Zhang Kui nervously pressed the accelerator, frequently glancing at the rearview mirror. Although only his arm was injured, the bullet had pierced straight through. At first he’d lost sensation, but now the pain was becoming increasingly clear and intense.
Gritting his teeth, he used his other hand to steady the steering wheel, but he felt he couldn’t hold on much longer.
He checked the rearview mirror again and confirmed: “Sixth Master! Surprisingly no one’s chasing us! Did they really let us go just like that?”
Ma Liu lay collapsed in the back seat, seemingly drained of strength, looking extremely weak. Yet the gun in his hand remained steadily aimed at Su Tong beside him.
Su Tong sat silently nearby, quiet as air.
Ma Liu snorted coldly, taking a long moment before responding with a mocking tone, “How could they chase? What would they chase with? Bicycles?”
Ma Liu knew very well – while the police were desperately pursuing him with all their resources partly to capture him, their main goal was to recover that child.
The police only had two vehicles: one brought down by provincial bureau personnel, and the other from the county police bureau – the county’s only vehicle, which they were now driving.
The town police station simply had no cars, at most a few bicycles…
When that woman reminded them earlier, he immediately realized – if they abandoned the child, the remaining vehicle would definitely take the child to the hospital first.
Now if they wanted to give chase, there wasn’t time to temporarily transfer vehicles from elsewhere. Unless they used bicycles…
Forget it!
How could bicycles catch up to a jeep!
So this time, they might actually escape!
Ma Liu studied the blood-covered girl sitting to his left. Now he absolutely refused to believe she was an ordinary village girl!
But the bloody hole in her head didn’t seem fake. She didn’t seem like police either – if she wanted to deceive them, she wouldn’t need to smash a hole in her head…
Of course, regardless of who she was or her purpose, it didn’t matter. Once they drove a bit further and confirmed no pursuers, she wouldn’t need to stay alive.
He wouldn’t leave a potential threat by his side.
The mountain road was rough to begin with. Before long, Zhang Kui was struggling to hold on.
The jeep’s shock absorption was poor to start with, and with the bumping, he simply couldn’t control the steering wheel with one hand. Several times the vehicle nearly veered into the deep ditch alongside the road.
Su Tong leaned back in her seat, relaxing her body to maximize rest for this form.
But Zhang Kui’s driving was truly dangerous. If they continued like this and had an accident, tumbling down the cliff, no one would survive.
Secretly calculating the time, she estimated they’d been driving from the village entrance for about half an hour, roughly twenty or thirty kilometers from the mountain pass entrance.
From “waking up” until now, there’d been no chance to catch her breath. After resting these several dozen minutes, she felt some strength returning to her body, though her head remained dizzy.
She had taken her own pulse – weak and erratic. Her body was malnourished, severely depleted.
Most likely the anesthesia Wang Guilan had forced on her wasn’t refined medicine. Her current condition wasn’t the drug wearing off, but rather showed signs of poisoning.
Although her condition remained poor, it was enough to deal with these two “injured patients” in the vehicle.
She wasn’t necessarily determined to be a hero and risk her life. For one thing, the child truly couldn’t afford further delay—she had witnessed numerous kidnapping cases and particularly despised those who targeted children!
For another, these two were either sick or injured, so she didn’t take them seriously. Since the police officers cared so much about these two, she might as well do what she could—it would also serve as upholding justice.
Although Ma Liu appeared fierce, his body was clearly compromised. Just by listening to his breathing, she could tell he was desperately suppressing pain.
His right hand held a gun but kept drifting unconsciously toward his right abdomen—whether from an injury or a latent illness flaring up was unclear. His left thumb still hooked the pull-ring of the improvised explosive, bobbing with the vehicle’s jolts yet never loosening.
However, in Su Tong’s eyes, such homemade explosives held little destructive power—she had dismantled far more sophisticated bombs before.
As the jeep took a sharp turn, Su Tong looked up. The headlights’ visible range swept a wide arc, clearly revealing a long downhill slope ahead, flanked by a mountain wall on one side and farmland on the other.
The vehicle noticeably accelerated with the incline. This was a good opportunity—right here.
Su Tong suddenly moved. Her hands flashed like lightning—her left hand clamped Ma Liu’s wrist while her right rapidly struck three acupoints along his left arm.
Ma Liu’s entire arm instantly went numb and aching. Before he could react, the ring was stripped from his left thumb, and the fuse at the bomb’s base was yanked out.
Yes, yanked out.
Despite the dim interior lighting, thirty minutes of close proximity had been enough for Su Tong to scrutinize every detail of this improvised explosive.
Simultaneously, she leaned forward and yanked the handbrake. The speeding vehicle immediately skidded sideways, one set of wheels lifting. Zhang Kui, caught off guard, slammed hard against the front pillar, his injured arm crushed as he let out a piercing scream.
Ma Liu was also thrown violently against the roof beam, his glasses shattering to pieces.
Su Tong immediately curled into a ball, protecting her head in the back seat. The rugged dirt road sent the vehicle lurching violently before crashing back to the ground, now out of control as it careened toward the adjacent farmland.
The moment the jeep impacted, Su Tong seized the opportunity to snatch the gun from Ma Liu’s hand. By the time the vehicle stalled and shuddered to a stop, she had firmly taken control.
Zhang Kui, enraged upon regaining awareness, threw a punch at Su Tong despite her holding the gun. She sidestepped and smashed the gun butt hard against his bullet wound. He crumpled with a prolonged howl, unable to recover for quite some time.
As for Ma Liu—already ill—he posed no threat whatsoever without his bomb and pistol.
Su Tong removed Ma Liu’s belt to bind him, then used the gun to force Zhang Kui into the back seat. When Zhang Kui resisted, she merely feigned striking his arm again, and he compliantly submitted.
After securing both men, Su Tong was exhausted to the point of dizziness. This body was truly too weak—she’d have to properly recuperate once she survived today.
The sky remained pitch black without any hint of dawn. Su Tong rolled up Ma Liu’s sleeve—he did wear a watch, a decent one with a leather strap.
Without hesitation, she removed it and fastened it around her own wrist. Not having a timepiece was truly inconvenient. Considering her efforts in capturing them, she’d consider this a token of gratitude.
Ma Liu had his own socks stuffed in his mouth and twisted his body in protest with muffled “mmph—” sounds. Su Tong punched him squarely in the eyes, and Ma Liu passed out with his eyes rolling back.
The force was a bit excessive—Su Tong felt his own brain rattling from the impact. Shaking his hand, he glanced at Zhang Kui, who was still struggling with a defiant expression, and decisively landed a punch on his temple as well!
He observed for a moment, then added another punch for good measure.
Now he felt much more at ease.