Chapter 57

As the five people chased into the courtyard, the man had already returned to the tin house and hidden inside, closing the door.

Zhou Huaizhong kicked the door forcefully several times, cursing fiercely, trying to provoke the man to come out, but it was in vain.

At this moment, the sound of a car alarm rang from the foot of the mountain, followed by the violent sound of smashing glass, and then a burst of flames shot up.

Xu Mo immediately guessed what had happened, but before he could speak, Zhou Huaizhong shouted loudly, "These bastards, they... they destroyed my car." His face was contorted with extreme anger, "Don't let me catch them, if I do, I'll chop them to death, piece by piece."

Xu Mo couldn't help but feel a chill. After Lu Tong and the muscular man left the underground, they never came to support the other person. Now it was clear that they had quietly gone to the foot of Jingnv Peak and destroyed Zhou Huaizhong's off-road vehicle. This cut off their escape route, making it difficult to leave.

"Ha ha..."

At this moment, a sinister woman's laugh suddenly came from the front, approaching them from the direction of the front courtyard.

The five people turned their heads abruptly and looked in the direction of the laughter. Guangming shouted loudly, "It's the Goddess Nüwa."

"Fake!" Zhou Huaizhong shouted, his eyes fixed on the source of the sound, almost spitting fire, his hatred for those people instantly transferred to the statue of the Goddess Nüwa.

The sound grew closer, and at a certain distance, it finally emerged from the grass. Xu Mo, using the light of the flashlight, saw that it was indeed the statue of the Goddess Nüwa he had seen on the altar in the front hall. She was still emitting a cold laugh, but her mouth was not open.

It was clear that the sound was indeed, as Guangming had said at first, a pre-recorded sound that was then played back to produce the laughter.

Guangliang muttered softly, "The Goddess Nüwa who called our names from the other side of the courtyard wall wasn't this one."

Zhou Huaizhong shouted, "Playing tricks, let's destroy this broken statue first." Saying this, he swung his watermelon knife and was about to rush forward to chop the statue. His car had just been destroyed, and he was so angry that, being impulsive by nature, he couldn't think clearly at the moment.

Seeing him move forward, Guangming and Guangliang had no choice but to follow to help.

Xu Mo suddenly became alert and shouted, "Be careful, it's a trap!" He took a few steps back and pulled Luo Ci away.

"What?" Zhou Huaizhong and the other two stopped in their tracks upon hearing his words.

At this moment, the statue's mouth suddenly opened, and something was shot out, landing at the feet of Zhou Huaizhong and the other two. It turned out to be a glass bottle, which shattered on the gravel, releasing a large amount of light yellow smoke.

"Quick, hide!" Xu Mo shouted, but it was already too late. The light yellow smoke was a toxic gas with anesthetic properties. Zhou Huaizhong and the other two inhaled it through their noses and were instantly paralyzed on the ground.

Gunshots rang out. Lu Tong and the muscular man, who had burned Zhou Huaizhong's off-road vehicle, had returned to the courtyard and were firing in the direction of Xu Mo and the others from a distance.

Xu Mo, without stopping to help, pulled Luo Ci and turned to flee towards the back mountain.

Luo Ci shouted, "Uncle, Uncle." Zhou Huaizhong and the other two were paralyzed and couldn't respond.

In a panic, the two of them left through the back door and found a place to hide in the weeds. They watched helplessly as Lu Tong and the others searched for them, but they didn't dare to move.

Fortunately, the 'zombies' had lost control and couldn't be directed. Otherwise, with their impaired minds, they would have acted on instinct, with much stronger senses than normal people, and the two would have been found for sure.

The people searched several times but couldn't find them, and their movements gradually slowed down, as if they had given up the search.

Xu Mo, however, didn't dare to let his guard down. Those people would never let him and Luo Ci go. If they weren't searching now, it was because they had set up some other plan, waiting for the two to come out.

Luo Ci, thinking of her uncle being captured, was extremely worried. Considering her own situation, she was also terribly afraid. Hiding in Xu Mo's arms, her body trembled uncontrollably. After a long time, hearing no movement around her, she finally couldn't help but whisper to Xu Mo, "Xu Brother, let's... let's call the police."

Xu Mo had always had this intention and, hearing her suggestion, naturally didn't object. He nodded and said, "You make the call."

Luo Ci, trembling, took out her phone and dialed the emergency number. As soon as the call was connected, she cried, "I... I'm reporting a crime, someone... someone is trying to kill us, they... they turned a lot of people into zombies and captured my uncle."

She was so panicked that she spoke a lot of words in one breath, but they were incoherent. Xu Mo, hearing this, couldn't help but frown.

Surprisingly, the voice on the phone responded, "Don't worry, Miss, take your time. What's your name?"

Luo Ci replied, "My name is Luo Ci." Then she urged, "Please... please come quickly."

