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Chapter 93 Emergency Recall

early morning.

The forest was in the darkness before dawn.

The two night watchmen were obviously a little sleepy, and coupled with the cold wind and dew, they huddled at the door of the stronghold and didn't want to move.

But at this moment, one of the thin people suddenly pushed a fat person next to him.

"What?" Fatty.

"Listen!" the thin man.

The fat man was a little confused at first, and then he felt a chill in his heart.

In the dark jungle, there were subtle sounds of footsteps approaching.

The two of them were alert at the same time, and the sleepiness in their bodies disappeared instantly. They stood up suddenly, each holding a weapon in their hands, blocking in front of them, and shouted: "Who is it? Who is there?"

"it's me."

As the footsteps approached, the two gradually saw a vague outline.

Looking at his ragged clothes and his body with one foot deep and one foot shallow, one can already imagine how miserable he is.

One of them said hesitantly, "Geng... Geng Xuan?"

"Ah."

The wariness in their eyes disappeared, replaced by surprise and joy.

"It's really you!"

"You're back!"

"It's good to be back, it's good to be back..."

"..."

At first, it was just these two people talking.

But soon, the members of the hunting team who were already sleeping lightly in the house were awakened. Chen Zheng was the first to rush out of the house, followed by Liao Chengye and several other members of the hunting team.

The other members of the hunting team were also watching this delightful scene, and they were all sincerely happy that Geng Xuan was able to come back alive after being missing for a day.

Yes, from Geng Xuan’s perspective, a lot of things have happened since his “disappearance” until now. However, from other people’s perspective, he was only absent for one day.

“I missed a step and was very panicked. I tried desperately to grab something, but I didn’t know if I caught it or not, and I passed out.

When I woke up, I realized that I didn’t fall to the bottom of the cliff, but was fortunately blocked by a small tree on the cliff, and then rolled onto a slightly sunken stone platform. ”

Liao Chengye nodded and said, "No wonder we didn't find anything when we went down to look for you. It turns out you didn't fall at all... Tsk tsk, I don't even know if your luck is good or bad!"

Geng Xuan grinned:
“After waking up, I spent quite some time slowly descending from the steep cliff to the bottom. I was about to rush back, but unfortunately I was chased by two giant bears. I could only run around in panic and didn’t care about anything else.

By the time I managed to escape from those two idiots, I didn't know where I was.

Later, I experienced many dangers and was almost dead several times."

At the end, Geng Xuan himself seemed to be filled with fear and sighed.

Someone nearby said:
"You're lucky to have made it back safely. Two years ago, someone from our team was left alone, but there was no trace left... At that time, we didn't go as deep as we are now!"

Others also spoke up to agree.

Chen Zheng also patted Geng Xuan's shoulder heavily.

Geng Xuan said to him, "Captain, are you guys going to go hunting again today? Can I take a day off? I haven't closed my eyes since I woke up. I really can't take it anymore."

After hearing this, Chen Zheng quickly pulled Geng Xuan into the house and said, "You don't need to worry about anything else, just take a good rest."

The other things were just made up by him, but the fact that he hadn't slept for a long time was true.

It is both to take a break in time and to get rid of everyone's curiosity about more details.

Geng Xuan was not polite at all. He lay down on the bed made of hay with his clothes on and soon fell into a sound sleep.

Seeing this, the others consciously stopped disturbing him and even lowered their voices when speaking to each other.

……

When Geng Xuan woke up, it was already bright day.

I walked out of the room and looked up at the sky. It was around two or three in the afternoon.

Apart from six people who were carefully handling various prey, there was no one else.

"Brother Geng, wake up."

When one of them saw him come out, he stopped what he was doing, and with both hands brought a clay pot that was placed on a stone stove to Geng Xuan, and then went to get bowls, chopsticks, soup spoons and other tableware.

"This is the meal I left for you."

After leaving these words, the man went back to his own business.

"Thank you."

When you open the lid, you will smell the hot aroma. It is a whole jar of soup that has been boiled for a long time using the essence of various prey.

Geng Xuan, who originally didn't feel hungry, was tempted by the aroma and immediately rebelled, starting to growl.

Several people from the logistics team laughed when they heard this.

Geng Xuan also laughed and began to eat voraciously.

Because it had been simmered for too long, the bones were almost separated from the meat, and the meat was almost tender in one sip, so it was not a burden to eat. After a while, Geng Xuan tilted his head back and poured the last mouthful of the thick soup in the pot into his wide-open mouth.

After dinner, Geng Xuan went back to his room and lay down.

When it began to get dark, Chen Zheng and others came back. Everyone just chatted with him casually for a few words and then went to sleep.

After a day's buffer, no one was curious about his safe return to the team anymore.

Almost no one asked him about related matters. What everyone talked about most was each team's review of today's hunt and tomorrow's action plans.

Moreover, even when talking about these things, they tried to be as brief as possible, and then went to rest. No one wanted to waste energy chatting at this time.

