It was just past 3 a.m. Su Tong exhaled puffs of breath as she circled the jeep. The vehicle showed no obvious damage, but it had careened far into the farmland after plunging down the slope.
It was winter, and the fields lay empty, dotted only with short stumps left after crops like cotton had been harvested. It shouldn’t take much effort to drive the jeep back onto the road.
But Su Tong felt troubled. Judging by the situation, the two men in the vehicle were key suspects in some case. She could drive them back, but how would she explain it all…
A farm girl, powerless even in her own marriage, nearly beaten to death, had single-handedly captured two fugitives and driven them to the police station…
Forget it—better to wait here! No need to invite trouble!
By daybreak, the police comrades would likely track them down. She could untie the two men beforehand. One was injured, the other sick—they’d lost control and crashed into the field from exhaustion, knocking themselves out…
Yes, that sounded plausible enough.
Once she’d made up her mind, Su Tong stopped overthinking. She opened the driver’s door, intending to curl up on the seat and rest.
Her clothes offered little protection against the cold, and she felt utterly miserable—dizzy and blurry-eyed. Whether from the chill or exhaustion, she didn’t know, but she badly needed to recuperate.
Just as she was about to get in, a flicker of light caught her eye in the rearview mirror. She turned to look: far behind, on higher ground, beams of light were swaying.
Moments later, a flashlight beam rounded the corner—from the same direction the jeep had come. Someone was approaching from that sharp bend.
In the dead of night, in the middle of nowhere, it couldn’t be anyone else—the police comrades had caught up.
What a surprise! If they’d managed to keep up in a car, that was one thing, but if they’d done it on bicycles, their speed was truly remarkable!
The professionalism of the police comrades was truly impressive.
The child had been rescued, their transportation was inferior, yet they were still doing their utmost to pursue the fugitives—and hadn’t given up on her, a relatively unimportant “hostage.”
Su Tong felt a faint warmth in her heart, but the situation also left her flustered. She couldn’t stay in the driver’s seat—there’d be no explaining that.
After a moment’s thought, she hunched over, opened the back door, and climbed in. Groping in the dark, she began undoing the men’s belts. To prevent their escape, she’d tied them not just tightly, but in a rather “complicated” manner…
Before she could free even one, flashlight beams were already sweeping toward the jeep—they’d been spotted.
No time left.
Su Tong sighed inwardly, shoved Zhang Kui aside in annoyance, and as footsteps drew near, slumped against the seatback, “passing out.”
Qin Yi approached the jeep cautiously, gun in hand, fully alert.
He hadn’t expected to find the jeep so quickly. After all, this was Ma Liu’s best chance to escape.
Though the evidence suggested the vehicle had lost control and veered into the field, given Ma Liu’s past tactics, Qin Yi had to wonder: was this a deliberate ruse? Or had something truly gone wrong?
Even with all his preparation, the sight inside the jeep stunned him.
Two tightly bound fugitives and a girl covered in blood—all three lay unconscious in the back seat, not one missing.
Holding his gun warily, he opened the back door. As his flashlight swept across the scene, what he saw left him utterly astonished…
The two escaped convicts had their ankles tightly bound with leather straps, their hands twisted behind their backs with the backs of their hands facing each other and tied together with shoelaces. The binding of their wrists, thumbs, and little fingers clearly indicated it was a standard wrist-finger binding technique.
This was a tying method specifically taught only in special forces.
Qin Yi glanced again at the bomb on Ma Liu and noticed the connecting wires at the bottom had been removed!
These homemade bombs were designed for maximum impact by tightly bundling several explosive packages together, connecting them with long fuses, and detonating them with blasting caps. Without understanding the bomb’s structure, it was impossible to distinguish which wires were connectors and which were detonators.
He was shocked. Who could have done this?!
Could there be a fellow professional secretly assisting?
Qin Yi quickly swept his flashlight around the area but found no one else.
He tugged at the bindings and found them secure, then closed the car door and walked around to the other side. Gently, he lifted out the girl whose face was covered in blood. If not for her today, the child wouldn’t have been rescued so smoothly.
The weather was cold, but the girl’s body felt noticeably hot. He placed her in the passenger seat and reached to touch her forehead, which was smeared with blood.
Yet he could still feel the scorching heat. The wound at her temple looked horrifying—she was running a high fever. He wondered where she’d found the courage to exchange herself for the child earlier.
The criminals were captured, the hostage saved. Today’s operation had taken an unexpected turn for the better, yet ended abruptly.
For now…
He needed to get everyone back and settled first, then return later to find that “heroic” colleague who’d appeared out of nowhere.
In the distance, several flashlight beams approached—Jiang Pinglu and the others had caught up.
The other vehicle had taken the child to the county hospital. After seven or eight days of suffering at Ma Liu’s hands, the child was critically weak and couldn’t afford a minute’s delay.
After making quick arrangements, Jiang Pinglu had immediately chased after them on a bicycle. With the criminals still at large and a hostage yet to be rescued, he pedaled furiously, not daring to relax for a moment.
Jiang Pinglu and the others followed but were left far behind.
Meanwhile, Qin Yi used this time to check the vehicle’s tires and exterior, finding no major issues.
Jiang Pinglu arrived panting heavily. Only three of them had managed to catch up: Jiang Pinglu, Xiao Yang from their police station, and Lin Li, Qin Yi’s teammate.
It wasn’t due to lack of personnel—only these few bicycles could be found quickly.
The main task today was containment. Too many vehicles would have compromised concealment, risking alerting the targets. The county bureau’s several three-wheeled motorcycles were parked in Qingfeng Town, and mobilizing them would have taken time.
Even among these few bicycles, one had been commandeered from a village militia captain who’d been summoned for duty.
Qin Yi briefed them quickly on the situation, then instructed Jiang Pinglu and Xiao Yang to go to the nearest town to make a phone call.
They were to inform Zhang Changhai about the current situation and have him immediately recall the personnel deployed for interception in nearby counties. Lin Li would stay with Qin Yi to escort the two escaped convicts back.
Jiang Pinglu and the other two never expected their desperate chase to only witness the conclusion. The success felt both sudden and bewildering!
They had anticipated another prolonged manhunt, only to be abruptly notified that the operation was over.
Jiang Pinglu rubbed his eyes vigorously, then stretched his neck while shining his flashlight to examine the two tightly bound escapees over and over before finally believing his own eyes. Grinning widely, he went off cheerfully with Xiao Yang to make a phone call.
Lin Li also couldn’t contain his excitement. With the tension of the chase fading away, he became much more talkative.
“Boss, how can I hardly believe it? Someone really helped us stop the escapees’ car, tied them up, and dumped them here?”
“Tsk tsk! A real living Lei Feng! Doing good deeds without leaving a name – if we manage to find this person, they definitely deserve major recognition!”
“…Look at these binding techniques, so professional…”