Chapter 638

For Ren Xiaoping's death, Xu Si felt both regret and sorrow; he never imagined Ren Xiaoping would die on this mission.

He came this time not only to see Ren Xiaoping but also to search the town for traces left by Ning Chen.

According to the townspeople, Ning Chen had been to this town and seemed to have asked someone something; if clues could be found, perhaps contact with Ning Chen could be made sooner.

Before going to the town, Xu Si tried calling Ning Chen.

But as he expected, Ning Chen didn't answer the call—whether he deliberately ignored it or was too far away, he didn't know.

At this point, if Xu Si merely kept dialing Ning Chen's number foolishly, it would be pointless; besides wanting to establish contact with Ning Chen as soon as possible, Xu Si also wanted to cooperate with him.

Therefore, before that, Xu Si had to investigate Ning Chen's current whereabouts.

Unfortunately, even after asking the townspeople, their unanimous answer was that they had never seen Ning Chen.

This meant Xu Si could only return empty-handed.

Xu Si returned to his car with a sense of helplessness; though he failed to find Ning Chen and felt regret, he didn't want to go back just like this.

Xu Si suddenly didn't want to retrace his steps.

Compared to returning empty-handed, Xu Si preferred to take a gamble.

Xu Si vaguely remembered that after Ning Chen killed Zuo He, he chose the direction of due north—a path lined with trees, followed by a wide road.

If he took this road, he could still return to the police station, but it might take much longer.

So Xu Si made no further hesitation—after all, a gamble could turn a bicycle into a motorcycle.

After taking this road, Xu Si's mood suddenly lifted—perhaps because the wind wasn't as scorching now, or perhaps because he had just returned from Ren Xiaoping's grave.

486. Follow the clues and trace the source.

Xu Si's car couldn't enter the tree-lined path, since the gaps between each pair of trees were too narrow.

Even motorcycles struggled to pass, let alone cars.

Helpless, Xu Si got out of the car; for some reason, perhaps due to his police instinct, he didn't find walking burdensome at all.

After all, this was his only lead right now.

After entering the tree-lined path, Xu Si found it was surprisingly long, densely covered with trees that blocked his view of the sky above.

Xu Si specifically timed himself and realized it would take about fifteen minutes to walk out of here.

And those fifteen minutes were enough for him to do something else.

Xu Si noticed some scrapes on smaller trees along the path, as if recently made, still fresh with marks.

Xu Si slowly crouched down, running his palm over the marks, discovering they were long, narrow grooves; considering the direction of travel, he preliminarily deduced the person had walked straight in from the entrance.

And the vehicle used was likely a motorcycle or electric bike—since a car simply couldn't pass.

Xu Si rubbed his chin, his gaze never leaving the mark: "Unless the vehicle was going too fast, it shouldn't leave such marks…"

As he speculated, he stood up and walked to other trees, carefully examining their trunks.

But none of the surrounding trees showed such marks—they were all intact and undamaged.

This meant someone riding a motorcycle or other two-wheeled vehicle had ridden from the entrance all the way to the exit at high speed, as if being chased.

When Xu Si had this thought, his gaze turned to the empty road outside the tree-lined path.

This was clearly a remote road, rarely visited—otherwise, there would be more marks besides tire tracks on the tree-lined path.

No footprints, human or animal, were visible anywhere.

Xu Si made a bold guess: he suspected the person who passed through here was Ning Chen.

But he had no evidence, nor could anyone provide any; the only option now was to assume his theory was correct and investigate further based on it.

This was a common method used by the police.

Since Xu Si had decided to take the gamble, he could only follow this tree-lined path all the way to the end.

He spent ten minutes finally walking out of the place; upon emerging, a long, straight, wide road lay directly before him.

The road looked as if it had just been newly paved, with no one having passed through for a long time—no trace of any evidence could be found on it.

As a result, Xu Si had to figure out how to bring his car here; otherwise, walking might lead him to his death before reaching his destination.

By the time Xu Si retrieved his car, three hours had passed; he finally drove onto the wide road and, gripping the steering wheel, let out a weary sigh.

The car sped along the highway without obstruction; Xu Si rolled down his window, letting the wind blow in from the roadside, and drove at top speed without any police or passersby reprimanding or warning him.

Until, after an hour, he faintly saw something.

It appeared to be the right wing of an aircraft, still attached to the plane, crashed below the road.

Xu Si glanced briefly at first, not recognizing it as an aircraft; only after parking his car by the roadside did he confirm it fully.

It was a crashed helicopter, but its appearance differed from normal helicopters—it wasn't a private one, but resembled a fighter jet.

Xu Si frowned, stepped out of the car, and stared fixedly at the fighter jet below the road, silent for a long time.

At this point, he could only guess whether a faction's fighter jet had malfunctioned mid-flight—but when Xu Si saw the emblem on the fighter jet, his blood instantly froze.

It was a white background with a blue emblem—the exclusive mark of the Bay Family.

This symbol had once struck fear into nearly everyone, for the Bay Family's power was beyond reach for others.

