162: Chapter 162 A Deadly Ambush in the Dense Forest

Li Xin woke up just as day was breaking.

Fog had risen in the courtyard, white and vast, with dew clinging to the wooden fence.

He found a pot of hot water in the kitchen, brewed a cup of good tea, and sat by the window to savor it slowly.

The Old Lady had not yet risen, and the house was very quiet.

After finishing the tea, he shouldered his bag and went out.

He didn't drive today; he walked to the intersection and hailed a taxi.

The driver was a young man wearing a faded tracksuit with dyed yellow hair.

"Friend, where are you headed?"

"Drive north. Just stop after passing the fork in the road near the mining area."

The driver glanced at him through the rearview mirror, didn't ask further questions, and stepped on the gas.

The car drove out of the city, but the fog had not yet dispersed.

The birch forests on both sides of the road appeared and disappeared, their trunks looking even whiter in the mist.

After driving for nearly an hour and passing the fork in the road near the mining area, Li Xin asked the driver to stop.

He paid the fare and got out of the car.

By the roadside was a dirt road, extending northward, winding and disappearing into the fog.

Li Xin shouldered his bag and walked inward along the dirt road.

The fog was very thick, with visibility less than fifty meters.

There were woods on both sides of the road, mostly pine trees with tall, straight trunks, their crowns blocking out the sky.

The ground was covered with thick pine needles; stepping on them felt soft and made no sound.

After walking for about forty minutes, the fog began to clear.

Sunlight leaked through the gaps in the canopy, casting patches of light on the ground.

In the distance, the outline of a mountain ridge was visible, gray and hazy.

A village appeared ahead.

There were only a dozen or so households, with houses built of wood, some with collapsed roofs.

At the entrance of the village stood a dead old pine tree, its trunk crooked and its bark completely peeled off.

Li Xin stood at the village entrance, opened his phone, and looked at the address Chen Hu had sent.

The old miner lived at the very end of the village, in the second to last house.

He walked along the village road toward the inside.

The road was dirt, overgrown with grass on both sides, having not been trodden by anyone for a long time.

He walked to the second-to-last wooden house and stopped.

The house's windows were covered with old newspapers, and the door was left ajar.

In the yard, there was a pile of split firewood, stacked neatly.

Li Xin knocked on the door.

There was no response.

He knocked a few more times.

The door opened a crack, revealing a face.

An old man, thin, face full of wrinkles, deep-set eye sockets, gray-white beard, unshaven.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Excuse me, are you Petrovich?"

The old man stared at him suspiciously for a few seconds before opening the door.

"Come in."

Li Xin walked inside.

The room was not big, containing a table, two chairs, and a stove.

On the wall hung a faded photograph of a group of people standing at a mine entrance, wearing old work clothes and hard hats.

The old man sat down on a chair and pointed to the opposite side.

"Sit."

Li Xin sat down.

"Young man, what is it you want with me?"

"It's like this, sir. I heard you worked at the mine your whole life, and I wanted to chat with you."

The old man looked at him without speaking.

Water was boiling on the stove, and steam was rising from the spout.

"What do you want to chat about?"

"I want to learn about the Tsar's gold."

The old man tapped lightly on the tabletop.

He stood up, walked to the stove, took down the kettle, and poured two cups of tea.

He pushed one cup to Li Xin and held the other himself.

"Where did you hear about that?"

"Someone told me your father saw some things at the mine back in the day."

The old man took a sip of tea.

"That was my father's business; it has nothing to do with me."

"Would you be willing to talk about it? Of course, I will give you some compensation; you don't need to worry about that."

The old man was silent for a long time; the fire in the stove was burning, and the wood crackled.

"My father worked at the mine for thirty years. Back in 1918, he was still a young man, working as a support worker in the mine tunnels."

The old man's voice was slow, as if it came from very far away.

"One day, many people came to the mine. They wore military uniforms, but they weren't ordinary soldiers; they were the Tsar's men."

"They brought in many crates, wooden ones, very heavy."

"My father said the crates were transported from the mine entrance all the way to the deepest part."

"And then?"

"Later, those people left, the mine tunnel was sealed, and afterwards, the Tsar was gone, the Soviet Union arrived, and the mine changed hands."

"It is said that the tunnel was never opened again, though I don't know if that's true."

"Did your father ever say what was in those crates?"

The old man looked at Li Xin.

"What do you think it was?"

Li Xin didn't speak.

The old man took another sip of tea.

"My father said that after those crates were moved in, no one was allowed to enter the tunnel."

"Later, some people said it was filled with gold, the Tsar's gold."

"Has anyone gone looking for it?"

"They have. During the Soviet Union era, people looked for it, but didn't find it."

"Later, no one mentioned it anymore."

