Chapter 495: Tracking

In the mountains, teams of soldiers in military uniforms climbed along the small paths.

Overhead, the buzzing of drones almost never stopped.

By the roadside, for several hundred meters, the road was packed with cars. In the slightly open spaces in between, mineral water, bread, and instant noodles were piled one or two meters high.

Two field kitchen trucks were already in place, puffing out white smoke. Search team members who had come down earlier just washed their hands and came over to eat.

It could be said that this desolate wilderness had never been this lively.

Yu Wenshu came over specifically by car. After Yuan Jiansheng was captured, the major crisis was resolved, and what remained was the standard case-handling procedure.

The number of people in the Jianyuan gang was not small, because many were part-timers or existed in the form of drug workers. The special task force certainly wanted to capture everyone.

But Yuan Jiansheng was unwilling to disclose the specific whereabouts of the gang members, so the rest could only be handled by surrounding and intercepting them.

That said, upon arriving at the scene and seeing the long convoy, Yu Wenshu felt a pang of pain: "Xu Taining really knows how to spend."

This wave of expenses would have to be shared by various units, and the Changyang City Criminal Investigation Detachment would certainly have to contribute personnel, effort, and vehicles. Compared to units like the Qinghe Municipal Bureau, their strength was greater, and the obligations they bore were only more, not less.

"I heard he set up a total of 7 points." Wan Baoming, who was accompanying him, also wanted to check the personnel deployment of the Criminal Science Center. He was equally shocked by Xu Taining's strength: "Spending so much money, he has to produce results, or else! The higher-ups have to help him produce results!"

Yu Wenshu knew what Wan Baoming meant, but had different thoughts: "With this scale of mobilization, if he flips the car once, there won't be a second time. However, 7 points—is it necessary? He got 1,000 cars?"

"It's not that exaggerated. This is the biggest point. Xu Chu judged that they were most likely to come from the north. There should be one-third of the vehicles and personnel here. The remaining six points total only two or three hundred vehicles. However, the Armed Police sent people over, and the convoy went back. The number of search team members now should have exceeded three thousand." Wan Baoming had specifically looked into the situation, but as he explained, he also started to feel it was absurd.

"The number of people isn't that high, though." Yu Wenshu said this and headed toward the largest tent.

In this weather, Qinghe City might rain, and the tent was not only for shelter from the rain but also a fully functional field command post. It was unclear when Xu Taining had spent the money for it or if he had used the Armed Police's resources.

The environment inside the tent was more comfortable, without sun or wind. Yu Wenshu entered, wiped his face, and stared at Xu Taining: "Xu Chu, you've held another vehicle exhibition this time."

Xu Taining replied, "Using cars is cheaper than using people."

"That's true, but things like field kitchens could be arranged later. If we just make do for the first two days, maybe we'll find them. Our own screening and stakeouts are just like this..." Yu Wenshu wasn't really stingy, but when managing a household, the budget is fixed. If money is spent on eating and drinking, there's less for solving cases. Field kitchens could be replaced by instant noodles. When criminal police go on business trips, fuel and accommodation costs can't be replaced.

As Yu Wenshu said, for the first day or two, everyone eating instant noodles wasn't unacceptable. If searching the mountains, they wouldn't go too deep in the first two days, and material supplies would be relatively sufficient.

Xu Taining stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the map. Hearing Yu Wenshu's words, he just calmly said, "If the search time exceeds a week, the field kitchen will actually save you money. Really!"

Yu Wenshu guaranteed with his professional expertise that Xu Taining had definitely answered this question more than once. He had even started using saving money to tempt him.

The normal version of Xu Taining couldn't even say the words "save money."

It was like having Taining poison.

"I believe you, my ghost." Yu Wenshu could only play the role of a funny guy. Anyway, Xu Taining spent his money and used his people, and in the end, even if he made a mess of things below, he wouldn't take responsibility. As long as he achieved his goal and turned to leave, whatever Yu Wenshu said would be in vain.

