Chapter 1 The Getaway

A battered SUV sped along the highway from Ailan Town towards Dragon City.

Inside, A Shui loosened his collar, swallowed nervously, and dialed Su Tianyu's number. "Hey?! We're out, the guy with the core information is with me. You guys hurry up and meet us."

"You got a car?" Su Tianyu asked.

"Yeah, I got one. You guys come this way, we're heading back, that'll cut the meeting time in half." A Shui replied hurriedly.

"Okay, no problem, hang in there, we're heading there as fast as we can." Su Tianyu glanced at his watch and immediately asked, "Did Lao Fei and the others get out?"

"Haven't been able to reach them, I don't know what's going on with him." A Shui shook his head.

"Contact them as soon as possible, and wait for us."

"Okay, that's it!"

After the call, A Shui hung up and kept urging Xiao Liang, who was driving. "We have to hurry, the helicopters behind us will catch up easily. Once we're exposed, the car will be useless."

"I'm already going as fast as I can, damn it." Xiao Liang had already floored the accelerator, but this beat-up SUV was too old. Once the speed reached 130 kilometers per hour, the whole car started to drift, swaying slightly from side to side.

...

Meanwhile.

In Ailan Town, at the regimental headquarters of the rebel garrison, the regimental commander confirmed with his superiors twice before daring to order two precious armed helicopters to take off and search for Fei Pingsheng's team along the mountain range.

On the street.

Wang Zhen sat in the car, frowning as he asked Bao Ge, "Where are Kang Zhengzhong and the others?"

"They didn't go to the scene, they went straight after the people." Bao Ge replied.

Wang Zhen wasn't sure which group was responsible, so he immediately replied, "Tell Kang Zhengzhong to chase these people down no matter what, we need to find out their intentions."

"Yes!"

Bao Ge replied.

Wang Zhen narrowed his eyes and said to the driver, "Go to the company first."

"Alright!" The driver nodded in agreement.

...

One hour and ten minutes later.

On Highway 408, a large-displacement luxury SUV ignored all the potholes and drove at high speed.

Inside the car, an Asian man in the passenger seat asked into his headset in very broken Mandarin, "Number One, are we chasing the wrong people?"

Kang Zhengzhong quickly replied, "Tell me your reasoning."

"I looked at the map, simulated escape routes, and calculated the time. Under normal circumstances, we should be able to run into them by now." The team leader said in a low voice, "Could they be escaping on foot? Have we already passed their location?"

"If they were escaping on foot, they would have been discovered by now." Kang Zhengzhong thought for a moment and replied, "The only escape route on foot is the mountain in Ailan Town. There are troops and helicopters searching there, and they have hostages, so they can't go far."

"So your judgment is...?"

"They must be driving." Kang Zhengzhong insisted, "The terrain here isn't complicated, don't give up, keep following this line."

"Okay!" The Asian man replied immediately.

...

Ten minutes later.

Su Tianyu, holding a brand-new walkie-talkie, said, "Everyone, be careful, we're getting close."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wei Xiangzuo's team, Lao Hei's team, and Lu Feng's team in the cars behind all took out their weapons, ready for battle.

In the front car, Su Tianyu turned to Fang Zheng and said, "The situation is not good, I have a feeling something happened to Lao Fei."

"Really?"

"If he had escaped, he would have contacted us by now." Su Tianyu frowned and replied, "We have no other choice now, we have to pick up A Shui and the others, otherwise everything we've done so far will be for nothing."

"Is the person A Shui has definitely someone who knows something?" Fang Zheng offered his opinion, "These people are all desperate criminals who hang around outside the region, you can't trust their words completely! What if A Shui just can't get away and is lying to get us to pick them up?"

Fang Zheng's concern wasn't malicious, because the two sides had never worked together before, and it was normal for the coast guard to not trust them.

Su Tianyu thought for a moment and replied, "Like I said, we have no other choice. We've come this far, we have to see this through tonight."

"Alright!" Fang Zheng nodded.

...

On Highway 408 along the mountain.

A Shui sat in the car, holding the phone and demanding, "Is Lao Fei with you?!"

"No, we didn't find him." The other party replied breathlessly, "We're hiding in the mountains, just the two of us."

"...You haven't seen him at all?"

"No, we all got separated, and A Wei and the others don't know where they went." The other party said, sounding a little distraught, "Damn it, there are helicopters above and soldiers below, what... what should we do?!"

"Listen to me, you don't have any hostages, and there are only two of you, it shouldn't be too hard to escape, stay calm! Choose a remote place in the mountains to hide, don't come out for now." A Shui instructed in a low voice, "There are only a few helicopters in the whole Ailan Town, they can't completely search the mountains..."

"Swish!"

Just then, as the SUV turned a corner, headlights suddenly appeared behind them.

A Shui turned his head, the bright lights blinding him.

In the car behind, about three hundred meters away, the driver turned to the Asian man and asked, "There's a car, should we try it?"

"Of course!" The Asian man replied, immediately lowered the window, and drew a pistol from his thigh. "Accelerate."

The roar of the engine echoed through the mountain road as the luxury SUV accelerated again.

Around Ailan Town, the mountains were sparse, with wide plains everywhere. Escaping on foot would be no different from courting death.

Kang Zhengzhong's pursuit was in the direction of the plains. He sat in the car, holding a flashlight, able to see everything within a radius of two or three kilometers. And Highway 408 was the only route to quickly leave the northern border of Seldon, and in this direction, there were two mountain roads along the way.

Currently, A Shui and the others were located on the mountain road closest to the border.

Kang Zhengzhong's second team accelerated, and the Asian man in the passenger seat reached his arm out of the window and slowly raised it.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Three gunshots rang out on the side of the mountain, the echoes lingering.

"Damn it, they're catching up." A Shui shouted again, "Hurry, accelerate!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the others in the car immediately pulled out their guns.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

More gunshots came from behind.

A Shui lowered the window and was forced to fire back.

"Heh!" The Asian man retracted his arm and immediately said into his headset, "Target acquired!"

In an instant, Kang Zhengzhong replied, "Stick to them, we're moving towards you."