Chapter Thirty-Nine: Familiar Eyes

Originally, Ye Yan had planned to confront Tu Junfang alone, but Chen Duo refused to agree no matter what and insisted on coming along. Ye Yan could do nothing but let her join him.

...

As the gathering place of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, the terrain and landscape of the southern frontier speak for themselves. In such a unique geographical environment, many villages are nestled deep within the mountains, inaccessible even to helicopters.

In the end, the military helicopter unable to land could only hover at a spot close enough to the village but not too conspicuous. Ye Yan and Chen Duo had to parachute down to enter the village.

Parachuting—a sport so extreme that most people would quake in their boots, intimidated merely by the thought. But for those with strange abilities, it was nothing remarkable.

Both were lightly equipped, carrying no burdens. They simply jumped down, without even a parachute, landing smoothly on the ground.

Upon landing, Ye Yan rose slowly and gave the pilot above a thumbs-up, signaling that he could find a place to land and await the signal.

The two of them were to enter the village and search for traces of Liao Zhong and the others. Once the mission was complete, the helicopter would return to pick them up.

“How’s the situation?” Not long after landing, Huang Boren’s voice came through the wireless headset. As one of the directors of Anywhere Inc., he had temporarily taken over command in South China after the person in charge, Liao Zhong, went missing.

He was in charge of this mission.

It was Ye Yan’s first time participating in an Anywhere Inc. operation, his first group action, so he was still unfamiliar with the process. Meanwhile, Chen Duo, at his side, was quite adept, responding coldly as she pressed her headset, “Everything is normal.”

“Received,” Huang Boren replied.

Chen Duo was still dressed in her work attire, the colors somber, paired with her emotionless demeanor and a baseball cap shading her brows and bangs, she looked strikingly sharp. If she added a bit of camouflage makeup and carried a gun, she could easily pass for a special ops soldier.

It was Ye Yan’s first time witnessing the task performance of Chen Duo, the emotionless one.

But he quickly gathered himself, adjusting his mood. He hadn’t forgotten what they had come for; his big brother was still waiting to be rescued.

With this in mind, Ye Yan pressed his headset and said, “Director Huang, we’re preparing to head toward the village now.”

“Alright, be careful.”

“Got it.”

...

The landing spot wasn’t far from the village, but it was still a bit of a trek. To reach “Hake Village” from here would take a few kilometers.

A few kilometers was no distance at all for Ye Yan and Chen Duo. However, unfamiliar with the terrain, they spent about ten minutes weaving through the jungle before glimpsing the small, dilapidated Hake Village.

Low fences made of branches, strewn with thorny flowers to keep beasts at bay, and buildings of wood mixed with thatch comprised the entirety of Hake Village. It was very ordinary, nothing stood out.

As a temporary worker, and due to her own nature, reporting the situation had become Chen Duo’s habit. Upon seeing Hake Village, she reported, “Arrived at the target village.”

“Received,” Huang Boren’s voice came clearly through the headset.

“Duo, when we enter the village, just follow behind me and stay alert,” Ye Yan said, scanning their surroundings. “Tu Junfang’s methods are strange, you may not be able to withstand them. Leave it to me.”

Ye Yan had crossed paths with many from the All-Nature Group, but Tu Junfang was unfamiliar to him, and he had never faced him directly. What he knew was limited to rumors. This fellow was reclusive and cautious, rarely venturing out to stir up trouble, quite unlike the typical All-Nature style.

Ye Yan couldn't judge too much.

Chen Duo, as the Gu-body Saint Child, was quite innocent and probably wouldn’t have anything as peculiar as the Three Corpses. She might not even know what they were. But that was only a guess.

Ye Yan wasn’t certain.

So the safest approach was to keep Chen Duo away from Tu Junfang, nipping any potential danger in the bud.

As for himself, he had ways to avoid the Three Corpses.

“We’re here to save people; our primary mission is to rescue Uncle Liao. Everything else comes after,” he said.

“Understood.” Chen Duo’s calm response surprised Ye Yan; he had expected her to be dissatisfied with his decision.

But this worked out well enough.

“Then that’s settled.”

With the plan in place, Ye Yan prepared to act.

With a wave of his hand, the demon banner whirled, transforming into streaks of deep blue light that surged toward Hake Village, landing and reverting to their original forms.

Seven banner demons, each with a unique shape—some flying, some walking on the ground. Especially Lu Dashan, whose sheer size exuded an overwhelming presence.

Old Ma, the Fifth, led the charge, approaching the low gate of Hake Village.

Then—a sudden wave of violet fire engulfed him.

Three figures emerged from the village shadows, the leader a tall, red-haired brute in a sleeveless shirt, with bruises still fading on his neck, collarbone, and arms.

“Boss Tu was right—these dogs from Anywhere Inc. just won’t give up,” Cao Jialiang said, hands in his pockets and head held high, his gaze icy as he looked at the explosion of flames and the imposing banner demons.

Beside him, a skinny, sunken-cheeked man, his palm ablaze with purple flames, shouted furiously, “Damn it! If Boss Tu hadn’t been here yesterday, we’d have been done for. I, Zheng Mengping, just can’t swallow this!”

As he spoke, he rubbed the bruised spot on his sunken cheek, hatred blazing in his eyes.

The other, unremarkable fellow shrugged, saying nothing, but his glare at the banner demons was far from friendly.

Ye Yan observed them and whispered, “Are these the All-Nature members mentioned in the intel?”

Aside from the red-haired brute, who looked vaguely familiar, Ye Yan had no impression of the other two—they were clearly newcomers.

As the flames dissipated, Old Ma, the Fifth, holding the Soul-Calming Gong, emerged unscathed before them.

“A sorcerer?” Zheng Mengping’s face grew serious, especially since his sneak attack of a fireball had had no effect. He began to doubt.

Cao Jialiang frowned as well. He had no recollection of these soul-like monsters, but when he saw the Soul-Calming Gong in Old Ma’s hands, it struck a familiar chord—he’d seen it somewhere before.