It was only a little past three in the morning. Su Tong exhaled a puff of white breath and walked around the jeep once. The vehicle didn’t appear to have suffered any obvious damage—it had just rushed down the slope and plowed far into the farmland.
It was winter, and the fields were empty except for short stubble left after harvesting crops like cotton. It shouldn’t take much effort to drive the vehicle back onto the road.
But Su Tong was a little troubled.
Judging from the situation, the two people in the car were important criminal suspects. She could drive them back herself, but how would she explain it afterward…
A rural girl who couldn’t even control her own marriage, who had almost lost her life to abuse, somehow single-handedly caught two fugitives and drove them to the police station…
Forget it. She might as well wait here. No need to create trouble for herself.
Once daylight came, the public security officers would probably catch up. She could untie them in advance then—one injured, one sick—claim they had lost control due to exhaustion, driven off the road into the field, and knocked themselves unconscious…
Yes, that would be a reasonable explanation.
Having made up her mind, Su Tong stopped worrying. She opened the car door, preparing to curl up in the driver’s seat and rest.
Her clothes offered no protection from the cold, and she felt extremely uncomfortable—dizzy and lightheaded. She wasn’t sure if it was from exhaustion or the cold, but she needed to rest.
Just as she was about to get in, she noticed a flicker of light in the rearview mirror. Turning back, she saw a beam of light swaying in the distance behind her.
In moments, a flashlight beam turned the corner—it was coming from the same direction the jeep had driven from. Someone was approaching the sharp bend.
In the middle of the night, in the wilderness, there could be no one else.
It must be the public security officers catching up.
Unexpected—and impressive! If they had even come on bicycles, that speed was astonishing.
Their professionalism was truly high.
The child had been rescued, even with limited transportation, and they were still relentlessly pursuing the fugitives without abandoning her, the rather unimportant “hostage.”
Su Tong felt a slight warmth in her chest, but the situation also caught her off guard. She couldn’t stay in the driver’s seat anymore or she wouldn’t be able to explain herself.
After thinking quickly, she hunched over and slipped into the back seat instead, fumbling to loosen the belts binding the two men. She had tied them not only tightly, but also in a very “complicated” way to prevent escape.
She hadn’t even finished untying one of them when a flashlight beam already swept toward them—the jeep had been discovered.
Too late.
Su Tong sighed inwardly, pushed Zhang Kui further into the seat with visible disgust, and when she heard footsteps approaching, she leaned back against the seat and “fainted.”
Qin Yi approached the jeep with his gun drawn, fully alert.
He hadn’t expected to locate the vehicle so quickly—this was Ma Liu’s best chance to escape.
Although the tracks suggested the jeep had lost control and driven into the field, given Ma Liu’s usual behavior, he couldn’t rule out a decoy or a real accident.
Even though he was fully prepared, he was still shocked when he saw the scene inside the car.
Two tightly bound fugitives and a blood-covered girl—none missing—lay unconscious in the back seat.
He cautiously opened the door with his gun still raised, sweeping the interior with a flashlight. The scene before him was extremely unexpected.
The two fugitives’ ankles were bound tightly with belts. Their hands were tied behind their backs, wrists facing inward, secured with shoelaces around wrists, thumbs, and little fingers. Just by looking at the binding points, it was clearly a professional restraint technique—something only special forces were trained in.
Then he glanced at Ma Liu’s body and noticed the detonator wires of the homemade bomb had been disconnected from the bottom.
These improvised explosives were usually made by bundling multiple charges together and connecting them with long trigger wires. Without understanding the structure, it was impossible to distinguish detonation wires from connecting lines.
Qin Yi was deeply shocked.
Who did this?
Was there another operative secretly assisting them?
He quickly scanned the surroundings with his flashlight but found no one else.
After checking the bindings and confirming they were secure, he closed the door, walked around the other side, and carefully carried the blood-covered girl out.
Without her, the child wouldn’t have been rescued so smoothly.
The night air was cold, but her body was burning with heat. He placed her in the passenger seat and touched her forehead—covered in blood.
Yet he could still feel the intense fever beneath it. The wound on her temple was shocking. He couldn’t understand where she had found the courage to take the child’s place.
The criminals had been caught, the hostage rescued—what had begun as a desperate chase had ended abruptly in an unexpected turn of fortune.
Now, the priority was to send everyone back and settle them properly, then search for the unknown “comrade” who had intervened and helped.
In the distance, several flashlight beams appeared—Zhang Pinglu and the others had arrived.
Another team had already sent the rescued child to the county hospital. After seven or eight days under Ma Liu’s control, the child was on the brink of collapse—every second mattered.
Zhang Pinglu had ridden ahead on a bicycle after making arrangements. He dared not slow down, fearing the criminals were still at large and the hostage still in danger.
He pedaled furiously while the others followed behind, but they were quickly left far behind.
During the time gap, Qin Yi checked the tires and exterior of the jeep—no serious damage.
Soon Zhang Pinglu arrived, out of breath, followed by only three people: himself, a station officer named Xiao Yang, and Qin Yi’s teammate Lin Li.
Not because of manpower shortages, but because only a few bicycles were available for rapid deployment.
The main operation was an ambush and containment mission—too many vehicles would make it hard to stay hidden. The county’s motor tricycles were still stationed in Qingfeng Town and needed time to mobilize.
Even among the bicycles used, one had been requisitioned from a village militia leader.
Qin Yi quickly briefed them and ordered Zhang Pinglu and Xiao Yang to go to the nearest town to make a phone call, informing Commander Zhang Changhai to withdraw all interception units from nearby counties.
Lin Li would stay with him to escort the two fugitives back.
Zhang Pinglu and the others were stunned—they had rushed all the way only to witness the conclusion. The sudden ending left them both relieved and bewildered.
They had expected a long pursuit, but instead the operation was suddenly declared over.
Zhang Pinglu rubbed his eyes hard, shining his flashlight over the two bound fugitives again and again before finally believing what he saw. With grins spreading across their faces, he and Xiao Yang happily went to make the call.
Lin Li was also visibly excited. With the tension gone, he became more talkative.
“Boss, I still can’t believe it. Someone actually stopped the fugitives’ vehicle, tied them up, and left them here?”
“Tsk tsk, a real living Lei Feng! Doing good deeds without leaving a name—if we find them, that’ll be a major merit!”
“…Look at these binding techniques, so professional…”