350 Ulterior motives (1/2)

On a rainy mountain road near Mt. Daban, a large group of motorcycles suddenly drove up the mountain. A large banner embroidered with the image of a tiger's head was being carried by the lead motorcycle.

Each of these bandits had a blue bandana covering their nose and mouth. From afar, there were two rows of motorcycles, and all of the riders were wearing the same type of blue bandana on their faces. This was a spectacular sight to behold.

Furthermore, there were a lot of people in this group. With more than 300 of them heading up the mountain together, they would not be mistaken for some small gang at a glance. At the very least, they looked way better than the ordinary bandits just in appearance alone. Some bandits were so poor that they even wore tattered pants, much less had bandanas and a large banner.

When they arrived on the North Face, they parked their motorcycles by the side of the road. The leader of the group walked towards a small mountain path that would lead to a campsite.

These fierce-looking bandits trekked on the path up the mountain silently. No one was speaking. Everyone was carrying their guns in front of them so they would be ready to deal with anything unexpected.

They had thought there would be people lying in ambush to put up a fierce resistance against them. However, the whole stretch of the mountain path was silent, and there wasn't even anyone keeping a lookout.

When they reached the entrance of the mountain hideout, the leader pushed open the wooden door with a creak. He was not afraid of anyone sneaking up to attack him and entered first. But when he went inside, he saw this mountain hideout was totally empty. It seemed like no one had been living here for some time.

The leader said softly, ”There's something strange about this Mt. Daban. We've come across five or six empty hideouts along the way already. What's happened here?”

”Could it be that it's been getting too hard to get by these days, so everyone decided to head back to the consortiums' factories to work? Since there's still a few hideouts on the mountain. Should we go and look at them?” the leader's trusted aide asked.

”Let's go! I don't believe that all the bandits on Mt. Daban turned over a new leaf.” The leader sneered as he led his group further up the mountain.

It wasn't until they checked another three hideouts before they discovered a few sporadic bandits in one of the campsites.

When these solitary bandits saw the turnout, they immediately knelt down on the spot and begged for mercy, ”Please don't kill us!”

The leader thought for a while and asked with a frown, ”Where are your other men?”

The two-bit bandits wailed, ”They were captured by bandits!”

The leader was stunned. ”Aren't y'all fucking bandits yourselves?”

This group of people got so angry that they started laughing. They were only supposed to be abducting refugees. Why would anyone even abduct bandits?!

But actually, they were also here to recruit the bandits from the other mountain hideouts. They had thought their plans were well ahead of the other groups', but who would have expected that someone had beaten them to it.

The leader asked, ”Who's the leader here? Stand up and talk!”

The bandits shouted, ”Our boss was taken away as well.”

The leader was shocked. ”Damn… Who captured them? How did the few of you escape unharmed?”

One of the bandits said, ”They were captured by the refugees from a settlement at the foot of a mountain to the south. Us few only managed to escape because we ran away in advance when we sensed that something was wrong.”

”How large is that settlement?” the leader asked curiously.

”4 to 500 people live there. They are extremely fierce, and there's two supernatural beings among them as well!” the bandit said.

The leader became wary at this moment. There were two supernatural beings in a refugee settlement? How could that be a normal refugee settlement?

The leader thought for a moment and asked, ”What kind of people do they usually capture? And how do they capture them?”

”They take anyone they come across. Basically, the two supernatural beings do all the work so the others don't have to do anything at all. Our boss was beaten to the ground.”

”What do they do with the people after capturing them?” the leader asked.

”I don't know. In any case, I don't think they killed them. The group just gathers there to dig ditches and make bricks.”

The leader said to his trusted aide next to him, ”It seems like this group of people don't have any sense of vigilance. Xu Jinyuan, take a group of people with you and let them capture you. After you join them, get a better understanding of their situation and wait for my signal to concentrate an attack on them.”

The bandit named Xu Jinyuan nodded. ”Got it!”