Chapter 9494 Survivors
The next step was to put Nan Shaochen back into his body. The process was very easy. He was thrown directly onto the hospital bed. Just as he was about to look up and smile at N and Tu Lanxun, he was automatically sucked in.
Nan Shaochen's tightly closed eyelids trembled, and the life detection equipment that had just been installed suddenly buzzed, and several indicator lines began to rise.
Tu Lanxun went to open the door and let the doctor and nurse in, as well as Uncle Nan who was peeking in from the back of the crowd.
Uncle Nan rushed over and asked, "Are you ready? Are you ready?"
Nan Shaochen was struggling to sit up, his eyes confused, as if he had not only lost the memory of being a soul, but also forgotten the reason why he came to the hospital.
Xiao Zhang asked, "Is it over?"
Tu Lanxun replied: "It's over."
Officer Cao stayed behind to clean up the mess while Tu Lanxun and his three companions headed out. Xiao Zhang glanced back at Uncle Nan, who was leaning against the bed. "Is he really that anxious, or is he just pretending?"
"I don't know." Tu Lanxun said.
An Feng said, "Whether it's true or not, it's good that he's awake. We'll complete our mission tomorrow and be able to go home. Let's go back to the guesthouse and get some sleep. I'm exhausted."
Xiao Zhang was in high spirits. As soon as he got into the taxi, he started tapping away on his phone. He said, "I went such a long way this time and still completed the task ahead of schedule. I'm sure there will be a reward. It takes a whole day to get back to Lucheng from Tang City. I can just report in and then go home..."
An Feng was alert: "What do you want to do?"
Xiao Zhang glanced at the driver without saying anything. He showed An Feng the travel guide on the screen and said, "Why don't we go back tomorrow evening? We can catch up on some sleep in the car overnight and go straight to work the next day... Hey, I don't expect to take a vacation anymore."
An Feng sighed, "That's a nice thought, but I've already asked Captain Li, he's also in this province. Let's see if he's short of people, we might have to go over there to fill in."
Xiao Zhang immediately accused An Feng of betraying his colleagues, but then he became cheerful and said, "We're in the same province anyway, so it's more suitable for us to take a walk around the area during the day tomorrow. It won't delay us."
Tu Lanxun discovered that Xiao Zhang was very capable. Not only in solving cases, but also in compiling a list of snacks and small attractions around Tang City in just ten minutes, and even chatting up taxi drivers:
"Hey, Master, what's the most famous food here? Can you recommend two restaurants that the locals love?"
While Xiao Zhang and the driver were chatting animatedly, they finally returned to the guesthouse. An Feng watched them enter the room and then went back to the next room with shaky steps.
Tu Lanxun and Xiao Zhang took a quick shower and fell into their pillows. Xiao Zhang was so sleepy that he couldn't even open his eyes, and he was still mumbling about what to eat tomorrow.
No dreams in the middle of the night.
When he woke up again, Tu Lanxun's head was dizzy. It took him several seconds to open his eyes before he felt a hand pushing him.
Xiao Zhang's voice was a little anxious, "Consultant Tu, get up quickly, get up quickly!"
Tu Lanxun sat up suddenly, his eyes full of stars. "What happened...is there a fire in the guesthouse?"
Outside the window was a clear blue sky, with no smoke. Xiao Zhang was so anxious that he threw his hands aside, buttoning his clothes while taking the clothes that Tu Lanxun had folded. "What kind of fire is this? There's an accident over there, Captain Li!"
"What's the matter?" Tu Lanxun finally woke up and hurriedly put on his clothes. Xiao Zhang was about to explain when the phone rang again. She gave Tu Lanxun a pleading look, turned around and ran out to answer the phone.
N's figure floated over from the other side of the wall. Seeing that Tu Lanxun hadn't put on his clothes yet, he turned sideways, facing the other side, and said, "Early this morning, Li Ao and his team ran into a group of suspects in a serial smuggling and murder case at the village market. During the pursuit, one of their men was injured. Li Ao was shot, but his life is not in danger."
Tu Lanxun took two seconds to digest it. "Early morning, market?"
"An Feng didn't reveal too much details when communicating with the outside world, but you can't play anymore. Xiao Zhang and the others have to go over to support immediately." N replied.
