ACultivator'sCampusLife

Chapter 35 Tracking

Lu Yao was so anxious to save Lin Jiayi that he jumped into the basket and rushed forward without thinking too much. Because he had never taken such a simple basket before, he didn't react in time when he landed. So he bumped into a stone pillar at the end of the cableway.

Luckily, Lu Yao was not injured due to cultivation. Only his clothes were scratched. However, this small accident was also a wake-up call for Lu Yao.

Those guys managed to take Lin Jiayi away undetected in broad daylight. It showed that they were not simple hooligans who had a strong s****l desire or were greedy for money, but some unusual people. Lu Yao realized that he would put himself and Lin Jiayi in danger if he didn't calm down. So he stepped up his vigilance.

At the end of the ropeway, in addition to a small open space paved with sand and stones, there was a path leading to the foot of the mountain. On both sides of the path were dense forest belts.

After Lu Yao walked along the path for more than ten minutes, the path was wider and there were more footprints on the road. However, Lu Yao sensed that something was very wrong. He had an intuition that Lin Jiayi and those guys hadn't come this way, but he just couldn't explain why.

After thinking for a while, Lu Yao changed direction and walked slowly towards the nearby forest belt.

When he was deep inside the forest belt, Lu Yao saw many huge old trees with rich foliage that screened out the sunlight. Lu Yao could barely see what was going on as the sunlight streamed down through the branches.

Thinking of many similar plots of novels, Lu Yao looked around more carefully for fear that he might alert the enemy or fall into a trap.

Because of the altitude of Yunwu Mountain, the temperature in the woods was gradually decreasing, and the air was heavier with moisture.

Lu Yao found it harder to tramp through the wood as he went further. In many places, the branches interlocked. If Lu Yao hadn't had great power, he wouldn't have passed through the wood. But this time, Lu Yao was sure that he was on the right route.

After tramping for about 20 minutes, Lu Yao suddenly saw a piece of white-and-blue cloth hanging on the branch in front of him.

Although it was still far away, Lu Yao was sure that it was left by Lin Jiayi because the uniform of the No. 1 High School in Shuangta City was directly white-and-blue.

It was a class activity, so all students were required to wear school uniforms as usual.

Lu Yao quickly stepped forward. After he took down the cloth and sniffed at it, Lu Yao believed that this was left by Lin Jiayi.

Although female students usually didn't wear perfume or anything like that, they still had natural scents. Lu Yao had never paid attention to it before, but this familiar scent that appeared in this situation exactly showed that Lin Jiayi must have come here!

Lu Yao immediately stepped forward more quickly.

Gradually, Lu Yao could no longer find clues on the branches. But he found some footprints of different depths on the ground.

Lu Yao squatted down and looked at these footprints of different depths carefully. He found that all deeper footprints without exception were particularly deep at the toe. And judging from the size of the shallower footprints and the mark in the soil, the tread belonged to sneakers, which were distributed to girls by the school.

Therefore, Lu Yao could conclude that these were Lin Jiayi's footprints.

It seemed that Lin Jiayi was still safe. At least, she could leave these clues. Lu Yao was a little relieved.

After walking for about half an hour, Lu Yao found that there were fewer trees on both sides and it was getting brighter. In front of him was an open area full of wild grass.

Seeing that, Lu Yao became more cautious.

There was a cave at the end of the forest. At the entrance of the cave, there were two masked men in camouflage clothing. One of them was leaning against a large stone, cursing from time to time, and holding a glittering machete in his hand.

"San, how much strength do you have now?" A masked man who held a w**d between his lips asked the other man whose arms were bound with bandages.

"About fifty or sixty percent. How about you?" The masked man who was called San said.

"F**k, I guess only thirty or forty percent of my strength is left now. My arms are still numb. The big man who is more than two meters tall is really powerful. I'm afraid an ordinary man might have died after receiving such a severe blow!" The man who held a w**d between his lips cursed, "We only take a few guns this time because things are tense near the border. Or I would have shot those guys with a Kalashnikov rifle!"

