Chapter 13

The two of them followed at a distance, with Ma Wu heading towards a courtyard by the river. Upon reaching the river, he crossed it and circled around to the other side of the courtyard. He was clearly very familiar with the courtyard's defenses, maintaining a considerable distance to avoid detection by the guard dogs.

Inside the rows of tents, faint lights could be seen. Liu Qian glanced at the courtyard and asked curiously, "What is Ma doing here?"

Xu Mo replied, "I came here yesterday. The courtyard is heavily guarded. As soon as I got close, I was surrounded by several large dogs. I imagine the entire perimeter is filled with guard dogs."

Liu Qian thought for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh. "I get it. These tents must be like greenhouses, growing that green plant. Ma probably doesn't know it grows elsewhere and has come to steal it."

Xu Mo didn't say anything but felt a strange sensation.

Liu Qian continued, "Let's follow him and see what he plans to do."

The two hid behind some shrubs and quietly approached, mimicking Ma Wu's actions by circling around to the other side of the courtyard. As they crossed the river, Xu Mo instinctively glanced into the water. By the moonlight, he saw a dark shadow flicker and then sink. He was startled, rubbed his eyes, and looked again, but saw nothing.

"What was that?"

He felt a growing sense of unease and surveyed the surroundings. They were downstream from the river, about a hundred meters from the courtyard. When he came here yesterday, he didn't reach this spot. Now, upon closer inspection, he found the river section strangely similar to the illustration in the Book of Revelation.

His heart raced. Recalling the dark shadow, he suddenly felt a vague sense of danger. He thought, "I don't know what that shadow was, but since the Book of Revelation mentioned it, it must be dangerous. I'll mark this spot so I don't forget and accidentally fall into the river and get attacked."

He then broke a long stick from the shrubs, picked up a mineral water bottle, and stuck the stick by the river, placing the bottle upside down on top of it.

Liu Qian looked at him curiously, "Hey! Brother Xu, what are you doing?"

Xu Mo replied casually, "I'm marking this spot to remember it."

"Marking it?" Liu Qian laughed, "Why mark this spot? We won't get lost." Since he was just asking casually, he didn't press further, and Xu Mo didn't offer an explanation.

The river wasn't too wide, only about three meters. The two took a few steps back, then rushed forward and leaped over the river.

Behind the courtyard was a forest. They followed Ma Wu into the forest, keeping a distance. Ma Wu walked to the edge of the forest, looked around, and suddenly threw something.

Several large dogs appeared from somewhere, wagging their tails as they approached the object Ma Wu had thrown. They sniffed it and suddenly whimpered, falling to the ground.

Liu Qian explained in a low voice, "There are dog tunnels around the courtyard leading inside. These dogs crawl out from the tunnels."

Xu Mo nodded, understanding.

Looking ahead, Ma Wu had left the forest and walked to the dogs, picking up the object he had thrown and putting it in his pocket.

Xu Mo asked curiously, "What did he throw? Why did the dogs fall after sniffing it? If he killed these dogs, won't the guards in the courtyard notice someone has intruded?"

"That won't happen," Liu Qian said with a smile. "I once heard about this trick on the streets. The object he threw was a piece of cured meat wrapped in gauze. The main ingredient isn't salt but a special drug. The drug emits a strange odor that humans can tolerate but makes dogs fall unconscious, like a sedative. They won't die; they'll wake up in a few hours. It seems Ma is well-prepared."

As they spoke, Ma Wu had climbed over the fence and jumped into the courtyard, then crouched down and crawled towards the nearest tent.

Liu Qian pointed to the cameras on the fence and said coldly, "Ma must have an inside connection. The cameras are so dense that there are no blind spots. But look at him; he's not worried about the cameras at all."

Xu Mo nodded. Ma Wu had already come out of the first tent and was heading to the next one.

After about ten minutes, Ma Wu returned the same way, climbed over the fence, and walked into the forest without alerting anyone in the courtyard.

Liu Qian said, "From his appearance, he must have succeeded. Brother Xu, let's stay back for a moment. Once he passes, we'll follow him to see what he stole."

Xu Mo agreed. The two moved to a distance, hid behind trees, and waited for Ma Wu to pass before following him.

Ma Wu didn't return to his residence but followed the river downstream to the halfway point of a hill, turned, and entered a forest, stopping in front of some large rocks.

Seeing him stop, Xu Mo and Liu Qian immediately hid.

