Chapter 73 - 2#

Chu Chenli nodded and said, “I just put in a request with the captain for you.”

Although it was just a casual mention, going through the motions was still better than not doing so—it showed a bit more respect and saved them from being used as ammunition by the higher-ups in future meetings.

Mu Yanshen fished out his work ID from his pocket, exchanged a few words with the officer at the door, and after a moment’s hesitation, the officer let him through.

Once inside the interrogation room, Mu Yanshen went through the motions of asking a few questions. In reality, a single pat on their shoulders told him everything he needed to know.

From the perspective of the two criminal suspects, this strange young man seemed like a neurotic with an excessive urge to perform. He walked in, delivered a few lines, and then turned and left.

After this lunatic left, they still had to face the stern-faced police officers.

Mu Yanshen came out and directly told Captain Cai what he had observed.

“They don’t know the specific route either. Every trip is by bus, with the windows blacked out—they can’t see. But based on their perception, they’ve been heading north the whole time. There are large rice paddies around, and they drove a harvester through to cut the rice about a week ago.”

An abandoned factory, large-scale rice paddies, heading north, nothing but lawns and flatlands.

The scope narrowed down by more than half instantly.

Captain Cai was about to order his subordinates to check the map when a trainee police officer beside him exclaimed in surprise, “This sounds just like my hometown!”

“When I used to take the bus to the city, it would take five or six hours of bumpy rides too. And yesterday, when I called my mom, she said the threshing ground back home had just been used to process new rice last week. She even said she’d save some for me and asked me to bring some back next time I visit…”

The trainee’s hometown was originally in a village downstream from the factory, but due to severe pollution, the entire village had to relocate. After that, the factory was abandoned.

Then the natural disaster struck, and no one wanted to take it over, leaving it completely derelict.

The factory and the rice paddies were more than ten kilometers apart, but the road from the factory to the city would definitely pass through the rice fields.

Hearing this, Captain Cai made a prompt decision: “You all continue the investigation. Inform me if anything comes up. Everyone else, prepare to set out with me. And where’s the communications officer? Contact the branch office over there—we must rescue the children first!”

At once, all the officers sprang into action.

Chu Chenli and his two companions didn’t interrupt, but they were definitely going along—just in case.

Tang Beihe, who had been following behind, finally grasped the situation in a vague sort of way.

He pulled Chu Chenli aside and whispered, “Can I come with you?”

Chu Chenli glanced at Captain Cai, who was passing by, and asked on his behalf, “My apprentice—can he come along?”

Captain Cai was forced to stop. He instinctively wanted to say that civilians shouldn’t get involved; it was too dangerous. But Chu Chenli’s mention of “apprentice” made him swallow his words.

Tang Beihe quickly explained, “I want to see if my neighbor’s kid is among them… A couple of days ago, he left a note and ran away from home. He usually just goes straight to his grandparents’ place, but this time, even by yesterday afternoon, they hadn’t seen her…”

The neighbor’s kid was a mischievous little brat. He’d deliberately hidden before to scare his mother more than once, and there had even been a few false alarms where they called the police.

This time, it was because his mother refused to buy him a certain toy. The neighbor mom thought that continuing to spoil her child like this would only lead to trouble, so she was determined not to give in this time.

Tang Beihe also thought a bratty kid deserved a good lesson—you couldn’t just give in to everything.

But that was before he knew about the children being kidnapped and taken for unknown experiments.

Even a bratty kid didn’t deserve to die.

Besides, the kid was only good at sulking with his doting mother; he’d never actually harmed anyone. Tang Beihe didn’t want to see anything bad happen to him either.

Seeing that Tang Beihe wasn’t just trying to join in out of curiosity, and with Chu Chenli vouching for him, Captain Cai finally nodded.

The group assembled and set off in the shortest possible time.

Because they responded quickly, and because the children fought hard to resist, the timing was just right when Captain Cai, Chu Chenli, and the others arrived first at the scene.

The children were being tied up one by one by their hands and feet, then thrown directly into the back of a truck.

The people there were preparing to move the children.

The driver spotted the approaching police car from afar, his face turning pale. He swore and shouted at the men behind him to “load up” quickly, telling them to get in the truck while he rammed his way out.

As for the ones that hadn’t been tied up and loaded yet, they’d just leave them behind.

There were already plenty of kids in the truck. They could always find new ones later.

The man “loading” thought the same. He jumped onto the truck first. In his hand, he was carrying a kid around ten years old, but there was no time to tie him up—the rope was still on the ground. So he simply threw the kid aside, hurling the screaming, headache-inducing child violently toward the ground.

The kid’s head hit the ground, blood spilling everywhere, and he went still.

The few guards who had been pinning the kids down on the ground also abandoned the children, scrambling to jump onto the rear of the truck just as it started moving.

The people in the police car had already seen their brutal actions—it was practically deliberate provocation.

