Passing through towering trees and hillsides covered by layers of vegetation, there was a small path leading to Qiju Peak. A convoy of several SUVs gradually appeared at the end of the mountain road and flew up to the mountaintop shrouded in clouds and mist in the distance in just a few moments.
Wang Pengfei was nearly fifty years old, and his figure was on the fat side. There were several layers of messy ivory tourmaline and rosewood prayer beads wrapped around his wrists, and he was twisting them from time to time. This man had probably lived along the coast for a long time and was not used to the severe cold in the deep mountains. Several layers of sweaters and down jackets made him even bulkier and bloated, and one person alone almost occupied the entire row of the back seat, squeezing Old Cai so tightly that he could only cling to the car window.
Jiang Ting sat on the side, his back was habitually straight, and his hands were naturally placed on his overlapping thighs. Wang Pengfei looked him up and down suspiciously, probably feeling that the rumored Queen of Hearts was too thin and simple. After thinking for a long time, he finally coughed and asked with a smile, "Hey, don't you feel cold in such a light suit?"
Jiang Ting replied in neither warm nor cold tone: "I'm a local; I'm used to it."
Wang Pengfei nodded with a smile and then asked tentatively: "This is the deep mountains and forests, and you took the trouble to come and pick me up yourself; why don't you bring a few more people? The King of Spades doesn't feel distressed for his subordinates?"
Old Cai's facial muscles tightened beside him.
Jiang Ting slowly turned his head to look at Wang Pengfei, smiled strangely, and slightly pulled down the front zipper——Wang Pengfei saw a tiny microphone clipped inside his collar, and then he pressed the switch: "Hello, where are we?"
There were a few buzzes on the other end of the communication channel, and the tense voice of "Ghost Seeing Sorrow" came: "The target convoy has just passed the third section of the journey and is heading for the fourth section. It is expected to cross the Qijiu Peak in half an hour; over."
Wang Pengfei's eyes instantly straightened.
"There are the King of Spades' people along the way, who will escort us into Yunzhong village." Jiang Ting said meaningfully: "What one sees is not always true, Boss Wang. I think you should understand this after wandering in the rivers and lakes for so many years."
Wang Pengfei : "..."
Jiang Ting smiled at him, motioning for him to look at the green mountains and forests outside the car window. He didn't know if it was a psychological effect, but now that Wang Pengfei looked at the slightly swaying canopy at the mountain peak, he really felt a little jittery.
...…
Ma Xiang took the mic away from Gong A-Chi's mouth, who was tightly handcuffed, wiped it on his clothes, and gestured OK to the front. Seeing this in the rearview mirror, Yan Xie nodded and reached out to connect to the channel: "Team C11 prepare to follow up; Team C11 prepare to follow up. The target will cross the Qijiu peak in half an hour; over." There was a rustling sound from the channel: "Team C11 is following up! Over."
Yan Xie threw the walkie-talkie back.
This police car, which was temporarily taken from the Forest Police, was repainted in camouflage colors, following the positioning light spot on the navigator representing Jiang Ting, and rumbling through the mountains and forests.
...…
In winter, it got dark too early in the mountainous area. After 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the sky had already darkened.
The large SUVs stopped in the open space in front of the village, one after another. Before the first car could even stop completely, Old Cai hurriedly jumped down, opened the door, and supported Wang Pengfei. Immediately after Jiang Ting got out of the car and saw Qin Chuan striding toward him, saying in a loud voice, "I've been waiting for you for a long time! Why did you delay for so long in this freezing weather?"
Qin Chuan was wearing a jungle storm jacket, trousers, and hiking boots, with a gun and magazines at his waist. Such a sharp outfit was matched with a pair of elegant gold-rimmed glasses. Wang Pengfei didn't recognize him at first, but when he got near and took a closer look, he suddenly found a memorable fragment from the familiar pair of glasses, and he stepped back: "It's you?!"
Qin Chuan was innocent.
"Ah? Why is it you?!"
Jiang Ting coughed gently: "Over the years, Vice-Captain Qin has provided us with a lot of conveniences and is a very trustworthy ally. If he has had some contact with Boss Wang before, or if there is any misunderstanding, please forgive us, Boss Wang."
No one knew what Qin Chuan did to the surname Wang when he was a policeman. Wang Pengfei pointed at him tremblingly with a ghostly expression on his face: "That, that, that is now…"
"The goods are not here. They are in the factory warehouse, which is still two hours away from the village, and I will be the one to navigate next." Just as he finished speaking, he only heard a ding-dong on his mobile phone, and Qin Chuan said, "As expected, it came."