The next morning, Geng Xuan filled his quiver as he did every day, and walked out of the stronghold with Chen Zheng, Liao Chengye and others into the forest.

Half a day later, around two o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Zheng and others had just completed a difficult hunt.

They stood breathlessly among a dozen wolf corpses. Even with Geng Xuan's superb archery support from the rear, everyone was still a little overwhelmed when faced with this group of hungry wolves that suddenly emerged from the jungle dozens of steps away.

Several people were injured.

Fortunately, they finally took it down.

Just then, Geng Xuan let out a cry of surprise.

"Captain, look!"

Chen Zheng and others who were still gasping for breath heard this and quickly turned their heads to look.

For a moment, everyone was stunned.

Then, Chen Zheng immediately ordered: "Pack up and let's go back immediately!"

I saw a thick, black, straight smoke rising in the distant sky, like a sharp sword pointing to the sky.

And if you look closely at the direction where the smoke is rising, it is exactly where their stronghold is.

The smoke was naturally released by the people in the stronghold.

This is a means of emergency contact with the outbound hunting team.

If there is only one column of smoke, it means an emergency recall, which means that a major incident has occurred in the rear and all hunting teams must immediately stop their actions and return to their base.

If there are two columns of smoke, it means there is a major crisis in the rear. Each team going out should carefully consider how to act based on the actual situation and their own strength.

If there are three columns of smoke, it means that the rear is experiencing a completely irresistible crisis. Don't even think about returning for help. Just run for your lives and leave the rest to fate.

This has been a rule that has existed since the beginning of the autumn hunt. It is not only the rule in Changpingfang, but also the rule in all the neighborhoods.

No one dared to joke about such things.

Therefore, the moment they saw the column of smoke, everyone's mind jumped from the current autumn hunt to the rear stronghold, and even flew back to Changpingfang.

The group hurried back to the base and happened to meet another hunting team that was also returning in a hurry.

After entering the stronghold, they discovered that two hunting teams had returned earlier than them.

Inside the stronghold, all members of the hunting team gathered together, and those in the logistics team also stopped their work. Everyone's eyes were focused on the two middle-aged men in the center of the crowd.

Everyone is familiar with these two people, including Geng Xuan.

One of them was Liao Chengye's father Liao Lei, and the other was a middle-aged man named Xue Ju. Like Liao Lei, Chen Rongshan and others, he was actually in charge of the guards of Changpingfang in Kangleji. These people had a common feature, that is, their own cultivation was not bad, but not too outstanding, and at the same time they had good management and communication and coordination skills.

He often followed Li Fangzhu and participated in the actual management of Changpingfang and the communication and coordination with Kangleji and other Lifang.

In other words, they are the group closest to Lord Li in Changpingfang, and they meet him frequently, even every day.

The moment he saw these two people, Geng Xuan basically understood why they were there.

After seeing these two people, the others felt a little relieved.

At least, judging from the attitudes of the two men at the moment, even if something big happened in the rear, it would not be the extent of the sky falling.

Shortly after Geng Xuan and others arrived, the last hunting team also returned.

The two people who had been silent finally spoke.

Liao Lei said: "Now, everyone, hurry up and pack up. Leave two hunting teams to escort the logistics team to clean up the mess, and the other hunting teams will follow us back."

When he said this, the crowd was in an uproar.

One of the hunting team leaders, who was about the same age as them, asked, "What happened back there?"

Liao Lei and Xue Ju looked at each other, and Liao Lei replied, "Li Xun is missing."

As soon as these words were spoken, the uproar became even louder.

Everyone couldn't help but question at once.

"Master Li is missing. What does this mean? Can you explain it more clearly?!"

"It's autumn hunting season now, he should be with everyone, why would he disappear for no reason?"

"Is there a conflict with the surrounding neighborhoods? Why haven't we heard any news?"

"..."

Liao Lei frowned.

Faced with all these chattering words, he wouldn't be able to explain himself clearly even if he had ten mouths.

Xue Ju frowned and shouted, "Shut up!"

The crowd fell silent for a moment.

Liao Lei then said:
“You asked us the reason, and we are actually looking for the reason.

However, I can say a few things we already know.

The night before yesterday, Li Fangzhu, who was supposed to appear at a back base to discuss some things as agreed, did not show up.

At that time, no one paid much attention to it, thinking that he was busy with other things.

Yesterday morning, several team leaders who had made an appointment to meet with Li Fangzhu in advance did not wait for him.

At that time, a team leader complained, saying that this year Li Fangzhu did not care about their team at all. In all these days, he only showed up in their team once and spent all his time on other teams, favoring some over others.

At that time, several other team leaders next to him explained that Li Fangzhu also spent very little time visiting their teams.

The news spread quickly. Yesterday afternoon, after a comprehensive review, everyone discovered that since the beginning of this year's autumn hunt, Master Li had been absent for more than half of the time.

