One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Chapter 273 Chen Duo's Barbecue Method

The test had begun. Chen Duo's face immediately tensed, her emerald eyes fixed on the section of barbed wire in front of her, as if she were simulating and calculating in her mind. She had never tried burning barbed wire, let alone controlling it to such a precise degree. But the trusting gazes of Wang Ye and Nie Lingfeng gave her courage.

"I...I'll give it a try." Chen Duo took a deep breath, walked behind a clump of bushes, and chose an angle where she could clearly see the target location. She extended her right index finger, closed her eyes, and concentrated all her energy to feel and "communicate" with the warm and agile Phoenix True Fire within her body. This time, she no longer pursued the intensity and range of the flames, but instead strived to compress, condense, and control them to the extreme.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes, and deep within her emerald green pupils seemed to be two clusters of golden-red flames burning quietly. She flicked her finger lightly at a section of barbed wire fence about twenty meters away at the corner of the wall.

"laugh."

A thin, hair-like thread of flame, so condensed it was almost invisible, emitting only a faint golden-red glow, shot silently from her fingertips, traversing the dim air and precisely wrapping itself around the connecting buckle of the barbed wire! The flame did not explode or spread; it simply adhered tightly to and scorched that point of metal, like the most precise laser welding torch!

The wire quickly turned red-hot, softened, and melted under the high temperature! The whole process happened in the blink of an eye, without making a sound, and not even a wisp of smoke was visible! The connector was melted off, and that small section of wire mesh drooped down silently, revealing a gap large enough for a person to bend down and pass through! Meanwhile, the canned food box "alarms" hanging nearby remained completely still!

It worked!

A relieved blush, tinged with a touch of pride, swept across Chen Duo's face. She withdrew her fingers, and the flame at her fingertips went out. She looked at Nie Lingfeng and Wang Ye, her eyes asking, "I did it."

"Beautiful!" Wang Ye couldn't help but murmur in praise, giving a thumbs up. "Precise control, perfect! Little Chen Duo, your 'micro-management' skills are ready to graduate!"

Nie Lingfeng patted Chen Duo's shoulder approvingly, his eyes full of satisfaction. Chen Duo's progress had indeed exceeded his expectations.

"Leave the sentries to me. You all get ready. As soon as the breach opens, go over there and hide behind the pile of rocks." Wang Ye's expression became slightly more serious. He closed his eyes, formed a peculiar hand seal in front of his chest, and silently chanted something. A more subtle and elusive "field," seemingly capable of interfering with perception and confusing existence, quietly spread out from him, enveloping their area and slowly creeping towards the positions of the sentries hiding inside the wall.

"The Chaotic Golden Bell - Town".

A silent wave of thought swept across. Nie Lingfeng could clearly sense that the auras of the sentries inside the wall instantly became extremely weak and indistinct, as if they had fallen into the deepest, dreamless slumber, or... been temporarily "stripped" of their ability to perceive the outside world. Wang Ye's "Chaotic Golden Clapper" could not only obliterate existence, but it could also clearly be used for large-scale, precise sensory interference and control!

"Go!" Wang Ye shouted, and the three of them shot out from their hiding place like arrows. They rushed towards the gap in the barbed wire that Chen Duo had melted open, bent down and crawled through it. Then, without stopping, they rushed to the pile of huge waste ore and weeds inside the wall and quickly disappeared.

The entire process took only a dozen seconds. The visible sentries outside the wall were completely unaware, while the hidden sentries inside were silenced, and the alarm devices were not triggered. They had successfully and silently infiltrated the outer defenses of the Hpakant mine!

Hiding in the shadow of the pile of rocks, the three finally breathed a sigh of relief. Chen Duo, panting slightly, had exhausted her mental energy with her precise control of the flames, but was mostly filled with the excitement of success. Her emerald eyes shone brightly in the darkness as she looked at Nie Lingfeng and whispered, "They're in!"

