Chapter 730: An Unexpected Turn of Events!

The mountain forest was even colder in the early hours of the morning; apart from the howling cold wind, they could hear nothing.

Moreover, the northwesterly wind was whipping up the snow on the ground, severely impairing their visibility.

If it weren’t for Li Yi and the others’ thorough familiarity with these woods, they would have easily gotten lost.

They retraced their steps along the path they had just taken, retrieving more than a dozen wire snares along the way, but came up empty-handed, leaving them somewhat disappointed.

Just then, a series of “thud, thud” sounds came from ahead. The experienced Yongzi immediately said, “Something’s been caught in a snare—by the sound of it, it’s a wild rabbit!”

With that, he ran forward at a brisk pace.

After running just ten or so meters, the group saw a plump wild rabbit struggling in a thicket of bushes.

It was hopping back and forth among the bushes, but because its neck was caught in the snare, the more it struggled, the tighter the snare became.

Seeing people approaching, the hare grew even more frantic and hopped about even more wildly.

However, the snare was made of thin wire; neither its flexibility nor its strength allowed an ordinary hare to break free. Within moments, the hare lost the ability to move due to suffocation.

Yongzi immediately stepped forward and delivered a blow to the rabbit’s head with a hammer, putting the poor creature out of its misery.

He then immediately pulled out the pocket knife he carried and bled it out; otherwise, the rabbit meat would have a strong, unpleasant blood taste.

After bleeding the rabbit, the group continued onward.

After walking just a few steps, they saw a mess in the snowy ground ahead. Upon closer inspection, they realized another hare had been caught in a snare.

Unfortunately, they’d arrived too late—the rabbit was already dead and had frozen stiff.

With a carcass like this, there was no point wasting time bleeding it out—it was pointless. They’d deal with it when they got back!

After collecting the game and the wire snare, the group pressed on!

Since the village had nearly eradicated all the wolves in the surrounding mountains over the past few years, wild rabbits, pheasants, and foxes had become so abundant that we couldn’t possibly catch them all.

So, as they walked along, they kept collecting traps. In less than an hour, they’d bagged eight wild rabbits, two red foxes, and five pheasants—a truly bountiful haul.

However, just as they were about to press on and check the remaining seventy or eighty snares all at once, the sharp-eyed Zhang Ziqiang suddenly whispered, “Watch out—there’s a glow up ahead!”

Hearing Zhang Ziqiang’s warning, the group immediately stopped, turned off their flashlights, and looked in the direction he was pointing.

Sure enough, several hundred meters away, there were faint signs of flickering flames—a sight that stood out starkly in the nighttime jungle.

Yongzi frowned immediately and said, “That idiot—lighting a fire in the woods at a time like this? Doesn’t he fear setting the whole forest ablaze?”

“No way. I’m going to go tell that good-for-nothing off. If the forest catches fire, our whole village will suffer!”

This mountain forest was the village’s main source of firewood. Every year during the summer and fall, the village organized villagers to go into the woods to prune the trees—using large metal shovels to clear away all the excess branches and leaves.

This not only ensures the trees grow healthy but also provides firewood for the villagers—truly killing two birds with one stone.

If a forest fire were to break out, the village would have no firewood next year—that would be a major disaster!

However, just as Yongzi was about to go over to intervene, Li Yi yanked him back.

“What’s wrong, Brother Yi?”

“Don’t be reckless. You know what kind of people are out lighting fires in the woods in the middle of the night. If you run into bandits or thugs, won’t you just be putting yourself in danger?” Li Yi said in a low voice.

“Bro Yi, there aren’t any bandits or gangs these days. Chances are, they’re just like us—hunting rabbits in the mountains!” Yongzi said.

“I don’t think so. Most rabbit hunters are locals, and how many locals don’t know you’re not supposed to light fires in the mountains?”

As he spoke, Li Yi’s gaze shifted with concern toward the direction where the flames were rising.

If his memory served him correctly, that direction was exactly where the General’s Tomb was located, and this gave him a sense of foreboding.

As far as he knew, the General’s Tomb had indeed been looted in his previous life, though the exact timing remained unknown. In any case, it wasn’t until after 1985 that people discovered the tomb on the back mountain—by which time it had already been plundered for several years.

