Chapter 294: Smoke of War
Xia Lili's gaze instantly fixed on the shawl.
The shawl was a classic brown and black plaid, made of thick cashmere… Her heart sank.
This shawl had appeared clearly in several hallucinations she had foreseen before, all on An Zhaoyan, including when An Zhaoyan was chased by a bear.
But in that final bloody scene of doom, when An Zhaoyan fell in the snow, the shawl... was gone.
She subconsciously took a half step closer to Li Qihan and whispered in his ear in a very low voice, "That plaid shawl...it was in my previous vision, but it disappeared at the end."
"I suspect it's not for keeping warm. It's very likely part of the murderer's plan."
The howling mountain wind swallowed up the voices of the two people. They huddled in the corner, and only they could hear each other.
Li Qihan's eyes suddenly became sharp, and his gaze silently swept over the seemingly warm shawl.
His expression remained unchanged, as if he had just turned sideways inadvertently, and a gust of wind happened to blow from the direction of Thorne and An Zhaoyan.
His nostrils twitched imperceptibly, and then he naturally lowered his head, leaned close to Xia Lili's ear, and whispered quickly in a voice that only the two of them could hear:
"The shawl had a very faint smell, like a mixture of beeswax and buffalo tallow... something hunters often use to lure bears."
His voice was calm and firm, instantly revealing the deadly murderous intent hidden in this seemingly warm shawl.
Xia Lili's heart sank.
But An Zhaoyan had already leaned over to Thorne and was chatting with him, so she couldn't remind him.
At this moment, someone raised their phone in panic: "The signal is completely gone! Not a single bar!"
As if to exacerbate this situation, the wind outside the platform suddenly intensified, roaring with a frightening force. The next second, a resounding explosion erupted.
Snap! Boom!
The entire roof of the cable car station was blown away and torn apart by the strong wind, and cold snow and debris fell down on the head!
Almost at the same moment, Li Qihan reacted with astonishing speed.
He suddenly turned sideways, quickly covered Xia Lili's earmuffs with one hand to block out the loud noise, and with the other hand, he held her tightly in his arms, using his tall body to protect her tightly, blocking all the falling snow and danger behind him.
At this moment, the crowd stranded in the station fell into complete panic.
"We can't wait any longer! We will freeze to death if we spend the night here!" someone shouted at the top of his lungs, and panic spread like wildfire.
Just then, a terrified scream rang out: "Bear! There's a bear in the woods over there!"
Coach Thorne immediately shouted, "There's no other way. We have to walk down the mountain to save our lives! Everyone follow me. I'm your coach and I'm very familiar with this mountain area!"
The crowd exploded in an instant, their survival instinct driving them to rush down the mountain without thinking, almost following Thorne's footsteps in unison.
Li Qihan, Xia Lili and Detective Reina also quickly joined the fleeing crowd.
While running, Li Qihan used his body as cover to quietly press the radio button and lower his voice to send a message to Detective Evans who was lying in ambush near the hiking trail: "A bear has appeared. The crowd is moving towards the hiking trail. Be prepared."
The blizzard in the mountains became increasingly violent. The strong wind blew dense snowflakes onto everyone's faces. Visibility dropped sharply, making it almost impossible to see the road ahead.
As they marched, the team that had originally gathered together was pulled further and further apart by the wind, snow and terrain, and their shouts to each other were drowned out by the howling wind.
Xia Lili and Li Qihan deliberately slowed down their pace, formed a group, and secretly paid attention to the movements ahead.
Detective Reina seemed to be scattered to the other side, but in fact she always maintained a distance that allowed her to provide support.
Both sides tacitly followed An Zhaoyan's direction from a distance.
Soon, they noticed that Thorne was always staying close to An Zhaoyan, seemingly protecting her and escaping together.
However, when a bear's deep roar suddenly rang out from the forest and a huge black shadow suddenly emerged from the snow, the situation suddenly got out of control.
The frightened bear rushed directly towards Thorne and An Zhaoyan!
The two men were immediately chased by the bear and ran wildly.
But as she was running, An Zhaoyan suddenly realized that Thorne, who had been protecting her, had disappeared silently at some point!
A cold fear gripped her instantly.
Looking around, there was only the vast wind and snow and a dark shadow that was getting closer and closer. She was trapped alone in the bear's pursuit path.
In this critical moment, she suddenly remembered the can of spray Xia Lili had given her, and hurriedly took it out, trembling as she aimed it at the approaching giant bear...
The bear spray took effect quickly, and the pungent chemicals and irritating aerosols temporarily blocked the giant bear's vision and sense of smell.
It let out a roar of anger and pain, and its movements slowed down.
An Zhaoyan seized this precious opportunity, turned around and ran desperately into the depths of the snow forest.
However, she didn't know that Thorne, who was not far away, had already taken the opportunity to escape from the bear's pursuit range, quickly hid behind a huge cedar, and took out a crossbow that he had hidden in advance from a hidden tree hole.
His eyes were cold as he followed An Zhaoyan silently, step by step, gradually raised the crossbow and aimed at her back.
But just as he was about to pull the trigger, a cold, hard object suddenly pressed against the back of his head.
"LAPD," Detective Maudie's voice was deep and unyielding. "Drop your weapons, now!"
Thorne's body suddenly stiffened, and the calculation and murderous intent on his face were instantly replaced by astonishment and disbelief.
He hesitated for a moment, but finally slowly placed the crossbow on the snow and raised his hands.
Almost at the same time, a crisp and decisive shotgun blast was heard from a distance.
The black bear that was originally chasing An Zhaoyan fell to the ground!
Detective Evans, who came from a hunting family, calmly put away his hunting rifle, and the smoke slowly dissipated in the wind and snow.
When the snow and wind subsided, Detective Evans hurried over, bringing the still-shaken An Zhaoyan to reunite with Xia Lili and Li Qihan. Xia Lili immediately stepped forward, placing a thermos of hot drink and a high-energy bar into An Zhaoyan's cold hands, and gently soothingly said, "Eat something first, take some time."
An Zhaoyan was still trembling slightly, but her gaze, past the others, fixed on Thorne, who was being restrained by Detective Modi. When she learned from Li Qihan that her trusted coach had once raised a crossbow, intending to kill her from behind, the color drained from her face.
She broke free from the support and walked towards Thorne step by step, asking in a trembling but clear voice: "Teacher... why? Why do you want to kill me?"
Her eyes were filled with confusion and pain as she continued to ask, "What hatred... is there between us that's worth doing this?"
Thorne, however, looked away stiffly, his lips tightly pursed, and he avoided answering her questions.
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