The three of them were all very clear that the sooner the matter was resolved, the better. If it dragged on for too long, who knew what might happen. If people outside didn't get any news from them and discovered they were missing, they might panic, and it was hard to say what kind of situation would arise.
Liang Ping didn't delay any further. He opened the door to the square secret passage and went down first, both to confirm there was no danger and to light the way.
Then he called out to Nie Chongyang and the others, "Come down. There's nothing inside but stairs."
The fatty said to Nie Chongyang, "You go down first. I'll cover the rear. I have more strength than you, so it'll be more convenient."
Nie Chongyang nodded and immediately followed down the secret passage. The fatty followed closely, entering the passage step by step, and then lowered the mattress. After all three of them were in the secret passage, the door to the passage closed. However, this was not an unexpected situation, and they wouldn't panic because of it.
The three of them walked down together, and then gradually changed their formation. Nie Chongyang took the lead, Liang Ping was in the middle, and the fatty covered the rear.
After all, Liang Ping was a civilian and not suitable for leading the charge.
The reason Liang Ping was asked to go down first earlier was because Nie Chongyang and the fatty were carrying the mattress and it wasn't convenient, so Liang Ping went ahead.
Liang Ping looked at the situation in the secret passage and said with some relief, "Fortunately, I was overthinking. There are no forks in this secret passage. Although it turns, it's not a big problem."
Nie Chongyang and the fatty both nodded.
If the secret passage was like a ghost maze, and they couldn't find a way to break it, they couldn't just find any staircase and go to the corridor. Wouldn't they be trapped inside?
To be honest, coming down like this took quite a bit of courage.
On Ye Tiancheng's side, the little fox was still calculating the pattern of spatial changes. Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were completely unaware that soon, the fatty would appear before them with Nie Chongyang and his assistant Liang Ping.
The little fox was still diligently calculating the pattern of the formation when he suddenly heard Ye Tiancheng speak, "Wait, little fox, did you hear something?"
Here, the little fox temporarily stopped thinking and asked Ye Tiancheng curiously, "No, brother. Did you hear something?"
Ye Tiancheng frowned tightly, concentrated, and listened carefully. He confirmed he hadn't misheard, and then said, "I shouldn't have misheard. It might be too far away, so you didn't hear it. With my cultivation, my hearing is better than yours, so I heard a little sound."
"It sounds like it's from the corridor. Someone is walking inside, and there's also the sound of people talking... The voices sound, a little familiar?"
The little fox's expression also changed, "Could it be Boss Mei Mei or her husband has returned?"
Seeing the little fox's expression, Ye Tiancheng quickly comforted him, afraid he would worry, "It's okay, it's okay. You continue with your calculations. With me here, even if they come, they won't be able to do anything to us easily."
The little fox felt a little more at ease, but his attention was inevitably diverted, and he was curious about who was coming.
Ye Tiancheng's hearing was indeed strong. Although he heard the sound, the people coming were still very far away. Therefore, even though he knew someone was coming, it took a considerable amount of time for him to hear them getting closer and closer, until even the little fox could hear them clearly.
The little fox couldn't help but say to Ye Tiancheng, "Brother, I think I heard it too. Why does it feel like there's more than one person?"
After all, there were voices talking, and one could distinguish different voices. If there was only one person, it was unlikely they would be talking to themselves. If someone was talking, it was most likely a conversation with someone.
However, the little fox also felt that the voices he heard sounded very familiar.
Perhaps due to the sound propagation issues and the spatial limitations here, the sound was slightly distorted when it reached them. Therefore, neither Ye Tiancheng nor the little fox could figure out where the voices sounded familiar.
Ye Tiancheng listened intently to the commotion and replied to the little fox, "If I'm not mistaken, there should be three people, three males."
The little fox couldn't help but find it strange, "Three men? That's too strange. Even if Boss Mei Mei and her husband came together, and brought a host they found, why would there be three men?"
Ye Tiancheng shook his head and couldn't answer this question.
"Let's wait a bit longer. When we see them, we'll know what's going on."
It wasn't until he felt that these people were very close that the little fox's ears twitched.
He suddenly realized and quickly asked Ye Tiancheng, "Brother, brother! Did I hear wrong? Why do I seem to... hear the voices of Fatty brother and Captain Nie?"
Ye Tiancheng also heard it and was equally shocked and surprised.
"It seems so!"
At the same time, they heard the voices of people talking from the corridor. Since they were very close and it was very quiet here, any sound was easily heard. Ye Tiancheng and the little fox could clearly hear the content of the conversation of the three people coming.
"I seem to have heard someone talking too!"
"Fatty should not have heard wrong. I also heard it. It seems to be the voices of Ye Tiancheng and the little fox!"
