After Ma Lu and Mai Mai dealt with the runaway, they turned around to see Boggy's fight had also ended.
The knife-wielding Hunter couldn't withstand the pincer attack from Boggy and Sadie, and was quickly turned into a hedgehog.
Boggy actually didn't like fighting among Hunters; she much preferred hunting wild beasts in the desert.
But she was well aware of Black Horn's style of conduct and knew what fate awaited those they targeted. The blood scent emitted by her own kind nearby still instinctively made her feel a bit uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, Ma Lu had already started eagerly rummaging through the bodies.
"What are you looking for?"
Ma Lu tossed a black brooch shaped like a rhino horn to Boggy, "This is yours."
Boggy immediately understood what Ma Lu intended, "Are you planning on going down to find Jinjian?"
"Mhm, these guys must have been summoned by Jinjian. If they lose contact for too long, Jinjian will definitely become alert. Staying outside in ambush won't make sense anymore, and he might call for even more people. It's better to head down directly."
"But Jinjian should know these people. Even if we disguise ourselves as them, we won't be able to fool him," Mai Mai said.
"It's okay, this is just a precaution. If we bump into him by accident and he sees these brooches, Jinjian will probably hesitate for a moment, giving us the chance to strike first," Ma Lu said.
The Hunting Clothes used by the Hunters provided good coverage, and with goggles and face masks on, it was hard to recognize anyone from a distance.
This was probably why the Hunting Groups all made brooches—to easily identify their own.
Boggy didn't say anything else, removed the Twin Sunflower brooch, replaced it with a Black Horn one, and the others did the same.
Seta then commanded the Sand Soil Puppet to pull open the stone slab door, revealing a narrow path, winding downward.
"I'll go first." Boggy created seven small Water Shields with the water from a newly found water skin, floating them in front of her chest, and then she proceeded down first.
Little Grey followed closely behind, then Seta and Sadie, with Ma Lu and Mai Mai still at the end of the line.
The air below was not as murky as expected; there must be ventilation connecting with the outside, or perhaps Jinjian's team included a Psychic Power User with the ability to aerate the space quickly.
Wary of an ambush, the five of them didn't walk fast.
This place seemed to be a natural cave, but unlike ordinary caves, the rock walls around were fiery red, probably containing a high amount of trivalent iron elements, which indicated that water might have been present here millions of years ago.
Sadie had already extended her right hand and shot out seven Thorns in one breath!
However, the seven Thorns ultimately only embedded in the rock pillar, while the figure had disappeared.
Jinjian was craftier than they had imagined. Although he initially mistook them for reinforcements, when he realized something was off at the last moment, he also fled quickly.
"Chase!" Boggy didn't waste words and immediately charged forward with his Mechanical Spear.
As Jinjian ran, he tried to warn his people ahead, but as soon as he opened his mouth, four more Thorns whizzed by, narrowly missing his scalp.
So he also learned to be wise and merely fled headlong without another word.
The five Hunters and a wolf closely pursued him, but Jinjian clearly knew the terrain of the cave better than they did, managing to escape using the oddly shaped rocks each time they were about to catch up.
But after running another seventy steps or so, he suddenly stopped, turned his head, and spoke again.
"Did Chief Sanrew send you to kill me? If he wants the treasure here, he could have just told me, and I would have given it to him with both hands."
"Sure, then Vice Captain, you surrender first, and I'll take you to the Chief for you to explain to him," said Ma Lu.
"That's not how you negotiate," Jinjian shook his head. "You have to show some good faith as well."
"What good faith do you want?"
"For instance... how about having your people stop aiming at me?" Jinjian said leisurely.
The next moment Sadie shot out Thorns again towards Jinjian, but they were blocked halfway by something.
Then, a rustling sound came from the rock wall.
Boggy pointed the flashlight upwards and saw a creature over one meter in length with spines on its legs, reminiscent of both a spider and a scorpion. It was the one that had just blocked Sadie's Thorns.
Just as the scanning cooldown ended, Ma Lu received a new notification.
— Ding! Congratulations on discovering a 3-star ingredient, the Spiked Leg Tailless Scorpion. The Spiked Leg Tailless Scorpion encyclopedia entry has been unlocked.
"Have a good time with my little treasures," Jinjian laughed.
Apart from above them, there was a Spiked Leg Tailless Scorpion on the rock walls to their left and right, each crawling towards them. At the same time, Jinjian's subordinates, alerted by the noise, rushed over, resulting in an encirclement of the five Hunters.