Under One Person: The End of Technique, Company Building

"Brother Ma is already here, waiting for you in the yard."

"Okay, let's go."

Zhuge Qi straightened up, casually took a thin coat from the hook by the door and put it on. His steps were still unhurried, but the position of each step on the threshold and steps was as precise as if it had been measured with a ruler.

In the courtyard, Ma Hong was squatting on the ground, shining a flashlight on a shoe print, with an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth. When he saw Zhuge Qi come out, he took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it in his pocket, stood up, and patted the dirt off his hands: "Section Chief, I've checked, I think it's pretty much a done deal."

"direction?"

"Go northwest, that leads to a wild forest behind the mountain, which is not within the tourist route."

Zhuge Qi nodded, took out his phone, dialed a number, and it was answered after two rings. Dou Le's slightly hoarse voice came from the other end: "Section Chief Zhuge?"

"Director Dou, I'm sorry to bother you so late, but we've discovered something. There are signs of unidentified activity in the bamboo forest area behind the mountain. I'm about to take some people there to check it out. Would it be convenient for you to come over as well?"

Zhuge Qi naturally did not intend to handle the matter of the posthumous gift alone. Although it was a small matter, he did not want to damage the harmony.

As agreed, the initiative still lies with the other party.

Dou Le was silent for a couple of seconds, as if processing the information, before his tone immediately became crisp: "No problem, I'll have Lao Xiao come and meet you right away. Are you waiting at the guesthouse or will you set off immediately?"

"Set off directly and head northwest along the bamboo forest behind the mountain. Just have Mr. Xiao hurry up and catch up."

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away. Section Chief Zhuge, please be careful."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work."

Zhuge Qi hung up the phone, put it in his pocket, and gestured with his chin towards Ma Hong and Liu Yanyan: "Let's go."

The three walked along a small path of loose stones beside the inn toward the back of the mountain. It was completely dark, and the tree canopy overhead completely blocked out the moon. Only the beams of their flashlights swept back and forth in the dark forest, illuminating the damp fallen leaves and the intertwined tree roots.

Liu Yanyan led the way, confident in her tracking ability, her steps quick and steady, like a cat moving through the night.

Ma Hong followed beside Zhuge Qi, clutching another flashlight in his hand, occasionally shining it to both sides, vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

After walking for about seven or eight minutes, the path under our feet changed from gravel to a mixture of mud and fallen leaves. The trees became denser and the humidity in the air increased significantly.

Liu Yanyan stopped and squatted down, shining her flashlight on a spot on the ground: "Section Chief, look."

Zhuge Qi walked over, bent down, and took a look.

There was an irregular depression on the layer of dead leaves on the ground. The fallen leaves at the edges were pressed tightly against the soil, and there were several parallel scratches in the center, as if it had been dragged there by some hard object.

He stretched out his finger and pressed it against the edge of the indentation. His fingertip touched a moist, sticky substance that appeared dark brown in the flashlight beam.

Zhuge Qi straightened up, rubbed his fingers on the side of his trouser leg, his expression unchanged. "Fresh, no more than two hours old."

Liu Yanyan didn't ask any further questions.

Ma Hong muttered under his breath, "What are those Quanxing bastards up to? Came up the mountain to hunt?"

Zhuge Qi did not respond.

The Quanxing gang lost Xia He, Shen Chong, and Lü Liang in Tianjin. Originally, they had considered the possibility of abandoning the Longhu Mountain plan altogether.

That's why we went fishing this time.

The allure of the Luotian Grand Ceremony at Longhu Mountain is too great. For the Quanxing sect, making a big fuss on this occasion would be ten times more profitable than causing trouble anywhere else.

The problem is, what will they use to fill the gaps left by Xia He, Shen Chong, and Lü Liang?

Either they had a backup candidate, or they adjusted their tactics; Zhuge Qi leaned towards the latter.

As Zhuge Qi was thinking, he heard very light footsteps behind him, fast and steady, like a large feline trotting closer on a layer of fallen leaves.

He didn't turn around because he had already recognized the person who came. The distance between his steps was even, the sound of his landing was deliberately suppressed, and his breathing intervals were long and deep, indicating that he was someone who had received rigorous combat training.

"Mr. Xiao has arrived," Zhuge Qi said.

Ma Hong and Liu Yanyan turned around at the same time and saw Xiao Zizai walk out from behind a tree. He was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his shoulders, revealing two well-defined arms. His gold-rimmed glasses reflected a cold light in the dim light.

The murderous aura that had been somewhat subdued by Zhuge Qi's palm strike was now subtly surging up again, like a pot of soup whose flames had just been extinguished, but whose underlying heat was still simmering.

"Section Chief Zhuge." Xiao Zizai walked over, his gaze first falling on the bloody crater in the ground, his pupils contracting slightly before he looked up at Zhuge Qi. "Old Dou said you found a fish."

"Still confirming." Zhuge Qi nodded slightly to him, his tone as casual as if he were chatting with a colleague about where to eat after get off work. "If you walk northwest along this forest for about a mile, the tracks are very fresh, so you shouldn't have gone far. Since Mr. Xiao is already here, we can go together."

Xiao Zizai pushed up his glasses, the temples making a very slight metallic sound behind his ears. He nodded without saying a word.

"Liu Yanyan, lead the way," Zhuge Qi said.

Liu Yanyan responded and continued walking at the front, the beam of her flashlight swaying ahead, illuminating sections of grayish-white tree bark and spiderwebs glistening with water droplets.

The three people behind them maintained a distance of about ten feet. Ma Hong and Xiao Zizai stood on the left and right sides of Zhuge Qi, like two hunting dogs on an invisible leash, quietly and alertly sneaking in the dark.

The forest grew quieter and quieter, and the chirping of insects suddenly stopped at a certain moment, as if someone had pressed a mute button.

Liu Yanyan slowed her pace. She lowered her flashlight, the beam almost touching the ground, then squatted down and turned her head to make a stop gesture to Zhuge Qi behind her.

Zhuge Qi stopped and listened slightly.

He heard it.

About thirty meters away in a clearing in the woods, people were talking.

The voices were very low, as if they were deliberately coming from close to the ground, but Zhuge Qi's hearing was far beyond that of ordinary people after being enhanced by "Quick wit". He could tell that it was two men talking.

A hoarse voice, as if a handful of sand had been rubbed into the throat, said: "...That old Taoist priest said that tomorrow at the hour of Xu (7-9 PM), the side gate of the Sanqing Hall on the back mountain will not be locked..."

Another voice, slightly shrill and tinged with impatience, said, "Shen Chong isn't here, so we have to scout the place ourselves. Don't just remember what others say; can't you use your own brain for once?"

"Why should I use my brain? I'll just do whatever that kid Gong Qing says. Anyway, he'll be the one to take the blame if anything goes wrong."

"Ha, they're just the acting sect leader. When something goes wrong, they push you onto the bandwagon, and you expect them to take the blame? Do they really think we're all a loving family in the Quanxing Sect?"