Tianzong Mountain.
The invisible minute hand in the void gradually points to the whole point, the sunset slowly sank into the forest, and the misty blood red is smeared in the field of vision through the eyelids.
Shen Xiaoqi's hand twitched violently and he woke up from the coma.
"….." He wanted to call out to Bu Wei, his chapped lips moved, but no sound came out. After a long time, his consciousness gradually became clear, and he suddenly found himself lying in the open space on the top of the hillside. The top of his head was densely covered with a fiery red phoenix tree, which seemed to be on fire under the last rays of the afterglow.
How did they get to the top of the mountain?
Shen Xiaoqi didn't think much about it, his attention was completely attracted by something not far away that could never have appeared here —— it was a bottle of water.
A bottle of mineral water was lying on the ground!
For several seconds, Shen Xiaoqi thought that he was hallucinating in a desperate situation, but his survival instinct completely overshadowed his reason. By the time he realised what he was doing, he had already climbed the steep slope with all his might and grasped the bottle of water tightly. He even spilt a few drops when he unscrewed the cap because of the excessive trembling.
How could there be water here? Who put it? Will it be poisonous?
Shen Xiaoqi couldn't think of anything. All of his mind and senses were concentrated on the extremely sweet liquid in his throat, and he couldn't think of anything else. He poured the whole bottle of water into his stomach before he stopped. As if he was dreaming, he stayed in place for a while, looking at the empty water bottle in his hand.
Immediately afterwards, in a flash, he remembered something, and his mind exploded——
Bu Wei!
Shen Xiaoqi suddenly turned his head, and before he could see the girl who had fainted not far away, all the things happened in an instant.
With a bang, the soil splashed, he suddenly lost weight, and the ground beneath him collapsed. The whole person fell into the ground pit with countless dead grass and floating dust!
...…
"The second exploration team hasn't made any progress!"
"The first team did not find the target!"
"The six exploration teams are expanding the search range to the surrounding area!"
The sound of the report came one after another on the walkie-talkie. Countless uniformed police officers led police dogs to trudge through the complex primitive mountains and forests. Suddenly, the barking sound rang out one after another.
Qin Chuan raised his phone: "This is the Fourth Exploration Team! There is a discovery!"
The police dog ran wildly in the woods, followed by the criminal police and search and rescue personnel. After a while, they only heard the dog bark coming from the thorny bushes behind the soil slope. In an instant, everyone was overjoyed, and Qin Chuan didn't care that he almost stepped on the potholes and broke his feet. He rushed to the front, took out the machete equipped by the search and rescue team, and slashed it fiercely to split the thorny bushes.
"Bark!" "Bark" "Bark!"
The search and rescue team members lost their voices in excitement: "Surely found it!"
Qin Chuan threw the machete, and in a hurry, he didn't care about anything else, and forcefully pushed aside the thorny bushes with his hands——
...…
"Cough, cough, cough…"
The pit was filled with smoke and dust, and the fall was at least two metres deep, almost knocking Shen Xiaoqi's lungs out of his throat.
His fractured left arm was completely immobile. Fortunately, he was cushioned by the grass and leaves so that nothing major happened. After an unknown amount of time, Shen Xiaoqi finally stopped his bloody cough, barely supported himself with his unbroken arm, and got up from the wet soil under him. Suddenly, he felt that the touch under his hands was not right.
He took a closer look, and what was in front of him turned out to be half a rotten face, the eyeballs that were clouded into grey stared straight at him.
Shen Xiaoqi's mind went completely blank, his whole body was shaking as if electrified, he wanted to crawl away but his limbs were weak.
"Ah…ah…"
It seemed like a century before an inhuman scream finally burst out from his throat, which had been stretched to the extreme: "Ahahahah....!!"
In a trance, the corpse turned into a face with a wide-open mouth and a strange smile, the bones were moved up and restrained his hands. Shen Xiaoqi rolled and crawled back like a madman, screaming and kicking his legs. The tone of his voice was indescribably scary until the back of his head slammed into the stone on the edge of the pit with a thud and finally, his eyes went blank.
Before he lost consciousness, he heard a voice above his head, as if someone had finally rushed over and stopped at the edge of the pit.
"…The police are coming, and they are searching the mountains…"
"It's too late..."
Shen Xiaoqi's ears were buzzing and he couldn't hear anything else, he collapsed on the ground with a sudden loss of consciousness.
Until the last moment, before his consciousness disappeared, he was still holding the empty mineral water bottle tightly in his hand.
...….
Clash! The thorny bushes were pushed aside with bare hands, and Qin Chuan jumped with his body propped up, stepped forward a few steps, and suddenly stopped.
The policemen followed up one after another, and they were all stunned there for a while.
Several police dogs barked anxiously, sniffing back and forth, but there was no one on the back of the grass-covered slope. Not to mention Shen Xiaoqi and Bu Wei, there was not even a shadow of a ghost except for this group of policemen.
Qin Chuan panted and raised his hand to look at his watch, it was already 8:05 — only the last four minutes left in this tug-of-war!
