Chapter 319: We must ensure Lu Yang's safety!

Smack!

In the village party secretary's home.

A burly man raised his arm and slapped the village party secretary hard across the face.

The slap was delivered with great force, and the village party secretary's left cheek immediately swelled.

"Trafficking women, disregarding human life—are you even human? You're worse than beasts!"

"Leader, we… we don't want to either, but we really have no choice. There are so few men in the mountains; if we don't spend money to buy women from outside, how can we continue the family line......"

"Then just go to hell!"

This hot-tempered man is the captain of a certain armed police battalion, originally ordered to search the mountains for armed criminals.

As it turned out, he stumbled upon another case, and the deeper he dug, the more shocking it became.

Seeing such a big scene, families who had done nothing wrong or whose offenses were minor, fearing implication, simply laid out everything about the village.

Although it was somewhat incidental, getting involved in other cases during the investigation is not unusual.

But he never imagined that, in the twenty-first century, trafficking of women and children would still occur.

Especially when he learned that the village party secretary had acted as a middleman, profiting from it, his anger flared.

After sending out the few "honest and kind" police officers, he shut the door and gave the village party secretary several slaps.

He himself has a daughter who is in high school, at the blossoming age of youth.

This is also what he finds most intolerable and unacceptable.

After giving that trafficker a brutal beating, the battalion commander felt somewhat relieved.

A subordinate reported: "According to the leads, many of the abducted women in the village have been secretly moved, but our people have obtained a rough location and are trying to rescue the victims; however, there are still no clues about the armed criminals."

"What's up with those shell casings?"

"The shell casings are……"

The subordinate related the situation exactly as he had obtained it.

Upon learning that it was left by a group of training recruits, the battalion commander didn't think much of it.

After all, at that moment the vehicle was almost overturned by those villagers; using blank rounds to intimidate was understandable.

As for claiming the abducted girl was the commander's daughter, that too was a reasonable ruse to intimidate the villagers and take them away.

"These army recruits are pretty brave; we can call later to commend them. It's also thanks to them that we ended up here by chance and stumbled upon this major trafficking case...."

"Report!"

Just then, a subordinate came running up in a hurry.

"What's wrong?"

"We have a lead on the criminals!"

"Speak quickly!"

"What did you say?"

"You personally witnessed the criminals using guns to kill people, and then Lu Yang went after them alone?"

He Zhen Tao had just arrived at the mountain's base, grabbing the filthy, foul-smelling Liu Ziqiang, and anxiously asked for the situation.

Liu Ziqiang dared not conceal anything and quickly gave a brief rundown: "The situation is urgent—the pregnant woman's water broke and she also suffered a gunshot wound; fearing she might lose both herself and the child, he ordered us to split into two groups."

"I and LiMin carried the pregnant woman down the mountain; after a long walk we reached the roadside, found someone to call the police and dial 120 to get her to the hospital."

"Lu Yang was worried the two criminals would escape and never be found, so he chose to follow them alone."

He Zhen Tao exclaimed in panic: "He doesn't even have a weapon—if he's discovered following them, isn't that just suicide? Why didn't you call for backup? Why didn't you report to me?"

Liu Ziqiang looked aggrieved: "There's no signal; there's absolutely none in the mountains. I and LiMin only got a signal after walking all the way to the road."

He Zhen Tao was overwhelmed, having thought he was merely rescuing trapped women and upholding justice.

But he never expected his words to become prophetic—he actually found those two gun‑snatching criminals in the mountains.

If Lu Yang had a gun on him, that would be fine, since he knows Lu Yang's marksmanship is excellent.

But the situation is that the enemy has a sawed‑off double‑barreled hunting rifle, plus a 56‑type submachine gun with an astonishing rate of fire.

Furthermore, one of them is a former arms keeper of the People's Armed Forces Department, skilled at loading ammunition, firing, and possessing some counter‑reconnaissance awareness.

If Lu Yang is discovered while tracking them, or if he worries the enemy might flee and launches an attack, there's a good chance he could die here.

The armed police and regular police already have the information, but the regiment is still completely unaware of this.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, He Zhen Tao quickly called the regiment.

On the other end of the line, Wang Zhongxi fell silent for a moment, then first soothed his emotions.

"First, calm down and take your medicine; this kid Lu Yang is quite clever, capable of handling sudden situations on his own—otherwise he'd already have been in trouble when he ran into the criminals."

"You're anxious after taking your medicine; he's just following from a distance, so he certainly won't put himself in danger. The armed police have already gotten the word and are rushing over—nothing will happen."

"I'll contact the reconnaissance battalion right now and have them send people over, no matter the cost, to ensure Lu Yang's safety."

"This kid is destined for great things; since he thought to use the armed police's power to rescue the trapped women, he certainly won't put himself in danger."

After the regiment commander's reassurance, He Zhen Tao's anxious heart finally eased a little.

