Chapter 127: After hearing gunshots in the deep mountains and old forests, I met the police...

Several policemen controlled two young men and walked in the front, followed by Xu Nian and Qi Bai, then the rest of the people who came to support, and then Wang Yu and two other policemen who came to support. Guan Xia and the others were in the middle and back of the team, and Jiang Yingyao and the other policemen who came to support were at the end.

There was a huge difference in physical fitness among such a long team, and the ground was a bit slippery at dawn, so the progress was very slow. Guan Xia had rested for a night and was able to catch up with the team relatively easily.

As he walked carefully, Guan Xia pricked up his ears, listening to the whispers of Jiang Yingyao and several other policemen who came to support him.

Perhaps because they had learned about their identities early in the morning, the policemen spoke without too much hesitation. They spoke in low voices and simply told the information they could.

Guan Xia also learned that they were not the first wave of people to go up the mountain. They were the third wave, police officers transferred from the city, but their branch was very close to the county town.

The first wave of people had already reached the foot of the mountain at around 11 o'clock last night. However, during the climb, they used a drone equipped with infrared scanning to spot a figure somewhere halfway up the mountain. Judging from the surrounding terrain, the figure must have fallen from the mountain path and got stuck in a tree, putting it in a very dangerous situation. They also inferred from this discovery that this was not an isolated case, and there might be other fleeing people nearby, so they temporarily changed direction and did not go directly to look for them who had called the police.

The second wave got some clues about the gunman through the rescued people. Afraid of missing him, they left two people to escort the people down the mountain, and the others chased after him.

They were the third wave, followed by the fourth and fifth waves. When they went up the mountain, they heard that the armed police force was on the way. They thought that it would not be long before all directions of this wild mountain would be blocked and a dragnet search would begin.

Guan Xia glanced at the time. It was already half past six in the morning. Nearly nine hours had passed since he heard the gunshots last night. His reaction speed was extremely fast.

Guan Xia heard Jiang Yingyao ask, "Has the person stuck in the tree been rescued?"

A police officer replied, "They did save him, but because of his severe injuries and hypothermia, he didn't wake up until we got to the foot of the mountain. But I heard he's not in any danger of death."

Jiang Yingyao pressed the issue, "Was it a fall or a gunshot wound?"

The police officer said, "I don't know. We rushed up the mountain after arriving at the headquarters and didn't have time to share the news. We only heard vaguely."

Next, several police officers who came to support asked Jiang Yingyao about what happened last night and some details.

Guan Xia knew all of this, so she stopped listening and focused on going down the mountain.

Because there was a man-made road, even though it was steep and narrow, going down the mountain was easier than going up. When the sun rose to the sky, they had already passed the halfway point of the mountain and the foot of the mountain was clearly visible.

However, it was obvious that the route taken by the supporting police officers was not the same one they took to go up the mountain. Guan Xia could easily see that the mountain path was becoming more and more difficult to walk on and the environment was very unfamiliar. Apart from them, they did not meet anyone else along the way.

Guan Xia heard someone in front ask, "Isn't this the direction we came from? Our car is still parked at the foot of the mountain. How are we going to get home?"

A police officer soothed them, "We've spotted some signs of armed criminals in the direction you came from. For your safety, we can only take you along a well-traveled, completely safe path. Don't worry, when you get down the mountain, someone will take you to the parking lot, and you can drive home then."

Even though she was a little reluctant, the girl who was talking muttered a few words out of annoyance, but in the end she didn't say anything else and just continued walking down obediently.

He didn't feel anything before, but when there was only one-third of the distance left, Guan Xia finally felt that he was walking on a small path.

The man-made steps became narrower and steeper, and disappeared completely when they turned a corner. Only the small paths trampled out by the locals remained, appearing intermittently in the bushes. Even if people walked carefully, they would be caught by the messy vines growing on both sides if they were not careful, and people would gasp in pain from time to time.

Even the agile Zhong Xiaoyu was caught in the trap, leaving a burning cut on his neck.

After reaching out and touching it and seeing that there was not much bleeding, Zhong Xiaoyu continued walking. As he walked, he used the dagger in his hand to try in vain to pry open the nearby vines a little, trying to make it easier for the next people to pass through.

"I finally feel like I'm climbing a wild mountain," Meng Lan panted, still in the mood to talk. "It's really exciting, but we're lucky there were only bugs and no snakes, otherwise I would have wanted to roll down the mountain."

Just as Meng Lan finished speaking, Guan Xia heard a scream from the front, "Fuck, fuck, snake, snake, there's a snake."

Guan Xia and Pang Le paused for a moment, looking at Meng Lan with an indescribable look. Zhong Xiaoyu said in surprise, "I can't tell. You're such a bad-mouthed person too."

