As Zhou Ziwei spoke, he strode steadily onto a flat patch of snow and stomped heavily on it, this time stirring up even more snowflakes.
As snowflakes danced in the air, two muffled groans echoed from beneath the deep snow. Then, two figures leaped swiftly from the huge snow pit Zhou Ziwei had just created, quickly retreating a few steps to the side.
"Ah... there really are people... it's them... it's those two foreigners!" The special forces soldier who had met the two foreigners once before exclaimed in surprise, while the other special forces soldiers who had only been half-believing Zhou Ziwei's words suddenly realized.
Unexpectedly, there really were people lying in ambush here. If all the members of their special forces team really did go into the cave, and then these two foreigners came out and threw all those poison gas grenades into the cave, it would be very easy to wipe out their entire team.
"Director Zhou, why...why are you so determined to frame us..." Ma Xiaoshan, still unwilling to give up, said, "How come you seem to know everything about the ambushes here, as if you personally set them up? Even if you are a higher-ranking official, you can't just accuse us of being traitors because of this, can you?"
Liu Xinghan nodded in agreement, speaking up for them: "Yes... Brother Ma Xiaoshan is a good man, how could he do such a thing? Zhou, don't make baseless accusations... Besides... you seemed to know everything just now, you knew all about the ambush, I believe even if you didn't set it up yourself, you must have been watching, right? Otherwise... Hmph, the snow here is almost all the same, if you had just told me beforehand where something was buried, I probably wouldn't have been able to find the exact location so quickly... So... I think you must have been there too, then... if you were there, how could those two foreigners not have noticed you? There's no cover here except for that cave, so... please explain what happened! If you can't explain it clearly, then you're at least as suspicious as Ma Xiaoshan and the others!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei merely turned his head to glance at the self-righteous woman, seemingly ignoring her seemingly reasonable words, and then slowly walked step by step toward the two foreigners.
"Stop... If you dare take another step forward, we... we'll all die together."
The slightly taller foreigner on the left had already been half-stunned by Zhou Ziwei's actions. Especially when Zhou Ziwei stomped down heavily, even though there was a thick layer of snow between them, they both felt as if they had been hit hard with a hammer. Their muscles trembled violently, almost making them faint.
Therefore, it was easy for the foreigners to see what a formidable expert Zhou Ziwei was. They no longer had any intention of resisting him with force. The first man immediately pulled out two grenades from his pocket, tightened the detonation rings, and roared with a ferocious expression, "See! These two grenades may not kill you all, but such a violent explosion will definitely cause a serious avalanche. Then… hmph… once an avalanche occurs in this mountain hollow, let's see who among you can escape!"
Upon seeing this, Chang Li and the others were all horrified, their expressions changing slightly. They all involuntarily took a step back and slowly retreated towards the hot spring cave.
In their view, if an avalanche occurred, the only way to escape the disaster was to crawl into that cave. Even if the cave was buried deep in snow, it wouldn't be difficult for them to dig another passage and climb out.
"Haha... Trying to hide in a cave? You think you can escape like that!" Another foreigner, his face sinister, pulled out something that looked like a remote control and sneered, "Since we want you dead this time, we've already made thorough preparations. Those few poison gas bombs were just an appetizer. Even if any of you survived the attack, you still won't escape. Actually... I've already planted ten kilograms of liquid explosives inside the cave. Hehe... While these explosives might not kill everyone inside, they'll cause the cave floor to collapse, sealing the cave off completely. Let's see how you manage to get out then!"
"What?! You...you actually planted explosives in the cave!"
Upon hearing this, Ma Xiaoshan's expression changed, and he couldn't help but shout angrily, "You...aren't you going to kill both of us too?"
In the original plan, Ma Xiaoshan had no idea that the two foreigners had planted explosives in the cave. If the two foreigners really detonated the explosives, even if they wore gas masks, wouldn't they still have a hard time escaping alive?
"Ma Xiaoshan, Hu Li, you...you really are traitors!" Ma Xiaoshan's question to the two foreigners undoubtedly exposed their identities, and Chang Li and the others immediately sensed something amiss and began to berate the two men.
"So what if it is?" Ma Xiaoshan was just angry and accidentally let it slip. Now it was too late to deny it. Anyway, they had already broken off relations and the two foreigners seemed to have temporarily taken control of the situation. They didn't need to worry about being exposed anymore.
Seeing that they could no longer hide the truth, Ma Xiaoshan and Hu Li quickly retreated to the two foreigners, each drawing their sidearms.
