Chapter Twelve: Intercepted

  Two men walked far apart, Ma Wu kept walking towards the house by the river. He arrived at the riverside, crossed over and went around from one side to the other side of the courtyard. He was obviously very familiar with the defense of this courtyard, keeping a considerable distance all the time, so the fierce dogs couldn't find them.

  Inside the row of tents, a faint light was visible, and Liu Gan looked into the courtyard and wondered: "What is someone with the surname Ma doing here?"

  Xu Mo said: "I came here yesterday, the courtyard was heavily guarded, as soon as I approached, I was surrounded by several big dogs, presumably there are vicious dogs everywhere around the courtyard."

  Liu Qian thought for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh, "I know! These tents must be used like greenhouses to grow that blue plant. This guy surnamed Ma doesn't know this plant grows elsewhere and came here to steal it."

  Xu Mo didn't say a word, but in his heart, a strange feeling surged up.

  Liu Qian continued: "Let's wait and see what he plans to do."

  Two people hid behind the bushes, quietly approaching, imitating Ma Wu's appearance, bypassing a distance, wanting to cross the small river and walk to the other side of the courtyard.

  As he passed by the small river, Xu Mo subconsciously glanced into the water. Under the moonlight in the sky, a black shadow seemed to flash in the river and then sank into the water. He was startled, rubbed his eyes, and looked carefully, but couldn't see anything anymore.

  "What is that?"

  He was uncertain and suspicious in his heart, and he looked around at the surrounding environment. This place is located downstream of a small river, about 100 meters away from the yard. Yesterday when he came, he didn't walk to this place, but now carefully watching, it seems that this section of the river looks more and more like the picture in the Book of Revelation.

  A heart beats wildly, thinking of the black shadow just seen, a sense of unknown danger suddenly emerges, thinking: "I don't know what that black shadow is, since the Book of Revelation mentions it, there must be danger. I'll make a mark, lest I forget this place and accidentally fall into the river when I come again, and get attacked."

  He picked a long wooden stick from the bush, picked up a mineral water bottle, inserted the stick on the riverbank, and inverted the mineral water bottle on the top of the stick.

  Liu Qian looked at him strangely, "Hey! Brother Xu, what are you doing?"

  Xu Mo casually said: "I'll make a mark and remember this place."

  "Make a mark?" Liu Qian smiled and said, "What's the point of making a mark here? We won't get lost anyway." Fortunately, he was just asking casually and didn't pursue it further, so Xu Mo naturally wouldn't explain voluntarily.

  The little river was not too wide, only over three meters. The two of them retreated a few steps back, then suddenly rushed forward and jumped across the river surface.

  Behind the courtyard was a forest, and the two followed Ma Wu's back, walking in, still keeping a distance. But seeing Ma Wu walk all the way to the edge of the forest without going out, he looked around to the left and right, and suddenly threw something out.

  Several big dogs ran out from somewhere, wagging their heads and tails, running to the thing that Ma Wu threw out, lowering their heads to sniff, suddenly letting out a few wows, falling to the ground.

  Liu Qian explained in a low voice to Xu Mo, "There are dog holes dug around this courtyard, leading to the inside of the courtyard. These dogs came out from those holes."

  Xu Mo uttered an "oh" and suddenly came to his senses.

  Looking ahead, Ma Wu had already walked out of the woods and over to the side of several dogs, picking up the things that were originally thrown on the ground and putting them in his pocket.

  Xu Moqi said: "What did he throw? Why did these few dogs fall down as soon as they smelled it? He killed these few dogs, and by tomorrow, the guards in the courtyard will not discover that someone has sneaked in?"

  "That won't happen." Liu Gan smiled and said, "When I was wandering around the Taoist community in the past, I had heard of this kind of trick. The thing he just threw out is a piece of dried meat wrapped in gauze, but the main ingredient for making the dried meat is not salt, but rather a special medicine made through a unique method. This medicine emits a strange smell; while it's harmless to humans, dogs will faint after smelling it, as if they've been anesthetized. They won't die from it, and they'll wake up after a few hours. It seems that this guy surnamed Ma is quite well-prepared, indeed."

  While speaking, Ma Wu had already climbed over the fence, jumped into the yard, and then crouched down, crawling towards the nearest tent.

  Liu Qian pointed to the camera on the railing and sneered, "This guy named Ma must have an inside accomplice. The cameras are installed so densely that there's no blind spot at all. But look at him, he doesn't care about the cameras at all."

  Xu Mo nodded. Ma Wu had already come out of the first tent and was walking towards the next one.

  After more than ten minutes, Ma Wuyuan returned from the outside of the wall, climbed over the fence and walked towards the woods, without alarming anyone in the courtyard.

  Liu Qiandao said: "Looking at his appearance, he must have succeeded. Brother Xu, let's avoid him for now and wait until he passes by, then follow him to see what he has stolen."

  Xu Mo responded with a sound. The two of them walked away from the side for a distance, hiding behind a tree, waiting for Ma Wu to pass by, and then followed him from behind.

  Ma Wu left the courtyard and did not return to his residence, following a small river downstream, walking halfway up the mountain, suddenly turning into a forest, and stopping in front of several large rocks.

  Xu Mo and Liu Qian immediately hid when they saw him stop.

  Ma Wu looked around cautiously, listened carefully with his ear to the side, and didn't notice any movement, only then did he feel at ease. He squatted down, dug a small hole beside the stone, took out several things from his bosom, put them in the hole, covered them with the excavated soil, and scattered some fallen leaves on top to conceal the traces.