And since the morning of the day before yesterday, no one has seen him again.

From yesterday afternoon until late last night, we mobilized many people to search for his whereabouts, but there was no clue at all.

Early this morning, after discussing with Mr. Chai and several other old men in charge of the neighborhood, everyone went to Li's house together, forced open his secret room, and found that it was empty and nothing was left.

This is totally inconsistent with what Li Qun's wife said.

After discussion, it was decided that half of the hunting team would withdraw and return to Changpingfang immediately.

The remaining half of the hunting team also retreated to a safer base at the back and, together with the logistics team, secured the outer line, ensuring that the collection in the rear could be completed as planned.

We will not compete with other neighborhoods."

Liao Lei has finished speaking.

The field was completely quiet.

No one had any objection to the arrangement of the hunting team in the neighborhood and the relatively conservative approach to this year's autumn hunting mission.

Faced with such a strange event as the disappearance of the head of a workshop, this kind of emergency adjustment is very necessary.

There is only one thing on everyone’s mind: the abbot, such a big living person, how could he just disappear like that?
If Li Fangzhu had just suddenly disappeared, everyone might have speculated whether there was some enemy with ulterior motives hiding in the dark.

Li Fangzhu, who was the "prominent figure", was the first to be assassinated.

But according to the situation that everyone pieced together, it can be seen that in this "disappearance of the abbot" incident, "Li Fangzhu" himself revealed many strange things.

If you are looking for a "suspect", then he is the first suspect!
Obviously, not only the many hunting team members who heard about this matter for the first time thought so, Liao Lei and others also had the same guess.

Didn’t you notice that when he was telling the story, he gradually stopped addressing him as “Bozhu” and started calling him by his name?
Putting aside other things, as the head of a ward, at such an important time as the Autumn Hunt, he took advantage of everyone's trust in him and disappeared for a long time. I don't know what shameful things he was doing.

This should be despised by everyone!
Therefore, let alone what would happen if Master Li could never be found again, even if he was really found, he would not be able to continue to be the Master without an extremely good reason.

After everyone understood this, their hearts, which had been slightly relieved, became tense again.

An abbot is a must. There are many things that cannot be done without an abbot.

For example, now, after the autumn hunt is over, Changpingfang must trade a large amount of resources through Kangleji, exchange them for various resources needed by Changpingfang, or sell them directly for silver.

This was a top priority matter that affected the livelihood of Changpingfang for the whole year. A slight fluctuation would result in a difference of several hundred or even thousands of taels, so one had to be cautious.

And this is only one aspect.

Anyway, no matter what, the abbot is indispensable.

Otherwise, a neighborhood with two or three thousand people would be a mess.

Now that Master Li is gone, naturally another Master will have to take his place.

So, who will be the new abbot?

Those who were more thoughtful could not help but start to think about it.

After listening to Liao Lei's story, Geng Xuan didn't think too much about it, he just felt relieved.

"I can finally go back to see Da Huang... I wonder how he is recovering now."

As a newly formed hunting team composed entirely of young people, Geng Xuan's hunting team was the first to be recalled.

The team set out at around four in the afternoon.

After resting for a while at a stronghold, we continued on our journey.

He returned to Changpingfang late at night.

Liao Lei, who was traveling with them, said to Chen Zheng, Geng Xuan and the others, "You guys should have a good rest and don't think too much. We will call you if there is anything."

Having said that, he led Liao Chengye away.

Geng Xuan and Chen Zheng went home together and entered the courtyards of each household.

Because my aunt Zeng Rou also took the initiative to join the logistics team, Chen Xiaoyu and other children in the neighborhood were gathered together and taken care of by the elderly people in the neighborhood such as Grandpa Chai, so there was no one at the Chen family now.

After returning home, Geng Xuan went underground to check on Dahuang's condition, then, ignoring its aggrieved expression, he returned to the surface. Now the time was sensitive, so it would be better to behave as normally as possible.

Just as Geng Xuan was lying on the bed and had just fallen asleep, there was a hurried knock on the door outside the yard.

Geng Xuan, who was not completely asleep to begin with, immediately sat up, opened the door and left the room.

"Ah, Uncle Chen, you just came back, right?!"

The person knocking on the door outside the yard was Chen Rongshan.

Seeing Geng Xuan coming out, Chen Rongshan seemed relieved and said:
"Ah Xuan, come here and tell you something."

Geng Xuan was slightly startled, and then immediately responded.

"it is good."

The two men entered the Chen family's living room one after the other, and Geng Xuan discovered that Chen Zheng was also sitting in the room waiting for them.

Chen Rongshan closed the door and asked Geng Xuan:
"You know everything about Master Li, right?"

Geng Xuan nodded: "Yes, Uncle Liao told us everything."

Chen Rongshan said:

“If there are no other accidents, it will take some time for the autumn hunt in the town to be completely over.

However, your autumn hunt is now over, and you should consider what to do next."

(End of this chapter)