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

A coal shed a few hundred meters away.

A hunched figure was lying on a dark pile of coal, holding an entrenching tool, carefully digging at a loose brick in the corner of the wall.

These past few days have been tense. That leader named Gu Changfeng has been acting strangely, holding a grand martial arts competition and reorganizing internal affairs, leaving me with no chance to go to the back mountain.

We can only use this backup point to send the message out.

"Click." The brick was pried open.

The figure breathed a sigh of relief and reached inside to explore.

Just then, his heel suddenly stepped on something. The sensation was wrong. It didn't feel like stepping on mud; it felt like stepping into a bed of nails.

"laugh--"

A faint cracking sound was heard.

Several small, brown, spiky balls mixed in with the soil burst open instantly under the pressure. The sharp, iron-hard thorns pierced through the multi-layered soles of the cloth shoes and embedded themselves in the flesh.

The man's body stiffened abruptly, and a muffled groan escaped his throat as he forced it back down.

He could tolerate it if it were just a regular nail.

But the thorns have barbs, so once they pierce through, they get caught on the bone. What's worse, when the thorn ball bursts open, a strong, pungent smell, like rotten eggs mixed with garlic juice, explodes out instantly.

The smell was extremely pungent and quickly permeated the poorly ventilated corner.

A layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on the agent's forehead.

It wasn't just the pain; the smell was enough to reveal his location to military dogs 500 meters away.

He made a quick decision, ignoring the excruciating pain in his foot, and turned to leave.

The moment he took that step, his right foot landed.

"laugh--"

A few more.

This time the needle went in even deeper, piercing right through the arch of my foot.

The agent's legs were trembling; he was now truly lame.

"hiss--"

The figure gasped in pain, his body jerked to the side, and the entrenching tool in his hand slammed against the wall with a crisp metallic clang.

In the stillness of the night, the sound was like a thunderclap.

broken!

Ignoring the pain in his feet, the figure got up and tried to run outside.

But just as he rushed to the door, a blinding beam of flashlight shone directly into his face.

The bright light blinded him instantly.

"Hey friend, why aren't you sleeping at night? Why are you here digging coal?"

Gu Changfeng's voice came from behind the bright light, carrying a hint of mockery and a chilling killing intent, "I've been waiting for you for a long time."

The beam of the powerful flashlight cleaved the dimly lit coal shed in two like a sharp sword. The figure in blue overalls was blinded and instinctively raised his arm to shield his face.

"Commander Gu...?"

The man's voice betrayed his panic. He dared not move his feet; the piercing pain in the sole of his right foot shot straight to his head, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

"You know me? Looks like you've done your homework."

Gu Changfeng didn't turn off the flashlight, and his other hand naturally reached for his lower back. His movements were small, but the murderous aura emanating from him filled the small coal shed, which was only a dozen square meters in size.

"I...I'm a plumber in the logistics department. I was just passing by and wanted to use the restroom..."

As he explained, the man slowly moved his hand toward the long handle of the entrenching tool.

"Convenient?" Gu Changfeng scoffed, taking a step closer. "Is it convenient to dig under walls in an abandoned coal shed? Your hobby is quite peculiar."

Before he could finish speaking, the man moved.

Even a cornered beast will fight.

He suddenly swung the entrenching tool in his hand and swung it down at Gu Changfeng's head. Despite his earlier grimacing in pain, this strike was incredibly powerful, accompanied by a whooshing sound, clearly indicating he was a trained fighter.

Gu Changfeng didn't even blink.

Instead of retreating, he advanced, shifting his body to the side, the shovel almost grazing his nose. Immediately afterward, Gu Changfeng kicked, his thick-soled military boots landing solidly on the man's right knee.

"Click."

A crisp sound.

"ah--!"

The man screamed and collapsed to his knees on the cinder-strewn ground. Not only did his kneecap fracture, but the object his foot was standing on also sank even deeper because of the impact.

Those were not ordinary thorns at all.

That was a mutated variety created by Meng Yaya using her wood-type superpower. Its thorns had barbs, and once they pierced the flesh, they would burrow in as if they were alive.

Gu Changfeng did not give him a second chance.

He stepped forward, pressed his knee against the man's lower back, grabbed the man's wrist with his large hand, and with a "crack," dislocated the joint, pressing the man face down firmly into the coal pile.

"Behave yourself!"

At that moment, the guards outside heard the commotion and rushed in.

"Commander!"

Seven or eight long guns and short guns were instantly pointed at the twitching blue shadow on the ground.

"Tie him up." Gu Changfeng stood up, dusting the coal dust off his hands. "Gag him, don't let him bite his tongue."

Two strong soldiers rushed forward and used the rope from their backpacks to tie the man up like a dumpling.

Gu Changfeng squatted down, picked up the entrenching tool the man had dropped, and looked at the pried-open corner of the wall. Inside, a piece of an envelope wrapped in oil paper was visible.

The perpetrator was caught red-handed.

"Take off your shoes." Gu Changfeng suddenly pointed to the man's right foot.

The soldier didn't understand, but he did as he was told. The canvas shoe was forcibly ripped off.

On the sole of the shoe were three small, green spiky balls. The spiky balls had turned an eerie blackish-purple, and... under the flashlight beam, the oozing slime emitted a foul stench and glowed with a ghostly green light.

That light, like will-o'-the-wisps, was especially eerie in the pitch-black coal shed.

Everyone present gasped. What is this? Do burdock pods look like this now?

Gu Changfeng's pupils contracted slightly. He remembered that before dinner, his little dumpling had smiled and said that she had prepared "something delicious" for the mice.

Just how many surprises... or rather, shocks does this girl have in her possession?

"Sir, this spy's foot... seems unusually swollen." The young soldier looked at the large foot that was rapidly turning purple and black, a little uneasy. "Is the thorn poisonous?"

"It's normal for wild grasses in the mountains to be a little poisonous," Gu Changfeng said nonchalantly.

He touched the pocket on his chest, where the treasure map that Ya Ya had drawn on was kept in a mess.

If it weren't for the few burrs my daughter gave me, that spy might have really escaped tonight, relying on his skills.

They might even turn on you and injure the soldiers who were trying to capture you.

"Good girl."

Gu Changfeng said in a low voice, his tone carrying a gentleness and pride that he didn't usually display.

The spy was in so much pain that his eyes rolled back, his mouth stuffed with rags, and he could only make "ooh" sounds, his eyes filled with fear.

He had carried out countless missions, but had never seen such a hidden weapon before. The poison traveled through his blood vessels, numbing half of his body.

Gu Changfeng took out the oil paper package and searched the man's body again.

Besides a dagger and a few grain coupons, a greasy key was also found in the man's inner pocket.

The key looked ordinary, just the kind of brass key for a padlock. But there was a thin red yarn wrapped around the key handle.

This yarn looks familiar.

Gu Changfeng gripped the key in his hand and then sniffed the man's cuff.

Besides the smell of coal ash, there was also a smoky, smoky aroma, a unique blend of scallions, ginger, and aged oil.

This smells...like the cafeteria.

"Take them away!" Gu Changfeng gave the order.