"I think there must be a traitor. Last night, they were obviously lying in ambush and waiting for us!" San's mind kept flashing back to the previous night. He said, gnashing his teeth, "Alas, I hope they won't find us so soon. Otherwise, I really don't know how to resist!"

"What are you afraid of? We still have Brother Tiger with us. He is one of the best fighters in the whole Black Shadow Organization. It is rather easy for him to defeat one or two soldiers, right?" The man who held a w**d between his lips suddenly got up and cursed, "And if worse comes to worst, we will fight to the death!"

"But last night Brother Tiger ran out of his golden arrows to save us. Now we only have a few bullets except for these knives. How can we fight with them?" San signed after hearing what the man who held a w**d between his lips said.

"F**k! If I return to our place safe and sound, I will find this b*st*rd and t*****e him. I, Cha Cai, swear that I won't let him go easily!" The name of the man who held a w**d between his lips was Cha Cai. He angrily punched the lawn next to him and swore.

"Well, well, stop here. Let's cheer up and stay alert. We'll have a good rest when Ba Song comes back!" The man named San tightened the bandages on his arms, stood up with a machete, and said.

"Hey, San, where did Brother Tiger find such a beautiful girl? Her face and her body make me drool." Cha Cai said, drooling at the mouth and leering.

"You'd better not ask too many questions about Brother Tiger, or you and I will get into trouble. Didn't he tell you that this girl is our amulet? So he took lots of effort to take her away. Don't expect any inordinate ambitions until we fulfill the task!" San gave Cha Cai a sullen glare and urged, "Let's stay alert in case we are besieged by the enemies!"

"Don't take it seriously. I was just teasing. Who dares to approach that girl when Brother Tiger is here?" Cha Cai muttered and quickly got up to guard against the enemies.

...

Hearing their conversation, Lu Yao guessed that Lin Jiayi should be kidn*pped by them. But judging from their names, they were not local people. Because no one would be called Cha Cai in Mong or Hazak. However, most of the people who were called this name were citizens of Tayi.

But why did these guys sneak across the border? Who just fought against them?

Why did these bandits who entered Shina illegally kidnap such a delicate young girl?

Lu Yao inferred from their conversation that several others were resting in the cave. And it was quite possible that Lin Jiayi was there, too.

Unfortunately, although Lu Yao's perception had become greater due to the transplanted heart and cultivation, he couldn't get close to the cave to get more useful information because two armed men were guarding the entrance of the cave.

Lu Yao wasn't sure if he could save Lin Jiayi, so he didn't act rashly. The consequences would be very grave if he alerted the enemies.

Therefore, Lu Yao, like a cheetah, lay behind a huge stone 70 or 80 meters away from the cave, watching their every move. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, he tried to move to the entrance of the cave slowly.

Li Jiang had taught him how to hold his breath and control his heartbeat. So each time he moved, Lu Yao didn't make any sound, as silent as a leaf falling into the desert.

...

About half an hour later, Lu Yao was only about 30 meters away from the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, there was a scuffling noise in the grass directly opposite the cave.

The two masked men named San and Cha Cai respectively suddenly bent and hid in the grass not far from Lu Yao.

Meanwhile, several bird calls sounded from the grass opposite. The two of them stood up again and imitated the bird calls.

Another masked man ran out of the grass quickly. After they spoke in whispers, the masked man ran into the cave.

Cha Cai and San immediately stepped back and stopped at the entrance of the cave. They looked around cautiously. Obviously, the situation had changed.

Lu Yao was glad that he didn't act rashly. Otherwise, he would have been noticed by the man who just came back. If so, it would be too ghastly to contemplate the consequences.

Before long, two men came out of the cave. One man was wearing a camouflage mask, which was the same as San's. The other was a middle-aged man who wore nothing over his face. And he was holding a rope in his hand. It seemed that something was tied to the rope.

