Chapter 5: The 12 Great Troubles

  With Old Wei's "encouragement", Xiao Bin's feet seemed to have lightened up a lot, and the sunshine made everything in front of him bright. Xiao Bin almost ran all the way forward, passing through the canyon and finding that patch of shrubbery. He quickly recognized the trail he had taken before and followed it up the slope, crossing over a thicket, using his hands and feet to continue climbing upwards. The road was just ahead, and in his heart, he muttered: "Head, don't worry, I'll find it soon, there are still hundreds of meters, you can sleep for a while longer..."

  Xiao Bin climbed up the hillside, and that familiar dirt road appeared in front of him. Xiao Bin saw several police officers searching for clues on the road surface. He swayed back and forth as he stood up, shouting: "I'm over here... I'm over here..."

  Several police officers were squatting by the roadside, carefully plucking up a shell casing that was already covered in mud with tweezers. They had just put the shell casing into a plastic bag when they heard a hoarse voice shouting from behind them. Turning their heads around, they got a fright!

  Xiao Bin's pants had been torn to shreds by sharp branches at some point, leaving only a few strips of fabric fluttering in the wind. His shoes were caked with mud, making it impossible to see their original color. He was only wearing a thin thermal underwear on top, which had also been ripped open by branches in several places. His eyes were sunken, his eyelids red and swollen, as he stumbled towards them, shouting something along the way.

  Several police officers rushed over to support Xiao Bin, and one of the police officers couldn't hold back his excitement, holding a walkie-talkie and shouting: "Command center! Command center! We found one! He's still alive, he's still alive!" Completely forgetting that they were in a deep mountain area with no external communication.

  Several police officers lifted Xiao Bin up together, put him in the car, and one of them took off his uniform to cover him with warmth. He rummaged through the trunk to find a bottle of water and two pieces of bread for Xiao Bin. Sitting by the car, Xiao Bin poured half a bottle of water into his dry throat in an instant, and then devoured the bread.

  "Don't rush, don't rush, eat slowly, don't choke! Huang Pengcheng, hurry up and bring another bottle of water!" The leader was the head of the trace investigation team. He was much older than Xiao Bin, with white hair, and couldn't help but feel a little heartache when he saw Xiao Bin eating with his head down, swallowing a piece of bread in two bites. What kind of suffering had this child endured these past few days?!

  Xiao Bin finished eating the bread, "gulp gulp" and drank half a bottle of mineral water. He was panting and didn't speak, but his pale face gradually turned rosy.

  "Is there anyone else?" The team leader asked as he saw Xiao Bin slowly coming over, although he already had an answer in his heart, everyone was hoping for a miracle to happen.

  Xiao Bin was stunned for a moment, and tears suddenly flowed down: "Tou Er... he's asleep..."

  This answer made all the police officers present very disappointed. However, at this point, they could only send Xiaobin back first and then organize a team to enter the rescue operation.

  The team leader said softly: "Don't worry, we'll send you back first."

  "I'm not in a hurry, I'm not in a hurry, my head just fell asleep, he's still waiting for me to pick him up..." Xiaobin muttered, his expression somewhat dazed.

  "You go lie down first..." The team leader gently pressed him onto the back seat of the car, and Xiao Bin obediently lay down. Although the back seat was not as comfortable as a bed, compared to the outdoor ground, this was already heaven. As soon as Xiao Bin's back touched the seat, he felt an irresistible drowsiness coming over him, his eyelids closing heavily like they were pressed by a thousand pounds. But his mouth still murmured: "Head, I'll sleep for a while, and I'll come pick you up right away..."

  "Huang Pengcheng, you and the driver send him back, remember to notify the command center as soon as there is a signal." The team leader instructed: "Be careful when driving on the road, don't have any more accidents!"

  "What? What are you going to do?" The investigation team only brought one car, and after it left, the remaining police officers had to walk tens of miles back.

  "Don't worry about us for now, the command center will send a car to pick us up later, let's hurry." The team leader urged, Huang Pengcheng and the driver got in the car and started the engine.