Although they generally wouldn't dare fire here to avoid avalanches, this was a matter of life and death, so they couldn't care less. If Chang Li and the others really wanted to capture them, they would absolutely not mind dying together with everyone here.
"Well, Miss Liu, is the truth finally out now?" Just as Chang Li and the others were frowning at the scene before them, Zhou Ziwei turned around nonchalantly and said to Liu Xinghan, who was also stunned by the situation, "Now you know who the traitor is, right? I don't know why you've been targeting me all this time. But... I can let it slide this time, but I hope you won't keep going against me for no reason, otherwise... hmph!"
Zhou Ziwei didn't say the last sentence, but the implied threat was obvious. Liu Xinghan couldn't help but say angrily, "You...you should solve this predicament first! Hmph...if we're all going to die here, what future will there be?"
Zhou Ziwei smiled slightly and said, "This matter is easy to resolve... You guys, put down what you're holding! There's no use in resisting. Our army's policy has always been leniency for those who confess and no execution for those who surrender... Surrender! You'll die with a little more dignity after surrendering. There's no benefit in continuing like this... Listen to me, I'll say one, two, three, and you all put down what you're holding, understand?... One... two... three..."
Hearing Zhou Ziwei's words, Chang Li, Liu Xinghan, and the others were speechless. They couldn't understand how Director Zhou, who had just seemed so composed, had suddenly become so naive… What leniency for confession, no killing for surrendering… What nonsense! These people were already backed into a corner, ready to take desperate measures. Did they really think he could persuade them to surrender after a few words? If terrorists were so easily fooled, what use were these special forces soldiers?
However, to Chang Li and the others' utter surprise, the two foreigners who had just acted so fiercely, seemingly ready to take everyone down with them, along with Ma Xiaoshan and Hu Li, actually hesitated slightly after Zhou Ziwei's few nonchalant words of persuasion. Just as Zhou Ziwei counted to three, they all put down the deadly weapons they were holding...
"Well……"
"ah--"
No way! This works?
At that moment, countless people were stunned, and many bit their tongues. In short, what they considered an absolutely impossible scene actually happened...
While everyone was still dumbfounded, Zhou Ziwei calmly stepped forward and took away the two grenades, the detonator remote, and the two guns. Then he looked at Chang Li, who was still standing there in a daze, and said, "What are you waiting for? The enemy has already surrendered. Aren't you going to tie them up? Are you going to wait for them to escape again later?"
"Ah... I'm sorry, Director Zhou... Quick... Quickly go up and tie these four people up!" Chang Li was scolded by Zhou Ziwei and immediately came to his senses. He quickly called his men and they all rushed forward and tied up the two traitors and the two foreigners all at once.
The four men, however, seemed to have taken the wrong medicine. They had just shown signs of surrender, but once they were tied up, they started struggling desperately.
The group stared at Zhou Ziwei in horror, saying, "You... what did you do to us? Why... why were we... why were we unable to control our own lives!"
Zhou Ziwei smiled slightly and said, "It's nothing, just a little trick, a hypnosis..."
"So that's how hypnosis works..." Chang Li and the others suddenly realized what was going on. No wonder the four of them had put down what they were holding so easily; they had been successfully hypnotized by Zhou Ziwei in that instant. But... they had never heard of hypnosis being used like this before... Hypnosis is indeed a rather mysterious technique of mental communication. As special forces soldiers, they had all undergone hypnosis and anti-hypnosis training, so they naturally knew that hypnosis usually required the subconscious cooperation of the person being hypnotized to be successful. Otherwise, it could only be done when the person being hypnotized was extremely tired or in a daze. How could Zhou Ziwei have hypnotized them by simply saying a few nonsensical words?
However... it seems that these people really did seem to be hypnotized just now. Could it be that... Director Zhou's hypnosis skills are so powerful?
Both the traitor and the enemy have been captured. The next step is to send these people down the mountain. At this time, Zhou Ziwei also told his superiors that he had found the target cave.
The special forces team led by Chang Li was only responsible for searching the mysterious cave in the Kashgar Mountains. As for how to explore it after it was discovered, that would have to be rearranged by the higher-ups.
Chang Li and the others were overjoyed upon hearing this, but they dared not report such a thing to their superiors casually. They needed to take a look at the cave that Zhou Ziwei had discovered and take some photos to provide concrete evidence that it was the mysterious cave that their superiors had asked them to find before they could report the facts.
