Searching for someone in northern Myanmar, and you call that earning tuition fees?

The secret passage was cold and damp, and could only accommodate one person at a time.

Li Changfeng walked in the middle, his mind a complete mess.

He kept replaying everything that had just happened in the main hall.

The image of the group of young lamas chanting "Candy Buddha" in unison was deafening.

And those retired US special agents, armed to the teeth, were terrified and ran away in a panic by a few cheap mirrors and a handful of popping candy.

What the hell is this?

A serious question involuntarily popped into his mind—how should he write the report after returning from this mission?

Should I write "The Strategic Value of Popping Candy" or "The Tactical Application of Makeup Mirrors"?

He was certain that if the report were submitted, the old general would personally fly over and use a rifle butt to perform a physical craniotomy to check if water had entered his skull.

Zhuoma, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped and looked back at Li Changfeng and Su Ming, who were silent.

Her eyes were complicated.

Shock, confusion, and a hint of wariness as if I were looking at a lunatic.

Zhuoma paused, turning back to stare intently at Su Ming, her eyes filled with surprise and apprehension: "What kind of nonsense is going on in your head?"

Li Changfeng swallowed back the profanity that was about to come out of his mouth.

Li Changfeng finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked in a deep voice in the narrow secret passage, "Su Ming, tell me honestly, did you go to some pyramid scheme organization for training?"

Su Ming, who was walking at the back, was studying the sheepskin map with his head down. Hearing this, he didn't even look up: "No, that's illegal. I abide by the law."

"Then what was that nonsense you just did?" Li Changfeng felt his blood pressure spike again. "A few packets of popping candy, and you turned them into 'Thunder Stone'? That old host is eighty years old, aren't you afraid of breaking his dentures?"

Su Ming replied calmly, "He believed it, didn't he? I just gave him an explanation he was willing to believe."

Li Changfeng felt a lump in his throat.

He pressed on, "Then...what about the light and shadow? That enormous Buddha image, you couldn't have made that up too, could you?"

"Junior high school physics," Su Ming said succinctly, "a concave mirror, magnifying a virtual image. That's all."

Li Changfeng fell silent.

He began to wonder if his twenty years in the military had been wasted.

Zhuoma was completely confused, but she grasped the key point: this kid had used a trick meant for children to fool both a highly virtuous monk and an international thief.

As she watched Su Ming's retreating figure, the disdain in her eyes vanished completely, replaced by a deeper sense of awe.

This is not human; it is a monster in human skin.

……

Meanwhile, outside the ancient temple.

The "Snow Fox" squad has quickly retreated to a safe distance and re-established its defensive position.

One of the team members, still shaken, couldn't help but mutter a curse under his breath: "Damn it, what the hell was that? Some kind of sorcery? I felt like that light and shadow were staring at me!"

"Shut up!" Captain "Snow Fox's" voice came through the throat microphone, devoid of any emotion.

He was observing the silent temple through tactical binoculars, his weathered face showing no fear, his eyes calm and collected.

Another team member couldn't hold back any longer and said angrily, "Boss! Are we just going to let this go? We were scared off by a few charlatans using magic tricks? Where will our Snow Fox Squad put our faces if word gets out? Let me lead some men in and storm in, and wipe out those bald monks..."

The captain took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his anger: "Shut up! Mission first. We're not here to slaughter, we're here to retrieve the 'goods'."

He put down his binoculars, his eyes dark and brooding.

"They can't have gone far. According to intelligence, that temple only has one exit leading to the back mountain. Launch the drones and activate thermal imaging! I want to see which 'god' is working against us!"

He paused, then added, "I'll make him regret playing these tricks on me!"

……

The end of the secret passage.

The wind and snow were howling.

The three of them crawled out of the hole.

This is halfway up the back mountain, with a bottomless abyss below.

Su Ming wrapped his down jacket tighter, took a deep breath of cold air, and felt as if he had swallowed razor blades into his lungs.

"How do I get there?" Li Changfeng asked Zhuoma.

Zhuoma pointed to an ice ridge hidden in the clouds in the distance: "Cross over there, and you'll reach the Death Glacier. If the Golden Sutra is still there, it must be over there."

"Run!" Su Ming suddenly said.

Li Changfeng was taken aback: "What?"

Su Ming pointed overhead: "I heard it. It's not thunder, it's the sound of rotors. They're coming after us."