The intense gunshots in the forest ahead came to a stop. It sounded like the Panaqua Consortium had completed its sweep of the outer perimeter. All of the wild animals that could pose a threat to them had been eliminated.
Raphael whispered to Milo, “This is when the Panaqua Consortium will set up the observation posts around the perimeter. Even with their manpower, they won’t be able to lock down such a large area with just several hundred people.”
“How many people are there in a Panaqua Consortium combat brigade?” Milo asked.
Raphael hesitated before saying, “Approximately 4,000 to 5,000, but it’s impossible they would mobilize all of them. After all, they still have to consider keeping order in the stronghold.”
“No…” Milo shook his head and said, “I don’t think there’s a big problem in the stronghold. Will the people in a stronghold dare to rebel in just a few days? That’s impossible. So we have to be prepared that they have turned out in full force with at least a few thousand people.”
“Alright.” Raphael understood his argument but was hoping they would be lucky.
He analyzed the situation before saying, “But actually, they will not mobilize their full force. The supplies of the various strongholds are not enough to provision a few thousand-strong expedition into the Marador Mountains for such a long period of time. It’s not that there aren’t enough supplies, but that the transportation, logistics, manpower issues, and others, all have to be considered. As their soldiers brought a lot of firearms and explosives with them, I believe the advanced party that arrived at the Marador Mountains should number around a thousand men or so after taking into account a comprehensive mix of factors.”
Milo thought it over. Raphael probably had a more expert opinion on military operations.
He said, “I trust your judgment. But I’ll still say the same thing. If the observation posts make the perimeter too secure, I’ll take a detour out of the mountains in the direction of Stronghold 112 without hesitation.”
“Okay…” Raphael nodded.
He knew that Milo’s decision was right. After all, if he, Milo, and Miriam were to face the pursuit of over a thousand people, it would surely lead to a very bad end.
Raphael put on a face of determination. “If we need to resort to guerrilla warfare, we’ll have to abandon the other three since they won’t be able to keep with our pace… Wait a minute!”
As favonovel.com spoke, Raphael was stunned. He looked around and asked, “Where’s Miriam?”
Milo was also shocked. After looking around, favonovel.com asked Micah, who was at the rear of the team, “Have you seen Miriam?”
“No, I wasn’t paying attention,” Micah answered blankly.
Everyone realized that no one knew when Miriam had disappeared during their journey!
If it were Micah who went missing, Milo would think that favonovel.com might have been taken away by something. But for Miriam, that would definitely not be the case!
Milo and Raphael had thought that Micah, Lilian, and Jonah would be their burden, but they suddenly got a feeling that Miriam thought that all five of them were favonovel.com burden.
But what exactly was Miriam’s purpose in coming here?
Milo realized that favonovel.com might not be after the secret of the Marador Mountains at all!
Miriam carried an even greater secret!
Milo and Raphael looked at each other as though they came to a decision at the same time.
“So…” Milo said righteously, “Miriam might have fallen behind. As teammates, we should split up to look for her. It’ll be too dangerous if she’s found by herself.”
Milo and Raphael then walked separately in two different directions. Micah, Lilian, and Jonah looked back at the way they came and wondered how Miriam could have disappeared so quietly.
Micah asked, “Do you feel that Miriam has been behaving very strangely? She paid us to join the team, but it’s clear that favonovel.com has favonovel.com own purpose in coming here….”
Micah turned to look in the directions of where Milo and Raphael went. However both of them had also gone missing!
What the hell?!
What did you mean by splitting up to look for her?
You two were obviously making your escape!
Milo, Raphael, and Miriam had respectively made their decisions to drop their burdens once they got near the hinterlands of the Marador Mountains. After all, they knew how powerful the Panaqua Consortium’s troops were. Whether they were to sneak in or take a detour and leave, they couldn’t afford to bring Micah, Lilian, and Jonah along with them.
Anyway, they were not related nor owed them anything, so there was really no stress when it came to making the decision to abandon them.
But Milo found it quite unfortunate as favonovel.com had been constantly trying to find ways to gain the gratitude of these people during the past few days. After putting in much effort and gaining 93 gratitude tokens from them, it would not be easy to earn more of them now that favonovel.com had to go solo.
Micah, Lilian, and Jonah panicked on the spot. They had wanted to seek help from the Panaqua Consortium but found out that they might get killed instead. Thus, they thought that it would also be a good idea to leave with Milo, Raphael, and Miriam. But to their surprise, the three of them ran off one after the other!
But while they were in a state of confusion, Micah, Lilian, and Jonah suddenly heard the rattling of chains being dragged on the ground!
They felt a tingling sensation on their scalps.
Didn’t they say the monster wouldn’t be active during the day?
Why did it keep following the team then?!
They remembered Mark’s ravaged corpse and the wild animals that had fled from the forest the previous night. Micah could even remember the sound of the monster’s saliva dripping onto the leaves.
A second later, Micah turned around and ran away. He didn’t care anymore whether the Panaqua Consortium would kill favonovel.com or not.
He just didn’t want to die!
When Micah started to run, the other two followed him. However, Micah suddenly discovered that favonovel.com could not run as fast as Jonah and Lilian.
Although Jonah was wounded before this, favonovel.com had already fully recovered in slightly over two days due to the magical effects of the black medicine. He was terrified of the mysterious monster behind him, but right as favonovel.com passed Micah, Jonah suddenly saw that Micah had unexpectedly stretched out his foot to trip him!
With a loud thud, Jonah fell heavily onto the ground. Micah could only apologize in his head.
Someone had to be sacrificed in order for others to live!
Micah ran away as fast as favonovel.com could. But before favonovel.com could get far, favonovel.com heard Jonah’s scream and the disturbing sound of chewing flesh!
Jonah’s scream tore into Micah like a fearsome ghost. However, this scream did not last long before it stopped.
The rattling of the chains could be heard again, and the monster chased after them once more!
Micah was in despair. When favonovel.com thought of pulling Lilian down this time, favonovel.com found that favonovel.com had already gotten far away from him.
“Who is it?” Someone was talking up ahead in the forest.
Micah focused his vision over there and realized that the person was wearing a pure black uniform and holding a gun in his hands.
Micah shouted, “A monster! There’s a monster behind me!”
He saw the consortium’s soldier making several tactical hand signals, followed by more than 20 soldiers appearing out from the forest beside favonovel.com as they slowly made their way towards Micah.
It was a full platoon of soldiers!
The person leading the platoon ordered, “Kneel down and put your hands behind your head!”
Micah immediately knelt down on the ground. He knew that if favonovel.com did not follow his instructions, these combat troops would open fire and kill him. All favonovel.com could do now was to leave his life in the hands of fate!
The rattling of the chains grew closer.
When the owner of the chains showed up, the soldier shouted through the wireless communications equipment in his helmet, “Please send reinforcements! We’ve spotted an escaping Experimental! Fire!”
Gunfire thundered!
