"Hurry, we need to get back as quickly as possible, inform the base what happened, and stop Director Ma's team to prevent anything from going wrong."
In another direction, He Qishun was leading his team back along the route they had taken.
Meanwhile, at the base, the Emergency Team, Security Team, and Law Enforcement Team were standing by.
Gao Zheng glanced at his watch and frowned.
"Something's wrong. The situation has changed. Everyone, move out."
As soon as he gave the order, the three teams immediately ran toward the vehicles at the base.
As it turned out, Gao Zheng and the others had already made their plans. More than half a month ago, they had secretly scouted two routes leading to the area near the county seat. Although they hadn't reached the county seat, what they saw was enough to tell them that it had fallen.
One of the routes led quickly and safely to a low hill near the county seat, from which nearly the whole area could be seen at a glance. The other was the route led by Ma Tianxing, which went toward the river. Their only miscalculation was that their small numbers back then hadn't provoked the monsters in the river, leading them to underestimate the danger.
But the two routes had one thing in common: a monster at the Advanced Beast General Level guarded the end of each route, near the county seat. The one by the river simply appeared farther from the county seat.
The original plan was for both sides to take their teams out. The team without anyone to capture would take the route to the low hill, while the other team would head for the river. The first team to encounter a monster would have no choice but to retreat, followed by the other team after it encountered one.
That way, the team waiting at the base and the team returning later could trap those people between them.
But though the plan had sounded good, the outcome was unexpected. Not only had they misjudged the routes, but they had also misjudged the hidden strength of the three small teams.
The original assumption was that, under the river monsters' unrelenting attacks, the team would be forced to retreat once the monsters' strength exceeded that of five Junior Beast Generals. Everything would then have unfolded much as expected, except...
Even Ma Tianxing, who was with the team, was beginning to stare in astonishment. All three of the small-team captains were at the Primary Battle General Level, yet only one of them had revealed that strength during the sparring match.
On top of that, eleven members of those three teams were Advanced Warriors, completely outclassing the teams led by Ma Tianxing and the other captain.
The captain of the remaining team was now in exactly the same predicament as Ma Tianxing.
This situation continued until the team encountered its first Intermediate Beast General.
An Intermediate Beast General was far stronger than a Junior Beast General. Even one monster could easily overpower these captains, who had only just reached the War General Level. Although Ma Tianxing helped them kill the Intermediate Beast General, the team could no longer withstand a battle of such intensity.
This time, the captains finally accepted Ma Tianxing's suggestion and began to retreat.
By then, however, a long time had passed, far exceeding Ma Tianxing and Gao Zheng's estimates.
Just as everyone returned and stepped into the woods, a large group appeared before Ma Tianxing and his party.
It was Gao Zheng and the others, who had hurried over. Along the way, they had also called back He Qishun and his party.
When they met, a trace of helplessness showed in Ma Tianxing's eyes.
However, so as not to arouse suspicion, Ma Tianxing asked, "Old Gao, why did you come all the way here? And Old He, did something happen on your end?"
Following Ma Tianxing's lead, He Qishun replied, "We came over to warn you not to go any farther. The county seat has fallen, and the monsters holed up there are beyond our ability to deal with. Now that I can see you're all safe, I'm relieved."
Gao Zheng looked over everyone in Ma Tianxing's team and said, "You seem to be three people short. What happened?"
Ma Tianxing reported, "There are a lot of monsters in the river. They keep attacking anything that passes along the bank. We were attacked thirteen times on the way there, and the monsters grew stronger each time. Before we turned back, we encountered an Intermediate Beast General."
Gao Zheng took Ma Tianxing's hand and patted it. "Thanks for your efforts. Judging by what we found this time, we'll need to make new preparations before our next exploration. Let's all head back to the base for now."
The crowd quickly began to retreat, but some people moved faster than others, leaving a few behind.
The exploration team led by Ma Tianxing gradually found itself surrounded in the middle.
By now, even the three captains had realized that something was wrong. They simply couldn't figure out when they had been exposed.
Captain Lai, who had been in charge of the team carrying the mines, was one of the three captains. He stepped forward to test the waters and said, "Why is everyone moving so slowly? Pick up the pace! I'm exhausted. Let's hurry back so I can get some rest."
The Martial Artists surrounding them merely glanced at Captain Lai. Not a word was spoken, and each of them rested a hand on the weapon at their side.
Seeing this, Captain Lai sighed helplessly. He exchanged a silent look with the other two, then gradually slowed down and stopped.
As soon as they stopped, the whole team came to a halt, forming a circle around them.
Ma Tianxing smiled, turned around, and looked at the three captains. "Why stop? Didn't you just say we should hurry back to the base?"
Captain Lai shook his head slightly. "Director Ma, cut the act. We just want to know when you found us out."
Gao Zheng stopped Ma Tianxing before he could speak, then said, "We've been watching you for a long time. We just couldn't find the right opportunity, and we weren't sure how many of you there were, so we waited until now. So surrender. We won't hurt you. After all, we've been comrades for a long time."
Captain Lai spread his hands and said helplessly, "Surrender? That won't do. Even though you've found us, given the difference in strength, I doubt you can take us down."
"You mean the three of you at the Primary Battle General Level and your eleven Advanced Warriors?" Ma Tianxing asked.
"That's not all, of course. Director Ma, did you really think the strength we showed before was all we had?" Captain Lai's attitude toward Ma Tianxing changed completely. With a sinister smile, he said, "Seems you only knew we existed. You never learned what we're really like."
After speaking, all three captains pulled a black-and-white mask from their clothes and put it on.
The three masks were nearly identical. Black covered two-thirds of each, white covered one-third, and a black border ran around the edges.
Captain Lai placed one hand over his abdomen, extended the other, and bowed slightly. "Allow me to introduce myself again. Black and White Clown No. 37, at your service."
The other two captains adopted the same pose.
"Black and White Clown No. 41, at your service." This was the very same man who had been part of He Qishun's Rescue Team. Now, he had become a member of the Jester.
"Black and White Clown No. 42, at your service."