Chapter 138: The Four Gates

After a short while, Zhang Feng emerged from the darkness. He had changed into work clothes identical to those worn by the people in the camp. Amidst the bustling activity, no one paid any attention to a seemingly unfamiliar worker. Zhang Feng moved swiftly through the camp, occasionally pausing to eavesdrop on the surrounding conversations.

It appeared that a few days prior, they had discovered an exceptionally ancient, massive tomb hidden within the mountain. However, the mountain rock was extremely hard, rendering traditional grave-robbing shafts useless. They had no choice but to resort to civil engineering methods to chisel through the rock in a blatant act of excavation-style grave robbing. Very few people knew about this; the workers and technicians busy in the outer areas were ordinary laborers, while the core members who truly understood the inside story were stationed right around the mountain itself.

Moreover, they seemed to have already bored a passage and dispatched a team inside for preliminary exploration. An operation of this scale was certainly not the work of a simple team or an ordinary grave-robbing gang, neither of which possessed such immense resources.

Zhang Feng also discovered that this outer construction team belonged to a building corporation under the Nanjin Group. The moment the name Nanjin Group was mentioned, Guo Fan widened his eyes in astonishment before falling silent. I glanced at him and kept the name in mind, intending to inquire about it later when we had time. The fact that Guo Fan did not speak up immediately indicated that he had reservations.

"Did you go near the mountain itself?" I asked.

Zhang Feng shook his head, explaining that he had approached the perimeter of the mountain and found the security there to be exceptionally tight. Furthermore, the guards were practically all martial artists, clearly not ordinary people. However, getting into the mountain was not entirely impossible. After all, Longtou Mountain was simply too vast. If the adversaries wanted to secure complete defense, the manpower required would be astronomical. They were forced to restrict their patrols to the immediate vicinity of the exploration zone, lacking the numbers to seal off the entire mountain.

Under such circumstances, it was not entirely impossible for us to approach, albeit with some trouble. I asked Zhang Feng a few more questions about whether he had spotted Li Ling, then reiterated her height and appearance. Zhang Feng fell silent for a moment, appearing to search his memory, before ultimately shaking his head and telling me: "There are indeed a few women in the camp, but most of them are staff members. None of them match the person the boss described."

I nodded, pondering internally. It seemed highly likely that Li Ling was located within the exploration zone itself. It made sense; since the enemy had captured her, they must have had an unspeakable secret, and that secret would undoubtedly be hidden inside the exploration zone. The outer camps and similar facilities were definitely of secondary importance.

With this thought in mind, I decisively consulted the others. Calling it a consultation was perhaps too generous; it was more like stating my plan and pushing forward with its execution.

The seven of us, plus Three-Slice Melon, making a total of eight people, set off toward Longtou Mountain, intending to bypass the camp, climb the mountain directly, and find a route around to the exploration site. I had told Three-Slice Melon earlier that if this mission went smoothly, I would reward him with ten thousand yuan upon completion, on the condition that he gave it his all. Upon hearing this, Three-Slice Melon’s eyes widened, and he nodded vigorously, assuring me, "Boss, forget about giving it my all—I'll risk my life for this!"

In the past, I hadn't possessed a profound concept of money, but now I understood that money truly could resolve an overwhelming number of problems, and could even be used to buy a life.

The mountain forest was rather cold at night, but to avoid exposing our tracks, we could only travel after dark, as moving during the day would make us far too visible. Navigating the mountains at night, however, offered poor visibility and a high risk of getting lost. Fortunately, Three-Slice Melon was familiar with the area and led us through the mountain at a brisk pace. Bolstered by my promise, he was exceptionally spirited, constantly taking the lead ahead of us.

After walking for nearly an hour, we reached a vantage point looking down from above, where we could clearly see the exploration site. A large number of workers were busy with construction down below, and guards holding firearms were indeed patrolling back and forth. At that moment, I spotted a small opening situated near the excavation site. The mouth of the cave appeared to have been reinforced, and just moments earlier, two people carrying bags had crawled inside.

It seemed that this hole was one of the passages they had already cleared for the initial vanguard team. It was evident that this was an extremely professional operation. At that exact moment, Guo Fan gently tapped my hand, signaling that he had something to say. That reminded me of the strange expression Guo Fan had worn earlier when Zhang Feng mentioned the Nanjin Group.

I stepped aside, and Guo Fan whispered into my ear, "Boss, do you know about the Four Gates?"

Hearing Guo Fan put it that way, I suddenly froze. He knew about the Four Gates as well? I nodded, and Guo Fan, looking equally surprised, went on to explain: "This Nanjin Group is actually the South Gate—or rather, a front company established by the South Gate in plain sight. Their public operations mainly consist of marine salvage, construction, exploration, and the like. It's also backed by the South Gate's financial strength. In other words, the South Gate uses a legitimate corporate facade while carrying out illicit activities behind the scenes, such as grave robbing."

Having brushed shoulders with this underworld circle long ago, Guo Fan naturally understood the inner workings, knowing perhaps even more than I did. Guo Fan also told me that the reason people in the underworld nowadays only spoke of the Four Gates while omitting the Fifth Gate was because the First Gate—the Central Gate—had washed its hands of the underworld long ago, even aligning itself with the government to become a mainstream official authority. Consequently, the underworld now only referred to the Four Gates.

I was already aware of this, having heard some bits from Black Spectacles previously. What I did not know, however, was that among the Four Gates, the South Gate possessed the most formidable strength—so much so that even the Central Gate held reservations about them.

This so-called strength was not merely a matter of martial prowess. In modern society, raw martial might was no longer paramount; financial power was king. With enough wealth, one could command the ultimate martial force, and the South Gate happened to be the wealthiest of them all. Whether in covert enterprises or overt businesses, including import and export trade, they operated brilliantly, all while maintaining an immensely powerful social network. This foundation was unshakeable and far beyond the reach of the East, North, and West Gates.

The reason Guo Fan had warned me with such caution was to avoid provoking such a colossal behemoth. I could entirely understand this; no one in their right mind would want to provoke such a dangerous faction merely for money.