But they couldn’t ignore the unarmed, injured children. Gritting their teeth, they first floored the accelerator toward the kids, intending to protect them.

Captain Cai grabbed the radio to alert his colleagues to intercept the truck just as it roared past them in the opposite direction.

The scruffy young man sitting in the truck cab even arrogantly flipped them off.

Captain Cai calmly held down the police driver and reminded him, “First check on the kids!”

The younger officer said anxiously, “But there are a lot of kids on that truck too!”

Captain Cai said, “Trust our other colleagues.”

In truth, he was worried too. Their biggest weakness was those children. If the kidnappers used them as hostages, things would get tricky.

He had no doubt that these unscrupulous people would do exactly that.

But as the senior officer, he couldn’t let himself panic first. He forced himself to stay calm.

They completely forgot that there were three “superhumans” in the car.

The police car screeched to a halt in front of the children. Captain Cai and the driver quickly got out and rushed over to the child who was bleeding profusely from the head.

The other children stepped back in fear, but seeing the uniforms and their careful, gentle movements, they dared to approach.

Captain Cai knelt on the ground and reached out to check the child’s breathing and pulse.

Fortunately, he was just unconscious.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief, but when he saw the wound on the child’s head, his heart tightened again.

Without timely treatment, this injury could still be life-threatening.

Those bastards!

Too cruel.

Captain Cai gritted his teeth, bent down, and carefully picked up the child. Afraid of causing further injury, his movements were extremely cautious, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

The children who had recovered from their shock gathered around, chattering noisily.

“Where are you taking him?”

“Are you with them?”

“You’re bad!”

Captain Cai quickly explained that he was taking the child to the hospital.

The children exchanged glances and, half-doubtful, reluctantly made a little space.

One child suddenly rushed out and grabbed his leg. “Please, save my brother! He’s on that truck! He’s sick too, so sick he’s about to die! Please, save him!”

Once one started, another followed, and then a third.

An adult couldn’t very well scold a few-year-old child for being ignorant and foolish. Captain Cai’s head was spinning. His partner hurried over to help pull the children away from him, soothing them while silently cursing those outsiders in the car for not getting out to help.

What were they even here for—sightseeing?

Captain Cai could only smile bitterly, especially hearing the children’s cries, feeling helpless.

He couldn’t bear to see them so heartbroken over their taken companions, but he also couldn’t make any promises.

At least, not right now.

While they were stuck in this standoff, a sudden dull crash came from a distance.

Both the children and the two officers were startled.

The children’s crying stopped instantly. A kid with a runny nose still had his mouth open, but no sound came out. His eyes instinctively turned toward the source of the noise—

The truck that had just been flaunting its defiance at the police car was stuck in the mud.

One side’s tires had rapidly deflated. The truck driver tried a series of frantic maneuvers, angrily slamming the steering wheel and honking the horn, but the vehicle wouldn’t budge an inch.

There was no way they could be this unlucky!

They quickly realized something must have happened.

The driver scanned left and right. He saw new police cars approaching from both ends of the road, with an ambulance following one of them. Now the road was completely blocked.

At times like this, decisiveness was key.

The driver gritted his teeth, jumped out of the truck, and scrambled up a small slope nearby, ignoring the thorny bushes, then bolted into the forest.

A police car stopped nearby, and two officers got out, chasing after him with guns drawn.

The rest of the officers surrounded the truck from a distance, not daring to act rashly.

In the back of the truck, the five men responsible for “loading” each held a gun and grabbed a child.

The muzzles were pressed against the children’s heads. The children covered their own vital spots.

Unless the police could simultaneously shoot all suspects standing at different positions and angles, they would hurt the children in their hands—or even the ones around them.

The situation was at a stalemate.

In a hidden corner no one noticed, Chu Chenli and his two companions had somehow already reached the top of the slope, with a perfect view of everything inside and outside the truck.

“That’s a lot of people,” Fang Xiyu remarked, also finding it tricky.

Killing the criminals alone would be easy. But the key was ensuring the children’s safety—that was the hard part.

“I should have called Hua Jin over,” Fang Xiyu sighed regretfully. “Even if we accidentally hurt someone, he could still save them.”

Children were too fragile.

It seemed like the slightest force could easily break them.

“He should be on his way,” Chu Chenli said.

“…” Fang Xiyu was silent for a moment, still in disbelief. “You actually called him? During that phone call just now?”

“Yes.” Chu Chenli kept his eyes fixed on the situation below, perhaps to relieve tension, while peeling bark off a nearby tree as he explained, “Kidnapping children like this couldn’t have been sanctioned by the Central Base. People in the city wouldn’t have the motive or ability to orchestrate this. It could only be traitors, or—”

“Insiders,” Mu Yanshen interrupted. “The ordinary civilian area of the Central Base has the largest population and the best protection.”

“Perfect experimental raw materials,” Fang Xiyu murmured, finishing the thought.

“Actually, when the captain first took over the Central Base, he found cases like this,” Chu Chenli continued.