However, proving that this cave is the one they were ordered to find is quite difficult. Only Zhou Ziwei and Chang Li know the most about the inside story. The others only know that they were ordered to search for all suspicious caves on Mount Kashgar. As for what kind of cave they were looking for, even these soldiers themselves did not know.
"Director Zhou...you see...how can we verify whether this cave is indeed the magical cave we're talking about?"
Apart from three special forces soldiers who were on guard outside, the rest of the group had all crawled into the cave that Zhou Ziwei had previously discovered and single-handedly drilled through, which was buried under a layer of snow seven or eight meters deep.
They were now standing in front of the small hot spring pool that Zhou Ziwei had previously discovered. Chang Li shone his wolf-eye flashlight across the hot spring pool and immediately spotted the entrance to the mysterious cave within a cave that Zhou Ziwei had mentioned. He immediately frowned.
Although Zhou Ziwei said he could sense a strong danger hidden in the cave entrance, and that anyone who passed through the cave above the hot spring pool might face certain death, this was just Zhou Ziwei's wild guess. Zhou Ziwei could say that, but the captain in charge of the search mission would not dare to write such an irresponsible report.
To prove that the cave within a cave truly possesses extraordinary features, he must produce concrete evidence; otherwise, the report simply cannot be written...
Given the precedent of this cave being explored twice, with only one person surviving each time, the most effective method seems to be to send one or two people into the cave within a cave to explore. If the people sent out can return safely, then it can be determined what is inside the cave within a cave and whether it is the cave they are looking for.
If the people they sent out disappeared without a trace... that could indirectly prove that this dangerous cave within a cave is the target they are looking for.
But the problem is... knowing that entering that cave would be fatal, who would he send to explore it...? Isn't this just sending people to their deaths? Although Chang Li's men didn't know the truth, he couldn't bring himself to do it...
Volume 2, The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 366: Even the Empress Will Beat Anyone Who Insults My Parents
Seeing Chang Li's troubled expression, Zhou Ziwei knew what he was thinking. He smiled slightly and said, "What's so difficult about that? Don't we still have four prisoners here? If you want to send someone in to experiment, then let them go."
Chang Li's eyes lit up upon hearing this, but after a moment's thought, he frowned again and said, "This... I'm afraid that won't work either! They know that falling into our hands will inevitably lead to their doom. So, if we give them a chance to temporarily gain their freedom and sneak into this cave, I'm afraid that regardless of whether there's any danger inside, once they're inside, they won't come out on their own for a while. And if we jump to conclusions based on this, I'm afraid..."
Zhou Ziwei smiled, then suddenly lowered his voice and said to Chang Li, "I can vaguely sense that the real danger is near the cave entrance above the hot spring. Perhaps we don't even need to let these guys actually go into that cave. If we just let them stay in front of that entrance for a while, I'm afraid they will... lose their lives."
"Is it really that powerful?" Chang Li clicked his tongue in amazement. He shone his flashlight on the hole in the hot spring and examined it carefully for a long time, but he still couldn't see what kind of deadly danger it was. He couldn't help but feel a little doubtful.
Chang Li glanced back at the four prisoners held in a corner, hesitated slightly, and said, "We don't have the authority to execute Ma Xiaoshan and Hu Li. As for what punishment they will receive for their actions, a military court will decide. As for the two foreigners... we obtained too little useful information from their interrogation. I'm afraid they haven't revealed everything they know. So we must keep one alive. At most, we can only use one person for experiments."
Zhou Ziwei nodded indifferently and said, "One is fine. As long as we can prove that this cave does indeed have some inexplicable strange features, then we will have achieved our goal."
"Alright then! It's decided then."
Chang Li was about to bring over a foreigner when he glanced at the entrance to the cave opposite the hot spring pool, which was nearly two meters above the water. He frowned and said, "But... to get that foreigner to climb up to the cave entrance, we need to untie his ropes. But what if he doesn't listen after his hands and feet are freed, refuses to go into the cave, or runs in as soon as he reaches the entrance? What will we do then?"
Zhou Ziwei said, "There's no need to untie him. In fact, it would be better to tie a longer rope around him. It's not far from the cave entrance, so I can just throw him there. Having a rope around him will also make it easier to pull him back later."
"You're going to just... just throw that foreigner over there?"
Upon hearing this, Chang Li almost thought he had misheard. After all, the distance between the hot spring pool and the cave opposite was more than ten meters. To throw a living person like Yin that far... Chang Li knew that with his strong physique, he was far from confident of doing so.