Tu Lanxun put on his coat and turned to get his bag, "Oh, then we have to go."
Xiao Zhang came back after finishing his call, grabbed Tu Lanxun, and ran out. An Feng was already sitting in a car downstairs. Officer Cao was driving again. He looked like he hadn't slept all night and was chewing a coffee lozenge. "Don't worry, don't worry, we're also on standby. If there's a bigger situation, we'll dispatch support from the surrounding areas."
They were taken to the station, and at that moment a train passing through their destination was about to depart.
Since the area where Li Ao had the accident is mountainous, driving on the highway may not be faster than taking a train, and it is currently under traffic blockade. Apart from this semi-martial law train, there is basically no other means of transportation that can enter or exit in a short period of time.
The second after Tu Lanxun and the others boarded the train, the doors slowly closed. A young police officer ran up to the platform, carrying a large bag of bread, sausages, and drinks. Officer Cao took over and trotted over to stuff the bag through the train window, "At least have something to eat on the train. Have a safe trip!"
The train rumbled forward, and Tu Lanxun and the others had no mood to eat. So An Feng took out three small breads and three cartons of milk and stuffed one into each of them. "Eat! How can you have the energy to work if you don't eat enough?"
The railway tracks meandered through the mountains of the Western Province. They first passed over the lapis lazuli-colored rock walls, then passed through the colorful hills. When the mountains on both sides became increasingly towering, making people feel that the stones piled up in the earth's crust were endless, suddenly a wheat field appeared outside the window.
Fields, distant mountains, passing through several small township-level stations, and then leaving quickly like a dragonfly skimming the water.
When the feeling of anxiety was repeatedly cooked until the senses became numb, Tu Lanxun and the other two finally arrived at their destination.
The name of this station is very gentle, called "Shui Lan".
Shuilan is a township near Green City, the capital of Western Province. Tu Lanxun and others will get off the train here. When they walk onto the platform, uniformed police officers are already waiting to meet them, and the two groups will soon reunite.
The police officer who met me at the station called himself Xiao Tang. Xiao Tang said, "Let's talk as we walk."
They got in the car and drove towards the village. Xiao Tang then said, "I'm a police officer from the Yueman Village Police Station in Heping Town, Shuilan Township. I'll take you directly to the Township People's Hospital. Captain Li is receiving treatment there."
Xiao Zhang asked anxiously: "How is his condition? Is it serious?"
"Fortunately, the bullet hit the left arm. There may be some problems with the auxiliary gunman, but it depends on the subsequent treatment and recovery. Captain Li and other members of the case team will tell you the specific details of the case." Xiao Tang said.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, as long as no vital parts were injured.
The People's Hospital was a relatively imposing building in Shuilan Township, though of course, it was comparable to the small noodle shops and stores that surrounded it. Xiao Tang walked the three of them to the hospital entrance but didn't follow them inside, saying they were short-staffed and he had to hurry back to take over.
Tu Lanxun and the other two asked for the name and ward, and went straight to the second floor of the inpatient department. The ward conditions were ordinary, and there were two circles of people surrounding Li Ao's bed.
But he was not lying in bed. He was sitting with a hunched back, still wearing his uniform shoes. His arms were fixed, with gauze sticking out from the gaps between the buttonholes, and he looked a little disheveled.
"Captain Li!" Xiao Zhang and An Feng rushed over, "Are you okay?"
Li Ao showed a headache expression and quickly avoided her, "Go away, go away, I made you shout that there was something wrong even though there was nothing wrong."
He turned around and changed his expression, introducing the others: "This is Xiao Zhang and Xiao An from our Lucheng South Branch. They are both capable young people." He then slyly pulled Tu Lanxun over from the door frame and said, "This one is one of ours too."
After a brief greeting, Tu Lanxun discovered that they were discussing the case.
"Group one has been deployed to checkpoints, and Group two is responsible for visiting and fishing. Captain Li, don't worry. I have told them to be on guard against criminal suspects' sudden attacks at any time and protect the surrounding residents." A middle-aged man with a bronze square face reported.
Li Ao asked, "Have you checked the two key areas? They fled westward. I remember there were two villages there: Big Plum Blossom Village and Small Plum Blossom Village."