He took off his gloves and took out his mobile phone from the right pocket of his jacket, and sure enough, it was a new message from A-Jie. Jiang Ting glanced at the phone screen out of the corner of his eye and only saw a densely packed road map being displayed at a glance. Qin Chuan looked at it for a moment, then put away his phone and smiled: "Let's set off quickly; otherwise, we probably won't be able to reach there before dark."
Wang Pengfei didn't even want to say a word. He just turned around and got into the car angrily.
Qin Chuan shrugged helplessly, and while naturally stuffing the phone back into the pocket of the jacket, he turned to Jiang Ting and said with a smile, "I'll go over there to see if the fuel tank is filled. See you later."
Jiang Ting's eyes flickered slightly, and he suddenly pulled up his legs and followed him: "Wait!"
Qin Chuan didn't know why, so he stopped.
However, Jiang Ting did not stop and naturally led Qin Chuan to the off-road vehicle that was refueling in the distance: "Have you dealt with Wang Pengfei before?"
"Hmm…" Qin Chuan thought for a while: "Hmm, no. I just caught a few of his subordinates, and maybe cost him a few batches of his goods. Who knew he would react so strongly?"
The two walked side by side through the weedy open space, and Jiang Ting said: "Wang Pengfei is very suspicious. On the surface, he looks carefree, but in fact, he holds a grudge in his heart. When you are on the road with him later, try to avoid direct contact with him and make it a priority to arrive at the transaction site safely."
With Jiang Ting's status, there was nothing wrong with him telling Qin Chuan these words, but his personality wasn't such that he could say such things. Sure enough, Qin Chuan laughed: "Hey, why is Captain Jiang giving orders so carefully? You really heard me…"
Jiang Ting said calmly, "Because I almost got into an argument with him on the way here just now; otherwise, I wouldn't have said a word to you."
Qin Chuan's footsteps suddenly froze.
As quietly as lightning, Jiang Ting retracted his fingertips from the edge of his jacket pocket.
But Qin Chuan walked forward again in the next second, as if the pause just now were just a little surprise: "Ah? Why did you fight?"
"..." Jiang Ting breathed out: "Oh, I also dealt with him back then. When he was in Gongzhou, the police once surrounded his trading place. That bastard with the surname Wang pushed out his subordinates as scapegoats and slipped under the guns of the police. I didn't want to mention this at first, but as soon as he saw me, he felt uneasy, so he said a few more words."
Qin Chuan teased, "It turns out that Captain Jiang also missed criminals before; was it really a mistake or on purpose?"
At the same time, Jiang Ting held the corner of the phone with his two fingers and gently took it out of Qin Chuan's pocket.
"That was really a mistake," Jiang Ting said indifferently, "Wang Pengfei doesn't have that much cooperation with Wen Shao, let alone Wu Tun, so there's no need to do things for him."
At this moment, when the two were walking to the Humvee, the henchman quickly closed the fuel tank and got up when he saw them coming: "Brother Qin, it's already filled; let's go now."
Qin Chuan nodded and turned to Jiang Ting with a smile: "Okay, then let's talk about it first. You're staying here in Yunzhong village and waiting for the boss to come back, right? Then some other day…"
Jiang Ting's eyelids twitched.
The hard and cold cell phone was clinging to the inside of his cuff. If he raised his hand even a little, it might fall off.
"—By the way," Jiang Ting interrupted Qin Chuan abruptly, "I'm still a little unclear about the arrangements for evacuating down the mountain at night."
"What's not clear?"
There was already a layer of cold sweat oozing out on Jiang Ting's back, but his expression was still distant and flat. Before he could open his mouth and make up any words on the spot, he suddenly heard behind his back: "Hey! Hey! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Qin Chuan turned his head, and Old Cai ran over panting, and grabbed him: "Hey, Brother Qin——"
Qin Chuan was stunned.
At this moment of stupefaction, old Cai had dragged him not far away and said, in a low voice and with a sad face: "To tell you the truth, our boss is sick! Tell me, what should we do now? It's not that we don't want to do this business and want to play tricks, but he he he…"
Qin Chuan was pulled across the open space. He forcibly pulled his hand back and stood still: "What's the matter?"
"He doesn't want to go with you!" Old Cai stomped his feet and stood behind Qin Chuan, covering Jiang Ting, who was not far away: "The boss said that the two of you had a feud and that you once said that you would kill him. Is this true? "
"..." The corners of Qin Chuan's mouth twitched slightly.
"I'll go and relieve myself," Jiang Ting said in a hurry, throwing off the henchman to the bushes behind the house. With his back to the open space, he quickly took out the mobile phone and entered the password he had already seen. The phone was successfully unlocked, and the topographic map sent by A-Jie just now appeared on the screen. Jiang Ting took his phone and took a photo, uploaded it, and clicked send.
