"Teacher Qin, how long will it take us to catch up? They came out an hour earlier than us." Ye Zi asked Qin Mu who was running at the front of the team.
"No problem, we're very close." Qin Mu smiled, adjusted the strap of his rifle, and continued to move forward. "Don't worry, I'm here."
The group walked along the path until they reached a fork in the road. This area was where hunters from the Black Mountain region often came to hunt. There were many traces of human activity, and it was not easy to track specific traces. However, Qin Mu pushed aside the dense grass under his feet, looked around for a moment, and said, "Left."
Ye Zi said to the dozen people behind him, "Go left and chase."
These people were her guards, some holding spears and machetes, others holding crossbows, wearing training uniforms or simple leather armor. Among them was a girl who was about the same age as Ye Zi, but like Qin Mu, she carried a rifle. Her name was Cao Lu, and she was both Ye Zi's roommate and her team member.
Cao Lu was able to join the Guard as a woman, so she had her own abilities. She was originally a shooting athlete in the school shooting team, so after joining the Guard, she became one of the few students who could carry a gun.
"Teacher Qin is worthy of being the Geology Twins. He looks so handsome in this hunter outfit." Cao Lu whispered to Ye Zi.
"What twins? A nickname?" Ye Zi was puzzled.
"You don't know this? The Geology Twins! Qin Mu and Zhang Sicheng from the Geology Group, one is sunny, the other is melancholy, and both are rare handsome guys. There are many people who are fans of them."
"Zhang Sicheng... Well, he is also a person who likes to dwell on trivial matters." Ye Zi frowned, looking quite regretful.
"Who says it's not? But if it wasn't like that, there would be no 'Melancholy Prince'. But I still like Mr. Qin's type."
"It seems that you are quite obsessed?"
"Alas, flowers have feelings, but flowing water is ruthless. I heard that Teacher Qin has someone in love." She leaned close to Ye Zi's ear and said, "It's Luo Ling, the head of the Foreign Affairs Group. Alas, Head Luo has too many halos. She is a young college student, a PhD from MIT, the youngest associate professor in the school, and a member of the Department of Mathematics. Now she is the head of the group. Apart from being young and beautiful, I can't compare with her."
"Luo Ling?" Ye Zi raised his eyebrows. He had heard Xiao Chen talk about her many times before. "Why did you ask so much about it?"
"Know yourself and know your enemy."
At this time, Qin Mu, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and raised his hand to stop the team from moving forward.
"Found it!" Qin Mu said in a very soft voice. Ye Zi looked in the direction where he pointed and saw four people who looked like students sitting together and resting at the bottom of the gentle slope in front of them. They were the target they were tracking.
"Teacher Qin, please stay here and help us. Leave the arresting task to our guard team." Ye Zi instructed.
Qin Mu nodded, took off his rifle, held it in his hand and said, "I'll keep watch and guard against those goblins and horse thieves."
Ye Zi made two gestures to the people behind her, and a squad behind her came out of the woods and went behind these people, surrounding them from all sides.
After making sure that everyone was in place, Ye Zi pushed aside the bushes in front of him and walked over with Cao Lu.
The four people were eating and chatting quietly, but they stood up in panic when they heard footsteps behind them.
"It's Ye Zi! It's the guards!" One of the tall boys shouted, pulling up a short girl next to him and trying to run away. A short boy sitting opposite him quickly grabbed the bag on the ground and put it on his back. Another girl next to him was so scared that she didn't know what to do, and she tightly grasped the short boy's arm. The boy couldn't carry the bag because of her pulling, so he pushed her down and rushed into the woods with the bag.
"Don't waste your energy. I brought a whole squad with me. You are surrounded." Ye Zi shouted. As expected, the men ran a few steps into the woods and were grabbed by the ambushed people and taken out.