"The fourth exploration team, report the situation!" "How about Qin Chuan?" "The fourth exploration team, quickly report your situation!"…
There were shouts one after another on the walkie-talkie, but the scene was solemn and tense, no one answered or even made a sound. One of the forest search and rescue team members could not help but almost burst into tears, and kept saying, "What should we do, Deputy Qin; there is obviously nothing, but why is the dog barking…"
Suddenly, Qin Chuan stopped him with a wave of his hand. He stepped forward and crouched in the grass to search carefully for a while, then he carefully pulled out something from the dead branches with his fingertips.
"This is..."
"Clothes." Qin Chuan stared at the few strands of fabric under his fingernails that no one would notice if it wasn't searched carefully: "This dye may be the camouflage pants that Shen Xiaoqi wore."
The crowd rushed forward, and before they had time to take a closer look, at this moment, there was a movement in the distance, it was an indistinct scream, which caused the birds on the treetops to fly up and people to look up.
"Woof Woof Woof!!"
The police dogs rushed in the direction of the sound. Qin Chuan suddenly got up, and all the walkie-talkie channels in every corner of Tianzong Mountain simultaneously sounded with his roar: "Follow up!"
Turning through the wilderness and the bushes, covered by several trees, the sight suddenly opened up in front of them; a large phoenix tree like a blazing fire was glowing on a high place. The unpredictable scene made everyone stunned, and then they saw the police dog digging into the ground and running crazily to somewhere in the shade of the hillside.
"The fourth exploration team has found the target Phoenix tree. The police dog has found something and we are following up!" Qin Chuan put the walkie-talkie into his right shoulder and made three steps into two steps to keep up.
The search-and-rescue team stumbled through the jungle where people had not been passed for many years. The aerial roots hidden under the humus layer were crisscrossed, making them fall in every two steps they take. But at this time, no one cares about the pain. Many people rely on willpower to get up and then fall, and then get up again after falling. There were all kinds of noisy roars constantly coming from the walkie-talkie:
"Seven past eight!"
"Eight past seven and forty seconds!"
"Qin Chuan," Director Lu's steady voice came from the walkie-talkie. He said, "There's less than a minute left."
The nerves are getting tighter and tighter in everyone's minds, almost reaching the limit, and the invisible leads are gradually burning to the end——
Qin Chuan bit his back molars and shot twice into the sky with his gun. In the twilight, countless birds wrapped in fallen leaves chirped and flew away!
This is to deter possible kidnappers nearby; it is the same as sounding the horn of a police car, but no one knows whether it will work against such a deranged and perverted kidnapper. The policemen behind Qin Chuan stopped one after another and stared blankly at the darkened sky. Except for the echo of gunshots in the valley, the surroundings fell into a desperate silence.
The search and rescue time is obviously so short and hasty, but at this moment, every second is endlessly long.
Tick-tock–
At exactly 8:09, the floating dust stirred up by the footsteps slowly fell back to the ground.
Obviously, there was no sound, but it seemed like a heavy hammer smashed the invisible bomb in the void, and the barking of the police dog sounded in front!
"Found it!"
"There! There!!"
The roar tore everyone's eardrums, and the people from the search and rescue teams in the valley looked up at the same time. In the command car halfway up the mountain, Director Lu suddenly got up.
"Found it!" Qin Chuan ran towards the police dogs that were gathered together tens of metres in front of him. He didn't even notice how many times he had fallen, crawled, and stumbled. His voice was sharp and strange, and his tone changed: "Call the emergency team! Get the Ambulance up! Fast!!—"
Looking down from a height, Bu Wei and Shen Xiaoqi were lying quietly among the grass at the bottom of the hillside, and any breathing ups and downs couldn't be seen in their bodies.
A ray of light leaking from the canopy changed from pale yellow to dark blue, and the night opened its grand curtain. In the world, only the blood gushing out from the bodies of the teenagers became the last dazzling crimson colour.
...…
Jiangyang County Hospital, Outside the emergency room.
The red light went out, and the door was pushed open. At the same moment, Jiang Ting stood up abruptly, only to see the doctor walking out while taking off his mask.
"The bullet has been dug out, the operation was successful, and it can be said that the danger is out of the way. However, although the internal organs and major blood vessels were not injured, how could there be so much blood loss? He will need to recuperate for a while in the future. Young people must not know the importance…"
The world was spinning around, and the doctor's voice was getting farther and farther away, gradually turning into nothingness.
"What's the matter with you—Nurse! Nurse!"
Jiang Ting's eyes went blank, and his mind was in a trance, he felt as if he was being supported by others. It took several seconds for him to regain consciousness, and he was put on a bench by the medical staff. He sat down on the bench, surrounded by human voices.
"I'm fine, I'm fine…Thank you." Jiang Ting's hands trembled uncontrollably, he took the hot honey water that the nurse hastily brought, put it on his lips and took a sip.
"Comrade police," the head nurse squeezed out of the crowd and handed over the ringing mobile phone: "Your phone."
Jiang Ting's mobile phone has not been able to survive in the end. It was only ringing but does not turn on the screen, and he can't see the caller ID. He glanced at the screen, picked it up, put it in his ear and asked, "Hello?"
