Chapter 17: An action that has the entire circle’s attention

With this thought, I once again didn’t know what to ask Xiao Chengqian, but Xiao Chengqian didn’t let me speak, and directly said, “There is something in the pool. I suggest you don’t go down.”

“What do you mean?” I was stunned. This came out of nowhere. Does Xiao Chengqian know more than we do?

“Literally, it’s not convenient to talk on the phone. Chengyi, did you hear what I said?” Xiao Chengqian’s voice was slightly anxious and firm, and his tone simply did not allow me to refuse.

There is something in the pool, so it can’t be a bad thing. At least it’s a good thing for me.

However, since Xiao Chengqian said that it was not convenient to talk on the phone, I knew that there must be some kind of monitoring equipment on the phone.

So I didn’t ask too much, and I could only say to Xiao Chengqian very directly, “There’s no way, I have to go down.”

Xiao Chengqian on the other side was silent for a while, then said, “Okay, then wait for me. My master, that is, my grandfather, was taken away by your master, so I also have a reason to participate in this operation.”

After saying this, Xiao Chengqian hung up the phone, leaving me looking at the phone, a little dazed. How did Xiao Chengqian know we were coming? Although it wasn’t a top-secret operation, we didn’t advertise it everywhere, did we?

“Who is it? What’s the matter?” After I hung up the phone, Chengzhen couldn’t wait to ask.

I glanced at Tao Bai and Lu Shan. They looked calm and didn’t seem to know anything. But then, Tao Bai’s phone rang again. He glanced at the phone and told Lu Shan to go with him to answer it.

It wasn’t until they were far away that I spoke up, whispering and hurriedly saying, “That was Xiao Chengqian on the phone. He said he was coming to join us in this operation. The key thing is that he knows there’s something under the pool, and he told me not to go down.”

“What?” Everyone’s first reaction was this. Obviously, my doubts were also their doubts. To be honest, I didn’t dislike Xiao Chengqian, nor did I resist him joining the operation. After all, everyone knew that Xiao Chengqian and I could be considered friends in a sense, but all this thought back was too inexplicable.

We didn’t dare to discuss anything, because Tao Bai and Lu Shan could return at any time. Various concerns and distrust must have caused this oppressive situation. As we guessed, they had only been gone for less than five minutes when they returned.

After sitting down, Tao Bai glanced at me briefly, then lowered his head and said, as if he was a little embarrassed, “The operation has been leaked because of your identities. There are many people who are paying attention to you. As for the phone, it’s because there is a traitor in the department.”

After that, Tao Bai stopped talking, but instead lowered his head and began to eat his food. I took a sip of water and thought to myself, what does this mean? A leak, the consequences are unpredictable, and there is a traitor in the department?

However, their answer also explained the problem from another perspective. The phone was definitely being monitored, otherwise the department would not have reacted so quickly. I contacted Tao Bai and Lu Shan, but at least before they left, I did not say who was calling or what I was going to do.

Thinking about this, I sneered and said directly to Lu Shan, “The telephone department is monitoring the calls, right? What does that mean? Is it not enough to send two escorts? Do you have to monitor the calls as well? Anyway, you already know the content of the calls, so will someone join our operation later? Do you have any objections?”

My tone was a bit sarcastic. In my heart, even if they have an opinion, how we act is still how we act, and we will not be constrained by them.

When I said this, it obviously also aroused the anger of Chengqing and Chengxin. This feeling of being watched is probably not very good, but Huigen is quite indifferent. His mind is simple. Whether you are watching or not, I will still do what I should do, as long as it is not outside the precepts.

As for the three girls, only Ruoyue tilted her head and said to me, “Third brother, you guys are really stupid.” The implication is that she had already expected it.

In the face of my questioning, Lushan’s expression did not change, as if to him, it didn’t matter how we got along, he just needed to do his job. He slowly opened his mouth and said, “Whoever wants to join your operation, we won’t interfere, as long as it doesn’t harm the interests of the country and the department. As for the surveillance, it is also for your safety. As I said earlier, the consequences of a leak in the operation are unpredictable, but we have also made a prediction of the worst consequences, that is, your operation this time will become an operation that will attract the attention of a certain circle.

After saying this, Lushan looked at me deeply and didn’t say anything. Instead, he sat up straight and looked at the scenery.

It was a very official answer, but the amount of information was also very large. At least I could draw one conclusion from his words, and that is that our actions this time may have been noticed by the entire circle of cultivators.

Huh, damn it, I sneered in my heart. The leak would not be from our own people. You guys just glossed over it lightly and found a plausible excuse for listening to us.