"That's great! Brother Ye and the others should be ahead! Let's hurry up and catch up!"
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox looked at each other.
It was Fatty and Nie Chongyang? How did they get here?
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox immediately lost interest in the spatial changes, and instead stared at the staircase with a defensive posture. Soon, they saw three people appear before them one after another.
The first to walk out of the staircase was Nie Chongyang. Following behind Nie Chongyang was a relatively unfamiliar person. The little fox recognized him as Nie Chongyang's assistant, Liang Ping. Since the little fox had more contact with Nie Chongyang, he was more familiar with the people around Nie Chongyang, not to mention that Liang Ping was Nie Chongyang's partner.
The last one to walk out of the staircase was Fatty.
The three of them almost immediately saw Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, and their emotions became somewhat excited. The stone room was not large, and with three adult men suddenly present, it even seemed a bit small.
Fatty rushed to Ye Tiancheng with great excitement, "Brother Ye, we finally found you! Are you and the little fox okay?"
Seeing Fatty and the others suddenly appear, Ye Tiancheng was indeed a little surprised. However, he quickly became vigilant. Who knew if Fatty and the others appearing here were real.
Ye Tiancheng glanced at the little fox, exchanged a look with him, and then gently shook his head at Fatty, saying, "After we found this place, we discovered something and stayed here without leaving. But along the way, we didn't encounter any danger."
"But how did the three of you get here?"
Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping were much more sensitive to people's reactions. Nie Chongyang and the others saw Ye Tiancheng's suspicion. Knowing the peculiarity of the strange events, they understood Ye Tiancheng's actions very well and took the initiative to explain to Ye Tiancheng, saying, "It's like this. After we arrived here, we found that we couldn't contact you and the little fox."
"At first, we were busy evacuating people. Then, that big black snake suddenly appeared and attacked us. We couldn't spare anyone, so we fought with that big black snake first. Fortunately, with the clues you provided from your investigation, although injuries were unavoidable, there were no casualties."
"Later, Madam Ye found that she couldn't contact you, so she called worriedly. Fatty told Madam Ye that your phones were lost during the fight, but you were safe, and temporarily concealed the fact that you were missing."
"And we were also very worried about your safety. Since you were missing, we were uneasy. So I brought my assistant Liang Ping and Fatty with me to the guesthouse to find clues about you. Because Fatty said he felt you probably hadn't left this guesthouse."
Saying this, Nie Chongyang remembered something and immediately added, "...Oh, right, and Xiao Miaomiao's child. For her safety, we have already asked someone to take her away and settle her. There's no need to worry about the child's safety."
"The village chief has also been caught and arrested by us. To be safe, only Fatty and the two of us, a total of three people, entered the guesthouse to search for you."
Nie Chongyang tried his best to tell Ye Tiancheng everything he could.
Although it was quite wordy, saying these things indeed made Ye Tiancheng let down a lot of his guard. By saying all these things, Fatty and Nie Chongyang's identities were basically confirmed.
When Ye Tiancheng and the little fox realized this, they relaxed their vigilance a little.
Ye Tiancheng said to Fatty and Nie Chongyang, "This place is very complicated. It's not easy to leave, and it's difficult. It can easily trap people without them realizing it. Fortunately, you found us, otherwise, it's very easy to get lost here."
"Speaking of which, how did you find us?"
Hearing Ye Tiancheng ask about this, Fatty immediately said to Ye Tiancheng, "It's all thanks to Captain Nie and the others. Brother Ye, you know my brain isn't that flexible, and I can't figure out many things. So I asked Captain Nie and the others for help. But I was also afraid of danger, and with too many people, I couldn't manage them all, so I didn't let so many people come in together, for fear of implicating too many people."
"But fortunately, Captain Nie and the others are here. In some matters, they are professionals!"
Speaking of this, Fatty couldn't help but praise Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping in front of Ye Tiancheng.
"Although they don't have much understanding and experience in metaphysical matters, they are very capable in other aspects. They truly specialize in their fields. They followed various traces and made some deductions, and based on the traces you and the little fox left, they followed them all the way."
Ye Tiancheng was quite surprised to hear this, because to achieve this level with only the strength of ordinary people was truly remarkable.
"Captain Nie and Assistant Liang are amazing!" Ye Tiancheng gave Nie Chongyang a thumbs up.
Nie Chongyang waved his hand and said, "This is our job. There's nothing particularly worth praising. It's basic professional ethics."
Fatty immediately added to Ye Tiancheng, "Brother Ye, speaking of which, they also discovered something else. I don't know if you've discovered it, but when Captain Nie and Assistant Liang were in the ghost maze in the stairwell, they found that the space here was constantly shifting and changing. Do you know about this?"
Ye Tiancheng's spirits lifted when he heard this, "You guys are really amazing!"