If this fighter jet truly belonged to the Bay Family, Xu Si strongly suspected they were targeting Ning Chen.

After all, Ning Chen's feud with the Bay Family wasn't new—nearly every major family knew the Bay Family had a troublesome adversary.

Although Xu Si trusted Ning Chen, if the Bay Family deployed their fighter jets, Ning Chen's chances of winning were slim.

Only then did Xu Si realize his heart was racing too fast; he took deep breaths and barely calmed himself.

Xu Si's hands trembled slightly; he pulled out his phone from his pocket and dialed Hua Ping's number with practiced ease.

Hua Ping was likely in a meeting—his phone answered slowly, the background noisy.

Xu Si waited patiently for Hua Ping's response; sure enough, the noise on the other end gradually faded as Hua Ping moved to a quiet place.

Xu Si immediately spoke: "I suspect Ning Chen is in danger—the Bay Family has moved, and their target is Ning Chen… I even found a crashed fighter jet belonging to the Bay Family."

Hua Ping had just left the meeting; his breath caught instantly: "Where did you find the crashed fighter jet? And how do you know it belongs to the Bay Family?"

Xu Si's voice was urgent: "Because I'm standing right in front of the crashed fighter jet! There's a mark unique to the Gulf Family on it… Should I send you a picture?"

Hearing Hua Ping nodded.

Xu Si immediately took a photo and sent it to Hua Ping.

Hua Ping zoomed in on the photo and saw it was indeed a picture of a crashed aircraft; Xu Si had clearly chosen an angle where the pattern on the plane was perfectly clear.

Hua Ping had dealt with such criminal organizations before—he knew exactly what this pattern meant. Just as Xu Si said, it was the Gulf Family's emblem.

This was the Gulf Family's fighter jet.

"But what does this have to do with Ning Chen?" Hua Ping's professional habit kicked in—he had to get to the bottom of it.

487. Arrival at destination

Ning Chen had often sat in silence during the helicopter ride these past few days; he had to check in—Si Shiya was still in danger.

Ning Chen lowered his eyes for a moment, sighed, and shook the thoughts from his mind. He spoke to the pilot: "It's been a long time. Let's land and rest a while."

The pilot agreed, lowered the helicopter to the ground, stepped out, and took a break—he'd been inside for too long.

The helicopter landed on the ground, and Ning Chen stepped out too. Rest for a while in Lin Zhong.

Birdsong rang out sharply in the woods; the air was fresh, the ground damp, and in the distance, droplets fell like rain had just ended.

Ning Chen walked a few circles nearby and found the woods isolated, with no one around; the soil was moist, and the trees sparse. After pausing a moment, he returned to the helicopter.

Just as the helicopter was about to take off, Ning Chen heard a call. He frowned—though he hadn't seen any wild animals during his break, the forest was vast and anything could happen. He turned to the window, peering through the transparent glass.

A man, caked in dirt, blinked with surprise—there was a helicopter in this desolate forest? That meant people were nearby. He ran toward it and shouted: "I'm lost! Take me with you! I've been trapped here for days."

Hearing the man's pleading tone, Ning Chen fell silent for a moment. Outside, the man kept talking. Ning Chen glanced around the helicopter—there was enough space, and rescuing him wouldn't be hard. He nodded and agreed to let him board.

The man, overjoyed that Ning Chen would take him aboard, felt immense gratitude. The forest had no edible fruits or food—he'd been desperate these past days. Now that he could leave, he kept muttering thanks.

Ning Chen found the man's behavior somewhat exasperating. He nodded and asked: "Why were you trapped here? This place is so remote—how did you even get here?"

Ning Chen was genuinely puzzled. How could a man alone get lost this far? He didn't know where the man was headed, but seeing him covered in dirt, Ning Chen thought it wouldn't hurt to give him a ride if it was on the way.

The man lowered his head and sighed slightly: "I just kept walking until I got here. This forest is vast and isolated—I stayed a few hours and couldn't figure out how to get out."

"I came by car, planning to travel somewhere for fun. But halfway, the car ran out of fuel. I thought there'd be a gas station nearby, so I wandered around looking—and ended up here."

"This forest is too big. Once I came in, I couldn't find my way out. I've walked for days without escaping, and I haven't met a single person. It's too remote. How did you get here? Where are you going? If you're going on the way, could you give me a ride?"

Ning Chen stared at the man. His questions were too many—he didn't know which to answer first. Ning Chen pursed his lips and didn't reply immediately, only asked: "Where are you going now?"

Ning Chen truly wanted to rescue Si Shiya quickly and complete his check-in task, but if the man was going on the way, giving him a ride wouldn't hurt. Still, he didn't know his destination—hence the question.

The man's eyes lit up with excitement: "I'm going to Antarctica! I want to tour there—I heard there's a magical place there."

"Then sit down—the helicopter's taking off."

Upon hearing the man was headed to Antarctica, Ning Chen said nothing more—he was going there too. Giving him a ride was fine.