  After finishing, he re-examined his surroundings and then headed back in the direction of the dormitory.

  The direction back to the dormitory happened to pass by Xu Mo and Liu Qian, and the two of them hastily hid in a bush, bowing their heads and lying still behind it.

  Ma Wu took out his mobile phone and made a call. The call connected just as Xu Mo and Liu Qian were passing by. In the dead of night, the surroundings were extremely quiet, so the voice on the phone was transmitted into the ears of the two people without any difference.

  "All I could hear was a man's voice on the other end of the phone, coldly asking: 'Is the task complete?'"

  Judging from his tone, he seems to be Ma Wu's superior.

  Ma Wu's attitude was extremely respectful, and he cautiously replied: "It's done. When Big Brother Zhao passes by, it will be just in time for him to take it away."

  "That's for the best." The man on the other end of the phone was noncommittal, his tone suddenly turning flat, and continued, "I'll tell your wife about your merits."

  Ma Wu was overjoyed and hastily said: "Thank you, Brother Zhao."

  The man on the other end of the phone let out a grunt and hung up, saying no more.

  Ma Wu put away his phone, looked up at the sky and suddenly let out a sigh. The sigh was extremely heavy, as if he had a lot on his mind. He stood still for a moment before walking away.

  After he walked far away, Xu Mo and Liu Qian came out from their hiding place. Liu Qian burst into laughter and said: "Let's go take a look, see what this guy with the surname Ma has stolen."

  Xu Mo worriedly said: "From what I heard on the phone, this guy with the surname Ma seems to be from a gang."

  "Mind your own business!" Liu Qian said disapprovingly: "We'll just take the things and leave, no matter how powerful they are, they won't be able to find anything on us."

  Xu Mo was uneasy in his heart, Liu Qian had already walked up to the front, arrived at the big stone, squatted down, and with a few strokes of his hand, he opened up the mud and took out the buried thing. Xu Mo could not help but move closer to take a look.

  There is a piece of plastic paper wrapped around four things, two glass bottles and two thin bamboo tubes about 30 cm long. The glass bottles are large and small, the two thin bamboo tubes have one end with bamboo joints and the other end is sealed with wooden plugs, it's unknown what they contain.

  Holding it in his hand, he felt the bamboo tube swaying slightly, as if there was a living creature inside.

  Liu Qian put the bamboo tube aside and went to check the two glass bottles, with Xu Mo taking out his phone to help him take a look. The small glass bottle contained Dream Powder, about 2-3 liang in weight, which excited the two of them for a moment. The large glass bottle contained a colorful powder that emitted a foul odor.

  Liu Qian took a light sniff, but almost threw up, cursing loudly: "What kind of devilish thing is this? It must be poisonous, it's suffocating me!"

  He hastily covered the lid and fanned himself with his hand under his nose. After a while, when the smell had dissipated, he went to check the two bamboo tubes. He picked up one of them, shook it, and the things inside moved more violently.

  "What is this?" Liu Qian asked in puzzlement, but didn't expect Xu Mo to answer.

  Xu Mo hurriedly reminded him, "Be careful!"

  Liu Qian nodded and stretched out his arm, moving the bamboo tube away from his body before pulling out the plug.

  A small green snake darted out of the bamboo tube at an incredible speed, burrowing into a thicket and disappearing in an instant. But within this extremely short period of time, both of them had already seen clearly that this little green snake was astonishingly similar to the one they saw on the plant with green fruit today.

  Liu Qian wondered, "Strange, what's the point of this guy surnamed Ma putting a small snake in here?" He glanced at another bamboo tube and continued, "No need to say more, there must be another small green snake inside this tube." With a flick of his hand, he was about to throw the tube away.

  Xu Mo hastily drank and stopped saying: "Don't!"

  Liu Qian stopped and said, "Oh! You want it? Be careful not to get bitten by the little snake inside." As he spoke, he tossed the bamboo tube to Xu Mo, who stretched out his hand to catch it.

  Liu Qian glanced at him and said: "I don't need this bottle of poisonous powder, Brother Xu, do you want it? If you do, I'll give you more Dream Powder."

  Xu Mo thought for a moment and then agreed, "Okay."

  At that time, Liu Qian threw the bottle of poisonous powder to Xu Mo and gave him one-third of the fantasy powder. Xu Mo wrapped it in paper and put it away.

  Liu Qian suggested, "That guy with the surname Ma is ahead of us now. If we go back, we'll definitely run into him. Why don't we wait until he's asleep before going back? It's good that we're all on the upper bunks. As long as he doesn't intentionally look up, it's so dark in the room, he won't notice that there's no one above."

  Xu Mo thought so too, and the two of them sat down leaning against a rock.

  Liu Qian took out a cigarette and offered it to Xu Mo, "Want one?" He then said: "I mixed the Fantasy Powder into the cigarettes. When you smoke, you can also experience that feeling. So this pack of cigarettes is no longer ordinary, if it weren't for you, Brother Xu, I wouldn't be willing to give it away, haha!"

  Xu Mo also felt curious, smiled, and reached out to take it over.

  Not long after, a voice was suddenly heard from afar: "Is it here?" Then the sound of rapid footsteps echoed, as if someone was rushing in this direction.

  "Someone's coming!"

  The two were shocked and hastily dodged.