Fortunately, Kye failed his attempt to frame Rocky up this time. But somehow, there was a sudden
change in his attitude and no one knew what caused it. Although he still didn't get along well with
Rocky, he did not try to make trouble for him anymore.
Meanwhile, about half a month had already passed.
The spearhead, who had gone on patrol to the front line half a month earlier, had been completely out
of touch. Nobody knew what exactly happened, so Tucker immediately summoned the other two
deputy commanders, as well as some military officials, including Rocky, to discuss the current situation.
"Three days had already passed since Deputy Commander Ma last reported. The only reason I can
think of is that they are in a troubling situation right now. With that, I want to send a strong team to
investigate what happened. Who would like to volunteer for this task?" Tucker asked with hints of
anxiety on his face.
Hearing this, all of the people present, including the two deputy commanders, could not help but look at
each other.
"I am willing to lead the team that you will be sending." Bertram spoke up after a while. He was the first
one to volunteer for the task.
After that, several other warriors also started expressing their willingness to carry out the task.
"Commander Wang, I would also like to volunteer to be a part of the investigating team," Rocky
insisted. Since Eunice was part of the spearheading team led by Deputy Commander Ma, Rocky was
worried about her safety, so he could not just stand idly and do nothing.
"Basil, I appreciate the gesture, but you've been in the army for such a short time. You should not be
that familiar with the terrain of the front line area yet. It's best if we let Bertram go," Tucker said after
contemplating for a while.
"Commander, I could sense that there is something fishy with the sudden disappearance of Deputy
Commander Ma and the members of the spearhead. I'm afraid that this is some kind of trap. The three
deputy commanders are your best helpers. Now that Deputy Commander Ma is missing, I think it will
be a bad idea if you also let Deputy Commander Fei go to the front line. If something terrible suddenly
happened here in the Tiger Whisker Pass, it will be difficult if just you and Deputy Commander Lin will
handle the situation. I don't think it will be a huge problem if I am not that familiar with the terrain of the
front line area. As long as the other members are familiar with it, the whole team will be just fine,"
Rocky explained as he tried to convince Tucker.
"Well, what you said indeed makes sense!" Tucker finally agreed as he nodded his head.
"Commander, if that will be the case, I think it will be better if we select a few powerful spirit warriors
that will serve as Rocky's backup in this mission," Deputy Commander Lin suggested at once. Of
course, he would not let himself miss the opportunity to make some contributions.
"All right. Arrange them as soon as possible so that they can set out right away," Tucker ordered
promptly.
"Basil, let's go back to make some preparations," Deputy Commander Lin said as he turned to Rocky.
Rocky just nodded and the two of them immediately left.
After returning to the camp of the spirit warriors, Deputy Commander Lin wasted no time and
immediately gathered all the spirit warriors to explain the current situation. Then, he directly asked for
volunteers that would accompany Rocky in the mission.
Soon enough, a few spirit warriors who eagerly wanted to make some contributions expressed their
willingness. But of course, most of them felt that the mission was very dangerous, so they hesitated to
take the risk.
Unexpectedly, Kye suddenly stood and spoke. "Sir, please count me in too," he said resolutely.
Hearing this, Deputy Commander Lin glanced at Rocky. He knew that these two had a bit of history
because Kye was dissatisfied by the fact that Rocky suddenly became the captain of their team.
Hence, he was a bit reluctant in accepting Kye's proposal.
However, Rocky was someone who would not make a big deal out of it. So, he just said, "Sir, it's up to
you whether you allow him to go or not."
"All right then. Kye happens to be more familiar with the terrain of the front line area compared to the
other spirit warriors, so he can lead the way." Deputy Commander Lin made up his mind and nodded at
Kye.
Eventually, Deputy Commander Lin picked eight spirit warriors, including Kye, to form a team that
would be led by Rocky. They would scout and investigate the place where Deputy Commander Ma was
reported to be last seen—a place called Crescent Gorge.
The Crescent Gorge was actually known to be a dangerous place in the front line area. The place was
called as such because of its shape that looked like a crescent moon. The gorge was covered by cliffs
high above in the sky with arched stones that hindered the sky and the sun. It meant that the area was
very dark, and when people fought inside it, it would be like battling with a blindfold on.
However, Crescent Gorge was the only way that led to the Tiger Whisker Pass. If the enemy wanted to
besiege the pass, they had to go through it first. Therefore, it had become a strategic spot in the front
line of the Tiger Whisker Pass. Hence, it was really strange that the spearhead led by Deputy
Commander Ma would suddenly become out of reach while they were still in the gorge.
Since the team led by Rocky was comprised of spirit warriors, their overall strength was much stronger
than ordinary teams. In fact, it only took them a day to arrive at the Crescent Gorge, which would
normally take two days' worth of travel.
At this moment, Rocky and his team were standing in front of the entrance of the Crescent Gorge.
From there, they could see that almost no light could penetrate the area. But despite the lack of light, it
could also be noticed that thick vegetation existed inside. It turned out that the gorge was not at all dry
and was not filled with yellow sand, but instead, it was filled with green vegetation.
However, this unusual scene actually made the gorge even more dangerous and peculiar.
"Captain Basil, there are a lot of poisonous grasses, flowers, and insects inside. Since you have never
been in it, I am already telling you now so that you will not accidentally hurt yourself," Kye warned in a
haughty tone.
Of course, Rocky also didn't think that Kye would inform him of these things out of kindness. He was
fully aware that if Kye was planning to play some tricks in this situation, he would definitely act this way.
Then, Rocky turned to his team and said, "Make sure to finish all of your preparations. After that, we
will head inside."
After ensuring that all of the team members were ready to go, Rocky led the group into the Crescent
Gorge.
Soon after they set foot inside, they immediately found themselves in a very dim environment. Their
only source of light was the extremely thin gap between the rocks above their heads. In fact, they could
barely tell where they were walking. The darkness around them made everyone slightly tremble in fear.
Since they could not clearly see, they could not help but assume that something dangerous might
unexpectedly come after them.
The entire Crescent Gorge was not that long. It was just a few kilometers from the entrance to the exit.
If they walked in a straight line, they would eventually reach the exit in about six hours. However,
because several barriers and traps were deliberately placed inside the gorge, it would be impossible for
them to quickly pass through the entire gorge. Worse, there was also a possibility that they might get
lost.
Therefore, not only was it important that they were very familiar with the terrain, but they should also be
knowledgeable in recognizing the traps as they moved forward.
Since Kye was the one who was most familiar with the terrain and the traps in the Crescent Gorge, he
was the one in front, responsible for leading the way. Then, he was followed by Rocky and the other
seven members.
For the first two hours, Rocky and his team had passed all kinds of barriers and traps smoothly. But for
the next two hours, the situation became even harsher. One of their members was bitten by a
poisonous bee, and he almost died because of it. Soon after, another team member fell into a coma
upon inhaling the fragrance of a poisonous flower nearby. No matter what they did, he did not wake up.
Because of this, Rocky had to ask two of the team members to send their two unconscious members
back. They had to go back where they came from so that they could get out of the Crescent Gorge.
On the other hand, Rocky continued to move forward, together with Kye and the other three remaining
members.
Luckily, their hard work had finally paid off a little. After treading through the dangerous area, they
seemed to find some clues about their mission. They noticed that there were some corpses of human
soldiers upon reaching the middle part of the gorge. Judging from the degree to how the corpses
started to rot, Rocky estimated that they had died about two days before they found
them.
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