But even so, in the face of such a rigid and mechanical Tao Bai and Lu, I had no choice but to temporarily suppress the anger in my heart and calm myself down. After all, during that time, Jiang Yi had always said that there was a traitor in the department. Who was the traitor? Hadn’t they been found yet?

After a half-hour break, we continued our journey up the mountain. Before we left, Ruoyue asked me, “Aren’t you going to wait for Xiao Chengqian?”

“No need to wait. He said he would come, and he will definitely show up.” I said lightly.

When we arrived at Tianchi, it was already afternoon. Although we weren’t there to sightsee, the beautiful scenery along the way was also stunning. Tianchi had already had a reputation, and we had seen many photos of it before we left. It wasn’t until we actually got there that we realized that some of the scenery was so beautiful that a single photo was completely inadequate to capture its impact. Only when you stand in front of it in person do you realize what it means to be in the presence of nature.

Tianchi is most beautiful in the summer. The entire lake is like a blue gem set in the mountains, and the reflection of the blue sky and white clouds in the lake adds a few more colors to the gem.

I took a deep breath and looked at the entire ring of hills. Some of the hills were bare, exposing the natural color of the earth, while others were covered in green grass, with pale yellow wildflowers mixed in, blending with the original earthy color of the land, giving it a different kind of feeling of vicissitudes of life and remoteness.

I stood on the highest peak and suddenly felt very small in the world. I also immediately understood the artistic conception of the ancient poem that says, “Looking at the vast expanse of the sky and earth, I am alone and sad, and tears well up in my eyes.”

“The real Xicheng is a volcanic lake. The terrain at the bottom of the lake is somewhat complicated, and since it is the border between the two countries, it is still quite troublesome to explore. I hope you will have a good time this time.” Just as I was standing on the top of the mountain, lost in thought and feeling the wonder of nature, Lushan suddenly ran up to me and said this.

After he finished, he looked at me with a meaningful look in his eyes, which made me inexplicably irritated. I always felt that this Lu Shan was not simple, and this look had already appeared twice. The first time was when he gave me a grandiose lecture about surveillance.

I avoided his gaze and didn’t say anything. My attitude wasn’t too friendly, but Lu Shan didn’t seem to mind. Suddenly, he said to me again, “I really hope you have a good time.”

I turned my head and was about to say something, but I noticed that Lu Shan had already turned and walked towards Tao Bai, without even looking at me again.

I frowned slightly at his words and thought about it, but I didn’t come up with any results, so I didn’t bother to care. I didn’t care about him anyway.

We had to wait until after 11 p.m. to move, and the reason for this was naturally because of the sensitive terrain of the Xicheng area. I was bored anyway, so I took out some bait, took out a bamboo tube, and began to feed the fat silkworm eggs that Ruoxue had left for me.

The real way to unleash the terrifying fighting power of this fat silkworm is to plant a gourd, because there has always been a saying in the Miao village that the real “gourd king” “has a spirit gourd” and must live with humans. Only the human aura and essence can truly nourish it.

However, I cannot cultivate the gong, because I am not from the Miao village, and I am not qualified to inherit Ruoxue’s gong. I can only keep it as a thought of my own, and I have not taken it back. It is all because the Miao village gave me this “old friend” face.

Seeing me feeding the worm carefully, Ru Yue came over and sat down next to me. She said, “Third brother, you feed this little guy well. He’s plump and white, but it’s a pity that you can’t plant the worm, otherwise it should grow…”

At this point, Ru Yue stopped talking. After all, the shape that this fat silkworm would develop into was a secret of their village, and it was not convenient for her to tell me more.

“In the old forest, sometimes when we were resting, Ru Xue would tell me how to raise this little guy, how to get along with it, and what to pay attention to. Anyway, I didn’t expect this little guy to help me fight or anything. I just raised it as a pet to keep it with me.” As she spoke, the fat silkworm had already climbed out of the bamboo tube, and its small, somewhat stunned head was rubbing back and forth in my palm, looking very intimate with me.

The innocent look on its face made me smile. Ruoyue also smiled and said, “I didn’t expect it to recognize you.”

“What else? It must have thought that Ruoxue abandoned it, so it is so close to me, the new owner, otherwise it would have no food to eat.” I said in a low voice, and Ruoyue didn’t say anything.

Before the beautiful scenery, the passage of time seemed to be unimportant. When I felt cold and put on some clothes for myself, I realized that it was already the middle of the night, and behind me, footsteps could be heard in the distance…