a storm. He looked at Liu San, then at Qin Cang, his face filled with confusion and doubt: "So what should we do? Should we split up? Or..."

"Follow me." Qin Cang turned to look at Xiao Hu, his tone unquestionable, "I don't want you to be dragged into a trap set by others."

"But Brother Liu..."

"I'm not saying he's necessarily wrong." Qin Cang interrupted him, "But I can't believe his way."

Xiaohu hesitated to speak. Deep down, he was filled with doubts. The information Liu San had given him was indeed detailed, even containing several code instructions he had never heard of before, seemingly capable of opening some kind of encrypted channel. But the origins of these things always seemed to evoke an inexplicable sense of mystery.

He finally nodded: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

Qin Cang stood up, brushed the dust off the corner of his clothes, and said to Liu San, "Be careful, don't die before us."

After saying that, he pulled Xiaohu out of the cave.

Liu San didn't chase after him, merely sitting at the edge of the firelight, his shadow stretched out. He watched Qin Cang's retreating figure, his heart aching as if scraped by rusty iron. He knew that the young man he had once brought up no longer needed guidance. And he himself... seemed to have become the one who was ultimately doubted, the one rejected.

·

After leaving the cave, the night wind was colder than the day. Xiaohu followed Qin Cang with his arms folded, and couldn't help asking, "Brother Qin, where are we going next?"

"Thirty miles to the southeast, there's an abandoned post station. I used it as a temporary base in my early years. Back then, we arrested a group of people, and one of them kept saying they weren't thieves, but 'cleaners.' I suspect that clue hasn't been broken."

Xiaohu was stunned: "'Cleanser'? What does that mean?"

"What it means is that someone doesn't want to leave any traces, and someone is 'cleaning up' the past for someone else." Qin Cang gritted his teeth and said, "If it's really as I think... then Liu San didn't deceive us, but he himself is just a piece in that chess game."

Xiaohu's breath caught in his throat. "You mean, he doesn't know anything deeper?"

Qin Cang didn't answer, but instead quickened his pace. The startled flutter of birds and beasts echoed through the forest, and a cold glint flashed through his eyes. He was no longer the soldier who relied on orders and the team for survival. Now, he relied solely on himself for every step.

They hurried along the old road, crossing the forest and the slopes, and finally arrived at the abandoned station, which was covered with moss at dawn. Among the broken houses and ruins was their most difficult front line.

Qin Cang did not waste any time and directly dug out a wooden box under a broken tile. When he opened it, dust flew up. Inside were some rusty metal plates and an extremely inconspicuous old notebook. He opened the notebook and