Jiang Huai's gaze sharpened, his expression suddenly turning serious.
It seemed the other party was waiting for them.
The two groups faced off for a few seconds.
"Everyone out of the vehicle!"
A shout came from outside.
Jiang Huai furrowed his brow and opened the door handle.
When they all got out, a man wearing a triangular scarf on the opposite side menacingly reached out his hand toward them.
"Hand over the evolution serum!"
"Who are you?" Jiang Huai asked in a deep voice.
"We're from Yun..."
After saying two words, the man immediately stopped himself and barked fiercely,
"Who we are is none of your business!"
This behavior was as if he had inadvertently spoken, but then quickly tried to cover it up after realizing something.
"If you know what's good for you, hand over the evolution serum quickly, and we might spare your lives."
"Why should we give it to you? It's ours!"
Long Zhe retorted angrily.
"Kid, what do you mean it's yours? If we want it, it's ours."
The man with the triangular scarf sneered disdainfully.
"Hand it over quickly. Our patience is running thin."
"Is that so? Well, as it happens, my patience... is running thin too."
Jiang Huai's eyes darkened, and he struck instantly.
His subordinates also launched their attacks almost simultaneously.
For a moment, both sides fought fiercely.
"Damn it, didn't expect them to have some skills. Brothers, let's retreat!"
The man with the triangular scarf grunted reluctantly and led his men into the forest.
This time, they had miscalculated.
Jiang Huai had a military background.
The people with him were the most outstanding subordinates from the army.
Ordinary people were no match for them.
Jiang Huai stopped two of his men who were about to give chase.
"Don't pursue them."
"Commander Jiang, are we just going to let them go like this?" someone asked, unwilling to give up.
It was hard to swallow the fact that their perfectly good vehicle had been punctured and they had been ambushed by robbers.
"Don't you understand the principle of not pursuing a fleeing enemy?" Jiang Huai raised his voice slightly.
The man immediately deflated.
"Those people just now seemed to say they were from Yun... Could they be from Yun City?"
Another person spoke up.
"Impossible!"
Long Zhe immediately refuted.
"They don't look anything like people from Yun City."
"Why is it impossible? What if the people from Yun City are two-faced, accepting our crystals but then trying to steal back the evolution serum?"
"But wouldn't it have been more convenient for them to rob us inside the base? They could have just slipped us some knockout drugs, and we'd be defenseless. Why bother coming all this way to set up a roadblock? It's not worth the effort."
Long Zhe and the other person both insisted on their own views.
They simultaneously turned their gaze to Jiang Huai.
"Commander Jiang, we've been schemed against like this. If we don't get even, others will think our Rongsheng Base is easy to bully!"
"Uncle, I don't believe these are Sister Xiaoxiao's people!"
Everyone looked at Jiang Huai, waiting for him to make a decision.
Jiang Huai looked at the punctured tires, his gaze deep and thoughtful.
"This couldn't have been done by people from Yun City."
He came to a direct conclusion.
"Although that man seemed to accidentally reveal he was from Yun City, his manner was too deliberate, as if he had rehearsed it countless times.
Moreover, his behavior was as if he was intentionally waiting for me to ask that question.
Also, what Little Zhe said makes sense.
Although Yun City doesn't have many people, they are far more powerful than we imagine.
Even that five-year-old girl from earlier – probably none of you would be a match for her.
I'm not even sure if I could beat her.
If they really wanted to cheat us out of the evolution serum, they had plenty of opportunities back at the base. There was no need to come here and ambush us."
"But if those people weren't from Yun City, who could they be? How did they know we had the evolution serum?"
Everyone was puzzled.
Jiang Huai looked in the direction where those people had fled, his gaze profound.
"They wanted us to believe they were from Yun City. If we really believed that, who would benefit the most?"
Thinking about Jiang Huai's words, everyone fell silent.
Suddenly, Long Zhe's eyes lit up.
"Uncle, do you think it could be people from Yangcheng Base?"
A glimmer of approval flashed in Jiang Huai's eyes as he smiled and asked, "Why do you think so?"
Long Zhe's expression turned serious, "Because they also have evolution serum. Sister Xiaoxiao sells it cheaper than them, and it's more effective. They're jealous, so they want to cause trouble and deliberately frame Sister Xiaoxiao and her people.
They definitely wanted to steal the evolution serum today.
If they could get it, great. But even if they couldn't, they could still slander Sister Xiaoxiao and her group.
If we really believed it was Sister Xiaoxiao's people who did this, we would become enemies with them.
Not only would we stop buying evolution serum from them, but we might even turn against them.
If anyone else comes to Yun City to buy evolution serum in the future, they might use the same trick again.
I think it wouldn't take long for Yun City's reputation to be completely ruined.
By then, Yun City would become the common enemy of all the major bases.
Naturally, no one would come here to buy evolution serum anymore.
Then everyone would have to go to Yangcheng Base to buy it."
Long Zhe explained his analysis.
After he finished speaking, everyone had a sudden realization.
So that's how it was...
Jiang Huai's eyes held a hint of confirmation and praise.
"You're right. Those people are very likely from Yangcheng Base."
They came to this conclusion because they had interacted with Yun Xiaoxiao and her people before, and Yun Xiaoxiao had saved Long Zhe twice, so they analyzed the situation based on trust.
But if this had happened to another group of people, they might not have thought it through so thoroughly.
They might have assumed it was Yun City's doing without question.
In that case, Yun City's guilt would have been established.
Thinking about it this way, Yangcheng Base's intentions were truly malicious.
"Uncle, I think we should tell Sister Xiaoxiao and her people about this."
Jiang Huai nodded, "Yes, we should."
Yun Xiaoxiao was busy taking books out of her space and arranging the library when the walkie-talkie beside her rang.
To facilitate communication, she had placed several walkie-talkies in various locations around the base.
This way, if there was an emergency, everyone could contact others immediately.
"Xiaoxiao, Commander Jiang and his team are back. They say they have something urgent to tell you. Come to the main gate area."
Lu Chen's voice came through the walkie-talkie.
For people who had passed through the base's main gate detection system for the first time, the system wouldn't alert again when they re-entered or exited.
Therefore, Yun Xiaoxiao didn't know that Jiang Huai and his group had returned.
"Uncle Jiang, why are you back again?"
Yun Xiaoxiao arrived at the main gate, somewhat surprised to see the group that had just left return.
Jiang Huai nudged Long Zhe, "You tell her."
Seeing Jiang Huai give him a meaningful look, Long Zhe's ears turned slightly red.
But when he saw Yun Xiaoxiao's inquiring gaze, he immediately remembered the important matter at hand.
He then recounted everything that had happened earlier, as well as his suspicions.