Fortunately, when the provincial government dispatched an archaeological team to conduct an emergency excavation of the General’s Tomb, they discovered that although the tomb had been severely looted, a side chamber containing the burial artifacts had been preserved intact.

Inside the side chamber, archaeologists discovered a vast quantity of gold, silver, and other precious burial artifacts. Among them, a sword encrusted with gemstones was designated a first-class cultural relic and became the crown jewel of the Provincial Museum.

The case of the general’s tomb being looted in his previous life had never been solved, and the tomb raiders had never been apprehended, so exactly how many artifacts were lost from the general’s tomb back then remained a mystery.

Discovering someone lighting a fire here late at night—and right at the site of the general’s tomb, no less—couldn’t help but make Li Yi suspicious of these people’s identities.

“Brother Yi, what should we do now?” Yongzi asked.

Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “Turn off all our flashlights, then sneak over quietly to check it out. If they’re really just mountain guides, we’ll give them a warning. If not, we’ll play it by ear!”

“Got it!”

Then Li Yi added, “Xiaogouwa, you stay here and watch over the game. Wait for us to come back!”

“Got it!”

The other three left all their game and the recovered wire snares with Xiaogouwa, then crept toward the source of the light.

Li Yi and Yongzi were both mountain boys at heart and had plenty of experience navigating the woods.

As for Zhang Ziqiang, he was a special operations agent trained at great expense by the state; their abilities were, of course, beyond question. Consequently, the three of them quickly and silently made their way to the source of the firelight and hid behind a massive tree that took several people to encircle.

By the light of the fire, the three quickly got a clear view of the situation in the woods.

They saw that the fire was burning in a dirt pit, with five or six burly men sitting around it, warming themselves by the fire and chatting idly among themselves.

Not only were tools like shovels and pickaxes scattered around them, but there was also a large pile of freshly dug earth.

More importantly, they saw that quite a few firearms were actually placed beside the fire—including rifles with bayonets and semi-automatic rifles—and their firepower was no small matter.

Seeing this scene, Yongzi broke out in a cold sweat.

Although he had a gun of his own, it was merely a single-barrel shotgun, primarily used for hunting wild boars and wolves.

But the men not far away were armed with real firearms—especially those semi-automatic rifles, whose firepower was staggering. There was simply no comparison between the two.

More importantly, these men had ventured deep into the woods in the dead of night, armed and carrying so much equipment—it certainly didn’t look like they were up to any good.

If he hadn’t listened to Brother Yi and had rushed out recklessly, he might very well have been silenced.

Immediately, Yongzi looked at Li Yi with eyes full of gratitude.

Just then, Zhang Ziqiang pointed to the left and right.

Li Yi and Yongzi followed the direction of Zhang Ziqiang’s finger and were surprised to see two people standing on either side of a hill not far from the fire pit.

To their shock, both men were holding guns. They were pacing back and forth while keeping a close watch on the woods—clearly acting as lookouts.

Upon seeing this, everyone—including Li Yi himself—broke out in a cold sweat.

He had a premonition that they had most likely run into tomb raiders today—and likely professional ones at that.

After all, it was the dead of winter. Robbing tombs in such freezing conditions required not just physical strength, but considerable technical expertise—something ordinary tomb raiders simply didn’t possess.

And if they were to run into these people head-on, the chances of being silenced were very high.

Fortunately, they had been cautious enough earlier—crawling on their bellies as they approached and keeping their flashlights turned off.

Otherwise, they would have been easily spotted.

If these gun-toting men spotted them, the consequences would be unimaginable—they might well become the targets of a hunt.

With that in mind, Li Yi immediately waved his hand, signaling to Zhang Ziqiang and Yongzi to retreat.

The situation had far exceeded their ability to handle it; they’d better retreat first and figure things out later.

Seeing this, Zhang Ziqiang signaled for Li Yi and Yongzi to leave first while he dealt with the traces they’d left behind.

Li Yi knew Zhang Ziqiang was a professional, so he didn’t say much; he immediately grabbed Yongzi and headed back the way they came.

Zhang Ziqiang, however, lay flat on the ground and used branches to wipe away all the footprints in the snow. Once the wind blew and the snow settled, nothing would be visible.

Thus, Zhang Ziqiang retreated while covering his tracks, taking a good half hour to rejoin Li Yi and the others.

After reuniting, the group didn’t dare linger any longer. They picked up their prey and headed toward the edge of the forest…

……..