Li Xin was silent for a moment.

"Do you know where that mine tunnel is?"

The old man stood up, walked to the wall, and pulled a piece of paper from behind that faded photograph.

The paper had yellowed, and the corners were curled.

He handed the paper to Li Xin.

"This is what my father drew."

Li Xin took it.

On the paper was a diagram of the mine tunnel structure, with crooked lines, but the general direction could be made out.

A spot was circled in red pen, with a line of Russian text written next to it, the handwriting messy.

"Deepest part, behind the stone gate."

Li Xin folded the paper and tucked it into his pocket.

"Thank you."

The old man waved his hand without speaking.

Li Xin stood up, took an envelope from his bag, and placed it on the table.

"A small token of my appreciation."

The old man glanced at the envelope but didn't move.

"Be careful, it's not very peaceful over there."

"I know."

Li Xin walked out of the wooden house and stood in the yard.

The fog had dispersed, and sunlight shone on the village road, reflecting off the puddles in the potholes.

He took a deep breath and walked out of the village.

After leaving the village, he continued walking north along the dirt road, took a wide detour, and entered the forest area from the north side of the mining district.

The forest was denser here, the canopy blocking the sky, with almost no sunlight reaching the ground.

The pine needles were thick, and stepping on them made no sound.

After walking for a while, he found a high point with a wide view, where he could see the mining buildings in the distance and the direction of the mountain ridge.

He squatted down and pressed his hand to the ground.

"AI System, Scan again and see where it's appropriate to perform the Extraction."

[Three locations confirmed to meet the criteria. Location One is approximately 6.8 kilometers from the current position, Location Two is 7.2 kilometers away, and Location Three is 8.1 kilometers away. Location Two is optimal; the terrain is concealed, it is about 1.5 kilometers from the patrol route, and there is no personnel activity at night.]

Li Xin noted down the coordinates and stood up.

Just as he was preparing to head back, the sound of branches breaking came from behind him.

It was crisp and very close by.

He didn't turn back, continuing to walk forward without changing his pace.

His hand slowly reached into his pocket and touched the handle of the folding knife.

The sound of breaking branches grew closer.

Not just one person, at least three or four.

He quickened his pace.

The people behind him also quickened their pace.

Ahead was a relatively open woodland where the trees weren't as dense and sunlight could shine in.

He walked to the middle of the clearing, stopped, and turned around.

Six people.

They walked out from behind the trees, spread out, and surrounded him in a semicircle, all wearing dark clothes and masks covering their faces, revealing only their eyes.

They held weapons in their hands, including long sticks, machetes, and a short shotgun.

Li Xin stood still.

The leader, holding a machete with the tip pointing down, stood three or four steps away from him.

"Who are you?" he asked in Russian, his voice muffled by the mask, making his age impossible to tell.

"A tourist. I'm lost." Li Xin looked dejected.

"A tourist?" The man laughed, his laughter also muffled. "Lost in this place?"

He raised the machete, the tip pointing at Li Xin's chest.

"Our boss wants to have a chat with you. Come with us."

"Chat about what?"

"You'll know when you get there."

Li Xin looked into his eyes; his gaze was cold, offering no room for negotiation.

"And if I don't go?"

The man didn't speak; the five people beside him took a step forward.

The long sticks tapped against the nearby tree trunks, making dull thuds.

Li Xin took a step back.

Not out of fear, but to calculate the distance.

That short shotgun was in the hands of the second person on the left, the muzzle pointing down but ready to be raised at any moment.

Six people, standing in a scattered formation, the closest one less than two meters away from him.

He couldn't make a move here; it was too open. Once the gun went off, there would be nowhere to hide.

"Fine, I'll go with you."

The man nodded.

Two people from the side walked over, one on the left and one on the right, standing behind him.

The six people escorted him deep into the forest.

After walking for about ten minutes, they reached a temporary camp.

Several tents, a campfire, and three people sitting by the fire.

Seeing them approach, they stood up.

The leader walked to the campfire and whispered a few words to the three people.

The three people glanced at Li Xin, and one of them nodded.

Li Xin was brought in front of a tent.

The tent curtain was lifted, and a person was sitting inside.

About forty years old, bald, with a scar on his face stretching from his left eyebrow bone to his right cheekbone.

Wearing a black windbreaker with the zipper pulled to the top.

He glanced at Li Xin and pointed to the folding chair opposite him.

"Sit."

Li Xin sat down.

"Are you Chinese?"

"Yes."

"What did you come here for?"

"Tourism."

The bald man stared at him for a few seconds.

"Tourism? You ran to the north side of the mining area for tourism? There isn't even a road over there."

"I'm a hiking enthusiast; I like going to places where no one else goes."

The bald man chuckled.

