The people in front had a clear objective: to head directly for the greenhouse.
Since the greenhouse had already been planted with crops, the Shen family had hired people to guard it at night.
The few individuals moved with extreme stealth, making almost no sound. However, when the greenhouse was first built, the equipment was top-of-the-line. Any accidental touch would trigger the alarm system.
Those men were clever. They avoided touching anything and moved around as if scouting the terrain and routes.
"Mom, you go back first. I'll handle these people."
Mo Xuan looked at Shen Yao, who was still groggy, and said, "These people are no match for me. I'll watch them. Give me your phone too."
Shen Yao didn't refuse. "Alright. Record everything they do. Observe their situation. They probably won't make a move tonight. Don't engage them yet."
Shen Yao cautioned Mo Xuan, afraid he might not be able to resist and would rush forward to deal with them.
"I understand."
After Mo Xuan repeatedly assured her, Shen Yao finally handed her phone to him and returned to the Shen residence.
After seeing Shen Yao leave, Mo Xuan obediently followed behind those people until he saw them shift their target and head towards the back mountain.
A hint of amusement flashed in Mo Xuan's eyes, and then he instantly disappeared with a "whoosh."
"What do you think is here? Our boss even made us travel such a long distance," a man with a full-sleeve tattoo asked his companion in a low voice.
"Who knows? Just do as the employer says. As long as we get paid," the burly leader replied.
"They just told us to find something, but didn't say what. How are we supposed to find it?" another shorter man complained.
"Alright, the employer wants us to search, so we search. Stop with the nonsense and hurry up!" the leader barked at the other two.
There were eight of them in total. If they all arrived at once, they would surely be discovered. Therefore, only three of them had come out. If they couldn't find it tonight, another group would come tomorrow night.
Their pace was incredibly fast. A small slope that should have taken several minutes to climb, they covered in one.
Soon, they arrived at the lychee orchard on the back mountain.
At this time, there were still some fruits hanging on the trees in the orchard, such as plums, longans, and some mangoes.
The plums and mangoes were nearing ripeness, and one could faintly smell their fragrance.
The three men took a deep breath in unison. The smell alone was quite appealing!
The trio pushed open the bamboo gate and swaggered into the orchard.
The first row of the orchard was planted with mangoes and plums. Each of them picked a few and popped them into their mouths.
For a moment, the sweet taste made them forget their original purpose. Instead, they focused on eating.
Mo Xuan coiled himself on the steps, watching the three men engrossed in eating. He kept making "hissing" sounds in frustration.
Suddenly, he coiled his tail around a clod of dirt and flung it into the water-filled pool in the orchard.
"Plop!"
With a splash, the three men looked up abruptly. They quickly stopped eating the fruit and rushed to look towards the source of the sound.
The three tiptoed towards the pool. Illuminated by the moonlight, the pool resembled a piece of jade, emitting a faint glow. Something at the bottom of the pool was also shining.
The three exchanged glances, each understanding the other's thoughts.
Could the thing their employer wanted them to find be in this pool?
Without further hesitation, the three rushed to the edge of the pool.
The pool was about three to four meters deep, with the water level around three meters. The water was clear, but due to the moonlight, they couldn't see the bottom clearly.
However, they could sense something moving in the water. They assumed it was some kind of fish kept by the orchard owner.
The pool, while not small, spanned over ten square meters. It wouldn't be easy for one person to search it, so the three of them went in together.
It was July, and the weather in the south was sweltering. Although the spiritual spring made the orchard quite cool, it couldn't offset the long walk they had taken.
Now, all of them were covered in sticky sweat. The moment they entered the water, all three sighed with relief. If their reason hadn't held them back, they would have happily taken a bath there!
The three began to dive, trying to feel the bottom and locate the glowing object they had seen from above.
After fumbling around for a while, the man with the full-sleeve tattoo suddenly felt his foot being entangled by something. He couldn't break free.
The tattooed man panicked immediately and kicked his legs, trying to surface, but he didn't move an inch.
The other two men also noticed something was wrong. They realized they hadn't seen the tattooed man surface for air in a while.
Worried that he might be drowning, they were about to dive down when they suddenly felt something blocking their way.
The light ahead suddenly dimmed. Both of them looked up to see what was happening, only to be terrified by what met their eyes.
It turned out that the moonlight was blocked by a giant python. The python had half its body coiled around the edge of the pool and the other half rearing up, its massive head looking down at them.
"Ah!!!"
The two burly men screamed, startling birds and beasts resting in the trees.
The two men's legs went weak. They scrambled frantically to climb out of the pool, but their haste made it even harder to climb. The more they failed to climb, the more anxious they became.
"Splash!"
With a sound of water, the two men saw a giant snake tail coiled around a person, lifting them into the air.
Who else could it be but the tattooed man, struggling for breath as he was being coiled?
Just as the tattooed man was about to suffocate, he felt a pulling force lifting him up. He thought his companions were pulling him up.
"You two want..."
Before he could finish speaking, he met the python's lantern-like eyes.
"Ah..."
Another scream, so piercing that it made the python's body momentarily stiffen. Its tail then loosened its grip.
The tattooed man fell to the ground, tears streaming from the pain. But he didn't lie there; he started running as fast as he could. kuAiδugg
Even with a light sweep of the python's tail, the tattooed man was sent flying and rolled several times.
The other two men, disregarding everything else, also scrambled out of the pool and immediately took to their heels.
However, the python seemed to have found a new toy, swatting at one moment and opening its mouth to scare another the next.
Screams continued to echo, causing many residents not far away to turn on their lights.
"Who's making all that noise late at night! Are you seeing ghosts?"
"Can't people sleep at night? Have you no civic virtue!"
"Doesn't that sound like it's coming from the back mountain?"