Chapter 497: The Mountain Collapses

Uncle Mu sent three people to take a wide detour to cut off Jiang Yuan and the others' retreat, and sent two others carrying rifles to climb the side slope. They were the main force for shooting the police dog. If the field of fire was good, two guns taking out 8 targets would only be a matter of seconds.

Uncle Mu stayed with the other two, crouching on the second floor of the building here, his hand touching his gun, staring at Jiang Yuan and the others several hundred meters away, not knowing what was in his mind.

The police dog had to be killed. Otherwise, no matter how far they ran, it would be like playing house. Even if they could get a day or two ahead, as long as the direction could be found from behind, and they were surrounded and intercepted in front, the longer they ran, the faster they would be sentenced.

If it were a police dog coming up from behind, it might not be that familiar with their scent. Once they got up the mountain, if they waded through a few streams and smeared some animal feces on themselves, there was a high probability they could break away.

But a police dog that was this close at this time knew their scent too well, and it would be very easy for it to trail them without letting go.

But as for killing Jiang Yuan and the others, Uncle Mu was actually a bit hesitant.

It's easy to fire a shot, but hard to escape. If they shot 7 police officers and one police dog in one go, their wanted index would probably go straight to five stars. At that time, Yuan Yushan, the general manager of the company, would no longer be the primary target; it would be them.

Although the probability of escaping now was already very small, everyone still held hope. Including Yuan Yushan and the others, they certainly hadn't completely given up yet.

When this escape route was built back then, it was carefully considered and heavily invested in, designed quite thoroughly—of course, now they were being chased, but it didn't matter. The next few supply points not only helped them escape in multiple directions but also had pre-designed routes. If they could quickly pass through the blockade, they would have a chance to escape alive.

And the premise for this was not to become a "thorn in the side" of the police.

For example, don't run with the primary target Yuan Yushan, and... don't kill the police.

"Let's go." Uncle Mu watched the two teams gradually move away and said in a low voice.

The other two were also subordinates who had followed Uncle Mu for many years. They were stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted, putting away their guns while saying: "What about the dog?"

"If the fool can be killed, kill it. If it can't be killed, the dog will just chase after them." Uncle Mu turned around and added: "Yuan Yushan probably knows some other routes. We don't need them; we'll just take the old route."

The old route was the escape route designed in the early days of Jianyuan. At that time, they had just started making special precursors, and Yuan Jiansheng was also anxious. To comfort himself, and to appease other team members, Yuan Jiansheng started to design the first escape route and pre-buried canned food, clothes, lighters, and other items at several main resting places along the way.

In that era, as long as they crossed the mountain and ran to the town at the foot of the mountain on the other side, a motorcycle could make them vanish without a trace.

Jianyuan had successively created several routes later, but they were all mastered by different gang members. Yuan Yushan probably knew a few new routes.

Hopefully, the new routes would be more effective.

Uncle Mu couldn't care about that much anymore.

He slung his gun over his shoulder and walked with his head down.

If the two behind him wanted to follow, they could follow. If they didn't want to, Uncle Mu wouldn't force them.

Lives were earned by oneself. Uncle Mu didn't want anything now; he just wanted to earn his own life.

"Uncle Mu."

"Uncle Mu!"

The two subordinates followed his pace. They were the younger brothers among the old brothers and didn't know the escape route. Although they could go back to find Yuan Yushan and the others, why bother at this point?

The three of them slung their guns and stopped talking, climbing up the mountain in silence. There were still some small paths here leading to various mountain passes. Some were walked out by villagers nearby, and some were stepped out by people playing, but the further they went into the mountain, the fewer these traces became, and Uncle Mu identified them very arduously.

But he still diverted some attention to listen to the movement at the foot of the mountain.

After a long time, Uncle Mu felt he had climbed very far. He found a rock to sit on, looked at the factory area that was almost obscured by the mountain shape, rubbed his legs, and asked: "Did you hear any gunshots?"

"No." The two shook their heads.

Uncle Mu was convinced that it wasn't his ears that were bad. He frowned and thought for a while, then looked at the other two and said: "It seems everyone has their own ideas."

Even if the three of them ran away, Uncle Mu still had 5 people down below. The police looked like they only had short guns. 5 against 7 people and one dog, with the prepared attacking the unprepared, it should still be no problem.

Besides, they shouldn't know that he had run away either.

Therefore, the other 5 people must also have had different ideas, which was why they were like this. It was highly likely that they also wanted Yuan Yushan to charge forward, and they didn't want to stand out.

Thinking of this, Uncle Mu felt a bit uncomfortable. The once intimate team had just fallen apart like this.

