"How did it get like this?!"

Looking at Shangguan Buda, who was lying on the bed and dying, Xu Rui's face was expressionless, and his voice was surprisingly cold.

Today, Xu Rui originally secretly led the reconnaissance company to leave the Gonghefu camp and go to the mountain pass thirty miles north of the country according to the agreed time and place, under the guise of training.

After that, Xu Rui only took a few personal guards and a reconnaissance squad, broke away from the brigade, and went to the junction with Shangguan Buda, and after a long journey, he finally arrived at dusk.

Originally, Xu Rui was going to let Shangguan Buda immediately and lead him to see the rubber forest with his own eyes, but when the time came, Shangguan Buda did not appear, Xu Rui immediately realized that something was wrong and asked his subordinates to search nearby.

After several months of professional training, the boys of the reconnaissance company were already a little hot, and sure enough, they soon found clues in the vicinity.

Xu Rui immediately led people and followed these clues to find the cave where Shangguan Buda and the old housekeeper were hiding.

At this time, both of them were in rags, as if they had been wandering for several years.

The old housekeeper was fine, he seemed to be just overtired and fell asleep, but Shangguan Buda was stabbed four times, seriously injured and unconscious, and was already dying.

Xu Rui hurriedly woke up the old butler, and then treated several knife wounds for Shangguan Buda.

The climate in Xichuan is already hot, and it has gradually entered the rainy season in April, Shangguan Buda's wound was left about three or four days ago, and there are already signs of infection in many places.

Xu Rui cleaned the wound for Shangguan Buda, changed the knife wound medicine, and bandaged the wound again after taking the latest second-generation antibiotic.

After doing all this, he called the old butler who had just woken up to inquire about the situation.

"Lord!"

When the old housekeeper saw Xu Rui, he immediately knelt down, hugged Xu Rui's calf and cried bitterly.

Since Xu Rui led the two into the Galaxy Group, Shangguan Buda and the old housekeeper have been commensurate with the lord, and it can be seen that they have suffered a lot this time.

"Tell me what's going on, wasn't it okay before?"

Xu Rui comforted him, and waited for the emotions he was holding in his heart to be released before he asked again.

The old housekeeper wiped away the tears on his face, glanced at Shangguan Buda, who was lying on the bed and didn't know whether he was alive or dead, a trace of horror and resentment flashed on his face, and he told the story of what had happened in the past few days.

"Lord, my lord and I according to your instructions, in the name of looking for rubber trees, went out to avoid goods, originally had a relaxed and comfortable life, but I didn't expect to come to Xichuan, we happened to hear that there is indeed a rubber forest in the deep mountains.

My lord and I were overjoyed, and it took more than half a month to go deep into the mountains, and after a whole month of searching, we finally lived up to expectations and discovered the existence of rubber forests.

The lord will write to you at once, and then take up a stay near the rubber grove, and wait every day for you to make sure that the tree we find is not the kind you want.

Three days ago, when we heard that you had arrived in Xichuan, my lord and I couldn't wait to find you with the sample, but before we could get out of the rubber forest, we noticed that there seemed to be other people rushing into the forest.

The old man was afraid that those people were also coming for the woods, so he wanted to find out, so he took me and quietly approached the team, but he didn't expect to be targeted immediately.

Those people didn't say a word, they came up and fired arrows, but fortunately the forest was too dense to miss, and my master and I were able to get out and go deep into the mountains.

However, for some reason, those people seemed to have made up their minds to get rid of the two of us, and sent people to chase and kill us for a few days and nights, and the night before yesterday we were so tired that we were accidentally caught up by the other party, and the lord escaped in order to cover me, and he himself was seriously injured.

If it weren't for the darkness and the complicated terrain around us, we would never have seen the Lord again......"

In the end, the old butler was already in tears.

Hearing their tragic experience, Xu Rui, Lin Shaodong, and Cao Siyuan glanced at each other, and the faces of the three of them were not very good-looking.

"Do you know who is chasing you, and why do you want to kill them all?"

Xu Rui asked in a deep voice.

The old butler shook his head: "I don't know, they didn't say anything, they came up to kill, they didn't plan to stay alive at all, and they didn't seem to be very familiar with the surrounding terrain, and they were about to catch up with us several times, but we used the terrain to dodge." ”

"Outlander?"

Xu Rui muttered to himself, his brows furrowed.

"How many of them are there?"

Lin Shaodong asked in a deep voice.

The old butler shook his head: "I don't know, we were discovered before we got close to that group, and it is impossible to know how many of them there are in total, but there are at least a dozen of them who are chasing us." ”

"Okay, you are safe now, don't worry, Shangguan Buda's injury is not serious, and you will be able to wake up in a few hours."

Xu Rui nodded and patted the old butler on the shoulder.

