Chapter 17: Chapter Eighteen

That's right, it was a case reported by villagers. The intermediary's family still had two children; after Bai Lang left, the older child, about ten or so, ran out shouting for help. And when the villagers, armed with various farm tools for courage, arrived at the house, they were immediately stunned and quickly called the police—then another crime scene was discovered. However, due to inconvenient transportation, the police only arrived in the early hours, bringing an entire squad of county criminal investigators, and it was said that even the city's criminal brigade would come.

Because this is undoubtedly a vicious case of four deaths—even though just after the initial visits they had already detained several villagers, it's the same—'Human trafficking... this is dereliction of duty!' the criminal investigators also said that, but a murder case is going too far. Four dead in one incident, one family equals extermination while the other family also only has two children surviving.... At least the old woman and man who bought a bride, even if convicted, would not necessarily get the death penalty, and this intermediary...... seems also unlikely to get the death penalty, but now this 'chivalrous one' has killed them all.

In the stammering voice of the child, professional technicians were trying to reconstruct the killer's appearance—this killer was extremely arrogant, not even covering his face. And the forensic examiner and the experienced old criminal investigator, upon seeing the scene, also sucked in a breath of cold air, 'Is there really such skill?' Speaking of which, they truly had never seen a corpse like this before; they had seen people beaten to death, and people killed by car collisions are common, but this situation before them—even without having examined the wounds yet, one could tell it was purely the result of a bare-handed human strike—indeed, they had never seen anything like it.

'Even lions and tigers, bears and horses are no more than this?' someone said, the clear imprint of human hands visible on the corpse. 'Bare-handed shattering of bones...... is this a tiger or a person?' the forensic examiner also muttered, the corpse was a mess, just trying to put it in a body bag is already a bit difficult—especially that man, his chest caved in and his head smashed into the thoracic cavity, basically becoming a torn sack. The criminal investigators naturally also understood the killer's ferocity; this is probably not something an ordinary person could get close to, previously only seen in movies or novels as martial arts masters, but now such a master actually appears before them......

Moreover, the killer took away one of the victims; there were footprints on the ground, but they disappeared quickly, and the stride between the footprints was very large—someone simulated it, 'Is there really such a thing as lightness skill?' The situation is increasingly making these criminal investigators feel illusory.

Bai Lang didn't care about that; this guy grabbed his things and dove straight into the mountains. He wanted to take advantage of the police not yet having figured out the antecedents and consequences, and then sort out his identity—whether cases should be merged or a special task force should be established—first, he needed to run far enough into the mountains, preferably making it impossible for the police to ever track his movements thereafter. Bai Lang never thought what he did was right; it was merely vigilante justice, and he fully knew this was a crime. 'But no amount of gold can buy my happiness.' This guy, while using both hands and feet to clamber over mountains and ridges, muttered that to himself.

While running, this guy was still savoring the feeling of killing someone—turns out it was utterly ordinary, with no special feeling at all. 'They're not martial artists at all, offering no challenge whatsoever, so there's no experience to be drawn from; it's just like the feeling of slaughtering pigs, dogs, or livestock.'

By the next day, the police finally figured out the whole story, except that the victim who had been taken away was still not found, and the police dogs of the dispatched canine unit had lost the scent—it was obvious the suspect had gone over mountains and ridges. However, there was good news: the killer's background had been cleared up, 'There's still a homicide case in Lanzhou? Look, wow... actually a 'chivalrous one'? But how does this 'chivalrous one' keep stirring up big trouble? You say just beat someone up and then report it—this wouldn't cause such a huge fuss... everyone just let it go, never mind him, even we feel like giving this beast a beating for a mistake. However, causing a death is a challenge to the nation's law.'

So they set up a dragnet, and at this point the surveillance also came through—monitoring showed a withdrawal record on the suspect's bank card at some location; checking the ATM surveillance confirmed it was him, and the victim he had taken away was also found...... 'Running out over sixty kilometers in a single night—there really is such a martial arts master.' Everyone was quite surprised, but with that in mind, the encirclement plan was also ready.

'According to his nighttime activity range, then expand a bit, and calculate where he could reach based on time...... well, over thirty thousand square kilometers......' Bai Lang could appear at any point within that range; here there are densely populated towns as well as scarcely inhabited mountain areas, so such a guy would really not stand out here—even if he didn't go into the mountains, merely moving around these cities would also make him hard to catch.

Other criminals don't have that kind of vigorous mobility. The current problem is that it's hard to confirm Bai Lang's direction of movement; if he heads into the mountainous areas, then there really isn't much we can do—the terrain here is complex, even using helicopters we couldn't find a person.

Bai Lang also clearly understands this; if possible, he doesn't want to confront the authorities, so it's better to quietly take mountain paths, only approaching towns when supplies are necessary. On the map, Bai Lang planned his route. He intends to take the most dangerous Sichuan-Tibet mountain corridor, and if possible, go on to exit into Yunnan, at which point he would be safe. 'Can't cause trouble anymore; if he stirs up trouble again and gets his position locked down, that would be quite a hassle.'

Thinking it over carefully, wandering through mountains and wilderness like this actually isn't bad for martial arts training—it exercises the tendons and bones while also tempering the spirit—even if it's in a world of transmigration, Bai Lang's martial arts practice was also regular: sleeping and waking on schedule, at least he could eat his fill and stay warm. But here one must stay vigilant at all times, and if resting outdoors, initially one actually doesn't sleep well, the spirit reaches its limit before the body does—for Bai Lang, that's the case.

After his body had completed the first stage of training the Thirteen Tai Bao Golden Bell Shield, he already possessed extraordinary endurance and strength; what now lags behind his physique is actually Bai Lang's spirit, and this kind of tempering is exactly that—if he doesn't want to go out and be captured then shot, he can only undergo this trial in the wilderness.

The case was solved quickly, but apprehending the suspect is difficult...... After surveying the nearby cities, most experienced criminal investigators believe he must have gone into those complex mountain areas. 'With his martial arts, crossing the entire mountain range wouldn't be a problem, though he might also die in the mountains—at least we can't confirm that for now......' Police resources are limited; if we could confirm Bai Lang's escape direction and approximate location, we could deploy large numbers of armed police and villagers to jointly search the mountains, and even because of Bai Lang's martial arts, we could dispatch some special units using special weapons to capture him.

But without a direction, there's nothing we can do......