Dare to shirk responsibility? This adorable little one will tear down your military district!

Lin Wanrou took out a palm-sized white porcelain bottle from her cloth bag.

"Changfeng, don't worry." She said as she unscrewed the wooden stopper, pouring out a handful of dark pills.

"Before coming to Beiping, Master Sun specially taught me how to make several batches of miasma-avoiding pills. He said that in places like the Northwest with many old graveyards and deep gullies, it is easiest to encounter the stagnant corpses and poisonous miasma from rotten wood. These pills contain a sufficient amount of bezoar and realgar, which are specifically used to dispel this kind of underground evil."

Lin Wanrou handed the pills to Xiao Li: "Platoon Leader Li, distribute them to everyone. Each person should put one in their mouth, and then take another, crush it, dissolve it in a kettle, soak a strip of rag in it, and tie it to their face."

Platoon Leader Li quickly took the assignments and distributed them. The thirty elite soldiers did as instructed without hesitation.

Ya Ya sat in Gu Changfeng's arms, casually took out her small aluminum water bottle from the pocket of her vest, and handed it to Niu Dan: "Niu Dan, use this water to dissolve the medicine. My water is sweet, not bitter."

This kettle contains pure, highly concentrated spiritual spring water, with a detoxifying effect stronger than any medicine. Niu Dan took the kettle, gulped down a large mouthful, and then poured some water out to wet his collar.

In less than five minutes, everyone had covered their faces completely. Niu Dan closed his eyes and sniffed hard, the strange, burning taste in his throat was completely suppressed by the aroma of medicine and the refreshing scent of the spiritual spring water.

He opened his eyes and nodded to Gu Changfeng: "Dad, I can go in now. The smell has faded, and it won't puncture my lungs."

Gu Changfeng placed Ya Ya on the ground, drew his Type 54 pistol from his waist, and swiftly slided it back up. "Platoon Leader Li, be on your guard. Keep your eyes peeled once you're inside. Since this warlord's underground palace is so well-constructed, there must be plenty of bloody traps inside."

"Yes, sir!" Platoon Leader Li pulled a military flashlight from his satchel and turned it on. The bright beam shone directly into the dark passage.

The passageway was entirely paved with blue bricks, square in shape, with a long string of stone steps leading down, stretching as far as the eye could see. The cracks between the bricks were full of green moss and rotten mud.

Platoon Leader Li was about to step down with his gun in hand.

"Uncle, wait a minute!" Ya Ya stretched out both hands and grabbed onto the trouser leg of Platoon Leader Li tightly.

Gu Changfeng looked down at his daughter: "Ya Ya, stop fooling around. It's dark inside, you stay behind your mother."

"Dad, it's all dark inside, there must be lots of big, poisonous rats hiding there. I'm afraid they'll bite my toes," Ya Ya called out in her childish voice, looking up at her.

"I just caught a lot of thorny, dry grass roots in the sand outside. My godfather said rats hate prickly feet. I'll throw the grass roots in to kill them first, then you can come in!"

As Ya Ya spoke, she pulled a few dry camel thorns from her pocket and casually tossed them onto the paving stones at the entrance of the passage. Then, she squatted down and pressed her chubby little hands firmly onto the dry thorns.

The wood-type power core was operating wildly within her body. Green vitality shot directly into the ground through Ya Ya's palm.

Although the desert is arid, plant roots can often penetrate to depths of over ten meters. These few unremarkable camel thorns, upon contact with wood-based supernatural abilities, grew rapidly, as if they had taken a powerful tonic.

Thick, dark brown roots burrowed directly into the cracks of the bluestone slabs, like thick, living snakes, rushing along the floor tiles and the base of the walls.

The passageway, which had been deathly still, was now completely filled with swirling tree roots.

Gu Changfeng and Platoon Leader Li stood at the door, completely dumbfounded. Although they had seen the tree root net that Ya Ya had made outside, seeing a few withered grasses turn into large tree roots crawling all over the ground still left them feeling stunned.

"Chief of Staff, this...this grass has become a spirit?" Platoon Leader Li stammered.

"Stop talking nonsense! Even if the grass my daughter threw becomes a spirit, it still has to listen to me!" Gu Changfeng glared and stubbornly resisted, determined to pretend to be blind to the end.

The tree roots in the passage grew rapidly and violently, quickly covering all the dozens of steps below. The force of the expanding roots was astonishing, pressing down on the floor tiles and the mechanical pedals at the base of the walls.

Click!

A crisp click of a mechanism echoed from deep within the passageway. The sound was amplified several times in the empty underground corridor, sending chills down one's spine.

Then, something terrible happened.

Whoosh whoosh—

On the blue brick walls on both sides, dozens of hidden bricks suddenly flipped over, revealing dark iron pipes inside. Dozens of bronze crossbows, half a meter long and covered with green poison rust, shot out from the walls like rain.

Ding ding ding!

The crossbow bolts were firmly embedded in the ground and the opposite wall. The force was so great that they pierced three inches deep, sending sparks flying. If Platoon Leader Li had been at the front, he would have seven or eight holes in his body by now.

That wasn't all; the tree roots had also pushed open the steps on the ground. Several large blue stone slabs collapsed with a loud crash, revealing a pit more than two meters deep. The bottom of the pit was filled with sharpened iron spikes, and the surface was covered with green, poisonous water.

Thirty elite soldiers stood outside the passage, listening to the series of explosions from the mechanisms inside. Their backs were covered in cold sweat, and they shivered in the strong wind.

Platoon Leader Li swallowed hard, his gaze towards Ya Ya completely changing. This wasn't just bringing along a logistics soldier; this was practically a living ancestor, someone to keep by your side for protection!

The loud noise lasted for two or three minutes before it finally went completely silent. The crossbow bolts and poison water in the mechanism had all been emptied.

Ya Ya pulled her little hand back from the ground. As soon as that life force disappeared, the thick tree roots in the passage cracked a few times and turned into dry, withered wood chips that rotted on the floor tiles.

"Oh dear, how can this rat shoot arrows? It's really wicked." Ya Ya patted the dirt off her hands, stood up, and patted her tactical vest. "Dad, everything inside is broken. Let's go down and move the gold."

Gu Changfeng's lips twitched twice. He bent down, picked up Ya Ya, and let out a long sigh: "Platoon Leader Li, take two soldiers and lead the way. The rest of you follow closely. Niu Dan, protect your mother."

"Yes, sir!" Platoon Leader Li, holding a flashlight, felt his courage grow. The traps were all disabled, the poison gas had dissipated, and all that remained was to clear out this underground black hole.

The group descended the stone steps, stepping over fallen logs and discarded crossbows. Gu Changfeng walked steadily, his eyes scanning the surroundings like radar. The walls on both sides were covered with blackened murals depicting monsters with long arms and legs.

Niu Dan, holding a cast iron boning knife, walked beside Lin Wanrou. He kept sniffing, making sure there was no other strange smell before he relaxed a little.

After walking about fifty or sixty meters, the passage ahead came to an end. Blocking their way were two thick, moldy, blackened wooden doors. The doors were unlocked and covered in cobwebs and white mold.

"Push it away," Gu Changfeng said coldly.

Platoon Leader Li kicked the two tattered wooden doors, his force of over 200 pounds shattering them into pieces. The wood chips hit the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Several beams of military flashlight beams shone in at the same time.

This underground stone chamber was unusually large, about half the size of a basketball court. The floor was paved with square blue bricks, and there were no coffins or statues of gods on it; it was simply a large cellar.