Meng Lan laughed awkwardly, "What a coincidence." Then she asked curiously, "Are there any crow-mouthed people around you?"

Zhong Xiaoyu tilted her head to avoid the hanging vines, curled her lips and said, "Yes, you are a person whose bad words will come true at the critical moment, so just in case, you'd better not say anything from now on."

Meng Lan obediently made a gesture, indicating that I should shut up.

Pang Le picked up a vine on the side, turned around and helped Guan Xia, then pointed forward and asked softly, "Have you noticed that the person who looks like you has turned back to look at you several times along the way? From the look in her eyes, I feel like she knows you exist."

Guan Xia said calmly, uninterested, "If you know, then so be it. Anyway, just don't bother me. I don't want to act out some self-indulgent drama about finally finding a lost daughter and sister after being separated for over twenty years."

Pang Le frowned and said, "Look, look, she's looking back at you again, as if to make sure you haven't fallen behind. I guess she'll come talk to you after we get down the mountain."

Pang Le turned to look at Meng Lan and asked with narrowed eyes threateningly, "Tell me the truth, you really didn't tell her about Guan Xia's existence?"

Meng Lan raised three fingers and swore again, "I swear on the rest of my life's fortune that I really didn't tell her. I haven't even had any contact with her. I just secretly followed her for a while, and after I figured out why Guan Xia was in the orphanage, I stopped. I admit, I felt very sorry for Guan Xia at the time. Seeing her family of three so happy was really unbearable, and I even had the ulterior motive to sabotage it. But I only dared to think about it, not actually do it, otherwise Guan Xia would never forgive me."

Pang Le just sneered, not saying whether he believed it or not. After thinking for a moment, he said to Guan Xia, "I've been observing her expression. She doesn't look like she knows Meng Lan. I guess she knows you from other channels, perhaps her parents, or other relatives. After all, if you get pregnant and have a child in high school, even if you keep it a secret, it won't be difficult for people close to you to find out."

Guan Xia said, "Who cares how she knew that? I just hope she can be more self-aware and not come here to disgust me without knowing the seriousness of the matter."

Guan Xia rarely said unpleasant words, but when she thought about the possibility of being disturbed in the coming days, she felt annoyed.

Fortunately, the road became increasingly difficult to walk on, and in the end she had to concentrate completely. Guan Xia didn't care if anyone was peeking at her, and her mood soon calmed down because of her concentration.

After walking for more than an hour, Guan Xia was about to go down the mountain when he suddenly heard faint gunshots.

Guan Xia thought he had misheard and was about to turn around to ask Pang Le when he heard gunshots again. The subsequent gunshots were very different from the previous ones. The sound was very coherent and dense enough that some of them overlapped. It was obvious that they were not fired from the same gun.

Although Guan Xia was a layman, he could hear at this time that the police who were searching the mountain had finally encountered the murderer head-on, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.

Guan Xia was a little excited but at the same time couldn't help but worry. After all, the murderer had a gun. She just hoped that there wouldn't be any casualties among the police.

The gunfire continued for several minutes. Just as everyone's expressions grew increasingly solemn, their hearts rising to their throats, the intercom carried by the supporting police behind them rang. Guan Xia only heard a few very concise words, "The gunman has been killed. Everyone retreat."

It was finally over, Guan Xia breathed a sigh of relief, and then became uncontrollably excited and thrilled.

But this emotion did not last long. Guan Xia suddenly felt his scalp tingling. It was an inexplicable intuition, as if he was being stared at by a ferocious beast. The intuition was reminding him frantically, so much so that Guan Xia froze for a moment, then suddenly turned around and stared at their side and rear, his face full of vigilance.

Pang Le was the first to notice Guan Xia's abnormality. He immediately stepped back and came to Guan Xia's side. He looked in the direction she was staring at, and asked, "What's wrong? What did you find out?"

Ji An was right behind Guan Xia. Seeing this, he stepped forward and asked, "What are you looking at?"

Guan Xia originally thought that the system would be triggered and pop up, but who would have thought that there was no movement at all. However, Guan Xia trusted her intuition very much. Just as she was about to speak, she heard a rustling sound coming from the bushes a few meters behind them, and then two people came out.

They were two middle-aged men wearing windbreakers, baseball caps, and carrying huge backpacks.

As if startled by the sheer number of people they hadn't expected, both men instinctively reached for their waists, only to drop them again. One of the middle-aged men forced a smile and said, looking rather naive and honest, "Finally, we met some people. We were so scared! We were walking when we heard gunshots and were so frightened we didn't know where to go. Did you hear the gunshots?"

