Exposure

"That's right, there's no point in arguing about it now."

"Xiao Zhang is right. The most urgent task is to rescue our oppressed compatriots."

"I'm just a rough guy, I have no objections. Tell me what you need me to do."

Among the crowd that blindly follows the crowd, there are still quite a few smart people.

Even when vying for power and profit, they can distinguish between what is important and what is urgent.

So when that clear-eyed young man stood up and spoke, all the smart people immediately echoed his words, instantly restoring the scene to one of unity.

Seeing that he had brought the situation under control, the clear-eyed young man breathed a sigh of relief.

However, he didn't completely relax and continued, "I believe everyone knows that the Forward Base's defenses are far too strong for us. We can't confront their heavy firepower head-on. We should instead leverage our strengths, infiltrate the Forward Base, and try to spread the message of resistance..."

Zheng Yongliang, mingling in the crowd, had no interest in listening to the young man's words; he was quietly observing his surroundings.

Unlike the vast majority of civilians who joined the Rebel Army simply out of sheer courage, he was well aware that there was an invisible hand manipulating this so-called Rebel Army.

After all, Zheng Yongliang had met the White Robe Mona Warrior and knew what kind of person the Big Tattoo Arm man was.

Therefore, he guessed that there was probably still a real mastermind behind this town, but they just hadn't come out into the open.

Even knowing all this, Zheng Yongliang dared not say it.

He was very self-aware, knowing that he was just an ordinary person with no redeeming qualities and no courage to stand up and tell everyone the truth. He believed that the masterminds behind the scenes would not allow him to come out and disrupt their plans.

To save his own life, he could only silently blend in and observe.

Being acutely aware of the boundaries of his own life also caused him great pain.

Li Shan lay motionless on the top of the slope.

Thanks to a ghillie suit he borrowed from the armed forces, he was able to blend in with his surroundings.

Unless you get too close, it's hard to tell that there's someone lying here.

"They actually managed to create a Rebel Army right under the nose of the Forward Base, and there are so many of them."

Looking at the scene in the settlement below, Li Shan clicked her tongue in amazement.

Although these Rebel Army were poorly equipped, their weapons were mostly looted from soldiers in the armed forces, and they didn't have many guns.

However, being organized and not being organized are two completely different concepts.

Li Shan even suspected that if left unchecked, this so-called Rebel Army could gain the support of all the people who had returned to the ground by virtue of the slogan of resisting oppression.

After all, as a rentier class within the shelter order, he knew very well how the city council viewed the lower classes.

Similarly, he was well aware that ordinary people could not possibly bridge the power gap with the city council simply by relying on numbers.

So what he's really worried about now isn't that the Rebel Army will overthrow the city council; he's more concerned about not seeing too many people die in a confrontation where the forces are so unequal. He doesn't know how much blood will have to be shed to end the riot.

If having enough people could threaten the City Guild, then the City Guild wouldn't have been able to stand in the Underground City until now.

"We need to go back and think of a way to dissuade them from opposing the city council."

Thinking this to herself, Li Shan slowly crawled away.

"Hmm? Honey, did you hear anything strange?"

The conversation that suddenly reached Li Shan's ears made him subconsciously stop what he was doing.

It turned out that he had been too focused on observing the settlement and hadn't noticed that a young man and woman had come up the hillside to be intimate, and were getting closer and closer to him.

"What's that noise? Could it be the snake from the book?"

The woman's expression was invisible in the darkness, but a hint of panic could be heard in her voice.

"How could that be? There are no snakes left now."

The man patted the woman twice to comfort her, but still kept some attention on observing the surrounding situation.

Today, the terrestrial ecosystem has long since collapsed; not to mention large animals, even insects can no longer be seen.

But the man was certain he hadn't been hallucinating, so he figured some shameless guy was hiding nearby, hoping to see them being intimate.

"If you're worried, shall we go somewhere else?"

"I'm not changing it, this is more exciting, the puppy is getting impatient."

"Heh... hehe."

The conversation quickly stopped, replaced by intermittent licking and panting sounds.

Hearing the noise around him, Li Shan was dumbfounded.

Considering that the pair of wild lovers had exceptionally good hearing, Li Shan dared not make a hasty escape, fearing that the sounds she made while wriggling would attract their attention.

However, at that moment...

Buzz~ Buzz~ Buzz~

The communication device in Li Shan's pocket vibrated, startling him so much that he quickly reached out to press the hang-up button.

Under normal circumstances, the sound caused by this vibration is unlikely to attract the attention of others.

But in her haste, Li Shan reached out and pressed the hang-up button.

The sound of the ghillie suit scraping against the dry leaves on the ground was clearly like a fat man rolling around on the ground.

The couple, already tense from their tryst, were easily alerted by the slightest noise; hearing such sounds made it impossible for them to continue.

"Where did this idiot come from, so blind?"

The man was quite annoyed that his good time had been interrupted, and coupled with the desire to show off his masculinity in front of the woman, he immediately started grumbling and walked towards where Li Shan was hiding.

Realizing he could no longer hide, Li Shan had no choice but to stand up, extend his hands in submission, and say, "I was wrong, brother. I'll leave right away, right away."

This weak attitude only emboldened the man, who then waved his hand dismissively.

"Get lost, go to hell... wait, what are you wearing?"

Halfway through his sentence, the man looked suspicious and said, "It's nothing, it's nothing, you can go."

Because it was too dark, Li Shan couldn't see the expression on the man's face, so she didn't think much of it and turned to leave.

Li Shan easily avoided the unprofessional sentries stationed on the hillside, and apart from taking a little more time, he did not expose himself again.

Unfortunately, when he descended the hillside and prepared to ride back to the Forward Base at full speed, he discovered that his motorcycle, which he had hidden in the bushes, had vanished into thin air.

Before he could even react to what was happening, countless people carrying torches rushed out and surrounded him.

In the firelight, Li Shan's face turned extremely pale; he knew he had been careless this time.

Soon, a man and a woman emerged from the crowd.

The man sized up Li Shan and burst into laughter. "I knew you were up to something."