Hearing that his master's life was not in danger, the old man who was over fifty years old finally breathed a sigh of relief, and knelt on the ground to thank him for another thousand thanks.

The guards helped him down to eat something and regain his strength, but he was still very weak after a few days of torture.

"Shaodong, what do you think?"

As soon as the old housekeeper left, Xu Rui asked Lin Shaodong to arrive.

He was originally a staff officer of the army that Xu Rui had cultivated with great concentration, but he insisted on following the reconnaissance company to the front line, and it had become a tradition for the staff officers of the Apocalypse to mingle with the front-line combat troops, so Xu Rui did not refuse, but he didn't expect it to come in handy now.

Lin Shaodong rubbed his chin and paced a few steps: "Judging from what the old housekeeper said before, that group of people is outsiders, and the entire team will not be less than a hundred people, and they will take people's lives as soon as they come up. ”

Xu Rui nodded, and asked Cao Siyuan, the leader of the guard, "What do you think?" ”

Cao Siyuan frowned and said, "The army doesn't dare to say it, but I think this is a bit similar to some people on the road." ”

"Oh? Where is it similar? ”

Xu Rui seemed to be interested, and asked again.

Cao Siyuan said: "My lord, Staff Officer Lin, you haven't mixed in the road, you don't know the danger of this, in order to earn the money that licks the blood from the knife, the brothers all put their heads on the waistband of their trousers, and if they are discovered, they will not hesitate to kill the insider." ”

"You mean, this gang is likely to be a gangster?"

Xu Rui asked in surprise.

Cao Siyuan nodded: "Just listening to the style of action, it is indeed very much like a thief who secretly stepped on the spot." ”

Xu Rui frowned, took out the map from his arms and squatted down to unfold it, Lin Shaodong and Cao Siyuan immediately surrounded it, leaned in to watch carefully, and saw Xu Rui's fingers extending all the way from the palace to the valley marked by the contour line, and finally arrived at the border of Xiliang.

"Your Excellency!"

Lin Shaodong seemed to think of something, and suddenly looked at Xu Rui.

Xu Rui nodded with a gloomy face: "I'm afraid that's the case, Xichuan is located at the junction of the Three Kingdoms, but I haven't heard of banditry, if there are really one hundred and ten bandits, the imperial court should not have received the slightest rumor."

In addition, the bandits are not ringing horses, and they rarely commit crimes across borders, so they can't explain the suspicion of outsiders, so I speculate that these guys may be related to Xiliang, maybe they are smuggling groups, and there must be locals who collude with them. ”

"What do we do now?"

Cao Siyuan asked.

Xu Rui pondered for a moment and said, "Listen to the old butler, those killers should still be chasing them, and this place should not stay for a long time."

Siyuan, you lead the guard squad to immediately take Shangguan Buda back to the reconnaissance company's station, and then inform the Gonghe Mansion battalion to send two more companies to the mountain pass to respond.

I asked the old butler to lead the way, and continued north with the reconnaissance squad to see what those ghosts and ghosts were! ”

"Your Excellency!"

Hearing Xu Rui's arrangement, Cao Siyuan suddenly shook his head: "Don't take risks like this, you don't know, if it's really a gang of bandits, they won't care what your identity is, they must be eliminated quickly." ”

Xu Rui sighed and said: "I know the danger, but I have to go, the rubber tree is too important, and confirming it a day earlier can also make me feel at ease a day earlier."

In addition, this group of people is really strange, I always feel that they may have a bigger secret behind them, and it will even be related to the bereaved family, which is related to the overall situation of the entire Galaxy Group, if it is not handled well, it may lead to a complete loss, and it must not be taken lightly. ”

Seeing that Xu Rui had made up his mind, Cao Siyuan couldn't persuade him anymore, gritted his teeth and said, "Then I'll accompany you and let the guard class send Shangguan Buda back by himself." ”

Xu Rui pondered for a moment and said: "It's okay, but you have to explain the task clearly, and let the guards tell Zhang Zuofeng everything that happened here, if there is really any accident, then his three companies will be our last guarantee!" ”

"Understood!"

Cao Siyuan nodded and immediately went down to make arrangements.

Seeing that the opinions were unified, Xu Rui nodded: "Okay, without further ado, let's go our separate ways now." ”

"Yes!"

As soon as these words came out, Lin Shaodong suddenly cheered, rushed out of the cave, and went to prepare for the action, this was the first time he participated in a real paramilitary operation, and he had already been excited to help himself.

Xu Rui looked at his back and smiled dumbly: "It's really a newborn calf that is not afraid of tigers." ”

Cao Siyuan's face was gloomy, although he was younger than Lin Shaodong, but a few years of underworld career had made him accustomed to life and death, without the innocence of young people, at the moment he just wanted to complete the task quickly, lest Xu Rui really have any accidents.