"Small Plum Blossom Village is closer to Heping Town and has a larger population, while Big Plum Blossom Village is too far back in the mountains and is almost deserted. We need to be especially careful." The bronze-faced man nodded, then became embarrassed. "If there's still nothing, I'm afraid we'll have to search the mountain."
Li Ao pondered and said, "Then search. What are we waiting for? Send people to the key passes in the wild mountain area. Isn't Director Zhao here to take charge of the work? Why don't we ask him..."
The bronze-faced man showed a bitter expression. "Although we don't have enough manpower, we've sent everyone we can. The headquarters building has been emptied, the special police are in place, and the helicopters have been dispatched. But the wild mountains are vast and the terrain is complex, so searching will not be a matter of a day or a night."
A young male police officer nearby spoke quickly: "Yeah, to be frank, if those three suspects died in the mountains without food or water, we might not be able to find their bodies right away."
"I'm worried they won't have enough to eat or drink." Li Ao's face grew serious. "If they don't have enough to eat or drink, it will be bad. They might even go to the village. The three of them are all carrying guns, so we must send more people."
As Li Ao got excited, his lips turned pale again. Everyone forced him to lie down and rest. The police officers from Xicheng Province went to do their duty. Only the bronze-faced man and Tu Lanxun, who were unfamiliar with the place, were left in the ward.
"Do you know the details of the case?" Li Ao looked at Xiao Zhang and the others.
Xiao Zhang nodded. "I see. This is a gun smuggling case. The suspects, Zheng Dabao, Wan Amei, and Diao Jinlong, resisted arrest for smuggling prohibited cultural relics and have now fled into the Yeshan mountainous area of Western Province with guns. It's understood that their guns are foreign M9 pistols..."
Li Ao nodded and turned his gaze to Tu Lanxun. "There's more to it than that." He coughed and said, "Let Captain Luo tell you."
The bronze-faced man, Captain Luo, uttered a startling fact in a few words: "Zheng Dabao and his two companions are habitual smugglers. They've repeatedly passed official checkpoints along their usual smuggling routes. During our last pursuit of them, one officer inexplicably became dizzy, causing their shooting angle to shift and leading to the loss of leads. We suspect they might be using strange tactics to commit crimes..."
Tu Lanxun was stunned for a moment when he heard Li Ao say, "Lao Luo, what do you think would happen if they continued to flee westward, crossing the wild mountains and the long, sparsely populated area to the west?"
"No one has that kind of physical strength," Captain Luo said seriously. "But if they really did manage to escape into the uninhabited area of Golden Island, they would be completely out of our sight..."
Tu Lanxun and two other people were assigned by Li Ao to the special task force for the gun smuggling and murder case.
"Are you sure there is something strange around the other person?" Tu Lanxun asked.
If so, how would they circumvent the sanctions of Treaty IV? But this might be a breakthrough.
The screen in the police station showed photos of the three fugitives. Captain Luo's face was half submerged in the bluish-white light. He said, "It's very likely. How about this? I'll take you to meet the police officer who was involved in the incident."
More than ten minutes later, the officer came to the meeting room and said, "Yesterday, during the pursuit, we followed him all the way to the edge of the Yeshan Mountain area. We thought it was a place called 'Daze Pao,' which is a body of water between a large puddle and a small lake."
Tu Lanxun nodded, "And then?"
The screen switched to a reconstruction of the terrain at the time. The officer pointed to a red spot and said, "This is where the fugitive suspects are located. They're hiding behind a weathered ancient village. That area should be restored, but because there are so many similar ruins in Western Province, it's been neglected."
Captain Luo reminded him, "Get to the point."
The officer pointed to the blue dot and said, "They were driving an off-road jeep, fleeing from this side of the cliff straight towards the col. We chased them from this angle. I was closest to them, and I had a chance to kill them at close range. But..."
To recreate the scene, he used the conference table as a rock wall and assumed a crouching shooting stance. "I fired first, and as soon as I showed my head, I hit the calf of one of the women, Wan Amei. When I was about to fire the second shot, something seemed to hit the back of my head."
"Can you describe it in more detail?" Tu Lanxun asked. "For example, what shadows did you see at the time, or any detailed perceptions?"
