250 Chapter 249: Rescue mission (1/2)
”All right, let's move out!”
With an order from me, the whole group split up and ran toward their assigned positions. As I directed, Song Ting Yu and her entourage of bodyguards headed right for the front gate, charging in an intimidating manner. Oceans of furious qi bubbled from them and saturated the area, scaring off even the native wildlife.
The sentries didn't even have to look up to sense them coming. They were completely oppressed by the vicious qi that drifted toward them, their faces turning pale and perspiration dripping down their cheeks.
”Enemy attack!” one of them roared as he sounded the alarm, a shrill bell that shrieked over the cries of magical beasts and creatures fleeing the path of Song Ting Yu and her forces. ”All hands to battle stations!”
It was too late. Song Ting Yu and her bodyguards crashed into the sentry like an unstoppable tsunami. In seconds, the sentries were obliterated. Their bodies burst apart, blood spurting into the air, as Song Ting Yu's bodyguards slammed their fists into them.
They really were the elite forces of the Martial Arts Alliance. Well, that was expected, given Song Ting Yu's status. There was no way her father was going to let her wander around freely without assigning the best bodyguards the Song Clan had to offer. Unlike a certain story where the daughter of the Song Clan basically walked around on her own without any escorts or professional cultivators to protect her.
Then again, not much in that story made any sense. Just look at Liang Shao Yang and his incomprehensible motives, for example.
Now wasn't the time to complain about that, though. We had a job to do. While Song Ting Yu and her men were taking care of the Black Venom Cultists who were now flooding the front gate to stem the sudden, violent assault, my smaller group moved stealthily through the back. We infiltrated silently while the majority of the Black Venom Cultists were engaged in battle.
I could hear the explosions and feel the tremendous impacts from qi collision and exchanges of attacks. Taking a deep breath, I glanced about, consulting my glasses and studying the 3D holographic map that it beamed into my lenses.
”This way,” I told my friends, and ducked down under a tree. Following a slightly shallow trail between the trees that was highlighted by my glasses, I proceeded toward the fence. I gestured for my team to climb up. Dropping to my knees, I cupped my hands, ready to give them a boost to scale the relatively high wall.
Tong Xue, Lian Rou and Yi Ding Si stared at me.
”What are you waiting for?” I hissed impatiently. ”Hurry up and go over!”
The three of them exchanged glances, and completely ignoring me, they jumped up and cleared the fence in one bound. I remained kneeling at the foot of the fence, feeling a bit foolish, then shook my head as I forced myself to stand up and follow them.
Bloody hell, just let me play soldier, okay?
”Which way is it?” Tong Xue asked me when I landed beside them. I consulted my glasses again, and then pointed toward the house where I saw the prisoners were held.
”That way. And be careful! We don't want to attract any attention!”
We crept from house to house in an ordered formation, taking cover and watching out for enemies. Only proceeding when the way was clear, we managed to reach the place in short order. Pressing myself against the wall, I held up a hand to stall the others.
”What…?” Lian Rou asked, but I silenced her with a finger to my lips.
Taking a deep breath, I tip-toed toward the door, and scanned the interior with my glasses. I could detect no lifeform, either through the visual devices embedded in my glasses or my Heaven and Earth senses. Once I was confident that the way was clear, and the house was deserted, I quickly opened the door as quietly as I could.
They didn't lock it.
Inwardly disapproving of their carelessness and utter lack of caution (though, to be fair, I doubted that the guinea pigs were their first priority to protect during a crisis, and the last thing they wanted to protect when someone broke into their base). I covered the others' entry. Once everyone was in, I quickly proceeded toward the pens.
”…you are…?”
One of the victims held up his head and stared at us blearily when we barged into the corridor where the cells were.
”We're here to help you,” Lian Rou assured him, reaching for the door and trying to open it. As expected, it wouldn't budge. ”It's locked.”
”Obviously.” I tried not to roll my eyes. ”How else do you think they stop their prisoners from escaping? Otherwise all these guys can easily open the door and leave by themselves long ago.”
”We'll have to find the keys,” Tong Xue declared as he reached toward what looked like the warden's office. ”They must have something to unlock those cell doors…”
”Or we could just destroy the doors and let them out,” I suggested, already moving in. drawing my Shadow Fox, I sliced through the first cell door with ease, the blade shearing through the metal as if it was paper and carving an opening.
”Thank you.” the prisoner held within quickly stumbled out, only for Lian Rou to help him up. Tong Xue and Yi Ding Si stare at me in awe.
