Chapter 427 - 143: Escape
Chapter 143 [Escape] (6400)
At night—specifically, after the logging work was completed, Chen Yan returned to the wooden house, and after Wooden Bowl delivered some food and left—based on this timeline, it was a few hours after Chen Yan "finished work."
This eerie place actually has no concept of day or night whatsoever.
This place seems to have no sun and is always pitch dark, with the forests perpetually shrouded in mist and frozen rivers.
Chen Yan even doubted whether where he was could be akin to the polar region of this world.
Perhaps this place is currently experiencing polar night?
Wooden Bowl also mentioned that here, only at specific times each year does the night end, the climate warm up, and the frozen rivers thaw—during that time, one should be able to see the sun.
After Wooden Bowl left, Chen Yan leaned against the pile of tree branches in the corner of the wooden house—the warmest place in the wooden house.
Finally, at some unknown time, the wooden house door made a creaking sound, a gap was pushed open, and a figure slipped in through the darkness.
Chen Yan immediately sat upright, his hands gripping a half-meter long strange tree branch.
One end had already been sharpened with an axe!
"It’s me."
Du Li’s voice came from the darkness.
Chen Yan didn’t relax, remaining vigilant while holding the branch, and merely responded with a soft "mmm," without any intention of approaching the other party.
Du Li was equally cautious. After closing the wooden house door upon entering, he stood by the doorway without going further inside.
The two peered at each other, using the faint light from the lantern under the eaves outside the wooden house.
After a while, Du Li sighed lightly, "I thought after losing contact after I infiltrated for so long, I’d been abandoned, but I finally waited for you to make the connection."
Chen Yan didn’t speak—he truly didn’t know what to say, fearing that a single slip-up would give him away.
Under such circumstances, once exposed, the other party might kill him to silence him.
Du Li’s eyes showed a hint of eagerness, "How is the escape route planned? You should be here to assist my escape, right? Damn it, I really can’t stand staying here even for one more day! These stinking Fierce Beast Race, I wish I could slaughter them all!"
Escape route, plan?
Fierce Beast Race? Is that the name of this monstrous tribe?
Chen Yan knew he could no longer maintain silence—Du Li indeed mistook him for the person sent to assist his escape.
Luckily, Chen Yan had thought about it all day and come up with a set of responses.
"I... am not here to assist your escape," Chen Yan said softly.
"...??!!" Du Li’s expression changed drastically, stepping back abruptly and drawing a knife from behind.
Du Li glared at Chen Yan, "What are you saying! You’re not? Then why are you here today..."
"You mean that Suppressing River Demon Pagoda phrase?" Chen Yan took a deep breath, knowing that this was the critical moment—to gain Du Li’s trust relied on whether his following words could deceive him.
"I have another mission here," Chen Yan said, trying to use a steady tone, "Before I came, they gave me a code—saying there might be one of our people hidden here, but lost contact for a long time not knowing if they were still alive.
They just gave me this code, hoping by luck I might find someone here who could help, providing me a bit of support."
Du Li was stunned.
Seeing Du Li didn’t immediately doubt or react violently, Chen Yan knew that his explanation might have taken some effect.
His thought process was clear: should he pretend to be Du Li’s contact person, he’d surely be exposed—he knew nothing and couldn’t fabricate anything.
However, feigning another mission could potentially work.
Du Li’s breathing was somewhat heavy, eyes showing disappointment, frustration, but gradually turning into doubt.
"What is your mission?"
"Can’t say," Chen Yan shook his head coldly.
"..." Du Li’s eyes became somewhat agitated, "I’ve been undercover for six months! Do you know how I spent these six months? These Fierce Beast Race, they treat us like animals... no, to them, humans are just beasts!"
"I’ve been here for six days. I fully understand what you’re saying," Chen Yan replied.
"So I must escape!" Du Li impatiently waved his hand, angrily exclaiming, "My mission is complete! I have made significant discoveries! I must escape immediately and bring this vital intelligence back!"
After a pause, Du Li suddenly took a deep breath, as if forcibly suppressing his anxiety.
He took two deep breaths before speaking in a grim tone, "I’m not afraid of dying! If I were afraid, I wouldn’t have accepted such a mission. Yet, I’ve recently encountered an unsolvable dangerous situation.
My Slave Master plans to sell me... possibly to a mountain tribe as a miner.
If I go to that place, I’ll never come out again, and it’ll be far from my mission goal!
I’ve gathered extremely important information that must be taken back! If I end up being sold to the mining area... everything will be lost!"
With that, Du Li stared into Chen Yan’s eyes, "By rules, I shouldn’t ask what your mission is. But it’s urgent now, the intelligence I’ve found is of extraordinary value!
It wasn’t part of my mission initially, but after arriving here, I unintentionally obtained this information! This intelligence is indeed one of our highest level enemy secrets!"