Chapter 347: Dead or Alive

The captain of the guard was first taken aback, then he understood. He shouted at Awei, “What do you mean!”

He thought that Awei had implied something to Xiong Yu, and he still didn’t quite believe that Xiong had the ability to think.

“It’s not me; it’s Xiong’s decision,” Awei replied, equally surprised. After thinking, he understood what Xiong Yu meant. “There is a traitor among you. Otherwise, how could our movements be exposed despite the vastness of the forest!”

Upon hearing this, the captain of the guard couldn’t help but show astonishment on his face, and the remaining three also became restless.

Xia Yu took the opportunity to use telepathy to sense their attitudes.

The four people, including the captain of the guard, all appeared normal.

But being normal meant they could all be suspicious. It was possible that the traitor had no attachments and thus showed no hostility, or perhaps the person was being used unknowingly. In any case, Xia Yu decided to give it a try.

If the sense of crisis disappeared after leaving them, it would prove that the problem wasn’t with them.

“Take me with you; I can’t be the traitor!” Ahua said to Awei.

Awei didn’t respond.

“Alright, I understand. Where should we meet after we leave?” Ahua gave up struggling.

“In the Guards’ City,” Awei replied, referring to the city controlled by the guards.

The captain of the guard wanted to say something else, but after glancing at his remaining two subordinates and then at the brown bear, he gave up the idea.

Thus, the group split into two paths.

After leaving them by about one hundred meters, the sense of crisis in Xia Yu’s heart disappeared.

So the problem indeed lay with those people.

Letting Mei Mei climb onto his back, Xiong Yu urged Awei to quicken their pace.

Awei made a quick judgment, walked a little further, and once he was sure that the captain and his group could no longer see them, he chose to head southeast.

Because the route had changed, it became longer, and they were still unable to leave the forest by nightfall.

However, they were close now, and it was expected that they would be out before dawn.

At the edge of the forest, enemy soldiers became more numerous. Xia Yu, relying on telepathy, tried his best to choose safe paths, but still encountered danger several times.

Fortunately, it was nighttime, so there were no incidents and no battles occurred.

If a battle had occurred, their small group of two people and a bear would have faced death or injury against enemy squads of five or ten people.

“There’s about an hour’s journey left,” Awei whispered to Xiong Yu.

Before he could finish speaking, Xiong Yu suddenly patted his back. Awei immediately stopped talking, crouched down, and hid behind a tree.

The brown bear signaled with a paw that an enemy squad was coming. Throughout the journey, the bear had never been wrong.

Although he had already gotten used to it, Awei still looked at Xiong Yu in amazement; this was already an almost miraculous ability.

Xia Yu, however, was not entirely satisfied with this miracle. He could only sense danger when being targeted or when it was about to happen. For premeditated dangers, it worked well, but for an ambush, he could only detect it when it was very close.

Crouching down, he also hid behind a tree. The surrounding darkness was pure, and with the obstruction of the leaves overhead, moonlight could hardly penetrate. As long as the enemy didn’t get too close, this group would not be able to detect the three of them.

That should have been the case.

Feeling the sense of crisis not only persisting but intensifying, Xia Yu was greatly astonished.

Using night vision, he carefully observed the approaching people. The leader wore a black device on his head—it was a night vision goggle.

The enemy had already discovered them and was quietly discussing strategies with his team.

Xia Yu extended his paw and patted Awei again.

Awei thought that if there was no danger, Xiong Yu would have left first. Xiong Yu never touched his shoulder again unless there was a reason.

Did that mean—they had been discovered?

Awei raised the gun in his hand and looked at Xiong Yu, who nodded and gestured with his fingers to indicate that there were ten enemies.

If it was an ambush, Xia Yu was confident he could easily eliminate ten people. But now that they had been discovered, facing ten fully armed soldiers, he had no confidence in winning.

The power of firearms was simply too great. Xiong Yu had no equipment on him. Otherwise, if he wore a special bulletproof vest and became an armored bear, Xia Yu was confident he could carry Mei Mei and charge through the enemy lines. He could even help Mei Mei attack the headquarters of the interim government or the rebels, as long as they didn’t use rocket launchers.

Awei was also well aware of this. He leaned close to Xia Yu’s ear and whispered, “Go straight north along the mountain road outside, and after about three hours by car, you will reach a desert. At the edge of the desert, there is a gathering place. Wear this badge and walk around there; someone trustworthy will come to find you.”

After speaking, Awei placed a golden badge into Xiong Yu’s palm.

Placing the badge into Mei Mei’s bag, Xia Yu had already understood Awei’s intentions.

Awei crouched low, quickly ran to the back of a distant tree.

The enemy squad still thought Awei hadn’t noticed them and was puzzled about what Awei was trying to do. Awei raised his gun and started shooting.

He couldn’t even see the enemy’s position clearly, but by sheer luck, he managed to kill one person. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the one wearing the night vision goggles.

The remaining nine were immediately thrown into confusion, quickly seeking cover behind trees. Taking the opportunity, Xia Yu used a belt to secure Mei Mei to his back and immediately ran away into the distance.

He kept his eyes fixed on the leader wearing the night vision goggles, estimating the distance between himself and the enemy. If the timing was right, he would go directly and eliminate the leader, destroying the night vision goggles would resolve everything.

However, the leader was positioned in the center of the other eight, and the distance was somewhat far.

Xia Yu could only abandon his plan and pray for Awei’s good fortune. Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the attack on the nine-man squad, he quickly left that area.

After discovering that the subsequent search teams would be equipped with night vision goggles, Xia Yu became even more cautious. However, in the middle of the journey, due to unavoidable circumstances, they encountered another squad.

He tucked Mei Mei beneath him and pretended to be an ordinary bear passing by, successfully passing through undetected.

Fortunately, the night vision goggles they had were not of high quality.

After misleading this squad, Xia Yu continued forward and saw moonlight shining outside the forest. The exit was already near.

Mei Mei hugged Xia Yu’s neck tightly, showing her excitement. Xia Yu was equally excited, but this excitement didn’t last long.

Looking through the gaps in the trees, he saw soldiers walking back and forth on the road outside.

These soldiers didn’t wear night vision goggles, but there were no trees blocking the road, and the moonlight was bright. In the center of the road was a truck, and on top of it stood an observer with night vision goggles.

Xia Yu slowly backed away, thinking of moving from the current southeast corner to the southern road to avoid the soldiers. However, this wasn’t realistic.

Because dawn was about to break.

After sunrise, he wouldn’t be able to avoid the dense search squads at the forest’s edge.

During the daytime, a bear hiding a human would have many flaws.

While thinking, Xia Yu felt a loosening at his waist; Mei Mei had undone the belt. The girl also knew that the situation had reached its most critical and hopeless point.

She quickly ran out of the forest, raising her hands and appearing on the road.

She chose to surrender to protect the brown bear from danger.

The patrolling soldiers on the road were stunned. The officer sitting on the truck wearing a peaked cap was overjoyed but didn’t intend to accept Mei Mei’s surrender. He raised his gun.