Long Qian was anxiously awaiting the appearance of the traders in the valley. The matter of the psychic potion was extremely important; he had set his sights on it. It didn't matter what kind of psychic potion it was, as long as it could be consumed to cultivate psychic users. Nothing could go wrong now.
When Long Qian heard that the target had appeared inside the pavilion, he reacted swiftly, asking, "Who is it?"
The scout replied after taking a look, "The woman is the one behind Chang Jianyi, who frequently appears in the newspapers. I don't know who she is. The other person I don't recognize, but they are holding a box. The box is made of alloy and should be quite sophisticated."
Upon hearing this, Long Qian felt a surge of luck. He thought to himself, "Fortunately, Zhang Xiaoqiang revealed the information before. This transaction only involves two people. If it weren't for Zhang Xiaoqiang's information, we wouldn't have known the transaction location."
Long Qian felt very fortunate at this moment. If he hadn't known the information, Yu Zhou and the Qing Hong Gang could have completed the transaction for the psychic potion with just a few people.
"Give the order to prepare for action and surround them," Long Qian decided immediately. Since the people from Yu Zhou had appeared, he could proceed with the encirclement. After all, the most important thing was the psychic potion. As for the people from the Qing Hong Gang, they hadn't appeared yet, so that wasn't important.
However, at this moment, Zhan Jinshu couldn't help but say, "Captain, isn't this too rash? If we alert them, Yu Zhou might not smuggle through Wuling Mountain again. Moreover, Wuling Mountain is very close to Yu Zhou. If Shen Feng gets this news, he can reach here in half a day. By then, none of us will be Shen Feng's match. Let's calm down."
Unexpectedly, after Zhan Jinshu finished speaking, Long Qian became furious. He reprimanded, "Once the arrow is loosed from the bow, there is no turning back. We've come this far, and you're still hesitating. How can we find a way out if we continue like this?"
After speaking, Long Qian continued to urge his soldiers, "Hurry up, surround them from both sides. Don't let anyone discover you. Wait for my command. Once you hear my instructions, act. Turn on your walkie-talkies."
The soldiers were very obedient and began to move from their encampment of two days. The valley of Ye Ren Mountain was quite large, and during the ambush, scouts had been observing the surroundings. However, they hadn't discovered anything in the surrounding mountains. Now, the soldiers skillfully began to encircle the valley from both sides.
Zhang Xiaoqiang and Luo Qing sat in the pavilion. They were well aware that they were merely targets, placed in the valley specifically to attract attacks. The surrounding terrain was open, but it was mostly filled with gravel and weeds, with no places to hide. However, in the distant woods, in unseen places, people were now moving.
At this moment, Luo Qing and Zhang Xiaoqiang sat in the pavilion. There were many scratches on the pillars of the pavilion, most of them being "So-and-so was here." This was all thanks to Sun Wukong, who had written such words on the pillars, leading countless children to imitate him.
With nothing else to do, Luo Qing wanted to ease the tense atmosphere and directly asked, "Sister Zhang, why did you insist on participating in this operation? I have psychic abilities and can protect myself, but you are just an evolutionist. In this situation, you can't protect yourself. Aren't you afraid of being killed?"
Upon hearing this question, Zhang Xiaoqiang smiled bitterly and said, "If I could, I naturally wouldn't choose a path with a nine-tenths chance of death. However, although the City Lord and the others have pardoned me, under normal circumstances, I would never be given important responsibilities. After all, I was once a traitor. By participating in this mission now, it's equivalent to offering another token of allegiance."
"Token of allegiance? Meaning to atone for your sins?" Luo Qing continued to ask.
Zhang Xiaoqiang nodded and said, "It's roughly that meaning, but it carries another layer of meaning beyond atoning for sins. That is, I provided false information to the Tian Long Bureau this time, and people from the outside world will no longer trust me. This is another form of token of allegiance."
With this explanation, Luo Qing understood Zhang Xiaoqiang's thoughts. During this period, Zhang Xiaoqiang had been cleaning toilets, and most tragically, her former subordinates had also been bullying her. Zhang Xiaoqiang could only endure it silently. Now that an opportunity to turn things around had arrived, she was willing to take the risk.
Afterward, Luo Qing said to Zhang Xiaoqiang, "Stay close to me later. If there's danger, I'll try my best to protect you. Do you understand?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaoqiang immediately understood why Chang Jianyi had made Luo Qing a psychic user. It was because Luo Qing was even willing to protect her at this moment, clearly a kind-hearted woman. Even Zhang Xiaoqiang had noticed Luo Qing's strengths.
"Why are you so good to me?" Zhang Xiaoqiang suddenly asked.
Luo Qing shrugged helplessly and said, "What is this? What I've done is nothing. I still remember when I was in school, a boy who stood up to protect us was thrown into a horde of zombies. That was my most desperate moment. At that time, I understood a truth: it is right to be good to others. Only by helping others will others help you."