Seeing him coming out, San and Cha Cai walked to him. Obviously, he was the boss of these people, Brother Tiger.

Lu Yao finally saw this middle-aged man's face when Brother Tiger turned and looked around.

This man was average-looking. If he hadn't appeared here, Lu Yao wouldn't have associated him with these bandits at all.

Because he was neither tall nor strong. He looked ordinary except that there was a red mark on the tip of his nose. His skin was white and his eyes were small but bright.

Somehow Lu Yao sensed danger and his whole body broke out with gooseflesh when this man appeared.

Lu Yao immediately held his breath and controlled his heartbeat. He pressed himself flat against the ground and didn't dare to look around.

As Brother Tiger moved slowly, Lu Yao saw that a person whose face was covered with a black mask was tied to the rope.

The person wore a school uniform and a pair of sneakers, which were dyed black. Although her face was covered, Lu Yao's heart was in his mouth when he saw her. Who else could the person be except for Lin Jiayi?

After the man came out, he looked around carefully. He especially looked up and down the place where Lu Yao hid.

"Ba Song, did you just see them coming in this direction?" The middle-aged man asked the man who had hurried into the cave.

"Brother Tiger, I saw them clearly. There were three or four men and their faces were painted with camouflage, which must be the g**g of people fought with us last night. And that large strong man was also among them!" The masked man called Ba Song respectfully said to the middle-aged man called Brother Tiger.

"Although there is no signal here, we should still retreat towards Black Dragon Pond. The complex terrain there will make it easier for us to find hiding places. As long as we can stay there until after dark and reach the place agreed by Sky Tower, we will be safe!" Brother Tiger looked at the sky and said to the others.

Hearing Brother Tiger's words, Cha Cai and the others quickly followed him and headed to the Black Dragon Pond in the northwest.

Apparently, Lin Jiayi was gagged. She simply kept wriggling but couldn't make any sound.

Lu Yao felt that this middle-aged man called Brother Tiger was by no means an ordinary man. If he had enough time, he would have searched the place where Lu Yao hid. It seemed that Brother Tiger was aware of him.

So Lu Yao became more cautious after that. About five or six minutes after they left, he carefully got up and chased after them.

...

...

About 20 minutes after Lu Yao left, three men who wore ordinary tracksuits and had their faces painted with camouflage also came to the cave. The one who came first turned around and said to the man behind him, "Coach Wang, look, I've found something strange here!"

"Dahui, what did you find?" Wang Ping quickly ran towards the man who just talked and asked him.

"Look at these footprints. Although someone who is an expert in avoiding detection had deliberately tampered with them, they still left some useful clues!" The man named Dahui said, "Here, here, and here. We can infer that these people were very flustered when they left this place. Maybe they have been aware of us!"

"Dahui, you really deserve to be the famous 'Hound' of the reconnaissance company. You even didn't miss such a little detail. I'm grateful to the chief for sending you here. You've been a great help!" The man called Coach Wang said with a smile, patting Dahui on the shoulder.

"Coach Wang, you flatter me. I've been keeping a close watch on these people for more than a year, so I know them better!" Dahui said modestly.

"Bros, since they have been aware of us, we should be more cautious from now on. Just before we entered the mountain, I got information from the supreme headquarters. There is a strong possibility that a female student who went for an outing in the mountain was kidn*pped by these people. Therefore, we must annihilate these desperate criminals without hurting the hostage!"

"Got it!"

"Got it!"

"Well, I'll lead the way. Let's search forward in a triangular formation. We must stop them and shoot them dead before dark. Otherwise, it will be more difficult for us to take action after dark!" After the other two men replied, Coach Wang said.

If Lu Yao hadn't left this place, he would have been surprised. It turned out that the man called Coach Wang was Wang Ping, the wrestling coach of Tianxin martial arts school who came to Lu Yao's home every day.