"Hmm, well done," Nie Lingfeng affirmed again, while cautiously observing the situation outside the pile of rubble. This place was located on the edge of the mine, close to the mountainside, relatively secluded. A few dozen meters ahead were the makeshift shacks and the entrance area to the mine shafts, where the lights and noise were even clearer. He could see some haphazardly dressed armed men carrying guns moving among the shacks, and a few people who looked like miners or laborers, hunched over, carrying things.

The "filth" in the air became even more intense here, mixed with a strong smell of blood and sulfur, and an indescribable spiritual resentment that seemed to have settled after countless people's painful cries! It was extremely uncomfortable. Chen Duo subconsciously covered her nose, her brows furrowed tightly. The Phoenix True Fire within her seemed to be stimulated, circulating actively and emitting a warm aura to help her resist this filth.

"This godforsaken place..." Wang Ye frowned and muttered under his breath, "It's even more sinister than I thought. Not only is it an armed stronghold, but this entire mine has probably been transformed into a large-scale evil ritual site or a source of pollution. There must be 'good' things deep inside those mine shafts."

"What do we do now? Go straight in and find the 'Blood Buddha' and those 'goods'?" Nie Lingfeng asked. They had successfully infiltrated, but the situation inside the mine was unknown, and going directly in was too risky.

Wang squinted, surveying the largest shacks in the distance, their lights relatively concentrated and their guards noticeably more heavily armed, as well as the largest mine entrance sealed by an iron gate. He did some mental calculations (he genuinely did, as if he were making some kind of deduction), then listened intently to the wind and faint voices, before saying, "No rush. Let's scout out first. See that largest shack over there with the heavy machine gun at the entrance? And that mine next to it, with the most guards, it's probably their command post or an important warehouse. Let's find a way to get to that area, capture a 'tongue' (prisoner), and ask about the situation inside, especially the location of 'Blood Buddha' and the whereabouts of those 'goods'."

Nie Lingfeng nodded in agreement. Instead of rashly venturing into the unknown labyrinth, it would be better to gather intelligence first.

Under the cover of the rubble and the night, the three moved swiftly like ghosts in the shadows at the edge of the mine, gradually approaching the core area. They avoided two patrols along the way and carefully bypassed several areas that might be buried with landmines or traps (Wang Ye's "seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune" sense once again proved useful).

Just as they crept to within about thirty meters of the heavy machine gun shed, behind a pile of abandoned mine carts and mechanical parts, something unexpected happened!

"Woof woof woof—!!!"

A frenzied, threatening bark suddenly erupted from behind a low shack to their side! Immediately afterward, two large, filthy Rottweilers, their eyes gleaming with ferocity and drool dripping from their mouths, shot out like two black lightning bolts from behind the shack, barking wildly, and charged straight at the pile of mine carts where they were hiding! Clearly, they had smelled the presence of human beings!

Oh no! We've been spotted! Dogs have a much more sensitive nose than humans!

"Damn it, there are dogs too!" Wang cursed under his breath, but his hands didn't slow down. He pointed his fingers like a sword, ready to strike the two vicious dogs that were lunging at him from a distance!

"Wait!" Nie Lingfeng suddenly whispered to stop them, then looked at Chen Duo beside him and quickly said, "Duo Duo, use your 'fire' to scare them away! Don't burn them to death, and don't let them scream too pitifully and attract more people! Can you do it?"

Using flames to scare away vicious dogs, rather than killing them, requires a more delicate control of power—enough to be intimidating without causing fatal injuries or excessive noise.

Without the slightest hesitation, just as the two vicious dogs were about to pounce on the mine carts, Chen Duo's petite figure abruptly rose from her hiding place. Facing those two gaping maws and sharp, white teeth, a golden-red flame suddenly ignited in her emerald eyes! She didn't use thin threads of flame; instead, she swiftly clasped her hands together in front of her chest, then parted them slightly—

"call!"

