83: Chapter 83 Double-crossing
That was a stampede of thirty-four Iron-Scaled Giant Crocodiles; how could these two brats possibly be unscathed?
Lin Mo glanced at their terrified expressions and sneered inwardly.
It seemed they truly had ill intentions.
Niu Dachun also caught on and said in a muffled voice, "We are perfectly fine. It is you, Captain Shi Hu, whose wailing earlier almost made me think I was truly dead."
Captain Shi Hu's face turned pale and then flushed; his earlier smugness and facade had been exposed, and he was so embarrassed he wished he could crawl into a crack in the ground.
The mercenaries behind him also froze, their attempts to suppress laughter solidified on their faces, and the atmosphere became somewhat bizarre.
In the distance, the roars of the giant crocodiles gradually faded, and the look in Lin Mo's eyes as he watched Captain Shi Hu grew colder.
"Ahem, little brothers, it is great that you are unharmed. Otherwise, I would not know how to answer to your teacher."
Captain Shi Hu feigned a look of relief.
"Sigh, it was just good luck."
Lin Mo also put on an expression of having narrowly escaped death.
"Aha, come on, let's go see if there are any fish that slipped through the net. If not, it should be safe."
Not wanting to continue the awkward conversation, Captain Shi Hu quickly found an excuse and turned to leave.
Once it was completely quiet over there, Lin Mo and Da Chun walked over on tiptoe.
Sure enough, under the siege of Captain Shi Hu and over a dozen mercenaries, there were seven or eight exotic beast carcasses lying on the ground.
Ordinary exotic beasts were actually not that strong.
Soon, Young Master Li walked over, escorted by Teacher An Nuolan and several mercenaries.
Seeing that Lin Mo and Da Chun were still perfectly fine, he cast a glance at Captain Shi Hu, a flash of displeasure crossing his eyes.
Captain Shi Hu awkwardly averted his gaze, unable to meet his eyes.
These two brats were as resilient as cockroaches; there was nothing he could do.
He would just have to think of another way.
"Lin Mo, are you two alright?"
Teacher An Nuolan and the other women hurried over, their eyes scanning Lin Mo and the other boy repeatedly.
They had heard Captain Shi Hu's howling earlier, and their hearts had truly been in their throats.
Lin Mo grinned, "Teacher An, do not worry. We are thick-skinned and tough; what could possibly happen to us?"
Lin Mo's gaze, however, swept over Captain Shi Hu not far away.
The man was whispering to Young Master Li, his shoulders slightly hunched, plotting some other sinister scheme.
Teacher An Nuolan pulled Lin Mo aside and lowered her voice, "Did they do something to you just now? When I heard the herd of giant crocodiles charging through, Captain Shi Hu's voice sounded wrong."
"Yes, they tried to ambush us, but they didn't succeed."
Lin Mo briefly explained what had just happened.
As they were speaking, Young Master Li suddenly walked over with a hypocritical smile on his face, "Miss An, Little Brother Lin, since the exotic beasts by the lake have been cleared, it is time for us to collect the water. It would be a bother if you could help us keep watch."
Only then did Lin Mo notice that the mercenaries were starting to take out some diving equipment; it was clearly a setup for diving.
"It is just collecting water, does it need to be this complicated?"
Niu Dachun could not help but mutter.
"Hehe, I forgot to mention, the water we are collecting this time is not ordinary lake water."
Young Master Li smiled mysteriously.
"Oh? Is there actually extraordinary water in this lake?"
"That is right. I do not mind telling you, according to the information we gathered, there is a spring cave at the bottom of the lake. The closer you are to the inside, the better the effects of the lake water."
"A spring?"
Lin Mo and the others were shocked.
This South Korean brat was indeed not here for ordinary lake water.
"Alright, Young Master Li, we promise to follow the arrangements."
Lin Mo quickly agreed.
"Fine, then that is settled."
After Young Master Li left.
Teacher An Nuolan asked suspiciously, "Do you really believe they are after the spring water from that cave?"
Lin Mo shook his head, "I truly do not believe it. I suspect it is some kind of treasure, but it is definitely not spring water."
"Oh, you can guess that too?"
Teacher An Nuolan was surprised.
Lin Mo pointed speechlessly, "Are you silly? Look at the items he brought out; is a single one of them meant for holding water?"
Teacher An Nuolan looked and then realized.
After accepting the mission, they had brought over a dozen buckets specifically for holding water.
But the things the other party brought out did not include a single bucket; how could they be here to collect water?
"Then what should we do? Are we really going to watch them take away the treasure from our Long Country territory?"
"Let's wait and see. We will act according to the situation later."
Having said that, Lin Mo secretly gave Mu Liuli a wink, and she understood.
She spread her butterfly wings and flew into the air, ostensibly to keep watch, but in reality, to monitor Young Master Li's group.
Soon, the mercenary group set up a temporary base by the lake.
Young Master Li's four South Korean subordinates and seven or eight mercenaries from the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group put on their diving suits.
They walked into the lake one after another and quickly disappeared beneath the surface.
Lin Mo had always sensed that Young Master Li's four subordinates were at least Fifth Rank in strength.
Now, they had all been sent to dive.
Lin Mo did not pay too much attention to it and went about his own business, bringing Teacher An Nuolan and Lu Mengmeng along to pretend to be on serious guard duty.
As time passed, an hour quickly went by.
Occasionally, bubbles would rise, and faint tremors could be felt, but there were no unexpected disturbances.
Suddenly, waves rippled across the lake surface again.
Immediately after, many bubbles gurgled up from the water.
Everyone looked toward the lake.
In the next second, five or six heads suddenly popped out of the water.
"Young Master Li and the others are back!"
Seeing the divers return, Captain Shi Hu exclaimed!
Young Master Li was also filled with excitement and quickly walked toward the lake.
Lin Mo and the others quietly followed behind.
When they got closer, they realized that eleven people had gone down, but only six had returned, and their diving suits were tattered and stained with blood.
Of Young Master Li's four subordinates, only two returned.
One of them even had a broken leg.
"What kind of gibberish are they chirping?"
Lin Mo could not understand, so he turned to look at Teacher An Nuolan.
"I only understand a little Korean; I only know the general meaning."
"Oh, then tell me what you heard?"
Lin Mo immediately became interested.
Teacher An Nuolan frowned slightly, "It seems they are saying there is something guarding it down there, and they could only dig out three... some kind of item... perhaps that is the purpose of their trip this time!"
"Oh, I think I understand."
Lin Mo nodded in realization.
He guessed that what the South Koreans wanted was guarded by an exotic beast, and they had disturbed the beast while digging for it.
Afterward, following a fierce battle, they had lost five people and only brought back three items.
"I wonder what good things they brought back? It was worth such a sacrifice, with Fourth and Fifth Rankers."
Lu Mengmeng suddenly blurted out, seemingly out of nowhere.
Lin Mo was jolted awake by these words.
Looking at how excited Young Master Li was when he took the storage soul guidance device from his subordinate, one could guess that the item must be worth a fortune.
"Boss, do you want to pull a job?"
Lu Mengmeng suddenly whispered into his ear.
These words were like a devil's whisper, immediately hooking the greed within his heart.
He could not help but gasp.
"You mean black eating black? But this... that would not be good, would it? They have so many people..."
"What are you afraid of? Look, two of his subordinates are already half-dead. As long as we strike at the right moment, it is not like we cannot... hehe."