"I just felt something was wrong," the officer said. "That numbness wasn't like low blood sugar. Low blood sugar or blood pressure problems would spread from head to toe, or from toe to head. But I felt like it came all of a sudden from behind."
"According to what other comrades said, there was nothing behind me."
So in this moment of distraction, the suspect avoided the shooting from the best angle and drove away.
The police officer was a little indignant, "I had a full checkup last night and I'm in great shape, nothing wrong with me."
Tu Lanxun asked Captain Luo, "Can we go take a look at that weathered ancient village now?"
Captain Luo hesitated, but An Feng said, "Captain Luo, if there really is an unnatural force over there, then no matter how many people we send or how much manpower and material resources we waste, it will all be in vain. So, we should..."
Captain Luo finally nodded: "Okay."
#
Tu Lanxun and others drove to the Fenghua Ancient Village. The scenery on the road was beautiful. If it were at night, it would definitely have the quiet beauty of a full moon in the desert, but now there was only a very strong wind blowing through the car window, making people's eyes dry.
The weathered ancient village is right in front of you. The first thing that comes into view is a cluster of rugged stone walls. Due to long-term erosion by air flow, the stones have lost their sharp edges and become blunt and irregular.
The remaining windows and door lintels tell of the harmony of the residents in the past.
If anything lived here, it certainly wasn't alive now.
The scene was cordoned off, Tu Lanxun jumped out of the car, and the police officer on duty recognized Captain Luo and lifted the cordon to let them pass.
Although the suspect's identity has been confirmed and it is meaningless to collect physical evidence such as shoe prints and fingerprints, Tu Lanxun and others still put on shoe covers according to the rules.
"This is it." The police officer pointed to a stone wall at the other end of the weathered ancient village.
Tu Lanxun walked over and took a look. In the dusty wind, she actually felt a strange breath.
"It's weird." Tu Lanxun said.
She smelled dust and fire, and N beside her nodded. "There's more than one ghost. But they're not any strong characters."
Just as Tu Lanxun was trying to find more clues, a black shadow suddenly flashed past his peripheral vision. It just squirmed for a moment and then disappeared into the gap between two ruins, where there should have been a courtyard gate.
"What is that?" Tu Lanxun felt a chill in his spine.
She tiptoed over, Captain Luo and the others unsure of what she was doing, until Xiao Zhang stopped them. Tu Lanxun approached the ruins, and behind the broken wall, she suddenly met a pair of hazy eyes.
She was an old woman with her hair hanging down behind her head. She was wearing a patched cotton jacket, gray bag socks and cloth shoes. She was short and small, but her skin, like the bark of a tree, contained the power of labor.
It's a ghost.
Tu Lanxun whispered tentatively, "Auntie, can you hear me?"
The old woman was a little timid. She didn't say a word and kept looking behind Tu Lanxun.
Suddenly, a cry of pain came from a distance, "Ouch!"
Tu Lanxun ran over two steps and saw Captain Luo sitting on the ground, covering his back with his hands. "It hurts, I got hit, is it..." He didn't continue.
Tu Lanxun saw a sturdy little boy running over. He was a teenager, about thirteen or fourteen years old, with a light hair on his lips. He was holding a thick long wooden stick used as a firewood stick. The end of the stick had been smoked to a metallic luster like lead.
It was that stick that hit Captain Luo.
The young boy suddenly fanned his tattered and baggy clothes and shouted, "Beat the thief! Beat the thief!"
Still feeling that this was not enough, he raised his stick cautiously, as if preparing to strike Captain Luo again, cursing, "You long-braided official bandits, you foreign thieves, I'm going to beat you to death!"
Only Tu Lanxun could hear the sound. She glanced nervously at the boy and his grandmother. With N there, she wasn't worried about Captain Luo getting hurt. But if these two grandparents were to be seen by the living, violating the Fourth Treaty, they would probably be wiped out on the spot...
Tu Lanxun winked and N grabbed the little ghost by the collar and dragged him into his grandmother's room.
Xiao Zhang asked, "What's wrong?"
Tu Lanxun said, "You guys go back to the car first, I'll take a look around."