At the foot of the mountain.

Several excavators were working with a huff and puff. The dug-up soil was loaded onto trucks and taken away directly.

Two engineers wearing safety helmets measured with a rangefinder, drew on paper, and then turned back to tell the engineering team leader: "We can only dig to here. Further ahead is forest land. Don't risk it."

The leader agreed, asked two more questions, and then directed with a walkie-talkie.

More construction workers began to enter, first setting up a kitchen, and then starting to set up a temporary parking lot.

Liu Jinghui stood beside Xu Taining, watching the progress of the project, and clicked his tongue: "You're building a highway service center directly for them."

"They built it themselves; I just helped them run the process. It was originally planned, and it was done a year in advance, but they don't have to run the process themselves. Everyone gets what they need." Xu Taining paused and said: "I also know how to save money; don't think I only spend money."

"Where are you saving money? Don't you see Branch Chief Yu and the others don't even approach you? They're numb; out of sight, out of mind." Liu Jinghui retorted: "The cars have to be parked a kilometer away. People who don't know would think we're doing some infrastructure project. Hey, don't say that, we really are doing an infrastructure project..."

"There's no other way. There's a search team of thousands of people. How to guarantee it? It's not like before, where you just let people bring their own dry rations." Xu Taining had a firm personality. If he said he would spend money, he would spend money, and he would never change just because others said something.

"Attention—at ease! Look to the right..."

Just as they were talking, they heard the Armed Police start to organize the team.

Xu Taining and Liu Jinghui stopped talking and kept watching the Armed Police detachments go up the mountain.

"This trip is really hard." Liu Jinghui watched the teams with complete equipment set off, then looked at Jiming Mountain in front, feeling his scalp tighten.

Jiming Mountain was a continuous mountain range extending out of the city. Mountain peaks hundreds of meters high were connected one after another, and the ridges between many peaks were one or two hundred meters high.

Traveling in such mountains usually meant only walking on mature roads. Generally, it was walking along the valley floor. When there was no road left, they would find a way to drill through the mountain passes of two mountains. If that really didn't work, it was walking from the mountainside, the so-called crossing mountains and ridges.

For modern people to climb such mountains, the intensity of walking was already excessive.

But the intensity of searching the mountains was even greater, because the fugitives might be panicked and choose the deep mountains and old forests to run into. That wasn't crossing mountains and ridges, but climbing over mountains and ridges.

To describe it with city life, the so-called climbing over mountains and ridges was equivalent to walking to the end of a pedestrian street, then starting to climb a skyscraper in front, climbing to the top, going downstairs, walking another street, preferably with a slope, and then climbing another skyscraper...

Without a helicopter, walking 5 miles in the forest might contain the climbing volume of three skyscrapers.

And escaping and chasing in such dense forests would soon become a contest of willpower.

Fugitives were like this, and pursuers were also like this.

"Almost reached Jiang Yuan." Xu Taining checked the time again.

Liu Jinghui's attention was immediately attracted.

Hmm...

Xu Taining's walkie-talkie rang.

"Director Xu, we found Jiang Yuan. We've blocked Yuan Yushan." The person on the walkie-talkie was concise.

Xu Taining was surprised: "Blocked? Do you need reinforcements?"

"If there are any, that would be best. She has long guns, but they are basically just cowering. However, her subordinates have scattered."

Xu Taining breathed a sigh of relief. His "ambush from all sides" had started to shift from a comprehensive blockade to key defense and search. Now that he was sure Yuan Yushan was in the net, it wasn't a loss.

"Yuan Yuming is not here." Jiang Yuan took the walkie-talkie at this time and said.

Xu Taining gave an "En" and said: "We didn't find Yuan Yuming here either. We have already sent people to check the sewers and underground pipes."

"That's good." Jiang Yuan replied.

Liu Jinghui could only say "Pay attention to safety."

Ending the call, Xu Taining's mood rose to a high point again. The current mode was his favorite. The search encirclement was accurate, and there were some results. In this way, all parties could stay stable.

On the other hand, the case was still not over. There were still multiple suspects available for searching, and there was a quota for primary targets.

Xu Taining couldn't wait to return to the tent, unfolded the map, and started thinking.

Boom.

Just in the mountains not far away, a loud noise spread far away, making everyone in the tent lift the curtain and run out.

No need to ask, the news soon came back:

"The mountain collapsed. It should be caused by an explosion. The cause is unknown. The search team saw Yuan Yuming through binoculars. The actual distance is still quite far, and they are tracking him."

Wrap it up, this case is really tiring to write. ===== CHAPTER 498 =====