Too many female prisoners, a special forces soldier transmigrates and marries wildly.

When the sweet rain moistened my parched throat, my exhausted body seemed to be infused with new strength.

The atmosphere inside the grotto was much more relaxed, but no one made a fuss; everyone was quietly recovering their strength and tending to their wounds.

Lin Feng held up a tinderbox and carefully examined the cave walls.

The mural is blurry, but it can be seen that it depicts an ancient army discovering a water source, paying homage, and then advancing along an underground river.

The ancient inscription beside it, which Adu deciphered haltingly, roughly translates to: "Guided by the sacred spring, the underground river leads to the secluded realm. Following the water downstream, one can reach the abode of the gods. However, the shifting sands are treacherous, and only the chosen ones may enter."

"The dark river leads to the secluded... the abode of the gods..." Lin Feng's gaze fell on the pool.

The pool was not stagnant; beneath the surface, near the rock wall, there were extremely faint eddies. He walked over, reached into the water, and sure enough, felt a barely perceptible suction force flowing towards the rock wall.

"Beneath this pool, there is a passageway, one of the exits of an underground river."

Lin Feng stood up, his eyes gleaming.

"If the Sand Foxes can establish themselves deep within the Shifting Sands, Blackwind Fortress must have a stable water source. This underground river is very likely their lifeline! And also a shortcut to their lair!"

"General, do you mean we should sneak across the underground river?" Han Tao asked.

"No," Lin Feng shook his head, a cold smile appearing on his lips.

"The fact that the underground river's exit is blocked means they don't want anyone to discover this route. We're going to do the opposite."

"Yan Qing, take a few brothers who are good swimmers and dive down into this underground river to explore its exit. Find out its approximate location and whether there are any signs of guards nearby. Remember, just explore, don't alert them!"

"clear!"

Yan Qing accepted the order and immediately selected three soldiers from the scout camp who were excellent swimmers to dive into the icy, bone-chilling pool in turn.

The wait wasn't long.

About 15 minutes later, Yan Qing and the others returned one after another, their lips turning purple from the cold, but their eyes were filled with excitement.

"General!"

Yan Qing wiped the water from his face and panted, "The waterway below isn't long. After swimming about twenty zhang (approximately 33 meters), we exited the mountain and entered a wide underground river! The river flows northwest with a gentle current. We didn't dare go far, but we found this on the rocky beach near the exit!"

He opened his hand, revealing a few grains of millet that had not yet been fully digested and had been washed out by the water, as well as a small piece of wet but not rotten hay.

"It's horse feed!" Lei Bao exclaimed, his eyes sharp.

"There are also traces of camel dung, very fresh, no more than three days old," another scout added.

"The exit is hidden in a huge forest of dead poplar trees, just outside the edge of the sea of ​​quicksand. But the poplar forest is close to a hard Gobi desert with tire tracks and a lot of fresh hoof prints, leading to the northwest."

"Okay!" Lin Feng punched his palm.

"As expected! This underground river outlet is a secret passage for the sand foxes to fetch water and even transport supplies!"

"General, what do we do next? Follow the hoofprints?" Han Tao asked.

"No."

Lin Feng walked to the edge of the pool, looked at the deep water, and quickly made up his mind.

"The sand foxes are cunning, and Blackwind Fortress is well-hidden. They must be on guard if they dare to use this passage. If we follow the hoofprints, we'll either find nothing or fall into an ambush."

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the crowd: "We're doing the opposite. They think we're still wandering around in the Devil City, or dying of thirst in the quicksand sea. We're going to appear where they least expect us—on the ground, on the flanks of their usual areas of activity, even... their rear."

"The ground? But we don't have a guide and we're not familiar with the terrain of the quicksand sea..." Adu said timidly.

"We don't need to venture into the sea of ​​quicksand."

Lin Feng walked to the rock wall, dipped his finger in water, and began to draw on the relatively flat stone surface.

"Look, this is the Devil City, and this is the exit of the underground river. Beyond the exit are poplar forests and the Gobi Desert. The sand fox's hoofprints point northwest, which might be to Black Wind Fortress, or perhaps to some transit point. But wherever they go, they need water. This underground river is their greatest source of water."

He paused, tracing the outline of the "underground river" with his finger: "Adu said that along the edge of the Flowing Sand Sea, some areas are hardened ground formed by the drying up of ancient riverbeds. Although desolate, they are barely traversable. Once we leave this place and reach the surface, we won't follow the hoofprints, but rather search northwest along the surface direction the underground river might have flowed. At the same time, we'll send out skilled scouts to keep an eye on the river's outlet and that poplar forest, waiting for them to come to us! The sand foxes will always come to fetch water; as long as we keep an eye on the water-fetching teams, we can follow the trail to their lair, or… something even more important!"

Han Tao's eyes lit up: "General, you mean, a two-pronged approach? One side openly searches along the river to attract attention; the other side secretly lies in wait to capture prisoners and find weaknesses?"

"That's right." Lin Feng nodded. "Moreover, we are outnumbered, smaller targets, and more mobile. The Sand Foxes are in the shadows, while we are in the open. Now, it's our turn to hide in the shadows."

"Great!" Lei Bao grinned.

Yan Qing smiled as well, "But we need to be more careful."

"Therefore, we must be fast, ruthless, and unexpected," Lin Feng said in a deep voice.

"Rest until nightfall. Eat and drink your fill, and treat your injuries. After nightfall, we'll find a way to climb back to the surface from the other side. Remember, our goal is: to find the sand fox's den, ascertain its strength, and then—"

He clenched his fist and said, word by word, "One fatal blow!"

"Yes!" the crowd roared, their eyes burning with renewed fighting spirit.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

Led by Lin Feng, and guided by Adu's hazy memories and the scouting efforts of Yan Qing and others, the team painstakingly returned to the surface via another abandoned, rubble-strewn passageway in the grotto. The exit was located behind a massive, sheltered rock formation, extremely well-hidden.

Before me, there were no longer endless sand dunes, but a vast, flat, gravelly Gobi Desert stretching all the way to the dark horizon in the distance.

The night wind was biting, carrying the desolate atmosphere unique to the Gobi Desert.

"Han Tao, send out scouts, five men per group, spreading out in a fan shape for twenty miles to scout the terrain, water sources, and any traces of human activity. Lei Bao, you lead the main force, advancing slowly to the northwest, hiding by day and active at night, avoiding open areas. Yan Qing, you pick ten of your best men and come back with me to set up an ambush near the exit of the underground river."

"Rest first."

Lin Feng gave the order.