Chapter 21: Hell's Walking Dragon, Shocking Transformation and Soul Stunning

  A group of soldiers with live ammunition and camouflage uniforms, wearing distinctive cloth camouflage hats, their bodies covered in dust, but unable to conceal the sharp and heroic aura that emanated from these young warriors. The aura, which seemed to exude a cold and fierce energy, gave Ye Haodong a sense of déjà vu, reminiscent of the young man who had followed Fang Junting in Steel City. There were only twelve people, but their equipment was enough to wipe out an entire SWAT team. What was special was not just these soldiers, but also the object they were escorting, which was naturally extraordinary. The eight prisoners looked like they were from different ethnic groups, and they all shared a common characteristic: they looked disheveled and exhausted, with a reckless and fearless glint in their eyes, each with a robust physique, seemingly the type of people who would disregard life and death.

  Ye Haodong happened to overhear He Ruqiu talking to the team leader when arranging food and lodging for these prisoners, only then did he know that these people were actually violent elements from the Western Tujue organization who had been pursued deep into the desert by several soldiers, and are now being prepared to be escorted to Shi Wei Zi City.

  Ye Haodong led the way, with four warriors escorting eight people behind him. As they passed by Aigul's place, they happened to run into Aigul coming out from inside.

  A Uyghur youth-like prisoner saw Aigul and whispered a sentence in Uyghur, Aigul was startled, looked at him with surprise, after seeing the man's appearance clearly, Aigul showed a look of shock and worry, and quickly walked away with her head down.

  Ye Haodong noticed something unusual, but he didn't plan to do anything about it. His current identity was just a prisoner, and he wasn't going to report to his superiors that he had noticed the deputy commander of the Eighth Agricultural Division, Ma Ti Gongjiang's daughter, seemed to know an inmate, and they exchanged a sentence, with results that didn't need guessing. So Ye Haodong pretended not to see anything, following the squad leader's instructions, and arranged for these people to be placed in the most heavily guarded rear courtyard. The area was backed by a steep and rugged mountain wall that was impossible to climb, with an open view of the front and sides, and additional sentries were added to the defense. The house was also the sturdiest, specifically designed to hold serious offenders.

  The prisoner was shackled from head to toe, and only after the locks were securely locked did the four soldiers feel at ease and leave to rest in the front yard.

  The sky was filled with dark clouds, and the heavens seemed to be pressing down heavily. It wasn't even 7 o'clock in Beijing time yet, but it had already turned pitch black here. After 7 o'clock, the rain started pouring down, getting heavier and heavier, until it became a torrential downpour that couldn't be stopped. The loose soil structure behind the backyard couldn't withstand this level of rainfall, and a severe landslide finally occurred. A mudslide came rolling in, burying everyone inside the house like prisoners locked up like Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs. And all of this happened quietly, without even the sentry standing guard at the front of the house noticing the mudslide rolling in from behind.

  The heavy rain reduced the possibility of the offender's escape while also reducing the sentry's defensive awareness, and he hid in the house when the rain was the heaviest.

  Aygul's slender figure appeared at this moment, the people in the house had their knees and below wrapped in mud and stones, and their waists were also covered in yellow muddy water. Aygul saw these eight people struggling to move towards the door, their speed slower than a snail. In her anxiety, she couldn't care about anything else, so she quickly threw the handcuff key into the room, targeting the Uyghur youth who knew her.

  The key was thrown in, and Aiguliyu decided to run back to report the situation to the middle team. Among the eight prisoners trapped in the house, two had quickly escaped, one of whom was a agile young Uyghur who chased out and grabbed Aiguliyu's hand. The other prisoner rushed towards the sentry post, and Aiguliyu screamed loudly after seeing him clearly, but unfortunately, the rain was too heavy, and her voice did not pierce through the rain curtain to reach the ears of the armed police inside the sentry post. The sneaking prisoner was like a strong and agile wolf, moving swiftly and silently, and in the blink of an eye, he had already snuck into the sentry post. The sentry on duty only managed to fire one blank shot before being approached by the prisoner, who then took away his gun. The prisoner's movements were swift and confident, and with one hand grabbing the gun stock and the other heavily hitting the sentry's lower jaw, where there was a point that could quickly knock someone unconscious, the sentry fell to the ground with a thud. The man took advantage of the situation to seize his submachine gun.

  This guy didn't intend to give up, he picked up the gun and used the butt of the gun to heavily hit the soldier's head, then said to the Uyghur youth in Chinese: "Quickly take care of this woman, let's go."

  The Uyghur youth hesitated, and the man fiercely reminded him: "Gulihanjiang, don't forget your oath! A woman..." Before he could finish speaking, the house where they were being held captive let out a loud rumble and turned into a pile of rubble. At that time, five people were still unable to escape. The man looked over and his eyes widened in an instant, disregarding everything as he grabbed his gun and rushed forward, shouting sorrowfully: "Old Three, Third Brother!" However, no matter how hard he shouted, the five people had no chance of crawling out alive. The concrete building had collapsed into a pile of rubble less than one meter high, and if there were people inside, they would be buried under the mud and debris with no chance of survival. The man quickly calmed down, staring at Gulihanjiang: "Don't waste any more time, let's go quickly! If we wait for the guards to change shifts, we'll all be finished. Now is our only chance to gain some extra time."

