After hanging up the phone, I continued to monitor Furong Town. One thing puzzled me: from our perspective, and even from high-resolution satellite maps, there were no obvious roads around the area where Furong Town was located. This was supposed to be the stronghold of the Chi You organization, right? Usage must be very high, with people coming and going. How did they get in and out?
After much thought, there were only two possibilities: first, they utilized the high-tech equipment purchased by their Chi You Group from overseas, using manned drones to transport people and goods back and forth. However, that would consume a lot of energy, and this place didn't seem to have any electricity. There wasn't even a single utility pole for miles around; how would they solve the power problem?
This seemed unlikely.
The second possibility was that there was a secret passage at an angle invisible to us, through which this secret base communicated with the outside world.
I leaned towards the latter. If this were the case, before we launched a full-scale assault, we should find the secret passage first. Otherwise, after we had painstakingly breached the underground space, the Miao King might escape through the secret passage, leaving us with nothing.
With this in mind, I returned to the cave, summoned Xiao Nu and Zheng Baobao, and had them use their "Swift Wind Technique" to scout around Furong Town from left and right, looking for any entrances or exits from other directions.
The two ghosts circled out with a radius of three kilometers and returned in about five minutes, both reporting that they had found no secret passage. The mountain where Furong Town was located was an isolated peak, completely enclosed on all sides.
I shook my head, "That's unlikely… How about this, change your search radius from three kilometers to five kilometers and try again."
"What do you mean by radius?" Xiao Nu asked.
I drew two concentric circles on the ground and explained to these two illiterate ghosts. They quickly understood and began to draw larger circles.
With a five-kilometer radius, no entrance or exit was found. Six kilometers, still nothing. Seven kilometers, eight kilometers. Just as I was about to give up, Xiao Nu returned before Baobao, saying that she had discovered a mine. The mine had a secret passage, and the tunnel inside was heading towards Furong Town. The entrance was guarded, and she didn't dare to alert them, so she hurried back to report.
"Where is it?" I asked.
Xiao Nu didn't quite understand the map, but Zheng Baobao, who had been fighting battles for years, understood maps. Xiao Nu then led Zheng Baobao back again. This time, they were gone for longer. Zheng Baobao, being bolder, directly used the Swift Wind Technique to enter the cave for reconnaissance, but she didn't dare to go all the way. However, judging by the distance she traveled into the cave, this tunnel was indeed the secret passage leading to Furong Town.
"The entrance to the secret passage is here," Zheng Baobao accurately pinpointed the location on the map. "After entering, it's a winding path that resembles the curve of a human body."
Zheng Bingbing gestured on the map.
"That's called an S-shape," I chuckled.
With the secret passage found, our chances of success increased. Lin Xi immediately transmitted this news to Bai Qingcheng at the General Bureau, and also informed his brother. However, his brother's troops were currently under Bai Qingcheng's command and dared not act rashly, so they could only wait for Bai Qingcheng's deployment.
I asked about the location of Governor Lin's troops. The entire direction was misunderstood. If the main army was to press the attack, they would definitely use that secret passage. Zheng Baobao mentioned that the passage was quite wide inside, a disused copper mine where they could drive directly in.
When I tried to contact Bai Qingcheng, no one answered. She might have been on the road, not using a satellite phone, or had no signal.
Speed is of the essence for troops. In my opinion, Governor Lin stationing his troops in their current location was meaningless. I directly suggested he move his troops a hundred miles to another location, ready to attack the copper mine at any time.
Governor Lin had the same intention but was unsure, so he called his grandfather for consultation. His grandfather told him to proceed with confidence, and he would take responsibility for any consequences.
After waiting for a full hour, Bai Qingcheng was still unreachable. Meanwhile, Governor Lin had already completed the troop movements. They were all specially trained units with strong mobility. They stealthily secured the only road leading to the abandoned copper mine. Of course, they didn't block it, but hid in the shadows, observing and monitoring.
Soon, there was a breakthrough. Governor Lin called Lin Xi and told him that a truck was seen heading towards the mine. It was a civilian truck. By tracing the truck's traffic trajectory, they discovered an underground arms smuggling den and arrested the person in charge. The suspect confessed that the truck was carrying a batch of grenades and submachine guns!