But thinking about what Lu Yang is doing right now, he still feels uneasy.

"This damned brat, acting so recklessly—his gall keeps growing!"

"Instructor, what should we do now?"

"Follow the armed police's vehicle—wherever they go, we go."

"Okay."

"Assemble, everyone get on the trucks!"

The reconnaissance battalion has already received orders from above.

Having learned the approximate location and likely direction of the criminals,

They quickly boarded the vehicle, preparing to cooperate with the armed police in encircling and suppressing the two criminals.

Yang Yong held the phone, and Xiong Yao's voice on the other end was extremely solemn: "Your top priority is to ensure Lu Yang's personal safety; remember, you must absolutely guarantee his safety and not let him come to any harm!"

"Taking out the criminals is the job of the armed police; we don't need to get involved!"

"Yes, Chief of Staff!"

At the same time, the mountains beneath the darkness stretched on endlessly.

In the dense forest where two mountains met, Lu Yang, relying on his visual advantage, continued to quietly follow the two ahead.

During the process, he continually tried to contact the outside world, but his phone never got a signal.

Seeing the phone battery dwindle, he could only reduce how often he used it.

Every one or two hours he would compose a text message and mark the tree.

Once he got a signal later, the messages should send automatically, and then they could find him based on his approximate location.

As for his own safety, Lu Yang was initially a bit nervous, after all there were two of them and both had guns.

This time was very different from the dangers he had encountered before; previously, most posed little threat to his life.

But this time is different; if exposed, dying in the mountains might leave not even a trace of his remains.

Because in such deep mountains and old forests, there could be wild wolves, wild dogs, wild boars, and even blind bears.

But as time went on, that tension was worn away completely.

To the point that Lu Yang even hoped to encounter something exciting and thrilling.

After walking all night, the two ahead seemed tired too, slowing their pace; Lu Yang, however, was fine, consistently keeping a safe distance from them.

After walking a bit further, the sky faintly showed signs of light, and Lu Yang noticed that the two had quickened their pace, even breaking into a jog.

Then he noticed a dilapidated shack ahead in the woods, its interior glowing faintly, as if someone was inside?

"Any accomplices?"

Two lean men came out of the shack; one had a protruding mouth and triangular eyes, looking like a tough character.

Worried about being discovered, Lu Yang did not choose to approach but instead hid far away in a patch of grass.

However, Lu Yang couldn't understand what they were saying; it sounded like a dialect from Guangxi, but not quite.

Moreover, Lu Yang kept feeling that the protruding-mouthed man seemed to occasionally glance his way, not knowing if it was coincidence.

In short, this feeling made Lu Yang uncomfortable, and at the same time he sensed an inexplicable familiarity from the man.

He had felt this feeling before on the man carrying the pack; could it be that he had run into a fellow traveler?

"He's called Kui Ge; he's Haoge's best fighter, nicknamed the Killing Demon; last year in Goat City, he single-handedly took down three cops!"

"Hello, Kui Ge!"

"Um, come with us, hand over the pack."

The protruding-mouthed man named Kui Ge reached to take the pack holding the gun at the man's waist, but the man dodged.

The man turned his back warily: "The gun is safer with me."

Kui Ge frowned, turned his head and muttered something to the thin man, who then turned and communicated with the man.

"Give him the gun; we're all brothers, trustworthy."

"But......"

"No more buts—do you still want to strike it rich, make big money? Your wife and kids have run off with someone, you're wanted by the police, you can't go back, what else are you thinking?"

After hesitating repeatedly, the man finally handed over the pack.

Kui Ge shook the pack, and immediately the sound of metal bullets clattering rang out.

He pulled open the zipper, took out that Type 56 rifle, gave it a look, the empty chamber clicked a few times, and he nodded in satisfaction.

"The gun is not bad."

"It's a must—made by Northern arms industry."

"How many bullets, how many magazines?"

"Three magazines, over a hundred bullets."

"Hmm, enough."

Kui Ge skillfully loaded the magazine, pulled the bolt, and then without warning pointed the gun at the man.

The man stared wide-eyed in shock, cold sweat instantly trickling down his forehead, his heart nearly jumping out of his throat.

"Kui, Kui Ge!"

"Houzi, what, what is going on?"

The man looked pleadingly at the thin man who had been walking with him.

The thin man called Houzi also panicked, repeatedly pleading in the Yue Nan dialect.

Basically he was saying they were all good brothers, one family, and would make big money together in the future.

He also kept explaining that he had served in the military, albeit only as a militia, had never killed anyone, but could shoot, and could readily replace whoever had died before.

"You're one of us, he's not. This guy actually brought a tail along!"

"What?"

As the words fell, Kui Ge shifted the gun's muzzle and pulled the trigger.

The bullets bang-bang-bang grazed the man's left scalp, firing off toward the distant spot where Lu Yang was hiding......