"Niu Guangcheng from the escort team, Li Qiuxin from the logistics team, Wu Qi from the textile factory, and Jiang Jie from the business team." Ye Zi confirmed their identities one by one, and then said, "Your escape from home ends here, just follow me back."
The four of them looked at each other with ugly faces. The tall boy Niu Guangcheng shouted, "I won't go back. You want me to be cannon fodder? No way! Let me go."
"It's not up to you to decide whether to leave or not. Now that I've caught up with you, don't even think about running away." Ye Zi said with a straight face.
"Why are you so stubborn? What's the difference between catching us and letting us go?" The short boy Li Qiuxin shouted while struggling, "Thousands of bandits are coming. How can we defeat them with so few people in the school? Let's run away before they attack the city! I think you are all capable people, so why don't you run with us? I heard that if we run in this direction, we will reach the capital of this country. With our knowledge and skills, we can definitely live a decent life."
Li Qiuxin found that no one else spoke, and it seemed that some people were considering the feasibility of escaping, so he struck while the iron was hot and said, "What have we eaten since we came here? We eat food that even pigs hate every day. What benefit have we gained? We are forced to work like dogs every day. Where did the money from selling so many goods go? It all went into the pockets of the committee. Those committee bosses eat and drink delicious food every day and don't have to work, but now they want us to go and die? Whoever wants to go can go, but I won't go. I advise you to think it over carefully, or you will die without knowing why!"
Ye Zi noticed that the guards who followed them were looking at each other, and some even started to whisper to each other. She said angrily, "Take him away, and shut him up if he spreads rumors again."
"Run with me, you'll have to trust me!" Li Qiuxin broke free from the guard's hand, opened his backpack, and grabbed a handful of gold coins. "Look, I have a lot of gold coins here, you can spend them, those who want to buy a house can buy a house, those who want to find a woman can find a woman." Li Qiuxin looked sincere with his heartfelt sincerity.
"Catch him and shut his mouth." Ye Zi said it for the second time, but the two guards beside him did not try to shut his mouth.
"If you don't feel guilty, why do you block my mouth and stop me from speaking?" Li Qiuxin sneered.
Ye Zi was about to rush forward and do it himself, but was stopped by Cao Lu. She pointed at the girl who had been pushed down before and was now kneeling on the ground with her face covered and crying, and said coldly: "Humph, your girlfriend believed you, but you threw her away in the blink of an eye. This is the end of believing in you."
Her voice was so sharp and shrill that it immediately drowned out the boy's voice, while the girl sitting on the ground began to sob in grievance.
Ye Zi took advantage of the situation and said, "These people betrayed us at the most critical moment and stole our gold coins and food. Now they betrayed their companions again. Think about it yourself, can you believe his words? Can they pass through the blockade of the bandits and avoid the danger of the forest? Maybe they will be chopped to pieces by the bandits as soon as they leave this forest!"
Several guards looked at each other, and two of them rushed forward with some shame and anger and grabbed Li Qiuxin's arms.
"Take them away!" Ye Zi breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that all the people were under control. The pursuit operation that lasted most of the day was finally a complete success. She turned around and led the team back along the original route to meet up with Qin Mu.
But after walking a few steps, she heard the sound of shoving and fighting at the end of the team. She looked back and found that one of the two team members who were holding Niu Guangcheng was pushed to the ground, and the other was blocked in front of him by Niu Guangcheng as a hostage. Niu Guangcheng was holding a Type 54 pistol in his hand, pointing it at the man's temple.
Ye Zi suddenly felt as if a basin of cold water was poured over her head.
"Don't move!" Niu Guangcheng shouted loudly.
The sunlight shone through the gaps in the leaves on his face, revealing a ferocious look, making him look like a beast with its teeth bared. He dragged the team member back slowly, distanced himself from the others, and shouted urgently: "Put your weapons on the ground, or don't blame me for being rude."
Ye Zi pushed through the crowd, tried to calm down, slowly walked up to him, and advised: "Here is a rifle, three crossbows, and the big gun in my hand. Do you know what you are doing?"
