Chapter 25: Life and Death Separation (Part 1)

  A raging fire was burning in the fireplace, and the temperature inside quickly rose. Zhang Fan opened his eyes, and after a series of adjustments, his body's functions had returned to their best state. The clothes he had left in the small wooden house last time were still there, and the blanket just happened to meet Zhang Fan's needs. After rummaging through the wine cabinet, he surprisingly found a bottle of whiskey. Holding the liquor in his hand, Zhang Fan sat down by the fireplace, holding the communication device he had picked up outside the door. After some adjustments, it could still be used. It seemed that high-tech products were indeed high-tech new products, waterproof and moisture-proof. Zhang Fan did not rush to call Li Lan, but instead sat there preparing to sort out his thoughts.

  Everything started with Professor Ouyang's disappearance, then the Countess's ball, mysterious death cases, and finally the mysterious truth. All of this was beyond the power of ordinary people. This commission case allowed Zhang Fan to encounter many extremely powerful masters whose abilities were not commensurate with their age, which could not be considered an ordinary event.

  Can a person's cultivation rise so rapidly? Zhang Fan couldn't figure this out. His own cultivation was already an anomaly, but many things weren't something that could be achieved just by working hard. Innate abilities were the decisive factor in determining one's cultivation progress. Although it wasn't ruled out that later efforts could change innate abilities, such possibilities were even slimmer. Were these absolute top experts all suddenly appearing out of thin air? Where were they before then?

  Is Ouni's second disappearance man-made or a coincidence? Is it that they created chaos to kidnap Ouni from Zhang Fan's hands? Or did they find Ouni and bring her back after she got separated from Zhang Fan? And what about the mysterious valley? How thick of a background is needed to support the operation of this entire system? Zhang Fan thought about these things, his head started to hurt.

  The wine warmed his stomach, making Zhang Fan start to miss Ouni's hug. Stopping the threads that kept popping up in his mind, Zhang Fan finally picked up the communicator. For Zhang Fan, it was quite a bother to figure out how to explain all these confusing things to Li Lan. However, there was no more time for him to worry about this problem, as Li Lan's voice had already come from the other end of the communicator.

  "Hey, are you Zhang Fan?" Li Lan's voice carried a hint of expectation. Although it had been several days since Zhang Fan and Li Lan lost contact, one fortunate thing was that Zhang Fan had initiated contact again. Unlike the previous agents who were sent out and never returned, disappearing without a trace, Zhang Fan did not do so.

  Zhang Fan smiled bitterly, "How did you know it was me? Are your sources so well-informed? Have you been following me?"

  When Zhang Fan said this, Li Lan hurriedly explained: "You misunderstood my meaning. Only Longyi and his team can use this frequency to communicate, and the usage of this communication device and its frequency are only known to them and you. So when the phone rang, I guessed it was you. Has there been any progress in the case?" Li Lan quickly got to the point, and the news Zhang Fan brought was what he cared about most.

  "I think I've gotten myself into big trouble. Under the Alps, I discovered a mysterious base. I once went inside and found that its security measures were among the safest places I'd ever seen. And inside, I met many absolute masters whose abilities far surpassed mine, unless I used my superpowers."

  Upon hearing Zhang Fan's words, Li Lan continued to ask: "In your opinion, what kind of organization do you think this is?" It seems that a big shot has the demeanor to experience major events. After hearing Zhang Fan's words, although Li Lan was also aware of the severity of the incident, his voice was calm and composed, without any signs of panic or fluster.

  "To be honest, I can only say that this organization is quite large, and as for the rest, it's not good to say anything else. Moreover, I met many absolute masters inside, not just one that I can handle." Zhang Fan started telling Li Lan about his experience from the small wooden house. This conversation lasted for a fairly long time, until when Zhang Fan put down the communication device, the fierce fire in the fireplace had only left a little red ember.

  Li Lan's response was simple, he would dispatch reinforcements at the first opportunity, but Zhang Fan couldn't count on them in a short period of time. As for the next step, Zhang Fan made his own decision. Everything was based on Zhang Fan's own judgment, doing what he thought was right.

  Zhang Fan did not add firewood to the fireplace, he re-packed his luggage and organized all the weapons he could carry. The weapon was just a chopping axe that Zhang Fan found beside the fireplace, with a small gap in it, but after all, it was something that could be used as a weapon, which would also save some spiritual power during battles.

  Along the original path, Zhang Fan entered the cave. After about half an hour's journey, Zhang Fan arrived at the small hole where the mice came and went. This time it was strange that not many mice came out, only one or two, which quickly ran past. Zhang Fan thought to himself: If the mice don't come out, it's a good thing, who cares about that, first go back to the base and see what happens next.

  There were no mice blocking the way, and Zhang Fan arrived at the edge of the water pit very smoothly. As for how to cross this water pit, Zhang Fan had been prepared early on. When he came out, he brought three wooden boards from the small wooden house. The wooden board can float on the water surface, so Zhang Fan can borrow the buoyancy of the wooden board on the water surface and then jump over with force from the wooden board, so that he doesn't have to get wet.

  Zhang Fan had just thrown out the first wooden board and felt something was off. The calm water surface last time now had a lot of ripples. Just as Zhang Fan was about to throw out the second wooden board, a mouse scurried out from beside him and ran right to his feet. With one kick, Zhang Fan kicked the mouse into the water pit. His past experience with mice made Zhang Fan have no good feelings towards them at all.

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  Hehe, I saw that Xinlu Daren mentioned the issue of digging holes... Alright, to put it simply, this author name Li Bai has published one book online and two in Taiwan, without any record of being banned or censored, nor is it likely to have such a record.

  But as for other authors... Well, I admit it, I've plagiarized a book before. To be strict, that book was the prequel to this one, just with different main character names...

  Covering his face and running away...