Moreover, Zhou Ziwei was about to throw not just an ordinary person, but a tall, burly foreign devil.
This foreigner is over 1.9 meters tall and probably weighs at least 200 kilograms. His weight is almost equal to the combined weight of two ordinary people. And Zhou Ziwei just casually said he would throw him at the cave entrance. This... isn't that just nonsense?
Although Chang Li didn't believe Zhou Ziwei truly possessed such power, he was slightly taken aback when he saw Zhou Ziwei's calm demeanor and the unintentional confidence in his eyes. He then nodded, completely agreeing with Zhou Ziwei's arrangement. After all, these two foreigners deserved to die anyway. Once they were handed over to their superiors, they might get into trouble with the US diplomatic corps for making some nonsense and then be extradited back to their country… So… eliminating one was better than nothing. Chang Li was almost determined that if nothing unexpected happened to these two foreign prisoners, he would make sure something bad happened to them before they were handed over…
Soon, the foreigner, who was relatively short and didn't seem very fat, was tied up again by several special forces soldiers. They then tied a 20-meter-long rope around his waist and brought him to Zhou Ziwei.
"What are you trying to do? I am your prisoner now, not your slave! You... don't do anything rash!" After being harassed like this, the foreigner had a vague feeling that something bad was about to happen to him.
He immediately shouted, "Even as a prisoner, I have human rights! If you dare mistreat me, watch out..."
"Shut up! You're too noisy."
Zhou Ziwei was too lazy to talk to him about human rights. Seeing that the foreigner kept babbling in his ear, he simply grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and stuffed it into the guy's mouth.
The creature had swallowed such a large clump of dirt that its mouth was bulging full. Although it was still whimpering, it couldn't utter a single word anymore.
Chang Li watched as Zhou Ziwei first slapped the foreigner's legs twice, and then the two foreigners went limp and collapsed to the ground.
Seeing this, his eyebrows twitched slightly. He wondered to himself that Zhou Ziwei's two slaps seemed to have not used much force, but the foreigner's legs were clearly unable to move. Could it be that... those two weak slaps could have broken the foreigner's thigh bones?
Chang Li couldn't believe it, but looking at the foreigner's expression, he had no choice but to believe it.
Zhou Ziwei was seen holding the end of the rope tied around the foreigner's waist with one hand, while his other hand was on the foreigner's belt. It looked as if he intended to throw the foreigner into the hole ten meters away with one hand.
Chang Li gasped, coughed lightly, and asked, "Um... Director Zhou, how about... how about I call two more people over? If we all work together, we might have a better chance of success, what do you think..."
Zhou Ziwei shook his head and said, "No need... With too many people, the force will be uneven, and who knows where we'll throw him. I'll just do it myself... Hehe... This guy doesn't seem that heavy, there won't be any problems, Captain Chang, don't worry. Just have someone turn on the flashlight and shine it over there, and have someone turn on the camera. Make sure to film all of this foreigner's reactions."
"Oh... alright then!" Seeing that Zhou Ziwei still insisted, Chang Li had no choice but to agree. He then summoned several special forces soldiers and had the four of them turn on their wolf-eye flashlights at the same time, shining them from different angles onto the opening above the hot spring pool, illuminating the area brightly.
Then, two special forces soldiers with miniature cameras were assigned to film the scene that was about to happen from both sides. However, while arranging these things, Chang Li couldn't help but worry about Zhou Ziwei.
He had everyone set up such a large formation. If Zhou Ziwei could successfully throw the foreigner to the designated spot, that would be fine. But if the foreigner fell down halfway, he would really lose face.
Apart from Chang Li, the others only knew that they were to find a cave in the snowy mountains, but they didn't know what kind of cave it was. Therefore, they were all a little confused when Chang Li asked them to prepare to film the scene after the foreigner was thrown into the cave.
What made it even more unbelievable to them was that Zhou Ziwei actually wanted to throw the foreigner across a ten-meter-wide hot spring pool into the cave entrance on the other side.
That's a living person, not a basketball. Even with a basketball, it's not easy to accurately throw it into a hole that doesn't look very big ten meters away, let alone a living person weighing over 200 pounds...
Several special forces soldiers who had been called upon by Chang Li to come and help were stunned upon hearing this, their eyes filled with suspicion as they looked at Zhou Ziwei.