Xu Mo, who was very close to her and in the dark, could hear every word clearly. Listening to the conversation between the person on the phone and Luo Ci, he felt something was wrong. He had never called the police before, but he felt that the police's response shouldn't be like this.

Then, the voice on the other end asked, "Miss, are you alone?"

Luo Ci, unprepared, replied, "There... there is one more. We came with six people, but now only the two of us are left. The others were... were captured."

The voice continued, "Oh, what's the other person's name?"

"He... he is..." Luo Ci was about to answer when Xu Mo grabbed the phone and whispered, "Don't say my name." Then he let go, and Luo Ci quickly changed her words, "Please... please come quickly."

"Don't worry, Miss, we are already on our way and will be there soon. Stay where you are and don't run around," the voice replied. Then it asked again, "Now, please tell me, what's the other person's name?"

Hearing this, Xu Mo's heart suddenly turned cold. He reached out and hung up Luo Ci's phone.

Luo Ci was startled and asked, "Xu Brother, what are you doing?"

Xu Mo said, "It's fake, that person is not a police officer."

"Not a police officer?" Luo Ci was shocked again.

Xu Mo nodded, "We must leave here immediately." He pulled Luo Ci and, crouching, moved forward through the weeds, explaining softly as they went, "He didn't even ask where we are, and said he was already on his way. Where is he going? So I said this person is not a police officer." Thinking of the last call Luo Shi made to him, he added, "They intercepted the police call."

While saying this, he secretly wondered, thinking of a worse possibility, but he found it hard to believe. He had said this to Luo Shi before—there are people like them in the police.

Hearing Xu Mo's words, Luo Ci felt even more uneasy, but being a gentle person, she didn't have much of her own ideas except for some very important matters. So she didn't ask more and followed Xu Mo, leaving the place step by step.

Xu Mo led her to find another place to hide and watched the direction they had just hidden from a distance. Sure enough, not long after, he saw Lu Tong leading people to search that area.

Lu Tong, not finding Xu Mo and the others, became furious, kicked the weeds a few times, and shouted, "I see you, come out now, or I'll shoot."

Xu Mo covered Luo Ci's mouth and whispered, "He's lying to us."

Lu Tong, hearing no response, in a fit of anger, fired a few shots into the weeds. Having no choice, he led the people back.

Xu Mo and Luo Ci hid in the weeds for several hours, not daring to move. By the time they were hiding, their legs and feet were numb.

The night gradually deepened. Lu Tong did not bring people out to search again. Soon it was midnight, and the mountain was quiet, with only the sounds of insects and birds. The two felt tired and scared but didn't dare to close their eyes.

After a long time, the sound of police sirens suddenly came from the foot of the mountain, already reaching the base of Jingnv Peak.

"It's the police!" Luo Ci shouted, both surprised and delighted.

Xu Mo, however, felt even colder inside. Those people were not just intercepting the police calls, but, as he had guessed, some of the police were in league with them.

Following the sirens, a loudspeaker sound came from the base of Jingnv Peak, and someone shouted, "People in the Nüwa Temple, you are surrounded, come out and surrender immediately..."

Hearing this, Luo Ci shouted again, "Xu Brother, it's really the police."

Xu Mo was also surprised, stood up, and walked to the edge of the peak to look down. He saw only one police car parked at the foot of Jingnv Peak, its lights on, illuminating the scene in front. A police officer with a loudspeaker was shouting and walking up the mountain.

"Fake! He wants to trick us out." He replied to Luo Ci, pulled her hand, and walked into the mountain, intending to find another place to hide.

But at this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of a helicopter. The sound came from below the cliff, as if a helicopter was about to come up from below.

Xu Mo shouted, "Not good." Without time to find another place, he pulled Luo Ci a few steps and hid in a patch of weeds, crouching down.

The scene suddenly brightened. The helicopter had flown out from below the cliff and was now above the peak, its bright lights illuminating a large area of the mountain.

The helicopter flew very low, and the wind from the rotors immediately pressed the weeds down. When it flew over Xu Mo and Luo Ci, their bodies were immediately exposed.

The helicopter's door was open, and a person sitting at the door held a submachine gun. Seeing the two, he shouted into a walkie-talkie, "I found them."

Then he ordered Xu Mo and Luo Ci, "Crouch down, or I'll shoot." He fired a few shots at the ground, sending gravel and weeds flying.

Luo Ci screamed in fear, crouched on the ground, and covered her head, not daring to move. Xu Mo, however, ignored her, not caring about her at the moment, and ran straight towards the cliff. He ran through the weeds, and the helicopter chased after him. The person on the helicopter fired several shots, but none hit.

Xu Mo ran all the way to the edge of the cliff, to the position of the Jingnv Waterfall, and without hesitation, jumped down.