Ma Wu looked around, listened carefully, and, finding no one, felt relieved. He squatted down, dug a small hole by the rocks, took out a few items, placed them in the hole, covered them with soil, and scattered some leaves to hide the traces.

After finishing, he surveyed the area again before walking back towards the dormitory.

The path back to the dormitory passed by where Xu Mo and Liu Qian were hiding. The two quickly hid in the shrubs, lying still.

Ma Wu took out his phone and made a call. As the call connected, he passed by Xu Mo and Liu Qian. The night was very quiet, so the voice on the phone was clearly heard.

A man's voice on the other end asked coldly, "Is the task completed?"

From his tone, it seemed he was Ma Wu's superior.

Ma Wu replied respectfully, "Yes, Brother Zhao can take it when he passes by."

"That's good," the man on the other end said indifferently, then added, "I'll tell the lady about your contribution."

Ma Wu was overjoyed and quickly said, "Thank you, Brother Zhao."

The man on the other end 'hmm'ed and hung up.

Ma Wu put away his phone, looked up at the sky, and sighed heavily, as if burdened with many worries. He stood there for a moment before walking away.

After he was far enough, Xu Mo and Liu Qian came out from their hiding place. Liu Qian laughed, "Let's go see what Ma stole."

Xu Mo worried, "From his phone call, it seems Ma is part of a gang."

"Who cares about the gang!" Liu Qian said dismissively. "We'll take the items and leave. No matter how powerful they are, they won't find us."

Xu Mo was still uneasy, but Liu Qian had already walked up to the large rock, squatted down, and dug up the buried items. Xu Mo had no choice but to go closer to see.

Inside a plastic wrap were four items: two glass bottles and two thin bamboo tubes about thirty centimeters long. The glass bottles were of different sizes, and the bamboo tubes had one end sealed by a node and the other end plugged with a wooden stopper, containing something unknown.

When held, the bamboo tubes felt light and seemed to contain living things.

Liu Qian put the bamboo tubes aside and first examined the glass bottles, with Xu Mo using his phone to light them. The smaller bottle contained Dream Powder, about two to three ounces, which excited the two. The larger bottle contained a colored powder with a foul smell.

Liu Qian took a whiff and almost vomited, cursing, "What the hell is this? It must be toxic, it almost killed me!"

He quickly closed the lid and fanned the air with his hand. After a while, when the smell had mostly dissipated, he examined the bamboo tubes. He picked one up and shook it, and the contents moved more vigorously.

"What is this?" Liu Qian asked, not expecting an answer from Xu Mo.

Xu Mo warned, "Be careful!"

Liu Qian nodded, extended his arm, and held the bamboo tube away from his body before pulling out the stopper.

A small green snake quickly darted out of the bamboo tube and disappeared into the shrubs. In that short moment, the two had a clear view of the snake, which was very similar to the one they had seen on the plant with green fruit earlier.

Liu Qian asked, puzzled, "Strange, why does Ma need a small snake?" He glanced at the other bamboo tube and continued, "No need to say, this one must also contain a small green snake." He raised his hand to throw the bamboo tube away.

Xu Mo quickly stopped him, "Don't!"

Liu Qian paused, "Oh! Do you want it? Be careful not to get bitten by the snake inside." He then threw the bamboo tube to Xu Mo, who caught it.

Liu Qian looked at him and said, "I don't need the toxic powder. Brother Xu, do you want it? If you do, I'll give you more Dream Powder."

Xu Mo thought for a moment and agreed, "Sure."

Liu Qian then threw the toxic powder to Xu Mo and gave him a third of the Dream Powder. Xu Mo wrapped it in paper and put it away.

Liu Qian suggested, "Ma is ahead of us. If we go back now, we'll run into him. Let's wait until he falls asleep before returning. Since we're in the upper bunks, as long as he doesn't look up, the room is so dark that he won't notice we're gone."

Xu Mo agreed, and the two sat down by the rocks.

Liu Qian took out a cigarette and offered one to Xu Mo, "Want one?" He then added, "I mixed Dream Powder into the cigarettes, so you can enjoy the feeling while smoking. This pack isn't ordinary anymore. If it weren't for you, Brother Xu, I wouldn't share it with anyone else, ha ha!"

Xu Mo was curious, smiled, and took the cigarette.

Not long after, they heard a voice from a distance, "Is this the place?" followed by hurried footsteps approaching.

"Someone's coming!"

The two were startled and quickly hid.

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