The middle-aged man spoke as if he had just noticed the police. His smile widened, but he slowly took two steps back. "I just saw there are police officers here. And they're wearing bulletproof vests. Officers, are you arresting this criminal? He's armed with live ammunition. What kind of crime must this person have committed to warrant your pursuit?"

When they heard gunshots in the deep mountains and forests and encountered the police, they did not get excited but retreated. Even though Guan Xia did not have time to speak out to remind them, others could see that something was wrong and their expressions became solemn.

Guan Xia took the opportunity to pull Pang Le and Ji An's hands, turned her head and quietly mouthed "Murderer" from an angle where the two middle-aged men couldn't see.

Although the system was not triggered, Guan Xia was very sure that these two middle-aged men were responsible for more than one murder due to such a strong intuition.

After all, the last time I faced Chen Yuanwei, who imitated Wu Xiaozhen to commit crimes, my intuition was not as strong as this.

Because of the tacit understanding developed from multiple cases, Pang Le and Ji An understood it easily. Guan Xia was close to him, so she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Ji An put his hands behind his back and made a gesture to Zhong Xiaoyu behind him.

Zhong Xiaoyu reacted quickly. He reached out and pulled Meng Lan behind him. Then, pretending to be curious, he leaned over and asked, "Brothers, are you here for a trip? You don't look like locals, and you look so dusty and your shoes are covered in mud. How many days have you been in these mountains? Are you here camping too?"

The two middle-aged men subconsciously glanced down at their sneakers, which were so stained they could barely see their original color. They took a step back, and the man in front smiled innocently and said, "We haven't been here for many days. We entered the mountains the day before yesterday. We didn't have a good guide, so we took a lot of detours and missed our camping spot, so we stayed in the wild for two nights. We had planned to go down the mountain today, taking the same route we came in. But we heard gunshots while walking, so we ran here in a panic. Luckily, we met someone."

The middle-aged man spoke with a sincere expression, but everyone, including Meng Lan, had an awkward look on their faces. The reason was that the lies told by this middle-aged man were full of loopholes.

The first point is the time when the gunshots were heard. They did not mention last night, so obviously they did not hear it at all. But if they were really on the top of the mountain, even if they were very far away, it is impossible that they did not hear any movement at all, unless their location was halfway up the mountain when the incident happened, or even at the foot of the mountain. In addition to the gunshots last night, today's gunshots were a few minutes ago. Even if they were in a panic, it is impossible for them to deviate from the normal mountain path and run here in just a few minutes.

Adding to the mud on their feet, Guan Xia took a subtle look.

Before coming here, Guan Xia specifically checked the weather forecast. There had been no rain for several days in a row, and it was impossible for the shoes to be so stained that the original color could not be seen just by walking on the mountain path with only dew. Even if they walked on the small trail for safety today, in half a day, only the soles and uppers of the shoes were stained. It was far from the point where the original color could not be seen, unless they walked on the small trail almost all the time in the mountains.

If a normal tourist comes here, how could he choose to walk on the difficult trails? Another point is, if he is not a local, how would he know these trails?

Thinking back to the various flaws he had discovered, Guan Xia noticed that everyone's smiles were somewhat meaningful. The two policemen at the back gripped their guns tightly and calmly took two steps forward, saying, "It's very dangerous in the mountains now. Fortunately, you are lucky to have a long life. Since you have met us, let's go together. We will escort you down the mountain."

As the police approached, the forced smiles on the two middle-aged men's faces suddenly faltered. They said stiffly, "No, no thanks. We're almost at the foot of the mountain now. We won't bother you anymore. You go ahead, we'll just follow behind. It's just as safe."

The middle-aged man standing in the front took a step back quietly while talking, and was about to retreat behind the bushes.

Seeing that the two middle-aged men were trying to escape, the police immediately quickened their pace, obviously wanting to quickly close the distance so that they could pounce on them and subdue them, but this action aroused the vigilance of the two middle-aged men.

The middle-aged man in the front casually pulled out something and threw it over, then shouted, "Run!"

While the police were dodging, the two middle-aged men quickly disappeared into the bushes and escaped.

Everyone then noticed that the object thrown by the middle-aged man was actually a short-handled axe. It narrowly brushed past the body of the policeman who tried to pounce on him, and fell to the ground. The sharp blade reflected slightly in the sunlight.

This sudden attack on the police and escape further illustrates the problems of the two men. They did not consider at all that several police officers behind them chased after them.

Guan Xia only felt a flash before his eyes, and when he came to his senses, he found that there was no one around him except Ji An and Meng Lan. Zhong Xiaoyu was running especially fast, and was completely in the front. After a few jumps, he jumped over the bushes and disappeared from Guan Xia's sight.