Two fist-sized fireballs, burning with warm golden-red flames but without any leakage of high temperature, instead carrying a pure life force and an invisible pressure, floated out from her palms like living spirits, hovering precisely to the left and right, less than an inch from the noses of the two vicious dogs!

The warm glow of the flames illuminated the ferocious dogs' faces, and also revealed the instinctive, boundless fear of the "sacred" and "purifying" power that instantly rose in their eyes—a fear stemming from the bottom of the food chain! The Phoenix True Fire might only be warm to ordinary creatures, but for these vicious dogs who had long lived in a filthy, bloody environment filled with negative energy, it was no less than facing their natural enemy and nemesis!

"Waaaaahh ...

The two Rottweilers, who were originally incredibly fierce, suddenly stopped barking as if they had been doused with boiling oil. Their barking turned into terrified howls with their tails between their legs! They abruptly stopped their forward momentum, their limbs went weak, and they defecated and urinated incessantly. They dared not look at those two warm but soul-shaking flames again. Howling and rolling on the ground with their tails between their legs, they turned and ran away, disappearing into the darkness behind the shed in the blink of an eye, not daring to utter another sound.

The crisis was resolved in an instant, in this unexpected way.

Chen Duo withdrew the fireball, and the flames extinguished silently. Her face was a little pale. What she had just done, seemingly effortlessly, actually required a profound understanding and control of the nature and power of flames, consuming more energy than melting an iron wire. But she had done it, and with surprisingly good results.

Wang Ye watched the direction the two vicious dogs fled, then looked at Chen Duo, who was slightly out of breath, clicked his tongue, and exclaimed, "Not bad, little Chen Duo, your 'fire' can not only be used for grilling, but also as a 'dog repellent'. It's quite versatile. If you open a pet shop in the future, specializing in dealing with all kinds of vicious dogs, your business will definitely be booming."

Chen Duo didn't quite understand "pet shop" and "thriving business", but she could tell that Wang was praising her. A shy smile appeared on her face, and her previous tension dissipated a lot.

Nie Lingfeng breathed a sigh of relief and gave Chen Duo a thumbs up. But he knew that although the dog's barking was brief, it had probably already attracted the attention of the nearby sentries. He had to leave this place as soon as possible, or... take more proactive measures.

Sure enough, shouts and footsteps came from the machine gun shack not far away, as if someone had been startled by the barking dogs and was coming out to investigate.

"No time to capture 'tongues'." Nie Lingfeng's eyes turned cold as he looked at Wang Ye. "Go straight to that mine! Before they fully realize what's happening, let's rush in! Wang Ye, you clear the way and remove any obstacles. Duo Duo, stay close to me and use your fire to deal with any unclean things that might appear!"

"Alright! We should have done this a long time ago. All this dawdling was driving me crazy." Wang Ye rubbed his eyes, as if he had finally perked up a bit. He looked at the heavily guarded mine entrance, a sharp glint in his eyes.

"Then..."

"Let's make a scene!"

Before he finished speaking, Wang Ye's figure shot out from his hiding place like a ghost, heading straight for the largest, tightly closed mine entrance, thirty meters away! He put his hands in his pockets, seemingly strolling leisurely, but his speed was astonishing. His footsteps landed silently, leaving only a faint, distorted afterimage behind him!

Nie Lingfeng followed closely behind, grabbing Chen Duo and accelerating to the maximum speed, rushing out after Wang Ye! Chen Duo, pulled along by him, had a tense face, and the golden-red flames in her emerald eyes burned fiercely again, ready to fight at any moment!

The tranquility of the mine (if it could be called tranquility) was utterly shattered.

The real infiltration is over.

The prelude to a fierce attack and chaos has begun!

Deep within the mine, those eerie eyes, one gold and one black, seemed to have "seen" something, and the compassionate yet cruel smile on their lips slowly widened...