Among the two people filming was Liu Xinghan, a woman who, perhaps having been raped by Zhou Ziwei's ex-boyfriend, had been targeting him ever since recognizing him. Upon hearing of Zhou Ziwei's impending "feat," she immediately put down the miniature camera she was holding, sneered, and said, "What a joke! This coward can throw that foreigner that far? If he were really that good, would I have beaten him to a pulp back then? Alright… Brother Chang, my camera's memory is running low, so save it! You'd be better off filming the snowy mountain scenery when you have time…"
"Shut up!" Chang Li's face darkened immediately upon hearing this. He pointed at Liu Xinghan and said coldly, "Have I ever told you that you should have at least the most basic respect for your superiors? If you continue to disrespect your superiors, I will have to discipline you."
Liu Xinghan clearly lacked any sense of duty as a soldier. He didn't take Chang Li's cold rebuke to heart, scoffing and saying, "What kind of officer is this good-for-nothing? Even if his identity is real, he probably bought his position. Why should I respect a lecherous bastard who peeked at me while I was showering? Does he deserve it? In my opinion, he's a worthless scoundrel who was raised by a mother but not taught by one. You want me to respect him... wait until my next life!"
Zhou Ziwei had been ignoring Liu Xinghan's harsh words because he suspected his ex-boyfriend might have done something wrong. However, when he heard Liu Xinghan's insults directed at his parents, his patience finally gave out by this arrogant woman.
A crisp "slap" echoed through the cave. Zhou Ziwei's slap on Liu Xinghan's face showed no mercy whatsoever.
Because of the hot spring inside the cave, the temperature was a few degrees above zero. As a result, most of the people had already taken off their cotton hats and masks, which made it easier for Zhou Ziwei to slap Liu Xinghan.
"I don't like hitting women, but if you dare to insult my parents, don't think that just because you're a woman, you're an empress, I'll still slap you without hesitation!" Zhou Ziwei glared at Liu Xinghan with a gloomy expression and said coldly, "Remember what I said... If you talk nonsense again next time, be careful I'll slap your mouth to pieces!"
"You dare hit me...you filthy scoundrel, you dare hit me..." Liu Xinghan was stunned at first, then like a shrew, she pounced on Zhou Ziwei with her claws outstretched, as if she was going to scratch Zhou Ziwei's face with her sharp nails.
"Slap—" Zhou Ziwei was too lazy to argue with this woman who didn't know what was good for her, so he slapped her again. This time, the slap was even harder than before, and Liu Xinghan spun around twice before falling to the ground with a thud.
This time, Liu Xinghan finally didn't dare to get up and fight again, or perhaps she was too dizzy from Zhou Ziwei's slap to stand up. However, she still kept cursing at Zhou Ziwei: "You filthy scoundrel... If you really dare to hit me, you're finished... Zhou, this time you're finished, I'll make sure you regret it!"
After cursing a few times, Liu Xinghan turned to Chang Li and cried out, "Captain Chang, you... you just watch him bully me like this and you don't care... Didn't my uncle and my dad ask you to take care of me? If you have the guts, help me beat this scoundrel up properly. Don't worry, if anything happens later, my dad and uncle will take responsibility..."
Chang Li's expression changed slightly, and he said coldly, "Liu Xinghan, I think you really don't know your place. I'm ordering you to get out of the way right now and stop talking rudely to Director Zhou. Otherwise... if you delay what we're doing now, even if your father and your uncle come together, they won't be able to protect you!"
Liu Xinghan, however, remained incorrigible, or perhaps she had never taken Captain Chang seriously from the beginning. Upon hearing Chang Li's words, she arrogantly jumped up, pointed at Chang Li's nose, and roared: "Chang Li... do you believe that I can make you take off this uniform immediately with just one word, and make sure you can't even be a soldier anymore!"
Chang Li's face twitched slightly upon hearing this. He knew that Liu Xinghan was not exaggerating. With the power of Liu Xinghan's family, it wouldn't take much effort to send a mere special forces captain like him home.
Even if he makes great contributions in this mission, it won't make a difference. At that time, people can easily find a reason to kick him out immediately. That's the power of authority.
Chang Li, however, was a man of principle and would not allow himself to be threatened by a shrew like Liu Xinghan. He snorted coldly and said, "Whatever! But if you want to act tough, you'll have to wait until you return to the capital. Right now, I, Chang Li, am in charge... Wang Peng, Gu Bin, tie up this disrespectful Lieutenant Liu so that she doesn't interfere with our military operations!"