"Spring Wind?" Sun Hang was slightly impressed by the name. "As in 'the spring wind never passes Yumen Pass'?"
"Bingo!" Yang Qiaoxi nodded. "This is one of the few 'semi-permanent' strongholds in Yumen, and also the one I visit most often... I'm fairly familiar with the people working under the Spring Wind Manager. You could say I'm half of their exclusive supplier."
The four of them walked another fifty meters or so before Sun Hang suddenly stopped.
"There's a smell of blood."
"The smell of blood?" Yang Qiaoxi stopped as well, a hint of confusion in her eyes. "No way... Could it be from an injured hunter returning to the stronghold?"
"Possibly. The smell was faint... No, it's getting stronger. It's approaching us now," Sun Hang said.
"Don't joke around with me. This isn't funny!" Although she had washed her hands of that life, Yang Qiaoxi had not lost the skills she had acquired as a mercenary. She swiftly drew the pistol from the holster behind her back, then used the handcart piled with crates as cover, crouching fully behind it.
Candle Dragon assumed a combat stance as well and said in a low voice, "Two memetic presences are approaching. Neither is weak."
Xue Yue discreetly moved behind Sun Hang. Only Sun Hang—despite being the first to notice something was wrong—neither hid nor dodged. He simply stood stiffly in the middle of the tunnel, calmly watching the fork ahead.
Footsteps drew closer, mixed with intermittent groans and the sound of something scraping across the ground.
"They're here." Candle Dragon no longer concealed that chilling aura. A thin layer of frost had spread across the ground around him.
Yang Qiaoxi somehow produced a small mirror and used its reflection to observe the movement around the corner.
Two burly men in black