Zhang Kui nervously stepped on the accelerator, occasionally glancing at the rearview mirror. Although he had only been wounded in the arm, the bullet had passed through it. At first, he had lost all feeling, but now the pain had become increasingly clear—and more intense by the moment.
He gritted his teeth and steadied the steering wheel with his other hand, but he felt he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.
He looked into the rearview mirror again and confirmed, “Six Ye! There’s no one chasing us from behind! Are they just letting us go like this?”
Ma Liu was slumped in the back seat, seemingly drained of strength, looking extremely weak. However, the gun in his hand remained firmly aimed at Su Tong beside him.
Su Tong sat quietly, as still as air.
Ma Liu let out a cold snort and finally responded after a long pause, his tone filled with mockery. “Chase? With what? What are they going to use to chase us? Bicycles?”
Ma Liu knew very well that the Public Security Bureau was relentlessly pursuing him, sparing no manpower or resources like a persistent plaster. On one hand, they wanted to arrest him; on the other, their main goal was to recover that child.
The police only had two vehicles—one brought down from the provincial bureau, and the other from the county bureau, which was also the only vehicle the county office had. The one they were currently using was it.
The township police station didn’t even have a car—at most, a few bicycles…
Just now, after that woman’s reminder, he immediately realized that after abandoning the child, the remaining vehicle would definitely be used to rush the child to the hospital first.
Now, if they wanted to catch up, they would have to temporarily requisition a vehicle from elsewhere, which wouldn’t be possible in time—unless they rode bicycles…
Forget it!
How could a bicycle catch up to a jeep!
So this time, they might really have escaped!
Ma Liu studied the blood-covered girl sitting on his left. No matter how he looked at her now, he could no longer believe she was just an ordinary village girl.
But the bloody hole in her head didn’t look fake either. If she were a police officer, that didn’t seem right either. If she was trying to deceive them, there was no need to smash a hole in her own head…
However, no matter who she was or what her purpose was, it didn’t matter. After driving a bit further and confirming there were no pursuers, she wouldn’t need to stay alive.
He never kept potential threats around him.
The mountain road was already rugged, and after not driving for long, Zhang Kui began to struggle.
The jeep’s suspension was poor to begin with. With every bump, he could barely hold the steering wheel with one hand, and the vehicle nearly veered into the roadside ravine several times.
Su Tong leaned back in her seat, relaxing her body and trying to restore as much strength to it as possible.
But Zhang Kui’s driving was far too dangerous. If they continued like this and the vehicle overturned off the cliff, none of them would survive.
She silently estimated the time. It had been about half an hour since they left the village entrance, and they were already twenty to thirty kilometers from the mountain entry point.
Since “waking up” until now, she hadn’t had a moment to rest. After these dozens of minutes, she felt some strength returning, though her head was still dizzy.
She had checked her own pulse—weak and chaotic. Her body was malnourished and severely depleted.
The anesthesia Wang Guilan had given her was probably not any refined drug either. At this point, her condition didn’t seem like the drug wearing off, but more like signs of poisoning.
Although she was still in poor condition, it was enough to deal with the two “injured patients” in the vehicle.
She wasn’t necessarily trying to be a hero or take unnecessary risks. First, the child truly could not be delayed any longer—she had seen many hostage cases, and nothing disgusted her more than using children as leverage.
Second, these two men were both injured and weakened. She didn’t take them seriously. Since the police cared so much about them, she might as well do something within her ability—it could be considered justice.
Ma Liu, although he looked ruthless, was clearly unwell. One could tell from his breathing that he was enduring pain.
His right hand held the gun, but it was frequently pressed against his right abdomen, unclear whether he was injured or suffering from some internal condition. The ring of a homemade explosive still hung from his left thumb, swaying with the bumps of the vehicle but never released.
However, in Su Tong’s eyes, this kind of crude explosive had little real power. She had dismantled far more sophisticated bombs before.
The jeep took a sharp turn, and Su Tong looked up. The reach of the headlights swept across the curve, revealing a long downhill slope ahead, with a mountain wall on one side and farmland on the other.
As the slope increased, the vehicle picked up speed.
This was the opportunity.
Su Tong moved suddenly.
Her movements were lightning-fast. Her left hand seized Ma Liu’s wrist, while her right hand struck several key pressure points on his left arm in rapid succession.
Ma Liu’s entire arm immediately went numb with intense pain. Before he could react, the ring on his left thumb had already been removed, and the fuse of the explosive was pulled out from its base.
Yes—pulled out.
Even with dim lighting inside the car, half an hour of observation at such close distance had been enough for Su Tong to examine the crude explosive thoroughly.
Almost at the same time, she leaned forward and pulled up the handbrake. The speeding jeep lurched violently, tipping to one side as one wheel lifted off the ground. Zhang Kui was caught off guard and slammed hard into the front pillar, his injured arm crushed painfully as he let out a scream.
Ma Liu was also thrown upward, smashing hard into the roof beam, his glasses shattering instantly.
Su Tong immediately curled up, protecting her head in the back seat. The rough dirt road caused the vehicle to violently bounce and twist before dropping back down. Out of control, it plowed toward the farmland beside the road.
As the vehicle landed, she seized the moment to grab Ma Liu’s gun. When the jeep finally stalled and came to a shaky stop, she had already fully taken control of the situation.
Zhang Kui, snapping back to his senses, angrily swung a punch at her despite her holding a gun. Su Tong dodged and smashed the butt of the gun into the area where his arm had been shot, making him curl up in pain and let out a long howl, unable to recover for a long time.
Ma Liu, already a sick man, had lost both his explosive and his pistol and was now completely powerless.
Su Tong tore off Ma Liu’s belt and tied him up, then forced Zhang Kui into the back seat at gunpoint. Zhang Kui tried to resist, but she merely raised the gun as if to strike his injured arm, and he quickly surrendered.
After tying them both securely, Su Tong felt her vision blur with exhaustion. This body was simply too weak—once she got through today, she would need to properly recover.
The night was still pitch black with no sign of dawn.
Su Tong lifted Ma Liu’s sleeve and indeed found a watch. It was a decent one with a leather strap.
Without hesitation, she took it and put it on her wrist. Having no sense of time was inconvenient. Considering she had gone through the trouble of capturing them, this could count as payment.
Ma Liu had his mouth stuffed with his own sock and struggled in protest, making muffled “mmph—mmph—” sounds. Su Tong punched him directly in the eye, and he immediately rolled his eyes back and passed out.
The force was a bit too much—Su Tong felt her own head sway with the impact. She shook her hand and looked at Zhang Kui, who was still struggling with obvious defiance, and simply struck his temple as well.
Then she looked again—and gave him another punch.
Now she felt reassured.