Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Wu Dong looked around at the ventilation openings in two directions, pondered for a moment, and then said to Lao Bai:

"Old Bai, you take the second row over there, and I'll take the third row over here. Let's see what this tunnel is all about."

Old Bai nodded and led his men away from Wu Dong and the others.

Just a few minutes later, Lao Bai and Wu Dong each made new discoveries.

Near the last ventilation shaft, Lao Bai and his team found a cave that was emitting smoke. The cave was very well hidden, and if it weren't for the smoke coming out, Lao Bai and his team probably wouldn't have discovered its existence.

The scene inside this cave, however, would instantly enrage anyone who saw it, making them furious...

That's right, any normal person would react the same way upon seeing this.

Because deep within this cave, there were four completely naked women, but these four women were already dead.

The still-fresh bloodstains on their necks indicated that they had been dead for only a short time, no more than an hour.

They were alive just an hour ago.

However, their deaths may be considered a kind of relief, because even though they were dead, their bodies were still chained to the wall.

In other words, they were locked up here the whole time before they died, and the worst part is that they weren't wearing any clothes.

And judging from their disheveled appearance and filth all over their bodies, they had been locked up here for a long time.

One can imagine the inhuman torture they suffered in that cave.

Upon witnessing this scene, Lao Bai was immediately enraged, his eyes turning red, his fists clenched, the veins on his neck bulging, and his face contorted with murderous intent.

After taking several deep breaths with his eyes closed, Old Bai waved his hand and said to the people behind him:

"Dig a hole and bury them."

In China, the principle of "rest in peace after death" is highly valued. Although Lao Bai didn't know what they did or who they were, he still had to show them the respect they deserved.

If Lao Bai is not mistaken, the murderer must be one of the ruthless bandits in the gold mine.

They were afraid these women would expose them, mainly to prevent their whereabouts from being revealed, so they deliberately killed all the women before escaping, since only the dead can keep quiet.

After Lao Bai finished giving his orders, the men behind him went forward together. Some pried open the locks, others wrapped the body, and they were all busy at work. The rest of the men searched for anything of value.

What they found incomprehensible was that, apart from the four corpses, they found no other valuable clues in the cave.

Of course, they didn't find any gold either, so it was all for nothing.

Lao Bai's side hasn't achieved anything, and Wu Dong's side isn't much better off.

Because Wu Dong and his fellow soldiers only found a very narrow little hole, and from the marks outside the hole, it was clear that the people inside had long since disappeared.

Looking at the drag marks at the entrance of the small cave, Wu Dong said with a gloomy face:

"Damn it, they still managed to get away."

Suddenly, Wu Dong pointed to the cave entrance and said to the person next to him:
"Throw a few grenades in there and blow this dog hole up. Damn it, nobody will ever be able to crawl in there again."

At this moment, Wu Dong was clearly furious. The main problem was that the group had set off fires and smoke signals, only to find that the people had fled. And if the people were gone, then the gold, something so important, must have been taken too. After all, the reason these bandits were here was for the gold; to them, the gold was probably more important than their lives.

In other words, aside from killing a group of bandits and rescuing a group of laborers, Wu Dong's trip into the mountains yielded virtually no economic gains.

Therefore, it's easy to imagine how frustrated Wu Dong must have been at that moment.

After Wu Dong finished speaking, he turned and left the cave entrance. The people around the cave entrance also moved away from the area. Several soldiers immediately stepped forward, took out grenades, pulled the pins, and threw them into the cave.

With a few muffled thuds, the soil above the tunnel quickly collapsed in strips.

This tunnel is now completely useless.

Watching helplessly as the tunnel collapsed after being blown up, Wu Dong finally felt much better. With a wave of his hand, he led the way towards where Lao Bai and the others were.

At this moment, Wu Dong was still hoping that Lao Bai and the others would make some discoveries; otherwise, this trip into the mountains would have been a complete waste of time.

Unfortunately, on their way, Wu Dong and his group encountered Lao Bai and his group, who were also heading this way and wanted to meet up with Wu Dong and his group.

The two groups met by sheer coincidence.

Just by looking at each other's expressions, the two knew that they had all wasted their time, so they simply smiled helplessly at each other, said nothing, and walked together back to the gold mine.

When Wu Dong, Lao Bai, and the others returned to the gold mine, the identities of the laborers had all been verified.

However, among all these laborers, only the identities of two individuals remained unconfirmed.

The reason is that all their companions who went into the mountains with them have died, and the other laborers are not familiar with them, so no one can prove that they are just laborers and have no other identity.

In fact, the soldiers' method of verifying the identity of laborers is quite unique. To put it bluntly, it involves having these laborers verify and vouch for each other, and ideally, finding other people to corroborate their identities.

This completely eliminates the possibility of bad people mixing in with the crowd.

Wu Dong had lost interest in all of this. With a command, the platoon leaders organized their respective teams and headed back to camp.

On the way, Wu Dong said to Lao Bai with a dejected look:

"Old Bai, what are we going to do? We haven't even gotten a single tael of gold. When we go back, who's going to believe us?"

Old Bai shook his head and said helplessly:

"There's nothing we can do about it. Who could have known they'd dug a tunnel beforehand and escaped through it? Damn it."

After a pause, Lao Bai continued:
"Dongzi, do you know what we saw when we finally caught up with him?"

Wu Dong didn't take the question seriously and casually said:
"Then it must be another exit, since we only saw one exit and there was nothing else."

Old Bai said rather angrily:
"We were watching four women in the cave, and they all got their throats slit. They hadn't been dead for long. Damn it, those beasts."

Wu Dong was taken aback upon hearing this, and frowned as he asked:

"In a cave? Four women? And they all had their throats slit? What happened? Tell me in detail." (End of Chapter)