“Child trafficking?” Fang Xiyu looked down.

The police had gradually surrounded the truck and were tightening the circle, but still, no one dared act.

The standoff would likely continue for a while.

Fortunately, doctors from the ambulance carefully made their way around from a slightly farther distance. No one stopped them. They hurried toward the head-injured child and began performing emergency first aid on the spot.

Captain Cai and his driver colleague stood guard beside the medical team.

“…Someone shared experimental data from the Central Research Institute with other independent bases,” Chu Chenli said quietly, still talking about Shen Xuanyi’s case.

“Shared?” Mu Yanshen sneered. “Not sold or traded?”

“Some did that. But some genuinely believed research data should be shared unconditionally.” Regardless of whether the behavior was right, such overly idealistic and naive people existed everywhere.

Unfortunately, among those independent bases, the one that most needed shared data was Yingchen Base.

And coincidentally, that same base was responsible for the most wrongdoing.

No matter the original intention, some people in the Central Base had become accomplices to evil.

“And then?” Fang Xiyu asked.

“They were dealt with,” Chu Chenli said. “Some directly defected to Yingchen Base and are now on wanted lists. Some died while fleeing. Others are currently imprisoned in jails. A few who made up for their mistakes are still doing labor reform in some unimportant positions.”

It was handled without any fuss—that was definitely the captain’s style.

Fang Xiyu initially thought the story sounded unfamiliar. In fact, he was the one truly “on the ground,” the one who should have heard the most inside information.

Many people in the base loved to gossip about Shen Xuanyi, but he had never heard this rumor about Yingchen Base.

Fang Xiyu couldn’t help asking, “A’li, how do you know about this?”

“I asked the captain, and he told me,” Chu Chenli said. “Yingchen Base suddenly knowing about you and me couldn’t have come from them sitting in meditation and having an epiphany out of thin air.”

He found it strange, so he directly asked Shen Xuanyi.

Fang Xiyu: “…That simple?”

Chu Chenli looked somewhat puzzled. “What’s so complicated about it?”

Fang Xiyu thought back carefully. Actually, Shen Xuanyi hadn’t deliberately hidden anything from them. It was just that they always felt the captain had his own plans and never took the initiative to ask.

It seemed that being too “considerate” could sometimes make you miss a lot.

While Fang Xiyu was lost in thought, the deadlock below remained unchanged.

The criminals demanded a new vehicle and that the police not follow them. The police naturally agreed verbally, telling them not to hurt the children while stalling for time.

But one of the criminals was clearly getting impatient.

Up on the slope, Chu Chenli had already peeled off a layer of tree bark. His gaze swept from the foreheads of the criminals down to their necks, as if calculating which spot was best to strike.

—Below that were the children being held hostage.

Fang Xiyu suddenly asked, “Are all five of them bad people?”

Leaning against a tree, Mu Yanshen said listlessly, “They all have rape records. One participated in a gang rape, two raped underage girls, one did both gang rape and raping an underage girl. They’ve all killed people—two killed their own companions to steal food, one killed a witness to his crime, and the case never got solved even when the disaster hit. Two were hit-and-run drivers—one killed someone on the spot, the other injured someone but didn’t want to pay the hefty medical bills, so he ran them over and killed them.”

“Two of them had thoughts about the kidnapped children but didn’t go through with it because even the other scumbags thought that was too despicable. Does that give you a little more peace of mind?”

“Yeah,” Fang Xiyu nodded. “Vigilante justice is still different.”

Still, he pressed Mu Yanshen again: “It’s only five people. Can’t you just control them all at once?”

“At this distance—” Mu Yanshen gestured. “Unless I turn the whole area into my domain, it’s not that safe. I wouldn’t mind, but if a kid gets hurt accidentally, you’d all cry, wouldn’t you?”

The two of them argued quietly behind him, but it no longer affected Chu Chenli.

He slowly shifted his stance, adjusted his angle, and raised his finger to aim at the center of each of the five criminals’ foreheads.

Wood shavings drifted in the air like late-spring willow catkins—annoying but hardly something you’d pay attention to.

One of the criminals arrogantly grabbed a child by the neck. Seeing the police flinch in fear, he burst into loud laughter.

—Perfect angle.

Chu Chenli narrowed his eyes and silently said, Bang.

The next second, all sound ceased.

The laughing criminal seemed to have been muted. His face still wore an exaggerated grin, his eyes slightly widened, and his whole body leaned back.

At first glance, it looked like he was laughing so hard he might faint.

But then he fell flat on his back onto the truck bed, shaking it slightly. The children still inside let out a frightened whimper.

The criminal stared with wide, terrifying eyes, but there was no life in them.

The other four suffered the same fate.

They didn’t even have time to show surprise before their bodies went limp and collapsed.

The children who had been used as hostages fell on top of them. They squirmed, trying to escape the corpses behind them.

The police finally snapped out of it and rushed forward.