"The key now is still to find clues, at least to determine that the gang members are within the encirclement, especially the main force. Secondly, we must determine their direction." Xu Taining also had his worries.

He could make the blockade airtight, but if the target wasn't inside, wouldn't that be a joke?

Furthermore, Xu Taining could certainly seal off the area around Qinghe City now, but the cost was extremely high, and the social pressure was also great. Moreover, a blockade without a search was meaningless in itself.

Therefore, what Xu Taining needed most now was to obtain some clues about the target, thereby turning the city-wide blockade into a blockade of a certain area, and then pulling the saved manpower to search the mountains.

Of course, Xu Taining also had an alternative plan: in the absence of any clues, he could pull out three or four times the manpower to blockade and search the mountains simultaneously—the blockade certainly wasn't sustainable; at most, it would be for a few days. If the criminal police didn't produce results, he would have to rely on himself.

Once a search of this scale started, there was no possibility of stopping. Stopping was equivalent to declaring failure.

However, even Xu Taining wouldn't casually double or triple the budget.

Xu Taining raised his hand to check his watch and said, "We must hurry. Adjusting the deployment takes at least two hours. If we want to be generous, three hours before dark, we can't adjust the deployment anymore. Adding one more night will increase the expenses quite a bit."

"Let's see if the police dogs can be deployed in time." Yu Wenshu could only wait.

There were too many interference factors in the chemical plant, and the area of Jianyuan was also large. Even though several police dogs had been mobilized, the task of searching for Yuan Yushan and the others was not going smoothly.

However, Yu Wenshu and the others were experienced and knew that finding traces of Yuan Yushan and the others was only a matter of time, but in terms of time...

"Jiang Yuan is here." Yu Wenshu comforted Xu Taining.

Xu Taining gave an "En." To him, Jiang Yuan was a bit of a double-edged sword. Without Jiang Yuan, he lacked clues, and with Jiang Yuan... Last time, Jiang Yuan had broken the case directly while he was still laying out his dragnet!

At this moment.

Jiang Yuan followed Dazhuang to the basement.

The pure black Dazhuang walked lightly in the pitch-black basement, feeling a bit like a ghost walker.

Like the other police dogs, it was affected by the various odors of the pharmaceutical factory and had been hovering under the handler's feet, unable to be deployed.

For a police dog, this was also a very uncomfortable state. All kinds of unpleasant odors filled its nasal cavity, and the frustration of work kept welling up in its heart.

It was only because police dogs were well-trained and strong enough; if a thief stole from morning till night and stole nothing, and was constantly insulted, they would have long since gone home to live off their parents.

"Woof!"

Dazhuang walked a distance, started circling again, and then walked under a pillar to sniff. Its movements looked like a pet dog out for a walk.

Jiang Yuan felt a bit amused. He walked forward a few steps, but at the spot where Dazhuang was sniffing, he saw a string of footprints.

Jianyuan's basement was cleaned by special small electric carts, so there was relatively little dust, and not many footprints were left. The footprint conditions next to the pillar were slightly better.

"Exploration light." Jiang Yuan stood still and shouted.

Mu Zhiyang hurriedly took off the exploration light he was carrying.

Adjusting the light source color of the exploration light and placing it in the right position, several obvious footprints appeared. One of them was exactly the sole pattern of Zanbela's shoes.

"Ahead." Jiang Yuan pointed, and everyone, including Li Li and Dazhuang, followed him forward.

After just a few dozen steps, they arrived next to a manhole cover.

"Notify above, we're going down." Jiang Yuan didn't hesitate anymore.

"I'll go down first." Mu Zhiyang lifted the manhole cover, shone a flashlight, and climbed down slowly using the ladder on the well wall.

Li Li silently carried a bag and let Dazhuang climb in.

Then, Li Li carried Dazhuang and went down the shaft.

"It's definitely here." Jiang Yuan went down the well and first discovered Yuan Yushan's footprints on the ground.

Basically pulled an all-nighter, tired~ ===== CHAPTER 496 =====