"A hiking enthusiast." He repeated, his tone mocking.

He picked up a mobile phone from the table, flipped through it a few times, and turned the screen toward Li Xin.

On the screen was a photo.

Li Xin was standing by the railing of the open-pit mine, squatting, his hand pressed to the ground.

"What were you doing there?"

Li Xin's heart rate accelerated, but he kept his face expressionless.

"Tying my shoelaces."

"Tying your shoelaces." The bald man laughed again, this time coldly. "Your posture for tying shoelaces is quite unique."

He put the phone down, stood up, and walked in front of Li Xin.

"I'll ask you one more time: who exactly are you? And what did you come here for?"

Li Xin raised his head and looked at him.

"A tourist, hiking."

The bald man stared at him for a few seconds.

Then he turned around and said something to the person standing at the tent entrance.

"Bring his bag over."

The person walked in, took the backpack off Li Xin's back, and handed it to the bald man.

The bald man unzipped it and took the items out one by one.

Passport, wallet, camera, that jar of honey, a bag of snacks.

He looked through them; there was nothing special.

He opened the passport and looked at it for a while.

Then he closed it and threw it back on the table.

"You're lucky; I don't want to kill anyone today."

He waved his hand.

"Search his body, then throw him out."

The two people walked over and searched Li Xin.

The folding knife in his pocket was taken, and the phone was taken out, checked, and then shoved back.

The bald man picked up the folding knife and weighed it in his hand.

"This stays. Consider it a toll for trespassing on our territory."

Li Xin didn't speak.

The two people dragged him up from the chair and pushed him outside.

After leaving the tent and crossing the camp, they pushed him to the edge of the forest.

"Get lost, and don't come back."

Li Xin didn't turn back, quickly walking into the forest.

After walking a few hundred meters and confirming no one was following him, he stopped, leaned against a tree, and panted heavily.

His hands were shaking, not from fear, but because the adrenaline was wearing off.

"AI System."

[Present.]

"What's the deal with that camp? Why did they let me go so easily?"

[It's the lair of a gold-stealing gang on the north side. The bald man is the leader, named Korolyov, and he is quite famous in the local black market. They occupied an old mine tunnel and can steal dozens of kilograms of ore every day. You should be glad; he saw that you were Chinese and let you go because he didn't want to cause trouble.]

"Alright, that is indeed fortunate. This is the benefit of a powerful motherland. Can you determine their patrol routes?"

[Their range of activity is concentrated on the northeast side of the mining area, while Location Two is on the northwest side, which is not in their territory. However, there might be mobile sentries at night.]

Li Xin took a deep breath.

"Then we'll act tomorrow at dawn. It's a bit dangerous today."

[System is ready. Twelve hours of continuous Extraction, cannot be interrupted midway.]

"Understood."

He leaned against the tree for a while, then turned around, bypassed the camp, and left the forest by another route.

When he returned to the dirt road, it was already getting dark.

The fog began to roll in again, white and vast, making the road unclear.

He walked south along the dirt road for nearly an hour before reaching a place where he could hail a taxi.

When he returned to the wooden house, it was already late at night.

The Old Lady, the landlady, was already asleep, and the house was dark.

Li Xin entered the house in the dark, didn't turn on the lights, and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.

The AI System flashed on the panel.

[Zhuzi, don't you want to celebrate? You escaped another disaster today.]

"Yeah, I should drink some Maotai to calm my nerves."

[That works. Today, those people's blades were less than half a meter away from you, and that gun was pointed at you the whole time.]

"I know."

[Did you ever think about making a move? You have guns and artillery in the space.]

Li Xin was silent for a while.

"It was too close. Once the gun went off, I wouldn't have been able to escape either."

[So you chickened out.]

"It's not chickening out. If I had killed them, it would be troublesome for the subsequent treasure hunt."

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the night scene outside.

"Tomorrow at dawn, select Location Two, perform Extraction for twelve hours. There cannot be any mistakes."

[The patrol schedule has been updated. From midnight to 2:00 AM, the mining area security patrol route is about two kilometers south of Location Two. From 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM, there are mobile sentries on the north side, but they are about three kilometers away from Location Two. After 4:00 AM, there are no patrols.]

"What time should we start?"

[I suggest 1:00 AM. Twelve hours of continuous Extraction, ending at 1:00 PM. Complete most of the Extraction before dawn, and maintain concealment after daybreak.]

"1:00 AM."

He took off his coat and lay on the bed.

He closed his eyes and went over the route for tomorrow in his mind.

Start from the wooden house, drive to the end of the dirt road, hike into the forest, reach Location Two, start the Extraction, twelve hours, no mistakes allowed midway.

Insects chirped outside the window all night.

He didn't really fall asleep.