Ignoring them, I proceeded to cut open all the other doors with my Shadow Fox and freed the rest of the prisoners. Tong Xue and Yi Ding Si rounded them up quickly, gathering them into a group. Fortunately, none of the prisoners impatiently ran out of the house to embrace their newfound freedom, or they would give the game away.
I didn't want the enemy to realize that we were right in the middle of their base just yet, or it would make our escape a lot more difficult.
After cutting through the last door, I scanned the area to make sure there wasn't any other cells or prisoners left. After a couple of quick surveys, I turned back to the prisoners.
”No one else is here, right?” I asked. ”I didn't leave anybody behind?”
The would-be guinea pigs glanced at each other, and then shook their heads.
”I don't think so,” an older man replied. ”I haven't seen any other places where they held other prisoners. We were either kept here, or brought to the laboratory. And no one has returned from the laboratory alive.”
Remembering the gruesome deaths of both Zi Sha and Jiu Bu Liao, I grimaced and nodded. Those who were injected with the experimental poisons of the Black Venom Cult were probably better off dead. Perhaps we would be able to find an antidote or something, but it didn't seem like any of those we just rescued were poisoned.
”They didn't inject you with anything, right?” I asked.
”If they did, let us know.” Lian Rou stepped forward. ”I should be able to concoct an antidote.” She glanced toward the laboratory with trepidation. ”Perhaps we should grab some of their poisons and bring them back for research. If I want to develop an antidote, I would need to know what kind of poisons they use.”
”No.”
”Not me.”
”They didn't inject me with anything.”
The victims all replied in the negative. Just as well. Those who were injected would probably die shortly after that. In any event, all of them looked healthy enough, other than the usual malnutritioned state.
But Lian Rou had a point. It was better to be safe than sorry. I would rather bring the poisons back and not need them (in that case, we could just happenly destroy and burn them) than leave and then realized that we needed to bring a few back to formulate antidotes. It might be too late to come back here by then…
However, life had a funny way of getting in my way.
”No time,” Tong Xue said, as if he had read my mind. He glanced toward the door. ”There's a few coming. If they realize we're here…”
”Damn it!” I cursed angrily. ”Let's go before they find out!”
We filed out of the house pretty quickly, with Lian Rou and Yi Ding Si taking the lead, and Tong Xue and I forming the rearguard. I closed the door, to make sure nothing seemed out of place. The longer the enemy took to realize something was amiss, the better for us.
Fortunately for us, the battle at the front was still raging strong. The Black Venom Cult was resisting fiercely, but a good number of them were dead right now. Surprisingly enough, quite a few of the bodyguards were killed too, their corpses blackening from vicious poisons as they lay on the ground.
Song Ting Yu was still alive, leading from the front and engaging about three Black Venom Cultists at the same time. Her skills were exquisite and her power formidable. She was easily suppressing them with her pink and purple robes, petals scattering as she sliced them up. I had no idea how people use clothing as a weapon, but there she was.
Whatever. It was none of my business what she chose to use as a weapon. My current worry was getting all these weakened abductees out of here and to safety without drawing any attention from the besieged Black Venom Cult.
”How do we get out of here?” Lian Rou asked when Tong Xue and I caught up. The group of abductees were pausing by the fence, looking lost and unsure at what to do. When she caught my questioning look, she frowned in annoyance. ”Obviously we can't ask them to climb the fence. They are weakened and don't have the skills to do so.”
Right. Not everyone in this world was a martial artist.
I exhaled worriedly. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't just blow a hole through the fence for everyone to exit through. That was practically yelling at the Black Venom Cultists and telling them, ”Hey, we've come through here! We broke into your base camp while you were busily fighting with other invaders!” it would defeat the whole purpose of sneaking around undetected and being stealthy in the first place.
Making a snap decision, I decided to create an ice stairway on this side, and an ice slide on the other side. Pressing my hands against the ground, I hastily constructed the basic structure with ice, freezing the water vapor in the air with my qi.
”Let's go!” I hissed. The victims nodded and hurried up the stairs, only to slide down on the other side. Just to err on the side of caution, Lian Rou and Yi Ding Si jumped up to land on the other side to watch out for any threats, while Tong Xue and I remained behind to cover our victory. Only when the last abductee got over, did I melt all the ice and covered up all signs of us having been here, then followed Tong Xue in scaling the fence.
”All clear,” Yi Ding Si told me when I landed next to him. I nodded.
”Good job.” Rounding up the rescued prisoners, I smiled. ”All right, let's go!”