  Gulihanjiang still couldn't make up his mind, his trembling voice said: "Let's take her with us."

  The man first wanted to refuse, but soon changed his mind and agreed. He instructed another survivor to follow Guli Jiang with Aygul and escape with him. The silhouettes of the four people quickly disappeared into the rain curtain, and the heavy rain quietly covered up their footprints.

  Half an hour later, the sentry on duty discovered the situation and reported it in a hurry. Several soldiers of the troops who were taking a short rest heard the news and were shocked. They rushed to the scene under the leadership of their squad leader. The sentry who had fainted in the guard tower just woke up but was still in a semi-comatose state, unable to say anything clearly. The traces at the scene could no longer be identified, and everything was unclear. Seeing this situation, the special forces squad leader frowned, coldly staring at He Ruqiu and Lin Xiangwu and other company cadres, without saying a word.

  "This time's incident is really too big," Lin Xiangwu said with a shocked and frightened tone in the office.

  Deputy Captain Zhao Erjie worried: "Those special soldiers have all gone to pursue the escaped prisoners, in such a big rain they are just a few people, it's too hard to find those few people in the vast desert, we should immediately organize manpower to cooperate with them to chase the escapees."

  Luo Si walked in hastily, not even bothering to wipe the rain off his face. His voice was laced with excitement: "Ye Haodong has brought over a dozen prisoners and they've already broken into the house. They found five corpses inside, but only three people managed to escape."

  He Ruqiu's face showed no comfort. Seriously: "One case is a shocking and earth-shaking case, these people are planning to make trouble during the July 1st handover ceremony, we must not let them escape one person, otherwise we will be accountable to the country and the party, and to those civilians whose lives will be threatened by these people. If something big happens later, none of us can escape."

  Ye Haodong knocked on the door from outside and shouted a report. He Ruqiu felt a bit strange, what was this kid doing here at this time?

  Ye Haodong walked in with a heavy gait, holding a pair of handcuffs that had just been opened, with a key inserted into them. The number on the key indicated that it belonged to the management personnel of this prison. At the same time, Ye Haodong said in a low tone: "A button was found at the scene, which is a special feature of the female uniform worn by Aigul. I just went to Aigul's courtyard and Wang Fang said she had gone out."

  He Ruò Qi's eyes suddenly became sharp: "What did you say? A Yī Gū Lì? Are you saying..."

  Ye Haodong nodded: "Yes, it was her. One of the Uyghur people knew her, and the two met on their way to the backyard. Aygul's expression at that time was very unnatural, and the Uyghur man even said a sentence to her in Uyghur."

  He Ruò Qi's face was pale, and she nodded at Ye Hao Dong in a very formal tone: "Alright, the information you provided is important. We will make arrangements accordingly. If there's nothing else, you can return to the miscellaneous affairs group cell."

  Ye Haodong didn't back down, instead he took a step forward. He understood that once he said those words, he no longer had the opportunity to retreat. Ayiguli's father held an extremely important position in this region, even surpassing that of his superior, He Dashan. By saying those words, Ye Haodong meant that if this matter couldn't be resolved smoothly, when it came time to settle accounts in the fall, he would become the first witness to testify against Ayiguli for letting a major criminal escape. Given the status of the Eighth Agricultural Division in Shiweizhen and the influence of Maite Gongjiang, getting rid of Ye Haodong quietly wouldn't be a big deal at all. Therefore, this matter had to be resolved now, and what Ye Haodong needed to do was not retreat, but advance! Advance his words, let He Ruqiu make a prompt decision, dispatch armed police soldiers to lead teams of prisoners with shorter sentences who have shown excellent behavior to expand the search area, and together go find those four people.

  "Those four people have been gone for so long, with unclear direction, armed and holding hostages. Every minute of delay may lead to unimaginable severe consequences. Relying solely on those few soldiers to search for them in this vast rain and desert is like looking for a needle in the ocean. I suggest you take decisive action immediately, arrange for inmates to supervise each other, with shorter-sentenced inmates monitoring longer-sentenced ones. Finally, assign a squad of soldiers to guard the remaining inmates. Additionally, organize a group of reformed inmates who have shown excellent behavior and divide them into four teams, each accompanied by a squad of armed police officers. This way, we can quickly set up an effective dragnet. Those three inmates have been struggling with hunger and cold for so many days, now it's nighttime and the rain is heavy, they won't be able to go far with hostages. As long as we get the direction right, we'll definitely catch up with them."

  Ye Haodong spoke quickly, finishing what he had to say in one breath. He Ruqiu listened seriously, and after a brief moment of consideration, finally made a decision.

  "Alright, let's do it this way. The instructor will lead a team, Zhao Erjie will lead a team, Li Delu and Liao Minghui will lead a team together, I'll lead a team, Ye Haodong will pick a few people to follow me. Now everyone go arrange your personnel, we'll set off in 10 minutes."