  "Pay attention to his condition on the road, is there an emergency kit in the car?" The team leader was still worried and reminded again.

  "Yes, yes..." Huang Pengcheng replied in succession.

  The car drove down the mountain road, and the driver was focused on driving. Huang Peng looked back at Xiao Bin, who was sleeping in the back seat from time to time. He looked anxiously at the continuous mountains, staring at the signal bars of his phone and walkie-talkie. Finally, a signal bar appeared on his phone, and he hastily dialed the command center's phone number: "Command center... Command center... We found a survivor... He's fine... Hello... Hello..."

  Unfortunately, the signal was too poor, and the phone signal that had just connected dropped again. The command center only heard a few fragmented sentences intermittently.

  "What's the situation? What's the situation?" Qin Minghui in the command center learned that it was a call from the trace investigation and identification group, looked at his watch, and they should not be within the communication range at this time. Had there been significant progress in the trace investigation?

  "I didn't quite catch that. What was it you said? We... nothing..." The operator shook her head.

  "What about the communication security vehicle?" Qin Minghui said, "Amplify the signal, whether it's a walkie-talkie or mobile phone, continuously call to figure out what happened."

  Huang Pengcheng was also anxiously staring at the infuriating red cross on his phone's signal bar, and he didn't give up, dialing a few more times, but none of them could get through. The walkie-talkie's calls were only answered by the buzzing sound of electricity so far, with no one responding.

  Huang Pengcheng irritably took the intercom and knocked on the dashboard a few times, as if this could get him in touch with the command center, but after struggling for more than half an hour, there was still no progress.

  The walkie-talkie finally transmitted a few fragmented voices: "Trace team... Trace team... Received... Reply... Trace team..."

  "This is Trace Group, we've found one, he's still alive, we're on our way back..." Huang Pengcheng pressed the walkie-talkie with conditioned reflex and said hastily.

  "Echo team... repeat, I didn't quite catch that..." Although the communications vehicle had amplified the signal, it was still patchy due to the mountains blocking the way.

  "We've found a survivor, repeat... We've found a survivor, hey! Can you hear me?"

  The signal suddenly seemed normal at this time, and the command center sent back a response: "Heard, found a survivor..."

  Qin Minghui spent a few days in the mountains with no progress, and there were many tasks to be handled at the command center. He rushed back to the command center at noon and had just finished dealing with the current situation when he heard news of survivors. He let out a heavy sigh of relief, thinking that as long as there were survivors, the case wouldn't go cold. But immediately his heart sank again. He grabbed the walkie-talkie and asked: "Evidence team, this is Qin Minghui. Who are the survivors? What's their condition? Is there any news about another person?"

  "Director, the survivor is the younger one. He should be fine and has fallen asleep now. The situation of the other person is unclear, I heard him say he fell asleep earlier." Huang Pengcheng replied.

  "Fallen asleep?!" Qin Minghui was stunned for a moment, then reacted immediately, this is a synonym for sacrifice, and his mood suddenly became heavy again.

  "Qin Minghui understands, please ensure his safety." Qin Minghui ended the call and shouted: "Little Li, get the doctor ready to receive the wounded."

  Xiao Bin remained unconscious, and when the car arrived at the command center, an ambulance was already waiting. Everyone lifted Xiao Bin onto the ambulance without him waking up, and the ambulance rushed to the county hospital with its siren blaring.

  Xiao Bin, who was in a coma, could not provide more intelligence at this time. Lao Wei was still lying in some corner of the mountain, and Qin Minghui ordered the search and rescue troops to regroup and focus on searching several canyons near the site of the exchange of fire.

  Qin Minghui finished arranging everything and irritably reached out to look for a cigarette. Suddenly, he heard a commotion outside and went out to ask: "What's going on?"

  Xiao Li made a great effort to block several reporters carrying cameras and holding microphones, explaining: "They insist on seeing you..."

  Xiao Li had barely finished speaking when the reporter rushed to Qin Minghui's side: "Director Qin, Director Qin, I heard that two police officers were ambushed in the mountains. Can you tell us about the situation..."

