Black and White Clown (Part 1)

"Hurry, we need to get there as soon as possible to report what happened at the base, then intercept Director Ma's team to prevent any accidents."

In another direction, He Qishun was leading his team back along the path they had come.

Meanwhile, at the base, the Emergency Team, Security Team, and Law Enforcement Team were standing by in full battle array.

Gao Zheng checked his watch and frowned.

"Something is wrong. The situation has changed. Everyone, move out."

Upon receiving this order, the three teams immediately began running toward the vehicles parked at the base.

As it turned out, Gao Zheng and the others had already made plans and, over half a month ago, had secretly scouted two paths leading toward the vicinity of the county seat. Although they hadn't reached the city itself, the sights they witnessed made it clear that the county seat had already fallen.

One of these paths allowed for a quick and safe arrival at a low hill near the county seat, from which the city was almost entirely visible. The other path, led by Ma Tianxing, headed toward the river. The only miscalculation was that, at the time, their small numbers hadn't provoked attacks from the monsters in the river, leading to a certain degree of underestimation.

However, the one thing both paths had in common was that at the end of each, near the county seat, a high-level Beast General class monster stood guard, though the one by the river appeared further away from the city.

The original plan was for both sides to lead their teams—the team without the targets to be captured would head to the low hill, while the other would head toward the river. After encountering the monster, the first team would be forced to retreat, followed by the second team after they encountered theirs.

In this way, the team waiting at the base and the team returning later could form a pincer movement around those people.

However, the idea was beautiful, but the result was unexpected. Not only was the route assessment wrong, but the hidden strength of the members of these three squads had also been misjudged.

Originally, under the constant attacks of the river monsters, once the monsters' strength exceeded five low-level Beast General class monsters, the team would surely find it difficult to endure and be forced to retreat. Everything was developing much as predicted, except...

Ma Tianxing, following along with the team, was also left dumbfounded. The captains of those three squads were all of low-level Battle General strength, yet in the sparring matches, only one had revealed it.

Furthermore, among the members of those three squads, there were eleven high-level Warriors, completely crushing Ma Tianxing's team and the other squad.

At this moment, the captain of the remaining squad was in the exact same situation as Ma Tianxing.

This state of affairs continued until the team encountered the first mid-level Beast General.

The strength of a mid-level Beast General was significantly higher than that of a low-level one; a single monster could basically suppress these few captains who had just entered the Battle General rank. Although the mid-level Beast General was successfully slain with Ma Tianxing's help, the team was now unable to endure such high-intensity combat any longer.

Ma Tianxing's suggestion this time was finally accepted by the captains, and they began to retreat.

However, by this time, a long while had passed, far exceeding the estimates of Ma Tianxing, Gao Zheng, and the others.

Just as everyone returned and stepped into the woods, a large group of people appeared before Ma Tianxing and his party.

This group was none other than Gao Zheng and his men, who had also called over He Qishun's returning party along the way.

Upon meeting, a look of helplessness appeared in Ma Tianxing's eyes.

However, to avoid raising suspicion, Ma Tianxing asked, "Old Gao, why did you come over? And Old He, did something happen on your end?"

He Qishun followed Ma Tianxing's lead and said, "We rushed over because we wanted to warn you not to advance any further. The county seat is gone, and the monsters entrenched there are not something we can handle. Seeing that you are all fine now, we can rest easy."

Gao Zheng scanned everyone in Ma Tianxing's team and said, "You seem to be missing three people. What happened?"

Ma Tianxing reported, "There are a large number of monsters in the river, and they keep attacking anything that passes by the riverbank. We were attacked thirteen times on our way, and the monsters' strength kept increasing. Before we turned back, we had already encountered a mid-level Beast General class monster."

Gao Zheng took Ma Tianxing's hand, patted it, and said, "Thank you for your hard work. Based on what we've discovered this time, it seems the next exploration and expansion will need to be re-prepared. Let's all head back to the base first."

The crowd retreated rapidly at this moment, though some moved faster than others and fell behind.

The exploration team led by Ma Tianxing was gradually surrounded in the middle.

By now, even the three captains were not foolish enough to realize something was wrong, though they couldn't figure out when exactly they had been exposed.

Captain Lai, who had been responsible for carrying the landmines, was one of these three captains. He stepped forward first, wanting to probe the situation, and said, "Why is everyone moving so slowly? Hurry up, I'm exhausted, let's get back and get some rest."

All the Martial Artists surrounding the outer circle merely glanced at Captain Lai, saying nothing, each with a hand resting on their sidearm.

Seeing this, Captain Lai sighed helplessly. He exchanged silent looks with the other two and gradually slowed his pace until he came to a stop.

As they stopped, the entire group halted, forming a containment circle.

Ma Tianxing also smiled, turned around to face the three captains, and said, "Don't stop now. Didn't you just say you wanted to get back to the base quickly?"

Captain Lai shook his head slightly and said, "Director Ma, let's drop the act. We just want to know, when were we discovered by you?"

Gao Zheng stopped Ma Tianxing, who was about to speak, and said, "We have been observing you for a long time, but we couldn't find the right opportunity, and we weren't sure how many of you there were, so we dragged it out until now. So, surrender. We won't hurt you; after all, we have been comrades for so long."

Captain Lai spread his hands and said helplessly, "Surrender? That won't do. Although we've been discovered, given the disparity in strength, I'm afraid you can't take us down."

"Just with the three of you low-level Battle Generals and eleven high-level Warriors?" Ma Tianxing asked.

"That's certainly not all. Director Ma, did you really think the strength we displayed earlier was the extent of our capabilities?" Captain Lai shed his previous respectful attitude toward Ma Tianxing, gave a wicked smile, and said, "It seems you only learned of our existence, but not our true situation."

After speaking, the three captains simultaneously pulled a Black and White Mask from their robes and covered their faces.

These three masks were essentially identical: black occupied two-thirds, white occupied one-third, and the edges were inlaid with a black border.

Captain Lai held his abdomen with one hand, extended the other, bowed slightly, and said, "Allow me to reintroduce myself. Black and White Clown No. 37 greets you all."

The other two captains adopted the same posture.

"Black and White Clown No. 41 greets you all." This was the man who had been a member of He Qishun's rescue team, but now, he had become a member of the "Clowns."

"Black and White Clown No. 42 greets you all."