"Hey, Consultant Lu, it's me, Ma Xiang!"
Jiang Ting didn't have the strength to answer, he just looked up at the wall clock on the white wall.
"There is news from the scene of Tianzong Mountain. Consultant Lu, the hostages have been found! – Phoenix Tree! Bu Wei and Shen Xiaoqi are alive, both alive!!"
Ma Xiang's screaming sound was extremely noisy, he must have just received the news. Jiang Ting retracted his gaze, and the words that came out of his throat were hoarse and flat, without any sign of weakness. There was not even the slightest bit of anger or excitement, he only said, "I see."
"Deputy Qin is leading the people to block the entrance and exit of Tianzong Mountain, trying to catch the kidnapper overnight. After eating the bear's heart, the leopard dares to attack the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Municipal Bureau! This time we won't let go of even a single fly. We must uproot these grandchildren! …"
Jiang Ting cut off the call and gently tossed the phone beside him.
"Are you alright, comrade police?" The head nurse looked worriedly at his face which didn't look like a living person at all: "Come on you guys, help this police officer to the ward for a check-up, it may be a little acute hypotension, and ask someone to put two glucose up!"
Jiang Ting thanked him and was supported by the little nurse to walk forward. Then he suddenly struggled to stop.
"I'm sorry," he said in such a frighteningly low voice that one had to get close enough to hear it, but he was still polite: "Can you place me next to the policeman who was operated inside, if it's not troublesome…"
The head nurse quickly agreed. Jiang Ting nodded, turned around and was carefully supported away.
At nine o'clock in the evening, Jiang Ting, who had finished the examination, was lying in the ward with an infusion needle in his hand, and beside him was Yan Xie who had just been pushed forward to be placed here.
The chief expert personally led people to arrange various medical instruments and monitoring equipment and was busy for a long time until all the machines and hoses were in order, and the doctors and nurses withdrew one after another. As the door closed, the snow-white ward suddenly became quiet, only the heart rate monitor made a slow beeping sound and flashed red and green lights.
Jiang Ting turned his head and looked at the hospital bed next to him.
Yan Xie was wearing a breathing mask, and most of his face was covered, but his eyebrows and eyes were still clearly visible under his black hair and angular forehead.
"….." Jiang stopped and pulled out the infusion needle.
The backs of his hands were slender and white. The pale blue blood vessels were very obvious, and a drop of blood came out along with the needles, but he seemed to have felt nothing at all. He walked to Yan Xie's side on the bedside table, sat down and took a deep breath.
Yan Xie's heartbeat and vital signs were very stable. With the ups and downs of breathing, the oxygen mask glowed with warm white air. Jiang Ting grabbed his hand and held it tightly, feeling the hand full of tiny scars and calluses pressed against his palm, even to the point of a little pain.
The slight pain finally made him confirm that the man was still alive and lying in front of him.
Jiang Ting breathed out silently, raised his hand to smooth Yan Xie's frown even in a coma, and then took a closer look at his handsome face. There was a trace of warm and sad emotion in his eyes that he didn't even notice.
"…Still has a cautious look," he murmured, "stupid."
Jiang Ting was extremely tired, he leaned over to gently rest his forehead on Yan Xie's strong arm.
...…
The mountain forest had been completely plunged into darkness, the wind passed through the treetops, and the howls of wild beasts could be heard faintly from the distant hilltops. Several police cars surrounded the command car with their lights on. Qin Chuan had a satellite phone on his shoulder socket, "Hmm, yes", while he stretched out his hands and asked Gou Li to help bandage his scarred fingers.
"Old Yan is out of danger? Okay, I'll go, optimistic people. … Yes, the two victims should have fallen from the top of the hillside. It's hard to say whether they fell or someone pushed them. In addition, there is a pit at the top of the hill. There is a young male corpse in it. According to Li Yuxin's confession, it should be He Liang. It is ready to be sent to the city bureau with Lao Gou… Hi! It's not bad for a few hours after being buried for almost a year! …Yes, yes, I understand, I will contact the city bureau immediately if there is any situation."
"Deputy Qin, Deputy Qin!" Gao Panqing got into the car and said, "Come quickly, I have found something!"
Qin Chuan's hands were caught by Gou Li, who was smearing a yellow potion on both of his hands. He couldn't hang up the phone, so he maintained the posture of tilting his head and shrugged his shoulder: "What's wrong?"
Gao Panqing held up the evidence bag in his hand, and under the bright lights of the car, he saw an empty mineral water bottle in the bag: "This is found at the bottom of the pit where He Liang's body was buried, and there is still a small amount of water left at the bottom of the bottle, and there is also a bottle cap that has been installed separately."
——Mineral water bottle?
Qin Chuan took the evidence bag and looked at it in the light, and suddenly, he "hissed" and took a breath: "…He Liang's body was buried last July, right?"
Gou Li was puzzled: "Yeah, it's all white bones now."
"The production date of this bottle of mineral water… was three months ago."
The car suddenly fell silent; Qin Chuan, Gou Li, and Gao Panqing looked at each other, and a trace of chill slowly crept up along their spine.