A few seconds later, Chief Lu's cell phone buzzed in the headquarters at the foot of the mountain.
All the leaders at all levels who were waiting anxiously stood up at the same time.
Jiang Ting put away his phone, turned around, and walked out of the bushes as if nothing had happened.
"…If I really wanted to kill your Boss Wang, I would have done it a few years ago. There is no need to wait until now. Anyway, it is only a two-hour journey, and I will withdraw after reaching the trading place. If you are still worried about this, just don't do this business."
Qin Chuan patted Old Cai on the shoulder, stopped talking to him, stepped forward on the grass, and bumped into Jiang Ting head-on: "What's the matter? "
"Not a big deal. That bastard, surnamed Wang, was wasting time."
The phone slipped from Jiang Ting's sleeve into his palm, and he looked into Qin Chuan's eyes. At that moment, the two of them faced each other, only a short distance away.
Old Cai was hesitant to say anything behind him: "Hey, Brother Qin——"
"Are you done?" Qin Chuan tilted his head.
With a flick of Jiang Ting's wrist, the phone slipped into Qin Chuan's right pocket without anyone noticing it.
Old Cai blinked his eyes and raised his hands helplessly after being speechless for two seconds: "Okay, then I'll go back and persuade my boss. Hey! Who knew he'd be so unreasonable?" With that, he turned around and strode away.
Qin Chuan turned his head suspiciously, and Jiang Ting withdrew his hand without haste.
On his face, which had always been calm and relaxed, no one could see the thrilling details of what had just happened. He didn't even move his brows, only leaned over slightly, raised his hand to cover half of his side face, and whispered in Qin Chuan's ear: "Wen Shao asked someone to send some money to Old Cai, so he will persuade the surnamed Wang to be quiet. Just don't be alone with Wang Pengfei along the way, so as not to cause any trouble—"
Before the words could fall, Qin Chuan's upper body leaned back. He pulled a little distance away, his eyes lighting up playfully: "…Captain Jiang."
Jiang Ting: "?"
"This little one still wants to live a few more years. You be magnanimous as an adult and let me have a way to live."
Jiang Ting: "..."
Qin Chuan was full of sincere regret, bowed politely, and then raised his feet to get into the car.
...…
The convoy started slowly under the cloudy sky, and the Hummer turned around in the open space and drove toward the entrance of the village.
Qin Chuan was taking Wang Pengfei's convoy to the hidden drug manufacturing factory that had been hidden for a long time. After the transaction was completed, the King of Spades would return to Yunzhong village first, and then they would go down the mountain together at night.
However, now that the road map of the trading site has been sent to the command center, the S Provincial Criminal Investigation Corps, Jianning Criminal Investigation, Anti-Drugs Division, Technical Division, and SWAT Anti-Explosion Brigade will dispatch a large number of elite firepower to surround the trading site. Whether this huge drug cartel that had been active for many years could be wiped out in one fell swoop depends on this last life-and-death struggle.
The north wind whistled across the top of the mountain, and Jiang Ting took a deep breath of cold air mixed with the smell of rust, lifting his spirits despite the stinging pain in his lungs.
There were footsteps behind him, and the subordinate stepped forward to ask for instructions: "Brother Jiang, will you go to the back room and rest?"
—They really won't let him stay alone for too long.
Jiang Ting didn't make a sound. He turned around and walked toward the village. The subordinate chased after him: "Brother Jiang, have you seen Brother Ghost and the others? Why didn't they come back with you?"
"We separated the two cars, and they were behind us."
The subordinate didn't dare to ask any more questions and just hummed. Then suddenly, he heard the roar of the engine coming from the end of the dirt road in the distance and subconsciously blurted out: "Hey? They're back!"
How is that possible? Jiang Ting turned around unexpectedly.
Sure enough, it was not Gong A-Chi and his two henchmen, who had been long dead, but the Humvee that had just left—Qin Chuan!
The subordinate asked doubtfully, "Did Brother Qin drop anything?"
Jiang Ting's expression changed.
For some reason, when he saw the Hummer turning back, his eyelids twitched suddenly, and his heart palpitations hit his throat for no reason. The next moment, the tires squeaked and stopped in front of him, and then the window was lowered——
Jiang Ting raised his face, which was already bloodless, so no one noticed that his face turned pale at this moment. He saw Qin Chuan's half-smiling eyes behind the car window, holding his mobile phone meaningfully and shaking it toward him:
"Hey, Captain Jiang." He smiled, "I suddenly have something I want to talk to you about."