"I really don't know how you reached that conclusion. From my perspective, the event you described is a case of good people receiving no reward. You were saving people, but in the end, you were thrown out to feed the zombies. This should make one not believe that doing good deeds will be rewarded." Zhang Xiaoqiang said helplessly.
Luo Qing was about to say something more, but at that moment, many fully armed soldiers emerged from the woods. The leading soldier directly shouted, "Put your hands up. We guarantee not to kill you, but if you dare to resist, don't blame us for opening fire."
From all directions, there were people everywhere. These people directly surrounded the pavilion in the center of the valley. Moreover, judging by the soldiers' attire, they were regular troops. Most people, upon seeing these people appear, would likely lose the courage to resist immediately.
However, even facing enemies from all sides, Luo Qing calmly said, "You seem to be celebrating too early. You don't seem to have realized that you can no longer leave Ye Ren Mountain."
As soon as the words fell, a loud roar echoed from the distance. As this sound occurred, the ground began to shake.
The soldiers swayed slightly but quickly regained their balance. They then looked at each other and asked, "What was that sound? Could it be an explosion?"
Luo Qing calmly replied, "Do I need to use explosives to deal with you? Forget it, there's fog at the entrance of the valley, so you can't see anything. However, you'd best send someone to check the valley entrance."
Long Qian immediately felt that something was amiss. He then wanted to have someone check the situation at the valley entrance. If the valley entrance was blocked, it would be truly disastrous.
Ye Ren Mountain is a region, and it got its name because of the steep terrain and cliffs everywhere. Besides primates like gorillas and monkeys, humans generally cannot live here. Even though there were a few villages nearby, the population was extremely sparse. After the apocalypse, the villages were wiped out, and the valley had only one entrance.
Just as Long Qian was about to have someone investigate the situation in the distance, a sudden gust of wind swept through, directly dispersing the fog in the valley. Then, the situation in the valley was fully exposed. Originally, there was a gap on both sides of the valley entrance that had been scoured by accumulated water. While not wide, it was at least four to five meters wide, wide enough for ordinary vehicles to pass through. However, at this moment, the valley entrance was completely blocked. The previously separated rock walls had now closed together.
At this moment, everyone understood. No wonder there was a loud noise earlier; it turned out that the massive rock walls had closed together. As a result, over two hundred people were trapped in the valley. It was now the dead of winter, and the temperature in the mountains was already very low. The supplies they carried were not abundant. Now that they were trapped, it would not be easy to take action.
"Zhang Xiaoqiang, you're setting us up, you're seeking death!" Upon seeing the closed rock walls, Long Qian understood everything. He realized he must have been ambushed, and Zhang Xiaoqiang, who had provided crucial information, must have been involved.
With this thought, Long Qian, holding his rifle, began to shoot, emptying a magazine.
"Dada dada..." Gunshots echoed continuously in the valley. The valley itself was prone to echoes, and at this moment, with the continuous gunshots, the echoes bounced off the walls and rebounded, filling the valley with the sound of gunfire.
Shen Feng knew the moment he heard the gunshots that the other side was getting anxious. He quickly said to Lu Xian beside him, "Did you capture the footage from earlier?"
Lu Xian immediately nodded and said seriously, "City Lord, please rest assured. I have successfully captured all the footage you wanted. This will be ironclad evidence of the Tian Long Bureau's indiscriminate killing. Although it cannot cause substantial harm, it can damage the reputation of the Tian Long Bureau."
Upon hearing this, Shen Feng felt very gratified and said, "Since the people of the Tian Long Bureau like to frame others, we will use the same methods to destroy the Tian Long Bureau's reputation. This can also prove that the Tian Long Bureau made the first move."
Upon realizing that he might have fallen into a trap, Long Qian went berserk. He grabbed his rifle and began to spray bullets, his only desire now being to kill.
However, after receiving Luo Qing's guidance, Zhang Xiaoqiang instantly hid behind Luo Qing. Thus, all the bullets were fired towards Luo Qing. But as the bullets approached Luo Qing, they left behind streaks of white, and then stopped in mid-air, as if an invisible barrier existed in front of Luo Qing.
Luo Qing calmly said, "Haven't you reacted yet? The two of us are just bait. You have already fallen into our trap. It's useless to vent your anger on us at this moment, understand?"
However, Long Qian could no longer care about these things. Upon discovering the presence of aerogel around Luo Qing, he furiously ordered his soldiers, "All of you, aim at these two and fire, quickly!"
In an instant, over two hundred soldiers opened fire. The bullets appeared like a swarm of bees, but they hovered in the air, unable to get close to Luo Qing, let alone cause any damage. Aerogel is very light; one cubic centimeter of aerogel can even stand on a flower stamen. Yet, this light material is excellent for bulletproofing. The moment a bullet hits the aerogel, it receives forces from all directions. Especially in front of Luo Qing, a psychic user, the bullets could not exert their intended effect.