  Qin Minghui stretched out his hand to block the microphone and said, "The case is still under investigation at present. Everything should be based on the information released by the Public Security Bureau. You shouldn't make random guesses..."

  "Just now I saw an ambulance leaving, they said a survivor was found..." The reporter asked again, trying to dig out some valuable news.

  "Who are they? I said, everything is based on the information released by the Public Security Bureau!" Qin Minghui's fiery temper was ignited, and he impatiently said: "Please leave immediately, don't interfere with our work!"

  Just as he had dealt with the annoying reporter on this side, the propaganda department's phone followed up: "Director, the media is now requesting to report..."

  Tonight is different from the past, it's unrealistic to deceive the media, but sometimes the media will seriously hinder the police's investigation work for a piece of news. Qin Minghui thought for a moment: "Draft a press release and let me review it first."

  "Understood, Director." The Propaganda Department knew that this meant they had to satisfy the media's curiosity while not affecting the progress of the case, which was their job.

  Not long after, the Public Security Bureau's Propaganda Department issued a press release to various media outlets. The press release stated that two police officers were ambushed by unknown individuals while handling a case, and search and rescue operations as well as pursuit efforts are currently underway. One injured police officer has been found, but no further details will be disclosed.

  But the all-pervasive media still captured the implicit information in this press release - the police were ambushed, and the location was on the border, which must have bigger news behind it. The media suppressed their excitement and waited for the next press release from the Public Security Bureau. However, some irresponsible small media had already added oil to the fire and fabricated stories to attract attention.

  Lin Chaohui has a habit of browsing domestic news, and such explosive news is usually seen on the internet at the first time.

  Lin Chaohui and others solved the old Wei, then quickly withdrew from the mountainous area, handed over the goods to the next family before the police had time to set up a cordon, but on their way back, the police had already set up a dragnet, they are now hiding in a small hotel in the county town waiting patiently for the opportunity to cross the border.

  Lin Chaohui judged that even if Xiao Bin escaped into the depths of the mountains, his chances of survival were slim to none. This mountain forest was all too familiar to him, with many places where no one had ever set foot before. The news of a survivor was like a nuclear bomb exploding in his heart!

  In the past few days, police have come to inspect the hotel, but they didn't suspect them at all. The flustered villagers couldn't remember their faces clearly. Two days ago, several police officers showed Lin Chaohui a portrait and asked if he had seen it before, but the portrait was really far from what Lin Chaohui looked like. Wang Licheng saw his own portrait and wanted to kill the villager who drew it - although he's ugly, he wasn't that insulting! The portrait of Wang Licheng had all his facial features twisted together, at first glance, it looked like a monkey's prankster...

  It's impossible to ask a villager who has never received any military training to remember the face of his opponent in such a tense moment, and the police can only show this awkward-looking portrait while visiting. But Xiaobin was different, Lin Chaohui, who had fought with Xiaobin before, felt that they could escape from the pursuit of two mercenaries under absolute firepower disadvantage, which would not be an ordinary policeman! What surprised him even more was that the escaping policeman actually escaped the lynching in the woods again! He firmly believed that his appearance had been engraved in Xiaobin's mind, and as long as he showed a little weakness, Xiaobin would come after him like a hunting dog smelling the scent.

  Only the dead won't reveal secrets. Lin Chao Hui's way of survival is that he knows how to make those who know too much shut up.

  Lin Chaohui's mouth slightly curved into a gloomy smile, his fingers slowly scrolling through his phone. To many people, news was just a way to pass the time, but in Lin Chaohui's eyes, the information revealed by the news could be a matter of life and death.

  Lin Chaohui finished reading the news and called over the mercenaries: "Bobby, come with me to the county hospital tonight. Lin Zi, the message from the waterway has arrived, it should be safe. You take them three to leave by waterway first tonight."

  That mercenary named Bobby looked puzzled: "Aren't we going together?"

  "There's another policeman coming back, in the hospital, this is a big trouble." Lin Zhaohui said slowly.