"I don't want to hear any nonsense. Put your weapons on the ground and let my people go." Niu Guangcheng shouted to himself, not giving Ye Zi any chance to persuade him.
"You'd better calm down and think about it. If you hurt our people, you won't survive."
Niu Guangcheng panted heavily, his voice excited, "Die? Who of you wants to take the blame for me? Who wants to try the gun first? Damn it, I've had enough of this lousy place, I don't want to play with you anymore. I say again, hand over all your weapons."
At this time, Cao Lu, who was behind Ye Zi, took advantage of the confrontation between Ye Zi and Niu Guangcheng and slowly raised her gun, preparing to aim at the opponent's arm, waiting for an opportunity to rescue. When Niu Guangcheng attacked before, she was slow to react and was very annoyed, so she wanted to get back at him.
But before she could aim, Niu Guangcheng's gun fired, hitting Cao Lu's arm. She screamed and the gun fell to the ground.
"Cao Lu!" Ye Zi was anxious to see her wound. Niu Guangcheng fired another shot, and the bullet grazed Ye Zi's calf, leaving a bloody mark.
"Don't move." Niu Guangcheng shouted.
After firing two shots, he quickly put the gun to the hostage's head and sneered, "You are not the only one who has participated in the shooting team. I practiced pistol rapid shooting for six years before college. Don't challenge my patience, or I will let you experience my shooting skills. Next time, it won't be arms and legs, but the head!"
He winked at Li Qiuxin, and the short boy quickly snatched Cao Lu's rifle, and then forced several guards to throw their crossbows and spears on the ground. Ye Zi wanted to punch this bastard to death, but he could only throw away the spear in his hand. Li Qiuxin wanted to call the two girls who escaped with him to follow. But the two girls were so scared by their performance that they hid behind the guards and didn't dare to go over.
Seeing that Li Qiuxin was arguing with the girl, Niu Guangcheng said impatiently: "Don't waste time with them! You two ungrateful people, let's go by ourselves! You have money, but you are afraid of not being able to find a woman?"
The two of them slowly retreated to the edge of the clearing. Niu Guangcheng kicked the hostage in front of him over, and he and Li Qiuxin turned around and ran into the woods.
Ye Zi knew that she had no way to deal with these two people.
However, at this moment, a gunshot was heard. Niu Guangcheng was hit in the thigh by a bullet while running and fell to the ground. He instinctively fired back at the crowd with his pistol, and bullets flew everywhere, scaring everyone to flee in panic. Li Qiuxin also leaned against a tree, raised his rifle and prepared to shoot. At this time, the sound of rifles rang out again, one shot hit Niu Guangcheng's chest, and one shot hit Li Qiuxin's head, and both of them fell to the ground.
Everyone present was stunned, even the two girls who were sobbing stopped crying out of fear. Everyone just watched the "enemy" being knocked down in public, lying motionless in the bushes, and for a moment they didn't know what to do.
"Teacher Qin..." Ye Zi looked at Qin Mu who was running out from the bushes behind him, his voice very bitter.
"Medical officer, quickly bandage Cao Lu and Ye Zi." Qin Mu held the gun and ran carefully towards Niu Guangcheng and the others.
"Dead." Qin Mu's hand left Niu Guangcheng's neck and he let out a long sigh.
"Teacher Qin... do we really have to kill them?" Ye Zi said sadly, "They are our classmates after all. If we let them go, they won't shoot back..."
"The school at this time... cannot tolerate a traitor." Qin Mu patted her shoulder and said, "When Niu Guangcheng shot at you for the first time, this was what he deserved."
"I... don't know. Maybe one day when I think back on it, I will regret chasing after them." Ye Zi said with red eyes.
Qin Mu gently stroked his gun for a while, then lifted it heavily and put it on his shoulder, showing a somewhat forced smile, and said: "I don't regret it."