403 New Boss (1/2)

Changing career paths was not going to be completed in a day or two. The most immediate concern now was to confirm the military arms' location and then slip away as soon as possible.

They climbed to the top one after another. When the narrowed view in the mines opened to a plateau, everyone realized that there was another hole that was opened up about three meters above the cave wall. This was a new path, and at the end of the path, which was three hundred meters away from the mouth of the mine, was a spacious stone room filled with wooden boxes. After opening them, one was greeted by guns and weapons that were burnished to a shine.

”We'll need quite some manpower to transport all of these out.” Han Chu made a rough calculation of the wooden boxes in the room. He frowned as he closed up one of the open boxes. ”Vehicles cannot reach this place. Even mine carts can only move things to the mouth of the cave, and then we'll need people to move them physically. That is merely step one of the problem. After moving them out, we need to find discreet transport that can transfer them out of the mountains without people knowing.”

”Master Five, are you sure that the news won't leak out of the village?” Ye Shuang asked. ”I mean, assuming we plan to drive some trucks here, how can we ensure that we won't be discovered?”

”There's no guarantee.” Master Five did not speak, but one of the young men also shook his head and answered. ”At most, we can stop people from coming too close to Nature Village, but if people insist on strolling around the surrounding area, we do not have the power to chase them away. Plus, the area we need to cover is too big. Other than that, we've been using subtle methods to chase people out of the village. If we escalate the method, it'll only attract the attention of law enforcement.”

Xenophobia could be explained as the culture of some backward village, but to set up a large quarantine area to prevent people from entering, that was not so different from establishing a local clan. One wrong step, and the police would get involved.

Han Chu was caught in a conundrum. ”Nature Village doesn't have any connection with the outside world that requires a large transport? For example, people coming in to purchase a large amount of local produce or you going out to purchase everyday products in bulk.”

”No!” the young man said with pride. ”We are living in hiding after all.”

Han Chu shared a look with Ye Shuang. They realized that there was no opening, so they could only temporarily abandon the idea of moving the stuff out instantly. ”If that's the case, then we'll have to ignore these things for now. After Master Eight rescues the girl, we won't need to do things with such discretion anymore. By then, even when people notice that something's wrong, it will be too late.”

Master Five sighed. ”I had the same thought, but in that case, we'll need to move to find another sanctuary.”

”Well, you can always rebuild,” Ye Shuang said with empathy. Money and savings could be moved, but the houses and furniture would have to be abandoned.

”Money is not the issue.” Master Five sighed again. ”The main issue is the children in the village. They go to the nearby school, and changing school is going to cause so much trouble.”

The young men started to mumble with worry as well. ”This reminds me. When we find a new place, we need to come up with a new temporary identity as soon as possible. Then, we have to liaise with the new schools. It's going to be hard. There are about thirty children in the village, ranging from kindergarten to high schoolers…”

As they talked about this, they packed up their things and left the cave. The man who came to intercept them stayed behind. It was worth noting that it was not until she arrived there in person that Ye Shuang realized that there was another team of young men who were stationed here. Based on the breathing sound, there were about twenty of them. Beside the stone room, there was a bunch of stone cubicles. There were probably where they stayed.

There was no smell of fire inside the cave. Other than sleeping, their other basic needs should be accomplished outside the cave. From the looks of it, those people would not be stationed there if not for the military arms.