Rene then scribbled out the route, and drew a circle in the middle of the Central Base, and that was Headman Daoba’s tent. It was very easy to recognize due to the size. Then he drew out the other important tents, and gang members worth mentioning.

“If you come across Dax, which is this tent here, soon you will be tied up and thrown in front of Daoba, just imagine all the suffering awaiting ahead. Dax would never miss the chance of claiming his credits.”

He then pointed to another tent located north of Daoba’s, and lowered his voice to make it sound creepy.

“Nana big sis, I don’t want to scare you, but inside this tent lives a cold-blooded tiger.”

A tiger!?

He grinned with creepiness.

“If you encounter this person, especially when he’s not expecting a guest, your throat will be slit before you can even open your mouth.”

Immediately there was a drift of cold air brushed against my back, making me shiver for a couple of seconds. What kind of monster would slit someone’s throat so quickly and have no mercy at all?

“His name is Zen. He literally cut someone’s throat when arrived at the Central Base on Day One, not sure what happened in between those two guys. Perhaps he did something that irritated Zen so much that he decided to kill him. What’s more surprising was that Headman Daoba didn’t even punish Zen, and even gave him important tasks to complete, which made Dax quite jealous. Anyways, that's off topic, but my point is that this guy is serious. He’s like a sleeping tiger, mostly harmless, but if you dare to play with his whiskers, you are dead on the spot.”

It seemed most of the gang members were not someone you can fool around. They were all serious characters. I prayed not to bump into any of them.

Rene then drew another spot which was not far away from Zen’s tent, and tapped the soil twice with the sharp stone.

“Right here is a hot spring, close by there is a pile of smooth rocks with moss and shrubs. I hid those cards in one of the crevices. If you look carefully enough, you should be able to find them.”

I almost rolled my eyes.

“If this guy is so scary, why in the world would you hide the cards next to his tent?”

Rene pretended to be real smart.

“The more dangerous the place, the safer it can be.”

Great……

Now I had to try my best not to touch the whiskers of this tiger, otherwise my neck would be crushed down to dust.

“Those guys are lucky enough to have a hot spring. No wonder they chose that to be the Central Base. I wish we had one here too. I haven't taken a shower for ages.”

“There are other bases with hot springs, not just the Central Base.”

My eyes lightened and smiled widely. “Little man, why don’t we move to the other bases?”

“Oh lord, you think too beautifully. You are already assigned to this base, then you can only crack geodes and report them here.”

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t go to another base to take a shower, and come back right?”

Rene thought for a second. “Perhaps, but most of the hot springs are already occupied by the gang or General K’s guards. Resources are scarce here, you know.”

Knowing there was a possibility to take a nice hot bath really cheered my spirit up. Maybe one day I could come across one by chance? I couldn’t wait to get into a hot spring and just relaxed. I put away this happy thought, and focused on retrieving the cards before anything else.

The night was getting late. We soon fell asleep after talking about the big plan. When we woke up, the water in the base had already been retrieved. Yesterday it was literally a swimming pool. Everyone was glad there wasn’t any mine collapse last night. Soon we were off to work on the geodes.

I made as much as I can, because tonight I will be off on my little mission to the Central Base. At least I could get an extra card for Rene before leaving, and fortunately I did end up collecting enough coins to get one more.

Rene seemed restless tonight. He usually slept soundly until dawn, but not this time. It was already 10:45 pm, but he was still turning like a little worm on the ground.

“Just go to sleep, kiddo.”

I chuckled a bit, and put the pocket knife inside my clothes. It was not like I could really defend myself in front of a full grown demon with magic arts, but at least it was a weapon for defense when needed.

Rene finally stopped pretending to be asleep, and mumbled.

“Promise you will make it back alive. If you can’t get to the cards, then don’t waste any time, just leave the place.”

Perhaps Rene saw my warm grin, he immediately gave an embarrassed look. “Fine, I am worried about you, alright. It’s you who promises to be my big sister, then you should take the responsibility seriously until the end.”

I smiled and rubbed his silver hair roughly.

“Yes, I do keep my promises indeed. Now hurry off to bed, when you wake up tomorrow, I shall be here.”

I spread out the ragged layer of clothing and laid it on top of him.

“Good night, kiddo.”

I said it so naturally that it surprised me a little, that I felt so connected to this little boy in such a short amount of time. Perhaps going through hardships together strengthened the bond. Deep inside I knew there was a chance I won’t make it back, but still, I won’t let him down.

The night was dark, but the torches lit up the base. I finally decided to leave. It was pretty quiet here in the night time, especially inside the cave. I headed toward the other exit of the cave, where it led to the main route. Imagined this main route was the body of the centipede, and each base was its extended legs. It was like a shortcut to all the bases. All of these bases were surrounded by high mountains, otherwise who would willingly stay here for long.

The torches were flickering on the walls, but at this point, I wasn’t afraid of the creepiness anymore. Once a while there would be a demon passing by, but they didn’t care much more than I cared about them.

I secretly kept an eye on my pocket watch, just to check on the time. It took me a few hours to finally see the huge stone ax midway on the wall. It was much higher than I thought, considering the walls inside the mine were lost in the darkness. That Headman Daoba must be a super strong man to throw an axe that far in the air and end up deep in the wall.

I tiptoed to the side of the wall in a turning corner, and slowly took a peek at the entrance of the Central Base, there was a tall chubby man holding a broadsword and yawning.

This must be the Bobbi that Rene was talking about.

He seemed quite tired right now. I waited patiently until his eyelids stopped blinking for two minutes, but in order to be safe an extra minute wouldn’t hurt.

I threw a small rock in front of him to double check.

No response whatsoever.

My heart was pounding as if walking on ice, but I kept reassuring myself that he was indeed asleep!

I walked in his sight, and that dude wasn’t even blinking at all and stared blankly ahead. It was really tempting to wave a hand in front of that dude’s face to see if he would wake up, but I gave up that stupid thought.

I passed him and hurried off into the entrance. After a short walk through the mine, I exited on the other end that opened up into the Central Base. This base seemed to be a bit larger than ours. Under the moonlight, countless white tents shimmered in silver. Most of the tents are dark inside, just a few of them still had candles lit. I tried to avoid those tents when heading in the specific direction.

The smell of bonfires actually calmed me down a bit, reminding me about those beautiful times with the old couple.

Rene was really good with directions. Although this place was vast and complicated, the route he drew out on the ground was exactly the same as here. That kid had a pretty good memory, much better than mine.

It was relatively quiet here since everyone was asleep.

The night air was cool, and not far away was the shimmering of water and steam.

Finally I reached the hot spring!

It wasn’t that bad at all.

I couldn’t help but get close and place my fingers into the water and felt the warmth penetrating the skin. Oh dear, it really felt good!