Captain Luo and others were a little scared, but they were more worried about Tu Lanxun's safety. After her repeated assurances, they finally retreated.
Tu Lanxun walked over to the kid who was being held to the ground by N, struggling and scolding him, and asked, "That officer who was chasing the fugitive with a gun was also hit by you, right?"
The little ghost kept cursing, "Those holding muskets are invaders! Bastards! When I grow up, I'll tear their heads off one by one!"
Tu Lanxun roughly knew what era they originally lived in.
And their thinking and cognition have remained in that distant era.
The old woman rushed over, knelt down, and tried to beg them to let her go, but Tu Lanxun quickly helped her up. She helplessly explained, "Auntie, how many years have you been here?"
"How many years?" The old lady ghost was a little confused and hugged the half-grown ghost. "I don't know the years anymore. I can't read. No one has come to our village for a long time..."
Seeing that Tu Lanxun had no ill intentions, she grabbed Tu Lanxun's hand and said, "Girl from outside, tell us, which emperor is on the throne now?"
The retreat of the living people took effect immediately. One after another, thin villagers walked out from between the broken walls and ruins. Their hairstyles were very old-fashioned, with their buns and braids lying flat on their scalps. There was no trace of modern light industry on their bodies, only hand-sewn patches and shoes.
Wrinkles of sorrow were carved into the faces of these people, and they were afraid, but could not help but look at the light with curiosity.
Tu Lanxun ran back to the car and took away all the dry food and hot instant noodles from the cars at the scene. As he walked, he poked N's ribs with his elbow and said, "Quick, give me a stick of incense."
Incense sticks were lit behind the stone wall, and curls of smoke drifted over the food. The eleven or twelve villagers present were each given only a small portion, but they had not eaten for at least a hundred years, and with a century-long empty stomach and a small appetite caused by years of hunger, everyone was very satisfied.
When they are full, they can listen to what others say. Even though what Tu Lanxun said made them look doubtful, no one dared to refute it.
"Outside...it's been over a hundred years?" someone said in disbelief.
Another, younger man, swiped his index finger around his lips, sucked the remaining soup into his mouth, and said, "That's true, actually. We've all been dead for a long, long time. The last time I went to the cemetery, our bones had all rotted away."
This remark touched upon a taboo in the ghost village, and the young man was struck. Tu Lanxun found it easy to explain airplanes, cars, and the internet to them, as these had nothing to do with them; they simply treated it as a fairy tale.
The difficulty lies in the following -
"Now there's no emperor? Are there still county magistrates? Are there still landlords?"
"You all wear clothes like this, well, it doesn't look good. The older girls should tie their hair with red strings."
"Our land is not fertile. If you die, there will be no one to till it. If you don't give me a piece of that hard bun, I will give you the land..."
Tu Lanxun finally leaned against the stone wall with a tingling scalp, not knowing what to do with these village ghosts.
Send them directly to reincarnation? Sounds like they deserve a beating.
Bring them into modern life, let them get a mobile phone like other ghosts, go to the ghost website, and buy food at a convenience store when they are hungry?
Regardless of whether they have money or not, these ghosts are indeed almost 200 years removed from modern society. It's difficult enough to teach a living elderly person how to prevent fraud on their phone, let alone these tangible "walking relics."
Tu Lanxun crossed his legs and asked the old lady ghost, "Auntie, were there only these people in your village from the beginning?"
"Of course not." The old lady ghost was only fifty years old, but her hair was already gray. It was said that she had given birth to six children, some of whom died young due to bad relationships, and some were sent out to make a living and were rarely seen again. Only two children remained in the village, and the half-grown ghost was born to one of them. "There used to be many more. My second and third sons died of plague and one of them was kicked by a donkey. After they died, they were reincarnated separately, leaving only this eldest grandson to accompany me. There used to be more than fifty households in the village, but now there are only these left."
Tu Lanxun asked, "Why do you stay here?"
"You're talking nonsense! The farmland is still here, but no one is taking care of it. We can't get any seeds, but we can always dig up the soil and pull out the weeds. But the land is getting thinner day by day..."
"Did you see a group of people driving from here to the other side of the mountain yesterday? There were three people, one woman and two men, all in their thirties or forties." Tu Lanxun asked.
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