In the early morning, the group finally left Black Cloud Valley and arrived at a flat area on the mountainside.

However, the unsettling feeling in Qi Yun’s heart still did not dissipate.

"Let’s set up camp here."

Seeing that Yao Yuzhong, with his old bones, could no longer move and was showing slight signs of altitude sickness, the team had to stop.

This flat area was relatively sheltered from the wind, and there was a large rock nearby that could provide some cover. Everyone quickly cleared a space, set up tents, and started boiling water.

No one had much of an appetite, and they only managed to swallow some compressed rations with hot water.

The atmosphere was somewhat dreary, and no one spoke.

The scene from the underground space felt like a huge stone pressing on everyone’s hearts. Perhaps they were all still overwhelmed by the intense shock. After a simple meal, they each crawled into their sleeping bags to rest.

Brother Quan arranged for Old Eagle and Niu Da to stand guard at night, the latter keeping his machine gun by his side, ready to handle any sudden situations.

Brother Quan checked around the campsite and then crawled into Qi Yun’s tent.

Inside the tent, Qi Yun had a cigarette in his mouth. He seemed to sense that he had something to say, so he proactively asked, "Did you discover anything?"

Brother Quan shook his head, paused for a moment, and then spoke in a low voice, "Today in that tunnel...I felt something was following us."

"It was a feeling of being watched...especially when we entered the passage behind the cavern, the feeling was the strongest."

Qi Yun raised an eyebrow, slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, the smoke mingling with the cold air in the small tent. Both of their expressions were rather serious.

"What do you think it was?"

"Hard to say." Brother Quan furrowed his brows tightly as well, "I sprinkled some fluorescent powder on the ground along the way, but I didn’t find any signs of it being stepped on."

The tent fell into a brief silence.

Qi Yun did not doubt Brother Quan’s judgment. People like them, who have practiced martial arts for a long time, have relatively sharp senses, and because of the nature of their profession, their instinct for danger is often keener than that of ordinary people.

If he said something was following them, it was probably not without reason.

Moreover, Qi Yun himself had an indescribable feeling and instinctively wanted to leave the area quickly.

The answer was becoming clear...

"Stay vigilant, we’ll leave as soon as it’s daylight."

For now, the only measure they could take was to increase their own alertness.

"Okay, you should get some rest." Brother Quan lifted the tent flap and went out.

He didn’t plan on sleeping that night either, sitting with Old Eagle and the others, with his gear at hand.

"If anything approaches, and you detect a threat, open fire immediately!" Brother Quan’s voice was decisive and carried a cold, deadly air.

....

A round of sunrise rose from the other side of Taibai Mountain, gradually brightening the sky.

Last night, apart from a few squirrels visiting the campsite, nothing else unusual happened.

Qi Yun was moving his somewhat stiff body in the open space. The morning light dispelled some of the chill, and the oppressive feeling in his heart lessened a bit too.

After a night’s rest, Yao Yuzhong had mostly recovered. After breakfast, the team set off again.

They took the same route as they had come, ascending to the summit, then slanting to Baxian Platform, descending from there, and passing through Ping’an Temple to return to their starting point at Chaihu Mountain Village.

At the foot of the mountain, when they saw the sparse lights, everyone involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief.

During this journey into the mountains, aside from the unusually large giant scorpions, the team hadn’t encountered any real danger, but their nerves had been tense all along. Now they could finally breathe easily.

Without any delays, they all boarded the car and drove towards Chang’an.

Sitting in the car, Qi Yun dialed Ignacio’s number, asking him to come to Bird City.

Ignacio had been a part of the Kunlun expedition as well and had been assisting in research for a long time. Now, in order to unravel the secret, it was natural to inform him.

Upon hearing that Qi Yun had found clues related to the scales, Ignacio was equally excited and immediately said he would arrive as quickly as possible.

After hanging up, Qi Yun gazed at the scenery quickly passing by outside the window, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

He had finally dispelled that fog with his own hands...

Back at Qin Sizhi’s yard, Qi Yun first arranged for Old Eagle to lead people to return the batch of weapons.

Then it was time to fulfill his promises.

Qi Yun transferred ten million to Qin Sizhi in person, as gratitude for him leading the way on this journey.

Qin Sizhi politely thanked him and assured Qi Yun they would not reveal the events of this journey to anyone.

Then it was Yao Yuzhong’s turn.

Brother Quan went to call him from the side room, coming out with a small tracking chip in his palm.

This had been hidden on the old man on the day they set off, as Qi Yun was worried he might play tricks and sneak away halfway, so he took this precaution.

But fortunately, Yao Yuzhong had been well-behaved on this trip and didn’t cause any trouble.

"Old Yao, you’ve worked hard this time." Qi Yun invited him to sit down, personally pushing a cup of tea in front of him.

Yao Yuzhong quickly took it with both hands, feigning a look of being favored: "Director Qi, you’re too kind. It’s my fortune to be able to help you."

His manner of speaking seemed to have changed, different from before.

"Heh." Qi Yun chuckled lightly, his gaze scanning between Yao Yuzhong and Qin Sizhi, "Now that our goal has been achieved, I won’t pursue your scheme against me."

As soon as Qin Sizhi heard this, he opened his mouth to explain, "Director Qi..."

"Enough." Qi Yun waved his hand to interrupt, "Since I said I won’t pursue it, there’s no need to explain."

Seeing that he genuinely didn’t seem angry, Qin Sizhi swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.